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CORRUPTED BHARATIYA MEDIA

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Feb 18, 2010, 6:52:10 PM2/18/10

Forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman

Corrupted Indian media

Thursday, February 18, 2010

If the fence eats away the field, who is to save the crop?
The fourth estate is becoming yet another chamcha of a corrupt regime
with little care for national interests. Who will cure the corrupt
Indian media?

S. Kalyanaraman

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/18/stories/2010021852821000.h

Advertising, Bollywood, Corporate power

P. Sainath
Thursday, February 18, 2010

Issues today have to be dressed up in ways certified by the corporate
media. They have to be justified not by their importance to the
public but by their acceptability to the media, their owners and
sponsors.

That the terrible tragedy in Pune demands serious, sober coverage is
a truism. One of the side-effects of the ghastly blast has been
unintended, though. The orgy of self-congratulation that marked the
media coverage of just about everything since January is now in pause
mode. Maybe the flak they copped for their handling of the November
2008 Mumbai terror blasts has something to do with it. But there is,
so far, some restraint. At least, relative to the meal they made of
the 2008 blasts.

Otherwise, through January and early February, the media stood up
bravely for freedom of expression and some other constitutional
rights you've never heard of. They slew the demons of lingual
chauvinism and worse. And they're just spoiling for a fight with any
other enemy of our proud democracy. Just so long as they can keep
Bollywood in central focus.

Every issue is now reduced to a fight between individuals, heroic,
villainous or just fun figures. So the complex issues behind the
shunning of Pakistani cricketers by the Indian Premier League are
reduced to a fight between Shah Rukh Khan and Bal Thackeray. (As one
television channel began its programme: "Shah Rukh stands tall. His
message to the nation ..."). The agonies of Bundelkhand are not about
hunger and distress in our Tiger Economy. They are just a stand-off
between Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati. The issues of language and
migrations in Maharashtra are merely a battle between Rahul Gandhi
and Uddhav Thackeray. And the coverage is all about who blinked
first, who lost face.

The devastating rise in food prices (let's skip the boring factors)
and the mess in agriculture are a face-off between Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. The pathetic
squabble within the Samajwadi Party is virtually a television serial.
A blow-by-blow account of Amar Singh's valiant bid to retain his
honour against Mulayam Singh's yahoos. (Indeed, some Hindi channels
have begun using the language of theatre to report it -- Act II,
Scene II. And there was one programme which Mr. Amar Singh ended
humming verses from his favourite film song). The Bt brinjal story
had mostly only one villain -- Union Environment Minister Jairam
Ramesh. He had no visible adversary unless you pose the humble
Brinjal as the hero. But that won't work for television. The other,
more sinister heroes in this media story preferred to function from
behind the scenes, plying newspapers and channels with faked data and
false information. Hell hath no fury like a powerful corporate
scorned, as the Minister is learning.

Issues? The same media that passionately fought for freedom of
expression for a month from mid-January had billed the 2009 Lok Sabha
poll as one without issues. The country was actually burning with
them, but they didn't make good television either. More accurately,
the dominant media hadn't the slightest intention of covering them
with any sincerity. The story of rising food prices remains one of
the worst reported -- no matter how much space it has been given.
Sure, there have been exceptions -- as in the case of some
outstanding reports on Bundelkhand. But they've been just that.
Exceptions.

If these last six weeks have been about freedom of expression, we
have neither. Or, at best, a twisted freedom and a tortured
expression. There is little freedom for thousands of journalists in
the corporate media and the few editors who still believe we ought to
be doing a better job of informing the public on the key issues of
our time. There's very little freedom for readers or viewers, too.
For days on end, it didn't matter which television channel you
switched to, it was SRK on all of them. When that movie drew to a
close, the 'Rahul Gandhi storms Sena den' film was released and
sustained. A visit of some hours produced days of footage. But with
the end of Mr. Gandhi's visit to Mumbai, it was back to Shah Rukh
Khan. Of course, viewers had the freedom to choose, which sets us
apart from totalitarian states. They could choose any channel, from
among many, to watch SRK saying exactly the same thing, at the same
time. And they will be free to choose again when the figure is
Amitabh Bachchan or Aamir Khan.

If what we've watched on critical issues these past weeks is
expression, we're through scraping the barrel. We're drilling holes
in its bottom.

Many corporate-owned media houses have sacked hundreds of journalists
and non-journalist staff since late 2008. Hundreds of other
journalists have suffered wage cuts. Of course, the 'right to know'
of readers and viewers does not extend to this information. Why scare
the poor lambs? And how can you tell them the truth about that while
everyday crowing about the once-again booming economy? It might lead
audiences to ask that dull, boring question: "If things are so good,
why are you axing so many people?" Answering that means revealing the
interests the corporate media have in the fate of the stock market.
It means talking about their need to keep the shares of the companies
they are linked to (or have heavily invested in) afloat and buoyant.
That is regardless of how rotten they are within. No matter how their
own shares in those companies were obtained. And no agonising over
how unethical the means used to keep them heated. This was in part
behind the fatwa issued by some newspapers to their staff banning the
'R' word last year. Recession is what happens in the United States.
In India, it was a slowdown -- and it's already turning around
brilliantly. The hundreds of sacked and ruined staff have little
freedom to speak of. Even the professional communicators within them
cannot tell their own audiences their story. Cannot tell them they
were laid off, let alone tell them why.

Leave aside escaping a recession, India Shining is back. The cover
story of a leading weekly gushes over the fantastic 'rural
resurgence' that is, in fact, saving all of us. Farmers are doing
just great. Drip, micro-sprinkler, and other micro irrigation, the
stories in it suggest, played a major role in this hidden-from-the-
human-eye revival. This resurgence is seen more in urban media than
in rural India. And the proliferation of such stories across the
media spectrum reflects, in part, the strenuous media efforts of a
major Maharashtra-based company. A corporate group that spends a
fortune on propaganda and whose interests in this line of irrigation
are pushed by some of the most powerful members of the Union Cabinet.
Oddly, stories such as these come out even as the government's own
projections for growth in agriculture are dismaying.

The main 'rural resurgence' story hit the stands the same day the
National Crime Records Bureau officially brought the 2008 data for
farm suicides on to its website. The 16,196 suicides that year
brought the tally of farmers' suicides since 1997 to 199,132. That's
the largest single, sustained wave of such suicides ever recorded in
history -- anywhere. Guess nobody told them about the resurgence.
Farmers in 2008 did know of that year's loan waiver, but it didn't
stop large numbers of them from taking their lives.

The 'rural resurgence' story comes after any number of the
government's own committees, commissions and reports suggest that it
revise poverty figures upwards. Whether it's the Suresh Tendulkar
committee, the BPL Expert Group, or earlier the National Commission
for Enterprises in the Unorganised sector. Or a U.N. study which
reports that 34 million more Indians remained poor or joined their
ranks in 2008 and 2009, because of the 'slowdown.' That is, 34
million more than would have met that fate prior to the 2008 crisis.
It matters little if Census data show us that 8 million cultivators
quit agriculture between just 1991 and 2001. (That is, on average,
well over 2,000 a day, every day for 10 years.) Or that the 2011
Census just months from now will show us how many more have fled
agriculture since then, un-seduced by the rural resurgence. Never
mind the facts. One giant private irrigation company stands to make
its already huge fortune bigger. Good for growth.

The ABC of Indian media roughly translates as Advertising, Bollywood
and Corporate power. Some years ago, the 'C' would have been cricket,
but that great sport is fast becoming a small cog in the large wheel
of corporate profit. (In the IPL, the ABC of media converge, even
merge.) And, of course, everything but everything, has to be
bollywoodised. To now earn attention, issues have to be dressed up
only in ways certified by the corporate media. They have to be
justified not by their importance to the public but by their
acceptability to the media, their owners and sponsors. The more
entrenched that ABC gets, the greater the danger to the language of
democracy the media so proudly claim to champion.

End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

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Feb 19, 2010, 8:59:23 AM2/19/10

Dr. Jai Maharaj View profile
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From: use...@mantra.com and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr. Jai Maharaj)
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:52:10 GMT
Local: Thurs, Feb 18 2010 6:52 pm

Subject: CORRUPTED BHARATIYA MEDIA

Thursday, February 18, 2010

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/18/stories/2010021852821000.h

Advertising, Bollywood, Corporate power

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/9a09f0e3b252d988#

Surat gang rape case: All 3 accused get life term
ANI

Posted: Friday , Feb 19, 2010 at 1156 hrs
Surat:

A local court here on Friday awarded life sentence to the three
accused in the infamous July 2009 Surat gang rape case that had rocked
the city.

A Principal and Sessions Judge held the three accused in the infamous
gang rape case and sentenced life imprisonment to the accused Sahid
Syeed, Tariq Syeed and Abu Bakr Ismail.

The trio raped 17-year old class 12th schoolgirl around 5 a.m. on July
12, 2009 while she was on her way to the tuition. She was picked up by
the accused in their car posing as police officials, who then raped
her in the vehicle shocking the conscience of the people of the city.

The accused had also recorded the rape on their mobile phones. The
three were however, arrested within hours of the incident.

The chargesheet in the case was filed on July 24, 2009. The hearing
was scheduled on day-to-day basis.

The accused Shahid and Tariq are sons of police officials.

The city was on boil after the incident and circulation of MMS. There
were protests in the city after the gang rape of a 17-year-old minor
girl.

The court has completed the hearing time in record time and announced
the verdict within a year of incident setting an example for others.

13 Comments |

Surat Rape Case
By: Frank Steve | Friday , 19 Feb '10 15:38:35 PM

Undoubtedly, this is a good example of speedy justice. But on the
other hand it is very selective. Can the judiciary show the same
courage and speed in convicting the rapists involved in rapes during
the Gujarat riots, or should the rapists change their names to Shahid
and Tariq.

Secular
By: moon | Friday , 19 Feb '10 15:01:56 PM

I wonder how long before the "secular" people in the country take out
candlelight marches to set the accused free on the grounds that they
are "discriminated against, humiliated, backward, and only wanted to
avenge the 2002 riots"

fast judgement
By: raj | Friday , 19 Feb '10 14:22:06 PM

JUDGEMENT DELAYED JUDGEMENT DENIED! DEAR JUDGES PL DONT WASTE UR AND
OUR TIME ON KASAB CASE. TELL UR VERDICT IMMEDIATELY. DONT SAY IT IS
VERY SENSITIVE CASE! A ABSOLUTE NONSENSE. FURTHER GOVT SPENDING
UNNECESARILY ON HIM TO GIVE BIRYANI AND MEETING ALL HIS PERSONAL
REQUIREMENTS. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE FINISH IT FAST BEFORE HE BECOME OLD
AND DIE NATURALLY

Surat gang rape case: All 3 accused get life term
By: sathviok | Friday , 19 Feb '10 14:11:07 PM Repl

WOW THE COURT TOOK ONE YEAR TO GIVE A JUDGEMENT FOR A CASE.HOW MUCH
THE GIRL HAS SUFFERED FOR ONE YEAR.OUR LAW BOOK SHOULD BE WRITTEN ONCE
AGAIN.THE PERSONS WHO GOT A LIFE TERM AND WHO FATHERED THEM SHOULD BE
REMOVED OF THEIR POSTINGS ASLO and made to beg on the roadsssss

Life term?
By: Indi | Friday , 19 Feb '10 14:05:12 PM

These animals deserve more than life term.

SHAME FOR THE YOUNGSTERS
By: TRUE INDIAN | Friday , 19 Feb '10 13:50:43 PM

THIS IS HOW EFFICIENT TE BJP GOVT RUNS UNDER CM NARENDRA MODI INSPITE
OF BEING THE SONS OF A POLICE OFFICER THEY WERE TERMED TO SENTENCE IN
JUST ONE YEAR. IF IT WOULD BE CONGRESS GOVT THAN THE GOVT WOULD HAD
RUN CASE FOR YEARS AND THERE WUOLD BE NO RESULTS.

You are right
By: Indi | Friday , 19 Feb '10 14:07:13 PM

You are absolutely right man. Look at the case of afzal and kasab. It
is still being dragged and will be dragged and will be dragged as long
as cong rules. Bravo Modi. Shame on cong who can sell country for few
votes as they have been doing when ever they are in power.

I m with u
By: Mayur | Friday , 19 Feb '10 14:34:26 PM

Yes. Modi is great as he has always been. Does anyone know that
someone did bomb blast at the same court?

Hope, other long pending cases of rapes on tribal girls are also
expedited.
By: Babubhai Vaghela Ahmedabad | Friday , 19 Feb '10 13:36:34 PM

Two infamous rape cases of Gujarat. Patan case took more than a year
with twists and turns. Surat case has taken about seven months. Hope,
other long pending cases of rapes on tribal girls are also expedited.

Gujarat Govt done a great job
By: S roy | Friday , 19 Feb '10 13:24:28 PM Repl

Gujarat Govt done a great job, others should learn from Guj Gove.
"Hang" would have been better for them.

Sons of Policemen should be hanged
By: bharadwaj | Friday , 19 Feb '10 13:21:48 PM

What a joke! They destroyed the life of a child. They should have been
destroyed. After 10 good years inside jail they will be back to do
same acts. let us hang them!

Why not a capital punishment
By: harsha | Friday , 19 Feb '10 13:19:51 PM

why does the tax payer take the burden of these morons... the court
should have set an example by awarding Capital Punishment. Judiciary
is sometimes the last hope and that is slowly waning... probably the
sections under which they have charged cannot be awarded capital
punishment... Then is the Hon Law minister listening

Fast Judgement
By: Nishit Desai | Friday , 19 Feb '10 13:17:24 PM

The judgement is historic and fast. However, it is time that all rape
offenders be compulsorily executed. We must have death penalty for
rape and terror related offences.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/surat-gang-rape-case-all-3-accused-get-life-term/581898/

India's 'Most Sensational Crimes of the Year 2009' (Flashback)

Posted On: 22-Dec-2009 15:49:44 By: Anjali Singh

New Delhi: The alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian in
Kashmir, the kidnap and murder of a call centre employee in Delhi, the
gang rape of a management student in Noida, the mysterious death of a
Muthoot house scion in Kerala, and actor Shiney Ahuja's arrest for
allegedly raping his maid were some of the sensational crimes that
hogged newspaper headlines in 2009.

Following is a list of some of the major crimes of the year:

The deaths on May 30 of Neelofar Jan, 22, and her sister-in-law Asiya
Jan, 17, in Shopian town of Jammu and Kashmir state continues to hog
the limelight. The deaths led to a massive furore in Kashmir Valley
with allegations that the women were first raped and then murdered,
with some pointing fingers at the security forces.

The CBI in its Dec 14 report to the state high court ruled out rape
and murder and said the women died due to accidental drowning in a
stream.

The kidnap and murder of call centre employee, Jigisha Ghosh, 28,
outside her south Delhi house on March 17 this year rocked the
national capital. Jigisha was speaking on the phone and walking
towards her apartment after being dropped by a cab hired by her
office, Hewitt Associates, around 4.30 a.m. when she was pulled into a
car by some men. Police say the killers made her give them her bank
debit card secret identification number and withdrew Rs.20,000 from an
ATM. They killed her and dumped the body near Bhatkal Lake in
Faridabad and then went on a shopping spree with her credit cards.
Four men were arrested.

The Aug 21 murder of Muthoot house scion Paul M. George, 32, shocked
Kerala and grabbed national headlines. George, a bachelor, was
travelling in a car at night with two men who have several criminal
cases against them.

His body was found in Alapuzha. Questions were raised about what
George was doing with two known bad elements. Police have arrested 19
people on charges of involvement in the murder while his father, M.G.
George Muthoot, has asked for a CBI probe.

The gangrape of a 24-year-old MBA student in the vicinity of the
capital Jan 6 was among the most sensational crimes. The girl, a
resident of south Delhi, was with her male friend inside a car parked
near the Noida Expressway when a group of 10 youths, back from playing
a cricket match, dragged her out of the car. They took turns to rape
her.

According to police, the rape was in celebration of their cricket
victory. The youths were arrested.

Another case that hogged the limelight was the alleged staged shooting
by police of 24-year-old MBA student Ranbir Singh in Dehradun July 3.
He was allegedly shot at point-blank range 30 times by Dehradun
police. The CBI said police personnel first beat up Singh in the
lockup and then drove him to the Ladpur jungles near Dehradun where
they fired 30 shots at him from close range.

Goa was very much in the news in 2009. A 25-year-old Russian woman was
allegedly raped by a Goa politician.

The woman, who was employed as a Russian liaison representative in a
five-star resort in Goa was having dinner with a woman friend on Dec 1
night when she was offered a lift by John Fernandes. She alleged
Fernandes raped her in the car. The politician will have to surrender
before the Goa trial court as the Supreme Court on Friday told him
that he deserved no relief in the form of pre-arrest bail.

The coastal state was in the news in October too when 10 bodies,
including that of seven young women, were found in a span of three
days. The killings were the handiwork of two groups - a scrap dealers
gang and two local goons, who along with women accomplices, would rob
and kill their victims.

In another shocking crime, Orissa cadre Indian Administrative Service
(IAS) officer Jagadananda Panda killed four members of his family 'one
by one', firing at them from his service revolver before turning the
gun on himself in his home in Deogaon in Bargrah district. The
incident took place in July. Panda was a 1983-batch IAS officer and
had worked in several important positions in the Orissa bureaucracy
before he left for Delhi on a central deputation in 2006.

The crime scene did not spare Bollywood. Actor Shiney Ahuja was
arrested in June for allegedly raping his domestic help. Shiney has
reportedly told the court it was not rape but consensual sex. He was
in the lock-up for nearly four months and denied bail on at least two
occasions. He had come to Delhi to his parent's home. He is at present
out on bail and back in Mumbai.

In Haryana, a young woman, Alka, consumed poison along with her
husband outside the office of the Rohtak range inspector general of
police, alleging she was raped by five men and the police were not
taking any action. Alka died in a hospital in Rohtak while her
husband, Sunil, survived. She allegedly took the extreme step after
she failed to meet the IGP.

http://www.mynews.in/India's_'Most_Sensational_Crimes_of_the_Year_2009'_(Flashback)_N33415.html

MP: Woman gang-raped at railway station

Posted On: 26-Oct-2009 18:25:53 Source: Rohit Sharma

Bhopal : A 23-year-old woman was allegedly gangraped by five people,
including one in khaki uniform, at Katni railway station in Madhya
Pradesh, police said Monday.In a complaint lodged with the Government
Railway Police (GRP) in Betul, the 23-year-old woman said she was
assaulted late Saturday when she was waiting for her husband who had
gone out for buying some food.

"A man in uniform came to me and asked why I was sitting at the
platform alone. When I told him that my husband has gone out to bring
some eatables, he started asking foolish questions. Realising that he
was unnecessarily harassing me, I moved on to the other platform but
he followed me there also and asked me to accompany him to the police
station as my husband has been arrested," the woman said in her
complaint filed Sunday.

She said while taking her to the police station, the man stopped her
at an isolated corner of the platform where four others joined him and
all five raped her in turn. As they left, they threatened that her
husband would be arrested if she reported the matter to the police.The
Government Railway Police (GRP) have lodged a case against
unidentified attackers and are investigating the matter."It is too
early to say anything. We are waiting for the medical report for
further action," a GRP official said.

http://www.mynews.in/MP__Woman_gang-raped_at_railway_station_N28561.html

2 Prez guards get Life term sentence in rape case

Posted On: 22-Aug-2009 19:37:00

New Delhi: A city court on Saturday awarded life sentence to two
members of the President''s bodyguard in the 2003 Buddha Jayanti Park
gangrape case.

Assistant Sessions Judge S.K. Sarvaria awarded life imprisonment to
Harpreet Singh and Satender Singh for raping a 17-year-old student of
a Delhi University college, while two other members, Kuldeep Singh and
Manish Kumar, were given 10 years' rigorous imprisonment each.

The four have been found guilty under sections 394 (robbery), 366
(kidnapping) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Harpreet and Satender have also been convicted for gangrape under
section 376 (2G) of the IPC.

The victim, who had gone with her friend to the park near Rashtrapati
Bhavan on Oct 6, 2003, was raped by Harpreet and Satender while the
other two Kuldeep and Manish kept watch.

The prosecution examined 25 witnesses to establish the rape charge.

The four first roughed up the girl's friend and then took her to a
secluded place inside the park where they raped her, the prosecution
had maintained.

http://www.mynews.in/2_Prez_guards_get_Life_term_sentence_in_rape_case_N24118.html

Woman sold after gangrape in UP

Posted On: 19-Jul-2009 16:01:00 Font Size:

Muzaffarnagar: A woman was allegedly sold for Rs 10,000 to a man after
being gangraped by her abductors, police said on Sunday.

According to the police complaint, the woman was picked up by two men
from the railway station on her arrival here from Delhi on July 8
under the pretext of giving her lift.

The men then took her to an unknown location and raped her for two
days. She was later sold for Rs 10,000 to a person in Solapur village
in the district.

However, the woman managed to escape from the house of her buyer
yesterday.

http://www.mynews.in/Woman_sold_after_gangrape_in_UP_N21991.html

5-year-old girl gangraped in TN

Posted On: 09-Jul-2009 20:47:00 Font Size:

Chennai: In a shocking incident, a five-year-old girl was allegedly
gangraped by a group of unidentified persons who left her in a
suburban locality.

Police said the incident occurred in the wee hours of Sunday in
Egathur village on the IT corridor.

The victim''s father, Mohan Rao hailing from Andhra Pradesh, had
immediately taken her to a private hospital which refused to admit the
child on the plea that she was a minor and it was a police case. The
girl was later admitted to the Government Institute of Child Health
here, the police said.

Kelambakkam Police, investigating the case, said Egathur village has a
large number of construction workers from Andhra Pradesh. "We are
interrogating all close relatives of the child. Around 3,000 workers
from Andhra Pradesh are believed to be working at this site," a police
official said.

http://www.mynews.in/5-year-old_girl_gangraped_in_TN_N21131.html

DFS officials begin test of Surat gangrape accused

Posted On: 23-Jun-2009 13:33:00

Gandhinagar: Following the psychological profiling of the three
gangrape accused brought from Surat, the forensic science experts on
Tuesday began their preliminary test for narco analysis, sources
said.

Though officials at Directorate of Forensic Science (DFS) remained
tight-lipped about the case, sources said after completion of the
psychological profiling of the three accused of raping a teenage girl,
some preliminary tests which are part of narco analysis were conducted
on them.

"Even I have not been informed about what was happening inside. I have
been told to bring them to DFS in the morning and take them back in
the evening," Inspector I I Hadia, who brought the three to DFS from
Surat, said.

Narco test is being conducted on the three accused to know about other
crimes committed by them as police found numerous video clips in their
mobile phones.

http://www.mynews.in/DFS_officials_begin_test_of_Surat_gangrape_accused__N20273.html

MMS clips to play crucial role in college girl’s gang rape: Police

Posted On: 21-Jun-2009 19:08:00 Font Size:

Mumbai: The video of the alleged gangrape of a 19-year-old girl at
Mira Road recorded by the accused would be crucial evidence in the
case than the medical report of the victim because of the time lapse
since the incident.

"We will have to depend more upon MMS clips on mobile phones recovered
from the accused. Though the victim would undergo medical examination,
we may not have strong medical evidence against the accused as a lot
of time has passed since she was raped," an investigating officer told
PTI here.

"In this case, MMS clips and circumstantial evidence will be crucial,"
the officer said.

An Arts Faculty student of a private college in Mira Road was
allegedly raped on two occasions on May 14 and June 6 by the accused,
who filmed the crime to blackmail her.

http://www.mynews.in/MMS_clips_to_play_crucial_role_in_college_girl’s_gang_rape__Police_N20176.html

Rape Victim Commits Suicide at DGP's office in Haryana

Posted On: 09-May-2009 09:50:00

Rohtak: Another rape victim in Haryana committed suicide in Front of
Rohtak DGP''s office in protest. Alka, who was gangraped by five
persons, tried to kill herself with her husband on Wednesday at police
officer’s office, with the result Alka died and her husband is in
serious condition.

Alka’s relatives have refused to cremate the body until the police
officers and the guilty are punished.

Alka had filed a case of gang rape against five persons at a police
station in Panipat but the accused are still free due to lack of
evidence.

Alka is survived with two children who are 7 and 5 years old.

Earlier, Sarita a rape victim committed suicide by consuming poison in
front of a police station in Haryana after the police failed to act
against the rapists.

http://www.mynews.in/Rape_Victim_Commits_Suicide_at_DGP's_office_in_Haryana_N18506.html

Hindu man saved me from being gang-raped: Nun

Posted On: 19-Nov-2008 14:44:00

New Delhi: The nun, who was allegedly raped during communal violence
in Kandhamal, has told the Crime Branch of Orissa police that after
the sexual assault, she was saved by a local Hindu man from being
gangraped, police said today.

During her examination by the Crime Branch team in New Delhi, the 29-
year-old nun said that she was raped at K Nuagaon in Baliguda during
Orissa bandh on August 25, the sources said.

Though two others also molested and attempted to rape her immediately
after the incident, a local Hindu man came toher rescue and saved her
from being gangraped, the nun was quoted to have said in her statement
before the Crime Branch team.

Inspector General of Police (Crime Branch) Arun Ray confirmed that
both the nun and Father Thomas Chelan, only witness to the incident,
were examined between 5 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. According to sources, the
nun was confident that she would be able to identify the accused, with
whom she had a scuffle.

However, the alleged victim was worried that she might not be able to
identify the two others who had also attempted to rape her as she was
in a semi-conscious state after being raped, they said.

Expressing her unwillingness to go to Kandhamal again, she urged the
Crime Branch team to organise the Test Identification Parade (TIP) of
accused persons anywhere in Orissa except Kandhamal, sources said.

Narrating her experience, the nun said that the rape was committed
near a stair case of a building, the sources said.

After the incident, she was shocked and completely speechless as her
only help Father Chelan was assaulted by the mob, they said.

The examination of the nun and Father Chelan was held nearly three
months after the incident as both of them were unwilling to cooperate
with the probe saying they had no faith in Orissa police.

However, after the Supreme Court rejected a plea for handing over the
case to the CBI and asked the nun to assist the investigation, they
agreed to cooperate.

Ten persons have been arrested in connection with the incident and the
state government has suspended six police personnel on charges of
dereliction of duty on the basis of the allegation made by the nun.

http://www.mynews.in/Hindu_man_saved_me_from_being_gang-raped__Nun_N12808.html

Orissa: Teenager gangraped in Kendrapara

Posted On: 03-Sep-2008 16:44:00

Kendrapara: Police have registered a case against three youths of
Narayanpada village under Kendrapara Police station of the district on
the charge of gang raping are 18-year-old girl.

Police said the girl was allegedly gangraped by the youths on Sunday
evening at the Bankimundei school. After keeping mum for the last two
days, the victim lodged an FIR last evening.

As per the report, the girl, an inmate of a short stay home in
Kendrapara, had an affair with one Dillip Mallick of Narayanpada
village seven months back. On Sunday evening Dillip allegedly asked
her to meet him at Bankimundei School.

While she was sitting with Dillip at the school veranda Fukuli, Raghua
and Basant of the some village reached the spot and asked Dillip to go
home as his father was looking for him. After Dillip left, the three
youths allegedly raped her and fled from the spot.

Police said all the youths, including Dillip, were absconding and
efforts were on to arrest them.

http://www.mynews.in/Orissa__Teenager_gangraped_in_Kendrapara_N9634.html

Two get death penalty for murder of Australian woman

Posted On: 11-Aug-2008 18:25:00

Two taxi drivers were on Monday awarded the death sentence by a Delhi
court for killing Australian tourist Dawn Emilie Griggs, after
gangraping and robbing her, in 2004.

"Jyotish Prasad and Ashish Kumar, for the offence of brutal murder of
the Australian tourist, you be hanged till death," Additional Sessions
Judge Vinod Kumar said, pronouncing the sentence in a packed
courtroom.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 each on the two convicts who
were held guilty of gangrape, robbery, destruction of evidence and
common intention. The court had convicted the two accused on August 2.

Griggs was found murdered in a deserted area in New Delhi on March 17,
2004 within hours of landing at the Indira Gandhi International
Airport from Hong Kong.

Besides awarding the death penalty for murder, the court also handed
down the convicts rigorous life imprisonment for gangraping the
tourist, who had come to India to join a meditation course.

On pronouncement of the verdict, convict Prasad''s mother started
crying inconsolably inside the courtroom. "My poor and innocent son is
wrongly being awarded the death penalty," she said.

Griggs, who landed in Delhi from Hong Kong on a Cathay Pacific Flight
in the wee hours of March 17, 2004 for enrolling for a meditation
course with the Brahmakumari Aishwarya Vidyalaya, had taken a pre-paid
taxi from IGI airport and was later found murdered.

The court convicted Prasad, 28, and Kumar, in his early 30's, for the
various offences in a case which hinged on circumstantial evidence.

As there was no eye-witness to the gruesome killing, the prosecution
had relied upon circumstantial as well as forensic evidence, including
the DNA reports of the convicts, to prove its charges against them.

The police had traced the duo by scrutinising the records of the pre-
paid taxi booth at the airport. Prasad was arrested on the date of the
incident while Kumar was apprehended on his disclosure on March 21.

During the arguments on the quantum of sentence, the prosecution had
sought the gallows for the two cab drivers, describing the offence as
a 'stigma' on the country.

Public Prosecutor Vinod Kumar said that both the convicts had not only
murdered a foreign tourist but also killed the trust of a foreign
nation. The offence is a stigma on the country, which believes in the
policy of 'Atithi

http://www.mynews.in/Two_get_death_penalty_for_murder_of_Australian_woman_N8733.html

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/3f5e2a3be4798e7d/6356602f6299a728?lnk=gst&q=sex+and+cd+scandal#6356602f6299a728

...and I am Sid Harth

bademiyansubhanallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 9:28:25 AM2/19/10

Congress takes a dig at BJP's Antakshari
Thursday, February 18, 2010,16:38 [IST]

www.SOS-INDIA.org

New Delhi, Feb.18 (ANI): Taking a dig at Bharatiya Janata Party's
Antakshari, which it termed as a 'cultural programme' during the
ongoing national executive meet in Indore, in which party president
Nitin Gadkari mesmerized party's top brass with his singing abilities,
senior congress leaders at All India Congress Committee (AICC) have
said it's a 'good thing' to keep the jobless BJP leaders occupied.

Buzz up!Congress Spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed on Thursday said: "Having
lost elections most of the senior BJP leaders are without work so this
is good exercise to keep themselves occupied."

"Its good that BJP is doing constructive work by singing and dancing
in Indore and they are not resorting to divisive policies," said
Ahmed.

However, taking a swipe at Gadkari's visit to a Dalit household
recently, which is being viewed as an imitation of Congress General
Secretary Rahul Gandhi's style of politics, the Congress leaders said
BJP is fast picking up things from Congress and adapting its ways and
means.

The Congress leaders have also cited Lal Krishan Advani' appointment
as NDA chairperson as another imitation of United Progressive
Alliance's structure. (ANI)

http://news.oneindia.in/2010/02/18/congresstakes-a-dig-at-bjps-antakshari.html

Five youths gangrape teen in NagpurFriday, February 19, 2010,14:34
[IST]

www.SOS-INDIA.org

Nagpur, Feb 19: In a shocking incident, a 17-year-old girl was
gangraped by five youths in the city, police said on Friday, Feb 19.

Buzz up!The incident occurred on Thursday night, Feb 18, when all the
accused lured the teenager to an under construction house in Kalmana
area and sexually assaulted her.

The accused and the victim live in the same locality.

According to police, medical examination has confirmed rape. The four
accused have been arrested while one is absconding.

OneIndia News

http://news.oneindia.in/2010/02/19/five-youths-gangrape-teen-in-nagpur.html

bademiyansubhanallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 9:40:46 AM2/19/10

chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 12:29:33 PM2/19/10

June 08, 2008
Dr Hedgewar Prajna Samman to Dr S. Kalyanraman

Dr Hedgewar Prajna Samman for the year 2008 will be presented to noted
scientist and director of Saraswati Sodh Sansthan Dr S. Kalyanraman.
The award, instituted by Shree Burrabazar Kumarsabha Pustakalaya, will
be presented on June 8 at a function to be held in Kolkata, by senior
BJP leader and former Union HRD Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi. The
award consists of a cheque of Rs 51,000, a citation and a memento.

Born on October 20, 1939 at a village under Tanjor district of Tamil
Nadu Dr Kalyanraman completed BA from Annamalai University in 1958. He
joined the Accountant General Office of Bangalore after his father?s
death. He also worked as Chief Controller of Accountants and a
financial advisor in Railway Board till 1978. He worked in Asian
Development Bank as a senior officer till 1995. During this period he
toured 29 countries of the world and monitored 650 developmental
projects. He did Ph.d in Public Administration in 1982. He also played
a key role in computerisation of Indian Railways.

It was with the inspiration of the late Moropant Pingle that Dr
Kalyanraman joined the Saraswati river research project. He took
voluntary retirement from the Asian Development Bank five years before
the actual retirement. While working with the project he not only
discovered the flow route of Saraswati river but also materialised it
practically at some places. Dr Kalyanraman wishes to irrigate
additional nine crore acre land of the country while connecting
Brahmputra and other rivers. He has authored a five-volume book on
Sindhu script and Saraswati river civilisation. He was also honoured
with Vakankar Award in the year 2000.

(FOC)

Two-day VHP meet to discuss Ram Sethu

With a view to strengthening its agitation against Sethusamudram
Shipping Canal project the Vishwa Hindu Parishad will organise a two-
day national meeting of saints to press the Centre to announce Ram
Sethu a national heritage of historical importance. VHP president Shri
Ashok Singhal informed in Chennai on May 22 that the meeting, to be
held on June 15 and 16 at Haridwar, would also decide on a ?massive
agitation? involving 50,000 people, in support of the Ram Sethu
movement. ?The belief over Ram Sethu is centuries-old and has
followers not only in India, but all across South East Asia, including
Cambodia and Indonesia, among others. Followers of Lord Ram in these
countries revere him as a historical figure,? he said.

(FOC)

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=240&page=29

September 23, 2007
SPECIAL ON RAM SETHU

Save Ram Sethu to save Bharat
By J.G. Arora

Apart from being the ancient-most sacred symbol of Hindu faith and
heritage, Ram Sethu symbolises Bharat. To save Ram Sethu is to save
Bharat.

Though as per Arnold Toynbee, ?Civilizations die from suicide, not
murder?, a unilateral war is being waged by anti-Hindu forces to wipe
out Hinduism and Hindu heritage from earth the way other native
cultures and religions have been erased all over the globe. The
proposed demolition of Ram Sethu by the Congress-led UPA government is
a similar assault on symbols of Hindu religion and Hindu heritage.

Apart from being the ancient-most sacred symbol of Hindu faith and
heritage, Ram Sethu symbolises Bharat. To save Ram Sethu is to save
Bharat.

And to save Ram Sethu is to save Sethusamudaram ?territorial waters?
from becoming ?international waters? which will endanger Bharat?s
security. To save Ram Sethu is to save vast thorium deposits which can
meet Bharat?s long term energy needs. Saving it also saves vast areas
of Bharat from future tsunamis.

Why this undue haste?

The undue haste with which the government is proceeding with
Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) shows that it is bent upon
demolishing this holy monument.

In the wake of havoc caused by tsunami in December, 2004, several
queries were raised by the Prime Minister?s Office. As reported in a
section of the press, Tuticorin Port Trust furnished its report to the
Prime Minister?s Office on June, 30, 2005.

But without a proper appraisal of the said report and without
examining the national security concerns, and without consulting the
concerned experts, scientists or even the Indian Navy, the Prime
Minister and the Congress president inaugurated the Sethusamudram Ship
Channel Project on July 2, 2005.

Surprisingly, while five other better and cheaper routes which do not
destroy this shrine are available, the route that destroys Ram Sethu
has been selected.

Former Supreme Court Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer has cautioned that this
project would undermine India?s security concerns with American
presence in Sethusamudram waters. Besides, he has mentioned that ?The
callousness with which such a big project is conceptualized and
implemented is an unpardonable act.? Moreover, he has termed the
project as ?an open challenge to age old Hindu beliefs?, and has
called upon ?every Indian to see that this historic and holy monument
is protected.?

A matter of faith

Religion is a matter of faith. And for Hindus, Ram Sethu is the
ancient-most and sacred symbol of their faith, heritage and history.
As per Ramayan, Bhagwan Ram?s army had built the bridge that connects
India and Sri Lanka. Sages Valmiki, Kamban and many others have
described the construction of Ram Sethu in their Ramayans. It is also
narrated in Mahabharata, Skanda Purana and many other works. There are
detailed references to Ram Sethu in Sanskrit and Tamil literature. Set
up in 1767, ?Survey of India?s logo, ?aaSethu himachalam? (from Sethu
to Himalaya) also acknowledges the existence of Ram Sethu.

Of course, Ramayan and Mahabharat are a part of Hindu theology and
Hindu history, and not mythology, as wrongly propagated by anti-Hindu
Marxist historians.

There is irrefutable historical, archaeological, scientific, literary,
epigraphical, cartographical, scriptural, sculptural and numismatic
evidence about the existence of Ram Sethu. Ram Sethu as appearing on
the 1788 map drawn by explorer Joseph Parks was renamed as Adam?s
bridge in 1804 by J. Rennel, the first Surveyor General of East India
Company. But the people have always known this shrine as ?Ram Sethu?.
Being associated with Ram, it has got special place in Hindu heart as
even now many children bear names like Ram Sethu.

Illegal and unconstitutional
As explained below, the proposed demolition of Ram Sethu is illegal
and unconstitutional.

As per section 295 A of Indian Penal Code, ?Whosoever destroys,
damages, or defiles any place of worship, or any object held sacred by
any class of persons with the intention of thereby insulting the
religion of any class of persons or with the knowledge that any class
of persons is likely to consider such destruction, damage or
defilement as an insult to their religion, shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two
years, or with fine, or with both?. Shockingly, the UPA government
that should punish any insult to any religion is bent upon insulting
Hindu sentiments by demolishing Ram Sethu.

In this connection, the Supreme Court?s following observations made in
paragraph number 7 of its judgement reported as S. Veerabadran
Chettiar v. E. V. Ramaswami Naicker and Others (AIR 1958 Supreme Court
1032) are relevant:

??.Any object however trivial or destitute of real value in itself if
regarded as sacred by any class of persons would come within the
meaning of the penal section (295 of Indian Penal Code). Nor is it
absolutely necessary that the object, in order to be held sacred,
should have been actually worshipped. An object may be held sacred by
a class of persons without being worshipped by them.?

Even as per the Supreme Court?s above-mentioned judgement, Ram Sethu
is a sacred object for Hindus, and destroying, damaging or defiling it
will insult the religious feelings of Hindus punishable under section
295 of Indian Penal Code.

Besides, the proposed demolition will be unconstitutional since it
would hurt Hindu sentiments, and thereby violate the Constitution?s
Preamble which proclaims India as a secular State; and would also
violate Article 25 of the Constitution which guarantees that all
persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right
freely to profess, practise and to propagate their religion.

Destroying Ram Sethu would be like destruction of Hindu temples by
marauding invaders over the centuries.

Instead of destroying this shrine, government should declare it as a
national monument under Article 49 of the Constitution, and as a ?
protected monument? under Section 3 of the Ancient Monuments
Protection Act, 1904.

Remember Ram?s message

Sakand Puraan has a touching request from Bhagwan Ram to the future
rulers to save Ram Sethu in these words: ?Bhooyo bhooyo bhavino
bhoomipaala natva natva yaachte Ramchandrah / Samanyo ayam
DharmaSethur naranaam kaale kaale paalniyo bhaviddhih? which means, ?
Ramchandra humbly and repeatedly requests the future rulers to protect
this Dharma Sethu at all times.?

Since instead of protecting Ram Sethu, the present rulers of Bharat
are determined to demolish it, the masses have to protect Ram Sethu
and force the government to halt its outrageous move. As this world
allows only the fittest to survive, only a pro-active mass movement
can force anti-Hindu forces to respect Hindu sentiments, and save Ram
Sethu. We must remember that as per Rig Veda (4.33.11), ?Na ruteh
shrantasya sakhayay devaha? (Gods do not help inactive people).

(Author is former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax. His e-mail address
is: jga...@vsnl.net)

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=202&page=11%20)

September 23, 2007
The Ram Sethu is our heritage

WE SHALL PROTECT IT
By Subramanian Swamy

The Dravidian Kazhagam, a British imperialist stooge organisation, has
recently threatened to burn the Ramyana in a public protest against ?
Aryan Supremacy? for opposing the destruction of the Ram Sethu in the
implementation of the Sethusamudram Canal Project.

The Dravida Movement which includes DMK, MDMK, PMK, and DK parties, is
a movement of atheists, which has turned its ire on Bhagwan Sri Ram,
the King of Ayodhya, and wants the Ram Sethu to be demolished because
it is a symbol of ?North Indian? domination. This shows the bias and
malice behind the determination to destruct the Ram Sethu. No self-
respecting Hindu must permit this vandalism.

The demolition also would facilitate the anti-Indian terrorist LTTE?s
brigand boats to move quicker from Tuticorin to Chennai on the Palk
Strait, and on international waters. At present, the Ram Sethu stands
in the way. Hence their vociferous support to Dravidian Movement
parties for the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project [SSCP].

To begin with, Sri Ram really emerged in national perception as a
Maryada Purushottam divinity as distinct from a young dutiful prince
of Ayodhya only after his sojourn to South India. Professor Suvira
Jaiswal [www.thehindu.com/2007/03/12/stories] who has become the
President of the Indian History Congress recently, in her S.C. Misra
Memorial Lecture states that King Ram of Ayodhya was transformed into
Bhagwan Sri Ram of the whole nation, i.e., as a re-incarnation of
Vishnu because of the Tamil Vaishnava saints, Alwars, who sang praises
of the qualities of Sri Ram. She also states that Chola and Pandya
Kings despite being Shaivites, built the first temples for Sri Ram as
a deity. Thus, while Raja Ram may be regarded as a ?northerner? from
Ayodhya, nevertheless Bhagwan Sri Ram as a divine incarnation is the
revelation of Tamil saints incorporated into the Hindu religion
nationally. Sri Ram is in fact a symbol of our nation?s oneness.
Alwars and Nayanmar saints also propagated what the Dravidian Movement
needs to learn fast: God is universally accessible, and grants
salvation irrespective of caste to all those who worship him with
complete devotion. God is not pro-any caste or where one is born. If
such is the faith, who is the government to question it? As the Punjab
& Haryana High Court division bench opined in 1993 in the
Brahmasaravor case, even a stone is an ancient national monument if
the people have faith in it.

While the Hindu scriptures have given vivid and moving description of
the construction of the Ram Sethu, its existence has now been
confirmed by two scientific sources. In the first, the present
configuration of the Ram Sethu has been photographed by US National
Aeronautics and Space Agency [NASA] by their satellites, and colour
photos of the same are widely available on the NASA website. These
photos establish the Sethu?s existence as a chain of shoal stones.

The Department of Earth Science of the Government of India in a report
to the President of India has stated that shoal stones placement make
out that they were ?deliberately placed there?. That is, as if it was
constructed in the manner described by the Valmiki, Kamban, and
Tulsidas, saints who authored the Ramyana epic at different points in
time in Sanskrit, Tamil and Hindi. NASA also establishes the age of
the shoal stones as 1,750,000 years ago. The bridge formation itself
by placing these stones one by one, according to the Earth Science
Department, is not less than 9000 years.

Such independent corroboration therefore cannot be dismissed as mere
coincidence and not worthy of notice as the DMK nominee in the union
ministry of shipping T.R. Baalu has been saying. At the very minimum
it requires a full inquiry as to whether or not the said Ram Sethu is
a Hindu heritage site. Millions believe it to be so, and hence the
government cannot take a narrow cynical view of such faith.

The objective of the Rs. 2427 crore SSCP nevertheless could be a
worthy one, and for the national good if the calculations and data
used are accurate. But a closer look using the analysis of Dr. Jacob
John [published in Economic and Political Weekly, July 21, 2007],
suggests that the entire economic cost-benefit analysis made by the
Union Shipping Ministry and presented in a Detailed Project Report
[DPR] to the Union Cabinet for approval of the project is bogus and
aimed at misleading the nation about the financial viability of the
project.

That is, while no rational opinion is against the project per se if it
is viable, what is however sought is a feasible amendment of the SSCP,
to avoid vandalizing the Ram Sethu by destructing it, and thereby
hurting the religious sentiment of millions of Hindus.

The objective of SSCP can be achieved by digging through the 15
kilometre mainland stretch between Pamban and Dhanushkodi, adjacent to
the Ram Sethu thereby leaving hoary Sethu intact. This accommodative
approach of seeking of an alternative was followed by the Delhi Metro
when its underground route digging came too close to the Qutub Minar.
This will not only be welcome but the dredging costs on land will be
much lower.

Moreover, retention of the Ram Sethu as it is, will ensure as it did
in the past the minimisation of the damage from the tsunami disaster
when the spread of the massive displacement of sea water caused by
plate tectonic earthquake in Aceh reached the shores of India. The Ram
Sethu acted as a wave and speed-breaker, thus saving enormous number
of lives and damage to property.

I would therefore suggest that the SSCP be put on hold, and the
alternative canal route be researched by a committee of experts and an
amended project report be prepared. This is incidentally the opinion
of a very wise Sub-Judge Mohammed Asif of the Ramnathapuram
Subordinate Court. On February 23, 2007 while ruling on a petition
challenging the SSCP he stated: ?Imperatives of development and our
commitment to protect heritage are two ends. A careful, intelligent
balance should be struck between the two. Final opinion could be
pronounced on issues raised by the petitioners only after subjecting
their documents to thorough scrutiny with opinion of experts in the
field.?

The Ram Sethu is a living miracle, and therefore the Government of
India ought to approach UNESCO to get it declared as the 28th World
Heritage Site. The Tourism Ministry should also develop the area to
vest it with the essential infrastructure so that pilgrims can come
from far and wide.

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=202&page=3

November 11, 2007
Ram Sethu: A question of security of the nation
By Dr S. Kalyana Raman

The approaches to a channel would be far too open with no possibility
of construction of protective works. A channel at this site?even if it
can be made and maintained (which is unlikely)?would entail definite
navigational hazard.

It is the responsibility of any civil government to incorporate
tsunami warning systems and tsunami protection systems in the project
area. Failure to do so is criminal negligence. There are no tsunami or
cyclone protection measures in the project design. Japan has provided
for huge walls like dams to protect its coastline against recurring
tsunamis.

Madras Presidency Administration Report, 1903 and a Travelogue, 1744
refer to the bridge Glossary entry: Adam. ?? Called the bridge of Ram?
It really joined Ceylon to India until 1480, when a breach was made
through rocks during a storm. A subsequent storm enlarged this and
foot traffic then ceased?Partly above and partly below water; but when
covered has now here above three or four feet of water?? Source:
Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency. C.D. Maclean
(1903). New Delhi, AES, 3 Vols., 2440 pp.)

Ram Sethu is not a political party or state issue. It relates to the
security of the rashtram. It is an issue of national sovereignty.

The benefits of the channel project listed by Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister, M. Karunanidhi, such as building four-lane roads, can take
place even without the Sethu Channel Project, though the list does not
mention a single new port coming up between Tuticorin and
Nagapattinam. Since the channel passage envisaged is about 15 to 20
kms. away from the coastline how does it benefit the coastal people?

M. Karunanidhi justifies the Sethusamudram channel project using 150
year old inquiries during the British regime. It should be underscored
that the British ABANDONED the idea of building a canal across Ram
Sethu because they found alternative ways to loot the nation?s mineral
wealth, by laying a Railway line from Kolkata to Bombay. Encyclopedia
Brittanica, published from USA in 2002, mentions on page 88 that
dredging of Ram Sethu was started in 1838 by the British rulers. It
was abandoned due to the high cost. It further mentions that at that
time the depth of water on the sethu was not more than 4'.

However, the first committee which went into this proposal was after
Independence was the Committee headed by Sir A Ramaswamy Mudaliar, who
submitted a report in 1956 recommending establishment of a port at
Tuticorin and a land-based canal across Mandapam to connect Tuticorin
port with eastern ports. M. Karunanidhi conveniently forgets that Sir
A Ramaswamy Mudaliar stated as follows in Para 16 of the Committee
Report:[quote] ?We are convinced that the Adam?s Bridge site is
unsuitable for the following reasons: First: The shifting Sandbanks in
this area present a far more formidable problem?both at the stage of
construction and during maintenance?than the sand dunes on the island
site. Secondly: The approaches to a channel would be far too open with
no possibility of construction of protective works. A channel at this
site?even if it can be made and maintained (which is unlikely)? would
entail definite navigational hazard. Thirdly: The channel would be
bordering on the Sethusamudram Medial Line. In these circumstances we
have no doubt, whatever that the junction between the two sea should
be effectd by a Canal; and the idea of cutting a passage in the sea
through Adam?s Bridge should be abandoned.?

Serious, acts of neglect in formulating the project which impact on
the integrity of nation?s coastline, may now be listed:

1. Geological Survey of India was NOT involved in the project design/
project monitoring. The project area is riddled with tectonic fault-
lines, is an intense heat flow zone (with hot springs in the coastline
between Nagapttinam to Kerala) and mannar volcanics 105 m. years old
have been identified. Project work is likely to trigger mini-tsunami?s
with devastating effect on the coastline. There has been a total
failure to study the cultural and national wealth aspects of the
entire project area south of Ram Sethu with placer deposits of very
rich heavy minerals and rare earths: ilmenite, monazite, rutile,
zircon, rutile sands containing thorium and titanium?nuclear resource
and space age metal respectively. It should have been known to the
project designers that the 150 kms. stretch south of Ram Sethu is
nuclear region of the world accounting for 32 per cent of the thorium
reserves of the world-thorium which is critical for ensuring energy
independence for the nation. Sand godowns have come up along this
coastal stretch south of Ram Sethu and there is an ongoing loot of
rich mineral placer deposits.

2. To quote a tsunami expert, Prof. Tad Murty?s words of warning in
this context: ?I like this Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP)
but there is a flaw. The entrance to the channel should be re-oriented
towards the eastern side. Otherwise, there is a chance that it may
create a deepwater route for another devastating tsunami. This may
cause huge destruction in Kerala?. The project design was NOT re-
examined, re-evaluated in the wake of the impact of the tsunami of
December 2004. Tsunami impact has been so severe that the bathymetry
of the Indian ocean had changed drastically, resulting in the rise of
the seabed by as much as 200 m. in some regions.

3. Nature magazine reported on 6 September 2007 that another tsunami
more devastating than the December 2004 tsunami is likely putting at
risk over 6 to 7 crore people in the Bay of Bengal coastline. This
warning by scientists should have resulted in immediate suspension of
all project works along the coastline (including Ram Sethu) until
scientists investigate the report and incorporate safety measures,
saving lives and property along the coast. As former Ambassador O.P.
Gupta notes: ?Prosecution of civil servants u/s 304(A) IPC for
selecting maximum casualty alignment without comparative study of
casualties in each of six alignments? A project commissioned without
study of likely public casualties due to tsunamis which is a
punishable offence under section 304(A) of the Indian Penal Code.
Officials who approved the present alignment can be personally &
individually prosecuted even after retirement.?

4. It is the responsibility of any civil government to incorporate
tsunami warning systems and tsunami protection systems in the project
area. Failure to do so is criminal negligence. There are NO tsunami or
cyclone protection measures in the project design. Japan has provided
for huge walls like dams to protect their coastline against recurring
tsunamis. M. Karunanidhi should explain why such safeguards have not
been incorporated to save the lives of coastal people of Tamilnadu and
Kerala. By not providing for locks on the channel, Gulf of Mannar
serene waters which are breeding grounds for many aquatic species will
be devastated by the incursion of the turbulent waters from the Bay of
Bengal through the channel. There are over 3,600 unique aquatic
species in the Ram Sethu region, in 24 Gulf of Mannar Bioreserve
national parks. Kilakkarai and other places produces?ankha, a cultural
symbol venerated in Bharatiya traditions (West Bengal Development
Corporation. In Kilakarai has an annual turnover of Rs. 100 crores to
procure s?ankha from Ram Sethu coastal zone). Karunanidhi may be aware
that Wild Lift Act clearance has to be obtained for such projects;
this was not done in the case of this project, and hence is an illegal
project. Another illegality is that Law of the Sea commitments have
been violated by adversely impacting the habitats of aquatic flora and
fauna, an act prohibited under Law of the Sea, 1958.

5. Mid-ocean channel passage alignment is created under US pressure ?
US diktat (US Navy operational directive of 23 June 2005 as evidenced
by the hasty inauguration of the channel project, within 7 days
thereafter, on 2 July 2005. This arbitrary and high-handed decision to
create an international waters boundary where none existed (under
Sirimavo Bandaranaike-Indira Gandhi declaration of June 1974, the area
was declared as ?HISTORIC WATERS? that is, waters shared as a
commonwealth between India and Srilanka under UN Law of the Sea 1958).
The violation of this declaration under US diktat is an assault on
nation?s sovereignty, national security and survival. Today the Pamban
gap (with the cantilever railway bridge) is in use for small ships
with 11 ft. deep waters. Why not re-examine the use of this existing
channel?

6. Srilankan experts? concerns on the impact on environment have been
ignored. The concerns included the possibility of impacting fresh-
water supplies to Jaffna and Rameshwaram by the desiccation of
limestone freshwater caves in the project area during project dredging/
blasting work. Good neighbourly relations demand that India respect
these concerns.

7. Salvage operations for a grounded naval vessel have not been
discussed in any of the project reports. In Suez canal, special
arrangements using bollards every 200 ft. and metal wires are in place
to salvage a grounded ship in any segment along the entire stretch of
the canal. No such arrangements exist in the channel project; in fact,
such salvage operations are virtually impossible in a mid-ocean
channel. There is no experience anywhere in the world for maintaining
the stability of such a mid-ocean channel passage. Suez and Panama
canals are land-based canals. Any prudent designer should have
carefully evaluated the option for a land-based canal and issues of
navigational hazards, before venturing into creating a veritable
international boundary exactly three kms. west of the medial line
between India and Srilanka and calling it a Sethusamudram Channel.

8. Project cost-benefit estimates were padded. One instance is the
wrong computation of time saving through this channel. It is clear
that for navigation between Kolkata and Tuticorin, the proposed
channel will save only one hour and 45 mts. as Capt. Balakrishnan has
demonstrated. This fundamental parameter puts the economics of the
entire project in question. Another instance is the wrong computation
of maintenance dredging. In this sedimentation sink, perpetual
dredging will be needed to keep the channel stable and open. Costs of
such dredging could be prohibitive rending the entire project a sick
unit from day one.

If a reason is needed to protect Ram Sethu, it evokes Sri Ram who is
vigrahavaan dharmah, the very embodiment of dharma. Forgetting dharma,
we forget our very identity and meaning of our very social life,
either for nihs?reyas or for abhyudayam. We are trustees of the
punyabhumi for the present and future generations; a trust which can
be betrayed only by rendering the state as an instrument of high-
handedness, arrogance and utter disregard for human sentiments. The
state has chosen to ignore the thousands of pages of evidence produced
to and accepted by Madras HC about this world heritage monument.

Karunanidhi, as a Tamil scholar, should also explain the meaning of
the Tamil word, ?sethu? according to Abhidanakos?am. This
encyclopaedia notes that sethu means : man-made bund. (The word ?bund?
comes from bandha as in sethu-bandha). Sangam literature is replete
with references to Sethu in Akananooru, Puranaanooru, and also in
Tamil classics S?ilappadikaaram, Manimekalai. S?ilappadikaram refers
to the embodiment of Tamil culture, Kannagi who adores Kotravai
(Durga); the same classic also refers to Ram Sethu. Karunanidhi should
surely accept the evidence of this classic for both Kannagi and Ram
Sethu. He is also a Tamil historian and should know that there are
Sethu coins found in thousands in Jaffna (Yaazhppaanam) referred to as
Aryachakravarti coins of the 10th century. He should know that
Parantaka Chola I has a Velanjeri Copper plate inscription which
refers to the monarch offering setutirtham and tulaabharam at
Setukkarai. He may not know that many Tamil saints had sung the praise
of Sethu, Sethubandhanam and Sethubandha Rames?waram as a
tirthasthaanam. He may also not know that are sculptural panels in
Prambanan (Brahmavana) temple in Indonesia showing Sethubandhana
construction?photographs of these sculptures are published by
Archaeological Survey of India. Surely, Karunanidhi should know the
many epigraphs of Setupati Raja?s referring to their responsibility to
protect and save Ram Sethu. Surely, Karunanidhi has read Abhidaanakos?
am which gives the meaning of the word, ?sethu? in Tamil as ?
ceyarkkarai? (meaning, artificial bund). The word, ?bund? as noted
comes from bandha, sethubandha. Surely, M. Karunanidhi the politician
should know that his colleague in the party Hon?ble T.R. Baalu went to
Sarasvati Mahal Library and saw the 5X6 ft. map of 1788 showing
Ramarcoil and Rama?s Bridge, a map drawn by Joseph Parks, an
Australian botanical explorer.

In a book titled, Ramanathapuram District Gazetteer published in 1972,
Shri Karunanidhi, the then Chief Minister writes a foreword and
praises the contents. The book refers to Ram Sethu (also called Adam?s
bridge or Nala Sethu

Madras Presidency Administration Report, 1903 and a Travelogue, 1744
refer to the bridge Glossary entry: Adam. ?? Called the bridge of
Rama? It really joined Ceylon to India until 1480, when a breach was
made through rocks during a storm. A subsequent storm enlarged this
and foot traffic then ceased?Partly above and partly below water; but
when covered has now here above three or four feet of water?? Source:
Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency./C.D. Maclean
(1903). New Delhi, AES, 3 Vols., 2440 pp.)

Travelogue a book by Alexander Hamilton, 1744, A New Account of the
East Indies: Giving an Exact and Copious Description of the Situation,
P. 338 describes his visit to ?zeloan? (alt. spelling for Ceylon) by
walking on the bridge.

Asiatic Society, 1799, Asiatick Researches: Or, Transactions of the
Society Instituted in Bengal, P. refers to the bridge called Setband
(alt. spelling, sethuband like Allahband; setu-bandha): ?The people
call it a bridge; or otherwise it appears to have wood growing on it,
and to be inhabited.?

Under the Ancient Monuments and Protection Act, 1958 it is the
responsibility of the state to declare Ram Sethu as an ancient
monument and recommend to UNESCO to declare it as World Heritage.

Aasetu himachalam is the Survey of India logo of 1767 attesting to Ram
Sethu as defining the boundary of Bharatam spanning Hindumaha-sagaram
and Himalayas.

Karunanidhi as a statesman talking of Tamil Nadu as vallaras?u, and
like Hon?ble CM of AP who declared Tirumala as divyakshetram, declare
Ram Sethu as a divyakshetram. This will surely earn him the political
credits needed as a person who respects Hindu sentiments and Hindu
civilizational ethos. This will restore glory of Bharatam, including
Tamil glory as kappalottiya tamizhan and create an Indian Ocean
Community, Hindumaakkadal (Hindumahasagar) samudayam.

(The writer is President, Rameshwaram Ram Sethu Raksha Manch,
Director, Saraswati Research Centre, and can be contacted at
Kaly...@gmail.com)

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May 18, 2008
SC on Ram Sethu
Big vindication for Save Ram Sethu campaign

The Supreme Court?s order has come as an encouragement for the groups
opposed to destruction of the Ram Sethu. Janata Party president Dr.
Subramanian Swamy, a petitioner in the case, told the Organiser that
the apex court?s order was binding on the government in the light of
the recent Madras High Court order.

Explore alternative alignments; Ask ASI to study historicity of Ram
Sethu; Can it be a national monument, SC asks center

The Supreme Court on May 8 asked the union government to consider
holding an archaeological survey to ascertain whether the Ram Sethu
can be declared an ?ancient monument?. The court also asked the centre
to examine the possibility of carrying out the project through other
alignments.

?There is a specific direction of the Madras High Court that the
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) should carry investigations
whether Ram Sethu is an ancient monument or not,? a bench headed by
Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said. ?You also explore the
possibility of carrying out the project through any other channels
(alignments),? the bench, also comprising Justices R.V. Raveendran and
J.M. Panchal, said.

HE matter will come up for further hearing on July 22. The bench said
that in the interregnum, the centre could consider these two aspects
as directed by the High Court on June 19 last year. Appearing for the
centre to defend the controversial project, senior advocate Fali S
Nariman responded positively to the court?s view.

Arguing against the demolition of the Ram Sethu, Dr. Swamy, senior
advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan and others contended that there was a
possibility of going ahead with the project through alternative
alignments, which would be economically more viable and cause no
damage to environment. It would also protect the religious faith of
Hindus who consider the structure as sacred, they submitted.

A three-judge bench also suggested the centre to explore the
possibility of a study by Archaeological Survey of India to determine
if the Ram Sethu could be classified as an ancient monument.

The observations of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V.
Raveendran and J.M. Panchal should encourage the assorted group of
Hindutva activists and environmentalists who have opposed the Sethu
project for diverse reasons.

After two days of discussions on the Sethu?believed to have been built
by Lord Rama to cross into Ravana?s kingdom?the bench asked senior
advocate Fali S Nariman to urge the centre to examine the viability of
an alternative alignment.

Though not binding, the suggestions?coming in response to passionate
arguments on behalf of petitioners accusing the centre of disregarding
the belief of millions to please UPA partner DMK?can add to the
reluctance of an already wary Congress on whether to go ahead with the
politically sensitive project.

The government has in any case been on the back foot since the
affidavit in the apex court questioning the existence of Lord Rama.

Congress may be constrained to appear sensitive for the alternative
alignment now that it has been endorsed by the apex court.

The desirability of the alignment of the Rs 2,400 crore project that
proposes dredging a channel having a width of 300 metres on Ram Sethu
to shorten the shipping distance between the western and eastern coast
ports has been questioned also by environmentalists, economists and
security analysts.

However, it is the ?matter of faith for 100 crore Hindus? argument put
forward by the Hindutva organisations that is proving to be the chief
deterrent.

The suggestion came from the bench after Janata Party president Dr.
Subramanian Swamy, in his arguments over two days, pointed out the
fallacies in the decision of the government to go ahead with the
project ostensibly under pressure from coalition ally DMK.

What prompted the apex court to give these suggestions was the Madras
High Court order of June 19 last year asking the government to conduct
an in-depth study by ASI and consideration of an alternative alignment
without harming the Ram Sethu.

With the court?s interim order restraining any dredging on Ram Sethu
till further orders continuing to operate, this long adjournment along
with the suggestions for an in-depth ASI study and consideration of an
alternative alignment would be sure to delay the project, despite the
government expressing its keen desire and filing an application in the
apex court seeking vacation of the interim stay order.

Senior advocates K. Parasaran, Soli J. Sorabjee, C.S. Vaidyanathan,
Sriram Panchu and M. Krishnanmani, who appeared for different
petitioners, had stressed on the religious significance of Ram Sethu
among Hindus and had apprehended that any dredging could bring in a
catastrophic situation akin to the one seen after the demolition of
Babri structure.

Dr. Subramanian Swamy had alleged that the government-appointed expert
committee resisted the ASI probe that the structure was man-made.
While the senior politician was questioning the committee report, the
bench said his request in the petition was confined only to the Ram
Sethu but he was arguing on entire Sethusamudram project. At this Dr.
Swamy said, ?If I prove that the project is illegal, then the Ram
Sethu will be protected.?

He said the Sri Lankan authorities were watching the outcome of the
proceedings in the apex court and Colombo may drag India to
International Court of Justice, The Hague, seeking independent probe
about the environmental impact of the project.

The 34-member advisory committee group constituted by the Sri Lankan
government has concluded that environment impact assessment by India
on the Sethusamud-ram project was inadequate, the Janata Party
president claimed.

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April 29, 2007
Ram Sethu: Scientific evidence of ancient human activity
By S. Kalyanaraman

Scientific evidences point to human activity in ancient times on both
sides of Ram Sethu as found by Deptt. of Earth Sciences and ocean
technologists of Bharatam. This area should be declared a protected
monument under the Protection of Monuments Act and declared as a World
Heritage site by the Government of India and advised to UNESCO.

The Geological and geophysical survey of the Sethu-samudram Project
clearly reveal that Rama?s bridge appears to be a major

Geological feature. The surveys reveal that to the north of Ram Sethu
on the Palk Bay side, the formation have undergone down faulting and
the Ram Sethu came up as an up thrown block. This geomorphic feature
is seem to be continuous and verified both by bathymetry survey and
NASA land image.

One could clearly see that this is but a continuous feature with minor
depressions upto about 100m width. In consonance with these things
there are inter tidal marine sandy islands. These depressions and the
islands appear to be neotectonic feature resulting in changes in
bathymetry.

It is a well established scientific phenomenon that there has been a
major glaciation period (ice age) with glacial maxima at about 18,000
years BP. This feature has been observed and studied in several parts
of the world with the help of submerged Corals. During the glacial
Maxima, the sea level was about 130m lower than what is today. This is
evidenced both on the east

and west coast of India, where submerged Corals occur around 1 to 2m
water depths and they are clear indicators of near coastal zone.

The Ram Sethu ridge is a major marine divide. It separates the furious
Bay of Bengal sea and sediments in the Palk bay and the very calm
placid waters of the Gulf of Mannar. This ridge like feature is
similar to the ?Allaband? that was formed after a major earthquake in
Arabian Sea in the early 19th century. In the Allaband, a long stretch
of about 90km length and about 0.5 to 4km wide zone got uplifted
because of a major tectonic event that was responsible for the
earthquake. Since this event occurred in the recent past and such huge
track of land was raised, people called that it is happened due to the
will of Allah and named it Allaband.

The Ram Sethu is a similar feature but formed much earlier due to
tectonic causes that were prevalent in these areas. However, during
the last ice age (18,000 year BP) the entire area from India to Sri
Lanka and further south and southeast were contagious land due to the
highly lowered sea level. As and when there were major melting of
glaciers both from the mountains as well as from the Antarctic area,
the sea level was rising. These features were well recorded and
studied by several submerged Coral formations all over the world.
About 7,300 years BP the sea level in the southern part of India was
about 3.5 m above the present level. This has been deciphered by Dr.
P.K. Banerjee, who studied Corals that found in the land part as of
Pamban, Rameswaram, and Tuticorin etc. Subsequently the sea level went
down and rose +2m above than what is today between 5000 to 4000 years
B.P.

The Geological logging of the bore holes drilled by NIOT in the inter
tidal areas of Ram Sethu reveals very interesting details. In all the
bore holes the top portion is seen to be occupied by recent marine
sands. In almost of all the boreholes between 4.5 and 7.5m the
borehole intersected hard formations, which have been found to be
calcareous sand stones and corals. It is to be pointed out here that
Corals are comparatively less dense, compact and somewhat easy to
carry. The Corals normally grow atop compact to hard formations for
the purpose of stability, and as the sea level rises, the Coral colony
grows up vertically to maintain water depth of 1 to 2 m, which is
essential for their survival. It is always observed that these Corals
have continuous vertical growth like Lakshadweep, Andaman?s, and Gulf
of Mannar Natural Park. These have always been found to grow on hard
rock bottom. In the case of Ram Sethu area, we observe that the Coral
formations hardly occur 1 to 2.5m in length and resting on loose
marine sands. Most of these coral rock pieces are seem to be rounded
pebbles of corals. These things appear to point these coral rock
pieces and pebbles have been transported and placed in these areas.

Since the calcareous sand stones and Corals are less dense than normal
hard rock and quite compact, probably these were used by the ancients
to form a connecting link to Sri Lanka, on the higher elevations of
the Ram Sethu ridge and this is analogous to modern day causeway.

In support of these observations there are many archaeological and
geoarchaeological evidences on the south east coast of India around
Rameswaram, Tuticorin and the western coast of Sri Lanka. There are
raised Teri formations that supported a rich assemblage of mesolithic?
microlithic tools indicating the presence of strong human habitation
and activity in these areas as early as 8000 to 9000 years B.P and as
recent as 4000 years B.P. On Sri Lanka side there are indications of
human habitation extending to late Pleistocene (about 13,000 B.P)
based on bone and fossils of human and animal form.

All these point to a flourishing human activity on both side of Adams
Bridge and probably when the sea levels were just right the link
between India and Sri Lanka could have been established.

Source: Dept. of Earth Sciences, Government of India (March, 2007)

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January 13, 2008
?Ram Sethu fully qualifies to be declared and protected as ancient
national monument?: J. Jayalalithaa

Expressing her support to the Ram Sethu Raksha Manch, the former Tamil
Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa sent the
following message to the VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal. We
reproduce the full text:

International conventions have consolidated the solidarity of nations
in preserving historical/archaeological sites and India, being a party
to these conventions, is obliged to preserve heritage sites like the
Ram Sethu.

Dear Shri Ashok Singhalji

Right from the day the Ram Sethu bridge demolition issue came into
focus, I have been issuing statements pointing out how the destruction
of the bridge would be a grave threat to the environment, the flora
and fauna of the region, apart from posing a very real danger of
extinction to the marine life in the area, thereby seriously affecting
the livelihood prospects of the fishing community for whom marine life
is the only source of income. The historic and legendary association
of the bridge with Lord Ram is deeply enshrined not only in the minds
and hearts of the people of India but indeed in the minds and hearts
of Hindus living all over the world.

Quite apart from the religious significance and historical importance
of the Ram Sethu, and leaving aside the argument as to the origin of
the bridge, whether it is man-made or a natural formation, it is an
undeniable truth that the bridge is one of the wonders of the world
and should be preserved for its value as a World Heritage Site. No
government has the right to destroy this bridge, which is why my
government refused to accord environmental clearance for the
Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project despite enormous pressure from the
central government.

When the union government recently constituted a committee to examine
the project afresh before submitting a report to the apex court, I
felt it was my duty to bring to the notice of the people the following
facts:

This committee can hardly be described as a committee of experts as is
being claimed by the union government. At least three of the members
are historians and they can only vouch for the historical validity of
the Ram legend. One represents NEERI (National Environmental
Engineering and Research Institute) which, being an interested party,
is bound to have biased views. One member, R.S. Sharma, is a witness
in the Ramjanmabhoomi case. Shri S. Ramachandran, the chairman of the
committee, has already expressed his views publicly supporting the
Sethusamudram Project. He cannot be expected to take a different or
unbiased view now. All these facts hardly inspire any public
confidence about the neutrality of the members of the committee. More
ominous is the fact that there are no social scientists to discuss the
problems of the coastal people, particularly fishermen. To discuss
navigational issues, there are no maritime or naval experts. There are
no defence personnel to discuss security concerns, especially when the
Sethusamudram Ship Canal becomes an international seaway. There are no
oceanographers to discuss ocean currents and their effects especially
as it comes within a tsunami-hit area. There are no economist to
discuss economy-related issues especially when the Sethusamudram
Project is being touted as one that will economically uplift Tamil
Nadu. These conspicuous and glaring omissions raise serious doubts
about the credibility of the committee and the possible veracity of
its report.

While setting out the above facts, I made a demand that the committee
be disbanded.

In this context I had also pointed out that the Sethusamudram Ship
Canal Project as conceived would be of little use to the nation, as it
would have a centrifugal effect on the economy, navigational tonnage
of ships, the environment and the sentiments of the widest sections of
our people.

I had also filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court under Article 32
of the Constitution of India to protect the Ram Sethu, a structure of
immeasurable historical, archaeological and heritage value from being
destroyed, in the garb of carrying out an infrastructure project, on
the following irrefutable facts.

Ram Sethu would fully qualify to be declared and protected as an
ancient national monument, because it falls within each one of the
parameters laid down in the definition of ?ancient monument? in the
1958 Act.

The Rama Sethu, which in geographical terms is described in various
survey maps and historical texts as ?Adam?s Bridge?, by reason of its
antiquity and unique features qualifies to be treated as a World
Heritage Site.

In a recent satellite image. NASA of the USA has spotted the ancient
bridge and confirmed the physical existence of the bridge, which is a
crucial structure of a bygone era, dating back millions of years and
is estimated to be over 17,50,000 years old.

The bridge is of immeasurable sentimental value to millions of people
in India and Hindus living all over the world and hence the structure
is worthy of protection purely from a historical and archaeological
standpoint.

The Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project proposes to dredge the shallow
ocean floor near the Dhanuskodi end of Rama?s Bridge, to create enough
leeway for ships to pass through the channel and will cut through the
bridge, thus damaging it.

Even during the tsunami devastation the Ram Sethu bridge acted as a
natural barrier, preventing direct devastation, thus establishing its
utility in the ecological/geographical preservation of the area also.

I wish the rally to be held on 30.12.2007 in New Delhi by the Ram
Sethu Raksha Manch all success as it reflects the strong sentiments of
the vast majority of the people of our country.

With kind regards
Yours sincerely
J. Jayalalithaa

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November 11, 2007

Sri Ram and History of Ram Sethu
By Uma Bharati

Sri Ram was born three yugas ago, so there could be places of the era
of Sri Ram, but the fact that there was a monument built during the
era of Sri Ram was very heartening and encouraging. I wanted that I
should announce this news before the whole world.
***
The destruction of Ram Sethu is not only an insult to Indian culture,
but it will also deprive lakhs of fishermen of their livelihood and
will also present a grave threat to our national security.
***
While fighting for the cause of protection of Ram Sethu, one of the
two things that has come to light is, Hindus, instead of using their
united power, depend only on God to protect their religious places.
This shows that there is no change in the attitude of Hindus as it was
during the period of Babur and Ghaznavi.

The whole credit to discover and protect Ram Sethu goes to the late
RSS Pracharak Chamanlalji, who used to look after overseas activities
of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and lived at Sangh?s Jhandewalan
office. I was a minister at the centre when NASA?s photo exhibition
was held in Delhi.

A picture related to Ram Sethu, which was shown in the exhibition, was
published in daily Hindustan. Chamanlalji immediately called me to
come to the Sangh office. Chamanlalji and I had a very close and
spiritual bond. I regarded him as a rishi and hence his every
instruction was an order for me. He showed the picture of Ram Sethu
and then I took him to the exhibition. Thereafter, he told me if I
could do something for Ram Sethu, I should do it. By the grace of God,
I was given the charge of the Ministry of Coal and Mines. Under the
Department of Mines, there is a sub-department, namely Geological
Survey of India (GSI). At the time of a presentation by that
department, I showed them the picture of Ram Sethu taken by NASA and
told them to send a team of scientists to Rameshwaram to confirm the
authenticity of the picture. The GSI team, having reached Rameshwaram,
Dhanushkoti and studying the place shown in the picture, confirmed the
underwater formation of rocks attached to each other and described
those rocks as old as one lakh years. For further study and
excavation, they proposed a detailed project involving marine and
scientific assistance and a budget of Rs. 100 crore. I was very
excited and concluded that if Ram Sethu is true, so is Ramjanmabhoomi
and all places associated with our faith.

At that time, I was told by Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee and Shri Lal
Krishna Advani to resign from the ministership and counter Congress in
Madhya Pradesh in the forthcoming elections. At the time of
resignation, I was very disappointed because the Ram Sethu exploration
work was incomplete. So I met the Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari
Vajpayee and made him aware of the progress of the work, related to
Ram Sethu and urged him to issue a direction to the next minister to
expedite this work. I myself was very energised by this discovery,
because I maintained that Sri Ram was born three yugas ago, so there
could be places of the era of Sri Ram, but the fact that there was a
monument built during the era of Sri Ram was very heartening and
encouraging. I wanted that I should announce this news before the
whole world.

When I was in the cabinet at the centre, then the discussion on
Sethusamudram project was going on. But after my return to Madhya
Pradesh, I had no way to follow up about further developments. The
decision that Sethusamudram project should be implemented by
destroying Ram Sethu was never taken till I was in the cabinet.

After my resignation as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, due to
the tricolour case in Hubli, and after the formation of my new
political party and during the Bharat Suraksha Yatra from Rameshwaram
to Kedarnath, I came to know about implementation of Sethusamudram
project by destroying Ram Sethu. This news came as a severe jolt to me
and immediately I wrote a letter to the then President of India Dr
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, making him aware of the developments. We also
informed Shri Ashok Singhal about this and our party launched a
movement against this, which still continues.

The destruction of Ram Sethu is not only an insult to Indian culture,
but it will also deprive lakhs of fishermen of their livelihood and
will also present a grave threat to our national security. Most of the
cadres of LTTE, who cross over to Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka posing as
refugees, reside in the nearby areas of Rameshwaram. They indulge in
the smuggling of illegal weapons and sell their weapons to Islamic
terrorists.

While fighting for the cause of protection of Ram Sethu, two things
have come to light. Firstly, Hindus, instead of using their united
power, depend only on God to protect their religious places. This
shows that there is no change in the attitude of Hindus as it was
during the period of Babur and Ghaznavi. Secondly, the facts presented
by the central government, in an affidavit on Ram Sethu, made it
evident that when a person of foreign origin, having faith in
Christianity, holds an important post as de facto head of the
government, the Hindu community will have to face such insults. I
congratulate VHP for raising the issue of Ram Sethu and launching a
movement against Sethusamudram project. My party and I will lend our
support to every effort to protect Ram Sethu.

(The writer is a respected senior political leader and former Chief
Minister of Madhya Pradesh.)

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=209&page=26

May 27, 2007
From the Front Page

A Chennai seminar
Ram Sethu campaign gains momentum
By Sankara Mahadevan

Multi-disciplinary experts establish that Ram Sethu is ancient and it
is man-made

Heat in Chennai was on the increase in more than one sense last week.
As mercury relentlessly rose about 200 journalists were arrested for
trying to take out a protest march condemning the killing of three
employees of Dinakaran, a Tamil daily owned by the ruling DMK chief?s
family, allegedly by supporters of a member of the same family.

On the same day i.e. May 12, far from the heat and dust, experts of
several disciplines converged in the city and dared to look beyond the
present; they deliberated upon the possible havocs in case Ram Sethu
is destroyed. The air was thick with rumours that Ram Sethu might be
blasted if dredging becomes difficult on the rough sea. The lone
dredger on job had been brought to the shore the previous day. The
solemn meet was an International Seminar on Scientific Security
Aspects of Sethu Samudram Project (SSCP) organised by Rameswaram Ram
Sethu Protection Movement (RRSPM).

Justice Parvat Rao, retired judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court, summed
up the mood of the seminar thus: ?Marine specialists here have shown
that Ram Sethu is man-made and archaeologists have established that it
is ancient. So Ram Sethu is a monument. Article 51-A of the
Constitution of India says that protection of heritage handed down to
us is the duty of the citizens. Supreme Court has said that the duty
of the citizens is the duty of the state (the government). In the case
of Ram Sethu, the government is too rash?it shows defiant disregard
for danger or consequences?and it seems bent upon destroying the
monument. So, Ram Sethu should be declared a national monument at the
earliest?.

The learned judge wanted that the facts that emeged in the seminar
should be taken to the people in a language that they understand.
Members of Parliamernt should be educated on this. He wished that the
Movement (RRSPM) gains momentum, so that people could be saved from
perils.

Prof. Madhav Das Nalapat, Professor of Geopolitics, Academy of Higher
Education, Manila University, rubbished the argument in certain
circles: ?Why bother about the fate of a bridge built by a man from
Uttar Pradesh in Tamil Nadu?? He said Tamil Nadu cannot survive
without Bharat and Bharat cannot survive without Tamil Nadu. Bharat is
one country and it is great. He warned that cost of hydrocarbon fuel
that we need (80 percent of which is dependent on imports) has
increased while our nuclear plan is under-funded. He hinted that loss
of Thorium by destruction of Ram Sethu would be debilitating.

Dr S. Badrinarayanan, Geologist and consultant, National Institute of
Ocean Technology (NIOT), introduced himself as a field scientist and
asserted that there is hard evidence to prove the existence of Ram
Sethu. Ocean bed bore tests show that the ridge is man-made and it is
an engineering marvel, added Badrinarayanan.

Prof. C.S.P. Iyer, executive director, Centre for Marine Analytical
Reference and Standards, Thiruananthapuram, stressed the need to
conserve the marine bio reserve in the placid Mannar sea, extolled by
the UN. This, he pointed out, owes its existence to the Ram Sethu.
Nowhere else in the world there are 3,600 species of marine life in
one place as found close to the Ram Sethu. The Professor dwelt at
length on the effects of silts, prohibitive cost, absence of any
tsunami precaution and turbulence of Bay of Bengal in the shipping
canal project. He called for a scientific study of the environs before
the shipping canal project could progress.

Shri V. Sundaram, IAS (retd.), first chairman of Tuticorin Port Trust
(the organisation that is now in charge of the Sethu Samudram
Project), said that the Prime Minister will have to face an enquiry
under another regime tomorrow for not referring the vital queries
(regarding absence of safeguards against tsunami) raised by Tad. S.
Murthy to the Ministry of Shipping but to the Tuticorin Port Trust, a
mere executing body. ?I smell a rat in the whole affair,? he said.

Captain (retd.) H. Balakrishnan of the Indian Navy, forcefully argued
the security risks in the shipping canal use, citing the recently
added ?Air Arm? of the LTTE that has conducted three raids on Sri
Lankan assets last month.

Shri T. Satyamurthy, former director of archaeology, Government of
Kerala, pointed out that ancient Romans who engaged in trade on the
west coast could not navigate to the east coast via the Palk strait
obviously because of the presence of Ram Sethu. The prevalence of the
same culture on either end of the Ram Sethu proved by the Rameswaram
temple associated with Shri Ram on the Bharat?s end and the
Tiruketeesawra temple associated with Mandodari, Ravana?s wife, on the
Sri Lankan end shows that the zone was culturally united. The sea is
knee deep along the Ram Sethu and that made passage of people easy and
of ships impossible across the strait.

Shri D. Kuppuramu, advocate, Zilla Sanghchalak of Ramanarth-puram and
convenor of Rameswaram Ram Sethu Protection Movement, who presided
over the seminar, appealed to all well meaning persons to implead
themselves in cases filed so far?one at the Supreme Court, one at
Madras High Court, recently by Hindu Munnani founder Shri Rama Gopalan
and one at the sub court in Ramanathapuram?all seeking protection of
Ram Sethu.

Shri M.S. Karunanidhi, a resident of Rameswaram, who could see Ram
Sethu revealed completely the day after December 26, 2004 tsunami,
cited earliest Tamil print evidences with mention of Ram Sethu in
them.

Shri T.V. Rangarajan, organising secretary for South India, Akhil
Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana and a Tamil scholar listed literary
evidences dating back to more than 2,000 year mentioning Sethu built
by Shri Ram. Sethupatis of Ramanathapuram, the rulers of the area,
were indeed appointed by Shri Ram himself to guard Ram Sethu, as per
the local traditions, he said. Pauraniks in ancient Tamil Nadu went
from place to place lecturing on Setu Puranam, an ancient literary
work in Tamil, Rangarajan added.

Shri Tad S. Murthy, vice president of the Tsunami Society of Ottawa,
USA, the expert who was commissioned by Shipping Ministry (and whose
advice that the project include precautionary steps against Tsunami
was ignored), had sent his best wishes for the success of the seminar.
The message of greetings from Dr S.R. Rao, founder, Society of Marine
Archaeology in India, was also read out at the seminar. Dr Rao was to
inaugurate the seminar but he could not make it to Chennai owing to
ill health.

Ram Sethu, a compilation edited by Dr S. Kalyanaraman, director,
Saraswati River Project, that includes the papers presented at the
Chennai seminar, was released at the seminar. It is priced at Rs 600.
Dignitaries who were among the audience included former ministers S.
Tirunavukkarasar and Dr H.V. Hande, Shri K. Surynarayana Rao, senior
functionary of RSS, Dr Subramanian Swamy of Janata Party and Shri L.
Ganeshan, state president of BJP.

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=185&page=18

June 22, 2008
Opinion

Ram Sethu: What the apex court said
By Sri Ram

Even in the latest affidavit they have said: ?No archaeological
studies have been conducted. It is not possible to say or indicate the
outcome in the event such investigations are carried out.? Thereby
they tried to remove archaeological work at the site because of the
humiliation they underwent due to their own anti-Hindu stance, but the
court order has shown that it is a preliminary requisite to the
issue.

The recent verdict of Supreme Court in Ram Sethu case is a landmark
directive to the Government of India to have the site surveyed by
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and to declare the site as a
national monument. The Congress-led government and the communists have
been trying to project their report as scientific and the claim of the
majority Hindus as unscientific and deserves to be rejected. The
Congress-communist DMK combine in their own affidavit submitted that
no archaeological exploration has been conducted in the site. What is
science and where is science when the Congress Government did not
carry out even a preliminary survey of the site through its own
archaeological survey, not to speak of an underwhat archaeological
survey for which it has a special wings under ASI.

The Supreme Court has rightly but firmly told the pseudo scientists
first to conduct a survey of the site before coming to the court.
According to their own submission in the affidavit, the pseudo
scientists have shown that as early as 2002 the then Prime Minister of
India Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee directed the Sethusamudram Project
authorities to include an archaeologist in the Committee to oversee
the progress. This sagacious noting was never implemented and at no
point of time it was thought necessary. But when the court directed
them to submit an affidavit, the ASI was hurriedly brought into the
picture and an affidavit insulting the millions of Hindus was filed
which was withdrawn the very next day. Even in the latest affidavit
they have said: ?No archaeological studies have been conducted. It is
not possible to say or indicate the outcome in the event such
investigations are carried out.? Thereby they tried to remove
archaeological work at the site because of the humiliation they
underwent due to their own anti-Hindu stance, but the court order has
shown that it is a preliminary requisite to the issue.

The Committee of eminent persons constituted by the Congress
government to receive objections and opinions from the public for and
against the project, which it was expected to scrutinise and submit
their report, also did not include any archaeologist but only had
substandard yes men who also did not care to look into the public
opinion and examine them but simply went ahead with what the Minister
for Shipping wanted. We give below an extract of a petition given to
the Committee, pointing out the ASI report was unscientific as it has
done no work on the site. The Supreme Court has rightly shown the
eminent persons have failed to take note of the basic scientific need.
One may ask whether the so-called Committee or any in that Committee
supposed to be an expert in archaeology or religious history whether
they even had a cursory look at the petitions received by them and
noted their views. One would also like to know whether there was any
system of classification among the petitions received into various
subjects and each subject given to the expert concerned for due
consideration in such a sensitive matter? If this has not been done
what was the purpose in constituting the Committee?

Unscientific nature of ASI?s approach

?The affidavit submitted by the Archaeological Survey of India in the
Supreme Court suffers for want of even basic requirement of scientific
study as no ?on shore or under water archaeological exploration? seems
to have been undertaken at the site in dispute. No report has ever
been published by the ASI and no one from the ASI has visited this
site and conducted any preliminary archaeological exploration.
Therefore, any affidavit filed by this department has no scientific
value, cannot stand scrutiny and deserves to be rejected. In the
absence of any archaeological exploration, the presence or the absence
of any human activity cannot be determined by the ASI. The conclusion
that there was no human activity at the site is not valid. As the
whole stand taken by the ASI is unscientific no proper pre-attention
has been given to the historicity of the site when the project was
floated and what has been now presented is a shabby, haphazard, patch
work the whole deserves to be faulted.?

Human activity nearby archaeological position

It may be mentioned that a nearest archaeological site on the east
coast that has been excavated has yielded human activity right from
3rd century BC and continued to be active till about 5th 6th century.
The Pandyan Port of Korkai has yielded pottery said to be of the age
of the Mauryas-3rd century BC. Archaeological evidences point to the
fact that the coastal region around the site of Ram Sethu was very
active and the suggestion that there was no human activity is not
correct.

The reference to the historicity or otherwise of Ram is irrelevant,
for the existence of no God can be proved by any religion in the
world. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi has observed
that ?Ram is as much a historic person as Jesus or Prophet Muhammad?.
(published in all the newspapers). Even communist countries like
Russia which declared ?religion is the opium of man? have started
welcoming the Pope and renovating their churches. Consider the
percentage of people in the world who believe in God as against the
pseudo non believers.

The colonial policy-Slavish mentality

The Colonial rulers of India in the 18th and 19th century applied two
different sets of norms for evaluating historicity; one for their own
white race and the other for the enslaved Indians in which case they
denigrated all that was Indian as done by Vincent Smith. For them norm
for ?historicity? of Jesus was totally different from the historicity
of Ram. This is clearly reflected in not awarding the Nobel Prize to
Mahatma Gandhi which they admit now as a mistake. The slavish history
thrusted on enslaved Indians for obvious reason by the colonialists
continues to remain as a slavish legacy with the Congress and the
communists to this day, as has been mentioned by Romila Thapar.

A proven history-International evidence

Sri Ram was not only a real historic person for all the people of
India but also to all the South East Asian countries like Thailand,
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka for over two thousand
years in every sphere of their life in literature, music, dance,
sculpture, religious belief, etc. Such a continued belief for over two
thousand years is a living history then the view of one or two trying
to refute it on subjective and questionable grounds.

Royal orders of 7th century-Epigraphical evidence

In a historic copper plate Royal record recently found it is mentioned
by a 7th century Pandya speaking about his ancestors rebuilding the
Sethu. (sethu bandham pala ceydu). The existence of the bridge is
further corroborated by another copper plate charter of the Chola
ruler Parantaka in the 10th century in which there is a pointed
reference to the bridge constructed by the monkeys at the Ram thirtha
(Ramye Sri Rama tirtte kavivara nikaraih baddha sethu prabandhe).
Parantaka Chola specifically mentions that he performed tulabhara rite
at the Ramatirtha where the monkeys built the bridge. And that is the
reason for performing tulabhara rite at the site of the bridge. If any
indisputable proof regarding the existence of Ram Sethu is required,
this 10th century record is the factual indisputable historic evidence
in which the Chola king refers to it.

On the other side of the ocean in Sri Lankan coast where Sri Ram is
said to have landed there is a temple called Rameswaram even to this
day which is under worship.

Further we have the reference to Adam?s bridge in later records
attesting to ?a bridge?. Thus there are continuous records that attest
to the existence of Ram Sethu and the question of any doubt has no
basis.

The Rulers of Sethuapti-Historic evidence

The bridge that Sri Ram built was Ram Sethu and the place was called ?
Sethu-pati? For five hundred years or more, from 15th century, the
Ramanathapuram Marava rulers were the guardians of this tract and were
called ?the protectors of Sethu-pati?-(Sethupati-kaattha-devar). They
were called so in all the records. The present name Sethupati Rulers
is an abbreviated form. To say there was no Sethu is to wipe our
history and the gallant sacrifice the Maravas rulers did for nearly
500 years. This presupposes the existence of Sethu.

Sethu coins as Sethupati coins

The Sethu has played such an important role in the region that several
coins bearing the name Sethupati issued by the local rulers have been
found both on the Indian side and on the Sri Lankan sides.

National monument of excellence

It is also not correct to say that Sri Ram is not a historic person.
The very opening of the Ramayana by Valmiki starts with the statement ?
Who among the living person is most virtuous?? Thus it is a history of
a living man Itihasa. Throughout it is Ram?s human nature and
existence that remain the overwhelming factor appreciated by all the
intellectuals of India, not the miracles. One who reads the original
will know the very first opening verse of the epic begins with a
historic person.

Literary

For over two thousand years Sri Ram building the Sethu has been
consistently mentioned in the poems of all the great thinkers and
poets of India. Century after century the poems mention the
construction of the Ram Sethu. There is a separate early kavya name
Sethu Bandha which has the construction of the bridge as its main
theme.

The definition of ?historical monument? is said to be ?any relic, or
place, that recall to the mind of the Indian people their associate
acts of bygone ages?. For over two thousand years millions and
millions of Indian people have believed and paid their respects to the
bridge built by Sri Ram and that itself gives the claim to be
preeminently suited to be the national monument. Declaration is only a
formal action but it has remained a monument of unsurpassed beauty and
remembrance for thousands of years. It is well known monumentality is
not restricted only to ?built up structures?, but ?essentially to the
place? that is associated with the memory of it as in the case of
heritage towns. In the very capital of India, Delhi, there are many
mosques of unknown personalities declared and preserved as national
monument. The ASI should not be coerced to twist historic facts in the
case of Ram Sethu to suit political gimmicks but allow the facts to
speak for themselves.

Truly world heritage monument

In fact Ram Sethu goes beyond the concept of National Monument for it
is virtually a monument of international faith. The whole of South
East Asia like Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Sri Lanka
and neighbouring regions have literature that tell Ram?s exploit and
there are several hundred versions of Ramayana in all these countries.
There are references to building Ram?s bridge in all these works, and
all these regions believed in the existence of the bridge for hundreds
of centuries. Hanuman building the bridge is the subject matter of
paintings, sculptures etc. Hanuman building the bridge is the
fascinating theme in these countries in dance and their music. It
therefore is truly an international monument par excellence and
deserves to be declared as ?World Heritage Monument?.

The UNESCO is now spending considerable money in preserving valuable
oral traditions in the world as contribution to world thought. For
example the Buddhist mode of reciting their texts is now in the world
list.

Overwhelming evidences

There exist overwhelming evidences of historical, epigraphical,
archaeological, numismatic, literary and international evidences for
the existence of the bridge that is remembered throughout South East.
No civilised nation in the world can think of wiping out such a
monument by actually cutting it to pieces just to benefit self-seeking
politicians who neither place nation?s ethos above their selfish
interest nor trustworthy. Almost every country boasts of its heritage
and cannot destroy it.

There are hundreds of monuments throughout India which have been
declared as National Monuments by the ASI, which are not even known to
the villagers nearby. There are hundreds of burial sites that have
been protected. One may even challenge the protagonists to say how
many monuments declared by the ASI as monuments of national importance
have really played any historical, ethical, economical or religious
role as Ram Sethu? The regional superintending archaeologist continues
to submit proposal to protect such insignificant places as national
monuments which are under active consideration. That being the
situation the ASI cannot but immediately declare this site as a
monument of national importance and take immediate simultaneous action
to get this declared as world heritage site. Is there any other
suitable site to be declared as world heritage site than Ram Sethu?

Last but not the least is the permanent irreparable damage this
project is trying to impose is an irreversible destruction by cutting
the beauty of Ram Sethu which is against the civilised opinion of the
world as reflected in the World Charter of Nature adopted and
proclaimed by the General Assembly of United Nations and adopted on
October 28, 1982. The Preamble of the Charter reads: ?Civilisation is
rooted in Nature which has shaped human culture and influenced all
artistic and scientific achievements and bring in harmony with nature
gives man the best opportunities for the development of his creativity
and for rest and recreation. Every form of life is unique warranting
respect regardless of its worth to man.? The Charter of Nature by the
United Nations enjoys the status of Human Rights charter.

There is no doubt cutting the nature at the Sethusamudram bridge that
has inspired millions of people for thousands of years is going to be
a permanent damage to the nature.

The Indian nation is beholden to the judges of the Supreme Court for
gently reminding the Government of its primary duty.

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=242&page=27

October 14, 2007

REPORTS ON RAM SETHU AGITATION
Ram Sethu Rakshak Dharma yoddha enrolment drive

Intensifying the agitation against breaking of Ram Sethu, the
Rameshwaram Ram Sethu Raksha Manch has announced an all-India
agitation plan in two phases. Under the first phase, Ram Sethu Rakshak
Dharmyoddha would be enrolled from October 12 to 25. Along-with all
Hindus, environment protectors, people who have concern for ecology,
sea border safety and true development of India and the people who
live on the trades related to sea (fishermen, etc.), the people who
would lose their tourism related living due to breaking of Sethu, etc.
can also enroll as Ram Sethu Rakshak Dharmyoddha.

Announcing the campaign, Shri S. Vedantam, working president of VHP,
said upto October 25, each Dharmyoddha would perform daily recital of
Hanuman Chalisa and on October 26 all the Dharmyoddha would come
together for group recital of Hanuman Chalisa. Valmiki Jayanti would
also be celebrated publicly on October 26.

He said under the second phase of the agitation, 5,000 Ram Sethu
Shilayatras would start from 5,000 places on November 20. These yatras
would carry the Ram Sethu like floating Ram stones all over the
country. The yatra would go to various districts and taluka places. It
would have replica of Rameshwaram Shivlingam, picture of Shri Ram and
replica of Ram Sethu. The yatra would go every village of the country
where hundred and thousands of people would come to have darshan of
Ram Sethu Shila. He said those participating in the shilayatras would
recite Om Namah Shivay daily 108 times in respect of Rameshwaram
Ramlingam and to evoke powers of Shivlingam in India to save
Rameshwaram temple and the Ram Sethu. Whenever the yatra would reach a
village, town or the city, Rudrabhisheka would be performed on the
Shivlingam of that place with water from the river, lake of that
village, etc. Everyone would bring water for Rudrabhisheka from their
own house too.

Shri Vedantam said both the programmes would help everyone to express
their anguish in a democratic way. There are Hindus hurt by the
conspiracy to break Ram Sethu and thereby to destablise Rameshwaram
Shiv temple. ?We are sure they all would participate in the campaigns.
We also appeal to all persons participating in all democratic
agitations to be helpful to all medical emergencies, schoolchildren
vehicles, old and crippled people?s emergencies while proceeding on
the shilayatra and also pray for their well-being,? he added. Besides
these programmes, saints are also conducting padyatras across the
country beginning from September 27 to October 10.

The decision of this agitation action plan was taken at a meeting of
Ram Sethu Rakasha Manch held in Delhi on September 28. A committee of
prominent saints to lead the movement was also constituted at the
meeting. The committee has 22 leading saints from various parts of the
country. (FOC)

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=205&page=10

chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 12:39:49 PM2/19/10

November 11, 2007

Save Ram Sethu
By His Holiness Swami Nischalananda Saraswati
Puri Shankaracharya

Sri Ramachandra, the worthy son of Maharaj Dasharath, is not only the
national hero of Bharat, but also a legendary figure representing
satya, dharma, nyaya and all the divine qualities. In order to protect
saints and propagate dharma, he had taken incarnation and come to this
mortal world as a human being and killed Ravan, the embodiment of all
the evil qualities. Sri Ram?s good administration and welfare measures
are incomparable, even today. The Ramayana is the history of Sri Ram
and all his achievements. Every Hindu pays respect to this great
granth and learns morals in order to lead a divine and pious life,
full of spiritualism. Sri Ram lives in our every breath, every drop of
blood, and inside the core of our heart. No power, how much mighty it
may be, can vanish him, in any way.

We are really shocked that the existence of Sri Ram and the Ramayan is
being disputed on this sacred land where this great hero took birth.
It is not only meant for the demolition of the Ram Sethu but also
backed by a ploy to outrage the reputation, honour and self-pride of
Hindu society. Karunanidhi, Manmohan Singh ,T. R. Balu and Sonia
Gandhi are playing dirty politics in the holy name of Sri Ram. Being
guided by the Pope, their boss, the ugly plan has been chalked out.

In the Ramayana, Maharshi Valmiki has described about the Ram Sethu in
details:?

?Samudram kshyovaya
masunirpatanth samantath
Sutranyanye pragrunhanti
hyayatam sata yojanam?

(This great Sethu was constructed by the great builder Nala. On the
first day, 14 yojan, on second day, 20 yojan, on third day, 21 yojan,
on fourth day 22 yojan, on fifth day, 23 yojan and in toto 100 yojan-
long Sethu was built.) Ref: Ramayan, Yuddha Kanda 22: 62

The Skandha Puran says, after returning from Lanka, Lord Ramachandra
requested all the kings to protect and preserve this sacred Sethu.

?Bhuyo bhuyo vabino bhumipalah
natwa natwa yachaye Ramachandra
Samanwyo dharma sethu naranam
kale kale palaniyo bhabidhi?
(Ref: 40:34)

Ram Sethu is not a mere thing. It is the Dharma Sethu for Hindus. All
the Hindus believe in it, hence it must be protected and preserved at
any cost. Ram Sethu is the model of the great and enriched heritage of
ours. It is the pride of Bharat, that we have such an exceptional
ancient monument with us about which the rest of the world cannot even
imagine. It must be declared and preserved as a national monument. But
the dharmadrohi UPA government is striving to get it vanished. The
Christian, Muslim and communist countries know it well that Bharat has
a golden heritage. They cannot tolerate this at all and want to
demoralise the people of Bharat by destroying religious shrines,
cultural centres and historical monuments. Our Ram Sethu, Himalaya,
river Ganga, river Yamuna, our godhan, maths and mandirs are all on
gun-point.

The UPA government says that there is no historical evidence regarding
the existence of Sri Ram and Ram Sethu. But, we want to ask, is the
Ramayan itself not a proof? Is the faith of the Hindus not a proof ?
What more evidence do they want? Which history are they searching?
Hindus must be united and throw out this dharmadrohi government from
power and let it be sunk in the black pages of history.

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=209&page=19

February 24, 2008
Research proves Ram Sethu is man-made

Even though, the government is continuously denying the fact that Ram
Sethu is a man-made structure, Adya Jagadguru Shankaracharya Vedic
Shodh Sansthan, under the leadership of Swami Gyananand Saraswati, has
ascertained the exact time and period of the construction of Ram
Sethu.

The Sansthan has released a research paper on Ram Sethu on the basis
of extensive research of over 23 ancient scriptures, Vedas and
Ramayana in different languages. According to the research paper, the
Ram Sethu was constructed more than 1.81 crore years back (1,81,58060
BC) from Dhanushkoti in Rameshwaram to Suwail hills in Sri Lanka. As
stated in Agnivesh Ramayana, Sri Ramchandra was 41 years old when he
started the construction of Sethu on the ?Paush Krishna Dashmi? of
Hindu calendar. Similarly, in the Valmiki Ramayana it is clearly
mentioned in Chapter 22, that Ram Sethu was 1200 kilometers long and
120 kilometers wide. The Adhyatma Ramyana and Valmiki Ramayana give
exact detail of the per day construction of the Sethu. The sixth
chapter of Adhyatma Ramayana and 22nd chapter of Valmiki Ramayana
state that on the first day the bridge was constructed 168 kilometers
long, 240 kms on the second day, 252 kms on the third day, 264 kms on
the fourth day and 275 kms on the fifth day. In the Valmiki Ramayana,
it is also stated that the machinery was used for the construction of
bridge.

Swami Gyananand Saraswati said he came to the conclusion that Ram
Sethu was constructed in 1,81,58060 BC on the basis of mathematical
calculations of Surya Sidhantha Astrology, besides collecting facts
from Vedas and ancient scriptures. In the first phase of research we
also found that Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga was consecrated by Lord Ram as
a prelude to the construction of Ram Sethu between Dhanushkoti in
Rameshwaram and Suwail hills in Sri Lanka. Adhyatma Ramayana and
Prakaran Granth of Adi Shankaracharya written 2500 years ago also give
exact detail of the geographical condition of Rameshwaram and Ram
Sethu, in the period of Lord Ram. That is why Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga
is also called ?Sethubandh? Jyotirlinga. The word ?sethu? or bridge is
mentioned several times in the ancient scriptures. It is also
mentioned in Adhyatma Ramayana that architect of Ram Sethu was ?Nal?
who was the son of Vishvakarma.

All these evidences were collected from Valmiki Ramayana, Adhyatma
Ramayana, Skandpuran Sethu Mahatamya, Patalkhand of ?Padampuran?,
Srishtikhand, Agnivesh Ramayana, Kritvas Ramayana, Anand Ramayana,
Adbhut Ramayana, Champu Ramayana, Brahmand Puran, Skandpuran, Anand
Ramayana, Vayu Puran, Uttar Ramayana, Naradiya Puran, Shadangved,
Arthved, Rigveda Samhita and Saur Puran.
(FOC)

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August 26, 2007

Sangh Samachar
Countrywide fast for Ram Sethu
Ram Raksha Bandhan on August 28

As part of the agitations to protect Ram Sethu, Ram Raksha Bandhan
would be observed on August 28. Volunteers from various organisations
would specially go to the villages and tie raksha bandhan on the
wrists of the villagers with the resolve to protect the Ram Sethu.
This event will also be observed in cities in large number. Working
president of VHP Shri S. Vedantam and Pejawar Swami Shri Vishvesh
Teertha made this announcement in Chennai.

Lakhs of people including leading saints and leaders of various
organisations joined the countrywide fast for the protection of Ram
Sethu on August 12. RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri K.S. Sudarshan and
Sarkaryavah Shri Mohan Bhagwat joined the fast in Bangalore. There are
reports of more than 500 meetings in Poorva Andhra Pradesh in which
over 50,000 Rambhaktas participated. Thousands of people also sat on a
dharna and observed fast in Chennai. More than 3,000 people under the
leadership of Swami Hansdas, general secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Sant
Samiti, observed fast in Dehradun. There are also reports of observing
fasts in Haridwar, Rishikesh and some other parts of Uttarakhand. All
these fasts were observed under the banner of Ram Sethu Raksha Manch.
The thirteenth Dharma Sansad held in Delhi recently had appealed to
all the countrymen to observe such fasts for the protection of Ram
Sethu.

Pejawar Swami Shri Vishvesh Teertha, VHP working president Shri S.
Vedantam, Kshetra Pracharak Shri Sethu Madhavan, Janata Party?s Tamil
Nadu unit president Chandralekha and scores of VHP activists and
others participated in the dawn-to-dusk fast, singing bhajans and
keertans in Chennai. Speaking to reporters, Shri S. Vedantam said the
Sethusamudram project is not ?useful in anyway.? He charged that the
centre and the state have a hidden agenda in implementing the
project.

According to reports, a procession from Nehru Bridge to Vivekananda
Bridge was organised in Ahmedabad in protest against the construction
of Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project. President of Ram Sethu Raksha
Manch Shri Ashok Rawal and secretary Shri Rajesh Shastri addressed the
gathering.

Thousands of people observed fast in Varanasi the whole day and
assembled at a meeting in the premises of Bharat Mata Mandir, Mahatma
Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, in the evening. Noted saint of Ramjanaki Math
Shri Dhanurdhari Maharaj presided over the meeting. Dr Lakshman Das,
convener of the Manch, appealed to the people to unseat the anti-Ram
government from the centre. Mayor of Varanasi Shri Kaushlendra Singh
described the Ram Sethu as the pransethu, which must not be broken.
Shri Shambhu Singh, senior VHP leader, said saints would perform Ram
Sethu Raksha yanjas at thousands of places for three weeks beginning
from September 27. Joint general secretary of VHP Shri Omkar Bhave
participated in the fast in Allahabad. Justice (retd.) Giridhar
Malviya, Shri Mahant Gopal Maharaj and Falahari Baba also spoke on the
occasion. There was a huge meeting in Kanpur. Thousands of people
including Sangh Swayamsevaks observed fast in Delhi also on August
12.

(With inputs from Lok Nath in Varanasi and Ravindra Saini in
Dehradun.)

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December 14, 2008
News Analysis

Ram Sethu case
Varying sets of misleading affidavits by Union of India
By Dr S Kalyanaraman

Written submission of the advocate for Union of India made in October
2008 to the Supreme Court says: The Petitioners have not alleged much
less proved that Ram Sethu forms an integral and essential part of the
Hindu religion. Union of India also claims that belief of the
community has to be proved like any other fact.

It is clear that Union of India holds the justice system in utter
contempt. It holds the responsibility of the state under Articles 25
and 26 of the Constitution of India in utter contempt. It holds that
the millions of people the world over who revere Ram, Ramayana and Ram
Sethu which are central to the nation?s traditions to be treated with
disdain and hence holds those who venerate Ram and Ram Sethu as a
place of worship in utter contempt.

What does Union of India have to say about Ram Sethu?

This is an amazing set of hypocritical, misleading statements of Union
of India (Respondents) containing varying shades of misleading
statements.

Step 1: The existence of Ram Sethu is denied. Next it is said that
Ramayana cannot be linked with the bridge. In another breath, a pledge
is made that a viewing gallery will be constructed to enable pilgrims
to pay homage to Ram Sethu.

Step 2: In a withdrawn affidavit, Ministry of Culture claims Ram Sethu
to be a myth, adding that the Sethu is not man-made.

Step 3: In a withdrawn affidavit, Ministry of Shipping claims that
there is no scientific evidence to justify declaration of Sethu as an
ancient monument.

Step 4: On September 14, 2008, Union of India claimed total respect
for all religions and Hinduism in particular? The Central Government
is alive and conscious of religious sensibilities including the unique
ancient and holy text of Ramayana?Having regard to public sentiments,
the Central Government withdrew the prevailing affidavit to re-examine
the entire matter.

Union of India also clarified that the affidavit did not intend to
touch upon the freedom/ articles of faith or belief of any section of
society.

Step 5: In a final counter affidavit, Union of India defined the role
of the state and stated that the state cannot and should not be called
upon to determine issues of faith. Union of India also added: ?It is
now for the Hon?ble Court to resolve the contentious issues raised by
the petitioners in the context of evidence available.?

Step 6: Written submission of the advocate for Union of India made in
October 2008 to the Supreme Court says: ?The Petitioners have not
alleged much less proved that Ram Sethu forms an integral and
essential part of the Hindu religion. Union of India also claims that
belief of the community has to be proved like any other fact. The
further submission of Union of India is that it has not been proved
undoubtedly to be the belief of the Hindu community that Lord Ram did
not himself break the bridge. Nor has it been established that
whatever remains of the Ram Sethu as a place of worship is an
essential and integral part of the Hindu religion.?

So, what is the stand of Union of India as seen from these six sets of
waffling averments?

This contemptuous behavior of Union of India is reprehensible. UPA has
proved its incompetence to hold the reins of the state and to has
failed to uphold the rule of law as supreme.

I wish the Supreme Court comes down heavily on the utterly
irresponsible behaviour shown by the respondents? misleading
statements and calls them to order. The Court should also direct the
Government of India to declare Ram Sethu an ancient monument under the
1958 Act and to direct Union of India to approach UNESCO to declare it
a world heritage. The Court should also direct that Sethu project
which is an ecological disaster should be declared a project disaster
and scrapped forthwith.

I also hope the Pachauri Committee takes note of the waffling stances
of the Union of India and does not succumb to any pressures from any
functionary of the Union of India.

The arguments for the Ram Sethu being central to Hindu identity and
nation?s identity are many and have been stated earlier which the
Court will take note of and render justice.

Dr. Subramanian Swamy has filed on November 3, 2008 in the Supreme
Court, fresh written submissions on whether Ram Sethu is an integral
part of Hindu religion. This includes an annexure to page 31 comparing
the six statements demonstrating progressively varying stances of the
Union of India, the respondent in the transfer petition pending in the
Supreme Court.

Here is an annexure demonstrating six varying stances:

Progressively varying stances of the respondents as reflected in that
affidavit

There is nothing called ?Ramar Palam? excepting that the petitioners
have chosen to name the ?Adams Bridge? as Ramar Palam. There is no
question of sand sholes- - - being declared monuments of national
importance.

Having failed in all their attempts now the forces probably thought
easier to play with religious sentiments which they thought the
Indians might fall to their prey, started instigating the religious
sentiments of the Hindus?.

3)70(14)(iv) several Indians experts?. have also declared that there
is no evidence linking the mythical Lanka bridge built by Hanuman to
the chain of sand banks ??.. To link that with Ram or Ramayana is
ridiculous.

4)P.76(17) It will also cut off Land?s End in Dhanushkodi island which
is visited by hundreds of pilgrims every day.

?.It will also cut off Kodandaramasamy Temple visited by thousands of
pilgrims every day

5)P.77(17) The creation of the channel will also afford an opportunity
to pilgrims to visit Adams Bridge, not possible today, and offer
obeissance as the SCL is contemplating provision of a viewing galary
along the channel alignment.

Step 2
Withdrawal of centre's affidavit by Ministry of Culture

1) P.3(4) The petitioners have attempted to reply upon mythological
material such as the Ramayana.

2) P.9(19) the ASI, has reasonably concluded that the formation known
as Ram Sethu/Adams Bridge is not a man made structure.

3) P.11(25) the aforesaid conclusions renders the entire theory
proposed by the petitioners (by placing reliance on entirely
mythological texts) wholly implausible

4) P.15(32-33) The same is merely a sand and coral formation which
cannot be said to be of historical archeological or artistic interest
or importance.

5) P.15(33) ?The Adams Bridge site cannot therefore be said to be of
any archeological interest.?

6) P.9(20)?The contents of the Valmiki Ramayana, the Ramcharitmanas
and other mythological texts? which cannot be said to be historical
record, incontrovertibly prove the existence of the characters, or the
occurrence of the events depicted therein.?

Step 3
Withdrawal of centre's affidavit by Ministry of Shipping

1) P.11(10) ?The absence of any cohesive scientific evidence which can
support the formation of a legally tenable opinion, - - - of Section 4
of the Ancient Monuments Act, it is submitted that the instant writ
petitions must fail.?

Step 4
ASG?s Gopal?s statement dated 14.9.2008

1) P2(2) ?The Central Government has total respect for all religions
and Hinduism in particular? The Central Government is alive and
conscious of religious sensibilities including the unique ancient and
holy text of Ramayana? Having regard to public sentiments, the Central
Government withdraws the present affidavit to re-examine the entire
matter.?

2) 2(3) It is clarified that the affidavit did not intend to touch
upon the freedom/ articles of faith or belief of any section of
society.

Step 5
Counter affidavit final
PP59-6

1) The state cannot and should not be called upon to determine issues
of faith.

2) It is now for the Hon?ble Court to resolve the contentious issues
raised by the petitioners in the context of evidence available..?

Step 6
Present written submissions
Submitted October 2008

P73II. The petitioners have not alleged much less proved that Ram
Sethu forms an integral and essential part of the Hindu religion.

P.76. Belief of the community has to be proved like any other fact.

P.84 The submission is that it has not been proved undoubtedly to be
the belief of the Hindu community that Lord Ram did not himself break
the bridge. Nor has it been established that whatever remains of the
Ram Sethu as a place of worship is an essential and integral part of
the Hindu religion.

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=267&page=26

September 30, 2007
SPECIAL
Ram Sethu construction in Valmiki Ramayana

Nala on his part initiated a monumental bridge in the middle of the
ocean. The bridge was built at that time with the cooperation of other
monkeys, of terrific strength.

Seeing that Rama?s accomplishment, which was amazing and arduous;
celestials, Siddhas (semi-divine beings possessing supernatural
faculties) and Charanas (celestial bards) along with great sages,
forthwith approached Rama and consecrated him with very splendid
waters separately.

Rama the glorious and righteous man, wielding a bow along with
Lakshmana together with Sugriva, went in front of that army.

Valmiki describes the construction of Ram Sethu in great detail. Here
is an excerpt and text (translation) of the entire sarga (Book VI:
Yuddha Kanda, Book of War, Chapter [sarga] 22) where this description
occurs in Valmiki Ramayana.

The architect who led the construction was Nala. This was also
confirmed by Veda Vyasa in Mahabharata.

Veda Vyasa refers to the Sethu as Nalasetu (Mahabharata: 3.267.45)

?which even today, popular on earth as Nala?s bridge, mountain like,
is sustained out of respect for (Lord) Rama?s command. (Nala was son
of Vishwakarma).

When Rama is about to release a missile presided over by Brahma from
His bow, the sea-god appears in person before Him with joined palms
and advises Him to get a bridge constructed by Nala across the ocean.
The ocean god disappears after giving this advice to Rama. Nala
accordingly constructs a bridge across the sea with the help of other
monkeys.

athovaaca raghushreSThaH saagaram daaruNam vacaH| adya tvaam
shoSayiSyaami sapaataalam mahaarNava || (2-22-1)

Then, Rama spoke these harsh words to the ocean: ?O, Ocean! I will
make you dry up now along with your nethermost subterranean region.?

sharanirdagdhatoyasya parishuSkasya saagara | mayaa nihatasattvasya
paamsurutpadyate mahaan || (2-22-2)

?O, Ocean! A vast stretch of sand will appear, when your water gets
consumed by my arrows; when you get dried up and the creatures
inhabiting you get destroyed by me.?

matkaarmukanisR^iSTena sharavarSeNa saagara | param tiiram gamiSyanti
padbhireva plavaN^gamaaH || (2-22-3)

?By a gush of arrows released by my bow, our monkeys can proceed to
the other shore even by foot; O, Ocean!?

vichinvannaabhijaanaasi pauruSam vaapi vikramam | daavnavaalaya
samtaapam matto naama gamiSyasi|| (2-22-4)

?O, Sea the abode of demons! You are not able to recognise my valor or
prowess through your intelligence. You will indeed get repentance at
my hands.?

braahmeNaastreNa samyojya brahmadaNDanibham sharam | samyojya dhanuSi
shre SThe vicakarSa mahaabalaH || (2-22-5)

?Fixing an arrow resembling the Rod of Brahma (the creator) charged
with a missile (presided over by Brahma) to his excellent bow, the
exceedingly powerful Rama stretched it towards the sea.?

tasminvikR^iSTe sahasaa raaghaveNa sharaasane | rodasii sampaphaaleva
parvataashca chakampire || (2-22-6)

While Rama was stretching that bow, both the heaven and earth suddenly
seemed to be split asunder. Mountains also were shaken.

tamashca lokamaavavre dishashca na chakaashire | praticukshubhire
caashu saraamsi saritastadaa || (2-22-7)

Darkness enveloped the world. All the quarters were obscured. Lakes
and rivers were soon agitated.

tiryak ca saha nakshatraiH samgatau candrabhaaskarau |
bhaaskaraamshubhiraadiiptam tamasaa ca samaavR^itam || (2-22-8)
pracakaashe tadaakaashamulkaashatavidiipitam| antarikshaachcha
nirghaataa nirjagmuratulasvanaaH || (2-22-9)

The moon, sun and the stars moved obliquely and though the sun?s rays
lighted the sky, it was enveloped by darkness and shined with a blaze
of hundreds of meteors while thunders reverberated with an
unparalleled sound in the sky.

vapuHprakarSeNa vavurdivyamaarutapaN^ktyaH | babhaJNja cha tadaa
vR^ikshaan jaladaanudvahan muhuH ||(2-22-10)

Series of celestial winds blew in their colossal form and the winds,
then sweeping away the clouds, tore up the trees again and again.

aarujamshcaiva shailaagraan shikharaaNi babhaJNja ca | divi ca sma
mahaavegaaH samhataaH samahaasvanaaH || (2-22-11)
mumucurvaidyutaanagniimste mahaashanayastadaa |

The wind, shattering the mountain peaks, broke off the points of the
rocks. Winds of great velocity struck together in the sky and emitted
flashes of radiance proceeding from lightning with a great sound and
then there were great thunders.

yaani bhuutaani dR^ishyaani chukrushushcaashaneH samam || (2-22-12)
adR^ishyaani ca bhuutaani mumuchurbhairavasvanam | shishyare
caabhibhuutaani samtrastaamyadvijanti ca || (2-22-13) sampravivyathire
caapi na ca paspandire bhayaat |

The visible creatures cried out along with the thunders. The invisible
beings too gave off a terrific noise. The creatures were overpowered,
frightened, agitated, lied down and also very much anguished. They did
not move due to fear.

sahabhuutaiH satoyormiH sanaagaH saharaakshasaH || (2-22-14)
sahasaabhuuttato vegaadbhiimavego mahodadhiH | yojanam vyaticakraama
velaamanyatra samplavaat || (2-22-15)

The great ocean with its waves and water, along with its living
creatures including snakes and demons soon became possessed of a
terrific velocity. Due to that speed and swelling of waters, the ocean
crossed beyond the other shore to the extent of a yojan (eight
miles).

tam tathaa samatikraantam naaticakraama raaghavaH |
samuddhatamamitraghno raamo nadanadiipatim || (2-22-16)
Rama born in Raghu dynasty and the annihilator of enemies, did not
retreat before that ocean, which swelled and crossed its limits.

tato madhyaat samudrasya saagaraH svayam utthitaH | udayan hi
mahaashailaan meror iva divaa karaH || (2-22-17)

Then, Sagara (the ocean god) himself rose from the middle of the ocean
as the sun rises at dawn from the huge mountain of Meru.

pannagaiH saha diipta aasyaiH samudraH pratyadR^ishyata| snigdha
vaiduurya samkaasho jaambuu nada vibhuuSitaH || (2-22-18)

That ocean along with snakes of flaming jaws appeared with a hue of
glossy emerald adorned with gold.

ratna maalya ambara dharaH padma patra nibha iikSaNaH|
sarvapuSpamayiim divyaam shirasaa dhaarayan srajam || (2-22-19)

jaataruupamayaishcaiva tapaniiyavibhuuSito bhuuSaNottamaiH|
aatmajaanaam ca ratnaanaam bhuuSito bhuuSaNottamaiH || (2-22-20)

dhaatubhirmaNDitaH shailo vividhairhamavaaniva | ekaavaliimadhyagatam
taralam paaNDaraprabham || (2-22-21)

vipulenorasaa bibhratkaustubhasya sahodaram | aaghuurNitataraN^-
gaughaHkaalikaanilasamkulaH || (2-22-22) gaN^gaasindhupradhaa-
naabhiraapagaabhiH samaavR^itaH|
devataanaam saruupaabhirnaa-naaruupaabhiriishvaraH|| (2-22-23)
saagaraH samatikramya puurvam aamantrya viiryavaan | abraviit
praanjalir vaakyam raaghavam shara paaNinam || (2-22-24)

The valiant ocean, the lord of rivers, wearing a wreath of pearls,
with his eyes resembling lotus leaves, bearing a beautiful garland
made of all kinds of flowers on his head, with ornaments of refined
gold, adorned with excellent jewels made of pearls from his domain,
decorated with different kinds of gems and metals, resembling Himavat
mountain, wearing on his broad chest a locket shedding a white luster,
resembling a Kaustubha gem (adorning the blossom of Lord Vishnu) and
hanging in the middle of a single string of pearls, with a multitude
of waves whirled around him, encircled by the clouds and winds,
escorted by rivers mainly the Ganga and Sindhu, endowed with diverse
forms resembling various deities, approached Rama with joined palms,
who stood with arrows in hand, addressing him first as ?Rama!? and
spoke the following words:

pR^ithivii vaayur aakaasham aapo jyotiH ca raaghavaH | svabhaave
saumya tiSThanti shaashvatam maargam aashritaaH || (2-22-25)

?O, beloved Rama! Earth, wind ether, water and light remain fixed in
their own nature, resorting to their eternal path.?

tat svabhaavo mama api eSa yad agaadho aham aplavaH | vikaaras tu
bhaved raadha etat te pravadaami aham || (2-22-26)

?Therefore, I am fathomless and my nature is that it is impossible of
being swum across. It becomes unnatural if I am shallow. I am telling
you the following device to cross me.?

na kaamaan na ca lobhaad vaa na bhayaat paarthiva aatmaja|
raagaannakraakulajalam stambhayeyam kathamcana || (2-22-27)

?O, Prince! Neither from desire nor ambition nor fear nor from
affection, I am able to solidify my waters inhabited by alligators.?

vidhaasye yena gantaasi viSahiSye hyaham tathaa | na graahaa
vidhamiSyanti yaavatsenaa tariSyati|| (2-22-28) hariiNaam taraNe raama
kariSyaami yathaasthalam |

?O, Rama! I shall make it possible to see that you are able to cross
over. I will arrange a place for the monkeys to cross me and bear with
it. As far as the army crosses me, the crocodiles will not be
aggressive to them.?

tamabraviittadaa raamaH shR^iNu me varuNaalaya || (2-22-29)
amogho.ayam mahaabaaNaH kasmin deshe nipaatyataam |

Then, Rama spoke to that ocean as follows: ?Listen to me. This great
arrow should not go in vain. In which region should it be descended??

raamasya vachanam shrutvaa tam ca dR^iSTvaa mahaasharam|| (2-22-30)
mahodadhirmahaatejaa raaghavam vaakyamabraviit |

Hearing Rama?s words and seeing that powerful arrow, the large
splendid Ocean spoke the following words to Rama:

uttareNaavakaasho.asti kashchitpuNyataro mama || (2-22-31) drumakulya
iti khyaato loke khyaato yathaa bhavaan |

?Towards my northern side, there is a holy place. It is well known as
Drumatulya, in the same way as you are well known to this world.?

Hearing those words of the high-soled ocean, Rama released that
excellent and splendid arrow towards that place as directed by the
ocean.

tena tanmarukaantaaram p^ithivyaam kila vishrutam || (2-22-35)
vipaatitaH sharo yatra vajraashanisamaprabhaH|

The place where the arrow, whose splendor was akin to that of a
thunder and a thunderbolt, was descended by Rama- that place is indeed
famous as desert of Maru* on this earth. (*Maru is Malwar in
Rajasthan, India)

nanaada ca tadaa tatra vasudhaa shalyapiiDitaa || (2-22-36)
tasmaadbaaNamukhaattoyamutpapaata rasaatalaat |

The earth there, pierced by the dart, then emitted a sound. The waters
of the penultimate subterranean region gushed forth from the mouth of
that cleft.

sa babhuuva tadaa kuupo vraNa ityeva vishrutaH || (2-22-37) satatam
cotthitam toyam samudrasyeva dR^ishyate |

Then the hollow became known as Vrana. Water constantly seen, gushing
forth from it resembled seawater.

avadaaraNashabdashca daaruNaH samapadyata || (2-22-38)
tasmaattadbaaNapaatena apaH kukshiSvashoSayat |

A terrific splitting sound was born in that place. Water was dried up
in those cavities, as a result of hurling of that arrow by Rama.

vikhyaatam triSu lokeSu madhukaantaarameva ca || (2-22-39) shoSayitvaa
tu tam kukshim raamo dasharathaatmajaH | varam tasmai dadau
vidvaanmarave.-amaravikramaH || (2-22-40)

That desert of Maru became famous in the three worlds. Rama (the son
of Dasaratha), a wise man and a valiant man resembling a celestial,
made that cavity dried up and gave a boon to that desert of Maru.

pashavyashcaalparogashca phalamuularasaayutaH | bahusneho bahukshiiraH
sugandhirvivi-dhauSadhiH || (2-22-41) evametairguNairyukto bahibhiH
samyuto maruH | raamasya varadaanaacca shivaH panthaa babhuuva ha ||
(2-22-42)

Due to granting of a boon by Rama, that desert of Maru became the most
congenial place for cattle rearing, a place with a little of disease,
producing tasty fruits and roots, with a lot of clarified butter, a
lot of milk and various kinds of sweet-smelling herbs. Thus it became
an auspicious and suitable move, bestowing these merits.

tasmin dagdhe tadaa kukshau samudraH saritaam patiH | raaghavam
sarvashaas-trajJNamidam vacanambraviit || (2-22-43)

While that cavity was burning, ocean, the lord of rivers, spoke these
words to Rama who knew all scientific treatises.

ayam saumya nalo naama tanujo vishva karmaNaH | pitraa datta varaH
shriimaan pratimo vishva karmaNaH || (2-22-44)

?O, Excellent man! This one, named Nala, a glorious person, is the son
of Vishvakarma; who was given a boon by his father and is equal to
Vishvakarma.?

eSa setum mahaautsaahaH karotu mayi vaanaraH | tam aham dhaarayiSyaami
tathaa hi eSa yathaa pitaa || (2-22-45)

?Let this greatly energetic monkey build a bridge across me. I can
hold that bridge. He is just the same as his father.?

evam uktvaa udadhir naSTaH samutthaaya nalas tataH | abraviid vaanara
shreSTho vaakyam raamam mahaabalaH || (2-22-46)

Thus speaking, the god of ocean disappeared from that place. Then
Nala, the more distinguished among monkeys stood up and spoke the
following words to Rama of great power:

aham setum kariSyaami vistiirNe varuNa aalaye | pituH saamarthyam
aasthaaya tattvam aaha mahaaudadhiH|| (2-22-47)

?The great ocean disclosed a truth. I will construct a bridge across
this large ocean, taking recourse to the skill and ability of my
father.?

asau tu saagaro bhiimaH setukarmadidR^ikshayaa | dadau
daNDabhayaadgaadham raaghavaaya mahodadhiH || (2-22-48)

?This Sagara, the formidable mass of water, in fear of punishment,
gave a passage to Rama, wishing to see a bridge constructed on it.?

mama maatur varo datto mandare vishva karmaNaa | aurasas tasya putro
aham sadR^isho vishva karmaNaa || (2-22-49)

?On the mountain of Mandara, the following boon was given by
Vishvakarma to my mother: ?O, god like lady! A son equal to me will be
born to you.?

aurasastasya putro.aham sadR^isho vishvakarmaNaa|
smaarito.asmyahametena tattvamaaha mahodadhiH || (2-22-50) na ca api
aham anukto vai prabruuyaam aatmano guNaan|

?I am a son born of Vishvakarma?s own loins. I am equal to
Vishvakarma. This god of ocean has reminded me. The great ocean spoke
the truth. Being unasked, I have not told you my details earlier.?

samarthshcaapyaham setum kartum vai varuNaalaye || (2-22-51)
tasmaadadyaiva badhnantu setum vaanarapuN^gavaaH |

?I am capable of constructing a bridge across the ocean. Hence, let
the foremost of monkeys build the bridge now itself.?

tato nisR^iSTa raameNa sarvato hari yuuthapaaH || (2-22-52) abhipetur
mahaaaraNyam hR^iSTaaH shata sahasrashaH |

Then, being sent by Rama, hundreds and thousands of monkey heroes
jumped in joy on all sides towards the great forest.

te nagaan naga samkaashaaH shaakhaa mR^iga gaNa R^iSabhaaH|| (2-22-53)
babhanjur vaanaraas tatra pracakarSuH ca saagaram |

Those army-chiefs of monkeys, who resembled mountains, broke the rocks
and trees there and dragged them away towards the sea.

te saalaiH ca ashva karNaiH ca dhavair vamshaiH ca vaanaraaH||
(2-22-54) kuTajair arjunais taalais tikalais timishair api | bilvakaiH
saptaparNaishca karNikaaraishca puSpitaiH || (2-22-55) cuutaiH ca
ashoka vR^ikSaiH ca saagaram samapuurayan |

Those monkeys filled the ocean with all types of trees like Sala and
Asvakarna, Dhava and bamboo, Kutaja, Arjuna, palmyra,Tilaka, Tinisa,
Bilva, Saptaparna, Karnika, in blossom as also mango and Asoka.

samuulaamH ca vimuulaamH ca paadapaan hari sattamaaH|| (2-22-56) indra
ketuun iva udyamya prajahrur harayas taruun |

The excellent monkeys, the forest animals lifted and brought, like
Indra?s flag posts, some trees with roots intact and some others
without roots.

taalaan daaDimagulmaamshca naarikelavibhiitakaan || (2-22-57)
kariiraan bakulaannimbaan samaajahruritastataH |

From here and there the monkeys brought Palmyra trees, pomegranate
shrubs, coconut and Vibhitaka, Karira, Bakula and neem trees.

hastimaatraan mahaakaayaaH paaSaaNaamshca mahaabalaaH || (2-22-58)
parvataamshca samutpaaTya yantraiH parivahanti ca |

The huge bodied monkeys with mighty strength uprooted elephant-sized
rocks and mountains and transported them by mechanical contrivances.

prakSipyamaaNair acalaiH sahasaa jalam uddhatam || (2-22-59)
samutpatitam aakaasham apaasarpat tatas tataH |

The water, raised up due to sudden throwing of mountains in the sea,
soured upward towards the sky and from there again, gushed back.

samudram kshobhayaa-maasurnipatantaH samantataH || (2-22-60)
suutraaNyanye pragR^ihNanti hyaayatam shatayojanam |

The rocks befalling on all sides perturbed the ocean. Some others drew
up strings a hundred yojans long (in order to keep the rocks in a
straight line.)

nalaH cakre mahaasetum madhye nada nadii pateH || (2-22-61) sa tadaa
kriyate seturvaanarai rghorakarmabhiH |

Nala on his part initiated a monumental bridge in the middle of the
ocean. The bridge was built at that time with the cooperation of other
monkeys, of terrible doings.

daNDananye pragR^ihNanti vicinvanti tathaapare || (2-22-62) vaanaraiH
shatashastatra raamasyajJNaapuraHsaraiH | meghaabhaiH parvataabhashca
tR^iNaiH kaaSThairbabandhare || (2-22-63)

Some monkeys were holding poles for measuring the bridge and some
others collected the material. Reeds and logs resembling clouds and
mountains, brought by hundreds of monkeys, lead by the command of
Rama, fastened some parts of the bridge.

puSpitaagraishcha tarubhiH setum badhnanti vaanaraaH | paaSaaNaamshca
giriprakhyaan giriiNaam shikharaaNi ca || (2-22-64) dR^ishyante
paridhaavanto gR^ihya daanavasamnibhaaH |

Monkeys constructed the bridge with trees having blossom at the end of
their boughs. Some monkeys looking like demons seized rocks resembling
mountains and peaks of mountains and appeared running hither and
thither.

shilaanaam kSipyamaaNaanaam shailaanaam tatra paatyataam || (2-22-65)
babhuuva tumulaH shabdas tadaa tasmin mahaaudadhau |

Then, a tumultuous sound occurred when the rocks were thrown into the
sea and when mountains were caused to fall there.

kR^itaani prathamenaahnaa yojanaani caturdasha || (2-22-66)
prahR^iSTaijasamkaashaistvaramaaNaiH plavaN^gamaiH |

On the first day, fourteen yojans of bridge was constructed by the
monkeys speedily, thrilled with delight as they were, resembling
elephants.

dvitiiyena tathaivaahnaa yojanaani tu vishatiH || (2-22-67) kR^itaani
plavagaistuurNam bhiimakaayairmahaabalaiH |

In the same manner, on the second day twenty yojans of bridge was
constructed speedily by the monkeys of terrific bodies and of mighty
strength.

ahnaa tR^itiiyena tathaa yojanaani tu saagare || (2-22-68)
tvaramaaNairmahaakayaireka-vimshatireva ca |

Thus, on the third day twenty-one yojans of the bridge was constructed
in the ocean speedily by the monkeys with their colossal bodies.

caturthena tathaa caahnaa dvaavimshatirathaapi vaa || (2-22-69)
yojanaani mahaavegaiH kR^itaani tvaritaistataH |

On the forth day, a further of twenty-two yojans was constructed by
the dashing monkeys with a great speed.

paJNcamena tathaa caahnaa plavagaiH kshiprakaaribhiH || (2-22-70)
yojanaani trayovimshat-suvelamadhikR^itya vai|

In that manner, on the fifth day, the monkeys working quickly
constructed twenty-three yojans of the bridge up to the other
seashore.

sa vaanaravaraH shriimaan vishvakarmaatmajo balii || (2-22-71)
babandha saagare setum yathaa caasya tathaa pitaa |

That Nala, the strong and illustrious son of Vishvakarma and an
excellent monkey built the bridge across the sea as truly as his
father would have built it.

sa nalena kR^itaH setuH saagare makara aalaye || (2-22-72) shushubhe
subhagaH shriimaan svaatii patha iva ambare |

That beautiful and lovely bridge constructed by Nala across the ocean
the abode of alligators, shone brightly like a milky way of stars in
the sky.

tato devaaH sagandharvaaH siddhaaH ca parama R^iSayaH || (2-22-73)
aagamya gagane tasthurdraSTu-kaamaastadadbhutam|

With a desire to behold that marvel, celestials along with Gandharvas,
the heavenly musicians, Siddhas (semi-divine beings of great purity
and perfection, possessing super natural qualities) and great sages
came then and stood up in the sky.

That colossal bridge, which was broad, well-constructed, glorious,
well postured and held together firmly, looked beautiful like a
separating straight line in the ocean.

Vibhishana, wielding a mace in his hand, stood up on the seashore
along with his ministers, for the purpose of invading the enemies.

sugriivastu tataH praaha raamam satyaparaakramam | hanumantam
tvamaaroha aN^gadam tvatha lakshmaNaH || (2-22-80) ayam hi vipulo
viira saagaro makaraalayaH| vaihaayasau yuvaametau vaanarau
dhaarayiSyataH|| (2-22-81)

Thereafter, Sugriva on his part spoke to Rama, the truly brave man as
follows: ?O, Valiant man! This ocean, the abode of alligators, is
indeed vast. You ascend the shoulder of Hanuman and let Lakshmana
ascend the shoulder of Angada. These monkeys can hold both of you
while flying in the sky.?

agratas tasya sainyasya shriimaan raamaH salakshmaNaH| jagaama dhanvii
dharma aatmaa sugriiveNa samanvitaH || (2-22-82)
Rama the glorious and righteous man, wielding a bow along with
Lakshmana together with Sugriva, went in front of that army.

jayasva shatruun nara deva mediniim | sasaagaraam paalaya shaashvatiiH
samaaH | iti iva raamam nara deva satkR^itam| shubhair vacobhir
vividhair apuujayan || (2-22-87)
The celestials, Siddhas and others exalted Rama, who was duly
respected by kings with their auspicious words as follows: ? O, king!
Defeat the enemies. Rule the earth and ocean eternally for years.?

Thus completes 22nd Chapter of Yuddha Kanda of the glorious Ramayana
of Valmiki, the work of a sage and the oldest epic.

(Source: www.valmikiramayan.net/yuddha/sarga22/yuddhaitrans22.htm)

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chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 12:45:46 PM2/19/10

September 23, 2007
?There is a ploy to destroy Ram Sethu. Sonia is the agent?

Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati talks to Organiser
representative Debasis Tripathy about his mission to save Ram Sethu
and about all his hopes and determination in an interview at Puri,
Orissa. Excerpts.

You are wandering over the country for protection of Ram Sethu and
organising Hindus. Kindly sketch your views on the issue.
It is a dishonest and offensive plan of the union government to
destroy this great cultural monument, which is the exclusive property
of Hindus of Bharat. Continuous efforts are going on to destroy the
Sethu. We have visited the spot and found that near Dhanushkoti, some
fishermen are residing in that area who are very innocent and simple
in nature. They do not know anything about this destruction. Many
sophisticated machines are engaged in this task and even experts
cannot tell what is really going on. We have information that some
portions have already been destroyed. Coming under the pressure of
America and being guided by some foreign forces the UPA government is
about to wipe out it by explosives.

You are saying that America is keen for the destruction of Ram Sethu.
Why?

NASA is the agency of America which confirmed the existence of Ram
Sethu. People could walk over the Ram Sethu in the ancient time. Later
it submerged in the sea water in a natural process. Now it exists
beneath six metre depth. NASA proved that its length is 30 km and
breadth 2.5 km. Such an ancient Sethu is with the Hindus who were able
to build this exceptational bridge, America cannot tolerate this. How
would he? Besides this near the Sethu there is an unlimited reserve of
thorium. The USA never wants that India should emerge as a great
nuclear power using this thorium. Hence America wants to exploit this
by destroying Ram Sethu and make India subservient to him. On the
other hand our men in power have opened the door to them. Insatiable
longing for power has made them blind.

What do you say about Sonia Gandhi?s role?

Sonia Gandhi had visited Rameswaram and attended the inauguration
ceremony of Sethusamudram Canal Project with Dr. Manmohan Singh, T.R
Balu and M. Karunanidhi. They chalked out a plan to destroy the Sethu.
Sonia is an outsider but we are astonished that how these leaders
dared to go against our own dharma and heritage? It is a great fraud
with the people of this nation. We want to inform the Hindus through
you that this drive is being controlled from Vatican city and the
government is dancing on the tune of the Pope. He wants to destroy all
Hindu heritages from the soil of Bharat. The late Pope John Paul had
visited India twice. On both the occasions he said: ?We want to make
Asia a Christian subcontinent and our mission begins from India.?

Now the Pope does not wish to see Bharat as a vishwaguru and hence he
wants to finish the spirit of our nationhood by hook or by crook. His
ambitions met with success in Nepal with the help of Maoists. Then how
will the Pope tolerate the existence of Ram Sethu and construction of
Ram Mandir at Ayodhya? Sonia has become his agent. Christians and
Communists have managed to tie their knot with each other.

Why did you start your protest late? Was there any hidden dialogue
with the government?

No. Nothing hidden nor was there any talk with the government. The
truth is, we came to know about this late during last Ardha Kumbha
Mela at Prayag on January 21, 2006. From that day we are working our
best. We never knock at the door of any political man. Yes, we had
gone to meet Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, not as the President of India but
as a lover of our rich heritage. We told him about the Sethu. Showing
a lot of sympathy he supported our views, but his hands were tied
then. He could not help us.

What is your next agenda?

We are really happy that this issue of Ram Sethu has been able to
break the slumber of the Hindu society. Some Hindus have awakened and
have come to the warpath for protection of their religious sentiment.
But we are really shocked that some Hindu seers like Asharam Bapu,
Murari Bapu and others are maintaining silence. When our nation and
dharma are facing a threat, all should come forward with their
followers. We have decided to go to Rameswaram and will fight for the
protection of the holy Sethu. Even if nobody comes with us, we will
definitely go there. My life may go but my steps will never go back.

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March 23, 2008

Centre?s affidavit on Ram Sethu an affront
Statement by VHP leaders Shri Ashok Singhal and Shri S. Vedantam

The UPA government at the Center has decided to file an oversmart and
scheming affidavit with the Supreme Court of India that downright
preempts the historicity of Ram. This insensitive and defeatist
government stance is now all over the media. By this offensive and
monstrous stand, the government has hurt the cultural sensibilities of
crores of people of the country.

The government would remember, and it must not forget it, that a
historic grand conference of 10 lakh people was held in Delhi on
December 30, 2007 to register the demands for protection of Ram Sethu
and its declaration as a historic national heritage. Before that on
September 10, 2007 when the central government in an affidavit to the
Supreme Court had denied the existence of Ram and the Ramayana, the
whole country responded with widespread and successful Chakka Jam
protests on September 12, 2007.

The Ram Sethu Raksha Manch urges the entire Hindu society to take out
motor cycle and scooter rallies all over the country on March 4-05
(Tuesday and Wednesday), 2008 to express their opposition to the
government decision to file affidavit in the Supreme Court on March
05, 2008 where by it wants to get the stay order regarding Ram Sethu
vacated. The rallies should culminate in meetings to address the
nationalist issue.

This affidavit maintains a hush on the questions that the Hon?ble
Madras High Court and the Hon?ble Supreme Court of India had asked the
Government of India to expressly address in the affidavit pertaining
to the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project (SSCP) and the Ram
Sethu.

The Hon?ble Court had asked?

Why was the Ram Sethu-breaking alignment picked out when the
government had six suggested alignments to consider? Why were not the
other alternative routes taken into account?

The Government had been asked and its attention drawn to show cause as
to why not the Ram Sethu be declared a National Heritage? Has the
government got the matter examined to declare it a National Heritage
site?

The Central Government has not at all addressed these questions in the
affidavit.

The central government had already given a show of its infected
mindset and vested interests by forming an Expert Committee that
included only its handpicked ?Yes Persons?. There anti-Ram and anti-
Ramayana stance is now more pronounced by the report of the so-called
Expert Committee. There has been acute humiliation of the country and
its scientists of standing by this line up of lies, as there are many
so-called scientists/experts on this committee who are pronouncedly
anti-Ram and anti-Bharatiya culture.

Only recently the Government of India recommended many ?Namghars?
(places of worship) situated on the ?Majuli Island? of River
Brahmaputra to be declared as National Heritage centres. These
institutions are about 350 years old. Also, when recently some people
opposed and initiated a litigation to stop the ancient ?Jalli Kattu?
festival of Madurai region of Tamil Nadu (Jalli? is ?Bull? and ?Kattu?
is ?Catch/Contain? in Tamil. It is, therefore, the ?Bull Overpowering?
festival by the agrarian society that depends upon ?Bull Power? for
prosperity), in that matter the Government of Tamil Nadu approached
the Supreme Court to save the celebrations from being stopped terming
it as a subject of ?faith? (Aasthaa) and tradition. The Supreme Court
gave an order to the effect that Aasthaa should be protected. But, in
the case of the Ram Sethu, both these governments, under cover of so-
called secularism, are opposed to recognizing it as a matter of ?
faith? and, thus, being dishonest and playing with the cultural and
civilisational sensibilities of the people of the country. Development
can always be reconciled with such vital national sensibilities, they
said.

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March 16, 2008

Vehicle rally in Delhi for Ram Sethu
VHP warns against destroying Ram Sethu

RAMESWARAM Ram Setu Raksha Manch organised a huge vehicle rally in
Delhi on March 4 against the recent affidavit filed by the UPA
government in Supreme Court again questioning the existence of Ram
Sethu. About 10,000 Rambhaktas riding around 5000 vehicles took part
in the rally, which started from Ramlila Grounds at 10.00 a.m. The
rally culminated at Rajghat and converted into a public meeting after
covering a distance of around seven km through Asaf Ali Road, Delhi
Gate, Ring Road and Hanuman Mandir (Marghat Wale). The rally was
jointly led by convener of the Manch Shri Rashtra Prakash and central
secretary of VHP Shri Rajendra Pankaj.

Addressing the gathering, joint general secretary of Vishwa Hindu
Parishad Shri Champat Rai said by filling the affidavit in the
Supereme Court the UPA government has not only questioned the
existence of Ram Setu, but also clearly repeated its earlier affidavit
denying the historicity of Sri Ram, which no Hindu throughout the
world would accept. He called upon all Hindus of the world to fight
against this mischief on the part of the government. Bhagwan Ram
hamari rag rag main hain (Shri Ram is in every drop of our blood), he
declared.

Shri Om Prakash Singhal, state president of Indraprastha VHP, said
that the government has cleverly avoided to reply the two main
questions of the Supreme Court that why could the Ram Sethu not be
declared a national monument and when the five other alternative
routes are available for the Sethusamudram project, why is it adamant
to destroy the Ram Sethu?

Shri Kuppuramanan, central secretary of Rameswaram Ram Sethu Raksha
Manch came from Rameshwaram to attend the rally. Patron of Delhi unit
of the Manch Shri Ramsharan Jindal, state Bajrang Dal chief Shri Ashok
Kapoor, his deputy advocate Sailandra Jaiswal, organising secretary
Shri Karuna Prakash, state president of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat Sardar
Ujagar Singh and Shri Brijmohan Sethi of Sewa Bharati also attended
the rally.

(VHP)

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November 11, 2007

Ram Sethu:
Faith afloat on the ocean
By Sandhya Jain

Early European travellers have recorded that a few hundred years ago,
at low tide, the Ram Sethu still served as a land bridge to Sri
Lanka.

For those of us who heard the Ramayana as children and witnessed the
annual lilas by amateur or professional actors, the Ram Sethu lacked
its current dimensions in the popular imagination.

When Ramanand Sagar made his epochal Ramayana serial in technicolour,
he did justice to the episode of the planning and execution of the
stone link to Sri Lanka, particularly the rounded rocks that floated
with ?Sri Ram? inscribed upon them. The astonished disbelief of Ravana
to learn that a bridge was forming over the ocean to carry Sugriva?s
army across was impressive.

Amazingly, for all the attention the television serial Ramayana
generated, most of us even then did not know what every fisherman and
pilgrim to Rameswaram must have known all this time, viz., that there
are to this day heavy rocks that float in the ocean in that area! Toss
an ordinary pebble in a pond, it does not float for even a second; yet
rocks as heavy as a tonne are floating merrily in the stormy waters at
Rameswaram.

This reality has now been captured on celluloid by media crews
visiting the region in the wake of the controversy rising out of a
plan to dredge a shipping canal by destroying a part of the legendary
bridge. In an attempt to preserve its ?secular? image, the television
crew investigating the traces of the historical Ram, joked that the
rocks were floating without the legendary ?Sri Ram? written upon them.
But there is no doubting the impact the floating rocks are having upon
believers after some pieces (that came ashore after the tsunami) were
taken to different parts of the country and shown to believers.

VHP leader Ashok Singhal showed me a piece he was taking probably to
the Patna Mahavir temple; it weighed at least 15 kg and was difficult
to lift. Yet it floated effortlessly in a large tub in the temple, to
the awe and delight of devotees.

A group of investigators, including a secular historian who said
scholars accepted the Ramayana as literature but did not accord it
historical sanctity, also visited sites associated with the story
across the Sethu, in Sri Lanka. It bears mentioning here that Sri
Lanka is a Buddhist-majority country and neither the political nor
religious elites there have any interest in perpetuating the
historicity or cultural legacy of Sri Ram. The country has, however,
left the sites and stories associated with the god untouched, and
these are now being rediscovered by interested Indians after so many
centuries.

The investigators revisited the geographical features of Lanka?s ?Sita
Eliya? as mentioned in the epic. The local residents maintain that
this was the original Ashok Vatika, where Sita lived in captivity. It
is a ruin now, but there is now a temple to mark the Ashok Vatika,
which has many ancient statues.

A team member reported that they found a fresh water stream descending
from the mountains to the left of the temple and falling in a pond at
the base of the temple. Nearby is a flat rock with the imprint of a
huge foot, which is said to be the foot of Hanuman, who is believed to
have visited Sita in the form of a giant. The soil left of the stream
is visibly different from neighbouring soil, being black as opposed to
the light brown soil on the right side of the stream. This coincides
with Valmiki?s assertion that Hanuman burnt Ravana?s Lanka to ashes,
and incredible as it seems, there is so far no other explanation for
this phenomenon.

Equally inexplicable is a mountain on the beach near Ruma Sulla, 150
km north of Colombo, standing upright amidst the ocean and sandy
beaches, and looking as thought an unknown hand had manually picked it
up from somewhere else and placed it here. The mountains are home to a
rich variety of herbs and medicinal plants and the soil here is
completely distinct from the other soils found all over the island
nation. Yet these details fit in remarkably well with the statements
in Valmiki?s Ramayana, and are certainly compelling enough to make an
honest modern scholar pause and wonder about the deep truths hidden in
the epic.

There must be some rational explanation for specific temples
associated with the route Sri Ram took from Ayodhya to the forests of
Madhya Pradesh and on to the south and up to Sri Lanka. Certain sites
are still associated with the rishi ashrams that the exiles met on the
way as also the kings and kingdoms encountered en route. Even today in
the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, there is in Devipathanam a
Navgraha Mandir to mark the spot where Ram worshipped the nine
celestial planets before building the Ram Sethu. Ram is supposed to
have built the original temple himself.

For Hindus in India, Sri Lanka, and indeed, all over the world, the
Ram Sethu is an object of veneration and the attitude of dismissing it
as superstition is most unfortunate. The Union Government?s Committee
of Eminent Persons on Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project is truly
astonishing for its absence of a mariner and naval or coastguard to
examine the security aspect of the project. Concerned citizens rightly
lack confidence in such a committee, as most members are selected for
political or personal affiliations and even experts in geology and
oceanography are missing from the panel.

This is a mockery of the Supreme Court order that experts examine the
feasibility of the canal, and the cultural heritage of Ram Sethu.
Moreover, saturation TV has amply demonstrated that the Ram Sethu is a
geological structure inside the ocean, which links India with Sri
Lanka. The bridge is made of calcareous sandstones and corals, which
are less dense than normal hard rock. Early European travellers have
recorded that a few hundred years ago, at low tide, the Ram Sethu
still served as a land bridge to Sri Lanka. Temple epigraphs and
travelogues recorded in the Madras Presidency Gazetteer of 1893 state
that this was possible up to 1799, after which the choppy waters and
changing tide patterns may have rendered this difficult.

It is pertinent that a shipping channel should be ecologically and
economically viable, but the SSCP is both uneconomical and
environmentally unsound. As time passes, even the shipping industry is
having second thoughts about its economic benefits. The large shipping
lines operating ocean services believe that the proposed draught of 10
metres is inadequate for the movement of vessels of 50,000 DWT, and
the international trend is to build vessels of 60,000 DWT, which will
make the canal redundant and wasteful.

Many shipping analysts have questioned the traffic projections on the
canal. The Sethusamudram Corporation Ltd view that 3,055 ships would
use the canal annually which is excessive, and coastal ship operators
are explicit that such traffic is unlikely over the next decade. The
canal may benefit coastal shipping in terms of fuel and time costs,
but this will be offset by 12 per cent service tax and the constant
risk to the canal from heavy sedimentation by the choppy seas, which
may make it unfeasible over time.

One of the sticky points is the status of fishermen in the region, who
are stiffly opposing the project. So far, the government has refused
to clarify if fishing will be permitted to continue in the area or
not, because if fishing continues, then there can simply be no
shipping. Another important point is that for security reasons ships
must keep a distance of 200 miles from the Sri Lankan coast, and the
channel does not address this concern. Finally, the lack of finances
as revealed by Axis Bank (the project banker), seems to de facto rule
out completion of the project, which makes continuing expenditure on
dredging or maintaining offices and staff a criminal waste of
taxpayers' money.

(The writer is a senior journalist and can be contacted at
sandh...@sify.com)

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October 21, 2007

Yechuri?s ploy to demolish Ram Sethu and Ram Avatar
By P. Parameswaran

The whole postulate Comrade Sitaram provides is but a reproduction of
what Mahayogi Aurobindo had written about 80 years ago. Yechuri has
quoted Sri Aurobindo with minor verbal changes without acknowledging
the original source. Borrowing of such a brilliant and luminous
concept word by word, without even remotely referring to the original
text, is called ?plagiarism?.

What does Sitaram Yechury do in his borrowed plumes, with his swiped
sagacity? To put the situation in context one has to bring in the
rather unkind image of a monkey borrowing his master?s razor. Because,
the significance of Sri Aurobindo?s concept of Dasavatar is that it
rises from a foundation of India?s spiritual vision and understanding
of history.

It was a pleasant surprise to read comrade Sitaram Yechuri?s article ?
Misusing faith? in the People?s Democracy dated 23rd September. It was
a very smart ploy by the Marxist ideologue to demolish the faith of
the Hindu people, not only in Ram Sethu, but also in Sri Ram Avatar.

It was smart in the sense that Comrade Sitaram exploited the ancient
Dasavatar concept widely believed by the Hindus in order to refute the
historicity of Sri Ram himself. He writes, ?The Dasavatars can thus be
seen as a remarkable recording of the evolution of human life and its
civilisational advance till the Aryan mastered the horse and
majestically moved across lands.? What a rich tribute to the Hindu
genius! The write up creates the impression that the Marxist leader
accepts that the ancient sages of India were well familiar with the
theory of evolution millennia before the Western scientist Charles
Darwin propounded it. Moreover, Yechury also pretends to admit that
ancient Indian seers were endowed with great scientific acumen,
because, otherwise, they could never have understood the complex
process of evolution so correctly and recorded it in such lucid
terms.

But, his real intention, in this case, is not to show appreciation of
the wisdom of ancient India. He is applying his logic in a backhanded
way to prove that avatars are only symbolic and none of them ever
lived in flesh and blood. He also wants to establish that the concept
of avatars is just a symbolic anticipation of the ?historical
materialism? of Karl Marx. He is trying to provide a materialistic
interpretation of the concept of Dasavatara and thereby take away any
spiritual foundation in the hoary Marxian traditions of ?logical
positivism?.

Look at what the Marxist ideologue writes:-

?In this very spirit, consider the following interpretation of the
mythological Dasavataras. We are told in the Mahabharata that in every
yuga (epoch), God descends on earth to uphold dharma and to cleanse
it. At the end of the present yuga, God is supposed to appear in the
form of the tenth avatar, Kalki avatar.

?The first avatar is in the form of fish. Science has now confirmed
that the first life forms evolved underwater. The second is the
tortoise, amphibious capable of living both on land and in water. The
third is the boar, able to live only on land. The transition of life
from underwater to land marks this state. The next is the Narasimha
avatar reflecting the transition from the animal to the human form.
This is followed by the Vaman avatar representing the evolution of the
human form in its dwarf size. This is followed by Parasuram who wields
the axe as his weapon. This represents the stage of the clearing of
forests for human settlement. Ram who follows wields the bow and arrow
as his weapon, ie., a weapon that can protect the human settlements by
attacking the enemy from a distance. Balaram who comes next wields the
plough. This is the stage of evolution of human civilizations to the
levels of an agrarian economy. Krishna represents the further advance
of human civilization in the stage of domestication of the cow and the
development of the diary economy. Kalki who is yet to arrive is
portrayed as riding a horse representing the state of the
domestication of the horse.? (Sitaram Yechuri?People?s Democracy dated
23rd September)

But, then, there is an interesting side view that cannot be ignored.
The whole postulate Comrade Sitaram provides is but a reproduction of
what Mahayogi Aurobindo had written about 80 years ago. Yechuri has
quoted Sri Aurobindo with minor verbal changes without acknowledging
the original source. Borrowing of such a brilliant and luminous
concept word by word, without even remotely referring to the original
text, is called ?plagiarism?.

Of course, communists do not attach much importance to bourgeois
values like honesty and may not bother about such ?niceties?. Yechury
might even claim that it was his original discovery. If Sri Aurobindo
had written it earlier, it could be explained as great minds thinking
alike! It is for the readers to come to their own conclusions. But no
one dare deny that the similarity between the two is too striking to
be explained away as accidental.

But what does Sitaram Yechury do in his borrowed plumes, with his
swiped sagacity? To put the situation in context one has to bring in
the rather unkind image of a monkey borrowing his master?s razor.
Because, the significance of Sri Aurobindo?s concept of Dasavatar is
that it rises from a foundation of India?s spiritual vision and
understanding of history. Not only that. He also convincingly
concluded that the theory of evolution so strikingly advanced by our
rishis makes Sri Ram as historical personality, logically inevitable
and rationally unassailable. Quoting Sri Aurobindo on the concept of
Dasavatars and the historicity of Sri Ram will be in order in this
context:

?Avatarhood would have little meaning if it were not connected with
the evolution. The Hindu procession of the ten avatars is itself, as
it were, a parable of evolution. First the fish avatar, then the
amphibious animal between land and water, then the land animal, then
the man-lion avatar, bridging man and animal, then man as dwarf, small
and undeveloped and physical but containing in himself the godhead and
taking possession of existence, then the rajasic, sattwic, nirgun
avatars, leading the human development from the vital rajasic to the
sattwic mental man and again the overmental superman. Krishna, Buddha
and Kalki depict the last three stages, the stages of the spiritual
development - Krishna opens the possibility of overmind, Buddha tries
to shoot beyond to the supreme liberation but that liberation is still
negative, not returning upon earth to complete positively the
evolution; Kalki is to correct this by bringing the Kingdom of the
Divine upon earth, destroying the opposing asura forces. The
progression is striking and unmistakable.? (Sri Aurobindo Volume 22,
page 401, 402)

?As for the Avatarhood, I accept it for Ram because he fills a place
in the scheme?and seems to me to fill it rightly?and because when I
read the Ramayana I feel a great afflatus which I recognise and which
makes of its story?mere fairy-tale though it seems?a parable of great
critical transitional event that happened in the terrestrial evolution
and gives to the main character?s personality and action a
significance of the large typical cosmic kind which these actions
would not have had if they had been done by another man in another
scheme of events. The avatar is not bound to do extraordinary actions,
but he is bound to give his acts or his work or what he is - any of
these or all - a significance and an effective power that are part of
something essential to be done in the history of the earth and its
races.

All the same, if anybody does not see as I do and wants to eject Ram
from his place, I have no objection - I have no particular partiality
for Ram - provided somebody is put in who can worthily fill up the gap
his absence leaves. There was somebody there, Valmiki?s Ram or another
Ram or somebody not Ram.? (Sri Aurobindo Vol. 22 page 414, 415)

Thus it will be seen that Sitaram Yechury refers to avatara concept to
faith of Sri Rama, whereas Sri Aurobindo puts him on his historical
pedestal. A classic case of devil quoting the scriptures.

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chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 12:56:37 PM2/19/10

June 29, 2008
VHP Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal
To intensify Ram Sethu agitation from Vijayadashami
By Ravindra Saini from Haridwar

The Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) that
met at Nishkam Sewa Trust in Haridwar from June 15 to 16 has declared
to intensify the countrywide agitation for protection of Ram Sethu
from Vijayadashami. ?If the Central Government does not declare the
Ram Sethu a national monument and publicly declare its commitment for
its protection, we should be ready to make any kind of sacrifice for
the protection of the Ram Sethu,? said a resolution unanimously
adopted at the meeting.

Senior saints from all states of the country participated the meeting.
Prior to the Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal meeting, the Uchchadhikar
Samiti met on June 14 in which 40 senior saints including Kanchi
Shankaracharya Swami Jayendra Saraswati, Jyotirmath Shankaracharya
Swami Vasudeva-nanda Saraswati, Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya,
Rama-nujacharya Swami Vasudevacharya, Madhvacharya Shri Vishveshteerth
and Swami Satyamitranand Giri. VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal,
general secretary Dr Pravin Togadia and various other senior leaders
of VHP were also present at the meeting.

The resolution further said that development at the cost of rich
traditions was a conspiracy to derail the nation from its cultural
roots, which would not be accepted at all. The Margdarshak Mandal
warned the government to declare the Sethu a national monument before
the beginning of the winter Navratras and by changing the route of the
Sethusamudaram project assure that the Ram Sethu would not be
damaged. ?The sacred places of Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi are our
deities. Similarly Ram Sethu is also a sacred pilgrimage place for us.
The religious people of the country would not allow any damage to this
historical legacy and the pilgrimage places,? the resolution added.

In another resolution about the protection of the Ganga, the
Margdarshak Mandal said the nation does not want development at the
cost of its priceless historical legacy. Appealing to the Central
Government to change its attitude to the holy river, the saints
unanimously said that the Ganga should be declared a National River
and a central authority should be constituted to protect it. ?Not only
the governments but also the indifference of the Hindus to the sins of
the governments is responsible for the present condition of the Ganga.
The governments have exploited the river very mercilessly,? the
resolution added. The saints also supported the fast unto death by
Prof Gangadas Agrawal for the protection of the Ganga. They said the
river must be allowed to flow naturally from Gangotri to Uttarkashi.
Prof. Agrawal, in his age of 76 years, has started fast unto death in
Uttarkashi from June 13. He has demanded that all the projects
sanctioned by the central government over the Ganga, which protect
natural flow of the holy river, should be quashed forthwith.

In another resolution, the Margdarshak Mandal reiterated its demand to
free all the religious places of Hindus from the illegal occupation of
the government. The resolution warned if the government fails to meet
their demand the saints would be forced to start a massive agitation.

About the reconstruction of Shri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the saints
said the temple would be reconstructed with the strength of the
people. The reconstruction work could be started only after the
Members of Parliament realise the Hindus? strength and remove the
hurdles that block the way of the reconstruction. The Margdarshak
Mandal appealed to the Hindu society to develop a massive strength,
which can force the government to enact a law allowing reconstruction
of the temple.

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September 02, 2007
BJP Mahila Morcha presents ten million signatures to protect Ram Sethu
to President
Big dharna at Jantar Mantar to save Ram Sethu

The agitation of Hindus against the destruction of Ram Sethu has
reached at its peak. The whole country is agitated over the issue. As
part of the countrywide agitations, dharnas, demonstrations, rallies,
observing fasts, presenting memorandums and conducting signature
campaigns by different organisations, a massive dharna was staged at
Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on August 23 to exert pressure on the UPA
government.

Addressing the agitators, senior BJP leader and former Union Minister
Dr Murli Manohar Joshi said there would have been no need of entering
into any nuclear agreement with the US if our government had made
efforts to preserve our own reserves of thorium. He made it clear that
the plan of Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project had been revived during
the NDA regime but it never supported the destruction of Ram Sethu. He
alleged that the Union Shipping Minister T.R. Balu is now conspiring
to blast the Sethu by dynamite. ?If it happens it would be the most
unfortunate decision for the country and the environment. We have
sought an appointment from the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to
stop the government from taking this disastrous step,? he said and
added that the movement for the protection of Ram Sethu is the fight
to save the soul of the country.

VHP general secretary Dr Pravin Togadia warned the government to
restrain from taking such a suicidal step otherwise the every street
of the country will witness massive agitations. ?If the government
does not change the route of the Sethusamudaram Project lakhs of
people would demonstrate at Parliament in September.? He said more
than three lakh people joined the countrywide dharnas and fasts on
August 12 and lakhs of people from southern states would assemble in
Rameshwaram on August 26 to warn the government.

Noted scientist and national president of Ram Sethu Raksha Manch Dr S.
Kalyanraman said the Ram Sethu is being demolished under pressure from
America, which wants to destroy our reserves of thorium at any cost.
He reserves it is very unfortunate that the leaders of the country
failed to realise the real conspiracy of the US behind this project.
Former VHP president Shri Vishnu Hari Dalmia appealed to the Hindus to
use their tool of Hindu vote bank and do not support the anti-Hindu
parties and leaders. Mahant Naval Kishor Das, Delhi BJP president Dr
Harsh Vardhan, Rashtriya Sikh Sangat leader Shri Jagjivan Jot Singh ?
Anand?, Shri Mangeram Garg of Dharmayatra Mahasangh, Shri Lakshmandev
of RSS and veteran VHP leader Acharya Giriraj Kishor also spoke on the
occasion.

Meanwhile, a high-level delegation of 26 BJP Mahila Morcha activists
under the leadership of national president Smt Kiran Maheshwari, MP,
presented a memorandum supported by one crore signatures to President
Smt. Pratibha Patil on August 21 in New Delhi and requested her to
direct the government to change the route of the Sethusamudram Project
to save the symbol of Indian culture and identity?Ram Sethu. The
President assured the delegation to forward their request to the
department concerned and to apprise the sentiments of women of the
country to the government. Activists of Bharatiya Janshakti Party also
staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar on August 21 for the protection of
Ram Sethu. (FOC)

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April 29, 2007
BJP is the front runner in UP

Big Hindutva surge
By Easwaran Nambudiri

The highly hyped up Mayawati too appeared to be unnerved by the BJP?s
resurgence as her party reportedly circulated a nasty ?hate text? ?
Behanji Ka Sandesh? which made highly derogatory and objectionable
remarks against Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Yadavs, Muslims and the media in
a desperate bid to win back the Dalit voters who are deserting her
enmasse to back the pan-Hindu BJP.

Third Phase had its hilarious side also as the entire world saw Rahul
Gandhi cutting a sorry figure yet again by shooting off his mouth. If
it was his outrageous comment on the demolition of the disputed
structure that made the headlines last time, this time around, he
sought to take credit for dividing Pakistan, a statement which found
strong disapproval from the Muslim community.

The BJP had to undergo both ridicule and opposition in the first two
phases of the ongoing elections to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly before
gaining acceptance even among its die hard critics after the third
phase of polling on April 18.

In its exit polls for the third phase even the NDTV, which has been
one of the most vociferous critics of the saffron party and other
channels like Star News gave the leading position to BJP followed by
the current media darling BSP and the perennial front-runner (no one
knows why) the Samajwadi Party.

What?s more, a majority of the respondents in the exit poll rated BJP?
s Chief Ministerial candidate Kalyan Singh as the best choice for the
top post in Lucknow. The findings should not be surprising considering
the fact that the first three phases had covered Western Uttar
Pradesh, where BJP had battled for seats mostly held by the Samajwadi
Party or its one-time ally, the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal. The
findings are also significant keeping in view the fact that the third
round covered the region called Rohilkhand around Bareilly, Rampur and
Pilibhit, which have a sizeable Muslim electorate-perceived and
projected by both the media and pseudo-secular parties as anti-BJP.

It is also interesting to note that in the first phase, the BJP was
shown at a poor third while in the second phase, the saffron party was
projected as battling for the second position.

The run-up to the Third Phase had its hilarious side also as the
entire world saw Rahul Gandhi cutting a sorry figure yet again by
shooting off his mouth. If it was his outrageous comment on the
demolition of the disputed structure that made the headlines last
time, this time around, he sought to take credit for dividing
Pakistan, a statement which found strong disapproval from the Muslim
community which he was apparently trying to woo.

?It (1971) is a historical event for which no family or person should
try to take credit. It is also an insult to the Bangladesh movement.
Rahul is free to say whatever he wants to but in a democratic country,
playing up family is not in good taste?, said historian Irfan Habib, a
Left-wing intellectual. Others said his statement was ?immature,
unwarranted and politically incorrect?.

In fact, BJP President Rajnath Singh hit the nail when he asked who
was responsible for the Partition of the country in the first place.
Rahul Baba?s statement also drew sharp reactions from Islamabad which
slammed it as a vindication of its charge of ?Indian interference.?

Rahul?s earlier statement that the disputed structure would not have
been demolished if his family was in power fell flat on the face as
people reminded the novice leader that not only were the locks of the
Ram Janmabhoomi opened during the tenure of his late father but also
that a Congressman P.V. Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister when the
incident took place. Some leaders even told him that thousands of
Sikhs would not have been massacred in Delhi and other places in 1984
if someone other than a Gandhi was in power.

Unfortunately, the nation witnessed yet another bout of sycophancy as
Congress leaders cutting across political rivalries, from Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh to his arch rival Arjun Singh, went out of
their way to defend the Yuvraj. Singh openly declared that the Amethi
MP was the ?future? even as the Ministry of External Affairs found
itself in an embarrassing position answering queries from the media.

The run-up also saw Rahul?s mother Sonia Gandhi making a desperate
last-minute attempt to woo Muslim voters. The UPA Chairperson and
Congress president penned a letter in Urdu and sent it to as many as
15,000 members of the community seeking their support ?in her fight
(sic) against forces of casteism and communalism.?

Ironically, around the same time, the Union Home Ministry cleared a
proposal to allow the icon of blatant casteism Bahujan Samaj Party
chief Mayawati to drive straight upto the tarmac in any airport in the
country to board her plane. However, the order was silent on what
category Mayawati has been placed for extension of this privilege to
drive straight to the airport.

There are generally three categories under which any VIP is given
permission to drive straight to the tarmac like on grounds a person is
a highly threatened person, VIP with NSG protection and ill-health
besides protocol. The Home Ministry is totally silent on the issue.

Notwithstanding such gimmicks, both the Gandhis and other political
players have started realising that the BJP is fast emerging as the
dark (sorry, saffron) horse in this race. The BJP cadres are not only
bolstered by the party?s superb performance in the recent elections in
Punjab, Uttarakhand and Delhi but also by the unprecedented solidarity
of Hindutva forces in the state, who are sparing no stone unturned to
make the party win. If Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath forgot the
differences in the larger Hindu interests, Bharatiya Janshakti leader
Uma Bharti withdrew her candidates responding to an appeal from VHP
Chief Ashok Singhal.

?The going is good and we are getting encouraging reports from all
parts of the state?, is how BJP president Rajnath Singh described the
party?s performance in the polls.

?Fortunately for us, the so-called secular vote was divided. Other
parties could not mobilise Muslim voters against the BJP as the bogey
of communalism against us did not work this time?, said party?s vice-
president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

Critics had described the BJP?s impressive performance in the UP civic
polls last year as a ?fluke? and today they have come to accept that
the party has emerged first in the first three phases- areas where
Muslim voters accounted for 35 per cent of the electorate.

Notwithstanding the Election Commission?s unfortunate decision to
allow Navin Chawla to take part in the hearing against the BJP in the
CD case, the morale of the party cadres are on an all-time high.
Leading their victory march in the four remaining phases would be none
other than the ever popular former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
who is all set to hit the campaign trail next week. The nation too is
getting ready for an encore performance from the BJP after its recent
hatrick.

Content ©

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April 29, 2007
Justice Krishna Iyer says,
?The project detrimental to territorial interest?

Writes to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Following is the text of
the letter

Most respected Prime Minister,

I write this letter a little too late but its importance and the
gravity of the consequences involved persuade me to think that I
should address you better late than never. The subject must have
already been within your attention and is known as Sethusamudram
Shipping Canal Project. If the enclosed paper states the facts with
scientific objectivity and national anxiety, my appeal to you is to
stop building any bridge or other construction, an action hostile to
the nation and its swaraj. Our nation will be weaker and may suffer
new dangers with Ameircan presence in the Sethusamudram waters by
doing what for centuries has never been considered necessary or
feasible or in any manner advantageous to us, the people of India. In
the name of India, i.e. Bharat, and appealing to your patriotic
statesmanship I beseech you to reconsider the stand taken, if any
already on this point. This is a matter of a political party business
or popularity or pro-American yen. I hope you will give great thought
as the Executive Head of India to the grave issue implied in the
enclosed paper and with which the nation shall define its survival.

With high regards,

Yours sincerely,

(V.R. Krishna Iyer)

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April 29, 2007
Editorial

Congress communal campaign

So the Muslims, who constitute the largest religious community in the
country after Hindus are totally under the mercy of the Sonia
Congress. At least that is what the party wants the Muslims in the
country to believe.

A booklet published by the All India Congress Committee (AICC)
addressed to Muslim voters staked claim to all the achievements of
prominent Muslim individuals ranging from Wipro chief Azim Premji to
film actor Shahrukh Khan and cricket star Irfan Pathan. Produced by
Imran Kidwai, Congress minorities department chairman, the booklet
apportions credit to the party for the achievements and privileges
enjoyed by the Muslims in independent India. It is the Congress that
allowed and sheltered talents from the Muslim community to bloom, it
claimed. The Party did not feel constrained about using the names of
former presidents of India like Dr Zakir Hussain and Fakruddin Ali
Ahmed to tom-tom its generosity towards Muslims. This is perhaps for
the first time that any political party in the country has dragged the
names of Presidents of India for cheap political stunts. The nervous
Congress cannot distinguish between hysteria and fact.

?Azim Premji, who is India?s richest man, is not alone, from film star
Dilip Kumar to Shahrukh Khan, all Muslims have been at the top?, the
booklet claimed, because of the Congress. It then went on to name
music maestros Zakir Hussain and Bismillah Khan and cricket players
such as Nawab of Pataudi, Sayed Kirmani, Azharuddin, Zaheer Khan,
Mohammad Kaif, Munaf Patel and Wasim Jaffar. It further claimed credit
for sports personalities such as tennis icon Sania Mirza and hockey
greats such as Aslam Sher Khan, Zafar Iqbal and Mohammad Shahid. It
then postulated that these individuals, on account of being from the
Muslim community, would probably have not been known and enjoyed the
kind of success but for the Congress.

Ridiculous, to say the least. The Congress has been wary of creating
and acknowledging national heroes other than those it parades from the
Nehru-Gandhi parivar. For an average Indian it was not a matter of
consideration, if these achievers belonged to any particular religion.
By making him conscious of these heroes' religious tag, the Congress
has committed an unpardonable crime, reduced their national standing
and the party owes an unqualified apology to the nation. It is another
matter that the Election Commission has to take cognizance of this
base communal appeal. Thankfully, the Congress did not claim that it
created two sovereign countries for Muslims, partitioning India.

The Congress while pretending to be secular has always thrived on
communal appeal. Few years ago under Rajiv Gandhi the party promised
the creation of the land of the Bible in the state assembly election
in Mizoram. In the recent Punjab election, the Congress propaganda was
that the Sikhs should support the Congress en bloc because the party
had given a Sikh Prime Minister, Sikh Army Chief and a Sikh Dy.
Chairman of the Planning Commission. But the ploy did not work in
Punjab.

The point is, the Congress has the unfathomable capacity to stoop to
any depth even brazenly undermining, if not mortgaging, national
security, to play vote bank politics.

The Congress campaign in UP is viciously communal. It is intent on
securing the Muslim vote at any cost. With this idea Rahul Gandhi
prayed and pleaded for Muslim support visiting all the infamous seats
of Islamic fundamentalism. Possibly there was a method in the mad
pronouncements he made from these mullah backyards. He was cleverly
trying to shift the focus away from the poor, unpopular record of the
UPA under Dr Manmohan Singh at the Centre. It is intriguing that
neither Rahul Gandhi nor Sonia Gandhi made any appeal to voters in the
name of the UPA regime?s achievements in the last three years. By
consciously making controversial and untenable statements, which
attracted a lot of media attention, the Gandhi scion tried to draw
public attention away from price rise, terrorist attacks and soft-
pedalling on national security issues.

The Congress, along with other Muslim-obsessed parties, has made a big
hue and cry demanding derecognition of the BJP on a CD, which the
party had disowned. The accusation was that the BJP was making
communally sensitive appeal. Is not the Congress booklet on alleged
Muslim emancipation a violation of the Representation of People Act
and model code of conduct? Will the Election Commission charge the
party with inciting communal passion?

There is no dearth of saviours for the Muslims in the country, only
that the Uttar Pradesh assembly poll campaign has brought the most
grotesque, if not objectionable side of Congress communalism in
action.

The other day, Sonia Gandhi, trying yet another trick to attract
Muslim voters in UP, sent personal letters in Urdu to thousands of
Muslim leaders all over the state. Why only to Muslim religious heads?
Is it not a blatant form of communal pandering, when she specifically
pleaded to Muslim clergy to ?help me generously to fight against caste
and communalism (read Hindu) so that I can build a society of your
dreams?? When she talks of building a society of ?your dreams? and
sending it only to prominent Muslims it sounds ominous. Is it a way of
promising a state and social order conditioned by Islamic laws and
world vision? And if this is secularism, how does one define
communalism?

The Congress under Sonia Gandhi is consciously following a divisive
agenda. The party on its own will not apply any brake till it meets
its inevitable electoral Waterloo in states after states at the hands
of a resurgent nationalist upheaval.

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April 29, 2007
UPA warned of massive resistance

Save Ram Sethu or face consequences, Hindu leaders' ultimatum
From Mahadevan in Rameswaram

Rameswaram, April 18, 2007??Ram Mandir Banayenge!? ?Ram Sethu
Bachayenge !!? That was the slogan which reverberated at the land?s
end this afternoon. In the middle of the holiest pilgrim centre of
Rameswaram, Shri Ashok Singhal, International President of Vishwa
Hindu Parishad, led the slogan and a huge assembly of thousands of
demonstrators ? 60 per cent of them women?followed the chant, waving
saffron flags. They had assembled there in response to a call of ?
Rameswaram Ram Sethu Protection Movement?.

May 13 Alert : The Ultimatum Shri Singhal electrified the atmosphere
by declaring an ultimatum. In his special address to the demonstrators?
in fact, to the whole of Bharat?he roared: ?The Central government
should leave Ram Sethu untouched and come forward with an alternative
alignment for the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal before May 13, 2007. If
it fails to do so, a very very big struggle will follow. On that day,
mahamandaleshwars and heads of akhadas will meet in Delhi to chalk out
the further strategy. I have consulted them all in this regard.
Members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha must come out in support of this
mighty struggle to protect Hindu interests.?

Shri Singhal asserted that Shri Hanuman himself protects Ram
Janmasthan as proved by the fact that of the 19 bombs hurled by anti-
nationals on Ramjanmabhoomi, only one exploded, that too just
destroyed the hand of the terrorist involved. He quizzed: ?So also,
Ram Sethu too is protected by Hanumanji. Otherwise, how does one
explain dredgers, cranes and ships approaching Ram Sethu break down
one by one? (Latest: The engineer of a Russian ship working for
Sethusamudram Project broke his hand and has since been hospitalised
in Madurai. His condition is kept as a guarded secret!). But Shri.
Singhal was prompt in reminding the people that they will have to
convey their anger to the Hon?ble President of Bharat and the Prime
Minister through telegrams and letters. Midway during his speech, he
asked those in the meeting who would write letters the very next day
to raise their hands. All hands went up! Anger? Yes!

He explained: ?Ram Sethu is the sole surviving solid proof that Shri
Ram lived in this land, that he came to Rameswaram and constructed the
Sethu. Western powers want to destroy the Sethu just because of this.
Their historians want to hide the fact from the people that Shri Ram
took birth thousands of years before Jesus Christ, as that would
demolish their theory that Bharat did never have a long and glorious
history. It is not a coincidence that Sonia participated in the
inauguration of the Sethu-samudram Project in its present form that
seeks to destroy the Ram Sethu and Ambika Soni declares that there is
no Ram Sethu at all.? ?It is due to the pressure from USA which made
Sonia to inaugurate the Project to make the Palk Strait as
international waters to help the American government.? Shri Singhal
told mediapersons in Chennai on April 17. The British taught us
distorted history and never recognised Lord Ram as a historical figure
and those who want to destroy the bridge are those against Shri Ram,
he said. Any deshabhakta will be angry for this, he concluded. The
work on the Project be suspended immediately. VHP and the religious
leaders are not against the Project per se.

Earlier in his address, Shri Singhal reiterated quite a few aspects of
Ram Sethu protection, brought to the notice of people and the
government in several hundreds of similar protest demonstrations from
Punjab to Kerala through UP and Andhra?and, of course, in every
district place of Tamil Nadu all along past months.

?If Ram Sethu is demolished then it would destroy thorium, the fuel
source for nuclear energy generation, large deposits running into tens
of thousands of tons of which are found in the place. It can supply
energy for the whole country for more than 100 years; it has to be
saved for making Bharat a self-reliant nuclear power and as it is one
of our top national imperatives.

In addition to the NASA images, our own scientific evidences point to

human activity in ancient times on both sides of Ram Sethu as found by

Dept. of Earth Sciences and ocean technologists of Bharat.

VHP and the religious leaders are not against the Project per se; they
are opposed to the present alignment that involved damaging the Ram
Sethu. There were five alternatives and the VHP and the Hindu Dharma
Acharya Sabha wanted the government to choose one of them.

The Rameswaram demonstration was held in the presence of Shri R.V.S.
Marimuthu (Sanghachalak of Tamil Nadu, RSS).

Blessing the people fighting for the protection of Ram Sethu,
Mahamandaleshwar Swami Vishveshananda of Haridwar, sent out a warning
that the family of anyone who destroys Ram Sethu will face disaster.

In Ramajanmabhoomi movement, Hindus were pitted against Muslim
intransigence; but in saving Ram Sethu, all fishermen?Muslims,
Christians and Hindus?have come together, the Swami pointed out. It
may be remembered that 140 associations of Rameswaram had joined the
Ram Sethu Protection Movement.

Swami Paramatmananda of Rajkot made it clear that destruction of Ram
Sethu does not merely indicate economic or political loss. It means a
cultural, religious destruction, he said. He called upon people to hit
the streets as the government has become deaf to the demands of
Hindus. Raise your voice if you want to be heard, he appealed.

He exposed the Shipping Minister T.R. Baalu?s trickery in not giving
an explanation to the Hindu leaders even after the lapse of three
weeks after Prime Minister?s directive to that effect. The PM had
asked Baalu to respond to the delegation of religious leaders when
they had met him in Delhi to demand protection of Ram Sethu.

Highlighting the sentiments of the Hindu mind, Swami Abhimukhananda of
Dwaraka said the Ram Sethu is like the maang (the parting of hair
above the forehead) of Bharat Mata and destroying it would amount to
making the Mother look like a widow. Shri Ram appealed to Samudra Raja
to no avail; only when Ram tried to take out his bow and arrow, work
on the Sethu could begin; like that, Hindu appeals have fallen on deaf
ears. Struggle seems to be the only way, the Swami said.

Swami Sahaja Chaitanya also participated in the demonstration.

Shri Rama Gopalan, founder, Hindu Munnani, pointed out that people
should be ready to lay down even their lives in order to bring the
powers that be, to their knees and thus save Ram Sethu. He cited the
Nandigram experience as precedence to this; there, the Marxist
government backtracked from land acquisition only after people laid
down their lives to realise their demand.

Shri S. Vedantam, international vice president of VHP, wanted the
questionable background of Minister T.R. Baalu be brought to focus. He
recalled how Baalu had declared that he was ashamed of calling himself
a Hindu ? that too at a convention of Christians some months back.
(The Minister has proved last week that he can be repeatedly wayward: ?
There is no man-made structure in the area where Sethusamudram Ship
Channel Project (SSCP) works are going on?, said T.R. Baalu in
Ramanathapuram on April 16 while speaking to reporters. There is no
need for any change in the alignment of the project, he added). So,
battle lines are drawn unmistakably.

In his address, Shri R.S. Narayanaswami, journalist and vice president
of VHP, Tamil Nadu, traced history of the failure of the Canal Project
for over a century.

Dr. Subramaniam Swamy of Janata Party referred to the ancientness of
monuments. He said structures like Taj Mahal in Agra and Qutub Minar
in Delhi were saved from the threat of damage and destruction from the
modern development-oriented initiatives due to public and judicial
intervention. While the above two date back only to a few hundred
years, the Ram Sethu?s historical antiquity goes back to several
millennia, he compared.

Shri. L. Ganesan, state BJP president, alleged that the persistence
with the unwise alignment of Sethusamudram Canal is aimed at
perpetuating vote bank and corruption (which he described as ?note
bank?). He said nobody has the authority to question one's belief.
Likewise, nobody can question the belief of Hindus?now scientifically
proved?that Ram Sethu was built by Shri Ram and so it is worship
worthy.

Shri Kuppuramu, advocate and Ramanathapuram Jila Sanghachalak, RSS,
presided over the demonstration. He is also the convenor of ?
Rameswaram Ramar Paalam Protection Movement?, Chennai. The movement?s
website is being constantly updated with developments regarding
protection of Ram Sethu. Please visit the website at ? www.saveramasetu.blogspot.com

As Shri Ashok Singhal hinted, the movement seems all set to spread far
and wide across the whole country soon, thanks to the the UPA
apparatus out to antagonize Hindus in an unimaginative manner. The
rulers are bound to encounter an organised bitter resistance of Hindus
this time.

(With inputs from VSK, Chennai)

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April 29, 2007
A rare gift from Baba

Shri Baba Mohandas of the Tulsi Baba Mutt, Rameswaram, gave a rare
gift to Shri Ashok Singhal at the demonstration spot. It is a stone
weighing 25 kilograms. His family had been offering pooja to it for an
unbroken 17 generations. It is a stone from the hallowed Ram Sethu.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at the inauguration of Amrita Sethu, Kollam,
Kerala,
on December 20, 2006.

I am very happy to be in the Mata Amritanandamayi Math in the presence
of Amma and participate in the inauguration of the Amrita Sethu, a
bridge connecting the peninsular region to the mainland near Kochi
over the backwaters of the Arabian Sea. I am happy to be here to
inaugurate an important connectivity for the people of this region. My
greetings to Her Holiness Mata Amritanandamayi and other dignitaries
on this occasion. When I saw the Amrita Sethu, my memory went back to
Rameswaram. It is said that Rama ordered the construction of a bridge
at Rameswaram Dhanushkodi. His Vanara Sena built the bridge in time
for the Rama?s troops to go to Sri Lanka for waging the war against
Ravana, as mentioned in the Ramayana. Satellite picture shows that the
remnants of a bridge still exists between Rameswaram and Sri Lanka. I
am sure the Amrita Sethu bridge built by Amma will also go into
history and enhance the economic activity of this region.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, www.presidentofindia.nic.in
A political twist

There may be unanimity among political parties in Tamil Nadu on the
need for the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP); and a sense of
righteous indignation that it has taken so long for the Centre to
clear it. But that does not justify the way in which the public
hearings are being handled in the coastal districts, and opposition to
the project is being dealt with. From September 2004 editorial in The
Hindu

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April 29, 2007
Justice K.T. Thomas says "Ram Sethu should not be broken"

Justice K.T. Thomas, former judge of Supreme Court of Bharat, is well
known for his rectitude. President of India Dr Abdul Kalam decorated
him with ?Padma Bhushan? award at a grand function at Rashtrapati
Bhavan, New Delhi, on April 5, 2007 for his impeccable judicial career
and for the service he rendered to the cause of justice. After his
retirement, Justice (Retd.) Thomas had headed as many as four judicial
commissions, that too on sensitive issues. But he completed the task
within the stipulated time in all the four instances. Never did he ask
for extension of the tenure of his commissions. Also, never did he
take a paisa as remuneration for his work in any of these four
commissions. His logic: "The pension I get after my retirement from
the Supreme Court is from government treasury. How can I take money
from the government a second time for doing a government job?" He can
afford to be candid on vital issues, thanks to his spotless career.
For example: ?In projects like this (Sethusamudram Shipping Canal
Project), decisions are to be based not only on a study of geological
implications; the religious sentiments of the people are also to be
taken into account. The religious sentiments of the people of Bharat
must be honoured and there exists a tradition in this land, of
honouring religious sentiments. So, it is my definite opinion that Ram
Sethu must not be broken?, says Justice (Retd.) Thomas.

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chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 1:08:22 PM2/19/10

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April 29, 2007
This disdain on Ram Sethu, because it's Hindu ?
By Dr Jagan Kaul & Krishan Bhatnagar

The Taj corridor scheme on the banks of river Yamuna was stopped by
the Supreme Court on the ground that it would threaten the historic
Taj Mahal. Similarly the Delhi Metro Rail route was changed when the
older scheme was considered dangerous to the historic Qutub Minar. The
same sense of history, culture and preservation must be applied in the
case of Ram Sethu.

The Hindus all over the world are dismayed at creating the so-called
Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP), which has been given
charge to demolish the historic Ram Sethu. This is in continuation of
the Indian authorities? efforts to humiliate and disintegrate Hindus
by taking total control of temples and endowments and expelling the
Hindu community from them. The Kanchi Shankaracharya?s arrest on
concocted charges was yet another blow towards the same goal. In its
anti-Hindu crusade the Indian officialdom did not stop here. Rather
than remaining even handed it encouraged?nay boosted, minority
religious fundamentalism to enforce a divide and rule strategy that
could further divide and disintegrate Bharat, the land of Hindus.

Hinduism is under an assault as never before. Given the lethal nature
of this attack it is time for a Gandhian type mass movement for
protecting religious freedom and dharma samsthapana. The agenda of
this movement could include:-

protection and maintenance of the Ram Sethu;

protection and freedom of the Hindu temples, religious infrastructure
and cultural centres from the onslaught launched by government and for
their governance by autonomous Hindu Boards;

integration of weaker sections in the mainstream;

amendment to the divisive Article 30 of the Constitution; and

creating an all important Hindu vote bank for ensuring righteous
governance of the country.

Dredging work at Ram Sethu, which is a part of Ramayana and is deeply
embedded in the Hindu psyche, hurts intensely the religious beliefs
and sentiments while causing heightened degrees of distress and deep
resentment among billions of Hindus worldwide. The Ram Sethu must be
classified as religious, cultural, historical and an ancient monument
of invaluable archaeological importance. Unlike many others, this site
has immense traditional and cultural value for the vast majority of
Indian citizens. The bridge has been revered by the entire Hindu
civilisation since times immemorial.

It should be noted that the Taj corridor scheme on the banks of river
Yamuna was barred by the Supreme Court on the ground that it would
threaten the historic Taj Mahal. Similarly the Delhi Metro Rail route
was changed when the older scheme was considered dangerous to the
historic Qutub Minar. The same sense of history, culture and
preservation must be applied in the case of Ram Sethu.

If the ongoing destructive process is not stopped right away, there
should be highly critical and unfavourable comments in every Ramayana
Katha now and for ever, that there was a Congress regime that in utter
violation of the sense and sensibility of the Indian masses
heartlessly destroyed the age old traditional and sacred Ram Sethu.

The destruction of Ram Sethu is a symptom of deep malaise, which is
amply proven by injurious government control of Hindu temples. There
is a concerted effort by the so-called secular political establishment
to de-Hinduise India by applying the colonial policy of divide and
rule. Therefore, we may also need a strong nationwide campaign for
promoting the change of mindset in the uncaring authorities.

As the ongoing developments suggest some of the State Governments in
the South are in the forefront for demolition of Hinduism and its
religious infrastructure under their jurisdiction. Furthermore, the
self professed secular Government of India has become an active
participant in promoting competing religions while funding their
enlargement from the Hindu coffers.

In Andhra Pradesh, a state where non-transparency and non-
accountability for Hindu endowments under Government management is a
rule rather than exception, utilises the huges resources of TTD for
many non-Hindu purposes. This loot takes place without any legitimate
constitutional authority. The world famous Tirupathi Tirumala temple
receives an annual income of Rs. 3,100 crore in the form of direct
cash collected from various sources. In the financial year 2005-06,
the TTD collected 2,400 Kgs of gold, 2,33,000 Kgs of silver and 543
Kgs of other precious stones including diamonds, rubies, etc. from the
devotees. How such enormously large amounts were used for the benefit
of the community has never been revealed. In the absence of any
factual and public explanation how can one trust the authorities whose
anti-Hindu antecedents are already well established?

According to the latest official pronouncements, the Andhra Pradesh
Government is going all out for taking over the entire spectrum of
Hindu religious institutions. The Endowment Minister, Diwakar Reddy,
announced on March 12 that the Government has decided to take over all
temples, mutts and religious trusts in the state. Additionally, the
state Government was planning to amend the AP Endowments Act to enable
the Endowments Commissioner to oversee the day-to-day administration
of mutts. It clearly amounts to Hinduism being made a ?keep of the
state? in A.P. The number of temples under government control has gone
up to over 184,000 from about 33,000 a few years ago, and under the
new plan the state wants to take over even smallest of private
temples.

The world famous TTD with massive income of over Rs. 3,000 crore and
vast endowments properties and Hindu educational institutions have
been infiltrated, particularly by Christians under the patronage of
Chief Minister Rajashekhar Samuel Reddy. There was a recent news of
protests and tension at TTD?s Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam
(SPMVV) on March 14 , 2007, against university Vice Chancellor Veena
Nobel Das for the alleged propagation of Christianity in the varsity
and the recent suicide by a first year post-graduate student K. Uma
Maheswari in the varsity hostel room against conversion.

In Tamil Nadu, through the out right abuse of Government power two top
Hindu institutions, Shankaracharya and the Kanchi Mutt, have been
marginalised and rendered dysfunctional. The Shankaracharya, whose
status is not less than the Pope for Hindus, was arrested on Diwali
night in 2004. He was humiliated, put in jail without bail and treated
like a common criminal. Such a barbaric action against the most
revered leader of the highly civilised and non-violent faith was
tantamount to a serious assault on Hinduism and its leadership. It is
over two years now that neither the case against him has been proven
nor has he been exonerated. There are serious allegations that heavy
corruption and bribery was involved in getting him arrested and
getting the anti-conversion Act repealed in Tamil Nadu.

In Kerala, the Government hastily promulgated an ordinance on February
4, 2007 to disband the Travancore and Cochin Autonomous Devaswom
Boards (TCDB) and usurped their authority. The timing, intent and
integrity of the said ordinance was extremely suspicious and
questionable particularly in view of the impending session of the
State Assembly and the existence of a three man Commission appointed
by the High Court for investigating the allegations of corruption.

In the current fiscal year secular Kerala?s treasury was filled with
Rs. 268 crore solely by the revenue from temples under Travancore
Devaswom Board, Cochin Devaswom Board and Guruvayur Devaswom, but how
much of it was used for temple maintenance and the Hindu causes
remains a mystery. According to some reports, out of tens of thousands
of temples that have been rendered dysfunctional, only a few hundred
are currently fully operational. As if that was not enough, under the
Kerala Land Reforms Act, 13,000 acres of Guruvayoor?s land has been
reduced to 230 acres amounting to 98 per cent land grab.

In Karnataka, the Government has set new standards of lawlessness by
taxing the temples and without any justifiable legal authority simply
diverting their funds to enhance the madrasas and run churches?both
being the adversarial religions against Hinduism. In the year
2002-2003, out of Rs 79 crore of temple revenues, Rs. 59.15 crore were
given away to mosques, madrasas, Haj, etc., Rs. 12.75 crores were
given to Christian institutions and mere Rs. 7.1 crore were allocated
to maintain over 248,000 temples. Nowhere in the world does a
Government engage in such robbery of one religion to benefit its
competitors.

Our priority must be saving Hinduism and its religious infrastructure.
Undoubtedly the Ram temple issue is an important one. However, its
nature under the present divisive political climate has rather become
somewhat contentious, we strongly believe that a step by step process
for revitalising the Hindu society is a pre-requisite for achieving
this goal.

We must demand that Government allow Hindu Advisory Councils for
overseeing the Endowments Departments. Such Councils could be elected
by the community or nominated by religious organisations like Dharma
Sansad and Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha for providing oversight and
guidance to Government. They could simultaneously eliminate anti-Hindu
policies and non-Hindu personnel from the temple management till the
denationalisation is realised. Should the Government refuse to set up
such an apparatus that could justify launching a protest movement.

(The writers can be contacted at Hindu Jagran Forum (USA)

email: krish...@verizon.net)

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April 29, 2007
Minority rights and national integrity

A fresh perspective and re-appraisal
By Subramanian Swamy

Strange as it may sound, there is no definition of minority in the
Indian Constitution (although Articles 29 and 30 make provisions for a
minority, religious and linguistic), nor is there a definition in
United Nations resolutions or a universally accepted definition in
international laws.

Before we discuss minority rights, we need to be clear about the
concept of minority. The word ?minority? has a substantive meaning
only if special protection in the Constitution is to be provided. If
so, then a further question would arise as to who these minorities
are, which would require a definition of minority to identify them,
and also what constitutional protection is to be provided.

The Concept of Minority

Such protection is required for the minority to be compensated for
some historically acquired disability. Otherwise, it would be
meaningless to have a discourse on minorities.

Therefore, present practice of regarding any group of less than 50 per
cent of the population as minorities is ridiculous. The Whites of
South Africa are numerically a small number, but they cannot be
treated as ?minorities? deserving of special protection, reservations,
or affirmative action. Parsis in India despite being a microscopic
minority numerically, have consistently refused to ask for any
constitutional safeguards. They are therefore not a minority in the
constitutional or statutory dimension.

Some countries such as Thailand and Brazil refuse to accept that there
are minorities in their country. These nations have told the UN Sub-
Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
Minorities that they have no minorities to notify, despite being a
multi-religious, multi-racial society.

In 2001, an 11-judge constitutional bench delivered a judgment on the
question of minority rights in education (T.M.A. Pai Foundation case),
but did not define the term ?minority?. What they did do was to opine
that minorities are not to be defined nationally but state-wise, thus
overturning their 1971 DAV College judgment. Subsequent judgments of
the Supreme Court, such as delivered by a five-judge constitutional
bench in 2003 in the Islamic Academy case, and a seven-judge
constitutional bench in 2005 in the Inamdar case have also not defined
the concept of minority.

In 1992, India?s Parliament enacted the National Commission for
Minorities Act, but did not define a minority in it! Section 2(c) of
the Act merely states that minority is what the government of India
will notify in the Gazette!! The government has notified, without
reason or explanation, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis as
religious minorities. Why they are so has not been explained. Even the
State Minorities Commissions have not bothered to define minorities.

In other words, the nation has been discussing minority rights for the
last sixty years without defining what or who can be the minorities.
How can we identify minorities if we do not have a definition of the
term?

Hence, I shall begin with my definition of minority and then discuss
what their rights can be in the context of national integrity. In this
connection, it is appropriate to quote from the judgment of the three-
judge Supreme Court bench in Bal Patil versus the Union of India case,
delivered by Justice Dharmadhikari in 2005:

?Such claims to minority status based on religion would increase the
fond hope of various sections of the people in getting special
protections, privileges and treatment as part of the constitutional
guarantee. Encouragement to such fissiparous tendencies would be a
serious jolt to the secular structure of constitutional democracy. We
should guard against making our country akin to a theocratic State
based on multinationalism.?

This is a severe indictment of the minorityism that has become today
the bane of the nation. Instead of heeding to the timely warning, the
present UPA government at the centre has embarked on further
appeasement and placating of the religious ?minorities?. It is in this
context that the recent order of the single judge of the Allahabad
High Court stating that Muslims of UP are no longer to be regarded as
a minority, needs to be taken seriously.

What we can therefore hold now is that if a group is numerically
small, and substantially below 50 per cent of the population, then
although it has the necessary attribute of a minority, that attribute
is not sufficient for it to be declared a minority for the purpose of
constitutional or statutory protection. Such a group must have
sufficient other attributes as well, to be identified as a minority.

Based on the circumstances arising out of the Indian legacy, and in
recognition of defining events of Indian history, I would define a
minority in India as follows:

?A collective of Indian citizens, constituting a numerical minority
and situated in a non-dominant position in society, endowed with
characteristics which differ from those of the majority, having
suffered from imposed deprivation over a long period and thus have
acquired disabilities, are a minority if these disabilities cannot be
removed except by providing special constitutional protection and
facilities for affirmative action.?

That is for sufficiency of attributes to qualify as a minority under
the Constitution of India, it is required that such a group be in a
non-dominant position in society, have suffered deprivation for a long
period to have acquired disabilities which cannot be removed except by
special constitutional protection such as reservations in jobs and
educational institutions.

By this definition, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would
constitute a minority even if they are a part of the numerical
majority Hindu community. Their disabilities cannot be removed except
by specific affirmative action such as reservation in jobs, education,
and in legislatures. Backward castes of the Hindu community also
suffer disabilities, but these can be removed by special arrangements
of education facilities and financial assistance. But due to our
political folly and selfishness, these backward castes have been given
reservations in jobs and education, which cannot now be taken away
except by persuasion in the future. When world-class primary and
secondary education can be provided to all, it is possible that the
youth of the backward castes would prefer to compete rather than
advance by availing of quotas. Since the Indian DNA structure is the
same for all castes, hence, competing on merit, if equally empowered,
is possible for the backward castes.

But Muslims and Christians cannot be considered minorities in Indian
society because their disabilities are not acquired from deprivation
imposed on them. In fact, Muslims and Christians, like the Whites of
South Africa, have been ruling classes in India for a long period.
Sequentially, these two religious groups have ruled India for over a
thousand years, during which period they practiced religious apartheid
against the Hindus. Hence, for national integrity, patriotic Indians
should resist with all their might any attempt to introduce quotas in
jobs and education, or for anything else, for the benefit of Muslims
and Christians. Those Muslims and Christians who consider themselves
patriotic Indians should also, like the Parsis, reject any offer by
mischievous politicians to introduce quotas for them. Instead they
should ask for world-class primary and secondary education to empower
them to compete on a level playing field with the rest of the
society.

Whatever has now been incorporated in the Constitution for minority
rights cannot be taken away. Articles 29 and 30 are part of the Basic
Structure of the Constitution and hence cannot be amended out. Hence,
minorities will continue to have the right to administer their own
educational institutions. But as the Supreme Court has held in the
Islamic Academy case, the unfettered right to administer does not
include the right to mal-administer. Hence, minority-run educational
institutions, including unaided ones, must be subject to obtaining the
government approval for curriculum standards, faculty quality, and
basic infrastructure, which should be common to all. Sooner or later,
we must require that all students including Muslims and Christians,
learn Sanskritised Hindi, whose vocabulary should be progressively
Sanskritised till the Hindi becomes indistinguishable from Sanskrit.
Our long-term link language has to be Sanskrit, because its vocabulary
is in large measure in every language. Even Tamil has 40 per cent of
its vocabulary in common with Sanskrit.

The goal of minority rights in education has to be to further social
justice. Towards this end, we must strive for equal and high quality
educational opportunity and create a mindset for national unity and
integration. Quotas and reservations are essential for Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but here too the concept of creamy layer
must operate. But we cannot accept special rights for religious
minorities of Muslims and Christians, just as we cannot for Brahmins
although they are as poor a community as and Christians. The logic is
the same?those who have been ruling classes cannot claim minority
status in the constitutional matrix of the nation.

(The writer is former Union Law Minister.)

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April 29, 2007
Readers? Forum

Insult of the wonder language (Organiser, 18-3-2007); Dr. Indulata Das
deserves appreciation for writing a best article. Sanskrit is one of
the most magnificent literary instruments developed by the human mind.
The Chancellor of Sampurnannda University may not have gone into the
value of this language. The arguments of Dr. Indulata Das that sun has
not become old, moon has not developed ageing, the stars have not been
dilapidated, eternal values are considered ideal in every age are not
only reasonable and meaningful but also have a poetic literature
behind it. The information that 5000 families use this language as
their mother tongue is a comfort to those who respect this language.
The number of countries and universities that teach this language is a
fitting reply to the Chancellor. In India, VIPs are of two types. One
type is very important people and the other type is very impotent
people. Second type of VIPs abuse respectable things in our country.
Dr. Indulata Das has done a good service to reveal the fact that the
Chancellor has no respect towards our heritage. In Kerala, the
birthplace of Adi Sankara, the second type of VIPs are not very rare.
While addressing a group of journalists, one of them asked such a VIP,
whether he supports naming of the new airport after the name of Adi
Sankara. The VIP replied negatively saying that Adi Sankara had not
travelled in plane, at all, in his life. What an answer! Another
journalist asked him whether Aryabhatta had travelled in a satellite,
as government had named a satellite after the name of Aryabhatta.
Negativity towards Sanskrit development was worst in Kerala during the
rule of A.K. Antony as Chief Minister. In his taluk, one of the
centres of Shri Sankara Sanskrit University has been functioning
inside a Panchayat L.P. School for several years paying huge rent to
Panchayat. This was not due to non-availability of land. Barren lands
were available in plenty with the government. But disrespect towards
heritage by the rulers was the real cause.

?K.G.K. VAYALAR,
Vayalar

?Good governance, unity and progress my priority? (Organiser,
1-4-2007); I felt immense pleasure in reading the interview of Major
General (Retd) B.C. Khanduri, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. Organiser
representative Ravindra Saini asked very relevant questions to the CM
and the CM responded to all the questions very effectively. As a
matter of fact, Maj Gen (Retd) B.C. Khanduri is a man of letter, an
experienced politician and a good orator. Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Khanduri
has his own vision for Uttarakhand. Undoubtedly, he will succeed in
making Uttarakhand a developed and prosperous state. He will certainly
and seriously translate his vision of making Uttarakhand one of the
best states of India into reality.

?SURESH SINGH CHAUHAN,
Ambari Dakpather, Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Foreign Secretary revisits Partition crimes (Organiser, 1-4-2007);
Foreign Secretary has been bitterly criticised for talking good of
Jinnah. It has been mentioned in the Organiser that Jinnah was
successful in his blackmail and Indian National Congress finally
succumbed to his demand for Pakistan. The fact is that Congress never
dealt squarely with the Muslim League and Jinnah. The Congress
blackmailed Hindus to appease Jinnah and Muslims.

?ANAND PRAKASH,
72/Sector-8, Panchkula

The Marxists? Islamic phobia (Organiser, 1-4-2007); The article was
very informative and I owe a big thanks to the relentless efforts of
the writer for dealing with the Marxist fanatics and their illogical
arguments. We should be duty-bound to fight bigotry. In this age of
highly synthesized political correctness, how can Marxist fanatics
spew bigoted statements and believe they are okay? I have always
maintained that the only way to deal with fanaticism is to attack it
and ridicule the fanatics, because there is no point reasoning with
them.

?SHISHIR MAJUMDAR,
Mumbai

Is Hindu vote bank feasible? (Organiser, 25-3-2007) All the articles
of the special issue and your editorial drew the attention of all
right-thinking people in the national interest. Everything is possible
and nothing is impossible. If there is will, there is a way. What is
needed in this regard is to co-ordinate all those Hindu organisation
that were created by Shri Guruji during his life. Something has been
done during his birth-centenary year. But, more and more efforts in
this regard are required to achieve this goal. About 70 per cent
population lives in villages, where the Hindu movement could not reach
effectively. The pros and cons of the Hindu sufferings are not known
to them. They are misled and misguided by the so-called secularists at
the time of elections. Moreover, they are not well-educated to
understand the real problems of Hindus. In order to make them aware,
door-to-door campaigns must be initiated at every village level.

?LAKSHMI CHAND,
Bandh, Kasauli, Solan

* * *
Hindus had been subjugated for long time. Then self-respect and self-
confidence among them began to be evaporated. Thus, a slave mentality
was formed in Hindu psyche. So, there was lack of freedom loving and
nationalism in them. This deficiency was noticed by Bankim Chandra
first (vide Bharat Kalanka, 1879), which exists even today. Secondly,
Hindus had been individualistic, for which, Swami Vivekananda wished
Islamic body (i.e. collectivism) in Hindu society over Vedantic
intellect. Thirdly, Hindus had been divided in various ways since
yore, which is now being intensified by pseudo-secular Hindu
politicians in the name of reservations and quotas. Besides, disciples
of different sages also have been forming their owns organisations
instead of unifying the Hindus. Consequently, Hindus do not intend to
learn a lesson from history, which may be harmful to them.

?BIMAN BIHARI ROY,
514/A /4 Ashoknagar, North 24-Parganas

* * *
India is facing grave dangers both from within and outside. We are
facing internal subversion in Kashmir and the northeast. Pakistan and
China too are plotting against us. Pakistan is fighting a proxy war
against India in the form of cross-border terrorism in Jammu and
Kashmir. Strangely, the UPA government appears to be unaware of all
these developments and is not serious to combat the growing menace. It
is on the other hand is appeasing the minorities and thus stoking the
fires of separatism. So, the Hindu vote-bank is the need of the hour.
The outcome of the recent elections has proved that the Hindu vote
bank is feasible.

?AMAR JIT SINGH GORAYA,
Jallandhar

* * *
It is praiseworthy of Shri Ashok Singhal to give the clarion call for
creating a Hindu vote bank, which was duly endorsed by the World Hindu
Conference. The concept, which was mooted by Swami Chinmayananda,
needs further elaboration. At present, it is not clear as to which
person, group, organisation or party the vote bank will support, nor
is it clear which person, group, organisation or party has adopted the
Hindu agenda, and is willing to work for the same goal. Unless a Hindu
agenda is drafted to make people aware of the real threats the country
is facing, the Hindu vote bank thus created is likely to be frittered
way as it has happened in the past.

?DR (MAJ.) UMACHARAN PANIGRAHI,
Station Road, Rayagada

* * *
Hindus are not guided by any religious set of rules, nor are they
directed by any religious heads. They do not attend any weekly
congregation to get brainwashed and divine instructions as to what to
do and what not to do. They practise their religion in a way they feel
satisfied. They are born free and as such they exercise their
franchise to an individual?s emotions. In the present context, a Hindu
vote bank is a must at least to counter the overzealous ?secular?
politicians, who will stoop down to any level to appease Muslims for
vote sake.

?M. GANGADHARAN,
Karikkade, Kunnamkulam, Kerala

* * *
Hindu society is severely fractured along caste lines today as never
before. To deny this would be to turn our face away from the truth.
Worse, the identity politics of caste have become enmeshed with
politics of regionalism. What has worsened the situation is the
attempt by the mushrooming regional parties to join the game of
competitive caste politics and thus widening the fissures in Hindu
society, pitting caste against caste. Therefore, it is inevitable that
a party or an organisation should come up with a Hindu agenda to make
feasible a Hindu vote bank.

?SUMIT GARG,
Sarita Vihar, New Delhi

* * *
It is disheartening to see that almost all political parties are
competing madly for the Muslim votes, even those parties that know
that Muslims will not vote for them. While all political parties also
canvassed votes on the basis of caste, they failed to legitimize this
quest for the Hindu vote.

?A. BASU,
Kolkata

Rise of the Wahhabis (Organiser 8-4-2007); I am of the opinion that
the article contained flagrant contradictory statements. To say that
the reform movement started by Mohammed Bin Abdul Wahab was motivated
by Arab nationalism is utterly false and to associate the idea with
Prophet Mohammed is out of question. Islam is the religion, which has
encompassed all the nations of the world. If it had any element of
Arab nationalism, Asians, Africans, Europeans, Russians and Americans
would have outright rejected it. The Prophet was born in an Arab
tribe, spoke Arabic and naturally the Quran was revealed in Arabic. If
he had been born in Bharat, the natural consequences would have been
there to come. If the Prophet was after an Arab empire and Arab
nationalism, he must be looked upon as an Arab hero and venerated as
such, but Mohammed Bin Abdul Wahab opposed all such celebrations as
described by the writer. The claim that the Wahhabis had the support
of the British is outright wrong. The British authorities in the
Arabian Gulf countries described him as the enemy of British interest
(see the British Records of the Residency at Bushire, which also have
references in the Persian Gulf records housed at Maharashtra State
Archives, Mumbai). The followers of Mohammed Bin Abdul Wahab were
nicknamed as Wahhabis by the British and as such there is no sect
among Muslims by that nomenclature. The whole article is a piece of
contradiction and not suitable to be published in an esteemed weekly
like Organiser.

?A.T.M. ANWAR,
22-7-499, Purani Haveli, Hyderabad

Unite Hindus to save the nation (Organiser, 25-3-2007); A.T.M. Anwar
sometimes presents himself in non-conformity to otherwise sound
thoughts. Sensible persons speak their minds, but in doing so they
engage their minds before speaking. He says that the socio-economic as
well as political dynamics of our vast region are quite estranged to
the concept of Hindutva. It is a common understanding that Hindutva is
synonym with Hindustani tehzib or culture, which is our heritage.
Despite the vivisection of the motherland, Hindutva is alive and
kicking in the Akhand Bharat, irrespective of untiring efforts by some
to obliterate it. Bangladesh came into being, because its people did
not like to deviate from their precious orientality, which was
severely criticised by Ayub Khan in his book Friends not Masters. Its
farmers still negotiate with nature and its elements with the guidance
of the Vikram Samvat rather than the Hijri calendar. Indonesia has not
altogether severed links with Hindutva and is not allergic to Indian
names and its state airline is Garuda. The problem with A.T.M. Anwar?s
riposte is that it lacks tangible examples.

?B.K. CHAUDHARI,
28, Palmyra Road, Bromsgrove, B60 2RH (UK)

Heroic Indeed!: The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad and other
government agencies of Andhra Pradesh are indeed heroic in demolishing
the ?Rakta Maisamma? temple right in the middle of Sardar Patel Road
in Begumpet. While congratulating them, I appeal to them to be heroic
indeed and also very ?secular? and impartial by removing two
conspicuous mazars?one right in the middle of Sardar Patel Road at the
eastern end of the CTO fly-over and the other occupying one-third of
the carriage-way on the western side of Tank Bund Road near the police
outpost. If they cannot remove these two most obnoxious traffic
obstructions, they would be deserving the charge of not hesitating to
trifle Hindus? sentiments and that they are mortally afraid of the
ready to take-to-the street ?minority? and every one of their
sentiments that they are above the laws of the land.

?T. MANI CHOWDARY,
Plot No. 8, P&T Colony, Karkhana, Secunderabad

Content ©

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April 29, 2007
Agenda
Stop politics of anti-Hindu minorityism
By Ravi Varma

Wherever they had spread and established themselves in the world,
proponents of Christianity and Islam had first destroyed the
indigenous culture, traditions and religion of the country before
imposing their strange and crude religious practices on the local
people, invariably by brute force or despicable methods.

Only Hindus of Bharat were able to resist and preserve their ancient
civilisations, religious beliefs and traditions all these years in
spite of devilish brutalities of Muslim invaders and later by
organised Christian churches with the active support of their colonial
armies in India.

There is a well-orchestrated propaganda mounted in India and abroad to
condemn Hinduism as a religion of violence, hatred and social
discrimination. And at the same time, Semitic religions of
Christianity and Islam of foreign origin are glorified and publicized
as divine messages of universal love, brotherhood and non-violence.
This is a travesty of truth as per their own preaching and practices.
Therefore, if such pernicious and scandalous utterances against Hindus
and Hinduism by the high priests of Christianity and Islam and their
secularist cronies of India do not stop voluntarily, resurgent Hindu
youth of the country will be compelled to forcibly stop them. The new
generation of Hindu youth has already shed their timidity and
cowardice to some extent. It is becoming clearer to them that unless
they are forcibly stopped, challenged, rebutted and exposed to the
core, dark forces of the Semitic religions of foreign origin and their
mercenary secularist friends here will not only vulgarize Hinduism,
but will also play havoc in the country by destroying social amity,
integrity, traditions and cultural unity of Hindus in India and even
Indian nationality. Purpose of this short article, which is based on
widely known and documented historical events, is intended not only to
rebut the above pernicious propaganda against Hindus and Hindustan but
also to show the ugly faces of the exponents of Christianity and Islam
to Hindus.

It is through the preachings and practices of their priests and their
devout co-religionists that values, principles and philosophical
contents of the religion and social culture concerned can be properly
assessed. In short, social behaviours and personal habits of a person
are sufficient to indicate his cultural background and social status
of his family also. Therefore, more emphasis is given to the
preachings and practices of the high priests of Christianity and Islam
so that we will be able to better understand the philosophy and basic
principles of the above Semitic religions.

Strange philosophy that is Mlechhatvam

Both Christianity and Islam are offshoots of the original Semitic
religion, viz. Judaism. It is interesting to note here that the high
priest of these two derivative religions, i.e. Christianity & Islam,
openly advocate and encourage their followers to attack, torture and
even murder all those who refuse to accept or get converted to their
faiths. These religious teachers also assert and declare that
Christians and Muslims have a divine mandate to subjugate and convert
the entire humanity to their respective faiths by any means?fair or
foul. Therefore both fundamentalist Christian priests and Islamic
mullahs have no hesitation to glorify and justify even despicable acts
such as murder, genocide, torture, rape and abduction against other
religionists as part of their holy wars of religious conversion and
conquest?Christians call it by the name ?crusades? and Islamists as ?
jehad?. In addition, those who die or are killed during the course of
these ?holy? wars are hailed as saints and shaheeds (martyrs.)
Apparently all these violent devilish acts are sanctioned and even
encouraged by their religious leaders most often swearing by or
referring to their holy book?the Bible and the Quran. The above short
sketches of the religious leaders of Christianity and Islam are
sufficient to understand the basic principles of Christianity and
Islam. It is their paid agents and cronies in India who praise and
appease Christians and Islamists as vanguards of divine religions,
committed to preaching and practicing universal love, brotherhood,
peace, tolerance and non-violence. Some of these admirers are
unfortunately Hindus. It would have been better if they had
voluntarily converted themselves to Christianity or Islam along with
their families. That would be very good riddance.

The strange or Mlechha philosophy of both Semitic religions seems to
the civilised people of India, the Hindus, as judged from their
preachings and practices in the country, as mutually exclusive,
mutually destructive and violently intolerant. They do not believe in
practising co-existence with other faiths, nor do they tolerate
dissent or dissidence from within their own religious communities.
Their hostile intolerance and exclusiveness can best be assessed by
the behaviour of different religious groups known as denominations,
sects or social castes within the Christian and Muslim communities
worldwide. For example, Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans, Methodists,
Baptists, Jacobites, Suriyanis, Marthomas, Pulaya or Dalit Christians,
who are Christians by heredity or conversion having blind faith in
their holy Bible, will never allow another caste group even to perform
prayers, baptisms, weddings or burials in their exclusive churches
because they are all mutually exclusive and inimical to one another.
And these Christians want Hindus to believe and admire them as the
most tolerant religious community committed to non-violence and
coexistence in the world. In the medieval periods, skirmishes,
battles, and wars were very frequent between these mutually exclusive,
intolerant and destructive Christian castes.

Similarly among Muslims also, there are dozens of mutually exclusive
inimical and intolerant religious sub-castes within their community
such as Sunnis, Shias, Kurdish, Bohras, Khojas, Aga Khanis, Druse,
Ahmadiyas, besides others of African and tribal variants who do not
even recognise everyone else as true Muslims. And therefore, they do
not socially inter-mingle or allow one another to conduct prayers,
marriages, sunnat or burials in their separate and exclusive mosques
or by their imams. Unfortunately, even after long contacts and tragic
experience with them for centuries, the Hindus in India have not fully
and properly understood their strange customs and philosophies because
of the persistent propaganda and inducement by their Hindu ?
secularists? of various colours.

It should not be forgotten that wherever they had spread and
established themselves in the world, proponents of Christianity and
Islam had first destroyed the indigenous culture, traditions and
religion of the country before imposing their strange and crude
religious practices on the local people, invariably by brute force or
despicable methods. This is true throughout the world as revealed in
all historical records pertaining to different countries, whether in
Palestine (old Jerusalem) Arabia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Europe or Asia,
and even in the Americas. See the plight of Jews during the Second
World War in Christian Europe right under the nose of the Pope in the
Vatican. Nobody condemned effectively the Holocaust against Jews in
the Christian world! Conquest and destruction of Persia having an
ancient civilisation by the vanguards of Arabian Islam and their
brutalities there resulted in wiping out of their religion, cultural
values and heritage in Iran as later by Christians in the Americas,
where there was a flourishing ancient civilisation and culture. Same
was the fate of Buddhists in Islamic Afghanistan even recently and
Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists in other Muslim countries like Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia even today. What happened to the
Red Indians in the Americas and the Aborigines in New Zealand and
Australia when European Christians migrated there in their thousands
is well known. In the African continent also, victims of Islamic and
Christian brutalities were poor indigenous people during their
religious wars of conversion and conquest there for spreading Islam or
Christianity. Only Hindus of Bharat were able to resist and preserve
their ancient civilisations, religious beliefs and traditions all
these years in spite of devilish brutalities of Muslim invaders and
later by organised Christian churches with the active support of their
colonial armies in India. That is the wellknown philosophy and
background of both Islam and Christianity and also the experience of
the entire world, more so of Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs of India till
today. That is the short and real history of Christianity and Islam,
which Hindu ?secularists? praise and glorify as divine messages of
universal love, brotherhood, peace and non-violence!

Magnanimity of Hindus of Bharat

As all historians and Hindus know, Kerala had long traditional trade
contacts with the outside world?Africa, Mesopotamia, Rome and China
even before the birth of Christ and Prophet Mohammed. Therefore,
traders from those countries very well knew the peaceful nature and
universality and high principles of Hindu religion and civilised Hindu
society. Under those circumstances, in keeping with the traditions,
customs and cultures of Hindus, the Hindu kings of Kerala had no
difficulty in allowing traders from those countries of different
customs and cultures to continue their trade and also to settle down
in the Hindu country of Kerala and live there peacefully without
disturbing the local customs and religious practices even after their
change of religious faith to Islam or Christianity. They were all
treated only as another caste group like Nairs, Ezhavas and other of
the broad amorphous Hindu society, but with foreign affiliations. It
is interesting to note that Christianity reached Kerala much before
the arrival of Islam.

In such a civilised Hindu country of Kerala, it was not surprising
that an ordinary but loyal and capable Muslim trader from the
fishermen community was raised to the status of a local chieftain and
naval chief, viz. Kunjali Marakkar, by the Zamorin Rajas of Kozhikode.
(It is another matter that the last Kunjali Marakkar revolted against
and betrayed the benevolent Zamorin family decades later, mainly due
to his Islamic ambitions.) On another occasion, the Raja of Chirakkal
near Kannur willingly gave his daughter in marriage to a Muslim youth,
who had saved her from drowning. Besides, the Raja blessed the couple
not only with substantial properties from her Arackal Nambiar family
(now extinct), but also conferred on his daughter the title of ?
Arackal Bibi?. Her consort, who was from an ordinary Muslim family,
was honoured with the title of ?Arackal Ali Raja? in traditional
Kerala Hindu customs following matrilineal system of inheritance. Even
today, family of the Arackal Bibi follows the matriarchal system of
inheritance; the senior-most female member of the family is respected
as the Arackal Bibi and the senior-most male member as the Arackal Ali
Raja (and not the consort of the Bibi.) Such was the cultural
influence of Kerala Hindu society on local Muslims who were then peace
loving and socially absorbed within Kerala society. Then again, during
the reign of Rama Varma Sakthan Thampuran of Kochi, a capable Muslim
youth was appointed as his personal bodyguard and conferred with the
title Nettur Thangal with authority over the local Muslim community.
Till recently, the senior-most member of the family enjoyed the
privilege of attending on the King of Kochi as his personal bodyguard,
and entitled to participate as an honoured guest in all state events
of the Kochi kingdom, including the most important annual Athachamayam
procession.

(To be continued)

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chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 1:16:30 PM2/19/10

April 29, 2007

Think It Over

Is Islam all politics?
By M.S.N. Menon

Europe separated religion and politics after 1,500 years of Papal
anarchy. But Muslims have continued their anarchy to this day.

Yes, it is said there is very little religion in Islam, and what
little there is has been turned into a permanent drill.

Once Ayatollah Khomeini said: ?Islam is politics, or it is nothing.?
He was right. He, a cleric, played a key political role in the life of
Iran in the 20th century.

Maulana Maududi?his emphasis, too, was on politics. And he formed the
Jamaat, which was politics and little else.

And Mohd bin Abd-al Wahhab, the founder of Wahhabism, now the dominant
sect of Islam, had only one desire: To drive the Ottomans (Muslims)
out of Arabia. What led to the creation of Wahhabism was his
perception that a new religion alone could bring this about.

Indeed, most of the Islamic pathfinders were of the view that God took
special interest in politics. But was this true of the Prophet of
Islam? More than true. It is a little known fact that one of the
earliest preoccupations of the Prophet of Islam was to rear war
horses. Why? Because he wanted to create an Arab empire. Islam came in
useful.

Religion provides a convincing cover to the politics of the Muslims.
Which is why the na?ve Indian leaders could not understand it.

Political dominance over the Middle East remained a major objective of
all Arab leaders. But they did not count on the Mongols, who destroyed
Arab power. The vacuum was filled by the Ottomans, Muslims but non-
Arab people. The Arab never accepted the Ottoman. This is Arab
nationalism for you. They were bitterly hostile to the Ottoman for
seizing the Caliphate and Mecca from them.

Naturally, resistance began to build up. Thus, Mohd bin Abd-al Wahhab,
son of a judge and by training a theologist took refuge from the
Ottoman persecution in a distict ruled by the Saudi clan, which was
equally opposed to the Ottoman. Wahhab was already in contact with
British agents, who were seeking Arab support to oust the Ottoman from
the Middle East. They saw in Wahhab a fit instrument for the re-
conquest of Arabia.

Here is a portrait of the Arab: It was ready to dislodge another
Muslim power (Ottoman). This was bad enough. But it was willing to
bring this about with British help. The Arab saw in religion a
convenient instrument for the achievement of its political goals. Even
if it meant creating a new religion!

In order to raise his own status to that of an Imam, Wahhab was
prepared to bring down Prophet Mohammed. And the Saudis, although
Muslims, were willing to do anything. Thus they attacked the Shiite
city of Karbala in 1801. The tomb of Imam Hussayn was desecrated. In
1802, Wahhab took over Mecca and prohibited entry to the Ottomans,
clearly an extreme step.

To downgrade Prophet Mohammed, Wahhab condemned the Friday prayer
which started with an invocation for the peace of the Prophet. He also
condemned those who celebrated the birth anniversary of Prophet
Mohammed. He would not even permit the name of the Prophet to go on
the mosques. He called upon all Muslims to surrender to his vision of
an original and authentic Islam. And he wanted radical changes in the
present form of the prayer.

Wahhab considered himself equal to the Prophet?a view extremely
heretical. In this connection he wrote a book: The Book on Monotheism.
It was inspired by Ibn Tamyyal.

As for Sufis and Shias, he wanted them to be exterminated. All new
faiths were to be humiliated and destroyed. Tombs were to be converted
into toilets. He burnt many books. He hated music. In contrast, Sufis
heightened their God-consciousness with their music.

Wahhabism is known for its equality among men. (But equality of men
does not grow in the desert) Wahhab abolished the protection tax,
which was a heavy burden on the ?inferior? and ?despised? tribes. They
gave their fierce loyalty to Wahhab. Wahhabism has gone through
traumatic experiences. Perhaps it is mellowed?

Wahhabism can be reduced to three principal doctrines: 1) ritual is
superior to intention, 2) no reverence of the dead persons permitted
and 3) there can be no inter-customary prayers addressed to God.

With petro-dollars at their command, the fortunes of the Saudis and of
Wahhabis rose. The Saudis put Wahhabis in charge of the education of
Muslims all over the world. With what result we know only too well.

Europe separated religion and politics after 1,500 years of Papal
anarchy. But Muslims have continued their anarchy to this day.

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April 29, 2007
The Moving Finger Writes

Our secular cowards

Hindu labour has done marvels to raise Malaysia?s economy. And to
think that in the end this is what it gets by way of thanks should
make our secularists think. And our Muslim co-citizens as well. Or is
cowardice the other face of secularism?

When the disputed structure (Babri Masjid), a decrepit building, built
revengefully over a destroyed temple by an ungracious Islamic general
during the reign of Babar was brought down by an angry gathering who
felt deeply hurt, there was hell to pay. Forgotten was the fact that a
Muslim ruler had deliberately built a mosque in a Hindu holy city,
Ayodhya, to show who was in power. Forgotten was the fact that the
masjid was built on the site of a temple, which had been destroyed.
Forgotten, too, was the fact that the masjid had long been out of
service. Every abuse was hurled at the RSS who were called by every
foul name under the sun. Intellectuals went so far as to say that the
Ayodhya referred to in ancient works was located somewhere in Nepal or
Afghanistan, that there was no evidence that Rama was born at the site
of the temple (evidently the then Magistrate did not issue a
certificate of birth to Rama?s parents) and that the original temple
itself was built over a Jain temple?and forget what the Department of
Archaeology had discovered. Angry Hindus swallowed the insults hurled
at them.

Now comes some strange news that no newspaper has published, no doubt
out of a great sense of liberalism. And it is shocking. What it says
is that, according to a conservative estimate, some 10,000 ?temples?
in Malaysia have been demolished since 1985. For all one knows, the
temples? may have been small structures, road side shrines, but
obviously many were large and created no problems.

The information published by Organiser (March 12-18) surely is open to
verification and our secularists are free to check it. Malaysia calls
itself secular, though the national religion is Islam and Malaysia
makes no bones about its faith; one has only to listen to the local
Television channels to appreciate that. Hindus form about 15 per cent
of the Malaysian population (almost the same as the percentage of
Muslim population in India). Almost all the temples built in Malaysia
are older than the Republic (i.e. at least 60 years) and were built by
the labourers and Indian businessmen who immigrated to that peninsula
during the British rule.

The Indians did not go to Malaysia as conquerors; nor did they destroy
any masjid. If they built temples for themselves it was under British
aegis and with due permission. Now the Islamicists in Malaysia seem
determined to demolish those very temples. The Kuil Shri Maha
Mariamman Temple built in Selangor De around 1899 and is over 107
years old was termed illegal and destroyed in 2006. The Shri Ayyanar
Sathiswary Temple (over 65 year old) at Jalan Davies was demolished on
February 22, 2006 and the idols buried at the site. The Malaimels Shri
Solva Kaliamman Temple Pantai at Kuala Lumpur (over 100 years old) was
demolished on April 17, 2006. The Vaalmunswarar Rajaamman Kovil (over
60 years old) at Lady Temple Hospital, Kuala Lumpur was demolished on
May 3, 2006. The Shri Kaliamman Temple in Midlands Estate, Sekayen 7,
Shah Alam (more than 100 years old ) was demolished by the Shah Alam
City Hall on May 9, 2006. The Shri Balakrishnan Muniswarer Temple in
Setapak (more than 50 years old) was partly demolished and threatened
with further demolition notice by the Kuala Lumpur City Authorities.
The Ganggai Muthu Karumarianman Temple in PMR Datu Buntung Estate
Kulum, Kedah was torched on May 15, 2006 by unknown criminals. The
Shri Balakrishnan Muniswarer Temple in Setapak was completely
demolished and deities broken up on June 8, 2006. The Shri Kaliaamman
Temple in Midlands Estate, Seksyen 7, Shah Alam was completely
demolished for the second time on June 12, 2006 and three main Hindu
deities were hammered and smashed to pieces with a sledge hammer by
the Shah Alam City Council Enforcement officers. None of these
atrocities have been reported by the media. The only one to do so is
Organiser; it will be thrashed by our secularists and liberals but
they are free, as was earlier stated, to check out the facts
mentioned.

Reporting the demolition of temples the weekly wrote: ?For the Hindus
in Malaysia, life has become a hell. The local administration in
Malaysia with the covert support of the federal government are
systematically demolishing Hindu temples. In the last 20 months, so
intolerable has the situation become that the Hindu organisation in
Malaysia have appealed to the UN and other international agencies for
the first time seeking intervention.?

There has not been so much as a whisper from our secularists or from
the government of India. Malaysia is a Muslim country, isn?t it? So it
has the right to demolish Hindu temples, doesn?t it ? And if those
demolished structures are not ?temples? but merely street side
shrines, what is wrong with demolishing them? There will be these and
similar other excuses given by our secular Government and out
secularists. There has again not been so much as a kind supportive
word from any Muslim organisation and the excuse will be: ?We do not
know anything about these activities. Besides, how can we trust the
RSS?? What, in the circumstances the Government of India must do is to
make an inquiry into the allegations and publish the findings. What is
the government afraid of? Even if it is not true that so many temples
have been razed to the ground and those destroyed are limited, the
facts must be brought out.

After all, the Hindu volunteers demolished only one masjid, the Babri
Masjid which was (a) built on a destroyed temple (b) was not in use at
the time it was demolished and (c) could easily have been handed over
to Hindus who were willing and ready to build a masjid further away at
their cost. Secular and Muslim fundamentalists would not give an inch.
It only enraged Hindus?and with what result everyone knows only too
well.

If an inquiry conducted proves that the allegations made against
Malaysia are correct then it is for our secularists and liberals to
give an explanation. True, two wrongs do not make one right, but India
has not embarked on a masjid demolishing spree such as Malaysia has
allegedly indulge in. If an inquiry shows that the information is
wrong, an apology would be due. According to a report, an NGO ?Hindu
Rights Action Force? has taken the initiative in raising the matter of
temple destruction in Malaysia before all is lost. Malaysia is a
comparatively small country. It has a mixed population. Hindu labour
has done marvels to raise Malaysia?s economy. And to think that in the
end this is what it gets by way of thanks should make our secularists
think. And our Muslim co-citizens as well. Or is cowardice the other
face of secularism?

It is easy to blast local Hindus and call them by names. One must also
have the courage to stand up for Hindus when they are being stamped
upon in another country.

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September 30, 2007
An open letter to Sonia Gandhi

?You leave us alone, don?t divide our people?
By Anwar Manippady

It is not possible for you to know the pulse of Indians as we belong
to a great heritage and culture. You are taking advantage of our
people?s innocence and goodness. You have been trying to shatter our
country?s peace and destroy the great heritage passed down to us from
generations. It?s time you restrain yourself from committing such
crimes against Indians.

Madam Soniaji!

You are worsening the plight of minorities of this country ? India, to
which you do not belong. It is not possible for you to know the pulse
of Indians as we belong to a great heritage and culture. You are
taking advantage of our people?s innocence and goodness. You have been
trying to shatter our country?s peace and destroy the great heritage
passed down to us from generations. It?s time you restrain yourself
from committing such crimes against Indians.

You have been leading a National Party not because of the merits you
have, but because the members of your party are gullible, ignorant and
are not able to unite together! The vote bank policy practiced by you
and your Congress party is further deteriorating the relationship
between the majorities and minorities of this country. Here are some
instances. Sometime ago, while Sania Mirza was donning the Indian
colours and bringing laurels to the country, your support to a group
of clergy in their fatwa against Sania was uncalled for. You said that
it was a personal matter, and their sentiments should not be hurt and
it should be respected. There is no such fatwa in this country and
instead of quelling this then and there; your support set a very bad
precedent. The appeasement through the reservation policy based on
caste, creed and religion is further breaking the society by division
and groupism. The same reservation policy could be implemented on the
basis of the economic backwardness whereby the branding of the people
on these lines can be avoided. Of course you couldn?t have created a
vote bank there! Recently when some fanatic hooligans attacked
novelist Tasleema Nasreen, you and your Party did not utter a word to
condemn the incident. Your prot?g? Y.Samuel Rajashekar Reddy did not
get the hooligans booked under proper criminal charges. They had the
courage to threaten the author of beheading her and the Andhra Pradesh
Government watched this in silence instead of punishing the culprits.
Your head of the Government came out with the statement before the
investigation ended with regard to the fanatic terrorists involved in
the UK bomb blast, saying that ?One felt sorry for the relatives of
such terrorists?. Why do you do this? Is it not trying to please the
ignorant minorities for sake of vote bank? Madam, Please stop these
appeasements. It is not going to help the minorities. Its detrimental
to the minorities, detrimental to the country. These appeasements
develop a false strength with the minorities, which in turn will tend
to undo the goodness their religion preaches. All these above actions
will not build our country India into a modern, developed and a
powerful nation.

It also reminds me of the novel Lajja by Smt. Tasleema Nazreen,
wherein a Hindu family dedicated to the country Bangladesh was
subjected to discrimination, brutality and even rape. And finally that
family had to run away from their motherland ? Bangladesh. Your
appeasement will make the minorities of this country, homeless too,
for no fault of theirs or the majorities.

Like the old saying ?From the frying pan to the fire?; your new
venture, destroying the Ram Sethu will be another worst crime against
the country. The whole world knows that Ram Sethu has a religious
connotation and we Indians are emotionally attached to it. The
dredging and opening of Ram Sethu will have far reaching consequences
in India. Moreover; 1) It is not beneficial in any way: a) Any ship
weighing 40,000 tons and above cannot sail through this pass as most
of the ships carry much more weight at present. b) It is exorbitantly
costly to make this pass. c) The time gained by passing through this
pass instead of going around Srilanka is two hours. d) The ships
passing through this channel requires pilotage and pilotage charges
which will be heavy. For example the channel length of this pass is
about 56 Km and the pilotage charges will be around Rs one lakh per
Km. e) Dredging the pass and removing the sand will be a permanent
feature and it?s not going to be cost effective. On the whole, it will
not be economically viable for the shipping companies or beneficial
for the country. 2) How detrimental it is: a) It will hurt sentiments
of millions of Indians. b) Priceless Thorium deposits will be washed
away by breaking the wall. c) More than ten lakh fishermen will lose
their jobs. d) If the pass becomes an International route, it is a
threat to our internal security. e) It will destroy the fragile coral
islands, as the sediment from the turbulent tides will enter from the
Bay of Bengal. f) It might reactivate the sub sea heat flows. g) Ram
Sethu is a natural tsunami protection wall. It proved during last
tsunami, as Kerala was not affected. This fact has a scientific
bearing. Let us take a look at the opinions we have from different
quarters of the society and various scientists and thinkers: a) NASA
and Google Earth photographs and other information b) Department of
Earth Sciences, Government of India. March 2007. c) Sir.A.R. Mudaliar
Report 1956. All the above evidences show that Ram Sethu is not a
naturally-developed formation, but it?s a man-made bund. The meaning
of the word ?Sethu? in all the Indian languages is ?Man-made bund?.
Sir A.R. Mudaliar Committee Report very clearly says that breaking of
Ram Sethu is not feasible as it would entail definite navigational
hazard and shifting sandbanks in this area presents a far more
formidable problem both at the stage of construction and during
maintenance level.

Professor Tad S. Murthy , A Tsunami expert says Ram Sethu is needed to
change the mouth of the alignment of the Bay of Bengal. This will help
in avoiding destruction of Kerala if there?s a recurrence of another
tsunami.

Besides ISRO and NASA there are other evidences which shows the
existence of Ram Sethu. They are as follows:

Arya Chakravarti coins of Jaffna of 13th century and Parantaka Chola a
copper plate of 10th century indicate that king Aparajithavarman went
to Setuthirtha. That is Rama?s temple at the Sethu.

Evidence from Sangam literature: In a book titled Ramanatha-puram, a
district gazetteer published in 1972 refers to Ram Sethu also as Adam?
s Bridge or Nala Setu.

Malabar Bowen Map of 1747 drawn by Netherlands shows Ramar Coil (Rama
Temple).

Maps drawn by Joseph Parks, an Australian Botanical explorer (1788)
shows Ramar Bridge. (map in Saraswathi Mahal Lib., Thanjavur).

Islamic Expansion and western view of South Asia, 7th to 12th century
(Al- Biruni?s record) by a legendry Arab explorer and geographer
proves the presence of Ram Sethu.

Madras Presidency Admission Reports of 1903 and a travelogue of 1744
call the bridge of Rama : It really joined Ceylon to India until 1480,
until a breach was made through rocks during a storm. A subsequent
storm enlarged this breach and thus the foot traffic ceased. A book by
Alexander Hamilton, 1744 New account of the East Indies: gives an
exact and copious description of the situation, wherein page 338
describes his visit to ?Zeloan? (Alternative spelling for Ceylon) by
walking on the bridge. Authentic digital images of Sri Ram Sethu from
NASA image exchange: Photographs taken by NASA astronauts, Russian
cosmonauts, Gemini Spacecraft in 1966, 8 NASA Space Shuttle Missions
1983 to 1994. International Space Station expedition 2002-2005, all
conclude Ancient Bridge = Sri Ram Sethu and appreciate the Sethu in
following words: Sri Ram Sethu causeway must have been a major
engineering feat for its thin trace is still so clearly visible on the
present days satellite images. It has resisted the relentless erosion
of the sea for millions of years and it attests to the great
engineering skills of the ancient Indian people. It is the earliest
and largest carbon-fibre reinforced civil engineering structure known
to man and should be protected as a world heritage site. Justice K.T.
Thomas and our former President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam observations say
that the Sethu is a heritage site and has a religious leaning. All the
above scientific derivations, historical evidences and observations of
scientists and learned persons and the feeling of millions of people
of all communities if set aside and the Ram Sethu is destroyed, our
country will go through insurmountable spiritual and economic loss.
When Metro Rail tracks in Delhi can be replanned because of the worry
that it might cause vibration to the natural heritage the Kutub Minar;
the highways gets diverted when monuments like dargahs, temples and
churches comes in the way, then why can't to have absolute peace, and
to avoid chaotic situations above all in the interest of this great
country the breaking of Ram Sethu be dropped. On the other hand the
development of Ram Sethu as a heritage place, a pilgrim center and as
a tourist spot should be envisaged which will not only bring huge
revenue to the exchequer but peace to people of India too.

(The writer is Chairman, Karnataka State Govt. Minorities Development
Corporation.)

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May 04, 2008
Swamy's book on Ram Sethu released
Abandon Ram Sethu project?Mohan Bhagwat

Ram Sethu linked to sentiments of crores; it needs no logic

?Swami Dayanand Saraswati

"The issue of Ram Sethu is not negotiable. Ram Sethu is natural. All
natural things should be preserved. Therefore, Ram Sethu should be
preserved as a natural monument. Certain things are natural, and we
revere them, so such natural things can be worshipped also. If it is
man-made, it ought to be preserved. If it is natural, even then it
ought to be preserved, but the issue of Ram Sethu is not negotiable,?
said Swami Dayanand Saraswati while releasing a book?Ram Setu, Symbol
of National Unity?authored by Dr Subramanian Swamy, at a function held
in Delhi on April 20, 2008.

?The Ram Sethu is not just some place; it is a place that is highly
praised in so many words in our Puranas; it is in the hearts of all
Hindus. Any destruction to the sacred Sethu would hurt the sentiments
of crores of Hindus. Any sentiment is sacred. No sentiment needs any
logic, and sentiment is above all. Therefore, we don?t need to give
any reason for our attitude, that has been inherited since
generations,? Swamiji asserted. He asked what logic one should give to
prove that India is our Mother. What logic one should give to
establish that river Ganga is not just a river but holy river. What
logic one should present that Amarnath Cave has a natural Lingam, it
is not man-made. Likewise, Salegrams in Hindu houses are natural. One
can buy a ring, but one can buy a wedding ring with an extra cost. The
ring does not mention as ?wedding ring?, but it is the way we look at
the wedding ring. We have an inner feeling for the wedding ring, which
is priceless. The whole thing is a matter of understanding, Swamiji
said.

?It is very easy to destroy a certain object, but it is very difficult
to create this. You cannot infuse the feeling of oneness into the
people. It takes ages. We owe to our forefathers, our all ancestors,
for all our attitudes and the way we think. And they instilled this
attitude in us. What denies us to step on a book or currency? Because
these are the symbols of Goddess Saraswati and Goddess Lakshmi. Even
if a book of Indian history is written with all bluffs from cover to
cover, even then we cannot step on it. Why? Because we respect it
because it is a book?, Swamiji explained. ?One friend told me that he
doesn?t care for Indian history books because they do not carry true
facts. I said they carry truth. He asked Swamiji what truth? I said
that the truth is that it has no truth. But it is a book. The book is
Saraswati for us, the Hindus?, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, RSS Sarkaryavah Shri Mohan Bhagwat said that
we have followed the path of Sri Ram to live an ideal life. Sri Ram
liberated the whole humankind from the clutches of demonic Ravana.

Talking about the book on Ram Sethu by Dr Subramanian Swamy, Shri
Bhagwat said that Shri Swamy immersed himself in the Ram Sethu
Movement and after a thorough research, he put together all the vital
information about the Sethu in this book. The book is not merely an
intellectual exercise but he has also written the book keeping in view
the aspirations of common Indians. He emphasised that this book should
be widely publicised and translated in all Indian languages.

Rapping the UPA government for expediting the SSCP under the pressure
of USA, VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal said that today India is
faced with threats from all sides. What happened in Tibet is no
secret. Every effort is being made to destroy their culture despite
the repeated statements by HH Dalai Lama for a peaceful dialogue to
resolve the issue. With the capture of power in Nepal by Maoists,
India in the coming days might face grave threats. Talking about one
such threat, Shri Singhal said that about six years back Maoists
dictated that Sanskrit will not be taught in any school.

He exhorted the people that the struggle has to go on and particularly
during the election time. People say politicians remember Ram only
when there is election. Since politicians only understand the language
of votes, then it is the power of ballot that would make them respect
the sentiments of Hindus, he added.

Dr Subramanian Swamy, the author of the book Ram Setu: Symbol of
National Unity, said that he has given scientific verifiable evidence
to back the widely held belief that the Ram Sethu is a constructed
causeway, made on the direction of Bhagwan Sri Ram to enable his army
to cross over to Sri Lanka. The author?s study of Ram Sethu covers all
the aspects of historicity, economics, environment and national
security.

Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Sharda Peetham, Sringeri, Jagadguru
Shankaracharya Swami Swarupananda Saraswati of Dwarka Peeth, Swami
Nishchalananda Saraswati of Govardhan Peeth, Puri, and Jagadguru
Shankaracharya Swamigal of Kanchipuram had sent their blessings to the
author on the occasion.

?By Deepak Kumar Rath

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January 13, 2008
UPA warned on anti-Hindu Sethu demolition plans

Historic rally in Delhi to protect Ram Sethu
By Pramod Kumar

The rally, which saw a galaxy of leaders from all sections of the
society, had three huge platforms displaying the slogans in bold
letters??Santon ka hai yeh sandesh, Ram ka Sethu, Ram ka desh, Ram
Sethu bachayenge, apana dharma nibhayenge, declare Ram Sethu a
national protected heritage site and recognise Ram and Krishna as
historical figures.? The main dais had senior saints and VHP leaders
who addressed the rally. The second dais had saints belonging to
various sections of the society and the third platform had leaders
belonging to various political and social organisations and Chief
Ministers of Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Himachal
Pradesh.

RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri K.S. Sudarshan, VHP president Shri Ashok
Singhal, general secretary Dr Pravin Togadia, Ramjanmabhoomi Trust
president Mahant Nrityagopal Das, Dr Ram Vilas Vedanti,
Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya, Sadhvi Ritambhara,
Shankaracharya Swami Divyananda Maharaj, Jain saint Shri Vijay
Ratnasunder Surishwar, Buddhist monk Shri Bhante Janan Jagat, Pejawar
Swami Shri Vishveshteertha Maharaj, Acharya Dharmendra, Swami
Chidanand Muni, Mahant Naval Kishor Das and Mahant Adityanath were
also present. BJP president Shri Rajnath Singh, senior party leaders
Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Shri Arun Jaitley, Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Shri
Arjun Munda, Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Shri Kidarnath Sahani, Shri
Ramlal, Shri Vinay Katiyar, Shri Gopinath Munde and Janata Party
president Dr Subramanian Swamy were also present.

The Ram Sethu Raksha Mahasammelan held on December 30, 2007, refreshed
the memories of Ramjanmabhoomi movement. After the historic rally of
1991 held at Boat Club for Ram temple, it was for the first time that
Delhi witnessed such a huge gathering. Over ten lakh Rambhaktas
assembled at Swarna Jayanti Park of Rohini in West Delhi under the
banner of Rameswaram Ram Sethu Raksha Manch to warn the UPA government
against destruction of Ram Sethu. The protestors served an ultimatum
to the government that if it files an affidavit against the sentiments
of 90 crore Hindus on January 16 in the Supreme Court, the battle
would be fought in every village of the country. They, through a
resolution, also reiterated their demand of scrapping the
Sethusamudram project, to declare the Ram Sethu a national protected
heritage site and develop Rameswaram as a holy pilgrimage town.

Though it was the coldest day of this season in Delhi with mercury
dipping to 3 Degree Celsius, the Rambhaktas had started marching to
the Swarna Jayanti Park since early morning. Most of them were those
who had come from the far-flung states by trains and had stayed at
different temples, dharamshalas, schools, baratghars of Delhi. The VHP
had booked more than 1,000 temples, 70 schools, 250 community centres
and 50 dharamshalas for them. Those who had come from the neighbouring
states had come on the same day. By 10 am, more than four lakh people
had assembled at the Park.

The rally, which saw a galaxy of leaders from all sections of the
society, had three huge platforms displaying the slogans in bold
letter?-?Santon ka hai yeh sandesh, Ram ka Sethu, Ram ka desh?, Ram
Sethu bachayenge, apana dharma nibhayenge, declare Ram Sethu a
national protected heritage site and recognise Ram and Krishna as
historical figures. The main dais had senior saints and VHP leaders
who addressed the rally. The second dais had saints belonging to
various sections of the society and the third platform had leaders
belonging to various political and social organisations and Chief
Ministers of Rajasthan (Smt. Vasundhara Raje), Madhya Pradesh (Shri
Shivraj Singh Chouhan), Chhattisgarh (Dr Raman Singh), Uttarakhand
(Shri B.C. Khanduri) and Himachal Pradesh (Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal).
Shankaracharya Swami Vasudevananda Saraswati presided over the
Mahasammelan.

The messages sent by AIADMK supremo Smt. J. Jayalalithaa, Punjab Chief
Minister Shri Prakash Singh Badal, Dwarika Peethadhishwar
Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopananda, Mata Amritanandamayi,
Shringeripeetha-dhishwar Shankaracharya Shri Bharati Teerth, former
Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee and Namdhari Sant Baba Jagjit
Singh, endorsing the demand of protecting the Ram Sethu boosted the
morale of the rallyists.

It appeared as if all the roads of Delhi led to Swaran Jayanti Park on
that day. Though it was Sunday, all the roads leading to the Park were
jammed with Rambhaktas carrying saffron flags, raising slogans like ?
Jai Shri Ram, Bachcha-bachcha Ram ka, Ram Sethu ke kaam ka? and
saffron strips tied on their foreheads. The movement of Rambhaktas
continued overnight on December 29 in the streets of Delhi. Those who
had come by trains walked their destination beating the cold by
raising slogans. After the rally also some of them walked back to
railway stations from the venue. ?We enjoyed the walk. Since it is our
maiden visit to Delhi we wished to see Delhi also,? said Kashiram
along with his friends who had come from Raisen district of Madhya
Pradesh. Similar views were expressed by Akshya Jaiswal from Mumbai
and Radhelal from Hingoli district of Maharashtra.

The message of the rally was clear?Ram Sethu ke liye ham kaal se bhi
takara jayenge (We are ready to face even the death for Ram Sethu),
which should open the eyes of the ruling coalition at the Centre. ?
Over ten lakh people came to Delhi and went back as peacefully as they
had come. Not even a single unwanted incident was reported from
anywhere. The rally had representations from all languages and regions
of the country including all states, from Kerala to Jammu & Kashmir
and from Gujarat to the north-east. There was representations from all
revenue districts. Leaders of all religious sects including Buddhism,
Jainism, Sikhism, Nirankaris, Nihangas and Namdharis were present on
the dais,? said the overwhelmed joint secretary general of VHP Shri
Champatrai standing behind the main dais.

By noon, the number of Rambhaktas inside the Park, were on the way or
were stuck outside and inside Delhi as the Police had stopped their
vehicles. According to VHP general secretary Dr Pravin Togadia more
than 800 buses were stuck at different parts of Delhi and could not
reach the venue. Some managed to reach the venue at 5 pm after the
completion of the rally. Those who somehow entered into Delhi faced
the problem of heavy traffic jam. Then they turned to the Metro Rail,
which too soon became overcrowded. Later, the DMRC increased the
frequency of trains and also deployed three more racks. Many of those
who had come to Delhi for the first time also had a joyride in Metro
Rail. According to the DMRC, more than 4.15 lakh people travelled by
Metro Rail that day increasing additional revenue worth Rs 10 lakh. ?
Till 8 p.m. on December 30, we recorded 60,000 footfalls more than on
an average Sunday on the Shahadara-Rithala line. Our revenue earning
too was much higher today with total sale of tickets being Rs 10 lakh
higher. We usually sell tickets worth Rs 42 lakh but on Sunday we had
already earned Rs 52 lakh by 8 pm,? said DMRC spokesperson Shri Anuj
Dayal. There were apprehensions that the Rambhaktas might damage the
Metro Rail property. But not a single untoward incident was reported
and everybody travelled only after taking the required ticket.

It was not easy to hold such a huge rally in Delhi in the biting
chilly winter of December. The people of Delhi supported it
wholeheartedly. About nine lakh food packets were collected from 4.5
lakh families. ?It was the outcome of just one month preparations. The
saints had taken the decision to organise this rally at their meeting
in Ayodhya on November 13. The first all India meeting of Ram Sethu
Raksha Manch was held on November 27. In fact, the preparations for
the rally began from that day. The first problem was to decide the
venue for such a huge crowed. Organisation of rallies at Boat Club is
already banned. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and the Ramlila Grounds
were short and the Burari Grounds was preoccupied. Then the venue of
Swarna Jayanti Park was decided on December 20. Only within ten days
all the preparations were made by over 10,000 workers,? informed Shri
Karuna Prakash, prant organising secretary of Indraprastha VHP.

He said the Ram Sethu Shilapujan mobilised people for the rally.
Besides more than one lakh people from Delhi, about 30,000 from
Punjab, one lakh from Haryana, one lakh from Rajasthan, one lakh from
Uttar Pradesh, 250 vehicles from J&K, about 10,000 people from Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh who came mostly by trains,
about 80,000 from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, about 50,000 from
Maharashtra, 5000 from Gujarat, 20,000 from Bihar and Jharkhand, 1000
each from Assam and West Bengal and 3000 from Orissa attended the
rally.

Addressing the gathering, Shri K.S. Sudarshan warned the government
that the people of the country would not tolerate any damage to Ram
Sethu. He asked Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh not to succumb to the
pressure from the UPA ally, the DMK, to go ahead with the project. ?
Government will face the consequences if it does not scrap the
project,? he said adding that the Prime Minister should not think
about the survival of his government. ?If he scraps the project, he
will get good wishes from crores of Hindus worldwide.? Urging the
Rambhaktas to take the responsibility of protecting the historic
landmark, he explained the non-viability of the project and said not
only the Hindus, but Muslims and Christians also oppose the project.

Shri Ashok Singhal said those who are bent upon destroying the Sethu
have no right to stay in the country. He appealed to the rallyists to
take the message of saints to all corners of the country. He also
appealed to all the political parties to come forward in support of
the Ram Sehtu irrespective of their vote bank, caste, region, language
and political parties and also support the reconstruction of Shri Ram
temple in Ayodhya.

Dr Pravin Togadia said if the UPA government does not declare Ram
Sethu a protected historical heritage, the battle would be fought in
6.5 lakh villages of the country. He said every village of the country
would be turned Rammaya during the Chaitra Navaratras when crores of
people would chant Vijay Mantra of Sri Ram Jai Ram, Jai-Jai Ram.

Presiding over the rally, Sawmi Vasudevananda Saraswati appealed to
political leaders of all parties to pressurise the government not to
demolish the Sethu. Sadhvi Ritambhara administered the oath to the
Rambhaktas to be ready to face even the death for the protection of
Ram Sethu. The Rambhaktas responded to her call by raising their hands
in unison. Mahant Nrityagopal Das appealed to the Rambhaktas to move
to Ayodhya also in the similar huge strength for reconstruction of Ram
Mandir. Swami Rambhadracharya said by destroying the Sethu the
government wishes to push the whole nation into the mouth of pralaya.
Pejawar Swami Shri Vishveshteerth, Jain saint Shri Vijay Ratnasunder
Surishwar and Buddhist monk Shri Bhante Jnan Jagat also appealed to
save the Ram Sethu. Shri Chaitanya Maharaj warned if even a single
brick of the Sethu was touched, the government would not be able to
protect the disputed structures of Kashi and Mathura. Swami Chidanand
Muni said the government must declare the Sethu a national protected
heritage site before January 16. Dr Ram Vilas Vedanti, Swami
Prapannacharya, Swami Raghva-charya, Shri Gopal Baba, Swami
Vivekananda Maharaj, Shankara-charya Divyananda Maharaj, Shri
Chaitanya Maharaj, Swami Jananananda, Acharya Dharmendra, Mahant Naval
Kishor Das, Shri Surajnath Maharaj and Mahamandaleshwar Shri Vishoka-
nanda also spoke on the occasion.

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February 10, 2008
Centre asks for third extension in SC
Ram Sethu campaign vindicated, UPA forced to rethink

After Navy chief, Coast Guard DG blasts Baalu's claim

After the Navy chief, the Director-General of Coast Guards has
expressed serious reservation on the viability of the controversial
Sethusamudram project. The Ram Sethu Raksha Samiti had in the last one
year, agitating for the protection of the ancient most monument of
Hindu faith, raised well-documented extensive logistical objections on
the project. It was proved that the project is a navigational
disaster, that it is unviable and an ecological outrage.

The Centre was, however, forced to rethink and perhaps even defer the
project after the huge response to the same Ram Sethu agitation. Over
a million people from all over the country converged in the capital
last month to express solidarity with the agitation. Equally
successful was the ?Chakka jam? organised nationwide by the Ram Sethu
Raksha Samiti earlier in October. The Centre?s flip-flop on the
existence of the historicity of Sri Ram further angered the people all
over the country.

Adding fuel to the Ram Sethu controversy, Director-General of Indian
Coast Guard has cautioned that the Sethusamudram project poses a
national security hazard and also conveyed his concern over the
project to the government.

?We have already mounted a strong vigil on the country?s southern
coastal waters. Projects like the Sethusamudram could bring in more
security problems,? said Coast Guard chief Vice Admiral R.F.
Contractor.

The Centre, meanwhile, seems tied up with political compulsions from
within and outside to give a response to the Supreme Court, which is
hearing a batch of petitions relating to the continuation of the
project. Already the Supreme Court has stayed dredging activities in
or around Ram Sethu.

Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan,
Additional Solicitor-General (ASG) R. Mohan informed the Court on
January 31, that the Centre is yet to finalise the affidavit to be
filed in relation to the matter.

The candid admission by the DG came on the sidelines of a media
interaction on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of ICG. However,
he added that security measures would be put in place once the channel
becomes operational.

His view follows the comment made by naval chief Vice-Admiral Sureesh
Mehta who said the project could hamper the movement of bigger
vessels, including those employed by the Indian Navy.

When asked whether the Coast guard had conveyed its concerns to the
government, Contractor said that both the Navy and Coast Guard were
asked to give their views prior to the project being cleared.

Contractor hinted at the close proximity of India-Sri Lanka maritime
border as the cause of worry. The Coast Guard had mounted a round-the-
clock aerial and sea vigil in the Palk Bay as well as Gulf of Mannar
to guard against infiltration of Sri Lankan armed militants into
India. Though the number of Tamil migrants from Sri Lanka had dropped
this year, after almost touching a high of 16,619 last year, ?security
centres are active in all places where antecedents of refugees coming
from Sri Lanka are being checked,? he added.

Cong wants project delayed, hints Moily

Despite pressure from coalition ally DMK, the Congress is ready for a
detailed archaeological survey to ascertain various issues raised over
Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP).

Congress media department chairman M. Veerappa Moily said, ?The
Supreme Court has opened up a lot of issues. If it is required and the
Supreme Court desires so, we are prepared to conduct an archaeological
study to ascertain facts. These are not issues that can be
bulldozed.?

Meanwhile, Culture Minister Ambika Soni said the ASI could not give a
definite view on the project without undertaking some kind of survey.
She also said the government would take into consideration various
inputs, including the security concerns expressed over the project,
before it takes a decision on it.

?The Archaeological Survey of India cannot give a view definitely on
whether this can be declared as site of national importance or not
without undertaking some kind of survey,? Soni was reported to have
said.

?These would be inputs before the government before it takes a
decision or goes ahead,? Soni said. She said the ASI has never
undertaken any kind of survey or exploration. ?So it is very difficult
for us to give any opinion based on first hand knowledge,? she said.

For all practical purposes, a fresh study will push the project back
by several months, and help the Congress prevent it from becoming a
major issue in the next general election.

Moily also indicated the party was firm despite the opposition of the
DMK, which wants early implementation of the project. When asked that
Shipping Minister T.R. Baalu, who belongs to DMK, has been pressing
for early implementation, Moily said, ?Baalu?s Ministry is the
implementing agency. The entire project does not go by what one
Ministry has to say.?

Meanwhile, AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa, has moved a petition in
Supreme Court to declare the Ram Sethu a national monument.

Moily?s view clearly indicated that the party is trying to buy time
over the issue, which has become a political hot potato of sorts
lately. By getting a time extension of another month for filing
affidavit in the Supreme Court, the government is ensuring that the
issue is put in cold storage.

Playing down the security concerns raised by the Coast Guard, Moily
said: ?There should be a holistic view on this... There may be a
security problem, but this is not for the entire nation. This is not
what the Coast Guard Director-General has pointed out.? When asked if
there was a security problem, Moily said: ?This you should ask NDA?s
Defence Minister because the project had been passed by NDA and we are
just implementing the project.?

The statement by the DG gave a good handle to the leading Opposition
party BJP that decried the government?s attempts to override such a
serious concern. On January 31, the BJP upped the ante against the
government on the viability of the project. ?We are not against the
Sethusamudram project. But if the senior-most official of the Coast
Guard is talking about security concerns, it is a big thing,? said BJP
spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The VHP has also reacted to the security concerns raised by the Coast
Guard and said no one should be allowed to play with the national
security.

?As, experts of different fields have already expressed concerns over
the project, the government should file an affidavit immediately
before the Supreme Court to save Ram Sethu,? said Vinod Bansal, media
chief of the Rameswaram Ram Sethu Raksha Manch, Delhi.

Pointing out that the Navy chief and Coast Guard chief are the two
final authorities, entrusted with the task of national security,
Bansal said the government should scrap the project to ensure safety
and security of the region and save the taxpayers? money.

On January 16, the Court directed the Centre to file its affidavit
within two weeks following which hearing in the matter was to take
place.

The Bench comprising of Justices R.V. Raveendran and J.M. Panchal
allowed four weeks time to the Centre posting the matter in the first
week of March. Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, who has filed
two petitions challenging the government?s decision to destroy the
natural bridge, urged the Court to direct the Centre to file separate
affidavits on the aspects of alignment of the project and on the
investigations conducted by the government to determine the
historicity of the Ram Sethu.

The government had incurred a loss of face following its affidavit
filed in apex court in September 2007. In its bid to rubbish the
petitioner?s claims of declaring Ram Sethu an ancient monument, the
government declared that the mythological text of Ramayan could not be
considered a ?historical record? for lack of any scientific study or
proof. It thus refuted the ?existence or the occurrence of events
depicted therein?.

Courting controversy for its alleged denial of Lord Ram, the Centre
withdrew the Ministry of Culture?s affidavit from court promising to
file a better one after conducting a detailed study of the objections
raised by the petitioners. An expert committee constituted for this
purpose submitted its report to the government, which is to finalise
its response to be given to Court.

GoM fails to reach accord

Centre is playing games with Hindu sentiments and with the Supreme
Court. Ever since the Madras HC order of June 19, 2007, Centre has
dodged a reply about declaring Rama Sethu a heritage monument. If the
UPA has a great concern for Bhagwan Sri Ram, what is the problem in
declaring Rama Sethu rashtriya dharohar (national monument)?

It is shocking that irresponsible statements should be made in the Hon?
ble Court without reading the 8,000 pages of evidence submitted on
over 150 topics related to the project disaster.

Hurting the sentiments of Hindus and other citizens worldwide seems to
have become a pastime with many.

A group of ministers (GoM), tasked to draft an affidavit explaining
the cultural significance of Ram Sethu, met in New Delhi on January 30
but failed to reach an agreement on the issue. The Rs 2,600 crore
project envisages dredging the walkway to reduce sailing time for
ships.

The GoM?comprising external affairs minister and the government?s
chief negotiator Pranab Mukherjee, minister of culture Ambika Soni,
and minister of shipping T.R. Baalu?was formed last week to resolve
differences between two separate affidavits drafted by the ministries
of culture and shipping. The affidavit has been sought by the Supreme
Court.

Baalu, one of the staunchest supporters of the project, is in favour
of taking a strong stand against the Hindu protesters. But his cabinet
colleague Ambika Soni believes the move will further alienate Hindus
in north India, and could cost the Congress party dear in five states
where elections are due later this year.

The apex court has been awaiting this affidavit since 14 September,
when the government withdrew its original statement and asked for
three months to study the issue.

The Madras High Court had originally asked the government to file an
affidavit explaining the cultural significance of the Ram Sethu. The
court had also asked if the government had conducted any
archaeological study of the Sethu. A three-judge bench of the court
had upheld its order.

Litigant Subramanian Swamy says the government may refer this
investigation to the National Heritage Commission, which would ?put
the project in cold storage for all practical purposes.? Calls to the
ministry of culture and shipping went unreturned.

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chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 1:26:52 PM2/19/10

September 23, 2007

Outrage, blasphemy!

?Ram did not exist. No Ram, no Ram Sethu,? says Sonia?s UPA
By R. Balashankar

Not even the British or the Mughals would have made this outrageously
inane statement. The centre?s affidavit before the Supreme Court where
it vilified the existence of Sri Ram only shows the UPA government is
totally out of sync with the people it is ruling.

It is appalling that a democratically elected government is capable of
losing its balance to such an extent that it does not find anything
wrong in defiling the faith of almost the entire population of the
country. Is it that the Congressmen under the tutelage of the Italian
Catholic leader have stopped worshipping Sri Ram?

Does it mean that if the Sonia Congress has its way, it will dissuade
people from reciting Hanuman chalisa, singing Tulsidas Ramayan and
celebrating Ramlila? For, there is no sense or reason behind the
central government?s blasphemous proposition that if there was no Ram
what Ram Sethu are the Hindus talking about? This came more as a shock?
for the disdain and audacity of the rulers defy all logic, cultural
heritage, collective wisdom, tradition and history of this country.
And a government supposed to represent and promote all this to deny
the very ancestry of its people is baffling, to say the least.

To denounce Sri Ram the government has quoted the Constitution. It
cites the need to develop scientific temper in the country. Who told
the UPA that faith in Sri Ram militated against scientific temper? Are
all worshippers of Sri Ram fools? If the life of Sri Ram was a myth
was Mahatma Gandhi deceiving his people when he set the ideal of
Ramrajya before the country? Was he wrong in playing Ram dhun in all
his public appearances? Why did the makers of Indian Constitution
decorate it with scenes from Ramayana, if all its ?characters were
fictitious?? Why are the walls of Rashtrapati Bhavan adorned with
paintings of Ramayana?

There is no India if there is no Ram. Every fourth Indian has a Ram in
his name. Sri Ram is etched in the psyche of this nation so
inextricably that there is no Indian literature that does not trace
its inspiration in Ramayana. No other text in history has evoked so
many interpretations and translations and renditions as Ramayana. No
other life has influenced and guided the thinking of so many millions
of people across the globe as Sri Ram since the dawn of civilisation.
Yet Sri Ram is fiction for the South Block mandarins.

Unwittingly, the UPA has shifted the goal post. It is not Ram Sethu
but Sri Ram the issue. It really has confronted the nation with the
question whether it is Ramrajya or Rome Rajya. Before the Supreme
Court was a petition seeking protection of the Ram Sethu and declaring
it a national monument. The apex court asked the centre to file its
affidavit on the arguments justifying the destruction of Ram Sethu for
the Sethusamudram project. Many alternative alignments were offered so
that the Ram Sethu also a natural protection in the Indian Ocean
against the threat of tsunami was saved. Scientists and
environmentalists have opposed the Sethusamudram project because of
the colossal damage it can wreak on the habitat and natural symphony
of the three states in the south. It was feared that the huge thorium
deposit, crucial for India?s nuclear energy and weaponisation
strategy, would be depleted. The project in fact did not make any
economic or development sense. All these aspects have been covered in
these columns earlier supported by experts of unchallenged authority.

Yet some quarters had a sneaking suspicion that the UPA was bent on
erasing from this country every shred of Hindu ancestry and this
project was part of the ploy. The overenthusiasm of T.R. Balu on the
subject is understandable. For, he belongs to a creed that always
revelled in sympathizing with the heroism of Ravana, the abductor of
Mata Sita.

Development and progress are not the issues tormenting the UPA. For
under the same Balu and the Sonia-Manmohan regime the infrastructure
projects have come to a standstill. The prestigious national highway
projects, mission mode initiatives of Vajpayee government, for
instance, have come to a limbo. And Sethusamudram which after
completion cannot navigate ships beyond 34000 DWT, and which is likely
to be a white elephant because of the huge annual silting and dredging
costs is not the crying priority before the nation. Then why this
indecent haste? Maybe this is very lucrative for Sonia and her
flunkies.

The centre converted the opportunity offered by the PIL to widen the
canvass and define the place of Sri Ram in Indian history in
consonance with its world view. In this it exceeded the brief. The
question asked was the feasibility of Sethusamudram. It could have
answered, confining to its perception of Ram Sethu as a natural
formation and appended supportive so-called scientific evidence.
Rather it went about ridiculing and disputing the historicity of Sri
Ram. This same gang had earlier said Dwaraka did not exist, Saraswati
a myth and shelved the project altogether.

It insulted the faith of millions of Indians. No proof, it said. ?
Contents of the Valmiki Ramayana, the Ramcharitamanas by Tulsidas and
other mythological texts ?.. cannot be said to be historical record
to.. prove the existence of the characters or occurrence of the
events, depicted therein?, the centre told the apex court. The
affidavit further emphasised, ?the contents of mythological texts, the
accuracy of which is largely unascertainable...? cannot be relied
upon. The centre cited lack of archaeological evidence to buttress its
view. But the ASI in the Babri structure case many years ago had
unearthed tangible evidence where it had told the court that
excavations at the disputed site showed evidence of ?features
associated with temples?. So it is the politics that dictates the
ASI.

We have always suspected this government in its implicit, both
intrinsic and explicit approach to be anti-Hindu. Now it has proved it
to be anti-Ram as well. What is this allergy cancerously consuming it?
Is it the Christian, western loyalties of its master? Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh a confirmed religious Sikh should have known better.
For the holy Gurugranth Sahib, Holy Guru Bani of revered Guru Gobind
Singh is known for their salutations to Sri Ram.

Sonia Gandhi will not know. She will never understand this country. No
foreigner can fathom the place of Sri Ram in the lives of the people
of this country. Sri Ram is the identity of India. But the UPA action
was premeditated and calculated.

Last Friday on August 31, arguing against the apex court stay on
destroying Ram Sethu, Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam
had questioned the existence of the epic age to which Sri Ram had been
associated in the Hindu scriptures. He had said that the court should
wait for the affidavit and that there was no evidence of Sri Ram. That
the UPA was meditating on this course was clear from the ASG?s
submissions in the apex court.

What the ASG tells the court is the government?s view. The government
cannot now claim that it was the view of the Archaeological Survey of
India. The ASI can only give its opinion or input. And if the
additional affidavit that the centre is proposing to file is the
genuine stand of the government then what about the plea of the ASG on
August 31 before the apex court?

The fact is Hindus can no longer trust this dispensation. On every
possible occasion the UPA has tried to undermine and systematically
destroy the Hindu character of this country. Its new-found enthusiasm
on neo-Mandalism and communalisation of reservation are solely aimed
at fragmenting and depriving the Hindu society. It is hell-bent on
seeing that only castes and regional entities along with minority vote
banks clamour for a share in the power structure. The Hindu as a
national entity is never recognised or allowed to grow though they
form the majority in the country.

The Union Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj is a zealous driver of the Sonia
brigade. He might be a bad minister but is extremely swift in sniffing
the Madam?s wish. Bharadwaj was so quick to ridicule the Allahabad
High Court judge?s innocuous opinion last week, to follow Bhagawat
Gita as a national dharma shastra. The judge did not make any
extraordinary suggestion. He only repeated what every great man in the
country has often said.

The UPA Law Minister could have ignored it if he did not agree. But he
instantaneously rejected the suggestion again reassuring every
hecklers in his gang that Gita is just another book in the long list
of religious texts and the judge?s suggestion should be condemned.
Every Indian leader who tried to emancipate this country not only
found his way through the Gita but each one of them tried to
understand and interpret it in his own style. But they were people who
loved this country and its rich heritage. They were no time-servers.

I cited this recent example to emphasise the atmosphere of antipathy
towards Hinduism. This was not the situation in the country before the
UPA came to power. The UPA has no problem banning the Da Vinci Code
because some fanatic Christians opposed it though it violated freedom
of expression. We too supported the ban because we respect others?
faith. But the same UPA will defend M.F. Hussain in the name of
freedom of expression when he violates the serenity of Hindu gods and
goddesses and Bharat Mata. The UPA has no problem adjusting the route
of the Metro to accommodate every single mazar, mosque or dargah, the
Metro route is shifted to protect Qutub Minar and even the commercial
Taj Corridor project is abandoned to protect the monument. One can go
on recounting any number of such instances of over-sensitivity to
minority sentiments and total disrespect to the faith of the Hindus.
Now the ancient-most symbol of Hindu civilisation Ram Sethu, which
crores of Hindus believe, was built by Sri Ram is sought to be
destroyed disclaiming the historicity of Sri Ram. If this is not
political vandalism and double standard what else you call it? Sheer
insensitivity or a vicarious pleasure in heaping insults on the
majority community? Is it a crime to be a Hindu and that too a
believing one in UPA?s India?

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June 10, 2007

July 22 deadline
Hindu leaders' ultimatum to UPA on Ram Sethu
By Pramod Kumar

Giving an ultimatum to the UPA government, the saints have warned the
government to stop destruction of Ram Sethu forthwith. They set July
22 as deadline for the government and made it clear that if it did not
take any decision before the deadline, they would be compelled to take
a strong decision. ?There will be a Dharma Sansad in Delhi on July 22
and the saints from all parts of the country will participate in it.
If the government fails to take a concrete decision before that, the
saints will be forced to take any strong decision to save the Ram
Sethu,? declared VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal while addressing a
gathering of more than 25,000 people at Ramlila Grounds in Delhi on
May 27. The rally was organised by Shri Ram Sethu Raksha Manch, Delhi.
Before the rally, the saints addressed more than 150 public meetings
across Delhi to expose the conspiracy on the part of UPA government to
demolish the Ram Sethu.

?The political leaders could be coward, but the people of this country
are not coward or weak. When the structure at Ayodhya was demolished,
they did not bother about their lives. Now too they are ready for any
sacrifice,? added Shri Singhal. The people participating in the rally
responded in affirmation to this call of Shri Singhal by shouting the
slogan of Jai Shri Ram. Shri Singhal warned the government not to play
with the sentiments of Hindus and also do not test their patience.

Explaining the conspiracy behind the demolition of Ram Sethu, he said
the people of Europe do not recognise the history and culture of
Bharat and they want to destroy it. That is why they call Shri Ram and
Shri Krishna the mythological characters. The British did not accept
this fact and now Smt. Sonia Gandhi too does not accept it. They do
not recognise the Indian history prior to the Buddhist era. They feel
if the historiy of Sethu is accepted, then the historicity of Shri Ram
will continue to be proved. That is why Smt Gandhi went to inaugurate
the project on July 2, 2005, he added. Shri Singhal again made it
clear that the saints are not against the Sethusamudaram Project. ?The
government is bent upon spending Rs 2400 crore on the project by
dredging the Ram Sethu. If it adopts the alternate route and dig a
canal in the barren land the project will cost only Rs 1200 crore,? he
said.

VHP general secretary Dr Pravin Togadia said if it were Ali Sethu the
Manmohan Singh government would not have dared to touch it. Besides
preserving it, the government would also have declared subsidy for
Muslims to visit it. ?Ram Sethu is a teerth for us and we will not
allow anyone to destroy it at any cost,? he said adding that the
government is making all efforts to destroy the identity and culture
of Hindus. He said the governments of Egypt and China are spending
crores of rupees to preserve their ancient sites but our government is
spending cores of rupees to destroy our ancient sites, which are
internationally important.

Senior BJP leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi gave a detailed account of
his visit to the site and also the scientific facts about the Sethu.
He said those who claim that it is not Ram Sethu are the biggest
liars. Even the government documents prove that it is Ram Sethu and
there are also evidences that it is man made. It is a unique example
of our ancient glorious know-how. It is the only man made bridge in
the world,? he said.

Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy called upon the people to
be ready for a bigger battle. He said the main battle is between ?Om?
and ?Rome? and ?Om? would defeat ?Rome?. Ramjanmabhoomi Trust
president Mahant Nritya Gopal Das warned those who think that the
Hindu society is coward and weak. He said if the government does not
stop the dredging work, the saints would take a tough decision on July
22. Dr Bajranglal Gupt, Kshetra Sanghachalak of RSS, said the Hindu
society needs to adopt the same way, which was adopted by Shri Ram
when the sea did not give Him way to reach Lanka.

Shankaracharya Vasudeva-nanda Saraswati said those who feel that only
the saints of North India are fighting for the Sethu, should see that
a prominent saint from the South, Pejawar Swami, is presiding over
this rally in Delhi. Swami Parmatmanand said the saints presented all
kinds of evidences to the government proving that it is Ram Sethu. But
it is not ready to accept the truth. Presiding over the rally, Pejawar
Swami Shri Vishveshteerth appealed to the people to stand unitedly as
they had stood unitedly during the Banga-bhanga movement, which forced
the British government to cancel the Partition of Bengal. He said the
Hindu should be ready for big satyagraha.

Swami Sureshananda, a close associate of Sant Asaram Bapu, said those
who are trying to demolish the Ram Sethu are bhagwatdrohi and the God
would definitely punish them. He said the demolition of Ram Sethu is
not good with regard to the security of the country. Swami
Narendranand Maharaj said talking in peaceful manner must not be taken
as cowardness. ?Shri Ram had also sent various proposals of peace to
Ravana, but he did not accept them. And what happened later, is known
to everyone,? he added. Dr Ramvilas Das Vedanti, Mahant Sudhirdas,
Swami Vishwadevananda Maharaj, Shri Naval Kishor Das and various other
saints also spoke on the occasion. Convener of Shri Ram Sethu Raksha
Manch, Delhi, Shri B.L. Sharma ?Prem? proposed a vote of thanks.

Ram Sethu is world heritage

Well-known writer Padamshri Dr Shyam Singh ?Shashi?, on the basis of
his anthropological studies, has said that Ram Sethu from Rameshwaram
to Sri Lanka was constructed by Lord Rama with the help of south
Indian tribes. In this regard, on behalf of the Research Foundation
International and other organisations, he has written to the
Presidents of India and Sri Lanka, Prime Minister of India, Chief
Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and UNO to save the Ram Sethu from
demolition and declare the same the international heritage. He said
there might be Hanuman temple, Ram Darbar and Ravana?s yajna type of
picnic spots for attracting the tourists from all over the world. Dr
Shashi expressed the need for international dialogue on the subject
among the Indologists, archeologists, anthropologists, historians and
geologists. (FOC)

Akhand Kirtan at Jantar Mantar to save Ram Sethu

The entire Hindu society is agitated over the efforts of the
Government of India to demolish the Ram Sethu. A telling evidence of
this agitation was the collective kirtan performed by hundreds of
women belonging to Akhand Hindusthan Morcha at Jantar- Mantar in New
Delhi on May 17. Performing the kirtan the women prayed to the God to
cleanse the mind of the rulers. Smt. Suman, convener of Akhand
Hindusthan Mahila Sankirtan Mandal, Dr Annapoorna Mishra, Smt. Laxmi
Dhasmana and Smt Nisha gave detailed information about the
reprehensible efforts of the UPA government to demolish the Ram Sethu
under foreign diktat. They said it is not only the question of the
cultural heritage of the country but also of the beliefs of the entire
Hindu world. Protection of this ancient heritage is the duty of the
entire mankind. (FOC)

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May 20, 2007

Special Report
Kerala Newsletter

Sethu Samudram Project
Impact on Kerala disastrous
By S. Chandrasekhar

A national seminar on impact of Sethu Samudram project on Kerala?s
coast was held at Thiruvananthapuram under the joint effort of
University of Kerala, Botany Department and Centre for Innovation in
Science and Social Action (CISSA), an NGO, on April 26. Vice-
Chancellor of Kerala University, Dr. M.K. Ramachandran Nair
inaugurated the deliberations.

Dr. C.P. Rajendran, senior scientist with Centre for Earth Science
Studies (CESS) and an international expert on earthquakes said there
are scientific objections to the project and Environmental Impact
Assessment of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute,
Nagpur (Neeri) is questionable. ?The Palk Bay Straits is known for
high sedimentation rate. Dredging and blasting will change the
chemistry of the sea and destroy coral reefs. Since it is an area of
cyclonic and tsunami threat, constant dredging and blasting for the
Bay of Bengal segment, which is shallow, will be highly dangerous.
Moreover due to heavy rains, silt will get accumulated in the channel
and constant dredging is required, which is uneconomical. The dredging
and blasting will destroy the Ram Sethu, which protected Kerala during
tsunami. He concluded that it is a disaster in the making.

Presenting his paper Dr. A. Bijukumar, a national authority on bio-
diversity, said the Gulf of Manager Marine Biosphere Reserve which is
the hot spot of marine bio-diversity and visited by varsities world
over will be totally destroyed due to constant dredging and blasting. ?
This area abounds in mangroves, coral reefs and sea grasses. Sea
horses, sea cows and turtles will be lost for ever, since the 12-metre
deepening is going to be disastrous. There will be disastrous impact
on whales and dolphins, which are endangered and protected species
world over. UNESCO is spending six crore US dollars every year, since
the 3600 species and 117 coral reefs are available nowhere. The 21
islands and Kurusadai isle are a biologists? paradise. Environment in
the Gulf of Manner is different from that of the Palk Bay Strait.
Since there will be more turbidity, an oil slick will destroy the
entire marine bio-diversity. The project is a biological catastrophe
on the Indian coast.

Dr. P.S. Anil Kumar, an expert on remote sensing and senior scientist
of Geological Survey of India, said he has studied the effects of
damages on Ram Sethu through remote sensing using digital image
processing and spatial enhancement. Ram Sethu is a chain of lime stone
shoals, which are hindrances to navigation. It has channels within it
and will be changing according to season. It consists of conglomerate
of sand stones, which are hard at surface and soft as they go down.
Ram Sethu also consists of small reefs, which cannot be protected
during dredging. These reefs protected Kerala from large destructions
during tsunami. Ram Sethu is a 100 patch reefs with intermittent deep
channels, which is a coastal geomorphologic feature. The area is
highly cyclone prone. He concluded by saying if sea water rises 15
meters, Kerala will disappear and opined that project should be
stopped immediately.

Dr. Lal Mohan, environmentalist of Conservation of Nature Trust, Smt.
Jesu Rethinam of Coastal Action Network and Jacob John, fisher folk
leader of Karnataka opined that it is a political project of DMK to
gain votes. They opined that no economic viability study has been
made. ?No international shipping agency will accept this as a safe
route due to its narrowness. Effect of grounding will be disastrous.
Loose sand and stilt will come into sea from Vaigai river. Now, even
after continuous dredging loose sand is filling up the dredged
channel. Not only the initial Rs.3,000 crore but several thousand
crore will be lost. Due to continuous rains, dredging will have to be
done continuously which will be disastrous and un-economical. The sea
here is called ?Lady Sea?, since it is turbulent and only Ram Sethu
stops this turbulent water. If it is blasted, Kerala will be submerged
in another tsunami. Around 550 fishing villages and 1.50 lakhs
fishermen will lose livelihood through this project. The risk involved
is higher since density and volume of population along India?s coast
has increased.

Dr. C.S.P. Iyer, president, CISSA, welcomed the delegates and Dr. C.
Suresh Kumar, secretary, CISSA and a former stormy leader of ABVP,
proposed a vote of thanks.

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November 18, 2007
Don?t negate Ram, Save Ram Sethu ?Sangh national executive

(This is the full text of the resolutions passed at the Akhil
Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal meeting of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh held
at Rashtrotthan Vidya Mandir, Dharvad, Karnataka, from November 2-4,
2007.)

Negating Sri Ram?s existence is negating the identity of our nation

The Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal (ABKM) congratulates our society
at large, the youth in particular, and various social and cultural
organisations for extending unprecedented and massive support to the
countrywide Chakka Jaam programme organised on the 12th of September
2007 under the leadership of Shri Rameshwaram Ram Sethu Raksha Manch;
and making the programme a historic success thus giving a fitting
reply to the forces that were negating the existence of Sri Ram?the
grand personification of virtue and the illustrious symbol of our
cultural identity.

Realising the threat to their very political existence from the
thunderous uproar of the awakened society, the vote-hungry politicians
in the government were forced to take back the affidavit filed by them
before the Supreme Court which not only derisively dismissed the
construction of the Sethu at Rameswaram by Sri Ram but even went to
the extent of denying the existence of Sri Ram. This affidavit implied
that the epic Ramayana by the immortal poet Maharshi Valmiki, which
portrayed Sri Ram as a historical persona through various personal
accounts of Maharshi himself, was a mere fiction. This act is
tantamount to negating the very basis of our entire socio-cultural
fabric besides questioning the history and geography of our nation.

The ABKM wishes to draw the country?s attention to the fact that from
times immemorial Ramayana has been regarded as history which gives
vivid description of incidents like construction of the Sethu by Sri
Ram; His march with army over to Lanka; war with Ravan and victory
over him; enthronement of Vibheeshan; and later, His return to Ayodhya
by Pushpak Viman and also the geographical details. A pictorial
depiction of Sri Ram?s return to Ayodhya in Pushpak Viman can also be
found in the original copy of the Constitution of Bharat which bears
the signatures of all its framers.

Justice Tilhari and Justice Gupta of the Lucknow Bench of the
Allahabad High Court in their judgment of 1993 in one of the cases
relating to Ramjanma-bhoomi observed that Sri Ram is, besides history,
tradition, faith, belief and scriptures, a constitutional persona
also. Mahatma Gandhi?s espousal of Ram Rajya also represents the
lasting imprint of Sri Ram?s legacy on the Bharatiya national mind. It
may also be noted that images of Sri Ram Durbar were embossed on the
East India Company coins. Negating Sri Ram?s existence means negating
the existence of Tathagata Buddha and all teerthankars including
Bhagwan Mahavir who also belonged to the Ikshvaku dynasty; and the
history of Guru Nanak Devji and Guru Govind Singhji who were the
descendents of the Bedi and Sodhi dynasty which originated from Sri
Ram?s offspring Lav and Kush.

Even after the withdrawal of the offending affidavit, the Chief
Minister of Tamil Nadu continued his abusive utterances through
various media interviews wantonly hurting the Hindu sentiments and
trying to destroy social harmony. He is making such mischievous
statements like the one in which he said that Sita was described as
Ram?s sister in Tulsi?s Ramacharit-amanas. This sort of reprehensible
bragging not only causes a severe blow to our national sentiments, but
also puts a question mark on the very identity of our nationhood
indirectly. Hence, the ABKM is of the considered opinion that it is
not sufficient on the part of the government to withdraw the offensive
affidavit. The government and all those concerned owe an unconditional
apology to the people of Bharat and crores of Hindus living abroad.

Adi Kavi Maharshi Valmiki?s Ramayana, in its 22nd Sarga of the
Yuddhkand, describes in detail the construction work of the Sethu
including the materials used for the purpose. Description of the Ram
Sethu can be found in ?Adhyatma Ramayana? (3rd Sarga),
Ramacharitamanas (Lanka Kand), Kamba Ramayana (Sethubandhanm Chapter,
Yuddhkand), Krittivas Ramayana, Madhav Kandali Ramayana, Sri Guru
Granth Sahib (Raag Ramkali - Mahala 1), English rendering of Valmiki
Ramayana by the first Governor General of Bharat Sri Chakravarti
Rajagopalachari and in many other works. The 1788 AD survey map of
Bharat by Australian botanical explorer Joseph Parks which is
preserved to this day in the famous Saraswati Mahal Library in
Tanjavur (Tamil Nadu) depicts the Sethu as ?Ramar Bridge?. Further,
the bridge was described as ?Ramar Palam? meaning Ram?s bridge in the
Ramnathpuram district manual of 1972 the foreword to which was written
by the then CM of TN who happens to be none other than the present CM
himself, who has commended the contents therein. The ruling family of
Ramnathpuram state is called ?Setupatis? even to this day.

The government is insistent upon completing the Sethusamudram project
projecting it as a development-oriented and economically-profitable
one. Many experts disagree with this contention of the government and
opine that the project is neither economically viable nor does it make
any navigational sense. The obstinacy of the government in still going
ahead with it makes the ABKM feel that its only objective is to
destroy the Ram Sethu.

The ABKM demands that the Ram Sethu, which is revered by the entire
nation, be declared a national heritage monument.

The ABKM wants to remind the people that the mission shouldn?t be
construed as accomplished by mere protest demonstrations. In fact the
forces inimical to Hindu culture are still determined to fulfil their
evil designs. Hence the ABKM calls upon the countrymen in general and
swayamsevaks in particular, who are agitating under the guidance of
the saints and sages of our nation, to continue to uphold the age-old
cultural and spiritual integrity of our nation and stand steadfast
with conviction and valour until final victory is achieved in this
struggle.

******

The Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal takes strong exception to the
recommendation of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic
Minorities (NCRLM) popularly known as Justice Ranganath Mishra
Commission that the Scheduled Caste status must be ?completely
delinked from religion? and ?all those groups and classes among the
Muslims and Christians should also be covered by the Scheduled Castes
net?. What is more intriguing is the Commission?s effort to project
its recommendations as consistent with the ?letter and spirit of the
constitutional provisions?.

The ABKM is of the view that, in reality, these recommendations are
against the basic spirit of the Constitution and in negation of all
the efforts of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who struggled relentlessly in his
personal and public life to reform the Hindu society. Besides, these
recommendations are also an aggression on the welfare of the Scheduled
Castes and a major impediment to their uplift.

The ABKM feels that the Commission has failed to take note of the fact
that the framers of our Constitution, after prolonged deliberations,
concluded that caste system is a part only of Hindu society and hence
the reservations offered to the Scheduled Castes must be confined to
Hindus only. The ABKM also wants to remind that the Church leadership,
with an eye to increasing their numbers, has been vigorously
campaigning for the inclusion of the converts into the Scheduled
Castes purview which was steadfastly resisted by all the right-
thinking leaders during the making of the Constitution as well as in
the last six decades.

The ABKM decries the brazenness of the petitioners, who have gone to
the Supreme Court with the demand of inclusion of the Christian
converts in the Scheduled Castes category, with the contention that ?
the Dalits remain Dalits even after converting to Christianity?.
Christianity claims that there is no caste system in it. It is a
matter of shame that the Church leaders, in their greed for harvesting
a few more souls, have no qualms in endorsing the petitioners?
contention which is against the proclaimed basic tenets of
Christianity.

The ABKM reiterates that the demand for the converts to be treated on
par with the Scheduled Castes is against the provisions of the
Constitution since only castes, races or tribes can be deemed to be
Scheduled Castes under Article 341 of the Constitution.

The ABKM cautions the government that any effort to implement the
recommendations of the NCRLM, which are against the Constitution, is
fraught with serious consequences. It calls upon the government not to
succumb to the pressure tactics of the Church lobby in politics and
outside and to stand steadfast on the path carved out by the leaders
of the country in the last several decades by rejecting outright the
demand for inclusion of such converts into the Scheduled Castes
category.

The ABKM is of the considered opinion that the Church leadership is
indulging in this duplicitous contention with the conspiracy to
encourage mass conversions from the Scheduled Castes. It is clear that
the reservations, if extended to the converts, would be considerably
eaten up by the converts thus pushing the already backward Scheduled
Castes into further backwardness.

The ABKM appeals to the countrymen in general and the Scheduled Caste
brethren in particular to resist any move by the vote-hungry
politicians in that direction which is going to be detrimental to the
welfare of the Scheduled Castes. The ABKM calls upon all the
swayamsevaks to work shoulder-to-shoulder with our Scheduled Caste
brethren in their efforts to safeguard the interests of the
community.

Change in responsibilities

Sarkaryavah Shri Mohan Bhagwat announced the change in
responsibilities of the following adhikaris at the Akhil Bharatiya
Karyakari Mandal meeting:

Name - New responsibility - Kendra

1. Shri Manmohan Vaidya - Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh - Chennai

2. Shri Suhasrao Hiremath - Akhil Bharatiya Sahsewa Pramukh - Pune

3. Shri Prasad Jafarabadkar - Prant Pracharak, Pashchim Maharashtra -
Pune

4. Shri Vinay Ptrale - Sahprant Pracharak, Pashchim Maharashtra -
Pune

5. Shri Vijay Puranik - Sahprant Pracharak, - Devgiri Jalgaon

6. Shri Girish Joshi - Sahprant Pracharak, - Gujarat Rajkot

7. Dr Jayanti Bhadeshia - Sahprant Sanghachalak, - Gujarat Morvi

8. Shri Shankarlal - A.B. Sah Gorakshan-Samvardhan Pramukh - Seekar

9. Shri Suresh Chandra - Kshetra Pracharak, Rajasthan Kshetra -
Jaipur

10. Shri Kishorkant - Sahprant Pracharak, - Punjab, Ludhiana

11. Shri Kishori Mohan - ? - ?

12. Shri Suresh Prasad Singh - Kshetra Karyavah, - Bihar Kshetra -
Patna

Ramayana has been regarded as history which gives vivid description of
incidents like construction of the Sethu by Sri Ram; His march with
army over to Lanka; war with Ravan and victory over him; enthronement
of Vibheeshan; and later, His return to Ayodhya by Pushpak Viman and
also the geographical details. A pictorial depiction of Sri Ram?s
return to Ayodhya in Pushpak Viman can also be found in the original
copy of the Constitution.

The demand for the converts to be treated on par with the Scheduled
Castes is against the provisions of the Constitution since only
castes, races or tribes can be deemed to be Scheduled Castes under
Article 341 of the Constitution.

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April 22, 2007
The whole country is opposed to demolition of Ram Sethu, says K.S.
Sudarshan

The Central Government has various alternatives with regard to the
Sethu Samudaram Project and it should take every step to save the
historic bridge, which protects the country even from tsunami.

RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri K.S. Sudarshan alleged that the Ram Sethu was
being demolished so that the US establish its control in the Indian
Ocean.

He was addressing the concluding ceremony of a joint-meeting of
Himalaya Parivar, Bharat-Tibet Sahayog Manch, Nepali Sanskriti
Parishad, Sindhu Darshan Yatra Samiti, Ganga Mahasabha and Hindu-
Buddhist Coordination Committee in New Delhi on April 8.

More than 150 representatives from these organisations were present on
the occasion. Dr Ranvir Solanki, Principal, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar
College, presided over the meeting. Shri Sidharth Gautam of Himalaya
Parivar (Nepal), Dr Bhagwan Singh Mosal of Delhi University, vice
president of Bharat Tibet Sahayog Manch, Shri Yashu Phunsuk and former
chairman of National SC/ST Commission, Dr Vijay Sonkar Shastri, Dr
Kuldip Agnihotri and Shri Ashok Chaurasia were also present on the
occasion.

The Sarsanghachalak said the whole country was against the demolition
of Ram Sethu by the Central Government. The saints are planning
massive agitations against it. He said the Central Government has
various alternatives with regard to the Sethu Samudaram Project and it
should take every step to save the historic bridge, which protects the
country even from tsunami. He stressed the need to undertake a mass
awareness campaign across the country against the Sethusamudram
Project.

Convener of Himalaya Parivar and member of RSS Rashtriya Karyakarni,
Shri Indresh Kumar said India should demand liberation of Kailash
Mansarovar from China. He said China has illegally occupied 139,000
sq. miles of Indian land and efforts should be made to take it back.
He appealed to the organisations to enhance brotherhood and
samarastata among various castes, cultures and traditions of the
Himalayan region. Shri Indresh Kumar also expressed concern over the
efforts to demolish the centuries old Ram Sethu.

Shri Chidanand Muni of Parmarth Niketan, Haridwar, stressed the need
to launch a massive awareness campaign across the country for the
protection of Ram Sethu. He assured full cooperation in any activity
launched to protect the historic Sethu. The noted saint pointed out
that during the recent Kumbha in Prayag more than six lakh plastic
bags and bottles were used. He said now the Ganga water has also
become polluted due to the Tehri Dam.

The meeting adopted five resolutions. In the first resolution, it
appealed to the Government of India to pressurise China to speak to
the Dalai Lama and restore the Tibetans? fundamental rights. In the
second resolution, the meeting appealed to the Central and all the
state governments to enact stern anti-terror laws and implement them.
The resolution also strongly objected to any move to withdraw army
from Kashmir. In the third resolution, the meeting demanded ban on
deforestation and said that more trees should be planted in the
Himalayan region by the government, NGOs and people. The fourth
resolution demanded that, the pilgrimage to various Hindu and Buddhist
religious places situated in the Himalayan region should be promoted.
The fifth resolution, demanded peaceful and fair elections in Nepal to
strengthen democracy. The resoluton said that the Maoists should join
the government with full faith in democracy and the office of the
Dalai Lama should be re-opened in Kathmandu. (FOC)

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November 11, 2007
The Ram legend and the canal controversy
By His Holiness Swami Chidanand Saraswati

This year, the celebration of Diwali has a special significance. Each
year we line our homes, our rooms and our offices with brightly lit
diyas (lamps) symbolising the victory of good over evil and the return
of Bhagwan Ram to Ayodhya.

Each year, I encourage people to not only light the lamp on their
mandir or the lamp in their home, but to also light the lamp in their
own hearts. The diya we light on Deepavali should not merely be
outside. We must not only light the lamps of oil on our shelves but we
must also light the lamps of truth, piety, purity, divinity and peace
in our hearts and in our lives.

This year, with the controversy surrounding the Ram Sethu, the
significance of the lamps we light on Deepavali is even more crucial.

Issue of ?Truth? and ?Authenticity?

Many pointed questions have been raised by various groups regarding
the ?authenticity? of the bridge in terms of its connection to the
Ramayana, and some have even gone as far as to question the
authenticity of Bhagwan Ram Himself. Their point seems to be that if
Shri Ram?s existence is not provable, and if science cannot support
the fact that the bridge was built by His hands, then it is fine to
dismantle it. The very foundation of this reasoning is flawed and
shows a dire need for the light of understanding, truth and
compassion.

One of the basic principles of religion is its inherent improvability.
Atheists stake their claim that ?if you can?t prove God exists, He
doesn?t.? While they are certainly entitled to their viewpoint, they
are not entitled to destroy every religious symbol or place of worship
simply because the existence of God cannot be proved. Many historians
have ?proven? that Jesus existed, and an equal number have ?proven?
that he didn?t. Many have even ?proven? that he lived in India, a fact
which is clearly not accepted by the fundamental Christians. But the
scientific reliability of his having taken birth in Bethlehem is not
related to Bethlehem?s indisputable religious and cultural
significance. No one could dare suggest to turn the town of Bethlehem
into a military base due to its strategic and convenient position. The
Christians would never accept (nor should they) the desecration of the
birthplace of Christ.

Similarly, Mt. Sinai is worshipped as the place upon which God spoke
the 10 commandments to Moses as he led the Jews to the holy land. Did
it really happen? Can it be proved? Are Moses? footprints left in the
rocks as an indelible reminder of his presence? These questions are
irrelevant. What is relevant is that Mt. Sinai is taken to be a holy
place by the Jewish people. They worship it as the place where Moses
spoke to God. Is the same mountain which we call Mt. Sinai today the
same as the mountain upon which Moses heard God?s voice? I am unaware
of any archeological evidence proving this. Yet, proof is not
required. What is required is the ardent faith of an entire population
of believers. Would the Jewish community tolerate the levelling of Mt.
Sinai to build a conveniently located airstrip or freeway or railway
line?

Whether Ram Sethu is actually the bridge that Bhagwan Ram built with
the help of his army of Vanar sena is really not the question. It is,
in fact, a moot point. The Hindus say yes. The non-Hindus say no. No
amount of debate or scientific ?proof? on either side is going to sway
proponents of one view to the other side. What is important is that it
is believed to be a holy place by over a billion people. It is a
religious and cultural heritage site, worshipped by every Hindu as the
bridge built by Bhagwan Ram. Whether the archeological evidence can be
proven is irrelevant. The sentiments of over a billion people cannot
be ignored.

Furthermore, that archeological evidence is there, the fact that a
bridge actually exists to this day, and that it is a bridge eminent
scientists have said could not have occurred naturally is all the more
reason to err on the side of caution and on the side of respect.

The bridge clearly exists and has earned even a place in the
Encyclopedia Britannica. Naturally occurring reefs, sandbars, piles of
rocks do not warrant mention in Encyclopedias. The ocean is full of
them. They are the subject of biology and oceanography text books, but
not Encyclopedias. The fact that the bridge has found its place into
the Encyclopedia is yet another reason it should be left in tact. Even
if it is not the bridge crossed by Bhagwan Ram on the way to Lanka, it
indisputably is an ancient cultural and historical heritage site.

Progress or Preservation? Convenience or Compassion?

There are many places in the world where a ?direct? route?whether it
is through bodies of water, across mountains, or through holy sites?
would be much more convenient and cost effective. However, for reasons
of ecology, conservation, or religious and cultural sensitivity, we do
not plow through the area to create a direct route.

Imagine if, for some reason, the port authority of New York wanted
ships to come directly in the path of the Statue of Liberty. There is
no New Yorker or American who would agree to have the Statue of
Liberty dismantled just because it was convenient for the ships. It is
a matter of cultural sensitivity. And the Ram Sethu should receive
even more sensitivity because it cannot be reconstructed. Arguments
could be made that the Statue of Liberty could just be ?moved? or ?
rebuilt? as there is no significance to the exact plot of ocean She
occupies. But that is not the case with the Ram Sethu. Once it has
been dismantaled, it is a piece of our cultural and religious history
that has been irreplaceably destroyed.

Progress is good. Modernisation is good. Development is good.
Convenience and efficiency are good. But these are not unequivocally
good. They are not good at all costs. There must be a limit and there
must be priorities. Development at the cost of national and religious
heritage is not a step in the right direction. Convenience at the cost
of spiritual sanctity is not a decision India should support. Progress
which is detrimental to the environment and ecology is not real
progress. It is merely the temporary and fleeting fa?ade of progress.

There are also innumerable ecological reasons why the bridge should
remain in tact. These reasons range from tsunami prevention on the
Kerala coast, to the precious reefs lying beneath the ocean surface,
to the stores of minerals which will become fodder for international
competition. There is not space here to go into these reasons in
depth, but suffice it to say that, even from a strictly environmental
perspective, to destroy the bridge and open the area for sea traffic
is paving the way for environmental disaster.

Lighting the Real Lamps of Diwali
This Diwali let us light the true lamps.
Let us light the lamp of understanding

This lamp will shine the way forward that takes the sentiments of
Hindus into consideration. It will dispel the darkness of narrow-
mindedness. It will allow us to see the parallels between destruction
of Ram Sethu and the destruction of religious sites of other
religions. The lamp of understanding will show us how important it is?
for national integration and harmony?to curtail plans to destroy this
bridge.

Let us also light the lamp of truth

This lamp will show us the injustice inherent in this project to all
Hindus as well as to the fishermen and inhabitants of the coastal
region. This lamp will enable us to see that this project places the
gain of a few ahead of the loss of so many.

Let us also light the lamp of piety

This lamp will fill us with devotion?to whatever name and form of God
we worship. For, when one is truly pious and truly devoted one could
never conceive of desecrating the religious monuments of others.

Let us also light the lamp of compassion and mercy
This lamp will allow us to place greater importance on n
ot only the religious sentiments of the Hindus but on the concerns of
tens of thousands of fishermen whose livelihoods will be severely and
adversely affected by the opening of the canal for ships. This lamp of
compassion will enable us to see beyond the limits of our own
immediate goals of progress and financial gain to the distant goal of
harmony, peace and betterment for all.

Then, not only will our Deepavali be filled with joy and peace, but
our divine cultural and spiritual heritage will remain intact for
generations to come. If we can light these lamps on this Deepavali
day, we will lead the world in a much-needed direction of acceptance,
understanding and harmony. After all, that is the true meaning of any
holiday.

(The author is president and spiritual head of Parmarth Niketan
Ashram, Rishikesh and can be contacted at parm...@parmarth.com)

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November 11, 2007

Realise the immortal
Don?t dream the impossible
By B.R. Haran

Apart from Kamba Ramayana and Sangam Literature, we also have a lot of
evidences to prove the existence of Ram Sethu in Tamil literary works
like Thevaram, Divyaprabhadham, Thiruchendur Sthala Puranam,
Thirunaagaikarona Puranam, Koorma Puranam, Perundevanar Bharatham,
Ramodhatham, Kudanthai Anthathi, Kaalamega Pulavar Paadal,
Thirupullani Maalai, Vadamalai Venba, Siva Siva Venba, Theerthagiri
Puranam, Soodavahana Puranam, Sethu Puranam, Ramayana Venba,
Thiruvengada Thala Puranam, Thirupugazh, Meenakshi Ammai Pillai
Thamizh, Ashta Prabandham, Barathiyar songs and many other works.

The much-hyped Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project belongs to the non-
viable and non-implementable category. The controversial project has
been stayed by the Supreme Court and the matter is now sub judice. As
this project has come to a grinding halt and the Congress Party has
shown a sudden disinterest and change of mind, the ruling DMK-led
Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) in Tamil Nadu got annoyed by the
recent developments. This led to the DPA leaders including the Chief
Minister indulging in issuing malicious statements about Lord Ram.
They also questioned the historicity of Ramayana, truth of Ram Sethu
and insulted as well as ridiculed Lord Ram, hurting the religious
sentiments of millions of Hindus.

As the Rameshwaram Ram Sethu Protection Movement comprising scholars
and experts from various fields gained momentum, the DPA resorted to
give it a communal colour by saying that the realisation of 150 years
old dream of ?Tamils? is being thwarted by the ?Hindus?. It is a
disgrace to this great Hindu nation that the great Itihasa and the
Avatar Purush Lord Ram are criticised and questioned in the very land
of Sanatana Dharma.

In this backdrop, it becomes imperative for us to create an awareness
among the people about the historicity of Lord Ram and the fact that
they are being cheated and taken for a solid ride by the DPA in the
name of a non-viable and worthless project. It is also an opportunity
for us to teach the DPA and its cadres a lesson or two on Tamil Nadu?s
historical connection to Lord Ram and Ramayana.

Ram means, the one who remains happy and makes others also happy.
Peace and happiness result from the following of dharma as per the
Vedic scriptures. Lord Narayana took the human avatar of Ram in order
to show the world, how a person must lead a life. Lord Ram is a
perfect role model, well suited for the Vedic saying, Dharmo Rakshati
Rakshitaha meaning ?if we protect dharma, dharma will protect us?. The
Sanskrit phrase Ramo vigrahavaan dharma implies, Rama is a
personification of dharma.

The Tamil Nadu connection

After the abduction of Sitaji by Ravana, Ram and Lakshman came into
contact with Sugriva and Hanuman, while searching for her in the
forests. Later on after the elimination of Bali, Sugriva as per his
commitment helped Ram by sending his monkey army to all directions in
search of Sitaji. While sending a team of monkeys under the leadership
of Angad and Hanuman towards the south, he asked them to cover
Vindhya, Narmada, Godavari, Krishna, Avanthi, Vidarbha, Kalinga, Kasi,
Dandakaranya, Andhra, Pundram, Chozham (kingdom of Cholas), Pandiyam
(kingdom of Pandiyas) and Keralam (kingdom of Cheras), Kaveri, Sage
Agastya?s abode of Malayaparvatam (Pothigai Hills) to reach
Thamaraparani (Thirunelveli) and finally the southern end of the ocean
(Bay of Bengal).

Later on, during his travel inside the territory of Chozhapandiyam
(kingdom of Chola & Pandiya) Ram and Lakshaman worshipped Lord Shiva
at Vaitheeswaran Kovil near Mayiladuthurai. Angaraka (Mars) and Jatayu
(bird) were also believed to have worshipped Lord Shiva there. Hence,
this temple is also known as Pullirukkuvelur (pull-bird; Irukku-veda;
Vel-Angaraka.). We also have a literary work named Pullirukkuvelur
Puranam talking extensively about this fact.

In Vellore district, on the way to Kaveripakkam, near a small town
called Balu Chetti Chathram, a village called Thirupullkuzhi is
situated, where a Perumal Temple is located. Lord Ram while passing
this place had performed the customary rituals for the moksha of
Jatayu. Even now on the day of Amavasya, thousands of devotees
congregate here to perform tarpana for their ancestors.

Ramayana has been performed through dance-dramas, folk songs, and
upanyasams since time immemorial in Tamil Nadu. Ramayana has been a
part and parcel of the lives and times of the people of Tamil Nadu
like any other place in the country. Hence, it is the right time for
those in Tamil Nadu to realise the immortality of Lord Ram and
impossibility of SSCP.

With inputs from:-
1. Deivathin Kural (Voice of Divinity)?A compilation of the Teachings
& Preachings of Kanchi Paramacharya by Sri R. Ganapathy.
2. Valmiki Ramayana by Srimad Annangaracharya Swamigal, Kanchi.
3. Sri Sundara Kanda by Sr. V. Panchapagesa Iyer, Tanjore.

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=209&page=18

chhotemianinshallah

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Feb 19, 2010, 2:02:05 PM2/19/10

Adam's Bridge

This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject.
WikiProject Geology or the Geology Portal may be able to help recruit
one. (May 2008)

Coordinates: 9°07′16″N 79°31′18″E / 9.1210°N 79.5217°E / 9.1210;
79.5217

Adam's bridge as seen from the airAdam's Bridge (Tamil: ஆதாம் பாலம்
āthām pālam), also known as Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu (Tamil: இராமர்
பாலம் Rāmar pālam, Sanskrit: रामसेतु, Malayalam: രാമസേതു, rāmasetu),
[1] is a chain of limestone shoals, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limestone

between the islands of Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of Tamil
Nadu, India, and Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka. Geological
evidence indicates that this bridge is a former land connection
between India and Sri Lanka.[2]

The bridge is 30 miles (48 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar
(southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks
are dry and the sea in the area is very shallow, being only 3 ft to 30
ft (1 m to 10 m) deep in places, which hinders navigation.[2][3][4] It
was reportedly passable on foot up to the 15th century until storms
deepened the channel: temple records seem to say that Rama’s Bridge
was complete above sea level until it broke in a cyclone in 1480 AD.
[citation needed]

Name

The 13th century Venetian traveller Marco Polo's travel map shows that
he travelled around the Adam's bridge area. His travel book calls this
area Setabund-Rameswara[1] which means bridge constructed at
Rameswaram.
A 19th century painting depicting a scene from Ramayana, wherein
Monkeys and Bears are shown building a bridge to LankaThe bridge was
first mentioned in the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana of Valmiki. The
western world first encounters it in "historical works in the 9th
century" by Ibn Khordadbeh in his Book of Roads and Kingdoms (ca. 850
AD), referring to it is Set Bandhai or "Bridge of the Sea".[5] Later,
Alberuni described it.

The name Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu (Sanskrit; setu: bridge) was given
to this bridge of shoals in Rameshwaram, as Hindu legend identifies it
with the bridge built by the Vanara (monkey-men) army of Rama , which
he used to reach Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from the Rakshasa
king, Ravana, as stated in the Sanskrit epic Ramayana.[6]

The sea separating India and Sri Lanka is called Sethusamudram "Sea of
the Bridge". Maps prepared by a Dutch cartographer in 1747, available
at the Tanjore Saraswathi Mahal Library show this area as Ramancoil, a
colloquial form of the Tamil Raman Kovil (Rama's Temple)[7] Another
map of Mogul India prepared by J. Rennel in 1788 retrieved from the
same library called this area the area of the Rama Temple [8] Many
other maps in Schwartzberg's historical atlas[9][10] and other sources
call this area with various names like Koti, Sethubandha and
Sethubandha Rameswaram along with others.[11][12][13][14] Valmiki's
Ramayana attributes the building of the bridge to Lord Rama in verse
2-22-76.[15]

The earliest map that calls this area Adam's bridge was prepared by a
British cartographer in 1804, probably referring to an Islamic legend,
according to which Adam used the bridge to reach Adam's Peak in Sri
Lanka, where he stood repentant on one foot for 1,000 years, leaving a
large hollow mark resembling a footprint. Both the peak and the bridge
are named after this legend.[2][6][16]

Location

Map of Adam's Bridge and environsAdam's Bridge starts as chain of
shoals from the Dhanuskodi tip of India's Rameswaram Island and ends
at Sri Lanka's Mannar Island. Rameswaram Island is connected to the
Indian mainland by 3 km long Pamban Bridge. Adam's bridge and
neighbouring areas like Rameswaram Dhanushkodi, Devipattinam and
Thirupullani are mentioned in the context of various legends in
Ramayana. [2] [3] [4].

Transportation and navigation

Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu, India) is an island port about 2 km from
mainland India. The Pamban Bridge links Rameswaram island with
mainland India. It refers to both: a road bridge and a cantilever
railway bridge. Small boats would go below the 2065m long road bridge
and the railway bridge would open up.

Pamban Bridge

Rail Bridge from India Mainland to Rameshwaram

Pearl fishing in the Gulf of Mannar, c.a. 1926

The Pamban railway bridge, which connects the Pamban island with the
Indian mainland was constructed in 1914The problem in navigation
exists because big ships can't travel in shallow waters. Dredging in
this channel would cost greater than dredging a channel in the Adam's
bridge area, where the waters are comparitively deep and lesser earth
would have to be dredged. Hence, in 2001, the Government of India
approved a multi-million dollar Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project
that aims to create a ship channel across the Palk Strait cutting
across the Adam's bridge. Various organizations have opposed the
project based on religious, economic and environmental grounds and
have sought the implementation of one of the alternative alignments
considered during the earlier stages of the discussion.

A ferry service links Rameswaram in India with Talaimannar in Sri
Lanka. The service was part of the Indo-Lanka Railway service during
the British Rule. One could buy a railway ticket from Chennai to
Colombo, whereby you travel by rail from Chennai to Rameswaram island,
go by ferry to Talaimannar, and then go again by rail to Colombo. The
ferry service has been suspended for some time because of the fighting
between Sri Lankan government forces and the separatist LTTE.

Geological evolution and age

Landsat 5 image of Adam's BridgeStudies have variously described the
structure as a chain of shoals, coral reefs, a ridge formed in the
region owing to thinning of the earth's crust, a double tombolo,[17] a
sand spit, or barrier islands. It has been reported that this bridge
was formerly the world's largest tombolo before it was split into a
chain of shoals by the rise in mean sea level few thousand years ago.
[18] The geological process that gave rise to this structure has also
been attributed to crustal downwarping, block faulting, and mantle
plume activity by one study[19] while another theory attributes it to
continuous sand deposition and the natural process of sedimentation
leading to the formation of a chain of barrier islands related to
rising sea levels.[20] Yet another theory affirms that the origin and
linearity of the Adam's bridge may be due to the old shoreline –
implying that the two landmasses of India and Sri Lanka were once
connected – from where coral reefs evolved. Marine and Water Resources
Group of Space Application Centre, ISRO based on satellite remote
sensing data, without actual field verification concluded that Adam's
Bridge comprises 103 small patch reefs lying in a linear pattern with
reef crest (flattened, emergent – especially during low tides – or
nearly emergent segment of a reef), sand cays (accumulations of loose
coral sands and beach rock) and intermittent deep channels. The coral
reefs are designated by the different studies variously as ribbon and
atoll reefs.

The origin of the structure has been explained as being due to
longshore drifting currents which moved in an anticlockwise direction
in the north and clockwise direction in the south of Rameswaram and
Talaimannar. The sand was supposedly dumped in a linear pattern along
the current shadow zone between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar with later
accumulation of corals over these linear sand bodies. In a
diametrically opposing view, another group of geologists propose
crustal thinning theory, block faulting and a ridge formed in the
region owing to thinning and asserts that development of this ridge
augmented the coral growth in the region and in turn coral cover acted
as a `sand trapper'. The tombolo model on the other hand affirms a
constant sediment source and a strong unidirectional or bi-directional
(monsoonal) longshore current.[citation needed] One study tentatively
concludes that there is insufficient evidence to indicate eustatic
emergence and that the raised reef in south India probably results
from a local uplift.[21]

Some geologists have stated that this structure is a natural one
whereas others believe that this structure is man-made. The Madras
High Court has said that this bridge is man-made,[22] while the
Government of India in an affidavit in the Supreme Court of India,
said that there is no historical proof of the bridge being built by
Ram, to bolster their plan to implement the Sethusamudram Shipping
Canal Project.[23]

According to V. Ram Mohan of the Centre of Natural Hazards and
Disaster Studies of the University of Madras "reconstruction of the
geological evolution of the island chain is a challenging task and has
to be carried out based on circumstantial evidence".[20] The lack of
original evidence explains many of the uncertainties regarding the
nature and of Adam's Bridge, which consists of a series of parallel
ledges of sandstone and conglomeration that is hard at the surface and
grows coarse and soft as it descends to sandy banks. Considerable
diversity of opinion and confusion exists about the nature and origin
of this structure. In the 19th century, there were two prevalent
theories explaining the structure. One considered it to be formed by a
process of accretion and rising of the land, while the other surmised
that it was formed by the breaking away of Sri Lanka from the Indian
mainland.[24] The friable calcerous ridges are broken into large
rectangular blocks, which perhaps gave rise to the belief that the
causeway is an artificial construction.[25]

The scientific age determination of the structure is also mired in
confusion. A team from the Centre for Remote Sensing (CRS) of
Bharathidasan University, Tiruchi, led by Professor S.M. Ramasamy
dates the structure to 3,500 years.[26] They also claim that the
carbon dating of some ancient beaches between Thiruthuraipoondi and
Kodiyakarai show the Thiruthuraipoondi beach dates back to 6,000 years
and Kodiyakarai around 1,100 years ago. Another study suggests that
the appearance of the reefs and other evidence indicate their recency,
and a coral sample gives a radiocarbon age of 4020±160 years B. P.[21]
The GSI carried out a special programme called “Project Rameswaram”
that concluded that age data of corals indicate that the Rameswaram
island has evolved since 125,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating
suggests that the domain between Rameswaram and Talaimannar may have
thus been exposed sometime between 18,000 and 7,000 years ago.[20]
Other studies also conclude that during periods of lowered sea level
over the last 100,000 years, Adam's Bridge has provided an
intermittent land connection between India and Sri Lanka, which
according to famous ornithologists Sidney Dillon Ripley and Bruce
Beehler supports the vicariance model for speciation in some birds of
the Indian Subcontinent.[27] Thermoluminescence dating by GSI however
concludes that the sand dunes of Dhanushkodi to Adam's bridge started
forming only about 500–600 years ago.[20]

Tsunami expert Professor Tad S Murty has stated that Adam's bridge
might have acted as a protection wall during the Indian Ocean Tsunami
event in 2004, because of its elevation, and prevented damage to South
Kerala. He states however that this view is not based on his own
original research, nor is he aware of any such studies being carried
out by anyone.[28]

Early surveys and dredging efforts

Owing to shallow waters, Adam's bridge presents a formidable hindrance
to navigation through the Palk strait. Though trade across the India-
Sri Lanka divide has been active since at least the first millennium
BC, it has been limited to small boats and dinghies. Larger ocean-
going vessels from the West have had to navigate around Sri Lanka to
reach India's eastern coast.[29] Eminent British geographer Major
James Rennell, who surveyed the region as a young officer in the late
eighteenth century, suggested that a "navigable passage could be
maintained by dredging the strait of Ramisseram [sic]". However little
notice was given to his proposal, perhaps because it came from "so
young and unknown an officer", and the idea was only revived 60 years
later.[30]

In 1823, Sir Arthur Cotton (then an Ensign), was trusted with the
responsibility of surveying the Pamban channel, which separates the
Indian mainland from the island of Rameswaram and forms the first link
of Ram Setu. Geological evidence indicates that this was at one point
bridged by a land connection, and some temple records suggest that the
connection was broken by violent storms in 1480. Cotton suggested that
the channel be dredged to enable passage of ships, but nothing was
done till 1828, when some rocks were blasted and removed under the
direction of Major Sim.[31][32]

A more detailed marine survey of Ram Setu was undertaken in 1837 by
Lieutenants F. T. Powell, Ethersey, Grieve and Christopher along with
draughtsman Felix Jones, and operations to dredge the channel were
recommenced the next year.[31][33] However these, and subsequent
efforts in the 19th century, did not succeed in keeping the passage
navigable for any vessels except those with a light draft.[2]

Sethusamudram shipping canal project

Main article: Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project

Opposition parties are demanding implementation of the Sethusamudram
canal project using one of the 5 alternative alignments considered by
Government earlier without damaging Ramsetu's structure. The
Sethusamudram project committee in 1956 also strongly recommended to
the Union government to use land passages instead of cutting Adam's
bridge because of the several advantages of land passage.[34]The
government of India constituted nine committees before independence,
and five committees since then to suggest alignments for a
Sethusamudram canal project. Most of them suggested land-based
passages across Rameswaram island and none suggested alignment across
Adam's bridge.[35]

In 2001, the Government of India approved a multi-million dollar
Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project that aims to create a ship
channel across the Palk Strait by dredging the shallow ocean floor
near Dhanushkodi. The channel is expected to cut over 400 km (nearly
30 hours of shipping time) off the voyage around the island of Sri
Lanka. This proposed channel's current alignment requires dredging
through Rama's Bridge.

Political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), All
India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal
(RJD), Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) and some Hindu organizations
oppose dredging through the shoal on religious grounds — Rama's Bridge
being popularly identified as the causeway described in the Ramayana —
and suggest using an alternate alignment for the channel that avoids
damage to Adam's Bridge.[36][37] The state and central government have
opposed such changes, with Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu, who
belongs to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and a strong supporter of the
project, saying the current proposal was well scrutinised for economic
viability and environmental sustainability and that there were no
other environmentally feasible alternatives.[38][39][40]

Opposition to dredging through this causeway also stems from concerns
over its impact on the area's ecology and marine wealth, potential
loss of thorium deposits in the area, and increased risk of damage due
to tsunamis.[41]. Some organizations are completely opposing this
project on economical and environmental grounds and claim proper
scientific studies were not conducted before undertaking this project.
[42]

Controversies

NASA satellite photo of Rama's Bridge—oblique, Sri Lanka to the
leftCertain historical inscriptions, old travel guides, old dictionary
references and some old maps have reinforced the religious and
geographical belief of this structure being the ancient bridge that is
considered with great regard by the Hindus in the Indian Subcontinent.
[43][44] This conjecture must be tempered with the fact that there are
no geographical pointers to the structure being Rama's Bridge in any
of the ancient texts or Puranas. Vaishnava News Network and some other
U.S.-based news services suggested that they had discovered the
remains of the bridge built by Rama and his Vanara army that is
referred to in the Ramayana, and that it was not a natural formation,
basing their claim on 2002 NASA satellite footage.[45] NASA distanced
itself from the claims saying that what had been captured was nothing
more than a 30-km-long, naturally occurring chain of sandbanks.[46] It
also clarified that, "The images reproduced on the websites may well
be ours, but their interpretation is certainly not ours. [...] Remote
sensing images or photographs from orbit cannot provide direct
information about the origin or age of a chain of islands, and
certainly cannot determine whether humans were involved in producing
any of the patterns seen."[46]

A team from the Centre for Remote Sensing (CRS) of Bharathidasan
University, Tiruchi led by Professor S.M. Ramasamy in 2003 claimed
that, "Rama's bridge could only be 3,500 years old" and, "as the
carbon dating of the beaches roughly matches the dates of Ramayana,
its link to the epic needs to be explored".[47] However, one needs to
note that the surveys which have come out with the 3500-year age for
the bridge are based on the studies conducted on corals grown on the
bridge itself and it has been argued that this represents only the age
of what was measured, which is the corals. The bridge underneath the
corals has been dated back to hundreds of thousands of years earlier.
A former director of the Geological Survey of India, S.
Badrinarayanan, claims that such a natural formation would be
impossible. He justifies the same by the presence of a loose sand
layer under corals for the entire stretch. Corals normally form above
rocks.[48][49] He feels that thorough analysis was not conducted by
the Geological Survey of India before undertaking the SSCP project. In
connection with the canal project, the Madras High Court in its
verdict stated that the Rama Sethu is a man-made structure.
[50].Geological and archaeological findings of Teri formations, a rich
assemblage of Mesolithic-Microlithic tools and human fossils found on
both sides of the bridge by the Department of Earth-Science in March
2007 are also quoted as evidence for manmade structure.[51][52][53]
[54]

In Hinduism it is said that the bridge was created by Lord Hanuman
along with his friends and Lord Rama and Lakshman to reach Lanka in
order to find Rama's wife [Sita] who was kidnapped by the evil Ravana,
thus, most Hindu's and Indians claim Adams Bridge to be called Ram
Setu (Rama's Bridge) and that it was made by man. A government
publication from National Remote Sensing Agency, which was recently
tabled in the Indian Parliament, says that the structure "may be man-
made".[55][56] The Congress Government, in 2006, stated that Rama
himself destroyed the bridge that he had built.[57]

chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 2:20:20 PM2/19/10

NASA Images Find 1,750,000
Year Old Man-Made Bridge
The Hindustan Times
10-10-2

WASHINGTON (PTI) -- The NASA Shuttle has imaged a mysterious ancient
bridge between India and Sri Lanka, as mentioned in the Ramayana.

The evidence, say experts matter-of-factly, is in the Digital Image
Collection.

The recently discovered bridge, currently named as Adam's Bridge and
made of a chain of shoals, 30 km long, in the Palk Straits between
India and Sri Lanka, reveals a mystery behind it.

The bridge's unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it
is man-made. Legend as well as Archeological studies reveal that the
first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the
primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge's age is also
almost equivalent.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_81164,0003.htm
Courtesy NASA Digital Image Collection

Space images taken by NASA reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the
Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. The recently discovered
bridge currently named as Adam&laqno;s Bridge is made of chain of
shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long.

The bridge&laqno;s unique curvature and composition by age reveals
that it is man made. The legends as well as Archeological studies
reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date
back to the a primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago and the
bridge&laqno;s age is also almost equivalent.

This information is a crucial aspect for an insight into the
mysterious legend called Ramayana, which was supposed to have taken
place in tredha yuga (more than 1,700,000 years ago).

In this epic, there is a mentioning about a bridge, which was built
between Rameshwaram (India) and Srilankan coast under the supervision
of a dynamic and invincible figure called Rama who is supposed to be
the incarnation of the supreme.

This information may not be of much importance to the archeologists
who are interested in exploring the origins of man, but it is sure to
open the spiritual gates of the people of the world to have come to
know an ancient history linked to the Indian mythology.

Comment

From Hugh Joseph
10-12-2

Hi Jeff...

I read the story headlined above with great interest. This is a story
of major significance, as understanding its implications will turn the
entire world of Science and History on its head. This bridge,
according to accounts in the Ramayana and the Srimad-Bhagavatam, was
constructed in the age know as Treta, over 2 million years ago.

How did the writers without super space-ranging satellites know about
the existence of this bridge? In these ancient accounts, written over
5,000 years ago, we find discussions of, among other things, space
travel, inter planetary travel, what we call UFOs and what we
mistakenly call ETs. This is not only the History of the planet Earth,
but also of this Universe, (a mediocre universe among many millions of
universes.)

Here one can also learn the real undisguised and uncontaminated truth
about God. Our man-made religions are of little or no value when
compared to the stunning and breathtaking revelations found in the
pages of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Ramayan, Bhagavad-gita, etc.

I hope you will publish this comment for the benefit of your readers.
Thank you for the great work you are doing.

Hugh Joseph

For your readers, here is the way the "Srimad Bhagavatam" describes
the event:

Text 22
nara-devatvam apannah
sura-karya-cikirsaya
samudra-nigrahadini
cakre viryany atah param

Translation:

"In the eighteenth incarnation (of Lord Krishna), the Lord appeared as
King Rama. In order to perform some pleasing work for the demigods, He
exhibited superhuman powers by controlling the Indian Ocean and then
killing the atheist King Ravana, who was on the other side of the
sea".

Purport
(by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

The Personality of Godhead Sri Rama assumed the form of a human being
and appeared on the earth for the purpose of doing some pleasing work
for the demigods, or the administrative personalities, to maintain the
order of the universe. Sometimes great demons and atheists like Ravana
and Hiranyakasipu and many others become very famous due to advancing
material civilization by the help of material science and other
activities, with a spirit of challenging the established order of the
Lord. For example, the attempt to fly to other planets by material
means is a challenge to the established order. The conditions of each
and every planet are different, and different classes of human beings
are accommodated there for particular purposes mentioned in the codes
of the Lord. But, puffed up by tiny success in material advancement,
sometimes the godless materialists challenge the existence of God.
Ravana was one of them, and he wanted to deport ordinary men to the
planet of Indra (heaven) by material means without consideration of
the necessary qualifications. He wanted a staircase to be built up
directly reaching the heavenly planet so that people might not be
required to undergo the routine of pious work necessary to enter that
planet. He also wanted to perform other acts against the established
rule of the Lord. He even challenged the authority of Sri Rama, the
Personality of Godhead, and kidnapped His wife, Sita. Of course Lord
Rama came to chastise this atheist, answering the prayer and desire of
the demigods. He therefore took up the challenge of Ravana, and the
complete activity is the subject matter of the "Ramayana". Because
Lord Ramachandra was the Personality of Godhead, He exhibited
superhuman activities which no human being, including the materially
advanced Ravana, could perform. Lord Ramacandra prepared a royal road
on the Indian Ocean with stones that floated on the water. The modern
scientists have done research in the area of weightlessness, but it is
not possible to bring in weightlessness anywhere and everywhere. But
because weightlessness is the creation of the Lord by which He can
make the gigantic planets fly and float in the air, He made the stones
even within this earth to be weightless and prepared a stone bridge on
the sea without any supporting pillar. That is the display of the
power of God.

(Srimad-Bhagavatam First Canto, Chapter 3, text 24, 1972)

Here's the account from the "Ramayana" of Sage Valmiki:

"At Rama's command, those lions among the monkeys entered the mighty
forest with alacrity in hundreds and thousands on every side and those
leaders on the simian tribes, tearing up the rocks, which in size they
resembled, and the trees also dragged them to the sea and they covered
the ocean with Sala, Ashvararna, (list of tree names).Those foremost
monkeys transported those trees, with or without roots, bearing them
like so many standards of Indra (the king of heaven) and they heaped
(list of tree names) here and there. With the aid of mechanical
devices, those powerful colossi dug up stones as big as elephants and
rocks, and the water suddenly spouted into the air only to fall
instantly. Thereafter those monkeys churned up the sea by rushing into
it on all sides pulling on the chains.

"That immense causeway constructed by Nala in the bosom of the sea was
built by the arms of those monkeys of formidable exploits and it
extended over a hundred leagues.

"Some brought trunks of trees and others set them up; it was by
hundreds and thousands that those monkeys, like unto giants, made use
of reeds, logs and blossoming trees to construct that bridge, rushing
hither and thither with blocks of stone resembling mountains or the
peaks of crags, which, flung into the sea, fell with a resounding
crash.

"The first day those monkeys resembling elephants, or immense energy,
full of high spirits and exceedingly merry, erected fourteen leagues
of masonry. The second day, those highly active monkeys of formidable
stature set up twenty leagues. Bestirring themselves, those giants
threw twenty-one leagues of structure over the ocean on the third day
and on the fourth, working feverishly, they built up twenty-two
leagues in extent. The fifth day, those monkeys, industrious workers,
reached to twenty-three leagues distance from the further shore.

"That fortunate and valiant son of Vishvakarma (architect of the
demigods), leader of the monkeys, constructed a causeway worthy of his
sire over the ocean and that bridge erected by Nala over the sea, the
haunt of whales, dazzling in its perfection and splendor, was like the
constellation of Svati in space.

"Then the gods, Gandharvas, Siddhas (living beings superior to humans)
and supreme Rishis (great sages) assembled in the sky, eager to see
that masterpiece, and the gods and Gandharvas gazed on that causeway,
so difficult of construction, that was ten leagues in width and a
hundred in length built by Nala.

"Those monkeys thereafter dived, swam and shouted at the sight of that
unimaginable marvel that was almost inconceivable and caused one to
tremble! And all beings beheld that causeway thrown over the ocean and
by hundreds and thousands of kotis (millions), those monkeys, full of
valor, having built that bridge over the immense repository of waters,
reached the opposite shore.

"Vast, well-constructed, magnificent with its wonderful paved floor,
solidly cemented, that great causeway like unto a line traced on the
waves, resembled the parting of a woman's hair.

"Meanwhile Bibishana (brother of Ravana who joined Rama), mace (club)
in hand, held himself ready at his post with his companions in case of
an enemy attack. Thereafter Sugriva addressed Rama, who was valiant by
nature, saying "Mount on the shoulders of Hanuman and Laxmana (brother
of Rama) on those of Angada. O Hero, vast is this ocean, the abode of
whales; those two monkeys who freely range the sky will transport you
both."

"Then the fortunate Rama and Laxmana advanced thus and that
magnanimous archer was accompanied by Surgriva. Some monkeys strode
forward in the center, some threw themselves into the waves, some
sprang into the sky, others marched on the bridge, some ranged through
space like birds, and the terrific tumult of the trampling of that
formidable army of monkeys drowned the roar of the ocean.

"When those simian troops had passed over the sea by the grace of
Nala's causeway, the king ordered them to camp on the shore which
abounded in roots, fruits and water.

At the sight of that masterpiece that had materialized under the
command of Raghava (another name of Lord Rama), despite the
difficulties, the gods, who had drawn near with the Siddhas and
Charanas as also the great Rishis, anointed Rama in secret there, with
water form the sea, and said: "Mayest thou be victorious over thy
foes, O Thou, who are a God among men! Do Thou rule over the earth and
the sea eternally!"

Thus in various auspicious words, did they acclaim Rama in the midst
of the homage offered to him by the Brahmins."

(The Ramayana of Valmiki, Yuddha Kanda)

Note: Lord Krsna's incarnation Rama, appeared as a human being because
only a human being could kill Ravana, due to certain benedictions that
he had been given.

Note: The monkeys mentioned here as comprising Rama's army, were not
ordinary monkeys. They were in fact greatly powerful demigods who
appeared on this earth to assist the Lord in his pastime of subduing
this atheistic demon, Ravana.

Note: There are 4 ages, or yugas, rotating through time like the 4
seasons: Satya, 1,800,000 yeas long; Dvarapa, 1,200,000 years long,
Treta, 800,000 years long and Kali, 432,000 years long. In this most
recent yuga cycle, the Dvarapara and Treta yugas were reversed. This
event took place about 2 million years ago.

Comments welcome
hughj...@aol.com

http://www.rense.com/general30/nasa.htm

NASA Images Discover Ancient Bridge (Adam's Bridge) between India and
Sri Lanka

(Courtesy : NASA Digital Image Collection)

Space images taken by NASA reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the
Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. The recently discovered
bridge currently named as Adam´s Bridge is made of chain of shoals, c.
18 mi (30 km) long.

The bridge´s unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it
is man made. The legends as well as Archeological studies reveal that
the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the a
primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge´s age is also
almost equivalent.

This information is a crucial aspect for an insight into the
mysterious legend called Ramayana, which was supposed to have taken
place in tredha yuga (more than 1,700,000 years ago).

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lkawgw/adamsbridge.html

NASA Images Discover Ancient Bridge between India and Sri Lanka
December 30, 2008 by admin
Filed under India

68 Comments

Space images taken by NASA reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the
Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. The recently discovered
bridge currently named as Adam’s Bridge is made of chain of shoals, c.
18 mi (30 km) long.

The bridge’s unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it
is man made. The legends as well as Archeological studies reveal that
the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the a
primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge’s age is also
almost equivalent.

This information is a crucial aspect for an insight into the
mysterious legend called Ramayana, which was supposed to have taken
place in treta yuga (more than 1,700,000 years ago).

[Courtesy: NASA Digital Image Collection] [Homepage: http://www.nasa.gov/]

Two more sources:
Sri Lanka History

The first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the
Stone Age, about 1.750.000 million years ago. These people are said to
have come from the South of India and reached the Island through a
land bridge connecting the Indian subcontinent to Sri Lanka named
Adam’s Bridge. This is related so in the epic Hindu book of
Ramayana.

Adam’s Bridge

Rama’s Bridge, chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long, in the Palk
Strait between India and Sri Lanka. At high tide it is covered by c. 4
ft (1.2 m) of water. A steamer ferry links Rameswaram, India, with
Mannar, Sri Lanka. According to Hindu legend, the bridge was built to
transport Rama, hero of the Ramayana, to the island to rescue his wife
Sita from the demon king Ravana.

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Comments
68 Responses to “NASA Images Discover Ancient Bridge between India and
Sri Lanka”

Kareena says:
January 29, 2009 at 9:12 am
These photos are really so great ,I don’t have exact words to describe
these extrordinary photos,its really a proudness for us to have seen
these marvellous views created in those days when Sri Ramchandraji has
stepped on this earth.

udaya says:
February 3, 2009 at 6:12 pm
for all we know it could be science fiction too. like the mention of
the atom, or the anu in tamil by thiruvalluvar. the author of the
ramayana must have heard the legends of the place which must have
included mention of a bridge linking lanka and india, perhaps there
was a real bridge earlier which sunk when the sea rose, but the legend
stayed on. the author could have used this story to provide a setting
for his story. it happens all the time, authors being far ahead of
their times, where logically it is possible.

I would have been convinced had valmiki wrote that there would be a
material that is semiconducting and used in electronics, but such
things cannot be guessed, while a laser or an aeroplane can be guessed
by even a child.

The primary theme of the day was that of spirit, and it is perhaps
proper that a legend arose around the spiritual realm.

one should understand that by then india was a agrarian economy,
settled into ints ways with liesure for its people, a lot of people
did have the food and facility to go into spirituality research and by
all accounts they did

just because the bridge is mentioned does not improve the ramayana
which is itself a good epic….

and probably nothing more

Govindarajan says:
February 28, 2009 at 5:57 am
This is of course, based on your own assumption that the Ramayana is a
myth. However, I seriously do not consider that viewpoint. Valmiki
clearly states that whatever he has recorded is history, and not an
allegory.

Why should we believe that? Because, by analysing the text, one can
glean many philosophical truths of an extremely high order. For
instance,

- Sita in Lanka represents the Jivatma in Samsara.

- The Rakshasis who tortured Her represent the dangers of Samsara.

- Ravana represents the material body that the samsaric Jiva is
associated with (the 10 heads refer to te indriyas). One should yearn
for release from this body.

- Hanuman represents the acharya sent by the Lord to free us from
samsara.

- The ring that Sita gave to Hanuman represents the guru parampara
that a jivatma should follow. For instance, in Ramanuja parampara, we
follow Sri Manavala Mahamuni, whose acharya is Pillai Lokacharya, who
in turn is a sishya of Vadakku Thiruveedhi Pillai, and so on….this
parampara ultimately leads to the ‘mula’ acharya Sri Ramanuja.
Similarly, Hanuman is the first acharya whom the guru parampara leads
us to.

- Sri Rama is the Lord who then liberates us by destroying our body,
just as He destroyed Ravana to save Sita.

Many more truths exist in this text. Now, people may be inclined to
take all this as allegory and not history. But by reading all this,
one comes to the conclusion that Valmiki was a jnani. And he claims
that this is history. By logic, one accepts that a jnani does not lie.

So, in my humble opinion, the Ramayana is a historical account of Lord
Rama’s descent, where He demonstrated the philosophical truths of the
Veda, using the killing of Ravana as an excuse. One cannot
‘appreciate’ the epic and call it ‘good’ without accepting the words
of a jnani, that it is a historical work.

Dasan,

Govindarajan.

Mukesh says:
February 28, 2009 at 9:22 am
True UDAY
SOCH PAR KISI KA NIYANTRAN NAHI..

J. ANIL KUMAR GUPTA says:
February 12, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Its great to see the pictures released by NASA. I am thankful to them
its a best example who did not beleive god. In world so many
scientists are there prove them what is it really ? We are discovered
many things what about this ?
I really saw this place when i am in ayaapa swamy diksha at that time
i saw that RAMA STONES that GREAT to watch there weight is like
ordinary stone but when it is leaving in to water it is floating. It
is really mindblowing to see that types of incidents in my life.

J. ANIL KUMAR GUPTA says:
March 4, 2009 at 1:13 pm
BE PROUD TO BE INDIAN that it has been proved God stays a long peroid
in this place……………………………..

Arun visvanath says:
November 8, 2009 at 5:57 pm
yes proud to be an indian

Beth T. says:
March 12, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Hi Anil!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are stones that float, they are volcanic, called ‘pumice’…I
don’t know if they will float until they absorb water, or not. Yes,
they are heavy like a boat is heavy, and some are light in weight,
because of differences in density. We know that a boat floats because
it displaces water, unless it takes on water and then it usually stops
floating. Hopefully near shore if people are on…

Deepak Rana says:
August 15, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Yes Beth I agreed with you but you did not checked. that time it was
many yers ago. no one can understood what is density nor which
material will float in water.so we have to accpet this truth.

Jason says:
August 14, 2009 at 1:17 am
This is yet another example of Hindus trying to prove scientifically
that their foolish religion is legitimate. But what is really
happening is that the primitive, uneducated Indian people cannot
understand how science works so they assume everything is the result
of their gods and magic and demons.

Please, use your head. Think. A BOAT is far heavier than many rocks,
yet it FLOATS! WOW! MAGIC! WEIGHT is not what causes a rock to sink.
Volcanic rocks have AIR POCKETS. Holding air makes them buoyant. That
makes them float. I can do the same thing with the rocks in my garden
because they are volcanic.

Have you ever put a coconut in the water? They must be magical and
created by hindu gods because they float as well. So does wood. A
giant tree that weighs more than a house will also float, being much
heavier than most rocks.

I beg you to please get an education and learn how to think logically.

Jaman says:
September 27, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Science, religion and miracles were intertwined in ancient india.
Teachers and scholars called it science while others called it
miracles. Its the same all over the world. Just because something or
someone was called divine did not mean there was no science behind it
\them. But it did mean that they were familiar with the scientific
properties (maybe not principles behind them) and were able to
leverage them. Ancient Indians (and folks generally all over the
world) were able to do things which currently could not explained by
many folks. The non-rusting iron is a good example which was a mystery
for a long time (and has existed for ever) and was explained by
scientists this decade. I am not a big believer in miracles but do
believe that people had different technology 100s of years back and in
some cases it could have been more advanced than the crap we get out
today.

Saurabh says:
September 28, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Who the Hell do you think you are Jason to call Hindu religion as
“Foolish Religion”. Your words and language suggest that you are
highly influenced by the recently developed western civilization,
which 1000 years ago use to be a backward culture. No individual in
this world is great enough and big enough to address any religion with
these derogative words. Just to let you know dude when people in
England use to live in Jungles and hunt for food people in India were
using Lavatory and canal system for irrigation. Cities, townships,
roads, and brick built houses were common, to say that ancient Indian
were having a very developed culture would not be wrong (Please read
history to Validate). Now Lets talk about Logic and Science, in India
we have 6 dept. of philosophy which are based on Logical Conclusions.
We have the most ancient reading on Astrology, Chemistry and Biology.
Vedantic Mathematics is as old as Veda itself, which is very advanced
and highly respected worldwide. I have gone through other comments and
do feel that people don’t have good knowledge about Hinduism. Firstly
please do your homework before you start and make comments about any
subject or religion. I am a scientific person myself and I do believe
in what I see, but that should not mean I become arrogant, judgmental
and partial in my view. When Christens came to India and talked about
Science they said everything is wrong about Hinduism. While today it’s
well know fact how scientific our discipline of medicine and Yoga was
and the world is practicing it. We had colleges and Universities in
India talking about science and religion even before Christ took
birth. The depth and extent of intellectual advancement can be easily
understood by the fact that it talks about tolerance, peace and
harmony. In India Buddhism & Jainism was tolerated and practiced by
people and they had option to choose (6 centuries before the Christ
was born). Even recently Zoroastrianism is a religion only practiced
in India and Hindus did help them or it would have been vanquished by
Islam. Even Islam and Christianity came to India and were accepted.
Unlike religions countries practicing Islam and Christianity were you
cannot even think about other religion getting practiced just a couple
of centuries back!!

What we have come across is surely a bridge no doubt on that and it’s
true that it is mentioned in Ramayana about creation of this bridge.
Worldwide Scientists do study these religious books to understand the
ancient culture as they are considered records of event during that
time. Hinduism is most ancient religion to be practiced currently in
the world. Let the research go on and time shall speak for itself as
what is right and what is wrong about the bridge. Everything written
in scriptures may not necessarily be true and they might not
necessarily be false. Religious books have said about this bridge ages
back and scientist have found it today, same has been the case with
the ancient city of Dwarika, whose ruins are getting excavated on the
shores of Gujarat. Again the same was mentioned in another epic called
Mahabharata.

Baldev says:
December 26, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I am shocked with the wordings Jason has used here against the Hindu
religion. You need to use your head (and brain if you have it !!!) to
think what will you get out of that dirty comments !

Learn to respect all religions if you can or better keep your stupid
sense for your family and friends. You don’t need to bring it over
internet.

Govind says:
March 4, 2009 at 7:20 am
if the stones were floating at that time, they should float even
today, (that is law of physics ) why are they not floating today, why
is that they are sunk inside, there is somethng more to be
investigated.

J. ANIL KUMAR GUPTA says:
March 5, 2009 at 7:46 am
Govind sir stones were floating at that time this time also . I went
overthere
last year this time in ayyappa swamy diksha you to go and see sir………….
You can see it Dwaraka temple is also under the water sir .

Jason says:
August 14, 2009 at 1:09 am
Govind, please educate yourself before you speak. There is no law of
physics that says “If a stone was floating in the past it must be
floating today.” If the hindus interpreted the floating stones as
floating magically, then it would be a miracle and thus outside of the
laws of science altogether. But if they were floating, as volcanic
rocks do because they contain pockets of air, then they may be
floating today unless they have filled with water and sunk.

Why do indians keep trying to sound scientific and logical, as if to
legitimize hinduism, when hinduism itself is unscientific and
illogical? If you are going to use science then quote an actual
scientific law, not one that you invented.

Jaman says:
September 27, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Hinduism is one of the most scientific and logical religions. Infact i
feel it is more logical and scientific than most other religions. Just
because you do not have the inclination to study thouroughly what
hinduism is all about does not make you an expert on the matter. I try
to keep myself informed of all and believe what I feel is right for
me. There are things in cristianity, hinduism, islam, buddhism,
jainism, shintoism which makes sense. there are somethings which dont.
believe what you want to believe. beleieve what you need to believe.
But rather than claiming xyz is crap, try to get a firm understanding
of what makes sense and what doesnt.

SIVAKUMAR says:
November 13, 2009 at 8:30 am
This is not volcanic stone and all. This is floating in the water is
just because of lord rama’s power. This is not science and all. One
day u will come to know there are more power apart from science. Look
up the sky atleast for 5 minutes. There are several things in this
world ur science can’t answer.

Taramattie Rampersaud says:
March 4, 2009 at 5:42 pm
A devotee of Shree Satya Saiee Baba from Guyana, who is now residing
in India, told us a scientist who is also a devotee of Shree Satya Sai
were inspired about the bridge, after which the discovery was made.

It is truly a magnificent site, and it will definitely renewed and
rebuilt the confident of Hindus around the world. For too long, our
people have been lead astray, not believing in our Spiritual text.
Through the bless of our Lord Shree Satya Saiee Baba, this is made
possible, of the ancient history of this great Dharma/Religion.

Beth T. says:
March 12, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Question about the shoal/bridge between India and Sri-Lanka: I wonder
why a bridge needed to be built when there was probably a natural land-
bridge, and at that time standing above the water. The water in that
area may have been one of the shallow seas that Geologists have stated
existed so long ago. Also, at 1,700,000 years ago, is there evidence
of any peoples having invented rafts or boats? The stated
archaeological evidence of human habitation has not been revealed in
the news article.

sunil says:
March 18, 2009 at 10:09 pm
What you are saying is absolutely true…… When there was a land, why
one has to build a bridge. If the sea level is going up and in next
few years some of the the islands like Maldives wont be seen on the
map which are existing today, what has happened in past 1700000 years
is that a land has submerged in the water and Idiots think its a
bridge.If millions of years old dinosaurs skeleton are found why cant
we find the skeletons of those monkeys who build it.After all NASA has
not said that the bridge was build with human hands.It was an
exaggeration done by Indian Media whose remote is in the hands of BJP,
VHP AND BAJRANGDAL.

Sanjay says:
March 26, 2009 at 11:34 pm
jai shri ram!

Devanand says:
May 11, 2009 at 9:27 am
Completely wrong.What are you saying about?There is no
Raman,Sita,Lakshman&Hanuman.

Kriban says:
March 31, 2009 at 5:33 am
Just my 2c here, firstly, if you go back in time, you would realize
that the entire planet was submerged by water…and around 100 billion
years ago earth was massed as one big continent, close to 100 million
years ago it split into two which then split again. so by 1.7 million
years back, all our continents seen today are very similar at that
time. This image seems to be a “man made”, structure. Which stands to
reason that although the awesomeness of nature creates amazing
objects, the linkage of two land masses with this precision and
magnitude is no coincidence. But for those that question the
authenticity of this bridge and its origins should make educated
guess’s rather than speaking one’s empty and unlearned minds. Who are
you to say that this is just a “freak of nature” event? and things
like this happen all the time, a i bet you also believe in Nessie and
the big foot??? what a joke!!! Scriptures, writings and teachings
passed on for thousands of years indicate that this structure has true
and valid origins, who are we to question that???

Secondly who on earth named the bridge???? Adams’s Bridge???

I think that’s an insult to all Indians, Our culture gets westernized
with a name subjected to another religion….I say give credit and
appreciation where its deserved!!! DON’T make our religion and
triumphs westernized with a name like Adam’s bridge!!!

Jai Shri Ram!!!

kavir says:
June 1, 2009 at 10:31 pm
you are absolutely right Adam’s bridge it is Shree Ram’s bridge or
Shree Hanuman’s bridge but no way it is Adam’s bridge

Heather says:
August 14, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I agree with it never having been a man made bridge. Just a natural
connection of land. hence the after the fact a Western name of “Adam”
as in “Adam’s Rib” from Adam and Eve.

kiran says:
August 19, 2009 at 1:01 pm
i agree with all what u hav said kriban…

nick says:
April 1, 2009 at 1:36 am
sunil u are foolish …dinosaurs aren;t for real …americans can do
anything for money and fame so just image how low they would go to
create surreal ideads…besides that bridge that was created in the
ramayan….it was build for Lord Rama to rescue Sita and destroy Ravana…
and that same bridge was destroyed by God himself… just keep in mind
the thesis of this discussion my foolish friend….nasa Discover Ancient
Bridge between India and Sri Lanka..end of story…

Swefen says:
April 1, 2009 at 3:36 pm
It looks too much like ‘The Creation of Adam’ by Michelangelo.

Heather says:
August 14, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I think the picture was photoshopped

rafi says:
April 3, 2009 at 5:08 pm
What I believe is that the word is in the 21st century, and I”m living
in the scientific age. Idont know guys where you were.

J. ANIL KUMAR GUPTA says:
June 7, 2009 at 3:29 am
hi…………..

Even though it is scientific age plz can i ask one question??? Is the
tree is
first or seed is first ??? It s not argument that just i want to tell
onething its all God creation………..

SIVAKUMAR says:
November 13, 2009 at 8:45 am
I agree payya Jai shree ram jai hanumaan.

Aruna says:
April 13, 2009 at 10:04 am
THIS BRDIGE EITHER BUILT BY KING RAVAN OF LANKA OR RAMA OF INDIA. IF
RAMA BUILT THIS BRIDGE THEN HOW KING RAVAN WENT TO INDIA TO GRAB
RAMA’S WIFE SITA ? OR IF RAMA BUILT THIS BRIDGE KING RAVAN HAS FLEW TO
INDIA BY HIS OWN AIR PLANE TO INDIA & BROUGHT SITHA TO LANKA.
ACCORDING TO THE OLD STORIES AMONG THE LANKANS AS KING RAVAN WAS USING
AN AIR PLANE TO GO TO INDIA. IN SINHALA LANGUAGE IT CALL “DANDU
MONARAYA” THERE ARE PICTURES OF IT. IT LOOK LIKE A HUGE PEACOCK.

ANY HOW THIS BRIDGE PROVE THE WHOLE WORLD HOW EFFICIENT, TALENTED &
BRAVE PEOPLE LIVED IN THIS REGION MANY MANY YEARS AGO. THERE WERE NO
MACHINES TO BUILT IT & NO MAPS TO SEE WHERE THE OTHER COUNTRIES ARE.

J. ANIL KUMAR GUPTA says:
June 7, 2009 at 3:45 am
hi….. Aruna

IF ONLY RAMA WANT TO GO HE WILL HAVE THAT MUCH POWER TO GO OR
OTHERWISE HANUMAN WILL HELP HIM TO GO TO THAT PLACE THAT HE WANT TO
TAKE ALL VANARAS TO THAT PLACE THAT’S WHY HE BUILT THAT BRIDGE …..

RAVANA IS ALSO MORE POWERFUL THAN RAMA BUT HIS SINS MAKE HIM LIKE
THAT….

Gabbar says:
April 14, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Guys,
The person who created these images is probably smirking away to
glory. Tell me something. India has sattelites. Do you think if this
existed BJP would not have found it yet.
Besides Adams Bridge is too much. If Nasa actually called it that then
the christians are giving substance to Hinduisim. Hell no… I dont see
that happening.

Have you ever heard off Adobe Photoshop. I saw a picture that leads to
Heaven. Staircase to Heaven. Guess what Hanumanji is sitting on the
stairs.

E.W. Golding says:
April 25, 2009 at 4:42 am
The almost universal estimate among scientists is that homo sapiens
appeared (in Africa) about 120,000 to 170,000 years ago. ‘Out of
Africa -II’ the migration of humans out of Africa commenced about
80,000 to 100,000 years ago. They reached Australia about 50,000 years
ago and passed through South India on the way.
It is utterly impossible for a MAN MADE BRIDGE to have been created
1.75 million years ago because our species, man, did not exist even
1.5 million years ago. Or is someone suggesting that this was built by
Homo Erectus or Homo Habilis a far distant intermediate specis between
us and the apes?

id says:
January 7, 2010 at 1:13 am
The archeological record does not agree with you. There is a wealth of
artefacts that shows ‘modern man’ (Homo Sapiens) has been active on
the planet for many, many millions of years and new evidence comes to
light often. The arguement usually runs something like - Those finely
built polished walls and those exquisite mortars found in 65 million
year old strata (under basalt lava flows under Table Mountain)
couldn’t possibly have been made by homo sapiens because they didn’t
exist then. And those modern human remains in strata older than their
supposed ancestors couldn’t possibly be modern human remains because
they weren’t around then. Its a case of knowledge filtration (not
always intentional) and the blinders of human arrogance.

Viswanadhan says:
May 1, 2009 at 3:37 pm
The bridge still shows up clearly during the low tides. However,
wherther it was built by Lord Rama or they are there from the time of
continental drifts is not a serious issue. In India people have a
tendency to believe only what they see and rubbishes away all other.
The basic theory of life of many Indians relate to the ‘Dasavatara’,
the ten incarnations of God on Earth being Matsya (Fish), Kurma
(Turtle), Varaha (Boar), Narasimha (the half man half beast), Vamana
(the little man/boy), Parasurama (Man (Ram with Parasu) with the the
Axe, Sree Ram (the man with a Bow), Sree Krishna (the man with a
Flute), Balarama (the man with a Yoke) or Buddha (the enlightened
man)and Kalki (you name it). Is there any other theory of evolution of
life on earth other than the Dasavatara ? The life which first appears
in the Sea (not necessarily in the form of fish - but in the form of
any aquatic living thing) evolves in to a turtle which for prolonged
periods can live both in water as well as on land. From the turtle,
the life evolves in to an animal in the form of a wild boar from which
it transforms in to a half man half beast. The half man half beast
then becomes a little man (the first man on earth must have been short
and not as tall as we are now - thanks for the modern science for our
growth). The little man then evolves in to a wild man with an axe and
he kills other men (as Parasuram killed the Khshatriyas). It is now
the time for Parasuram to go for Bow and Arrow and becomes Sree Ram.
After Sree Ram Sree Krishna with a Flute comes. It merely means by
this time the man was interested in music, dances and other activities
and at the same time Krishna’s brother Balaram has a Yoke and it is
defenitely not for fight but to cultivate the land. Buddha is an
enlightened man whose name must have been removed from the history and
then the Kalki and it is where the life which first appeared in water
has now reached. The Dasavatara is the best scientifically justifiable
theroy of life. The question is how did the ancient Indians know of
this theory ? or was it God’s spontaneous creation of man as believed
by some others ? Which theory suits well for science ? I believe what
is said in the Epics is true manifestations of gone by historical
facts. The Nagastras, Paasupathastras and all those other astras and
weapons of mass destruction are now becoming true and a reality.
Pasupathastra once set in motion multiplies from one to ten and ten to
hundred and home in on the target with cent percent accuracy. The
modern missiles with multiple war heads are the modern pasupathastras.
Be proud you carry the blood of those great indians who did not really
imagines of the eventualities but actually possessed the knowledge and
weaponry. That is why and how we the Indians harnessed the most
advanced atom technology in 1974 within 27 years from becoming
independent. We had and still has the IQ inherent within us to be a
great nation.

Jessica says:
May 5, 2009 at 4:22 pm
This story is not being covered by ANY legitimate news organization.
NASA does not even have this story, please show me where this can be
proven a real story.

kavir says:
June 1, 2009 at 10:38 pm
for you all who say this is a hoax how can it be such a big
coincidence that the bridge created by shree ram is in th sam e spot
as this discovered bridge coincidence………………..NO
WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kavir says:
June 1, 2009 at 10:38 pm
THATS THE TRUTH

Rishi says:
June 7, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I think that it should be called the Ram bridge!

Punya Khanna says:
June 10, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Congratulations to NASA and our tehnology to get our vision of
intelligence widley.These pictures and images realy gave me and the
society a lot of information and feed of our curiosity

Thanks! NASA!

anuj says:
June 10, 2009 at 12:39 pm
hare krishna, my name is anuj dayal and i am 18 years old, studying in
delhi. while working or while studying i oftenly lose my concentration
due to some bad vulgur things that comes in my mind on its own, but i
think that these things are natural, i feels it difficult to get rid
of this. Also i understand that i want to see myself as a successful,
disciplined and a person of with good ideology. Please guide me to
live life without any stress and with hard work so that i can make
myself and my parent proud on myself.

anuj

madhudvisa-dasa says:
June 16, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Hare Krishna Anuj

The secret to controlling the mind is giving the mind something better
to be occupied with. If you can become attracted to Krishna who is so
beautiful then gradually all the so-called beautiful things of the
material world and the so-called pleasures of the material world will
seem unimportant to you in comparison to the beauty of Krishna and
your relationship with Krishna. So briefly you can achieve what you
want to do by becoming Krishna conscious. But to become Krishna
consciousness is a process that you need to learn and that is the
subject of the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada, the Founder-Acarya of the International Society for
Krishna Consciousness. So please read Srila Prabhupada’s books. You
can read online at:

http://www.PrabhuapdaBooks.com

and you can get the actual hardcopy books at:

http://www.KrishnaStore.com

Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

philemon says:
December 4, 2009 at 9:55 am
The Image does not represents any histrorical events or ancient facts…
its just a Settlement which is the fact of happening between two
islands. so pls dont confuse ur self

Pritam Mhatre says:
June 13, 2009 at 11:58 am
Same bridge is devlop by GOD RAMA with the help of all vanara hanuman,
nal,nil,jabubant , sugrav and aganda its clearly mention in Hindus
Puran Ramayana

gaurav says:
June 29, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Some of you have commented that this is a made up story.

I went to the official website of NASA and found this article.

http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/srilanka.htm

This is faith and we have to understand that we are not capable enough
to analyse what happened even 100 years back, this is a couple of
million years ago.

If you are getting the results of spirituality, meditation or chanting
the names of the lord then go ahead and make life better.There is no
harm trying something whose power is talked about so much.

Gaurav

Rose says:
June 30, 2009 at 3:29 am
Valmiki wrote the Ramayana and mentioned a bridge between India and
Sri Lanka. He did not have satellite or any high technology to foresee
this bridge.

NASA now showed images of a “MYSTERIOUS” bridge “RIGHT THERE”! Why are
some of us still arguing about a bridge showing up there? Common
sense! I whole heartedly believed that is Lord Rama’s Bridge. The
Ramayana was not just written by Valmaki only but the same exact story
was retold by many other Great Philosophers; and the bridge was
mentioned in all!!
Thank you NASA!

prashant says:
September 11, 2009 at 4:58 am
thanks Rose for explaining to some foolish persons, your comments was
great, thanks again

abraham says:
July 6, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Jai Shree Raam

SHAYAN PURBHOOAND REEYAH says:
July 12, 2009 at 1:21 pm
first of all thank you everybody since your comments and the infos
above has really helped to increase my knowledge(which is a must for
me because am a hinduism student). the whole thing is very interesting
but still according to me some more lights should be shed in this
matter since i believe that this stuff transcends my
understanding….anyone having more info about this issue, specially if
you’ve visited this place, do provide me with accurate details….my
email add is: shaya...@yahoo.com

mamta says:
August 4, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Hello all,

I myself saw a program in discovery channel which was showing that
researcher have found very thick “janjir” made of totally gold, at the
sunk place where lanka used to be.
We all must have read that Lanka city was of gold.

Any one has to say anything about it.

Many thanks
Mamta

PRANESH says:
August 16, 2009 at 10:38 am
The uneducated should read the Ramayan

Jagannath says:
August 21, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I very grateful having seen these photo’s from NASA. I can show as a
historical proof to those who does not believe in The Supremme
Personality Of God Head KRISHNA.

Jagannath says:
August 21, 2009 at 5:46 pm
I read your mail just. I liked it very much. It increases my faith in
Krishna. Please send me more information, photoes about ’spiritual
solutions to material problems’.

Thank you !

Your severent,
JAGANNATH ZADE From PARBHANI (Maharashtra) INDIA.

Chasm says:
September 2, 2009 at 12:38 am
Oh sure, now you love NASA when they use their orbiting satellites and
scientific instruments to confirm the existence of an ancient bridge.
Not so much when they go to the Moon and peer into deep space looking
for the earliest light in the Universe. Heh.

Muthyala rama krishna Rao says:
September 2, 2009 at 1:49 pm
The NASA images discover ancient Bridge between India and SriLanka.
the NASA was declared the bridge was 17,50,000 years ago, but not
built here in between India and Srilanka. the bridge is Rama built.
evidence is correct but not proof the bridge in that place.
I have been Reaearch in the Valmiki Ramayana.

Jacob says:
October 18, 2009 at 8:17 pm
TO JASON>
TO JASON>
TO JASON>

The bridge exist. Built with regular stones, which float. There is no
air inside the stones or anything else that can sustain floating. The
stones still float. Scientist of both West and India have cut that
floating ones stones to figure it out…. They had and have no idea how
to explain it.

sheela says:
October 19, 2009 at 1:57 pm
hi really great!!! i wanted to check abt the bridge which existed &
abt the ramayana… fotos r ze proof thnx a lot 7 plz send me more of
them.

Srikanth says:
October 22, 2009 at 8:55 am
Hi guys,

Read from start to end….

If u believe that Jesus was seen 3 days after his death which is not
scientific. . .u have to believe Rama’s bridge. . .

People who don’t believe Rama . . . Don’t believe. . .But do not say
Hinduism is crap or something. . .

If u have good sound knowledge on Indian History then talk. . .Don’t
talk what media shows…

yeshas says:
December 27, 2009 at 1:58 pm
hey jason or who ever u r
pls have some knowlwdge abt our rich indian culture
it is not whether its hindu or christ its India and its culture
u shud pls stop tokin like this abt the hindu community
we r not fools
we built a bridge across 2 nations wen the west had not even woken up
we invented many things tat the west claimed to have done it
hey and we indians r not foolish or primitive we r way advanced
tat is y westners r craving for a indian brain
hey pls mind ur tongue abt india and its people
if ur not an indian pls cock up and go to your country

jai says:
January 1, 2010 at 1:27 pm
To pranesh.

Grow up son. look into your own relegion or should i say some one
elses. Its a borrow line stories from other text. Now put your legs up
and say hhaaaleeeluigia……… idiot.

shikha saxena says:
January 2, 2010 at 9:51 am
Hi,
Interesting to read about all the comments given by you gentlemen &
women, only one thing i would like to say that somehow, we all are
discovering GOD….

Is n’t so.

Rob says:
January 16, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Hi, When “Europeans” were still living in caves “INDIA” was way ahead
of them.When they were stuggling to find that the world was round,
Vedic science was already way ahead of them and knew as a fact that
the world was round. When the Barbarians from arabia and Europe
invaded India they stole everything from us and tried to destroy our
culture, that is why so many of our educational, religious
institutions were wiped out by these narrow-minded beasts in the name
on conquest, gold, slavery, debauchery, prophets of the middle east,
their so called God and their so called true religion.

It is of no surprise today that the children of blood thirsty Arabia
and Europe would deny their past sinful act and refuse to admit that
Indians were far more advanced civilization than their barbaric ones.
The stole even the name of the bridge that Lord Ram constructed into
Adam bridge. Their blood, mind, action is filled with sin and
corruption down to the last atom and their downfall is near. Remember
karma will come and bite you in the bum!

Shastri says:
January 22, 2010 at 9:47 am
For those bashing the Hindu faith with all your science facts and
don’t believe in our miracles…. Find me the cure for what we call
Junders ( where the skin and eyes gets yellow as you slowly die of the
poison killing the body)! No hospital has a cure nor treatment for
this…This is where OUR HINDU PREYS COME IN! Its the only cure… Its
what we call Jahray! So when your Western science finds where a prey
scientific and can provide prof then u can discriminate hindus… The
bible was rewritten to white mans version so dont give me no bull s**t
bout christ! Oh Yeah! The missing years of christ was in INDIA getting
INDIANS prey and knowledge…Ask your priest what they hide from you
with your white version crap of faith!

Sohail says:
February 11, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Hi,
I am Muslim but i do belive in Hinduisum as well as my own religion, i
belive since human kind started GOD Sent 124K Prophets to Earth from
time to time to teach ppl on earth what is the right path, some became
Christn some became Jews(Moses) n some Hindu and muslim, anyway i have
read Ramayan, such a Great Book , i think if we wana make sure about
this bridge we can just take part of that bridge and get Forensic
tests,, to find out if Stones came from someowhere else or they were
there ,, simple solution ,,, why we are fighting here for something we
really dont know ,, if God did Mircle millions of yrs ago i am sure to
prove his mircle he must have left soemthing for us to find out ….

http://krishna.org/nasa-images-discover-ancient-bridge-between-india-and-sri-lanka/

NASA claifies its stand on Adam's Bridge in Parlk Strait
MIL/Agencies, Sep 14, 2007

Washington: September 14, 2007 - A big difference has developed
between the US space agency NASA and the BJP’s claim that the Adam’s
bridge in Palk Stait known as Ram Setu in India, carbon dated as being
1.7 million years old, actually belongs to Lord Rama’s period? NASA
has tried to clarify that the pictures taken by its astronauts do not
prove the existence or otherwise of a manmade Ram Setu bridge as
mentioned in the Ramayana..

"I am not aware of any carbon dating either," said NASA spokesman
Michael Braukus, refuting claims by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
that the agency had the Adam's bridge in Palk Strait - known as Ram
Setu in India - carbon dated as being 1.7 million years old.

"Some people have taken pictures taken by our astronauts to make their
claim. No position can be taken on the basis of these photographs in
any way," Braukus said when asked to comment on the controversy
surrounding the site of the proposed Rs 2,400 crore Sethusamudram
canal project off India's southern tip.

"The age, substratum, geological structure or anthropological status
of the ocean bed in Palk strait cannot be determined by the
astronauts' photographs. So there is no basis for these claims,"
Braukus said.

Back in October 2002 too the US agency had rebutted a story circulated
by an Indian news agency based on claims made by a couple of NRI
websites and Hindu news services that "space images taken by NASA" had
revealed "a mysterious ancient bridge in the Palk Strait".

"Remote sensing images or photographs from orbit cannot provide direct
information about the origin or age of a chain of islands, and
certainly cannot determine whether humans were involved in producing

any of the patterns seen," NASA official Mark Hess had said then.

"The mysterious bridge was nothing more than a 30 km long, naturally-

occurring chain of sandbanks called Adam's bridge," Hess had added.

"NASA had been taking pictures of these shoals for years. Its images
had never resulted in any scientific discovery in the area.

"The images reproduced on the websites may well be ours, but their
interpretation is certainly not ours," Hess had said, referring to the
NRI websites.

The report on the Internet that had appeared five years ago had also
claimed "archaeological studies reveal that the first signs of human
inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to...about 1.75 million years ago"
as does the age of the bridge.

The controversy over the Sethusamudram canal project had got a new
lease of life Wednesday when Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists blocked
roads all over India to protest the project that, they say, will
damage Ram Setu.

The same day, the government submitted an affidavit in the Supreme
Court in which the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) said there
were no historical records to prove the existence of a manmade Ram
Setu. The Ramayana says Lord Ram's army had built a bridge across the
sea to Lanka (now Sri Lanka) on their way to battle the demon king
Ravana.

The affidavit prepared by ASI had gone on to say there were no
historical records to prove the existence of Lord Ram either, sparking
off a furor with the BJP alleging the affidavit had hurt the faith of
millions of Hindus and the government scrambling for damage control
with the promise that it would "amend its mistake" and submit a fresh
supplementary affidavit to the Supreme Court on Friday.

http://www.internationalreporter.com/News-2590/NASA-claifies-its-stand-on-Adam-s-Bridge-in-Parlk-Strait.html

chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 3:54:41 PM2/19/10

Hanuman bridge is myth: Experts

THE TIMES OF INDIA ^ | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2002 | No Author listed

Posted on Saturday, October 19, 2002 7:25:58 PM by jimtorr

NEW DELHI: After Nasa, it's the turn of Indian experts to declare that

there is no evidence linking the mythical Lanka bridge built by

Hanuman to the chain of sandbanks captured by the US space agency's
cameras across the Palk Strait.

Eminent astrophysicist J V Narlikar, when contacted in Pune, said he
had seen reports claiming about the mythical bridge, but there was no
evidence to suggest that what had been located had links with the
bridge mentioned in the Ramayana.

"There is no archaeological or literary evidence to support this
claim," eminent historian R S Sharma told The Times of India in
Patna.

"The Ramayana itself is not that old. Nor had human habitation
occurred 1.75 million years ago," Sharma, an acknowledged authority on
ancient Indian history, said.

The oldest evidence of the Ramayana is around 400 BC and running
across five strata, its shloka multiplying from 6,000 to 24,000, it
comes up to 1200 AD. "Even if you want to rely on literary evidence,
the oldest literary evidence available is only from 1500 BC."

Sharma said that even the location of the bridge and of ancient Lanka
had yet to be conclusively established.

Indolink.com, Vaishnava News Network and some other US-based news
services have claimed that NASA had "discovered" the remains of the
mythical bridge, popular in folklore as Hanuman Setu - because of the
role of Hanuman and his monkey brigade in laying it - across Palk
Strait linking India with Sri Lanka. This bridge was supposed to have
been captured by NASA's spaceborne cameras.

However, NASA has officially debunked this claim, saying the agency
could not provide specific information about the origin or the age of
the chain of islands, "and certainly cannot determine whether humans
were involved in producing any of the patterns seen".

The American agency said what had been captured was no more than a 30-
km-long naturally-formed chain of sandbanks called Adam's Bridge.

D N Jha, professor of history at Delhi University, said what had been
captured by NASA's cameras was a geological formation. The issue had
"more to do with geology than history", since the claim was 1.75
million years old. "To link that with Rama or Ramayana is
ridiculous."

"Linking just anything found with Ramayana or Mahabharata may be
mythology, but it certainly isn't history," said Jha.

TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current
Events

KEYWORDS: bridge; godsgravesglyphs; hanumanbridge; india This story is
a reaction to the story on October 9 saying that the chaid of
sandbanks was the remains of the Hanuman Bridge.

"Linking just anything found with Ramayana or Mahabharata may be
mythology, but it certainly isn't history," said Jha.

1 posted on Saturday, October 19, 2002 7:25:59 PM by jimtorr

To: jimtorr
There is a class of intellectual who delights in debunking any sort of
modern finding that relates at all to an ancient belief or statement.

About 14,700 years ago the Antarctic ice cap began melting rapidly. It
didn't all melt, but something like 90% of it did. This raised world
ocean levels several hundred feet.

The Adams Bridge, or Ramayana Bridge, was open to the surface at that
time.

Any literary knowledge of that structure would have had to have been
handed down over that entire period of time until "writing" was
invented. Although the gentleman who seeks to debunk the whole story
says the oldest known "Ramayana" is only 1500 years old, he is
referring ONLY to the oldest known copy! (He knows it too, but he also
knows how we are expected to understand what he said. This is a very
misleading statement). Other analysts have demonstrated conclusively
that there are elements in the story that are much older.

Some people would like to date the Ramayana and the Mahabarata as
being older than the Uppanishads, and maybe parts are, but that only
takes you back to early Classical times, shortly after the worldwide
destruction that occurred about 1875BC (or 2001BC, depending on your
dating techniques).

As old as these stories are, you don't have to be a genius to have
noted that when Moses "edited" the ancient scriptures in his
possession he left out all the animal stories except those that
concerned the snake (his political emblem). The Ramayana has most of
those stories available for edification and entertainment.

I know that's not terribly sophisticated, but it does take the animal
stories back to Moses time, which is roughly in the time period when
most of it would seem to have taken place. Now, about the Great Flood?
Was that 14700 years ago, or only 7,000 years ago, or maybe 9100 years
ago when, in fact, we know certain great floods did happen.

2 posted on Saturday, October 19, 2002 7:41:53 PM by muawiyah

To: muawiyah
Thank you for saving me from having to tell about the flooding. I'm
amazed how many people are totally unaware about marine archeology,
and the stupendous discoveries of stone cities under the sea in
locations that would only have been above sea level 15,000 years ago.
A few of those sites are found off the subcontinent's shoreline.

Perhaps this bridge was really a causeway, linking islands like jewels
in a necklace to Sri Lanka. Either way, it would have been a great
civil engineering feat. And that, civil engineering, has been what
I've always thought among the finest achievements of Indian
Civilisation.

It is unfortunate that many in America and Europe are ignorant of
India's great structures.

3 posted on Saturday, October 19, 2002 7:53:10 PM by goody2shooz

To: muawiyah
""The Ramayana itself is not that old. Nor had human habitation
occurred 1.75 million years ago," Sharma, an acknowledged authority on
ancient Indian history, said.

The oldest evidence of the Ramayana is around 400 BC ........ "Even if
you want to rely on literary evidence, the oldest literary evidence
available is only from 1500 BC."

D N Jha, professor of history at Delhi University, ......... The issue
had "more to do with geology than history", since the claim was 1.75
million years old....... Linking just anything found with Ramayana or
Mahabharata may be mythology, but it certainly isn't history," said
Jha.""

Here we have two people who disagree with you, not just one person who
"delights in debunking." We also see that Sharma said that the
earliest evidence was from 1500 BC, not 1500 years ago, as you said.
We also are reminded that the claim is that the bridge was built
1,750,000 years ago. Is this reasonable?

4 posted on Saturday, October 19, 2002 8:00:53 PM by jimtorr

To: muawiyah
Here is the orginal story from about 10 days ago.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/765870/posts

5 posted on Saturday, October 19, 2002 8:26:06 PM by PAR35
To: jimtorr

The Hoax Of The NASA Bridge

THE recent story of NASA discovering a “mysterious 1.75 million year
ancient bridge” is now clearly exposed as a deliberate fraud by Hindu
fundamentalists. It was initially propagated by Vaishnava News Network
an ISKON web site and was promptly hailed as a scientific proof of
Ramayana by Hindutva internet sites. Not much notice would have been
taken of such claims, which are after all periodic in the Hindutva
sites, if PTI and television channels had not picked up the story.
Finally, the fraud was exposed: NASA clarified that its pictures were
neither mysterious nor new. These pictures, taken from space borne
cameras of the 30 kms long sandbanks, have been around for more than
six years and most certainly NASA did not certify them as man-made.

DELIBERATE FRAUD

Before we examine this case of the Hanuman Bridge of Ramayana and the
NASA pictures, we need to delve into the mindset of the Hindu
fundamentalists who are currently attempting to use science in their
claims of scriptural correctness. This mindset believes that there is
a deep-seated “western” conspiracy to deny Hindus the rightful place
as the most ancient civilisation. The "proof" of this conspiracy is
that there are a few “western” men – David Frawley (initiated name
Pandit Vamadeva Shastri) and Michel Cremo (initiated name Drutakarma
Dasa) -- who are themselves saying that there is a “western”
conspiracy to deny Hindus their rightful place. Interestingly, in the
eyes of Hindu fundamentalists, who are puffed up with pride of their
ancient past, no Indian really counts. Only the white man, proclaiming
the antiquity of Hindu civilisation is to be taken seriously. All
Indians who do not agree with such white men, are followers of Marx
and Macauly and are part of this “western” and leftist conspiracy.

The Ramayana controversy has all these elements. Old NASA photographs
that have been put in the public domain recently were used for this
deliberate fraud. The so-called Hanuman Bridge are sandbanks that
extend from the island of Manaar, near the NW coast of Sri Lanka to
the island of Rameswaram. Some of these are dry and no part of it has
depth greater than 3 or 4 feet at high water, except for three
navigational channels. Some of these efforts for deepening and
widening channels were begun as long back as 1838. That NASA’s
pictures should show underwater sand bars connecting Sri Lanka and
India is therefore not surprising: that such structures exist is known
from geologists to the humble fisher folk of the area. We do not need
NASA to tell us what is visible to the naked eye.

NASA has debunked that it had identified the structure as man-made. It
is difficult for a space agency from kilometres out in space taking
photographs to identify a structure as man-made. As if this absurdity
is not enough, the original news report also talked about NASA not
only declaring the structure as man-made but also precisely dating
this to be 1.75 million years of age. And to cap it all, NASA was even
supposed to have declared human habitation in Sri Lanka to date
approximately to this time. All of this from outer space! In the eyes
of Hindu fundamentalists, NASA scientists must seem really super
human: they can do from outer space what their own archaeologists such
as B B Lal cannot do on the ground.

FOR THE EXERCISE

The need for such fraudulent exercise comes from the Hindu
fundamentalists need to manufacture evidence for the Ramayana. Like
all fundamentalists, they are not happy unless the epic is proved to
be true in every detail. If Rama was in the treta yuga, this must then
be an event that took place 1.2 to 2.4 million years back the supposed
age of this yuga. We give below the supposed age of the various yugas
as per the scriptures.

Sat Yuga – 1,728,000 years
Treta Yuga – 1,296,000 years
Dwapara Yuga - 864,000 years
Kali Yuga - 432,000 years

The problem with the age of the yugas is that it then suggests that
human beings were around from Sat Yuga and therefore for millions of
years. Yet the fossil record is very clear. The Homo sapiens have been
around for about 150,000 to 180,000 years. Homo erectus emigrated out
of Africa about 750,000 years back and even the hand axe had not been
discovered 1.7 million years ago, the supposed time of occurrence of
Ramayana.

The need of fundamentalists all over the world is similar: all of them
find evolution supported by the fossil record runs counter to what is
written in the scriptures. In the case of the Christian
fundamentalists, the age of all living beings cannot be older than
6,000 years and of course God created the first man and woman. The
Muslim fundamentalists also support the Adam and Eve myth and
therefore deny evolution. The Hindu fundamentalist dates are different
from that of the other fundamentalists: They consider humankind to be
around for at least 3-4 million years. All of them therefore share the
need to demolish the scientific evidence of the fossil records and
human evolution.

The creationists in the USA have been trying for the last hundred
years to stop the teaching of evolution in schools. Failing this,
their attempt has been to give equal time to creationism as another
theory on par with the theory of evolution. The battle between
Christian fundamentalist creationism and scientists in the USA has
been a long drawn out one. The famous Scopes monkey trial in early
20th century where a biology teacher was charged with blasphemy for
teaching evolution is by no means over. Kansas and Ohio, amongst
others, have been trying to get another “theory” called “Intelligent
Design” (God as the Intelligent Designer) as a counter to the theory
of evolution.

DEMOLISHING SCIENCE

It is the same debate that is now reaching India. Just as the
fundamentalists there tried to get various parts of scriptures enter
the schools, the fundamentalists here have attacked the school
curriculum. The Ramayana epic and its historicity is obviously a major
issue. After the Ramjanmabhoomi “movement”, it is necessary to focus
Ramayana as more than just an epic, which may or may not have
historical basis. The method here is also similar: the Ramajanmabhoomi
– as per the VHP – is a matter of faith and not of proof. Similarly,
the chronology of Ramayana must also be a matter of faith. If science
is an obstacle to such claims, then science must be demolished. And if
it can be done using science itself, then so much the better.

It is this method that Michael Cremo uses to try and establish that
Hindu scriptures are fully accurate in their chronology. This comes up
against the current fossil and record of human evolution. There is not
only the fossil record, but also the record of human development:
their tools. All this has to be dismissed, for Hindu fundamentalists
to push back the date of human evolution and for the Christians to
push it up. Interestingly, both have borrowed extensively from each
other in their attempted demolition of science. For example, Dr Dennis
Bonnette at the University of Niagra, authored a creationist book
titled "Origin of the Human Species": the paleo-anthropology chapter
was based on and drawn from "Forbidden Archaeology" of Michael Cremo.

Who is Michael Cremo, who is the most likely originator of the current
NASA hoax? He is a member of the Bhaktivedanta Institute that has been
set up by ISKON. His objective is to fuse religion (Hindu religion)
and science to produce a new type of consciousness. However, if we
read his writings, it is clear that his use of science is pre-
determined. He already knows what he has set out to prove and only
looks for “evidence”, however outrageous it may be, to prove his case.
Thus, oddly shaped stones found in any gravel bed become ancient stone
tools. Argon and radio carbon dating is attacked: the list is tiresome
and long. With this method we can prove that humans came from outer
space – remember von Deniken and Chariot of the Gods – or any other
conclusion we want to come to. Once we know what we have to prove, we
can always find the “evidence”. And if such evidence is not available,
a willing Rajaram will be quite happy to manufacture one. After all a
small matter of missing horses was not going to stop the Rajaram (his
collaborator and co-author is David Frawley) and his ilk from
discovering one in Harappan seals and claiming the Harappan
civilisation as Vedic!

Interestingly enough, the American converts to Hinduism are
immediately considered exalted. Frawley, who by his own admission is
close to VHP and has met with the senior RSS leaders gets all the RSS
luminaries in attendance when he visits and “lectures” here. For the
information of the readers, David Frawley runs an Institute called
American Institute of Vedic Studies and provides astrological
consultations and runs correspondence courses on astrology. Similarly,
Michael Cremo is equally exalted. He has met with Murli Manohar Joshi
to discuss the Drwarka marine archaeology attempt to date an alleged
sunken ancient city off the Gujarat coast. This is in spite of having
no expertise in archaeology of any variety.

The scientific community in India is not aware of the kind of attack
that the Hindu fundamentalists are planning on the entire educational
system. The current changes in the NCERT textbooks are only
symptomatic of this mindset. The aim here is to subvert the method of
science and substitute instead with belief in myth and prejudice. It
is this mindset that proclaimed that sun revolved around the earth and
punished Galileo. It is the same mindset that suggests that the
scriptures must be correct and science wrong if human beings as we
know them today have arisen only 150,000 -180,000 years back. And it
is the same belief in scriptures that leads a Giriraj Kishore to claim
that the life of a cow is much more important than the life of five
dalits. And unless the scientists are willing to join the fight
against this distortion of education, and knowledge we are likely to
lose the battle for a better future.

from www.thebridge.itgo.com

6 posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 6:32:38 PM by thebridge.itgo.com
(The Hoax Of The Ramayana Bridge. www.thebridge.itgo.com)
Blast from the Past (2002).

Just adding this to the GGG catalog, not sending a general
distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the
GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
Gods, Graves, Glyphs PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities,
etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs
(alpha order)

7 posted on Sunday, December 17, 2006 8:40:16 PM by SunkenCiv
(Don't bother, I haven't updated my profile since 11/16/06.
https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)

8 posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 12:22:35 PM by SunkenCiv
(I last updated my profile on Thursday, February 19, 2007.
https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
between India, Lanka
PTI | Washington, October 09 2002 | Editorial Staff
Posted on 10/09/2002 11:35:38 AM EDT by vannrox
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/765870/posts

No archaeological studies to support existence of Ram Sethu
Zee News | Wednesday, March 7, 2007 | Bureau Report
Posted on 03/07/2007 12:16:43 PM EST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1796799/posts

Can the monkey god save Rama’s underwater bridge?
Times Online | March 27, 2007 | Ruth Gledhill and Jeremy Page
Posted on 03/27/2007 9:43:20 AM EDT by Alex Murphy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1807446/posts

Interview [with Iravatham Mahadevan,] the Madras Indus scholar
Himal | April 2007 | interviewed by Sundar Ganesan
Posted on 03/31/2007 10:44:03 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1809780/posts

Ram Sethu: Scientific Evidence Of Ancient Human Activity
(Ramas Bridge)
Organizer | 4-29-2007 | S. Kalyanaraman
Posted on 04/23/2007 6:35:24 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1822290/posts

History stands still in seabed off Sri Lanka
Asian Tribune | Sunday, July 8, 2007 | Janaka Perera
Posted on 07/09/2007 2:01:39 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1862859/posts

9 posted on Monday, July 09, 2007 11:17:38 AM by SunkenCiv
(This tagline optimized for the Mosaic browser. Profile updated
Friday, July 6, 2007.)

To: SunkenCiv
Funny I know a DBA (database admin) named Hanuman at one of my
customers offices, he has an inflatable monkey in his cubicle.

Next time I see him I’ll ask if its a member of his monkey brigades.

10 posted on Monday, July 09, 2007 11:45:47 AM by
GovernmentIsTheProblem
(The GOP is "Whig"ing out.)

To: GovernmentIsTheProblem
Otherwise it’s pretty hard to explain. ;’)

11 posted on Monday, July 09, 2007 11:54:26 AM by SunkenCiv
(This tagline optimized for the Mosaic browser. Profile updated
Friday, July 6, 2007.)

To: jimtorr
running across five strata, its shloka multiplying from 6,000 to
24,000, it comes up to 1200 AD
Some of the mystery might be simply the totally mysterious
terminology.

12 posted on Monday, July 09, 2007 11:57:37 AM by RightWhale (It's
Brecht's donkey, not mine)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/772283/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/home.htm

chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 4:16:30 PM2/19/10

Save Sree Ram Setu

HJS protests against M. Karunanidhi
at Mumbai on 24th September 2007 (See all photos)

HJS has filed 250 complaints against MK Karunanidhi, CM, Tamilnadu.

Ram Setu (Sethu) Destruction Status

Date Destruction Status

Sept 17, 2007 24.76%
Sept 11, 2007 24.47%
Sept 5, 2007 23.65%
Aug 31, 2007 23.11%
Aug 27, 2007 22.53%
Aug 2, 2007 19.46%
July 28, 2007 17.57%

Source: Official Setusamudram Project Government Website

What is Setu (Sethu) Samudram Project?

Setu (Sethu) Samudram shipping canal project (SSCP) is a project that
has been approved by the Government of India and its work has been
started near Kodand Ram Temple. In this project, Palk Gulf and Gulf
Mennar will be linked by making a shipping canal through Rameshwaram
Island. This will allow ships and boats to navigate in the passage
between India and Sri Lanka without having to circle Sri Lanka (as is
being done currently). This may save about 400 nautical miles voyage
on the West Coast. This project will connect the National Sea Route.
This canal will shorten the length of the sea route for ships. Rs. 21
crore per year for fuel expenditure of ships will be saved.

Danger to Ram Setu (Sethu)

Ram Setu Picture by NASAPictures taken by NASA [National Aeronautics &
Space Administration], USA from space show the remains of what appears
to be an ages old man-made bridge between Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka.
According to Hindu scriptures and belief, Lord Ram and his vaanar sena
had built a bridge from Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka about 17 lacs 25
thousands years ago. The discovery of Shri Ram Setu by NASA confirms
that Hindu scriptures and belief are correct in this matter and that
Ramayana is 'history' and not "mythology" as is often construed.

Setu (Sethu) Samudram [shipping canal project] is based on the notion
that it is inevitable to break the Shri Ram Setu for easy navigation.
This will amount to damaging a monument of both, historical and
religious importanceto Hindus.

Video of Ram Setu (Rama Sethu)

Videos: Proofs of Ramayana
Palace of Rawana, Sitakunda and Ashokwatika (Hindi)

To check other videos of proofs of Ramayana, click here.

Why Ram Setu (Sethu) should not be damaged

Ram Setu (Sethu) prevented the tsunami from advancing from Rameshwaram
to Kerala.

Spiritual Significance
1.This is a divine bridge.

2.Lord Rama and his vaanar sena had built it 17 lacs 25 thousands
years ago.

3.In Puranas, the importance of Setu is explained in great details,
especially in Skanda Purana, Vishnu Purana, Agni Purana, and Brahma
Purana.

Physical Significance

1.Ram Setu (Sethu) a natural barrier to Tsunami: During the last
tsunami, the Ramar Bridge (at a high elevation) from the rest of the
shoal accumulations acted as a natural barrier preventing the direct
devastation of the entire Bharatam coastline south and southwest of
Nagapattanam. - Dr. Murthy, Chief editor of the reputed International
Tsunami Journal "Science of Tsunami Hazards"

2.Threat of Tsunami: Many geologists, earth scientists, and
oceanographers have commented critically, against the disastrous
consequences of constructing SSCP. Amongst these is the impending
devastation of Kerala, which will suck in after implementation of
SSCP, after next Tsunami hits it.
Read details: Sethusamudram project and impending Tsunami devastation

3.Many Naval officials are saying that even after the completion of
SSCP, the depth of the canal shall be only 12 meters (about 36 feet ),
and only small and medium sized vessels shall be able to pass. Large
sized vessels and carriers shall not be able to pass.

Social Significance

1.The construction of SSCP is trampling upon the feelings and emotions
of millions and millions of Hindus.

2.Besides, this bridge is world's oldest man-made structure. It is
much much older than the pyramids of Egypt, and the Great Wall of
China.

3.Ram Setu has sentimental, religious and historic value.

4.People have crossed the sea using the Rama-Setu, for many thousand
years, until the 15th century.

Better alternative solutions are also available !

According to the specialists, a sea route may be prepared for
navigation without damaging Sri Ram Setu, by removing the barren sand
heaps near village Mandapam between Rameshwaram and Dhanushkoti
railway. This will not only give a shorter route for navigation but
also protect the oldest man-made heritage.

Video: Rama Setu and Tsunami - Serious Consequences

2-July-2005: Congress PM Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and other
leaders at inauguration ceremony
Questions to Government

1.Why was the route of Metro passing 'close' Qutub Minar in New Delhi
was abandoned and later reworked fearing prospective damages to this
815 years man made monument?

2.Why the project of Taj corridor (which would have made lot of
dollars to our money minded govt) was put off after the hue and cry of
environmentalists as the construction near Taj 'may' cause bad effect
on this 359 years old man made monument. Please give attention here
that these monuments were not going to be destroyed but were 'feared'
to get damaged.

3.Will any government in China would destroy or even alter The great
wall of China(2695 years old) for the sake of any amount of money?

4.Will any one allow pulling down 4507 years old Pyramids of Egypt in
lieu of any uncountable amount of money?

If the answer is NO, then why this 17,25,000 years old man made
monument is being destroyed for the sake of some coins?

Other Noticable Events
An attempt to offend Hindus

The drill, which is being used to demolish the bridge, is named 'Jai
Hanuman'! Thus, as declared by the hermitage, this is a direct attempt
to humiliate Hindus. Two such machines taken there have broken down.
The government should take a lesson or two from this, says the
hermitage.

Shankaracharyas Unite to Save Ram Setu

Shankaracharyas' of all four peeths decided to unite in a bid to save
Lord Rama's 17½ lakh year old bridge. All Shankaracharya hermitages
are making efforts to save Lord Rama's bridge. What are you doing?
Related News

What you can do?

•Send Email, Letter, Fax to President of India. Find sample letters
and address details here.
•Spread awareness about this issue among your friends. Tell Your
Friends.
•Sign online petition below.

It is time to unite and act together. Let us unite as Hindus.
Join hands with HJS! HJS invites you to Dharma Jagruti Sabha

Latest Protest News

Date Activity

Dec 9, 2007 Police' strange Reply on Ramsetu complaints by HJS

Police' strange Reply on Ramsetu complaints by HJS
December 9, 2007

Mumbai (Maharashtra): It is very strange that inspite of Supreme Court
orders of lodging complaint anywhere (as done in anti-Hindu painter
M.F. Husain case)...Police dismissed the case directly because the
Karunanidhi is given statement in Tamilnadu.

Below is the translated reply given by Kavoor police station.

No.471/ncr/kps/2007.
Kavoor police station
Mangalore
Ph: 2220533
26/10/2007.

This has reference to your complaint letter lodged at the police
station on 8/10/07 regarding the statement made by Tamilnadu Chief
Minister Sri. Karunanidhi, published in Vijaya Karnataka dated 21st
September 2007.

On considering your complaint it was noted that the statement by the
defendant Tamilnadu chief minister Sri. Karunanidhi, was made at the
DMK head office at Chennai and then it was given publicity by the
press and local papers to all other places. So you have to lodge the
complaint at that police station where jurisdiction of DMK head office
falls.

Hence we direct you to lodge the complaint to the concerned police
station.

As far as we are concerned we have closed the complaint at this
station.

Sri. Pushparaj Shettigar,
H o 2/35
Falnir road, Kavoor,
Mangalore

(Sent through post)

Sub inspector of police
law and order
Kavoor police station
Mangalore.

Below is the translated reply given by Moodabidri police Station

Dated: 8/10/07
NCR No. 623/07

Reply from the police station

Subject: explanation against the complaint.

To
Sri Gopalkrishna Mallya,
s/o Manduranga Mallya,
Suvarnanagara, Kallabettu post,
Mangalore tq.

Your complaint letter against Tamilnadu chief minister Sri.
Karunanidhi against the denigration of lord SriRama has been enquired.
After enquiring the facts, following action has been taken.

While considering your complaint letter it was noted that the incident
had took place in Chennai so it will be forwarded to Chennai through
my superior officer.

Sd/
sub inspector of police
Moodabidri police station,
Moodabidri.dkn.

http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/3548.html

Nov 15, 2007 People's faith on Ram Setu is important: Sri Sri
Ravishankar

People's faith on Ram Setu is important: Sri Sri Ravishankar
November 15, 2007

Mumbai: 'Sree Rama is worshipped not only in India but also in other
countries. The Government should, therefore, take into account faith
of the people before demolishing 'Ram-setu'. A decision needs to be
taken considering the economical and ecological perspective; however,
the Government is trying to implement the project for its political
gains and we oppose such move.' The above views were expressed by Sri
Sri Ravishankar, the founder of the organization 'Art of Living'.

Shri. D.K. Hari of 'Bharat Gyan', an organization associated with 'Art
of Living' has found out many historical evidences related to Sree
Rama and all of them would be made available on a new website
www.historicalrama.org. The website was inaugurated by Sri Sri
Ravishankar. Sri Sri Ravishankar said, "People believe in existence of
Jesus Christ and Gautam Buddha as they were from historical period. So
also Sree Rama belonged to historical era and the evidence of sequence
of events from His life and sites where they took place still exist.
This has been researched by Shri. Hari. One needs to study the same
with interest. Hindu culture is vast. If you have curiosity, you can
acquire knowledge. But do not have bias against it." He said further
that faith is related to heart and science to history. Therefore,
history needs to be studied from both the angles. A member of audience
asked him whether he believed in Sree Rama as God. Sri Sri Ravishankar
replied that in Hindu culture, God is all pervading. Mother, guest and
cow are also considered as Gods then what is the problem with
considering Sree Rama as God? He said that politics and selfishness
should be kept away from 'Ram-setu'. The Government should re-consider
its 'Setu-samudram' project. Shri. Shivaji Vatkar, Mumbai District
Coordinator of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti made a prayer to Sri Sri
Ravishankar that let the existence of Sree Rama and 'Ram-setu' be
accepted by the Government.

Shri. Hari said on the occasion that during1808 to 1813, James Mill
and Charles Grant wrote history of India which was meant for British
chartered officials. The main objective of writing history was its
distortion and it was written without both of them visiting any place
in India. Unfortunately, we have continued with the same history.

Source: 'Daily Sanatan Prabhat'

http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/3393.html

Oct 6, 2007 Hindus need to unite against Setusamudram project: HJS

Hindus need to unite against Setusamudram project: HJS
October 6, 2007

By Staff Reporter

Panaji (Goa): ‘Ram-setu’ is a place of worship for all Hindus from all
over the world; but the Indian Government has taken up a project to
demolish this setu. The Central Government can dare to do such thing
only because of Hindu apathy. All Hindus should unite and fight
against this project. The above statement was made by Dr. Manoj
Solanki, the spokesperson of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) for the
State of Goa. A conference was held at V. M. Salgaokar Law College on
the topic ‘Setusamudram Project and Ram-setu’. The setu was built by
the army of monkeys about more than one and a half million years ago
and its existence is very significant even from the geographical,
social and environmental point of view. Our experts have opined that
if this setu is demolished, we may have to face disasters like
tsunami; but the Government is bent upon carrying on with its project.
To save a few millions of rupees, the Congress Government is going
ahead with its plan to destroy such invaluable treasure. It is a ploy
against Hindus. Dr. Solanki said that despite having other options for
the project, the Government is unyielding on the issue. The
participants were explained with the help of audio-visual mediums
about the campaign started by HJS in this matter on its website.

Shri Abhijit Sadhale, an architect gave details about the construction
of the ‘setu’ from the perspective of architecture based on evidence
taken from scriptures and explained the need for this setu even
today.

http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/3147.html

Sep 25, 2007 HJS members arrested and later released for staging
demonstrations against Karunanidhi

HJS members arrested and later released for staging demonstrations
against Karunanidhi
September 25, 2007

By Staff Reporter

HJS's members demonstrating against Karunanidhi

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Demonstrations were staged near Swaminarayan
Temple at Dadar by members of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) against
Shri. M. Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu belonging to
DMK party. Shri. Karunanidhi had passed very disgraceful remarks about
Sree Rama and ‘Ram-setu’. In fact, he had refused to accept existence
of Sree Rama. Shri. Karunanidhi had also asked that from which
engineering college Sree Rama was graduated. In a State like Tamil
Nadu where Hindus are in majority, would Karunanidhi dare to say
anything against Prophet Mohammad or Jesus Christ?, asked HJS.

Hindus vote for such politicians with the hope that they would bring
back ‘Rama-rajya’; but these insolent politicians refuse to
acknowledge even the existence of Sree Rama and on the contrary,
insult Hindus. The demonstrators were demanding that police should
take action against Karunanidhi under Section 295 of Indian Penal Code
for hurting religious sentiments of Hindus. They said that person like
Karunanidhi who is so much attached to the post and power even at this
age that he would not understand the greatness of Sree Rama who gave
up even His throne to obey his father’s orders. They also demanded
that Karunanidhi should tender public apology to all Hindus.

Police had issued prohibition order against public gathering in view
of the ongoing Sree Ganesha festival and to maintain law and order in
the city. The demonstrators were therefore, arrested for not following
the order. A representation was submitted on behalf of HJS to the
Governor of the State, the Chief Secretary and the Director General of
Police. HJS has appealed that under the pretext of development, the
Congress Government is hatching a plot to destroy ‘Ram-setu’. The
Government that changed the route of Metro Railway in Delhi to protect
Qutub Minar has proved the type of secularism it believes in by its
efforts to destroy ‘Ram-setu’. Although the Congress Government has
witdrawn its proclamation, it has not cancelled the ‘Ram-setu’ project
and all Hindus should come together to save ‘Ram-setu’.

For more photo about demonstration visit Photo gallery

http://www.hindujagruti.org/phpgal/index.php?level=album&id=74
http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/3080.html

Sep 8, 2007 Agitation against Central Govt's Setu-samudram project

Agitation against Central Govt's Setu-samudram project
September 8, 2007

By Staff Reporter

Chopda (Maharashtra): The Central Government is planning to demolish
‘Ram-setu’ joining Sri Lanka and India. It is the structure revered by
all Hindus. The Government has undertaken a project called ‘Setu-
samudram’ for the purpose. If ‘Ram-setu’ is demolished, it will not
only be a spiritual loss but surrounding nations including India will
also have to face adverse effects on the physical layout such as
facing tsunami. Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), therefore, held
demonstrations to register protest against this project outside
Tehsildar’s office at Chopda.

Representation warning the Government to face wrath of Hindus in case
of its failure to take note of their protest was submitted later to
Smt. Tanuja Vispute, the Dy. Tehsildar in the presence of Shri. Sanjay
Thorat, General Secretary of BJP, Shri. Vilas Jagatap, taluka-chief of
Shiv Sena, Shri. Anil Wankhede, district-chief of Maharashtra
Navanirman Sena, Shri. Pramod Bhat, a municipal councilor, Adv.
Dharmendra Sonar, Dr. Mahendra Patil, a Shiv Sena municipal councilor,
Shri. Ashok Shetty of RSS, Shri. Amrutrao Sachdev, the President of
local Merchants Organization, Shri. Dilip Mali of Mali Mitra Mandal,
Shri. Shekhar Rajput and Shri. Narayan Borole of Maharana Pratap Mitra
Mandal and seekers of Sanatan Sanstha and members of HJS.

http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/2956.html

Sep 7, 2007 Setu-samudram project' is Govt's methodic plan to hurt
Hindu feelings - Dr. Subramanyam Swami

Setu-samudram project' is Govt's methodic plan to hurt Hindu feelings
- Dr. Subramanyam Swami
September 7, 2007

By Staff Reporter

Mumbai (Maharashtra): ‘Arrest of Shankaracharya, prohibition on
Dharmacharya to carry His ‘Danda’ during His air travel, destruction
of ‘Ram-setu’ etc. are the methodic assaults by the Government on
objects of worship of Hindus. When faith is destroyed, society is
weakened and it is easy to convert such people. This is the real
objective behind demolishing ‘Ram-setu’. The above statement was made
by Dr. Subramanyam Swamy, the President of Janata Party.

Dr. Subramanyam Swami

Dr. Swamy was the main speaker in a program held on behalf of
‘Rameshwaram Ram-setu Raksha Manch’ and ‘Indian History Compilation
Committee (Konkan Zone)’. He said, "It is not important to prove with
the help of science, whether ‘Ram-setu’ is natural or man-made; but
Hindus have faith in ‘Ram-setu’ and this reason is enough. Scientific
proofs can be obtained later as was found in case of existence of
Saraswati River and Dwaraka." He said further that 5 commissions
before the Congress Government took over in 2004 had put up alternate
plans against demolition of ‘Ram-setu’. But this Government has found
a new approach so that the ‘Ram-setu’ would be demolished. The
Government’s intentions are quite clear. Now the fight is between ‘Om
and Rome." In a case fought in Punjab High Court about Brahma-sarovar
(lake) in Kurukshetra, the Court had passed a verdict that if people
have faith in Brahma Lake, there is no need to find any proof and
their faith is sufficient. Even now the same problem has arisen. But
the Congress Government is trying to avoid finding answer to this
problem.

Shri. Karunanidhi, the President of DMK has extended his support to
the project as Karunanidhi claims to be an atheist and not a Hindu. He
has been carrying out very insulting propaganda against Sree Rama for
past so many decades. He has written many dishonorable things about
Sree Rama and is generally against Sree Rama. We must remember this.
Shri. Swamy said further that the Government changed the route of
Metro railway when a petition was filed that Delhi Metro project is a
danger to Qutub Minar. The Government spent additional 20 crores of
rupees in changing the route. Historical importance of Qutub Minar is
nothing against ‘Ram-setu’. But the Government believes only in
buttering minorities. The rulers want to prove to the minorities by
demolishing ‘Ram-setu’that they do not care for Hindus. He said that
as Indian Government is indifferent towards the demand to declare ‘Ram-
setu’ as a historical monument, he would appeal to the Government of
Sri Lanka for the same. (Hindus must realize that it would be shameful
if help of another country is sought to save ‘Ram-setu’. They should
try their best to save ‘Ram-setu’ - Editor)

HJS member presenting Granth to Dr. Subramanyam Swami

Dr. Durgesh Samant, all India spokesperson of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti
(HJS), Shri. Ramesh Shinde, its spokesperson for the State of
Maharashtra, Shri. Shivanand Prabhu, HJS spokesperson for Southern
India and Shri. Shivaji Vatkar, the Mumbai coordinator of HJS called
on Dr. Swamy and briefed him about activities of HJS and various
drives undertaken by it. Dr. Swamy was also informed about distortion
of Indian Map on CNN-IBN and BBC TV channels, representation submitted
to the Central Government in this regard and Govt’s inaction. Dr.
Swamy asked for the relevant papers in the matter and assured to take
up the issue with the Government.

http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/2940.html

Aug 29, 2007 Good response to agitations against Govt decision to
demolish 'Ram-setu'

Good response to agitations against Govt decision to demolish 'Ram-
setu'
August 29, 2007

By Staff Reporter

Updates:

•Good response to agitations against Govt. decision to demolish 'Ram-
setu' (29 Aug 07)
•Agitation against Central Govt' decision to demolish 'Ram-setu' (27
Aug 07)

Jalgaon (Maharashtra): The Central Government has decided to demolish
‘Ram-setu’ on the pretext of reducing the distance required to be
covered by ships between two countries viz. India and Sri Lanka and
bring the two countries closer. The project is named as ‘setusamudram
project’ by the Government. The ‘Ram-setu’ is revered by all Hindus.
If this ‘setu’ is demolished, there will be adverse geographical
effect like getting hit by tsunami so also spiritual loss. In view of
the above, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) held demonstrations outside
the office of District Collector. People’s response was very
encouraging.

HJS member submitting representation to DC Dr. Nitin Mahajan

A representation was given to the District Collector warning the
Government for not hurting religious sentiments of Hindus and fall
prey to Hindu outburst. Mrs. Vasanti Chaudhary, district president of
BJP- Women’s wing, Mrs. Rekha Verma, city president of women’s front,
Shri. Gajanan Malpure, city-chief of Shiv Sena, Shri. Ashok
Ladvanjari, Jalgaon city chief of BJP and Shri. Sunil Mali, its
general secretary, Shri. Mangesh Maharaj, keertankar and trustee of
Shri Ram Mandir Sansthan, Shri. Dilip Ladvanjari from Mehrun, Shri.
Dinakar Sonawane of Bajarang Dal, Shri. Sheshrao Valkar, President of
Porters and ‘Mathadi’ organization, Shri. Ramesh Dharmakal from Sree
Sampradaya, and many local leaders of Shiv Sena, RSS, Richshaw union,
Shiva Rashtra Brigade, VHP, members of Sanatan Sanstha and HJS
participated in the dmonstartions.

Shri. Haribhau Javale, a BJP MP elected from Jalgaon said that within
4-5 days, the Government was planning to start demolition of ‘Ram-
setu’ and it was necessary to start agitations all over the country.
He said the matter was also discussed with Shri. Rajnath Singh, the
President of BJP. He said that he would give a copy of the
representation to the President. Shri. Javale was sent a SMS about the
demonstrations and although he reached late as he came by train, he
contacted members of HJS and extended his support.

Agitation against Central Govt' decision to demolish 'Ram-setu'
August 27, 2007

Jalgaon (Maharashtra): The Congress led Government at the Centre has
taken a decision to demolish ‘Ram-setu’ which is a place of worship of
all Hindus. The Central Government has taken up ‘Setusamudram’ project
for the purpose. If this ‘setu’ is demolished, there will be adverse
geographical effect like getting hit by tsunami so also spiritual
loss. In view of the above, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) will be
holding demonstrations outside the office of District Collector from
11.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. on 27th August 2007. HJS has made an appeal to
all Hindus to participate in the demonstrations.

http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/2876.html

Aug 15, 2007 Agitation will continue till Setusamudram Project not
scrapped!

Agitation will continue till Setusamudram Project not scrapped!
August 15, 2007

Panaji (Goa): The Central Government has commenced work to destroy the
‘Sree Ram Setu’ through its Setusamudram Shipping Canal Project. ‘If
this work is not stopped with immediate effect, then we shall stage a
huge agitation till this project is scrapped’, was the warning given
by the Rameshwaram Ramsetu Raksha Manch to the Central Government
today. This warning was given at a demonstration staged near the
Hanuman Temple located near the Kadamba Bus stand.

Shri. Vinayak Chari gave this warning while addressing the crowd on
behalf of the Manch during the demonstration. The Congress Government
at the Center is working against Hindu culture. We are willing to take
any step to stop this project that aims to destroy the ‘Sree Ram
Setu’, remarked Shri. Chari. At this time, Prof. Anil Parvatkar, a
historian, strongly criticized the Congress Government’s above said
plan. He publicly criticized the Central Tourism Minister Smt. Ambika
Soni and Central Minister Shri. Balu’s claim that the ‘Sree Ram Setu’
does not exist. During their speech, Prof. Ratnakar Lele and Prof.
Datta Naik of the RSS also criticised the Congress Government for
attempting to destroy the ‘Sree Ram Setu’. Prof. Datta Naik further
remarked that the Government was indulging in anti-Hindu activities
under the garb of secularism. Shri. Abhijit Nadkarni of the Hindu
Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) expressed that the said project was an attack
on Hindu Dharma and all Hindus should unite to fight back against it.
He acquainted the audience with the online signature campaign started
by the HJS on its Website www.hindujagruti.org to protect the ‘Sree
Ram Setu’. The VHP, HJS and Sanatan Sanstha supported this agitation.
Shri. Govind Parvatkar, BJP Spokesperson; leader Dr. Subhash Salkar
and Sanatan Sanstha’s Prasarsevika Smt. Shubha Sawant also
participated in the agitation.

Highlights

•Slogans were shouted against the Congress Government and the
Tamilnadu Government during the agitation. Slogans encouraging the
youth such as ‘Ramsetu ke kaam na aaye, who bekaar jawani hai!’ were
also given at this time.
Source: 'Daily Sanatan Prabhat'

http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/2784.html

Jul 5, 2007 TN Govt reconsider 'Ram-setu' project on Sanatan's demand

TN Govt reconsider 'Ram-setu' project on Sanatan's demand
July 5, 2007

Ram-setu (Picture by NASA) Ponda (Goa): Sanatan Sanstha had requested
the Prime Minister of India to preserve the 'Ram-setu' built by Sree
Rama and review the project on 'Setu-samudram Shipping Canal'. A copy
of the representation was also given to the Chief Minister of
TamilNadu on 22nd May 2007. An acknowledgement receipt of the same has
been received by the Sanstha on 20th June, i.e. after almost a month.
An acknowledgement receipt has also been received from the TamilNadu
Government by HJS for their representation with a comment, in Tamil
language, that the representation has been forwarded to the Chief
Minister and the concerned officers and will be examined suitably.

Source: 'Daily Sanatan Prabhat'

HJS Related Section

> Learn Hinduism
> Save Sree Ram Setu

» Sri Skanda Purana : Significance of Ram Setu
» HJS representation against demolition of 'Ram-setu'
» No Ordinance in store for Temples: Kerala Govt.
» Ram Sethu man-made, says Madras HC

Notice: The source URLs cited in the article might be only valid on
the date the article was published. Most of them may become invalid
from a day to a few months later. When a URL fails to work, you may go
to the top level of the source's website and search for the article.

Disclaimer: The news published are collected from various sources and
responsibility of news lies solely on the source itself. Hindu
Janajagruti Samiti or its website is not in anyway connected nor is it
responsible for the news content presented here.

http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/2557.html

Jun 13, 2007 Invaluable support of HJS for protection of 'Ram-setu'!

Invaluable support of HJS for protection of 'Ram-setu'!
June 13, 2007

Solapur: "In the campaign started all over the world to protect 'Ram-
setu', the support extended by HJS and Sanatan Sanstha is invaluable.
Hindus from all over the world are participating in the campaign
through website of HJS by sending protest letters", said Shri.
Dhananjay Vaidya, disciple of Jagatguru Shankaracharya Swami
Nischalananda Saraswati of Govardhan Peeth while talking to Dr.
Veerendrasinh Tawade, Chief Coordinator of HJS for the State of
Maharashtra.

Jagatguru Shankaracahrya is on a tour of the country to create
awareness amongst people against the 'Setu Samudram' project of the
Central Government. He was recently on a visit to Pandharpur and
Solapur in this context. Shri. Dhananjay Vaidya explained the
religious, social, spiritual, natural, financial and scientific
impairment, the project can cause. Dr. Tawade apprised him of the
drive undertaken by HJS in this regard. Shri. Vaidya said that in the
month of December, Swamiji will be in Goa where he proposes to meet
H.H. Dr. Athavale, the Founder of Sanatan Sanstha.

Source: ' Daily Sanatan Prabhat ' http://dainiksanatanprabhat.blogspot.com/

Success News
Read all news here

chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 19, 2010, 4:40:24 PM2/19/10

Communalism Watch

Resources for all concerned by the rise of the far right in India (and
with occasional information on other countries of South Asia)

"They came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I
wasn’t a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up
because I wasn’t a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I
wasn’t a Jew;

And then... they came for me... And by that time there was no one left
to speak up." --Martin Niemöller

August 25, 2008
Ram Setu: Separating A Myth From Reality

(People's Democracy, August 17, 2008)

Ram Setu: A Myth Or Reality

by Suraj Bhan

THE traditional knowledge and values have been critically examined,
rejected or transformed in the successive ages by the creative and
developing societies. The Ram Setu controversy reflects that the
reality behind the myth of the Ram Setu has not been grasped by a
section of the elite and is being utilised by the regressive forces
under the Ram Setu protection movement. The writ petition filed in
court in 2007 and the withdrawal of the affidavit by the ASI on behalf
of the central government are an evidence of this. The right wing
political parties want the historians, scientists and the nation to
believe, despite the scientific assertions to the contrary made by GSI
and other institutions and scholars that the Ram Setu was man made.
The present note aims at re-examining the literary, archaeological and
geological data in brief to examine the falsity of this claim.

The Valmiki Ramayan in its present form aims at the objective of
promoting the Vaisnava cult by employing myths and miracles. The story
of Rama also emphasises the role he played in protecting the varna
system and the patriarchic values of family in the Brahmanical
culture. The propagation of Vaisnava and the Rama cults through
precept and practice, creation of stupendous literature, religious
institutions and depiction of the myths, legends and miracles for
communicating the message through art and architectural forms made the
cults popular among the believers engrossed in conditions of
helplessness.

The earliest reference to Rama or Rama’s Bridge occurs in the Ramayana
of Valmiki. Although the Brahmanical tradition pushes back the
antiquity of Ramayana to remote past, the archaeological excavations
at Ayodhya, the birth place of Rama, places the foundation of Ayodhya
not earlier than the seventh century BC. The earliest Buddhist
literature (Pali Tripitakas) having no reference to the story of Ram
places Ramayana even later than the rise of Buddhism (c500 BC). The
scientific historians generally date Ramayana in its present form
between C 400 BC and CAD 200.

The story of Ramayana broadly moves around the birth of the hero at
Ayodhya, his marriage with Sita, departure for exile and sojourn in
the Vindhyan forests and abduction of Sita by Ravana, the king of
Lanka, discovery of Sita with the help of Sugriva, Hanumana and their
vanara followers, the construction of bridge over the sea with the
help of Sea God (Varuna), Nala the son of Visvakarma, the divine
architect, and the vanaras to cross over to Lanka to rescue Sita after
defeating Ravana.

The Ram Setu in Hindu tradition is believed to be a bridge over the
sea connecting Rameshvaram island in Tamilnadu with Mannar island
(Ceylon or Sri Lanka). Ramayana only states that after the Sea God
agreed to quite the waves in the sea, the vanaras filled the waters
with tree trunks and stone slabs. Soon a hundred yojana long and ten
yojana wide bridge came into existence for Rama’s armies to cross over
to Lanka. The Ramayana gives no idea about the type of the bridge,
nature and numbers of its pillars, the plan of the bridge, the
cementing material, tools and technology in its construction. A
construction of a floating bridge of stone slabs with a span of 30
kilometers over the sea is unmistakably a miracle performed by Rama,
the incarnation of Vishnu.

Scientists do not accept miracles. O H K Spate (India and Pakistan,
London,. Pp 727-728) opines on the basis of his scientific
understanding that the Adam’s Bridge (Ram Setu) “is basically a coral
reef killed by uplift and consolidated into coral rock”. The
Encyclopedia Britannica, (Volume-1, 1766, p. 129) also suggests that
“Adam’s Bridge (Rama’s bridge) is a chain of sand banks between the
islands of Mannar near north-western cost and lying between the Gulf
of Mannar on the south-west and Pak Strait on north-east”. The
Gazettier of India (Indian Union Vol-1 pg 57) mentions that in the
north of the Gulf “two narrow necks of land, one coming from the
Indian side and the other from Ceylon are connected by sub-merged
reef, Adam’s Bridge, hardly four metres below sea level. This is
conclusive evidence of the rise of sea level since post glacial time
which caused submergence of the connecting link between India and
Ceylon.”

Professor H D Sankalia in his attempt to separate reality from myths
in Ramayana came to the conclusion that Ramayana knew little about the
geography of south India. It mentions no important features like river
settlements and Megalithic monuments except mountains. He further
questions the availability of Sal, Ashoka and other trees and stone
slabs on the Tamil coast covered with sand dunes called Teris and
growing very few palm trees near Rameshvaram.

He also notes that a lot of imagination was used to locate Lanka on
Trikuta hill surrounded by sea and provided with golden pillars,
fortification walls, iron gates and a moat. This has not been
discovered so far. He locates Lanka near Bilaspur in eastern Vindhyas
instead. Geologists and archaeologists found no evidence of manmade
bridge between Rameshwarm and Mannar island (Sri Lanka) also.

The study of inscriptions from south India suggests that the legend of
Rama reached south India not before the fifth century AD. The Talgunda
inscription of fifth century attests it. The sculpture of ten headed
Ravana is mentioned in the Mamalapuram inscription of 630 AD. The
Adivaraha cave at Mamallapuram has an inscription of eighth century
which refers to the Avataras of Vishnu. The Chola inscriptions mention
several Ram shrines in Tamil land.

It appears from the art and architectural remains in south India that
Buddhism had reached coast by Christian era. But there is no evidence
of Vaishnava or Ram temples in south India about this time. Even the
Sangam literature (300 BC-AD 300) makes no mention of Rameshvaram or
Ram Setu. The earliest reference to Rameshvram temple occurs in
Tevaramhymns of seventh century saints – Appar, Gnana Sambandar. The
temple is described as a thatched shelter. A number of Hindu temples,
both Saiva and Vaishnava were constructed in south India in the
succeeding centuries. The present Rameshvaram temple was repaired and
enlarged by Nayakas and Setupatis in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. It seems that Lanka and Ram Setu were names applied to the
phenomena in south India only from the sixth or seventh centuries AD
when the Brahmanical tradition reached there. Earlier these names
might have been applied to some spots in the eastern Vindhyas near
Bilaspur as suggested by Professor Sankalia.

The controversy between the mythological or historical character of
Ram Setu were brought to fore by images taken by space shuttles and
space capsules of NASA some years back. The images have created an
illusion of a ribbon like cause-way below the sea level The data was
misread and misinterpreted as the evidence for the Ram Setu or Adam’s
Bridge and that it was manmade. Confusion thus created was cleared by
NASA which termed the formation as a Tombolo or a deposition land form
such as a land bar between the Island and the mainland shores and that
this is a natural formation resulting from the wave action. Such
Tombolos are reported to have been found at several places in the
world. Thus the Ram Setu or Adam’s Bridge formation was explained as a
series of barrier island caused by tidal action and sedimentation.

The confusion once created by NASA images was further sorted out by
the scientific investigation undertaken by the Geological Survey of
India (GSI) during December 2002-March 2003. After studying the data
from the sea bed as well as the boreholes, the GSI concluded that the
Rameshvaram island evolved 1,25,000 years BP. The sea bed rock between
Rameswaram and Thalai Mannar remained exposed above sea level between
18000 and 7000 years BP and provided a land passage between Indian sub
continent and Sri Lanka. The study further attested that there was no
evidence of manmade structure on the present sea bed or on the surface
level between Dhanush Koti tip and the islands in the sea, supposed to
be part of Ram Setu.

The Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad reached the conclusion on the
basis of a similar study that the Adam’s Bridge is not a manmade
structure. It comprised of 103 small patch reefs in a linear pattern.
It further established that the reef system is a ribbon reef type. An
article published in the Journal of the Indian society of Remote
Sensing stated that the Adam’s Bridge showed nothing other than coral
sand and corroborated not only the views held by geologists and
archaeologists but also explained the formation of the so called Ram
Setu (Adam’s Bridge) and proved that it is not an ancient monument
made by man.

the literary, archaeological and geological investigations have
demonstrated beyond doubt that the Ram Setu or Adam’s Bridge is not a
manmade structure. Propaganda being indulged in by the right wing
political parties and their ideologues is totally unscientific.

Scientific knowledge is essential to understand the historical
context. It helps people to organise to build a knowledge-based
society and to look forward to create a genuine democratic political
and social culture ensuring equity and justice.

Posted by c-info at Monday, August 25, 2008

http://communalism.blogspot.com/2008/08/ram-setu-separating-myth-from-reality.html

Appeal for Peace and Justice in Gujarat

Coalition Against Communalism gathers to condemn the violence and
demand justice for all victims in Gujarat; Indian Consulate presented
with petition bearing 4233 signatures asking the National Human Rights
Commission to ensure human rights and justice in Gujarat; Gathering
draws 250.

San Francisco, CA - On Saturday, March 23rd , 250 people gathered at
the Gadar Memorial, a tribute to the movement that Bhagat Singh
belonged to, and marched to the Indian Consulate in San Francisco to
present a petition bearing over 4233 signatures from across the world
asking the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to safeguard the
human and constitutional rights for all residents of Gujarat -
regardless of religion or ethnicity. The petition asks the NHRC to
ensure the following:

Setting up of an independent and impartial judicial enquiry. It
rejects both the charter and the constitution of the current judicial
enquiry.

Immediate government assistance to victims.

Equal and fair compensation to all victims, whether of the Sabarmati
Express or of the communal violence.
Gujarat Government to condemn, not explain, the violence.

The Dismissal of the Police Commissioners in cities worst affected by
the violence.

The Resignation of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi

That the recent decision not to apply POTO to the current violence is
commendable, and needs to be sustained.

An immediate end to all measures to curb the freedom of, and acts of
violence against, the freedom of the press.

People who signed the petition included film-maker Anand Patwardhan,
former Chief of Indian Navy, Admiral Ramdas, social activist Lalitha
Ramdas, author Chitra Divakaruni, Magasaysay award winner Rajendra
Singh, Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Shripad Dharmadhikary, human
rights activists Dr. Vineeta Gupta and Mukundan Menon, university
professors Dr. D. N. Jha (Delhi University), Dr. Kamal Mitra Chenoy
(Jawaharlal Nehru University), Dr. Raka Ray (University of California,
Berkeley), Dr. Rafiq Dossani (Stanford University), Dr. Hari Sharma
(Simon Fraser University), independent film maker Ali Kazimi,
journalists Arundhati Parmar and Beena Sarwar, and leaders of Indo-
American organizations Srikanth Nadhamuni (former President of Indians
for Collective Action) and Pradeep Kashyap (Director of the Indian
American Foundation).

The march, orchestrated under the banner of Coalition Against
Communalism, was a reflection of India in all its diversity - with
representation from all its religions, brought together by the carnage
in Gujarat. It was also a representation of an often silent majority
of Indians living in the San Francisco Bay Area, who were outraged by
the events in Gujarat, and believed that their voice needed an
expression, and wanted to show the people of their support in these
troubled times. On reaching the Indian Consulate, the marches observed
a minute of silence to honor and respect all the victims of Gujarat.

The march included a talk by Shalini Gera, the author of the petition,
who debunked many of the myths perpetuated on what happened in
Gujarat, and Why? According to Gera, this violence was neither
spontaneous, nor expressive of a sentiment among the Hindus in
Gujarat. It was pre-planned, meticulously executed, and often carried
out in collusion with the civic, administrative, and political bodies.
Furthermore, the government has been both biased and negligent in its
provision of relief to victims of the riots. Gera also took exception
to the claim by the Sangh Parivar to be both patriots and pro-Hindu,
saying they neither represent Hindus in their distortion of its
beliefs, nor the country in their rejection of its founding
principles. Hindus and Muslims, as with other communities in India,
live together peacefully, and the recent violence was a deliberate and
malicious provocation by people opposed to that fact.

The Sangh Parivar, and in particular its more extreme bodies that
function outside the political process - the VHP, RSS, and Bajrang
Dal, were condemned by those who marched. There were several slogans
against the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), which is active in the Indian
community in the US, and has been directly linked to both the
instigation and the execution of the violence against Muslims in the
India. The speakers also made this point. Raju Rajagopal, an activist
in the Indian community, spoke of the need for Indians everywhere to
speak up against the violence. Gurdip Ankhi, who spoke in Punjabi, and
has been active in politics in Punjab, spoke of the government forcing
Indians everywhere to hang their heads in shame by their failure to
uphold this most basic right of all citizens - the right to life.
Samittar Uppal, of the Indian People's Cultural Association drew
parallels between the challenges of today, and the work of the Gadar
Party in fighting both for India's freedom, and their vision of a
secular and democratic India. Manzoor Ghori and Omair Farooqui of the
Indian Muslim Relief Committee read a statement condemning the
violence. Syed ji of Hyderabad spoke of the fact that Muslims in India
were Indians to the core, rejecting the Sangh Parivar argument on the
external origins of Islam. Avi Singh also spoke of the need for
holdings those responsible accountable under the rule of law, and the
responsibility everyone shared in preventing these tragedies from
reoccurring. Other speakers included Sanjiv Mahajan and Professor
Angana Chatterji.

Professor Praveen Sheth and Manzoor Ghori presented the petition to
the ConsulateThe Vice Consul Saxena, on behalf of the Consul General,
received the petition.

The mood of the march was somber in light of the events in Gujarat.
Nalini Shekar led the marched in singing songs on communal harmony.
Among banners displayed at the march, some included:

"Religious Harmony and Social Justice in India"
"PM: Do your Constitutional Duty"
"We want a Secular and Democratic India"
"Vajpayeeji, Uphold the Rule of Law"
"VHP Represent Hindus - What a Joke?"
"Bring all Law-Breakers to justice now"

Some Quotes

"We must stop this violence now. I urge the government and the human
rights groups to do their part to end it. I pray for all our brothers
and sisters who have suffered in this hate-filled carnage in India."
-Chitra Divakurni, Author

"We must condemn crimes committed in our name, and plan for long term
strategies toward secularizing India and Indians so we might honour
the promises we have made to each other in the name of democracy,
justice and freedom for all her citizens."
-Professor Angana Chatterji, California Institute of Integral Studies,
San Francisco, CA

"This is not just a Gujarat issue. This is not just an Indian issue.
This is about upholding the constitution and law & order."

-Raju Rajgopal, Activist

http://cac.ektaonline.org/actions/gujarat/march0302article.htm

A TRIBUTE TO
MAHARAJ KAUL
(1940-2009)

Ved Prakash Vatuk bids a fond farewell to Maharaj Kaul, a passionately
committed activist who worked for progressive causes for decades. Kaul
died Sept. 30.2009

SOFT AS A LOTUS
HARD AS A ROCK

On September 6, 2009 I got a call from my dearest friend Maharaj Kaul.
He said, “I did not want to tell you that I have been diagnosed with a
liver cancer. I did not want to tell any- one and worry him/her. But
now the time has come to transfer the responsibilities of running our
organization India Relief and Education Fund. So I have to tell a few
friends.”

It showed that even in his last few weeks he was not so worried about
his horrible disease as he was about the feelings of his friends.
Ashok Bardhan, one of the trustees, and I decided to visit him the
next day with his assent. The visit lasted for only half an hour. He
told us the cancer has reached the dangerous point. If the therapy
works, he may live for two more years, otherwise maybe six months.” He
already was meticulously planning an action to distribute his
collection of books, videos that he made, the exhibitions of various
kinds to hand over to the proper persons, so the work for social
change can continue. When we tried to tell him that the time has not
come up yet, he said, “I am a realistic man. I know what is happening
to me. I have achieved 90 percent of what I wanted to do. I am
satisfied.” He was tired and we left, so he can rest. But before we
left he made us promise not to tell anyone. “Not yet.”

And next time we planned to visit him on Sept. 30. We were only fifty
yards away from his house when his daughter called, “Uncle, he just
passed away. At 11:05 am.”

And thus, a great soul departed leaving his old father, two brothers,
four sisters, a daughter, two grand daughters and many relatives
behind. All were present there to offer their last prayers. He was so
beloved.

Maharaj K. Kaul, born on Nov. 11, 1940 in Srinagar, Kashmir, was the
second son of Kashi Nath Kaul, a civil servant the in Kashmir State
Government, and Shobha Devi. After getting his engineering degree from
Patiala, Punjab, he got his Ph.D. in civil engineering from the
University of California, Berkeley in 1972. Till his death he was
working with G.E in their research wing. He authored several research
papers and he was well known in his field. But Maharaj’s passion was
the work he did promoting social justice, economic equality and
freedom for masses. Ever since his university days, when he was active
in India Forum, he relentlessly worked for his passion.

He was the founding member of many organizations, such as South Asians
for Collective Action, Coalition against Communalism, Pakistan - India
–Friendship Society, Gadar Heritage Foundation and the founding
director of India Relief and Education Fund He had organized dozens of
film screenings of progressive Indian films, plays and other events to
promote the causes close to his heart. He never sought fame or credit
for his tireless work. And his mother fondly told us many times he was
a gentlest saintly son and friend. Indeed he devoted so much time to
solve problems of his friends. He was total giver.

We can not put in words what we lost in his demise. We send our
deepest condolences to his bereaved family, particularly his father
and beloved daughter Aparna and her two lovely daughters.

Poet folklorist Ved Prakash Vatuk’s many awards include the U.P.
government’s Pravasi Bharatiya Hindi Sahitya Bhushan. “Essays in
Indian Folk Traditions,” his collected writings, has just been
published by the Folklore Institute, Berkeley, Calif.

Soft As A Lotus Hard As A Rock (PDF - 704 kb) PDF version of the
original article as it appeared in siliconeer.com, October 2009
(Volume X. Issue 10 | ISSN 1528-9273)

SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE HINDUTVA ASSAULT ON CALIFORNIA HISTORY TEXTBOOKS

Details: Visit the CA Textbooks Issue Home Page

Today, we in California are facing a Hindutva assault on school
history textbooks of the kind that went on a few years ago in India.
This is an issue of rising concern in the California community and we
at CAC are alarmed by these attempts to misrepresent India and South
Asia's ancient history and the history of Hinduism. Please join us in
speaking out against these attempts to distort history texts with
propaganda. (more info)

NOTORIOUS INDIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSER
DENIED ENTRY INTO US!

Coalition of thirty five human rights organizations
wins first victory

“Victory and a New Resolve for Justice” Rally to be held as scheduled
on Sunday March 20th 4:30 PM Outside the Madison Square garden.

NEW YORK— The American State department decision to deny Mr. Narendra
Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat and chief architect of the Gujarat
pogrom of 2002, a diplomatic visa and to revoke his existing tourist/
business visa based on the International Religious Freedom Act is a
landmark victory for the Coalition Against Genocide (CAG). The denial
of a visa to Mr. Modi is not the outcome of a diplomatic battle
between governments, instead it reflects the strength of the
transnational alliance between South Asian organizations and human
rights groups in the U.S. The CAG action against Modi that began
February 24th 2005, ran simultaneous campaigns on multiple fronts and
received strong support from international organizations such as Human
Rights Watch (HRW), Institute on Religion and Public Policy (IRPP) and
Amnesty International (AI). The 35 organizations in U.S. and Canada
that constitute CAG represent a spectrum that include women’s
organizations, youth collectives, secular groups as well as Hindu,
Sikh, Christian and Muslim organizations
(www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org)

Mr. Modi is directly implicated in the 2002 massacre in Gujarat,
India, of more than 2,000 persons and is a member of a violent and
chauvinistic Hindu nationalist organization called the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS – National Volunteers Corps). The RSS is a
shadowy all-male organization drawing inspiration from Hitler and
Mussolini that trains militia-like groups of men and indoctrinates
them into ideologies of racial/religious cleansing. Mr. Modi currently
faces two law suits for crimes against humanity in India, and is in
violation of international laws and conventions including Convention
on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, and
the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

The Coalition Against Genocide (CAG) campaign focus was to educate and
inform the American public and policymakers about Mr. Narendra Modi’s
role in the 2002 Gujarat pogrom and in preventing justice being
delivered to the victims of the pogroms. Although Mr. Modi is
attempting to characterize the state department’s visa denial as a
nationalist issue, we would like to point out that he was not here to
represent the Indian state. Instead, he was sponsored by a corporate
entity, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), that
condoned his abysmal human rights record and invited him as chief
guest for their annual convention in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on March
24, 2005. CAG’s publicity and outreach actions included letters to
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a campaign to inform members of
the U.S. Congress, and a phone and fax campaign against MSNBC host
Chris Matthews, American Express and the California State University,
Long Beach, who were sponsoring and participating in Mr. Modi
legitimation process during his U.S. visit. CAG’s first success came
when Chris Matthews withdrew from the AAHOA convention. Further, the
CAG campaign moved Rep. Conyers to introduce Resolution 156 in
Congress condemning Mr. Modi and finally led to the denial/revocation
of the visas by the State department. Responding to the announcement
of visa denial, CAG spokesperson Usha Zacharias said the visa denial
decision “is a testimony to the work done by large segments of the
progressive organizations in India and abroad who documented in great
detail the abuses of Mr. Modi. CAG’s work in the U.S .was to use this
detailed documentation and highlight the desperate need for justice to
the victims of the pogrom in Gujarat.”CAG will continue with its plans
to hold a rally on Sunday March 20th at 4:30 PM outside the Madison
Square Garden where Mr. Modi was to speak, except that it will be a
“VICTORY AND A NEW RESOLVE FOR JUSTICE” rally instead of a protest.
The Sunday rally will highlight the continuing human rights violations
in Gujarat and push further for the speedy delivery of justice to the
victims of the 2002 pogrom. In addition the rally will challenge the
role of the US supporters of the divisive politics espoused by Mr.
Modi and his political party, and their attempts to direct money to
institutions in India that promote hate-mongering and communal
violence. CAG considers the denial of visa to Mr. Modi as a clear
victory for supporters of human rights and justice in the U.S. and in
India. It sends a clear message that perpetrators of religious and
political persecution can be held accountable for their actions
through dedicated work by broad, inclusive coalitions. Indian and
U.S. groups share a long, common tradition of battling for human
rights, and securing justice for the oppressed that CAG and its
partners will continue to build on. In this context, we call on the
Indian government to legally follow up this decision by pressing
criminal charges against Modi, and by choking the funding pipeline
that runs from the U.S. to India to facilitate the growth of
Hindutva’s violent politics.We also call on all organizations
concerned with minority rights and women’s rights to join us in our
battle against the RSS ideology of ethnic cleansing we witnessed in
horrific detail in the 72-hour pogrom in Gujarat. Amnesty
International has clearly held the state of Gujarat, headed by Mr.
Modi, responsible for gender crimes in its report, Justice, the victim
- Gujarat state fails to protect women from violence
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa200012005, as has Human
Rights Watch. The cancellation of Mr. Modi’s visit represents the
first step in a battle we must continue to fight.

For more info on Coalition Against Genocide (CAG), please visit
www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org

A REPORT TO CAC and EKTA DONORS ON THE REHABILITATION OF THE SURVIVORS
OF COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN GUJARAT

Children of Shahpur Camp #26
ARISE! AWAKE!!*

Reflections From Our Trip to Gujarat, Delhi, and Other State Capitals
NRISAHI Sadbhavana Mission to India, September 6-24, 2002

(* With apologies to Swami Vivekananda, whose spirited and unabashed
defense of Hinduism from yesteryear is being wilfully distorted by
some into a hate campaign against the minorities of India.)
We are a delegation of NRIs, representing various organizations from
the U.S., who went to India on a non-partisan humanitarian mission, to
see for ourselves the aftermath of the Gujarat carnage. We went there
to listen, and to learn about what we can do to support initiatives
for communal harmony. We met a wide cross section of civil society,
including the victims of the unprecedented violence; NGOs who have
been caring for them; and other citizen's groups, businessmen,
religious leaders, politicians and the media. As ruling party
officials in Gujarat and New Delhi declined to meet with us, we could
only meet with the opposition parties. We conveyed to them our views
on the desperate humanitarian situation in Gujarat, and challenged
them on how they would rule differently should they return to power.
We presented our observations and recommendations in a memorandum to
the President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan
on September 12. We met the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr.
Chandrababu Naidu, on September 23, and urged him to use his influence
in New Delhi to bring some hope to those who are still being
victimized in Gujarat.Most of us are now back in the U.S. to share our
experiences with others; to raise awareness in the NRI community about
the dangers of continued silence about the break-down of the rule of
law in Gujarat; and to raise funds for the rehabilitation of the
victims. Some of us plan to spend more time in India to pursue
individual actions in support of communal harmony and/or to work
against the politics of hate.

We have prepared this write-up for our friends, and others who care
about what is happening in India, to give them a sense of what we saw
and heard. Our observations are based on notes and recollections by
some of us, and do not necessarily represent the collective view of
this diverse delegation. Where possible, we have included a Q & A
format, representing the general thrust of our conversations with our
hosts (not direct quotes).

bademiyansubhanallah

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Feb 20, 2010, 7:24:35 AM2/20/10

Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman
President
World Association of Vedic Studies

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President
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graduate degree, Economics and Statistics

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enaissance.com/index.php/contact-us/samskriti-viv - [Cached Version]
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Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

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Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman
...
Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

Dr. S. Kalyanaraman was a senior executive in the Asian Development
Bank for 18 years until 1995.He was responsible for disbursing a
portfolio of US Dollars 60 Billion for over 650 development projects
in 29 countries.He also introduced a world-wide information network
for managing the assets of the bank.He has travelled widely in Bharat,
and has visited many countries around the world.Earlier to 1978, he
was Chief Controller of Accounts, Karnataka Electricity Board and as
member of Indian Railway Accounts Service, a financial advisor on the
Railways, for 17 years.He has also worked in the Accountant General's
Office, Bangalore for 4 years from 1958 to 1961.He was involved in the
introduction of the first computers on the Railways in 1965, as a
member of a Task Force set up by the Electronics Commission of
India.He has a Ph.D. in Public Administration and his two volume work,
Public Administration in Asia has been published which is a
comparative study of development administration in six Asian
countries.His graduate degree is in Economics and Statistics.He was
born in 1939 in Tanjore district.He is well-versed in Kannada, Telugu,
Tamil, Hindi and Sanskrit languages.He took voluntary retirement from
the Bank and returned to Bharat, to devote himself to his life-
activity of researches on River Sarasvati and Bharatiya
Civilization.He directs the Sarasvati Research Centre which is
affiliated with Akhil Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Yojana.He has done
researches on the discovery of the courses of Vedic River Sarasvati
and the possibility of this river flowing again as part of a national
network of rivers.He has been involved in promoting the National Water
Grid to ensure water for everyone for several generations to come and
to take the nation to a developed country status by the year 2010.He
has set up a website with over 30,000 files on River Sarasvati and
Civilization at http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati The site includes
his multi-lingual dictionary for over 25 ancient languages of Bharat,
Rigveda rica-s and translation into English based on Sa yana Bhaashya
The Indiancivilization internet group set up by him has over 750
active members from all parts of the world, discussing Bharatiya
Civilization issues..His 1100-page volume on Sarasvati was published
from Bangalore in 2001.His 7-volume encyclopaedic work on Sarasvati
Civilization was published in 2004.The 7 volumes are: Sarasvati:
Civilization; Sarasvati: Rigveda; Sarasvati: River; Sarasvati:
Bharati; Sarasvati: Technology; Sarasvati: Language; Sarasvati:
Epigraphs.He has cracked the code of Sarasvati hieroglyphs as artisan
guilds' activities related to minerals, metals, furnaces and artifacts
of metals in a transition from chalcolithic to alloy (bronze/brass)
phase of civilization.He presented his research findings on Sarasvati
in the World Sanskrit Conference held in Bangalore in 1996.He is a
recipient of the prestigious Vakankar Award in the year 2000.He is
President of the World Association of Vedic Studies in Bharat, and is
associated with many research and non-governmental voluntary
organizations including Rashtrotthana Research and Communications
Centre in Bangalore, India.S. Kalyanaraman20 August
2005ka...@gmail.com

http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati

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Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

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...
Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

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Version]
Published on: 10/5/2007 Last Visited: 1/4/2008
Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman
...
Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

Dr. Kalyanaraman, a former senior executive with Asian Development
Bank, took voluntary retirement from the Bank and returned to Bharat,
to devote himself to his life-activity of researches on River
Sarasvati and Bharatiya Civilization.He directs the Sarasvati Research
Centre which is affiliated with Akhil Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana
Yojana.He has done researches on the discovery of the courses of Vedic
River Sarasvati and the possibility of this river flowing again as
part of a national network of rivers.He has been involved in promoting
the National Water Grid to ensure water for everyone for several
generations to come and to take the nation to a developed country
status by the year 2010.Read More >>

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Version]
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Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

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Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

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Published on: 9/19/2002 Last Visited: 1/4/2008
Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

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Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman | Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman | Read More
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Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

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Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

The Hindu Renaissance - [Cached Version]
Published on: 10/5/2007 Last Visited: 1/19/2010
Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman
...
Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

Dr. Kalyanaraman, a former senior executive with Asian Development
Bank, took voluntary retirement from the Bank and returned to Bharat,
to devote himself to his life-activity of researches on River
Sarasvati and Bharatiya Civilization. He directs the Sarasvati
Research Centre which is affiliated with Akhil Bharatiya Itihasa
Sankalana Yojana. He has done researches onthe discovery of the
courses of Vedic River Sarasvati and the possibility of this river
flowing again as part of a national network of rivers. He has been
involved in promoting the National Water Grid to ensure water for
everyone for several generations to come and to take the nation to a
developed country status by the year 2010. Read More >>

The Hindu Renaissance - Dharma and Vrata - [Cached Version]
Published on: 10/5/2007 Last Visited: 1/19/2010
Written by Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman
...
[1] Dr. S. Kalyanaraman, 2003, Sarasvati: Epigraphs, Bangalore,
Babasaheb Apte Smarak Samiti (Volume 7 of 7-volume encyclopaedic work
on Sarasvati Civilization). (The monograph in reference to the vra tya
tradition, draws from the references cited in: V.W. Karambelkar, 1969,
Vedic Maha vrata, in: KR Cama Oriental Institute Golden Jubilee
Volume, Bombay, pp.
...
Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

About the author:

Dr. Kalyanaraman, a former senior executive with Asian Development
Bank, took voluntary retirement from the Bank and returned to Bharat,
to devote himself to his life-activity of researches on River
Sarasvati and Bharatiya Civilization. He directs the Sarasvati
Research Centre which is affiliated with Akhil Bharatiya Itihasa
Sankalana Yojana. He has done researches onthe discovery of the
courses of Vedic River Sarasvati and the possibility of this river
flowing again as part of a national network of rivers. He has been
involved in promoting the National Water Grid to ensure water for
everyone for several generations to come and to take the nation to a
developed country status by the year 2010.

The Hindu Renaissance - Islamâ€™s Weakness - [Cached Version]
Published on: 9/17/2005 Last Visited: 1/4/2008
Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

Editor

Administrator

http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=1222488080&lastName=Kalyanaraman&firstName=Srinivasan&searchSource=page&page=2

Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

Dr. S. Kalyanaraman was a senior executive in the Asian Development
Bank for 18 years until 1995. He was responsible for disbursing a
portfolio of US Dollars 60 Billion for over 650 development projects
in 29 countries. He also introduced a world-wide information network
for managing the assets of the bank. He has travelled widely in
Bharat, and has visited many countries around the world. Earlier to
1978, he was Chief Controller of Accounts, Karnataka Electricity Board
and as member of Indian Railway Accounts Service, a financial advisor
on the Railways, for 17 years. He has also worked in the Accountant
General's Office, Bangalore for 4 years from 1958 to 1961. He was
involved in the introduction of the first computers on the Railways in
1965, as a member of a Task Force set up by the Electronics Commission
of India. He has a Ph.D. in Public Administration and his two volume
work, Public Administration in Asia has been published which is a
comparative study of development administration in six Asian
countries. His graduate degree is in Economics and Statistics. He was
born in 1939 in Tanjore district. He is well-versed in Kannada,
Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Sanskrit languages. He took voluntary
retirement from the Bank and returned to Bharat, to devote himself to
his life-activity of researches on River Sarasvati and Bharatiya
Civilization. He directs the Sarasvati Research Centre which is
affiliated with Akhil Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Yojana. He has done
researches on the discovery of the courses of Vedic River Sarasvati
and the possibility of this river flowing again as part of a national
network of rivers. He has been involved in promoting the National
Water Grid to ensure water for everyone for several generations to
come and to take the nation to a developed country status by the year
2010. He has set up a website with over 30,000 files on River
Sarasvati and Civilization at http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati The
site includes his multi-lingual dictionary for over 25 ancient
languages of Bharat, Rigveda rica-s and translation into English based
on Sa_yana Bhaashya The Indiancivilization internet group set up by
him has over 750 active members from all parts of the world,
discussing Bharatiya Civilization issues.. His 1100-page volume on
Sarasvati was published from Bangalore in 2001. His 7-volume
encyclopaedic work on Sarasvati Civilization was published in 2004.
The 7 volumes are: Sarasvati: Civilization; Sarasvati: Rigveda;
Sarasvati: River; Sarasvati: Bharati; Sarasvati: Technology;
Sarasvati: Language; Sarasvati: Epigraphs. He has cracked the code of
Sarasvati hieroglyphs as artisan guilds’ activities related to
minerals, metals, furnaces and artifacts of metals in a transition
from chalcolithic to alloy (bronze/brass) phase of civilization. He
presented his research findings on Sarasvati in the World Sanskrit
Conference held in Bangalore in 1996. He is a recipient of the
prestigious Vakankar Award in the year 2000. He is President of the
World Association of Vedic Studies in Bharat, and is associated with
many research and non-governmental voluntary organizations including
Rashtrotthana Research and Communications Centre in Bangalore, India.
S. Kalyanaraman20 August 2005ka...@gmail.com
http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati

All articles by Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/news-feeds/dr.-srinivasan-kalyanaraman/view-all-articles.html

Dr. Murlidhar H. Pahoja

Navaratna S. Rajaram

N.S. Rajaram is a mathematical scientist and historian whose books
include Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization (with David
Frawley) and The Deciphered Indus Script (with Natwar Jha). He is the
Dean of Humanities at the Vivekananda Yoga Maha Vidyapeeth in
Bangalore.
Read More >>

Dr. Koenraad Elst

Dr. Koenraad Elst graduated in Philosophy, Chinese Studies and Indo-
Iranian Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven. His research on
the ideological development of Hindu revivalism earned him his Ph.D.
in Leuven in 1998. He has also published about multiculturalism,
language policy issues, ancient Chinese history and philosophy,
comparative religion, and the Aryan invasion debate.

bademiyansubhanallah

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Feb 20, 2010, 7:36:36 AM2/20/10

The Religion of the Nazis
Written by Dr. Koenraad Elst

Contemporary historians, along with novelists and filmmakers, just
can’t get enough of Nazi Germany. Scholars of religion too are now
frequently zooming in on this subject, though often with more
polemical than scholarly purposes. The stakes are high, so competing
ideologies invest heavily in showing their own dissociation from and
their opponents’ association with Nazism. Therefore, when
anthropologist Prof. Em. Karla Poewe of Calgary University in Canada
comes out with a book titled New Religions and the Nazis (Routledge,
Oxon & New York 2006), critics are on the alert for signs of bias.

The Religion of the Nazis
Koenraad Elst, Ph.D.

Contemporary historians, along with novelists and filmmakers, just
can't get enough of Nazi Germany. Scholars of religion too are now
frequently zooming in on this subject, though often with more
polemical than scholarly purposes. The stakes are high, so competing
ideologies invest heavily in showing their own dissociation from and
their opponents' association with Nazism. Therefore, when
anthropologist Prof. Em. Karla Poewe of Calgary University in Canada
comes out with a book titled New Religions and the Nazis (Routledge,
Oxon & New York 2006), critics are on the alert for signs of bias.

But let us first of all appreciate the new factual data presented by
the author. Prof. Poewe does a real historian's job. Instead of
synthesizing existing books by older colleagues into yet another
"interpretation" of history, she has spent months and months in
several German archives reading a lot of hitherto unexplored primary
source material. This consists mainly of unpublished letters, speech
transcripts and testimonies by or about the leading religious
ideologues of the 1920s and 30s in Germany. Somebody had to do this
job, and now it has been done.

1. An underground Religion comes to the surface

The book's main focus is on new religious movements of the German
interbellum and their leaders, such as Mathilde Ludendorff (née von
Kemnitz, wife of WW1 general Erich Ludendorff) and her Deutsche
Gotterkenntnis (German God-knowledge) movement; and especially Jakob
Wilhelm Hauer and his associates in his Deutsche Glaubensbewegung
(DGB, German Faith Movement). Hauer was originally a Christian
missionary planning to spend a lifetime in India converting Hindus.
His studies led him to a favourable interest in Hinduism, then in
hypothetically reconstructed Indo-European Religion, and finally in
"West-Indo-Germanic" Religion, i.e. minus the "Indo-". According to
Poewe, "the new religions founded in the pre-Nazi and Nazi years,
especially Jakob Hauer's German Faith Movement, would be a model for
how German fascism distilled aspects of religious doctrine into
political extremism". (back cover text)

When trying to establish himself in the ascendant Nazi movement, and
after violent criticism of his Oriental exoticism by the Ludendorff
couple (who saw the Asian cultural influx, from Christianity down to
Theosophy and neo-Vedanta, as the result of Jewish conspiracies),
Hauer found he had to drop the Indian part and highlight an "Indo-
Germanic minus Indian" religion, i.e. European religion rooted in the
ethnic soul of the Germans and more broadly the Europeans. The
emphasis during the Nazi period was more on the narrowly Germanic
element (Nazism was "Aryan" only in slogans, its focus was German and
at best Germanic, with steep contempt for fellow "Aryans" such as the
Slavs, the Armenians and Indians and of course the Gypsies), but his
post-war followers such as Sigrid Hunke broadened it to all
Europeans.

Of this supposed "truly European" religion, few pure formulations
exist, but it is said to be visible through the writings of Christian
heretics who dressed it in Christian language, though the Church often
saw through their un-Christian inspiration. Poewe lists mystics,
philosophers and poets like Pelagius, the early heretic who
disbelieved in Original Sin; Johannes Scotus Eriugena, the 9th-century
philosopher; Francis of Assisi, the nature-loving saint who conversed
with animals; a high tide with the late-medieval German monistic
mystics Nikolaus Krebs von Kues (Cusanus), Meister Eckhart von
Hochheim, Heinrich Seuse (Suso) and Johannes Tauler; the natural
philosopher and medic Paracelsus; the angel visionary Jakob Boehme;
the twilight-Christian poets Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Friedrich
Hölderlin, Rainer Maria Rilke; and the Christian evolutionist Teilhard
de Chardin. (p.170)

To be sure, this supposed non-Christian thread was sometimes badly
blurred by conjunction with Christian positions, e.g. Francis of
Assisi was also a great popularizer of Original Sin, till then a
minority belief among Christian commoners; Eriugena was accused of
heresy but was an active opponent of heresy himself, in particular
against Gotteschalk, the preacher of predestination, who also figures
on Hunke's list of true European religionists; while Gotteschalk
himself was a leading light to later militant Christian dissenters
like Calvinists and Jansenists; and Suso was such a heretic that the
Church canonized him as a saint. But by and large, the contributions
of these religious explorers purportedly show a common thread of what
Hunke called "an underground Religion" (p.170). Intertwined with
Christianity for centuries, it decisively seceded from the latter with
the anti-Christian philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. And now,
Providence had made the 20th century into the age of its long-awaited
blossoming.

So, this is a strange thing to note: whereas the stated focus of the
book is the "new Religions" of some Nazi-related thinkers, and while
the term "neo-Paganism" is frequently used, the inspiration of these
ideologues (as amply and faithfully documented by Poewe) is a line of
thinkers of whom most have always been booked as Christian. It is not
uncommon to pretend that Nazism was a "Pagan" movement, e.g. Pope
Benedict XVI called Nazism "an insane racist ideology born of neo-
Paganism" ("Pope warns of rising anti-Semitism", 20 August 2005, The
Hindu). Such claims are typically illustrated with some old drawing of
the Germanic god Wotan/Odin (e.g. Robert L. Bartley: "Christians, Jews
and Wotan: What we still need to learn from Nazism", 25 March 2002,
Wall Street Journal online) but the one-eyed god didn't figure in Nazi
iconography at all. The true picture is far more complex and far more
interesting.

2. The way out of Christianity

Before embarking on her historical excursus, the author clearly lays
out her views, i.e. her interpretation of these data. She argues that
Nazism had an outspoken religious dimension, which she describes as
neo-Pagan. But it soon transpires that "Pagan" in this case does not
have its simple dictionary meaning of "non-Christian". The term is
actually used here in three senses: historical pre-Christian religions
(but not Judaism), post-Christian "new religions", and certain
unorthodox tendencies within Christianity itself. Hence expressions
that may sound contradictory at first, like "neo-Pagans both within
and outside the Church" (p.14). Being a Church member and a declared
Christian is apparently not enough to be a real Christian.

In the Muslim world, we are rather familiar with the phenomenon of
Takfir, or excommunicating a fellow Muslim by declaring him to be an
unbeliever (Kafir) at heart, but in Christianity, we had developed the
impression that this was a thing of the past, now only extant among so-
called fundamentalists. Then again, in a vaguer sense this
excommunication of fellow Christians as crypto-Pagans is now more
common than ever: not only Popes and preachers of fire and brimstone
do it, but also glib liberal vicars smiling into the camera as they
tell you that opponents of the latest political fad (from socialism to
lesbigay liberation) are "un-Christian". And come to think of it, in
principle they all may have a point. After all, Christianity is a
demanding religion and the fullness of being Christian requires more
than just being baptized and paying Church dues. It only remains to be
determined who are the real ones and who the crypto-Pagans.

Who are these un-Christian Christians in Poewe's view? German history
has had many "heretics" who provided inspiration to religious
ideologues in the Nazi orbit, like to many others earlier and later.
Meister Eckhart, the famous Neoplatonist mystic, was one such
"heretic" (p.6): though never disowning Christianity, he was
recognized as a peddler of un-Christian mystical practices by
Christian critics who correctly argued that Christian salvation is
only through Christ, not through some funny mental experiences
resulting from introspection. From Church doctors of yore criticizing
the mystics down to modern New-Agers celebrating them, there is wide
agreement that the Christian mystics were heterodox, arguably in tune
with some putative "original teachings of Jesus" (a free-for-all, ever
more prolific as lost early Christian writings keep on getting
discovered) but not with historical Church teachings.

And like those premodern mystics, the self-described Deutsche Christen
("German Christians"), i.e. the majority of German Protestants
supporting the Nazi regime, are classified as "not Christians but
Pagans" (p.8). This is a bit of a jump, from the premodern mystics
seeking direct experience of God to the modern Churchmen making deals
with the Nazi state. Moreover, it was not these bourgeois Church
spokesmen but its errant ex-members who were cultivating the memory of
those heretics of yore.

Since it would be ludicrous to pretend that 20th-century German
Protestants were somehow adherents of Pagan religion, worshipping
Wotan and Donar and Freia, and since they were not even particularly
concerned with crypto-Pagan mystics from the Christian Middle Ages
either, the term "Paganism" clearly refers to something else,
something modern. The culprit is an aspect of modern secularism, viz.
relativism, possibly not excluding epistemological relativism (the
disbelief in the existence of final truth), but mostly meaning moral
relativism. In fact, the two go hand in hand and can be deduced from
the rejection of monotheism: "To neopagans, human beings are the
measure of all things. There is no single God, anymore than there is
one truth, nor one humanity". (p.173)

Liberals on the American campus scene are the ones who oppose the
"imposition" of "Western" science as universal: "Hey hey, ho ho,
Western culture's got to go!" They think that "the Black experience",
"the gay experience" etc. can found equally valid worldviews which
heterosexual White males have so far suppressed with their pretence of
universalism. White science is not only not better, it is worse than
the rest, for it has caused environmental degradation and the nuclear
threat. This diversity of worldviews was also accepted in Nazi
Germany, at least by Nazis. Thus, there was good Aryan science, such
as quantum physics, and there was evil Jewish science, such as
relativity theory. For a different kind of relativistic downplaying of
reason's universal claims, one of the ideologues discussed in this
book, Ludwig Klages, valued image-consciousness (as in dreams or
shamanic trances) and myths over reason; and this preference for
"biocentrism" over "logocentrism", we "find also in Hauer and in
numerous street philosophers" in interbellum Germany. (p.86)

Those are rather extreme examples, but relativism is all around us in
less obtrusive forms. Particularly, in religion, liberals undermined
the old certainties of the Bible (to Protestants) or Church tradition
(to Catholics) by an appeal to reason and free interpretation of these
sources of authority. This led to widely divergent schools of
exegesis, and once those floodgates had been opened, other types of
pluralization followed suit. One of these is along ethnic lines:
nowadays, liberal Church leaders accept that Africans should have
their own cultural emphasis and give expression to these in an African
liturgy, Indians should bring Hindu elements into their liturgy etc.
This is not all that different from the Nazi-era idea that there
should be a distinctive German Christianity.

The core of Poewe's thesis is that "Liberal Christianity" was the gate
through which millions of Christians removed themselves from the
Christian spirit to embrace National-Socialism. This was true in the
case of apostates like Hauer, through his liberal revaluation of
Christian non-conformists frowned upon by the traditional Church, but
also of Church-loyal "German Christians". Some kept on calling
themselves Christians while others openly turned against Christ, but
their ideological estrangement from true Christianity was
fundamentally the same.

The end result of relativism was this: "There is no dogma, word or
scripture. German morality is not rigidly chained to words but changes
as reality changes and as the original nature adapts to new
conditions. It is a convenient moral relativism that Hauer and his
cohorts developed. In the final analysis, it is a fighter ethic that
negates all moral ties except those with respect to the interests of
one's own Volk." (p.15)

On one occasion, the author acknowledges the Christian elements in the
Nazi blend: "the variant core elements of Goebbels' religiosity
consisted of Christological symbols and Vitalism" (p.24), but this was
not a deeply-held Christian faith anymore, for "Goebbels followed the
stations of political ideologization from Catholicism toward freer
forms of a Christian view of the world and self (as in liberal
theology) and then National-Socialism". (p.7) The case of Goebbels is
taken to illustrate very well how the modernist leftward drift
inherent in liberal theology was an exit from or at least a "thinner"
of true Christian convictions. Likewise, "it was precisely Hauer's and
other Nazis' radical liberalism that led them to National Socialism".
(p.20) And so: "Liberalism broke the ground enabling the emergence of
radicalism." (p.21)

3. From Völkisch to New Age?

What I like about Prof. Poewe's approach of tracing certain
developments to the corrosive impact of liberalism, is that it is
unabashedly Christian. In recent decades, Christian scholars writing
about politics have typically behaved like sheep obeying their Leftist
sheepdogs, sincerely doing their best to toe the latest Leftist party-
line. Here at last is a pro-Christian author defending the record of
the Christian side and not afraid to denounce the Left and the liberal
attitudes along with their Nazi (alleged) counterparts. Indeed, the
terms "left" and "right", though certainly not obsolete or
meaningless, happen to be unfit for a description of the political
spectrum in interbellum Germany: "Hitler could as easily be ordered
into the extreme left as the opposite. In fact, the traditional
conservative opposition saw Hitler as standing left". (p.20)

This Christian vantage point beyond the animosities of Left vs. Right
ought to shield the author from the excesses of denunciatory rhetoric
so common in Leftist writing about the Nazi period. Leftists always
love to cast the net of Nazi suspicions as widely as possible,
dirtying as many people and organizations as possible with the Nazi
brush. This satisfies their lust for power, for every accused becomes
a helpless pleader for mercy (an appetizing sight, like that of a
desperate mouse to a cat), and it restores legitimacy to their Marxism
whenever people bring up its dark record: Hitler remains the best
excuse for Stalin. In this book, my eye has been caught by only one
lapse into this pattern of calumny, and it is precisely where she uses
Marxist author Peter Kratz as her reference: "Kratz argues that not
only the gods of neo-Paganism, but also those of the (European) New
Age are Nazi brown. The spiritual movement centred on godliness in
harmony with nature and the cosmos, working in and through all things
human, is today called New Age. In the twenties it was called the
völkisch movement." (p.173)

This attempt to extend the denunciation of a few interbellum movements
as Nazi-inspired to the totally unrelated New Age phenomenon is
contemptible. The authors concerned are perfectly aware that the
allegation of Nazi connections is the single gravest allegation that
can be uttered in today's opinion climate, and throwing that kind of
allegation around lightly (as here by claiming in passing that
"völkisch" and "New Age" are synonyms) is simply vicious. To set the
record straight: the New Age current is individualistic, xenophilic,
mixophilic, futuristic, cosmopolitan, anti-authoritarian and eager to
enlist the findings of science into its worldview. The völkisch
movement, i.e. the neo-Romantic ethno-nationalistic movement, by total
contrast (and incidentally also at variance on some points with more
modernistic tributaries to the Nazi movement), was collectivistic,
xenophobic, puristic, past-oriented, centred on national identity,
welcoming of the Leader principle, and hostile to science.

Yes, they may have some ideas about enjoying outdoors life or
experiencing the divine in common, but this says nothing about all the
other things on which they are poles apart. It only proves that not
too much should be deduced from the religious pastimes of people who
otherwise also have political opinions, and widely divergent ones at
that. Could this calumny be a Christian polemical attempt to discredit
the most popular challenger to established religion among contemporary
Westerners? Well, let's rather put it down as an instance of careless
copying from a false authority.

4. Secularist Modernism

Karla Poewe doesn't give any fodder to the consumers of the myth of
Nazi occultism. We already knew that Nazi secularists like Adolf
Hitler, Josef Goebbels and Martin Bormann held anything occultist and
obscurantist in contempt and ordered a number of successive crackdowns
on it, and that Heinrich Himmler and Rudolf Hess were forced to
practise their occultish hobbies discreetly. Not the Nazi era but the
Weimar Republic, so despised by the Nazis, was the high tide of
occultism in Germany. Here Poewe shows that even the new quasi-
religions which did have certain genuine links with the Nazi movement
defined themselves within the framework of secular modernity.

Thus, she quotes Mathilde Ludendorff as writing in 1935 that her
Weltanschauung is not concerned with relieving pain and promising an
afterlife, but only with truth: "If you want sham consolation, it is
better that you turn to a Christian or some other sort of non-
Christian religion, or to any of the occult teachings..." (p.163) I
would add that this corresponded to one of the crucial axes in the
imagined Aryan/Semitic or European/Asian opposition: truth, along with
wakefulness and freedom, is Aryan; while delusions and dreams, along
with despotism and surrender, are Asian or Semitic.

Poewe frequently provides evidence that many of these ideologues
(like, incidentally, Adolf Hitler himself) first of all broke with
Christianity simply because modern scholarship has discredited it.
Which, as a secular and scientific position, provides a perfectly
respectable reason for apostasy, one that also applies to millions of
other modern people unrelated to Nazism. Thus, summarizing then
quoting Mathilde Ludendorff: "Christianity does not convince. ‘Natural
science has replaced it.'" (p.163) This is something on which all
educated modern people should be able to agree, even if some Nazis
also happen to agree with them: there may be room for Religion, or
rather for spirituality, in a modern or post-modern or hypermodern
culture; this may even borrow or continue some contributions of
Christianity to ethics or the arts; but even so, the irrational
beliefs that make up the defining core of Christianity cannot be
salvaged.

Instead of speaking of "new religions" in the Nazi age, it would be
more appropriate to describe these fledgling doctrines as philosophies
or worldviews (Weltanschauung). Thus, summarizing a speech by Nazi
pedagogue Ernst Krieck, an associate of Hauer's, Poewe relates: "The
Third Reich represented yearning for salvation from despair through
the fount of power that had its source in the German people
(Volkskraft), not in an otherworldly God. Krieck ended his midsummer
night's talk with a hail to the German Youth, German Volk and Third
Reich" (p.151) Not a hail to Wotan, nor to Krishna or Buddha for that
matter, and indeed not to Christ either, but to the secular gods of
Nation and State.

So, the finality of the "new religion" was a secular one: "Development
of the new faith: not Christ but the Third Reich". (p.148) Indeed:
"The whole thrust of core Nazi radicals was to overcome what they
regarded as an already secularized Christianity and replace it with a
faith in the ‘Third Reich'." (p.149)

5. Christianity, a Jewish fabrication?

Modern scholarship has pin-pricked Christian beliefs, but for the
ideologues under consideration, this was not always the only reason to
discard their parents' religion. With direct quotations, Poewe argues
convincingly that many people in the Nazi orbit who grew away from
Christianity, offered the explanation that it is a product of the
Jewish mind, a "Semitic" religion and hence a harmful Fremdkörper in
the German soul. Thus quoting Mathilde Ludendorff, "Furthermore, our
race (ethnic-national) consciousness has become too strong to let us
overlook the fact that all words of the Bible are purely Jewish or
derived from Jewishness. Consequently, biblical teachings are a danger
for our Volk" (p. 163-164)

This is correct. That is, it is correct to say that those ideologues
held the belief in Christianity's essential Jewishness. They had it in
common with their opponent, Pope Pius XI, who declared in his
encyclical Mit brennender Sorge of 1937: "In a spiritual sense, we
(Christians) are all Semites." But this belief, in turn, is incorrect.
To most Christians throughout history, it would have sounded both
blasphemous and laughable. They would have countered this belief
immediately with a list of points on which Christianity and Judaism
are poles apart.

Thus, every Christian youngster who knows his catechism and a bit of
the Bible will tell you that Moses taught revenge while Christ taught
forgiveness; that Judaism is ethnocentric, Christianity universal;
that Judaism is centred on the Letter, Christianity on the Spirit;
that Judaism disbelieves in Jesus' divine status, which is the
defining core of Christianity; that Judaism's concept of God is
Unitarian while Christianity's is Trinitarian. Modern scholars might
add that this Christian doctrine of the Trinity owes certain ideas and
thought patterns to the Indo-European doctrine of trifunctionality,
theorized by Georges Dumézil. Indeed, New Testament research has shown
up numerous inputs from non-Judaic sources, mainly Hellenistic but
even including Buddhist ones, and some of these have determined key
doctrines of the Christian faith. The Church calendar has incorporated
many Pagan elements, such as Christmas and All Saints' Day. Christian
theology and ethics have borrowed heavily from Plato and Aristotle.
The Christian interpretation of the main stories from the Old
Testament often differs widely from the Judaic interpretation of the
same, as do their interpretations of the key concept of "Messiah".

No, Christianity is definitely not Jewish. If Hauer c.s. thought that
it was, they were mistaken. If they opposed Christianity's
"Universalism", they were mistaken if they thought that this was a
Judaic trait (the Israelites conquered their promised land but
otherwise had no ambition to dislodge other nations and religions).
Most Germans who voted the Nazis to power were dues-paying Church
members who knew better. We may not agree with their hostility towards
the Jews, but along with the Jews themselves they were entirely
correct in assuming that Christianity and Judaism are widely different
religions.

And in some respects, Christianity is even quintessentially anti-
Jewish. This observation is likely to hurt Prof. Poewe, so I don't
like putting it forth, but I'm afraid it is necessary. She inveighs
against "an article of faith ferociously held against all evidence to
the contrary, that anti-Semitism has its source in Christianity" (p.
8). True, there have been occasional clashes between Jews and non-Jews
in Pagan antiquity, such as in Alexandria, and some uncharitable
remarks by Cicero and others, but these resulted from precise and
contingent conflicts of interest, of the type documented by Amy Chua
in her 2003 book World on Fire for all kinds of ethnic groups
coexisting within a country (as Poewe acknowledges: "In Indonesia, the
Chinese are its Jews", p.15). They did not result from some anti-
Semitic doctrine enshrined in their religion or philosophy. Indeed,
there is no trace of anti-Semitism in the Ilias or the Edda.

By contrast, confronting the spokesmen of Judaism was the main
occupation of the Christian Messiah as per the central scripture of
Christianity. While the Jewish Old Testament and the Islamic Qur'an
have polytheism and idolatry as the main enemy, the New Testament
never features Jesus arguing against those; instead, his
confrontations are with the Pharisees, the progenitors of Rabbinical
Judaism. It pictures the Jews as the main persecutors of Jesus and of
the first Christians. It even has them commit the cosmic crime of
demanding the death of God's Only-Begotten Son. Later on, the Church
gave the Jews a favourable treatment in comparison to the Pagans (who
didn't survive to become the object of pogroms or of a Dreyfus
affair), but it showed them their place as traitors to their Saviour.
In 306, the Church synod in Elvira prohibited Jewish-Christian and
Pagan-Christian intermarriage, prefiguring the Nazi Nuremberg laws; in
337, the Church decreed death as the punishment for intermarriage.
Some children alleged to have been ritually slaughtered by Jews were
canonized as saints -- what other religion has such central symbols of
hostility towards the Jews? The German reformer Luther admittedly
discarded the saints but then he went on to write his own anti-Jewish
tracts, which the Nazis eagerly reprinted.

The ideologues of the new religions considered here were also wrong in
other tall claims about Jewish influence. In those cases too, it
deserves mention that their opinion happened to be a counterfactual
opinion. Poewe paraphrases Hauer's friend Ludwig Klages as claiming
that "several things entered the world stage together: the ideal of
free civic self-government; incorporation of Roman law;
‘Protestantism' of every kind; ideas of expansion and progress;
calculated self-interest; and a discovery-based science. Not unlike
Hauer, Klages thought that this Jewish Geist destroyed organicism and
the cosmic dimension." (p.86)

Not one of the items enumerated is a Jewish innovation. Thus, "free
civic self-government" was entirely the creation of Pagan societies:
Athenian direct democracy, Rome's republican institutions, ancient
Saxon law (of which the American republic was but a revival, according
to Thomas Jefferson), Iceland's parliament. This is not to deny that
Jews may have sources of democracy in their own tradition, but
Europeans have theirs elsewhere. The "ideas of expansion and progress"
were, in the racialist worldview of the early 20th century, typical
expressions of the dynamic race spirit of the Germanic peoples. At
most one could say that the Protestant Reformation was a
depaganization and partial judaization of Christianity by bringing the
Old Testament to the centre and discarding many Roman and crypto-
polytheistic elements. But it was entirely the handiwork of Christians
and even went hand in hand with Luther's anti-Jewish outbursts.

For the rest, some of these steps in the modernization process may
indeed have been destructive to "organicism and the cosmic dimension",
whatever those may be, while some may not. In particular, "free civic
self-government" would seem to be eminently conducive to a sense of
"organic" belonging together, not the reverse. But at any rate, it
does deserve emphatic mention that there is no Jewish angle to at
least these instances of modernization. (The growth of capitalism may
be a different matter, though that too, along with the banking system,
had been started by Christians before Jews proved their talents in it;
and likewise socialism was a non-Jewish invention though it
subsequently attracted powerful Jewish minds.) Often, critics of the
Nazis denounce the latter's conclusions but share their
presuppositions, such as the idea that the revolutionary impact of
modernity upon morality and culture was a Jewish achievement.

However, we must concede Poewe's claim in one important respect: in
contrast with religious anti-Judaism, modern anti-Semitism, i.e. a
hatred of Jews based on secular biological doctrines, is indeed not a
product of Christianity. The stray pre-Christian cases of Pagan-Jewish
conflict were not based on some anti-Jewish ideology, nor can they
explain or excuse the genesis of a distinctive Christian anti-Judaism.
By contrast, post-Christian anti-Semitism was a full-fledged ideology
in its own right. As a mass phenomenon, the anti-Jewish fever in the
Nazi period drew more on modern secular considerations than on the
residual Christian anti-Jewish suspicions. This is not a new insight,
but given the anti-Christian climate in certain intellectual circles
in the West, it won't hurt to draw attention to it.

6. Christianity and Nazism

Professor Poewe has demonstrated convincingly that some German
intellectuals from the interbellum rejected Christianity and embraced
National-Socialism. Thus far, her thesis is, I believe, unassailable.
But then what? Were these religious experimenters somehow
representative for or influential within the Nazi movement? Does this
handful of case studies really answer "one of the most important
questions of the twentieth century - how and why did Germans come to
embrace National-Socialism", as claimed on the back cover? Why these
few Germans did so, yes; but why a critical mass of the 80-million-
strong German people did so?

First of all, even within this small circle, not everyone went all the
way in embracing National-Socialism, e.g. Hans Grimm is described as a
"National-Socialist ideologue", yet "Grimm and other nationalists like
him did not become members of the party" (p.150). Refraining from
joining the party in an age when so many fence-sitters and
opportunists did join seems to indicate a principled resolve against
something in the Nazi regime.

Secondly, and most importantly, we get to see only a very partial
logical connection, if that much at all, between the philosophical
musings of these ideologues and their Nazi end-point. Would it not
have been perfectly possible to cultivate the philosophy of Meister
Eckhart or the poetry of Hölderlin without being anti-Semitic, let
alone embracing the whole range of Nazi doctrine? To be sure, once you
have embraced anti-Semitism, it becomes possible to find anti-Semitic
inspiration anywhere by means of projection of your own obsession
(thus, any eulogy to carefree wildlife can then be turned into an
implicit indictment against city life with its "Jewish" concern for
money). But to say that a favourable interest in medieval heretics and
crypto-pagan mystics "leads to" anti-Semitism and a Nazi involvement
is a different matter. Yes, Hauer was an admirer of Meister Eckhart
and he was a Nazi, but I haven't seen any proof of a logical
connection between the two; only indications of Hauer's subjective
attempts to match the two in his own worldview, which is not the same
thing.

Thirdly, the importance of an ideological movement to a regime can
also be deduced from how its ideologues and organizations fared under
that regime. The case of organized neo-Pagan or otherwise
unconventional religions, such as Odinists and Rudolf Steiner's
Anthroposophists, was clear enough: even though some of their votaries
certainly fell in with majority opinion and welcomed the Third Reich,
their societies were officially disbanded in 1935. In subsequent
years, their discreetly continued functioning was effectively stopped
and many of their spokesmen were arrested, along with astrologers,
rune masters and other occultists. One occasion for a serious
crackdown on this whole witches' brood was the embarrassing flight to
Great Britain of Rudolf Hess, a known consulter of alternative
therapists. More generally, the tough-minded Nazi leadership
associated religious eccentrics with anarchism, anti-social attitudes,
anti-modern nostalgias, regional chauvinisms, cosmopolitanism,
xenophilia, and navel-gazing unfitness for military service. To
exaggerate a little: in the list of groups singled out for
persecution, Jews Gypsies and homosexuals should be followed by
diviners and heathens.

Contrary to the neo-myth of "the occult roots of Nazism", the
secularist Nazis weren't too fond of this type at all. But how about
the subtler cases investigated here by Prof. Poewe? As she herself
notes in discussing the case of librarian Erwin Ackerknecht: "Like
most völkisch thinkers who outlived their usefulness, Ackerknecht
eventually fell into disfavour with some Nazis." (p.24) This suggests
that their role was temporary and instrumental. They were used in the
initial conquest of German public opinion to win certain
intellectually restless segments over, and discarded as soon as the
regime felt strong enough to impose increasing uniformity and push all
these unruly eccentrics back into their corners. Hauer fell from grace
too: in 1936 he was removed from the chair of his own German Faith
Movement. He was not imprisoned, to be sure, but he was sidelined and
never reached the top. Nor did any similar ideologue. This doesn't
alter the record of Hauer's anti-Christian doctrines or of his
embracing National-Socialism, but neither is it consistent with the
suggestion that people like he were the ones who shaped the
ideological face of the Nazi regime.

After this book, the anti-Christian motives of these leading Nazi or
para-Nazi intellectuals is undeniable, whatever their ultimate
conflicts with other tendencies within the Nazi movement. But this
doesn't prove their importance and it says little about the drift
towards National-Socialism of the Christian majority and of others
outside the orbit of Hauer's or Ludendorff's influence.

I understand that Prof. Poewe must have felt a need to counter the
anti-Christian writings putting the blame for Nazi anti-Semitism on
Christianity and the Nazis' rise to power on support from Christian
Churches and individuals (starting with "Hitler's Pope", Pius XII). It
is good that someone counters the cheap shots liberals routinely take
at the Christian side in that tragic phase of world history. But we
shouldn't go to the other extreme.

I don't think any community that was present in Nazi Germany can claim
to have entirely clean hands untainted by collaboration with the
regime. Even the Jews had an orthodox faction that welcomed the
Nuremberg laws for restoring and enforcing Jewish endogamy and
stopping the drift towards assimilation, as well as a Zionist faction
that welcomed the Nazi policy of Jewish emigration which made German-
Jewish capital and labour available for the nascent Jewish state in
Palestine.

As for the Odinist neo-Pagans, an even smaller minority in Nazi
Germany than in contemporary Europe: those who sympathize with
underdogs will feel compelled to defend them when they are unfairly
accused of Nazi leanings, but fact also remains that under Nazi rule,
quite a few within that small community saw no contradiction between
their newfound religion and goose-stepping to the Nazi tune. No, they
did not determine the Nazi worldview, as some sensationalist or
polemicist writers have claimed; yet their hands were not entirely
clean either. The example of their freedom-loving Pagan ancestors, who
had parliaments and elected kings and a highly decentralized state
authority, was clearly not imprinted strongly enough on their minds to
immunize them against the lure of a stifling authoritarian system like
National-Socialism.

Similarly, the Anthroposophists, an ecologist Christian offshoot of
the Buddhist-leaning Theosophists, may have been the target of
repression after 1935, but some of their leaders had initially
welcomed the Nazi regime with its pioneering ecological policies.
Apparently, their philosophy hadn't instilled in them the necessary
defences against the Nazi temptation.

Along the same lines, it would be far-fetched to exonerate the
Catholic and Protestant Christians, the vast majority of the German
people who voted Hitler into power. In the case of the pro-Nazi
Deutsche Christen, Prof. Poewe wouldn't deny this, only she wouldn't
accept them as real Christians. As for the anti-Nazi Protestants (the
Bekennende Kirche), today their positions would still be denounced as
half-hearted and on many counts even quite right-wing, but they
deserve some credit. The occasion for their protest against Nazi
policies was eminently Christian: they could not agree to the Nazi
demand that Jewish converts to Christianity be excluded from clerical
functions in the Church. Since the Apostles themselves had been Jewish-
born leaders of the early Church, it was impossible for a Christian to
concede this demand. Granted, this was one issue where Christianity
and National-Socialism were poles apart and necessarily had to come
into conflict. But in their day-to-day activities, even these
principled Christians (like their fellow Protestants in occupied
Holland or Norway) made all kinds of compromises with the regime,
partly because of their Christian belief that all duly constituted
authority comes from God and deserves our loyalty. Not that we are in
a position to condemn them for it from the comfort of our post-war
armchairs, but again, we shouldn't go to the other extreme either.

As for the German Catholics, we know that some of them, including the
family of the present Pope Benedict XVI, had anti-Nazi convictions. We
know that Pope Pius XI openly criticized the Nazis, though mainly on a
point which would not enthuse many of today's critics of the Church,
viz. Church-State relations in matters like education. It is likewise
known that the Nazis considered Pope Pius XII as an enemy, not at all
as "Hitler's Pope". Using the Catholic network of monasteries and
other institutions, he discreetly oversaw the saving of hundreds of
thousands of Jewish and other fugitives from Nazi persecution during
the Nazi occupation of much of Europe. In Western Europe, his bishops
limited their cooperation with the occupation authorities and refused
to recruit volunteers for the Eastern Front, even though the fight
there was against "godless Communism" (but the boys who did go,
nonetheless mostly did so from a Catholic conviction: "Either Rome or
Moscow"). In Germany, Catholic and Protestant Church leaders jointly
stood up to the Nazis to force them into halting the euthanasia
programme for the mentally handicapped in 1939-40. In Spain, Francisco
Franco's Catholic dictatorship facilitated the escape of thousands of
Jews from Nazi-occupied Europe.

But then we also know that the Vatican greatly helped in Hitler's rise
to power by dissolving the Catholic Centre Party in exchange for a
Concordat guaranteeing certain rights to the Church. And the Papacy
never threatened Hitler or other top Nazi Church members such as
Goebbels with excommunication, though this would have been a very
powerful signal. Anti-Jewish elements of Catholic folk culture, such
as the Passion Play of Oberammergau, were eagerly enlisted into Nazi
propaganda against the Jews. So, it is a mixed picture. Relations
between the Catholic Church and the Nazi regime were very uneasy,
diplomatic but by no means friendly.

To put things into perspective, we also should keep in mind that many
other authoritarian nationalist regimes of interbellum Europe received
enthusiastic support from the Catholic Church. Some of these were
sharply anti-Semitic, and this was not particularly a problem to most
Catholics. To start in an unexpected place: Poland may have won the
world's sympathy by being the target of a German invasion, but its
interbellum regime wasn't too nice either. Apart from condoning
pogroms against the German minority, it pursued anti-Jewish policies
and thought up the "Madagascar plan" (with an actual survey visit to
the island in 1937) for the deportation of the Jews, which the Nazis
were to adopt temporarily as their "final solution of the Jewish
problem in Europe" in 1939-41. The Church in Poland didn't object,
still being officially anti-Jewish as well as anti-democratic. In a
pastoral letter in 1936, Cardinal August Hlond warned against the
corrupting moral influence of the Jews and instructed Polish Catholics
to boycott Jewish shops and newspapers.

In Spain, General Francisco Franco's nationalists received the support
from Nazi Germany as well as from the Church: Catholics in every
parish worldwide prayed for Franco's victory. The Franquist slogan
"Christus Rex" was also the name of Belgium's main collaborationist
party (shortened to Rex), led by Léon Degrelle who raised a Belgian
regiment for the East Front. It was not supported by the Church
hierarchy but its recruitment base was among Catholics. In Italy, the
Fascist regime was secularist and the Pope famously said that "we
don't need" Fascism, but its Concordat with the Church was reason
enough to stay friends with it. Likewise, the Catholic Church
supported the Nazi-collaborating regimes in Hungary, Slovakia and
Croatia, as did the Orthodox Church in Rumania.

The suppression of democracy and (non-violent) anti-Jewish policies
were no problem for the Church, but the Nazis' secularist policies
corroding the Church's hold on society, esp. through education, were.
The Churches had survived many persecutions and were confident of
surviving the massive and violent suppression in the Soviet Union too.
But the more subtle dechristianization policies of France's militantly
secularist Third Republic (1871-1940) were a serious worry, and the
Nazi regime followed the same pattern: allowing the Churches to
function but gradually directing the youth in a different direction.
The Nazis nurtured the people's religious instincts with quasi-
religious pomp and ritual in celebration of state and race, thus
undercutting one of the subtle psychological attractions of Church
life. They gave free rein to the press in highlighting scandals
involving priests in order to undermine Church authority (ironically
something for which Christians in the USA and other countries
typically blamed "the Jewish-controlled media"). In the event of a
German victory in WW2, the future for Christianity in Germany did
indeed seem bleak.

After the Nazi defeat, every party concerned has rushed to present
itself as a resister to or victim of the regime. Thus, the Jehovah's
Witnesses proudly tell you that they had been locked up for refusing
military service in Nazi Germany. True, but what they don't tell you
is that they also refused military service in countries fighting
against Nazi Germany, and that this often brought them imprisonment in
those countries too. They were indeed brave as steadfast pacifists,
but it is not like as if they were an anti-Nazi resistance movement.
Recently I read an article arguing that the Italian "traditionalist"
Julius Evola wasn't much of a Nazi because the SS at one point
discontinued his lectures. Was even he a secret anti-Nazi? Not quite,
for this was only a family quarrel over minor points, which didn't
prevent Evola from working for the SS research department as an expert
on Freemasonry until the end of the Nazi era.

This way, all kinds of people and movements have seen their
involvement with the regime minimized, or their conflict with it
exaggerated, by their followers. Indeed, such sanitized accounts of
Hauer's involvement by younger admirers appear to have been one of
Prof. Poewe's reasons for this more forthright study of his deeply-
held Nazi convictions. It would be a mistake to push a similarly
sanitized account of the Churches' involvement. The Nazis considered
here were more anti-Christian than that the Christians were anti-
Nazi.

To sum up: the Nazis were all for Christianity's pioneering models of
organization and applied mass psychology (praised many times by Hitler
in Mein Kampf and in private conversations as collected by Henry
Picker: Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, Seewald,
Stuttgart 1977), for its hostility to the Jews, for its role in White
colonial world-conquest, and for the constructive parts of its role in
German nation-building (such as the Teutonic Knights' Christian
Crusade against the Baltic Pagans, leading to the creation of
Prussia). But they were against its "sentimental" compassion, its
doctrine of meekness, its race-blind universalism and its
otherworldliness, just as they were against the alleged Hindu-Buddhist
otherworldliness. Arguably, modern Christianity has a point in
asserting that the latter elements (or at least charity and
universalism) are the true core of Christianity, while the former are
but historical accidents.

7. The "New Right"

When it proves difficult to maintain a semantically consistent usage
of an old term like "Pagan", doing so with an entirely political
neologism like "New Right" is simply hopeless. This "New Right" is not
what is called such in the Anglosphere, where the term refers to the
Thatcher-Reagan "revolution" of the 1980s and more recently to
Neoconservatism. This is a Continental phenomenon, as we shall see
more closely, but even with this restriction its definition is under
dispute.

Poewe has the New Right start as early as 1936, when Hauer was
discharged from the DGB chair and his friend Hans F. K. Guenther told
him to forget about mass organizations and focus on the ideological
struggle instead: "This is the insight that informs the strategy of
the New Right today." (p.172) This way, in the very last pages she
seems to be making a bid for "relevance" of her historical study:
Hauer is not dead, he is still at work through the New Right...

The more usual story is that the New Right started in Paris in May
1968. Rightist French students reacted to the wave of leftist
agitation. They didn't know anything about Hauer or Hunke, whose work
they were to discover in the 1970s. They simply saw the triumphal
march of the Left and decided that the decrepit Right needed a
fundamental overhaul. I must confess I don't know anything about the
German wing of this movement, which may indeed have incorporated more
personal continuities with the Nazi or para-Nazi intelligentsia; but I
am quite well-informed about its French core (and its Belgian
dependencies), which was a genuinely new phenomenon. The term "New
Right" is in any case a mere translation of a French original,
Nouvelle Droite, which refers to a specific movement, the GRECE
(Groupement de Recherche et d'Etude pour la Civilisation Européenne,
"Research and Study Group for European Civilization") and ultimately
to the circle of people associated at one time or other with a single
man: its founder Alain de Benoist.

In a gradual process of "deepening" its analysis, the Nouvelle Droite
distinguished itself from the past-oriented Old Right (WW2, the
Algerian war) with fresh ideas that justified the qualification "New".
Its central theme is "identity": a liberal theme when cultivated by
African-Americans, by Amerindians and other indigenous peoples, or by
immigrant minorities in Europe, yet a "far-rightist" one when
discussed by native Europeans (this paradox might once more illustrate
Poewe's thesis of liberalism's closeness to its apparent enemies). It
champions the right to "difference" and "diversity" (another liberal
buzzword): against the uniformity of modern society, all existing
communities, whether ancient or newly conceived, should have a right
to express and preserve their distinctive identities.

It is easy to see how this can become a racist position. In anti-
immigrant demonstrations these days, you often see the slogan: "For a
heterogeneous world of homogeneous peoples." While pledging respect to
other peoples and their identities, it also claims the right to
exclude these others from a nation's own territory. Yet, it must be
noted that this respect for others is, by and large, sincere. Unlike
in the colonial period, when Europeans including the Nazis took it for
granted that they had a right to interfere in other peoples' affairs
and rule their countries as colonies, contemporary racists would by
now be happy enough to be left alone in their own territory and leave
other peoples to rule themselves. When they say they want the same
rights for other races as for their own, including self-rule and self-
preservation within their own borders, they usually mean it.

White "Supremacism", though a common term, is actually an extremely
rare phenomenon now; decolonization has changed the world as well as
the minds. A typical expression of this evolution was Alain de
Benoist's idea of "Europe, Tiers Monde, même combat", "Europe, Third
World: same struggle", viz. against the homogenizing anti-Identitarian
impact of the then Soviet-cum-American hegemony. Some professional
anti-fascists prefer to live in an eternal 1945 and pretend that
today's anti-immigrant activists are "Nazis", but some of the defining
elements of Nazi doctrine are simply not viable anymore and are at
most only dreamed of by marginal cranks whom we can safely ignore.

The stigma attached to Hitler, if not that of history's biggest war
criminal then at least that of history's biggest loser, ensures that
his popularity cannot be revived except among sick people. Look at neo-
Nazi websites and you'll be treated to an ugly spectacle of
internecine fighting at the most vulgar and self-destructive level,
with allegations flying of sexual and financial misconduct and
"revelations" of the opponent's mother being Jewish. The real neo-Nazi
scene is full of sexual misfits incapable of raising a family, dirty
minds incapable of intellectual or organizational discipline. They may
well beat up a foreigner once in a while, and fortunately there are
laws to contain and punish that sort of crime, but in terms of
political power and serious perspectives they are insignificant, in
spite of all the police time devoted to them (after the airplane
attacks of 9 September 2001, police inspectors in Hamburg complained
that they had suspicions against Mohammed Atta but were not allowed to
investigate because watching the neo-Nazi scene was a higher
priority). The anti-immigrant parties now flourishing in Europe
typically screen their militants to weed out actual neo-Nazis because
the electorate won't vote for madmen.

8. The "New Right": how right?

Is there then no connection between the New Right and the Nazi past? I
wouldn't go that far in exonerating it. One thing I've noticed is a
tendency to keep Nazi connections of respected sources of inspiration
out of view. Thus, about Armin Mohler, a scholar frequently cited in
Nouvelle Droite publications, it is only now from Poewe's book that I
learn how he described himself as "a fascist in the style of José
Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Spanish Phalanx in the 1930s,
whose purpose was to defend a Spanish way of life against capitalism,
socialism and liberalism". (p.158) They had never introduced him as
"the fascist historian Armin Mohler". Likewise, I had to learn about
Sigrid Hunke's Nazi past from a leftist source because New Right
articles on her tend to be vague about that part of her career.

Admittedly, it is not strictly forbidden to mention someone's later
work without going into her earlier activities. But let's face it, a
Nazi phase, in Hunke's case when she was not a teenage camp-follower
anymore, is just too important to leave unmentioned. To be sure, real
Nazis would not hide the Nazi connection of their heroes but would
glorify it; all the same, hiding it remains insincere and indicates a
troubled conscience. Apart from insincere, it is also stupid: you
merely mislead your own readership whereas the opposite camp can't be
fooled because it has other sources of information. (Not that I was
ever in danger of being seduced by Hunke's thought: her pro-Islamic
position and her rather flaky vision of an underground religion with
many crypto-Christian faces made me sceptical from the beginning.)

The broader policy of the New Right vis-à-vis the memory of World War
2, however, is rather to emphasize explicitly the complexity of the
lines drawn during that conflict, e.g. to highlight the presence of
rightists in the resistance movement or that of leftists on the
collaborating side. By and large, the data mustered are correct, and
to that extent it is a welcome corrective to the ongoing descent of
World War 2 memory culture into a replacement of historiography with
simplistic morality tales in black and white.

But then there is the company that people keep. At Nouvelle Droite
conferences, you won't meet any declared Nazis, but you do see some
groups or individuals who are seriously tainted, e.g. the French
society devoted to the memory of the collaborationist writer Robert
Brasillach. Among their heroes, you find tainted authors like the
unreadable philosopher Martin Heidegger, dues-paying member of the
Nazi Party until 1945. Here again, history is a bit less black-and-
white than our contemporary judgment has become: before Brasillach was
executed for his collaboration with the Germans, there had been
untainted patriotic authors as well as leftists among the signatories
to a petition for clemency; and Heidegger was acknowledged as a major
source of inspiration by the French leftist philosophical movement of
Existentialism. But at least it seems that the Nouvelle Droite doesn't
mind being seen in the company of tainted people.

Then again, if the company people keep is to decide whether they are
politically respectable, then the Nouvelle Droite stands exonerated.
The lengthy attention in articles, and subsequently the invitation to
contribute, which Alain de Benoist received from the American liberal
periodical Telos, would not have been possible if the top-class
intellectuals on the Telos editorial board had smelled a Nazi there.
The membership list of the patronage committee of the periodical
Nouvelle Ecole includes many top-ranking intellectuals including a
virtual who's who of Indo-European studies. Many of the professors in
this field clearly don't see the New Right as a continuation of the
worst possible misuse of their field of scholarship, viz. the Nazi
distortion of the "Aryan" heritage. Its other periodicals (most
markedly Krisis), also in Belgium and Italy, regularly carry
contributions by mainstream intellectuals, and its conferences
likewise attract mainstream professors and journalists. This is often
a question of personal acquaintance: in spite of shrill far-leftist
warnings against the sulphuric danger of the Nouvelle Droite, those
mainstream people know from personal experience that the people who
invite them are not Nazis. Given the widespread fear among public
personalities for attacks on their good name by vigilant leftists, we
can surmise that even more mainstream people would be willing to be
seen in this company if only they would dare to.

My own reasons for rejecting the Nouvelle Droite after initial
sympathy in the early 1990s were mainly the following: (1) a specific
instance of papering over the nasty collaborationist aspects of the
careers of two Belgian writers in Nouvelle Droite articles about them,
exposed in a reader's letter; not being very knowledgeable about that
part of our history, I felt cheated; (2) the lack of scholarly
seriousness among its second-rank writers and their palpable
subjection of method to eagerly held beliefs, esp. on topics like
Pagan and Indo-European history; (3) my suspicions against the rather
pompous use of obsolete terminology (e.g. why describe a hoped-for
confederal democratic unity for Europe as an "Empire", after the model
of the Holy Roman Empire, when "confederacy" would do the semantic job
less ambiguously?) as arguably an implicit admission of nostalgia for
pre-modern social relations; (4) my nagging suspicion that its
critique of egalitarianism in the name of "differentialism" could at
heart simply be a plea against equality in favour of inequality, Old-
Right style; (5) its sympathy for Islam, one element which it does
indeed have in common with Hitler and Himmler and the authors
discussed by Poewe, and strange for alleged neo-Pagans given that
Mohammed's career consisted in the extermination of Paganism from
Arabia; (6) its lack of a credible philosophical or religious
backbone, compensated for with restless explorations of Pagan
mythologies and frivolous exercises in aimless erudition or
contrarious rhetoric (the annual conference in Paris is called Journée
de la Pensée Rebelle, "day of rebellious thought", a sign of prolonged
adolescence), which struck me by its contrast with the solid
philosophical and religious grounding of modern Hindu thinkers whom I
had read, such as Sri Aurobindo, or whom I knew in person,
particularly Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goel; and finally (7) my scepsis
vis-à-vis its central theme of "identity".

To my feeling, identities are just there and will take care of
themselves, so that political action can better be theorized in terms
of other concerns, such as the people's prosperity and well-being. At
the bottom level, people are all the same in that they have the same
material needs; at the top level, people are again all the same, being
eternal souls or as, Hindus would say, drops in the same ocean of the
Self. Which is a more important concern than the contingent and
changeable but inevitable differences that make up our distinct
identities. As I once heard Dr. Pukh Raj Sharma says: "The realized
person realizes that he is the same as everyone else."

Wisely or unwisely, I have not taken my scepticism to be a reason for
any active hostility to the Nouvelle Droite people, some of whom I
count as friends. This is a Christian trait: Jesus spent time with
sinners, and I have always been an opponent of boycotting people. Time
permitting, I accept invitations from that side, so that I spoke at
their conference in Antwerp in 2000, if only as a stand-in for an
announced speaker who had cancelled at the last minute for health
reasons (Pim Fortuyn, no less, the Dutch liberal sociology professor
who criticized Islam, subsequently went into politics, and ended up
murdered by a leftist). In the Nouvelle Ecole issue of the same year,
I had a little joust with Prof. Jean Haudry about the Aryan invasion
theory, a thesis defended in the past by colonialists and Nazis, and
now by European rightists and Indian leftists. As a privileged
witness, I would consider it a reassuring fact that the Nouvelle
Droite clearly doesn't mind giving a hearing to people it disagrees
with. That in itself is a commendable counterpoint to the prevalent
leaden atmosphere of la pensée unique, i.e. of the single imposed
opinion.

9. The New Right: How Important?

While I cannot agree with Prof. Poewe's explicit claim that the New
Right is a continuation of the Nazi movement, I must reject her
implicit thesis even more forcefully: viz. that the New Right is an
important phenomenon. It was never more than a small group without any
impact. And it has even been getting smaller and smaller for quite
some time now.

From the 1980s onwards, prominent ideologues started leaving the GRECE
because of its intellectualistic focus estranged from political
activism, and especially because of its leftward drift towards
multiculturalism. Indeed, identity discourse logically led to an
acceptance of the separate identities of all communities in France,
not just the autochthonous Bretons and Basques, but the immigrant
Arabs and Berbers as well. Moreover, Alain de Benoist discarded the
idea of ever removing the immigrant communities from France as a
delusion. For most rightists, the immigrant question had by then
become the central political issue: all the clever distinctions and
comparative references elaborated by the brainy de Benoist paled into
insignificance next to this urgent problem.

If "Nouvelle Droite" is used in a broad sense as including all those
who once belonged to GRECE, then its current point of gravity is
divided in two overlapping yet distinct tendencies, (1) around
Guillaume Faye, simply anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic, neutral on the
Middle East conflict but tactically pro-Israel, and anti-American only
in so far as the US is perceived as pro-Muslim (cf. the pro-Muslim
interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo), neutral on religion as being a
matter on which we can have our convivial quarrels only after we have
undone the "colonization" of Europe by Muslim immigrants; and (2)
around Pierre Vial with his movement Terre et Peuple ("Earth and
People"), explicitly neo-Pagan as well as racialist, not anti-Islamic
yet anti-immigration and hence in practice anti-Muslim, and solidly
anti-American.

Vial once transferred from GRECE to the political party Front
National, but later followed Bruno Mégret when the party split,
leaving Jean-Marie Le Pen with his core support base of old-style
nationalists and rightist Catholics. When this split occurred, it was
predictable that people tinged with Nouvelle Droite influence would
quit Le Pen, a plump incarnation of the Old Right. Now, under pressure
from the young militants who find all these internal quarrels an
unforgivable waste of energy in the face of the fast-increasing
immigrant presence, the differences between the various rightist
factions are being patched up. Religious differences have always been
tactically disregarded within contemporary rightist parties, which in
Belgium, France and Northern Italy typically include traditionalist
Catholics along with religious post-Christians (a more appropriate
descriptive term than "neo-Pagans") and a majority of secularized
agnostics.

At any rate, the old GRECE stands outside these political
developments. Shrinking in membership and resources, this year it
didn't even have the means to organize its annual conference. Today,
Alain de Benoist is the leader, not of some political campaign or
intrigue, but of an intellectual forum (I wouldn't even call it a
movement anymore) counting few noteworthy members except himself. He
is simply a capable editor of a few periodicals, in which he ably
reports and comments on current societal trends and ongoing debates in
history, philosophy and religion. The others have shed most of the
elements that made the New Right "new"; they have either quit the
scene for a better career elsewhere or have joined the Old Right. In
Belgium, on the Flemish side, the Nouvelle Droite organization has
been reabsorbed into the right wing of the Flemish movement, placing
itself in the mainstream conservative tradition of Edmund Burke. On
the Walloon side, leading GRECE apostate Robert Steuckers has become
another well-informed commentator without political influence. He is
better known in Russia than in his homeland, but there again, his
Russian contacts sound like the old school of narrow nationalism, "New-
Rightist" only in their affectation of a bit of intellectual jargon.

So, as a distinct intellectual movement, the Nouvelle Droite is
practically a thing of the past. Even the term is up for grabs: a new
Dutch anti-immigrant party calls itself Nieuw Rechts, "New Right", but
has nothing to do with GRECE thought, being e.g. very pro-American.
When we survey the movement's history and its impact on politics, we
must unambiguously evaluate it as a failure. When I see meticulous
scholars like Prof. Poewe describe it as some kind of threat, it makes
me wonder. As I have witnessed it, the New Right was only a mouse that
roared.

The early Nouvelle Droite used to toy with the notion of "Gramscism of
the Right", after the Italian communist leader Antonio Gramsci who
taught the importance of capturing the cultural sphere in preparation
of seizing political power. This notion has only been taken seriously
by the leftists, who know the power of the Gramscian approach from
their own experience. With their "long march through the
institutions", the leftists of May 1968 have indeed captured the
cultural power and used it to change the polity beyond recognition.
Their hold on the institutions is firm and secure, with absolutely no
chance for any known rightist to pass the entrance screening, like a
discreet but highly effective McCarthyism. By logical contrast, the
Right has only lost ground in all ideologically consequential sectors
of society, and this continuously throughout the decades when a few
Paris intellectuals were playing at "Gramscism of the Right".

The only "rightist-Gramscian" success I can think of is when Alain de
Benoist and a few companions briefly held jobs at the centre-rightist
newspaper Le Figaro, ca. 1980, but that is long ago now. Today, de
Benoist may be one of the most erudite and eloquent French
intellectuals, but you will never see him on any of France's numerous
TV debating shows. His only recent appearance in the general media was
a guest column in the liberal weekly Marianne during the presidential
election campaign of 2002, when he advised the voters not to vote for
either of the "rightist" candidates, Le Pen and president Jacques
Chirac. See, only when he says something anti-rightist is he allowed
to get a hearing. Incidentally, the final round of the election was
between precisely those two candidates, an extra illustration of his
irrelevance.

The only rightward move in Europe's public sphere in the last twenty
years has taken place within the hegemonic Left, viz. leftists
abandoning their commitment to socialist economics under pressure from
economic realities and the implosion of the Soviet Union, and now also
leftist politicians cherry-picking a few proposals originally made by
anti-immigrant rightist-populists under pressure from mounting ethnic
tensions in working-class neighbourhoods. But in all these
developments, the Left remains firmly in control of the public sphere
and decides for itself where and when it may make some rightist-
looking gestures.

It is a different matter that on the ground, a certain Right in
several degrees of extremeness is making gains, as the British
National Party has done in the recent municipal elections. But there's
little ideologically "New" about that Right, and its gains are not the
result of some "rightist-Gramscian" strategy, but of the escalating
polarization in our society. Parties without ideology except the most
basic anti-immigrant instincts now make gains simply because tensions
are growing. There may be a threat from the Right, but it is not the
so-called New Right.

10. The New Right: What Religion?

This is how Prof. Poewe summarizes the religious worldview of the New
Right: "European neo-paganism sees itself as the restorer of all that
it claims Christianity removed from European life and thought, that
is, human godliness, the seamless unity of religion and science, and
the harmony of human beings with the environment." (p.173) Well, at
first sight, who could argue with that? Yes, Christianity did create a
conflict between science and religion that had not existed in the
Greco-Roman world. And yes, Christianity reduced man to his property
of being fallible and a sinner, denying any godliness (howsoever this
may be defined) to him, and making the struggle against sin the
central theme of existence.

The allegation that Christianity broke "the harmony of human beings
with the environment" is a different matter. Long before Christianity,
human societies have destroyed forests, engineered soil erosion and
exterminated species. Australia was a bit greener and much richer in
large mammal species when the Aboriginals with their Dreamtime
religion appeared on the scene to make it their own. The West-
Europeans were Christian when they exterminated wolves and bears in
their part of the world, but there is no indication that they would
have refrained from doing so if they had remained Pagan: it was Pagan
Europeans who already had exterminated the lions from their continent.
The ancient Pagans were not against industry: Thor's lightning was
represented by a hammer, both a product and an instrument of
technology. So this use of environmentalism in religious apologetics
is but an instance of how neo-Pagans, exactly like Christians, try to
appropriate politically or otherwise fashionable ideas.

According to Poewe, the neo-Paganism of Mathilde Ludendorff and Sigrid
Hunke, which she claims is continued by the New Right, "rejects
Christianity for its imperialism, its radical judgments, its
totalitarianism, its privileging of the sense of incurred injury, its
linear history, its denigration of woman and humanity, and its source
in the culture of the Hurriter (Jews)." (p.172) What a mess that is.

Some of the objections are valid, but wrongly taken to be typical of
Christianity: denigration of women is pretty universal, vide e.g.
ancient Greek society, which was Pagan enough but treated women as a
household commodity. The appropriation of feminism is another typical
case of "political correctness" in neo-Pagan self-advertisement.

Some are obnoxiously bad history, such as the equation of Jews with
Hurrians, a polytheistic nation of unaffiliated linguistic identity
(non-Semitic, non-Indo-European) in upper Mesopotamia, mid-2nd
millennium BC. Incidentally, they gained their place in Indo-European
studies by employing an Indo-Aryan clan of horse-trainers who left
their tell-tale Indo-Aryan terminology in a much-cited equitation
manual. This scholarly sloppiness spurning the findings of
contemporary research is common in the outer orbit of the New Right,
and sometimes even taints the work of the core ideologues, e.g. the
talk of Indo-European culture often harks back to the state of Indo-
European studies not just before World War 2 but even before World War
1.

Some objections to Christianity are valid but odd when coming from
people supposedly in the Nazi orbit, such as "imperialism". Didn't the
Nazis aspire to building a new empire? And it would be an odd Nazi who
objects to "totalitarianism", wouldn't it? Yet, it's not so odd
anymore when coming from post-Nazi New-Rightists who had interiorized
the accomplished facts of decolonization and democratization, but
that's where Poewe's claim of continuity from Nazis to New Right
breaks down.

In the 1930s, very many people right and left doubted the virtues of
democracy and cited the successes of Italy, Germany and the Soviet
Union as proof that the authoritarian system was superior. After the
latter's defeats in 1943-45 and 1989-91, few people would maintain
that same position. In this respect, talk of "reviving Nazism" belongs
more to nostalgic-leftist rhetoric than to serious social science, for
one of the defining elements of Nazi doctrine, viz. the Leader
principle, is quite dead. (This is not to deny that democracy is
threatened today, yet the main threat does not come from the rightist
opposition but from the establishment, e.g. the growth of
transnational institutions not subject to serious democratic controls,
such as the European Union; or security-oriented legislation
neutralizing civic freedoms, such as the USA's post-9/11 Patriot Act;
or the proliferation of Orwellian laws punishing "opinion crimes".)

And now for a really serious allegation. Anti-Semitism in Europe
"cannot disappear so long as the New Right and its pagan base choose,
in rehabilitated form, to play off against one another two
irreconcilable worldviews, namely, Western representative democracy
rooted in Christianity against European national democracy rooted in
paganism. According to Hunke, the latter would not be a Hitler state.
It would, however, be a Europe that acknowledged its roots in the
notion of Reich." (p.174)

Note again the exaggerated importance attributed to the New Right:
this marginal tendency is not going to decide the future of anti-
Semitism or of anything else. Moreover, if there is one point on which
the GRECE has radically broken with the past of a certain Right, it is
definitely anti-Semitism. I can of course not claim to have read its
whole output, but then it is up to the accusers to do so and dig up
the evidence for their allegations. What I do know, at any rate, is
that de Benoist and company are frequently lambasted by genuine anti-
Jewish authors for "ignoring the Jewish problem".

Thus, holocaust revisionist Prof. Robert Faurisson wrote on his
website in April 2004: "On y trouve tout un tas d'articles fort
instructifs, mais on remarque aussi une chose, en parcourant ces
centaines de titres: la Nouvelle Droite a ignoré entièrement le
révisionnisme, et ne dit jamais un mot qui pourrait fâcher les juifs.
On fait le totor, on paganise, on heideggerise, on démondialise, on
celtise, on synergise, on suroccidentalise, mais quand il s'agit des
juifs et des crimes du sionisme, c'est le point aveugle grand comme la
place de la Concorde, il n'y a plus personne. Ils ont tous la tête
dans le sable.» (On the New Right websites, "one finds many
interesting articles, but one also notices one thing while browsing
through these hundreds of writings: the New Right totally ignores
revisionism and never says a word that could anger the Jews... When it
comes to the Jews and the crimes of Zionism, there's a giant blind
spot, no one shows up. They all have their heads in the sand.")

As for the notion of "Reich", I don't know what Sigrid Hunke wrote
about it, but I surmise from Poewe's citation that her view of it
evolved away from the Nazi view. Leftists find it hard to conceive of
the possibility of change in people, stagnant as they themselves are
in their own triumphalist confidence of being on the right side of
History. But people on the defeated side were forced to rethink their
commitments, and some of them actually changed their views, e.g. from
belief in the uptight Nazi uniformity towards a more relaxed and
tolerant view of political organization

The Nouvelle Droite view of "empire", at any rate, is almost the
opposite of the Nazi view. Whereas the so-called Third Reich
(1933-45), and to a lesser extent already the Second Reich
(1870-1918), had been a homogenizing national state, the original
Reich, the Holy Roman Empire (962-1806), and its partial successor
state, the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire (1806-1918), had been
pluralistic and decentralized constructions. As Belgian Nouvelle
Droite ideologue Robert Steuckers likes to remind us, the Austrian
emperors in the 18th century were very popular among their Belgian
subjects because they respected local autonomies and largely left the
Belgians to rule themselves all while being sufficiently powerful to
guarantee them military safety against French expansionism. During the
Vienna Conference reorganizing Europe in 1814-15, a Belgian delegation
came pleading for the re-inclusion of their country into the Habsburg
Empire. If that is what is meant by "Reich", I wouldn't worry too much
about it; but the Nouvelle Droite's choice of terminology remains
ambiguous and therefore unfortunate.

As for Poewe's notion of "Western representative democracy rooted in
Christianity", I fear that this betrays a certain bias. Western
representative democracy may have many roots, but Christianity is not
among them. When the Christian religion seized power in the Roman
empire, it took on an imperial form of organization and started
suppressing what much of internal democracy had so far existed within
its own communities. European kings who converted to Christianity
(Clovis of Belgium and France, Olaf II of Norway, Vladimir of Kiev
Russia) and imposed their new religion on the people, typically also
strengthened their central authority at the expense of local
autonomies and the rights of nobles and cities, or promoted their
dynastic power over the older practice of elective kingship. Until
well after 1945, the Catholic Church opposed democracy in principle
and associated it with the godless French Revolution. At most, one
might say that the Christian notion of the human person as a unique
creature made in God's image has indirectly contributed to the notion
of the Rights of Man, a notion abhorred by the Church when deist and
atheist revolutionaries proclaimed it.

Christianity has a long record of appropriating others' merits. In the
colonial period, missionaries fooled the natives of non-Christian
countries into believing that Europe's technological progress was the
fruit of Christianity. In fact, the four inventions that changed
Europe in the Renaissance and propelled it as a naval power, were
paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder; all four invented by the
Pagan Chinese. Every educated Christian knew that the birth of modern
scholarship and science was due to the rediscovery of pre-Christian
Greece and Rome. Heliocentrism was introduced against the opposition
of the Church. Yet, when the Jesuits in China impressed the Chinese
with the simplicity and accuracy of heliocentric calculations (in fact
they used Tycho Brahe's hybrid system, with the sun revolving around
the earth and the other planets around the sun, thus keeping the earth
in the middle yet simplifying the kinetic relations between the sun
and the planets), they falsely presented these as a proof of the
superiority of the Christian religion. And today, we find that even
democracy is claimed as a contribution of Christianity.

11. Hitler and Krishna

Karla Poewe's thesis brings to mind another recent effort to give a
specific religious dimension to the Nazi regime. In that book too, the
case made ought to provoke the questions: "Were the people presented
as propagating this religion (in case two religions) really of any
importance to Nazi thought and Nazi power?" And: "If they believed in
a connection between National-Socialism and the religions concerned,
were they right or wrong in holding this belief?" If the answer to
this last question is yes, it implies a terrible indictment against
those religions. And this much is effectively assumed by anti-cult
activists who use the book as a warning against "cults" belonging to
these religions.

In 2002, the former Maoist author and publisher Herbert Röttgen and
his wife Mariana, a violinist and art historian, using the double
pseudonym Victor & Victoria Trimondi, came out with a book titled
Hitler, Buddha, Krishna. They have started a very professional website
(www.trimondi.de) collecting all the related previous and subsequent
papers, the reviews and translations, the feedback and correspondence
about their provocative thesis.

I first heard of the book on a now-defunct Hindu internet forum which
carried an article from the press agency Hindu Press International,
itself based on a despatch of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur: "Book Tries
to Link Hitler with Buddhism and Hinduism. Hamburg, Germany, 19
September, 2002: Adolf Hitler was fascinated with Buddhism and
Hinduism, and many of his henchmen viewed him as a Krishna-like divine
warrior who would cleanse the Earth of ‘vermin' in a baptism of fire,
according to a headline-making new book." The Trimondi couple are
further reported to draw attention "with a number of books exploring
what they call the ‘violence- prone' side of Buddhism and Hinduism. It
was this side of those Eastern philosophies -- the image of the
vengeful demigod annihilating enemies without mercy to create a new
earthly order -- which fascinated Hitler as a young man and which
continues to fascinate impressionable young neo-Nazis, say the
authors."

A quick web search in neo-Nazi sites reveals no particular interest in
Krishna or the Buddha. But there must be many such websites, including
a few maintained by agents provocateurs (a recent court case before
Germany's Supreme Court in Karlsruhe fell apart when the neo-Nazis who
had engineered violent incidents turned out to be infiltrators of the
secret service), so I suppose anything can be found in at least a few
of them, upon request if need be. Still, there are many newspaper
reports and TV documentaries about neo-Nazis and I have never seen any
references to Krishna or the Buddha in them. But never mind the neo-
Nazis, what about the Nazis themselves?

An office-bearer of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council,
VHP) commented on the first news of this alleged Hindu-Buddhist link
with the Nazis: "In fact, there is little new in the book by Herbert
and Mariana Roettgen, who write under the pseudonym Victor and
Victoria Trimondi. Beyond linking the Swastika with Hindu symbolism,
the authors fail to prove that Hitler himself actually had more than a
brief flirtation with Eastern philosophy in pre-World War I Vienna."

I might add that even the Swastika is very weak as proof of a Nazi
connection with Hinduism and Buddhism. To the Nazis, the Swastika was
not an exotic import product from India or Tibet but an age-old
heritage of the Aryans, i.e. of their own ancestors. Some wayward
Aryans had taken it to the Orient, where Hindus and Buddhists were to
embrace this exotic occidental import product, but it was and remained
first of all an Aryan symbol, at home in their European homeland. In
Mein Kampf and in conversations, Hitler had clearly expressed his
contempt for Hindus and Buddhists, so it is unlikely that he would
have adopted the Swastika as national flag if he had considered it as
a Hindu-Buddhist symbol.

But playing devil's advocate, I proposed to the Hindus on the web
forum that we all do a bit of mental effort and try to imagine how
someone in the Nazi era with a little knowledge (a dangerous thing!)
about Hindu-Buddhist teachings, or conversely an Asian with only a
little knowledge of Hitler, could have seen him as a Hindu or Buddhist
sage. According to his international reputation, the Swastika-wielding
Hitler was a vegetarian, teetotaller and celibate. It was even said
that unlike most conquerors, he punished rape committed by his
soldiers on subject populations. He lived soberly and shunned the
fruits of plunder, unlike some of his generals who collected stolen
art. He extolled truth to the given word ("my honour is loyalty") and
was a self-proclaimed crusader for truth against the Big Lie. You
could say that he also crusaded against theft, viz. the theft of
German lands by the Versailles powers in violation of their given
word, having first assured compliance with Woodrow Wilson's principle
of popular self-determination (which would have allowed German-
speaking populations to get Austria, Sudetenland and parts of Poland
allotted to Germany) and then going back on their promise.

As for World War 2, didn't people back then agree that he was forced
into it against his will when Britain and France declared war on him
for his little incursion into Poland? Look at Communist writings from
1940: they present the "bourgeois" states as the war-mongers who have
forced war upon Soviet ally Nazi Germany. The Allies also encouraged
armed resistance by civilians, in contravention of prevailing war
conventions, and this included acts of sabotage and murder, or what we
now call "terrorism". So, a case could very well be made, with the
information then selectively available, that Germany was up against
the forces of Adharma (unrighteousness, disorder). And even then,
Hitler did not abandon the rules of Dharma Yuddha (righteous warfare)
altogether, e.g. he never resorted to the use of poison gas in
battle.

So, if you permit the wry irony, Hitler was arguably a votary of
Indian systems of morality such as the Pancha Shila, the basic five
rules of the Buddha: non-violence, non-stealing, truthfulness,
chastity and non-intoxication. This much for the irony, but was that
the real Hitler? It is not because a few exalted spirits in 1940 have
believed certain things, that we now should take their beliefs at face
value. They may have been mistaken.

The VHP spokesman also argued that this kind of allegation was yet
another arrow in the plentiful quiver of the Christian missionaries. I
responded that the Trimondis don't seem to be Christians at all, that
this kind of rhetoric is not confined to Christian propagandists and
that it was certainly not invented by them. Associating people with
Nazism is such a tremendous shortcut to publicity and blackmail power
that the Left has been at it for decades. Casting the net of "Nazism"
ever wider, blackening ever new groups of people, provides such a
windfall of moral superiority that it forms a permanent temptation to
worthless people eager to become somebody overnight. Conversely, some
of their dupes see Hitler references wherever they look. Think for
example of the idiot who told the French swimming team at the Olympic
Games of 1996 to walk to the pool in SS goosestep as an "anti-Nazi
gesture of memory"; the girls were only saved this ignominy at the
last moment by Jewish protests. Given this craze for seeing ever more
Hitler references, everyone should now expect to get his turn to be
exposed as the "secret accomplice" or "ultimate inspiration" of
Hitler, so it was about time that Krishna and the Buddha got their
share of the blame for the Nazi crimes.

The VHP man cited a headline from the German paper Bild, "Hitler was a
Buddhist", and wondered: "To what depths of malignancy can people
stoop?" Well, not so quick, let us first give them a fair hearing.
Maybe they didn't mean to be malignant, maybe they issued a timely
warning against religious figures whose teachings had to lead to
tyranny and mass murder? Is it not kind of them to protect us against
such a terrible outcome?

Let us start with Krishna, believed by his devotees to be the
incarnation of the solar deity Vishnu. Apparently, some intellectuals
close to Nazi leaders like Himmler taught their sponsors what the
latter would be pleased to hear, viz. that Hitler was a divine
incarnation, similar to Krishna in role and radiance. Assuming that
the Trimondi citations to this effect are correct (their job is less
thorough than Poewe's), my first question would be: was this only the
pastime of a handful of people, or did it influence top Nazi decisions
such as, say, the invasion of Poland?

There are neither Jews nor anti-Semitism in the Bhagavad Gita, so
that's not what any Nazi could have gotten out of it. But what about a
doctrine of war? No indication is given that Hitler and his generals,
more down-to-earth men than Himmler, ever cited any except purely
secular reasons for annexing Austria, Sudetenland and Bohemia-Moravia
and then invading Poland. The Gita does not figure there. I guess we
are expected to believe that hearing of the Gita somehow turned their
minds sufficiently to condition them subconsciously into pursuing war-
mongering policies.

Moreover, I would venture the second question: even if any Gita-
wielder in the Nazi orbit had recommended these steps towards war on
the basis of the Gita, would he have been right in proposing such a
conclusion from reading the Gita? Here the answer is definitely
negative. Correctly interpreting the Gita requires a certain amount of
background knowledge, which was clearly lacking in these Nazi
amateurs. True, Krishna tells Arjuna that it is his duty to fight the
war against his cousins. But this is not a glorification of war for
war's sake, as sometimes imputed to the Nazi mind, nor a war justified
by an amoral principle of "might is right", as definitely accepted in
the Nazi worldview. Instead it is a war necessitated by the existence
of a conflict of claims and by the failure of all Krishna's attempts
to solve the conflict peacefully. Indeed, it is the enemy side that
lives by the "might is right" principle, and Krishna condemns this as
utterly evil. Hitler and Krishna were on opposing sides of the
battlefield.

The Mahabharata, which provides the context for the Gita, clearly lays
down that "non-violence is the highest duty" and describes how Krishna
tries several non-violent solutions. Only when these fail due to the
stubborn selfishness of the other party, and when the justice of his
party's cause is established and acknowledged even by elderly members
of the opposite party, does Krishna gradually accept the second maxim,
viz. that "violence is a duty against wilful evildoers". That's when
he agrees at last to let the war begin.

I am not saying this because I perforce need to save the Gita from any
negative comment. Personally, I have my doubts about the Gita too. My
philosophy teacher Prof. Kedar Nath Mishra called it a "hodge-podge"
juxtaposing all the Hindu philosophies chapter after chapter without a
proper synthesis. I would add that a Krishna-worshipping editor
managed to sneak a Krishna-deifying line into every one of those
chapters, thus succeeding into his sectarian plan of subordinating all
branches of Hinduism to his own favoured worship of Krishna. I don't
like such typical devotee's behaviour, though I will grant that
Krishna is presented as giving some valid teachings. At any rate, his
conduct in the whole process leading up to the start of the war is
neatly compatible with the European theory of Just War, and could even
be read as the earliest attempt at formulating such a doctrine of the
conditions for Just War.

The Trimondis pay a lot of attention to post-war cranks like Miguel
Serrano who deified Hitler and dragged Vishnu into their fantasies by
making Hitler an incarnation of Vishnu. Their beliefs obviously had no
importance for the history of Nazism itself, but here again, the
question must be answered: was their belief right? Or at least: did it
make sense? Moreover, solar deities are supposed to spread light: is
that what Hitler did?

I don't believe in divine incarnations, but if I did, I would at least
expect to find certain positive qualities in them. If God cares to
come down to earth, He should at least come in glory. Jesus went
through great humiliations and an apparent final defeat, but then he
rose from his grave and defeated death. Krishna died at a high age in
a silly hunting accident, after having seen his family destroy itself
in internecine fighting, but at least he was on the winning side in
the war he was most famously involved in. Hitler, by contrast, was a
loser, both in his youth in a more ordinary sense, and at the end in a
world-shaking cataclysm. He was in many ways a pitiable figure,
whereas Krishna was relaxed, successful in war and with the ladies, no
stranger to persecution yet at all times enjoying the comforts of his
noble birth. Krishna also remained lucid till the end, while Hitler
went increasingly crazy due to the strain of a losing war and perhaps
the side-effects of all the medicine he took.

If we assume that the philosophy expounded in the Gita was really
Krishna's, we must admit that he was fluent in the higher reaches of
human thought, while Hitler's only book is of a far cruder quality.
And again, Hitler's defeat alone is reason enough to be sceptical of
claims that he was a divine incarnation. Serrano and his ilk were
wrong in recognizing Hitler as an incarnation of Vishnu, as most
Hindus would agree, esp. with what is now known about the Nazi regime.
Moreover, as a matter of good manners and respect for others' cultural
property, Serrano as a non-Hindu ought to have felt inhibited from
making such pronouncements about a Hindu deity. But crackpots think
the whole world is theirs to manipulate in their fevered fantasies.

Another crank author, to whom too much importance is given by the
Trimondis, is Baron Julius Evola, a self-described "integral
traditionalist" who had worked as an ideologue and researcher for
Mussolini and for Himmler. Yes, it is true that he wrote about Tantric
sexuality, but so what? First of all, he might as well have left those
books unwritten, for it is unlikely that many readers of his writings
on this abstruse subject have given any practical effect to the
lessons learned. Moreover, like most of the dabblers in Orientalism on
the Trimondi radar screen, he couldn't possibly bring Oriental
doctrines to Nazi or neo-Nazi circles simply because he never mastered
those doctrines in the first place and distorted what much he
understood in terms of his European ideological agenda. Thus, as his
contemporary A.K. Coomaraswamy already pointed out, he was wrong in
assuming that the Kshatriya caste was ritually higher than the Brahmin
caste, but it is obvious where this mistake came from: he glorified
the warrior spirit and happened to be a member of Europe's own old
warrior caste, the aristocracy.

But he was crazier than that, e.g. he derived a sacralization of
sadism from his reading of Tantric literature, with the sacrifice of
the female partner, at least "symbolically". I surmise that he never
gained much of a following with that, for if he had set in motion of
whole movement of applied Tantric sadism, we surely would have heard
about it. The importance of such information is not that it has ever
made any difference, but only that it shows the utter crankiness of
the kind of people described here. And this crankiness is what made
them ineffective and hence unimportant. Far too much attention has
been paid to freaky characters like Evola and Serrano.

As against these occultist approaches to Nazi history, I prefer hard-
headed explanations, say Frantz Fanon's thesis that Hitler merely did
to fellow Europeans what Europe had been doing to other continents. Or
the Marxist explanation that "Fascism" was but an emergency attempt by
the bourgeoisie to control the crisis of capitalism. They may be right
or they may be wrong, but at least they place the Nazi phenomenon
squarely inside history.

12. Hitler and the Buddha

The main attack of the Trimondis is directed against Buddhism,
especially in its Tibetan variety. Maoists have eagerly used this book
to embarrass the sympathizers of the Dalai Lama. In principle, I would
agree that the corrective of an irreverent treatment of Buddhism is to
be welcomed, given that Buddhism has been spared the waves of
criticism to which Christianity, Islam and Hinduism have been
subjected. However, this attack really goes too far.

Buddhism is usually praised, and sometimes denounced (e.g. by V.D.
Savarkar in his analysis of India's weakened defences after the reign
of Buddhist emperor Ashoka), as a non-violent religion. The Buddha
could have fought all the wars he wanted if he had remained a prince,
but instead he chose to become a wandering ascetic. He remained
passive even when his Shakya castemen were slaughtered as punishment
for their caste hubris: a neighbouring dynasty had wanted a Shakya
princess for their own prince, but the proud Shakyas had given them a
substitute bride, viz. a maidservant; they paid later with their own
annihilation when her princely son Virudhaka discovered the ruse and
took his revenge.

Admittedly, on this occasion the Buddha did something else that
deserves criticism, viz. he justified the event by explaining that the
Shakyas had collectively committed a sin in a past life, and that this
massacre was merely their deserved punishment (in which he himself as
a born Shakya also partook by having a headache). This is an instance
of the karma doctrine at its worst, and the one reason why many
Westerners abhor it, viz. its passive acceptance of injustice and
misfortune as the just outcome of our actions in past lives. All the
same, the Buddha did not advocate or commit violence.

Yet, the Trimondis manage to present a very different face of
Buddhism. Indeed, Buddhism had been the religion of the Samurai
warrior class in Japan, Nazi Germany's ally. German researchers Eugen
Herrigel and Karlfried Graf von Dürckheim had favourably reported on
Japanese Buddhism in their homeland. It could be argued that something
of the Kshatriya (warrior caste) origin of the Buddha had somehow
survived throughout Buddhist history, considering e.g. the development
of martial arts in the Buddhist Shaolin monastery. Possibly, the
Shramana-s or wandering ascetics whom the Buddha had joined upon
leaving the world, had originated from the young men's groups living
separately in the margins of society, described by scholars as an
ancient feature of Indo-European culture. From challenging one another
to self-surpassing feats of martial prowess, via exercises in
hardening themselves, on to pure asceticism: it looks like a logical
development. However, this hypothetic genealogy of Buddhism doesn't
nullify the radical difference between the conquest of others, which
is the goal of warriors, and the conquest of oneself, the goal of
Buddhist ascetics.

The Trimondis' crowning piece of evidence for Buddhism's not-so-
benevolent and Nazi-attracting nature is the element of violence and
conquest in the text of the Kalachakra Tantra, a 10th-century text
used in an initiation rite regularly conducted by the ever-smiling
Dalai Lama. This seems to be the central revelation of the Trimondis:
the Kalachakra preaches a war of conquest against the demons until
everyone will accept the truth of Buddhism. When I first heard of
this, I thought it would be some metaphor for the fight against the
demonic tendencies in ourselves, famously depicted as demons in
Tibetan paintings. But it seems that the Kalachakra text is too
explicit for such an innocuous interpretation.

It may be helpful first of all to explain the term. Chakra means
"wheel"; Kâla means "time", "moment in time", and sometimes
specifically "hour of death". It is in the latter sense that it is
personified as a female deity, Kâlî (with long vowels; unrelated to
Kali, "quarrel", with two short vowels, as in Kali Yuga, the last and
lowest of the four world ages), the goddess of destruction. So,
Kâlachakra is "the Wheel of Time" or, if you prefer to give it a
sinister twist, "the Wheel of Destruction" To Buddhists, the two terms
are ultimately equivalent, for the passing of time brings a continuous
disintegration of composite entities.

What is the terrible secret of the Kalachakra that the Trimondis claim
to have revealed? It announces an apocalyptic struggle and enlists the
initiand as a "Shambhala warrior". It also specifies who the enemy is,
by listing his prophets in chronological order: Adam, Enoch, Abraham,
Moses, Jesus, Mani (the prophet of Manicheism, a Christian-Zoroastrian
hybrid religion), Mohammed and the Mahdi, i.e. the expected one of the
Shiites. The Trimondis claim that these represent "the three
monotheistic or Semitic religions", and that the Kalachakra is
consequently anti-Semitic, or at least open to anti-Semitic usage.
This is highly unlikely. The Tibetans had never confronted the Jews
and their encounters with Nestorian Christians are not known to have
been hostile. Those two religions, at any rate, do not recognize all
the prophets enumerated. Islam, by contrast, recognizes the Biblical
religious figures of the Jews and Christians as its own. So the list
simply describes the "pantheon" of Islam. The designated enemy is not
"the Semitic religions" (an appallingly wrong term, given the non-
monotheistic allegiance of most Semitic-speaking people before the
imposition of Christianity and Islam), but Islam.

That the medieval Tibetan Buddhists considered Islam as their enemy is
not due to some evil little idea of the Kalachakra author, but of
Islam's own treatment of the Buddhists. As is well-known, the
Buddhists monasteries and universities in the Gangetic plain had been
utterly destroyed by the Muslim invaders in the late 12th century,
putting the surviving monks and novices to flight, mostly to Tibet.
The same scenario had already played itself out in the 10th century in
Afghanistan, and that is when and why the Kalachakra Tantra was
composed, complete with its tirade against Islam. The wholesale
destruction of their presence in an entire country had perplexed the
Buddhists; they had never experienced such an outburst of fanaticism
and seem to have thought that this was the end of the world or
something similar. This explains the apocalyptic tone of the
Kalachakra Tantra sufficiently.

The text seems to have come about as a reaction to this trauma. In any
case, calls for holy war are highly untypical of Buddhism. If an
exception can be found here, that is a pity and a reminder that
nothing human is alien to the Buddhists, but not an indictment against
Buddhism itself. The Trimondis concede such corrective points here and
there, but the overall thrust of their book is nonetheless to foster
deep suspicions (some might call it "hate") against Hinduism and
Buddhism. This is also how most reviewers have understood it, or how
they have lapped it up, as will be clear from the review excerpts on
the Trimondi website.

The Trimondis themselves probably don't understand many crucial terms,
and they fail to clear up the misunderstandings about terminology that
are likely to exist among lay readers. I wouldn't say that they
deliberately mislead the reader, but the outcome will amount to the
same. Thus, the Trimondis have Nazis and neo-Nazis praise Hitler as a
Chakravartin, a universal ruler. The message conveyed to the non-
specialist reader is that Buddhism contains a doctrine of rulership
fit to underlie a Nazi-like regime (just as the Buddhist term Arya,
"noble" as in "the four noble truths", is left giving the incorrect
impression of being the Nazi racial term "Aryan", as indeed some Nazis
misconstrued it). In reality, anyone describing Hitler as a
Chakravartin simply shows he doesn't understand the meaning of the
word.

In Hindu scriptures, the Chakravartin is described as a suzerain who
receives tribute from subject rulers, but who respects the autonomy
(swarajya) and local customs (swadharma) of his subject nations. Is
that what Hitler did? The Buddhist ideal of the Chakravartin was
emperor Ashoka, who had his regrets about his initial military
conquest (needed to round off his predecessors' conquests upto India's
natural borders, easy to defend) chiselled in stone pillars. He
explicitly dropped the ambition of further military conquest and opted
for "religious conquest" (Dharma-Vijaya) instead. And lest anyone
start misquoting this, the meaning of "religious conquest" is not
something like Jihad, Islamic war against the Infidels, but simply
promoting morality and sending out Buddhist missionaries. Far from
illustrating that Buddhism had its imperialists too, as the Trimondis
present it, the story of Ashoka is one of pacifism.

So, like most Oriental religious doctrines, the notion of Chakravartin
was seriously misunderstood by those in Nazi circles who extolled it.
But even if Ashoka had been appropriate as a militaristic model for
Hitler to emulate, it would still not follow that Hitler did what he
did because he took inspiration from Ashoka. It is one thing to point
out a few German scholars who knew about Ashoka and talked about him
to their Nazi sponsors, but quite another to prove that these talks
"led to" the atrocities for which the Nazi regime became notorious.

The most frequently repeated flaw in the Trimondi couple's thesis,
then, is the fallacy of "cum hoc ergo propter hoc". Yes, there were
some enthusiasts of certain half-understood Hindu or Buddhist
doctrines, just as there were amateurs of many other things, but there
is no proof that they had any measurable influence on Nazi policies.
And the same criticism applies to Karla Poewe's thesis: she may have
proven that a few people in the Nazi orbit felt drawn to Heretic and
Pagan forms of spirituality, but not that this belief somehow had a
causal relation with the crimes of the Nazi regime.

Both are likewise mistaken in leaving the reader with the impression
of an even more consequential causal connection, viz. between those
religions themselves and National-Socialism. They could be read as
having proven that an interest in Meister Eckhart, in Krishna or the
Buddha leads to an acceptance of National-Socialism. Unfortunately, it
is to that effect that their books are being or will be used: to
spread suspicions against Europe's minority religions, whether native
or Asian.

Koenraad Elst

8 May 2006

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/yugabda-5108/2007100226/2-vijayadashmi-oct-2006/articles/christianity/the-religion-of-the-nazis/menu-id-29.html

Dr. Koenraad Elst

Dr. Koenraad Elst was born in Leuven, Belgium, on 7 August 1959, into
a Flemish (i.e. Dutch-speaking Belgian) Catholic family. He graduated
in Philosophy, Chinese Studies and Indo-Iranian Studies at the
Catholic University of Leuven. During a stay at the Benares Hindu
University, he discovered Indiaï¿½s communal problem and wrote his
first book about the budding Ayodhya conflict. While establishing
himself as a columnist for a number of Belgian and Indian papers, he
frequently returned to India to study various aspects of its ethno-
religio-political configuration and interview Hindu and other leaders
and thinkers. His research on the ideological development of Hindu

revivalism earned him his Ph.D. in Leuven in 1998. He has also
published about multiculturalism, language policy issues, ancient
Chinese history and philosophy, comparative religion, and the Aryan
invasion debate.

All articles by Dr. Koenraad Elst

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/yugabda-5108/dr.-koenraad-elst/view-all-articles.html

bademiyansubhanallah

unread,

Feb 20, 2010, 7:42:30 AM2/20/10

Hindutva in the Present-day Context
Written by Vinay Sahasrabuddhe

To discuss ‘Hindutva in the present-day context' is both, simple and
difficult at the same time. Simple because ample has already been and
is still being said about Hindutva by its adversaries as also its
advocates. Difficult because it is hard to sift the ocean of
literature about Hindutva and interpret it in the present-day
context.

Hindutva in the Present-day Context

What adds to the intricacies of the task is the confusion surrounding
the concept of Hindutva - thanks mainly to the intellectual liberty,
almost bordering on irresponsibility, enjoyed by both: adversaries and
advocates alike. Too much political colouration of Hindutva and
absolute apathy on the part of the academia and intelligentsia to
understand its core message has made the task easier for its
adversaries to paint it as a weird, unsustainable ideology.

No wonder that almost two decades after the Ayodhya Movement, Hindutva
hardly figures in whatever serious intellectual discourse that is
witnessed in India. On the one hand, adversaries of Hindutva indulge
only in using it as an old stick to beat its advocates, while the
latter do precious little to present it in the modern context and in
the idiom, which the intelligentsia world over understands.

In the post-independence history of India, the nineties have their own
importance. Early nineties saw the political consolidation of the
forces behind the Hindutva movement only to be taken to its logical
end in late nineties, manifested in the emergence of BJP-led
governments in New Delhi. It was in this decade that Hindutva became a
prominent, almost central theme of intellectual discourse in our
country. Those who owed allegiance to Hindutva as a political ideology
became a force to reckon with. Gradually, it became impossible to just
ignore what was happening in the Hindutva camp. So much so that
several political analysts of international standing attained fame for
their very honest effort to understand what was happening in India.
Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul believed that the movement was
inevitable.

Ayodhya Movement

The Ram-Janmabhoomi movement was the perfect symbol of Cultural
Nationalism and it communicated the message of Hindu Unity so very
effectively that hundreds of Leftist scholars were at pains to explain
as to how Hindus had come together through a movement, which was
described by them as ‘Brahmnical'. While sound logical arguments in
favor of Ram-Janmabhoomi made it acceptable in the educated urbanites
and thinking circles, what was more important was the emotionality of
the issue, which proved to be a unifier par excellence.

It was an issue, so very deeply rooted in our shared ethos that it
became hard for even the staunchest secularists to gloss over it. At
least for a certain period of time, Ram- Janmabhoomi made the Hindus
forget their caste identities and in a way forced them to think of
their larger cultural identity - the Hindu identity. A number of
secularist journalists who witnessed the events in Ayodhya on December
6, 1992 had to publicly accept the fact that the sea of humanity that
they witnessed had only one inseparable identity and that was the
Hindu identity. Regardless of the questions of legitimacy of the
events on that fateful day, the one certainty was that in the entire
length and breadth of our nation the entire Hindu society experienced
an intense feeling of unity and solidarity, - so very unheard of about
the Hindus earlier.

This emotional unity, howsoever short-lived it might have remained;
was the greatest contribution of the Ram-Janmabhoomi movement. True,
that Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and other organizations had
undertaken several programmes aimed at consolidation of all those who
are essentially Hindus right after the Meenakshipuram conversions,
still; the success of the Ram-Janmabhoomi movement was simply
unparalleled.

This single event had given rise to the expectations that now, with
solid popular support, Hindutva ideologues would strive to make
inroads into the intellectual and academic arenas. Expectations soared
further after the installation of BJP or BJP-led governments, both in
some states and also at the centre. It was thought that the ideology
that has proved to be instrumental in seeing BJP at the helm of
affairs would also be duly recognized in the academia and the thinking
circles. But, unfortunately, it just did not.

Notwithstanding the propaganda of the Left leaning academics about the
so-called Saffronisation of education, Hindutva as an ideology,
continues to be untouchable in the corridors of academics. This
untouchability emanates from various factors. Granted that largely
this ‘untouchability' is thanks to the lure of political correctness,
it is also true that there are sections in the opinion-making classes
who have genuine misunderstandings and at times even serious
complaints about this ideology. Not every objection deserves to be
ignored, much less to be rubbished.

Demystifying Hindutva

While analyzing the challenge of demystifying Hindutva, it must be
noted that the outer world has always been seeing Hindutva movement
through a particular prism only. Three dimensions of this prism
consist of three important events in post-independence history of
India. These events include the most unfortunate murder of Mahatma
Gandhi in 1948, the destruction of the disputed structure at Ayodhya
in 1992 and the post-Godhra violence against the Muslim community in
Gujarat in 2002. Majority of the opinion-makers consider these three
events as stereotypes and base their understanding of the Hindutva
movement on them...

While it is true that there could be different angles of looking at
these three events, it is also true that regardless of whatever angle
one desires to take; what is required is to understand the backdrop on
which these three independent events happened. All these three events
could be described as expression of anger or pent-up emotions and
hence the state of collective minds responsible for these events needs
to be dispassionately analysed and a sound understanding developed
before one chooses to either defend them or denounce out rightly.

Noted journalist Francois Gautier has brilliantly commented on this
phenomenon of collective expression of anger. He says, "However
reprehensible these acts of mass vengeance were, they have shown that
Hindus keep quiet for a long time: they get riled at, they are made
fun of, they are despised, their women raped, men killed, children
burnt in trains and one day they blow up - and blow up badly. Riots
don't erupt in a few days: they are the fruit of decades, of
generations even, of suppressed anger, of frustration, of a silent
majority which sees itself more and more marginalized and taken for
granted."

Due to this widespread belief based on impressions; that persons
responsible for these three events were all avowed supporters of
Hindutva, the entire movement received a bad name and a negative
image, extremely hard to erase. People are aware that thousands of
service projects undertaken for the underprivileged sections by
hundreds of dedicated life workers believing in Hindutva are
functioning consistently for several decades. Yet, such commendable
work has not helped this movement earn acceptance because the so-
called progressive and secular forces have consistently and obdurately
turned a Nelson eye towards the benign influence of Hindutva
organizations and chosen to portray only the momentary aberration
committed by a section of erring Hindus.

Destruction of Image

Behind this double whammy against Hindutva is the unwillingness of
Hindutva's adversaries to really understand the strong sense of denial
of the Hindu aspirations, the feeling that historical wrongs against
the Hindus were not addressed by the governments of the day despite,
serious efforts of the Hindu community to focus attention on them and
negotiate a solution. The result has been that the adversaries of
Hindutva relish painting the entire movement black!

Their series of allegations against Hindutva consists of following
five points: -

· Hindutva is sectarian and hence anti-Muslims and anti-
Christians.

· Hindutva is communal, pro-upper caste, pro-Manu, and hence
against the backward and weaker sections of the society.

· Hindutva is anti-women, obscurantist and against gender
justice.

· Hindutva is against freedom of expression.

· Hindutva is anti-modernity.

Most of the above allegations have been repeated umpteen number of
times creating thick clouds of misunderstanding around the entire
Hindu movement. No ideological movement in the world may have ever
faced such a grave image crisis. Considering the extremely wide gap
between the reality about the movement and its largely established
image, Herculean efforts from the defenders of Hindutva are a must.

Spiritual Democracy

Before we examine the basis of these allegations, it is necessary to
enquire as to what exactly do we mean by Hindutva. Hindutva consists
of the term Hindu that is largely understood as a way of worship, a
religion or a belief system. However, the term Hindutva per se does
not refer to Hindu religion. Literally speaking, Hindutva means Hindu
ness. Just as the Sanskrit term Manushyatva means being a human,
Hindutva can be explained as being a Hindu.

Due to a huge multiplicity of worshipped deities and a vast diversity
of the ways to worship them, no straightjacketing is possible in Hindu
religion; and, as a consequence, in Hindu worldview. It is in this
complete denial of straightjacketing that lay the roots of spiritual
democracy, which is the most distinguishing facet of Hindu religion.
Unlike Christianity and Islam, Hinduism never presents itself as the
only way to seek salvation. On the contrary, Hinduism considers that
every path leads an individual to the same truth and to the same
almighty, which wise / knowledgeable persons refer to in different
ways.

A firm belief in this concept, as communicated in "Ekam Sat, Vipra
Bahudavadanti" (Truth is one, sages describe it differently) is the
corner stone of Hindu religious thought. This notion has in effect,
made all religions valid and reverential for all. It is due to this
fundamental faith in the existence of multiple ways of seeking
salvation that the concept of proselytisation and the resultant
competition for converting people finds no place in Hindu religion.
This is also true in other indigenous belief systems, be it Jainism or
Buddhism. Let us not forget that this spiritual democracy, this
fundamental spirit of accommodation alone could make India a shining
example of centuries of peaceful co-existence of different religions
and belief systems.

In other words, thanks to Hinduism, India could evolve a replicable
model of sustainable pluralism. Acceptance of the fundamental equality
of, and hence equal respect for all religions and all the ways of
worship is the basis of such sustained pluralism. It must be
remembered that if one commits him / herself to the cardinal
principles of sustainable pluralism, one cannot talk of superiority of
a way of worship and hence of the need to convert adherents of other
faiths. Besides, once one decides to indulge in the concepts of
superiority of a religion, no meaningful dialogue between faiths can
happen.

Today, when the entire world is facing a sever threat of terrorist
tendencies and the root cause of terrorism happens to be a particular
religious belief system, can humanity survive without accepting
spiritual democracy? The essence of the concept of spiritual
democracy, I believe, has helped Hinduism survive. To put it simply,
Hindu ness does not lie in a set of rituals, systems of worship or
belief in any scriptures. It does not believe that there is only one
path to attain salvation and openly concedes that belief, without any
reservation. It is in this essential acceptance of, nay; welcome to
other faiths and other gods that remains the crux of your Hindu ness,
i.e. Hindutva. It is this very unique and supremely liberal
characteristic of the Hinduism that makes one a Hindu. It is on this
background that one has to look at the proposition that to be an
adherent of Hindutva, one need not be a Hindu. It is in the light of
this core concept of Hindutva that one has to examine issues such as
social justice and gender equality.

No place for discrimination

Once one accepts that every path ultimately leads to the one and the
same ultimate truth, the questions of caste and creed need to be
settled once and for all. Hindutva has absolutely no place for
discrimination on the basis of caste. Equality of human beings is the
cardinal principle. In Hindutva scheme of things, superiority or
inferiority of an individual just cannot depend upon in which family
one has taken birth. When Hindutva aspires to put an end to such
discriminations lock, stock and barrel, where comes the question of
defending Chaturvarnya, untouchability or caste conflict?

The essential unity and equality of the mankind perceived by Hindutva
just cannot accept any artificial divides promoted by politicians in
the garb of academicians. Theories like Aryan invasion, conflict
between indigenous people and non-indigenous people, differences
between aboriginals or Adivasis and others, branding of certain social
groups or communities as criminals by birth, or a conflict between the
victor and the vanquished etc. cannot find any place at all in the
concept of Hindutva.

It may be pointed out here that the adversaries of Hindutva always
propagate that Hindutva is the other name of Brahmanatva. There cannot
be any other statement than this that is farthest from the facts.
Several references in what is known as Dalit literature are a
testimony of the fact that the upbringing of Dalit children happens in
the same religious-cultural ethos just like that of the so-called
upper caste children. The way Brahmans celebrate Diwali is in no way
different from the way Mangs or Matangs and other scheduled caste
groups celebrate. Same is the case with Adivasis.

Several sociologists have established that Adivasis in India are not
like aboriginals in Australia. There are several erstwhile nomads or
even martial communities who took shelter in the thick forests during
the times of turbulence, several centuries before. Today, they are
identified as Adivasis, the original inhabitants, as if all others are
either aggressors or outsiders. It is in this context that one has to
have a re-look at the terms in which we refer to our own brethren.

Again, to say that simply because some of the Adivasis eat beef or
worship nature and no idols, they go beyond the purview of Hindutva is
a misnomer. When Hindutva can accept even Lord Christ or Prophet
Mohammad, where comes the question of not accepting nature-worship?
And above all, how can non-Hindus like church groups in India's North-
East sit in the judgment and decide as to who are Hindus and who are
not?

Social equality

On this background, it is necessary to discuss the question of social
equality in general and caste based reservations in particular. It
must be noted that the universally accepted and widely acclaimed
concepts of affirmative action and positive discrimination for social
justice are at the root of caste based reservations. Supporters of
Hindutva have realised long ago that larger and lasting Hindu unity
will not be possible without the so-called upper castes cultivating a
mindset for creating a space, at the cost of their own opportunity;
for the underprivileged classes.

It would not be wrong to suggest that the privileged and comparatively
less unfortunate sections of the society also have to ensure that the
weaker sections not only get reservations but also are also duly
empowered to take advantage of them. Those who are committed to the
cause of Hindu unity just cannot afford to be unmindful of the fact
that if emotional integrity is not achieved, Hindu unity will remain a
chimera. For emotional integrity to sustain one has to promote this
spirit of mutual understanding, accommodation with a sense of
fundamental social responsibility.

Hindus will have to remain fully aware about the designs of anti-Hindu-
unity forces aimed at dividing this society and breaking the cultural-
emotional bonds and inter-community harmony, whatsoever. Having said
that, it must also be mentioned that the whole gamut of issues
concerning reservations need a re-look. Thinking out of box with
regards to the ways and means of making caste-based quota more
effective and result oriented is the need of the hour. For this to
happen, the issue of caste-based quota requires to be de-politicized.
Our politicians will have to choose between securing vote banks and
protecting national interest. After all, high decibels while clamoring
for quota from the rooftop cannot be the only yardstick for being
progressive.

Quotas cannot be de-linked from the wider issue of social and
community identity. Narrow and communal identities need to be
accommodated and amalgamated with the wider national and social
identity. Ironical as it may seem, but this can happen only through
respect and recognition for smaller identities. Lest one forgets, such
identities can never be crushed. They can only be accommodated.

‘Recognize first and then try to remold' could be the only effective
way of dealing with these issues. Creating an atmosphere where every
part feels that it can lead a meaningful life only while remaining
inseparable from the whole is a severe challenge before the Hindutva
movement. For this, disadvantaged sections of our society need to be
assured of equal respect, equal opportunity and equal protection.
Mahatma Gandhiji's principles of Antyodaya (Placing the last man in
the row, first when it comes to benefits of a welfare state) as the
mainstay of our approach towards policies for social justice and
social harmony alone can halt the process of social divide.

Sustainable pluralism

The vexed issue of conversions has a close connection with social
justice and equality. Firstly, demands for quota also for the new
converts from formerly scheduled castes and tribes have rendered the
argument that conversions bring social equality and respect,
completely hollow. But more importantly, when Hindutva itself means
broad-mindedness, how can one accommodate an argument that a
particular faith alone is valid or have a monopoly right to take one
to salvation?

Granted that in a spiritual democracy, one is free to worship gods of
his/her choice. However, this cannot be stretched too far to
accommodate some kind of a "sole distributorship of salvation" claimed
by certain belief systems. It must be remembered that any argument in
favor of conversion construes an acceptance to the attempts of
proclaiming other faiths inferior and invalid. While there is nothing
wrong in conversion per say, proselytizing through fraudulent means
like claiming a particular faith as the only path, is totally against
the very grain of spiritual democracy. In any truly secular democratic
polity, conversions should find no place at all.

At several occasions in the past, those who swear by secularism have
developed cold feet. The 45th Amendment of 1978 introduced in the
parliament in India introduced the definition of "secular" as "equal
respect to all religions". However, the Rajya Sabha, with a Congress
majority rejected this definition, mainly because some fundamentalist
elements in non-Hindu belief systems were opposed to the same.

Yet another case in point of stubborn opposition to this equality of
faiths is the fact that in year 2000, when UN had organised a an
International Conference of all Belief Systems to mark the beginning
of a new millennium, Vatican had chosen to stay away saying that they
can not sit with other faiths and declare acceptance to equality of
religions. Artificial or contrived conversions are an affront on Human
Rights and if fraudulent conversion is allowed unabatedly, in the long
run, it will render a body blow to sustainable pluralism.

Gender justice

The foundation of the Hindu ideology lies in scriptures like "sarvepi
sukhina snatu sarve santu niramayah" (Happiness and health should be
reaching all). Naturally then, the idea of Hindu ness encompasses
welfare of the entire Humankind. If this is the fact, how can Hindutva
ever be discriminating on the basis of gender? Hindutva worldview in
the context of the present days presupposes both men and women are
equal and complementary to each other, at the same time. Excessive
insistence on mere equality may not ensure the desired creative co-
existence.

On the other hand, stressing complementary aspect alone may elude
recognition and respect for the individuality of a woman. Element of
justice has to be the basis of any ideological concept in this regard.
As advocated by renowned scientist Dr.R.D.Mashelkar, evolving a family
system where woman occupies centrality is the need of changing
societies. Modern families where women get equal opportunities, equal
respect and equal protection as well as facilities alone can survive.
For this to happen, men need to change and become more family
oriented. This mindset change can happen only through greater
awareness amongst the male members of families about gender
sensitization and gender equality.

In the context of women related issues, on the one hand women can no
more be treated like a slave, and on the other hand portraying them as
deities or goddesses is also unfair. What all women need is a humane
treatment. Practices such as Sati or for that matter any other
traditions connoting inequality of sexes are outdated and hence
condemnable. Such obsolete and irrelevant practices have absolutely no
place in Hindutva.

Liberalism

Unlike what is being portrayed, Hindutva forces have always stood for
freedom of expression and for most of the times, disapproved any
attempts to suppress creativity. Instances like the brouhaha over the
infamous Danish cartoons or Da Vinci Code are so very rare in the
context of Hinduism that many progressive artists take liberty to play
with Hindu sensibilities. Hindutva movement will have to handle such
issues with dexterity. The kind of maturity shown by Hindutva forces
during the controversy over Dr. Ambedkar's "Riddles in Ramayan", in
early eighties was illustrious since it ensured that the cause of
larger Hindu unity is not harmed.

It has to be underscored that concepts of democracy and liberalism
form the core of Hindutva. As desired by Sant Dnyaneshwar, "Jo je
wanchhchil to te laho" meaning everybody should get whatever he or she
aspires for is the bottom line of Hindutva. Hindutva believes in
autonomy in all respect. From food habits to fashions and from family
systems to festivities, everything that is not against human justice
and human rights should be generally acceptable. Any kind of
straightjacketing is an anathema to Hindutva.

Hindutva recognizes the importance of reforms, and also recognizes the
fact that reforms cannot be transplanted from without. Only those who
identify themselves with the traditions can effectively change them.
For those who believe that practices like celebrating Valentine Day
are Western and hence need to be abhorred, the best way could be to
draw a longer line and popularize the indigenous version of this
festival of love. Indulging in violence while decrying revelers just
cannot be the answer.

About the observation that Hindutva represents anti-modern views, has
no base at all. Obscurantist elements are in every society and even
the way some of the Hindus preach and practice, they sound extremely
fanatic. But since Hindu religion is not book based, really speaking
there is no scope for any fundamentalism. "Nitya Nutan - Chira
Puratan"

(Innovation and Modernity going hand in hand with Ancient and
Historical.) is the mainstay of Hindu thinking. The kind of resilience
that Hindus have shown while accepting whatever is modern is a
testimony of their being receptive to whatever is modern and in tune
with the times.

For Hindutva to be embraced by the entire Humanity as a way of life,
Hindus should be exporting their own cultural traditions, symbols and
even social institutions. One pre-condition of this is that Hindus
first of all, should come out of self-denial while understanding
themselves. To that end, it has to start with the long overdue re-
stating of Hindutva. An absolute lack of clarity and sheer absence of
articulation, coupled with incoherence, and inertia, has made Hindutva
forces appear like a bankrupt millionaire.

Hindutva has become a favorite whipping boy of the so-called
progressives. Many consider that without assailing Hindutva, one can
never be considered legitimate in the worlds of academia, scholarship
and to an extent; even media. Let it be remembered that thinking
circles in India let alone recognizing, are not even tolerating
Hindutva forces. None of the Hindutva leaders have ever defended
practices as irrelevant and anti-Humanity as either untouchability or
child marriages.

From Swami Vivvekananda to Balasaheb Deoras or L K Advani, those who
have taken pride in their Hinduness (Hindutva) have, in no uncertain
terms denounced all such practices describing them as perversions. But
then, hardly ever efforts have been made to tell the world as to what
are the ingredients of this new age or modern or say contemporary
"Hindutva" and present it once again, in the form of a theory or a
thought. It was on this background that the Left - leaning thinkers
had a field day, successfully hitting Hindutva with the same old
sticks, wantonly indulging in self-flagellation and in the process
demoralizing the cadre. That this further helped them consolidate
their position and continue with their "Thought Hegemony". The most
dreadful and anti-democratic consequence of this was the cult of
ideological untouchability indulged in by several members of the
intelligentsia. Clearing every kind of confusion about Hindutva in no
uncertain terms, once and for all; is the only way. Let us walk this
way together...

Vinay Sahasrabuddhe
About the author:

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/yugabda-5109/2008012698/6-varshapratipada-april-2007/articles/dharma/hindutva-in-the-present-day-context/menu-id-36.html

bademiyansubhanallah

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Feb 20, 2010, 7:48:34 AM2/20/10

Fundamentals of Hindutva and Concept of Hindusthan
Written by Dr. Subramanian Swamy

Fundamentals of Hindutva and The Concept of Hindustan

Hindustan, conceptually is a nation of Hindus and those others in the
nation who accept with pride that their ancestors are Hindus. The
identity of an “Indian” follows as an easy corollary as one who is a
Hindu or one who proudly acknowledges that his ancestors are of Hindu
faith. Even today most nations abroad refer to India as Hindustan
[e.g., Yindu guo in Chinese, Hind in Arabic]. Only in our country we
go by the English garbled variation India of Hindustan. Parsis, Jews,
Syrian Christians come in a special category of Hindustan’s religious
minority, as those who were welcomed by Hindus since they came to
Hindustan seeking refuge from persecution in their own lands abroad,
and who willingly accepted to abide by, and adopt cultural customs of
Hindus. All these minorities however had inter-married with Hindus
over the last millennium and a half, and hence have a claim to the
nation’s Hindu civilization by ancestry. From the Hindustan identity
flows the fundamentals of Hindu-ness or Hindutva as the cultural
parameters of the Hindustan society.

Why the need to discuss?

Why is it important after sixty years, since the British imperialists
were driven out, that we need to discuss today the concept of our
identity and the fundamentals of Hindutva? This need arises because of
the misfortune of the almost uninterrupted rule of Jawaharlal Nehru[17
years] and Indira Gandhi[16 years], and their cheap imitators in
office since 1947.

The concept of Hindutva and the ancient Hindu foundation of the nation
were demeaned during their tenure, and those who dared to advocate it
were ostracized by the government. The nation was not allowed by these
imposters to find its feet after a thousand years of debasement of,
and brutality against Hindu religion, by a vulgarization of
Hindustan’s true and glorious history in textbooks that were
prescribed by the Congress governments. That debasement continues
today under the present government.

Over the last two millenniums, Hindu religion had been subjected to
threats several times from other religious groups, but these threats
had been met, the challenges faced and overcome sometime actively as
by the Vijayanagaram and Mahratta kingdoms or passively as in the
Freedom Struggle. Well before the birth of Christianity and Islam,
Hindu religion had been once intellectually dethroned by Hinayana
Buddhism. But Adi Sankaracharya rethroned Hinduism through his famous
shastrathas[religious debate] and caused a renaissance in Buddhism
itself, which then came to be known as Mahayana Buddhism, conceptually
in complete harmony with, if not indistinguishable from, Hindu
theology.

In South India, the azhwars and nayanmars also through shastrathas
repositioned Hinduism after absorbing Jainism and Buddhism. Since then
the Hindu dharmacharyas have always been looked up to, when Hindu
society faced a threat or crisis, for guidance to meet the challenge
to the Hindu religion. Today, we again need the revered acharyas to
show us the way. Hence the formation of the ‘Hindu Dharma Acharya
Sabha’ under the guidance of Swami Dayananda Sarasvati of Arsha
Vidyalaya and the Tirupati Declaration of July 2006 are of vital
importance for the future renaissance of the nation.

Hindu ethos provided for sanctuary and home to those of other faiths
fleeing from their countries due to religious persecution. As I stated
earlier, Parsis, Jews and Syrian Christians are among those religious
groups who had sought refuge in India, and survived because the Hindus
looked after them. These three religious communities have had and have
today a disproportionate share in power and wealth in Indian society,
but Hindus have no resentment about it. These minorities had come to
India in search of peace and found safe haven in the midst of Hindu
society.

Parsis migrated elsewhere in the world too, but disappeared as a
community in those countries. Jews have openly acknowledged that India
as the only country where they were not persecuted. Syrian Christians
too are today completely integrated into India. Even early Arab Muslim
travelers who came peacefully to settle in Kerala were taken into
Hindu families, and hence called Mapillai[meaning son-inlaw-- Moplah
in English]. That is a fundamental of Hindutva, the ethos of
compassion and co-option that is unparalleled in world history.

However, militant Islam and later crusading Christianity came to
India, and aggressively challenged Hinduism. They seized power in
sequence and established their own state in India. But despite state
patronage to the ensuing onslaught, plunder and victimisation, those
of Hindu faith could not be decimated, and Hinduism remained the
theology of the vast Indian majority. This was passive resistance of
Hindus, much before Mahatma Gandhi came of the scene. Defiant Hindus
suffered persecution and economic deprivation during Islamic and
Christian reigns, such as through differential taxation[e.g., jezia
and zamindari land revenue appropriation] and plain brutality, but
Hindus by and large refused to capitulate and convert.

Even after almost a thousand years of such targeting by Muslims and
Christian rulers, undivided India in 1947 was more than 75 percent
Hindu. This was partly because of the victorious Vijayanagaram, the
Sikh reign, and Mahratta kingdoms, and later the Freedom Movement,
each inspired by sanyasis such Sringeri Shankaracharya, Swami Ramdas,
Guru Nanak, Swami Vivekanada and Sri Aurobindo, who by their preaching
about the Hindu identity and Hindutva ensured that the flame of Hindu
defiance never dimmed. It was also due to individual defiance of
Hindus such as of Rana Pratap, Rani Jhansi, Rani Bennur, Kattaboman
and Netaji Subhas Bose.

These icons are admired not because they led us to victory [in fact
they were defeated or killed], or had found out a safe compromise[they
did not], but because of their courage of conviction in the face of
huge odds not to submit to tyranny. That courageous defiance is also
is part of Hindutva. But those who capitulated like Raja Man Singh or
Jai Chand or Pudukottai Raja in order to live in pomp and grandeur are
despised today by the people. Hindutva means: resist by passive non-
violent resistance if possible, otherwise by vigorous aggressive
action if necessary. Hindutva means never to submit, never to
compromise with evil.

In 1947, temporal power was defacto restored to the Hindu majority.
But the Indian state formally adopted secularism, which concept
however was never properly defined or debated. For example, it left
vague what modern Indian’s connection was with the nation’s Hindu past
and legacy. In the name of secularism, it was taboo for a public
servant even to break a coconut or light a oil lamp to inaugurate an
official function on the ground that religious symbols must not invade
public life.

Such orthodoxy was promoted by Jawarharlal Nehru and his Leftist
advisers. But the government took over supervision of temples,
legislated on Hindu personal laws, appropriated temple revenues and
regulated religious festivals, but kept aloof from the Muslim and
Christian religious affairs. The secularism principle was foisted on
the Hindu masses without making him understand why they had to abide
by such legislation but not the Muslims and Christians. It made a
mockery of Article 14 of the Constitution on equality before law.

As a result, the renaissance that had begun in the late nineteenth
century to redefine the Hindu identity [in contemporary terms and on
norms valid in a pluralistic society] was aborted by the confusion
thus created in Hindu minds by Nehruism. Electoral politics further
confounded the issues arising out of secularism, and hence the Indian
society became gradually and increasingly fragmented in outlook and of
confused perspective. Hindu society became divided by caste that
became increasingly mutually antagonistic.

Attempts were made through falsification in history texts adopted for
curriculum in the education system to disconnect and disinherit the
contemporary Indian from the past glory of Hindu India. The intrinsic
Hindu unity has been sought to be undone by legitimizing such bogus
concepts as Aryan-Dravidian racial divide theory, or that India as a
concept never existed till the British imperialists invented it, or
that Indians have always been ruled by invaders from abroad.

There is no such word as Aryan in Sanskrit literature [closest is
‘arya’ meaning honourable person, and not community] or Dravidian [Adi
Sankara had in his shasthrath with Mandana Mishra at Varanasi, called
himself as a ‘Dravida shishu’ that is a child of where three oceans
meet, i.e. south India]. The racial divide theory was a deliberate
distortion by British imperialists, and propagated by their witting
and unwitting mental Indian slave academicians on the hapless students
in educational institutions.

Incidentally, the Aryan-Dravidian myth has now been exploded by modern
research on DNA of Indians conducted by Professor C. Panse of Newton,
Mass. USA and other scholars. In light of such new research, the
British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC] in it’s October 6, 2005 service
completely debunked the Aryan—Dravidian race theory in stating that:
“The theory was not just wrong, it included unacceptably racist
ideas” [www.bbc.co.uk, religion & ethics homepage, Thursday,
6/10/05].

Modern India is portrayed by foreign interests through this
curriculum, as a discontinuity in history and as a new entity much as
are today’s Greece, Egypt or Iraq. That curriculum is largely intact
today. On the contrary efforts are afoot to bolster the disparagement
of our past in the new dispensation today. A rudderless India,
disconnected from her past has, as a consequence, become a fertile
field for religious poachers and neo-imperialists from abroad who
paint India as a mosaic of immigrants much like a crowd on a platform
in a railway junction. That is, it is clandestinely propagated that
India has belonged to those who forcibly occupied it. This is the
theme around which the Islamic fundamentalists and fraud Christian
crusaders are again at work, much as they were a thousand years ago,
but of course in new dispensations, sophistication, and media forms.

Thus the concept of Hindustan, and India’s Hindu foundation implicit
in Hindutva, are dangerously under challenge by these forces.
Tragically most Hindus today are not even cognizant of it. Hindu
patriots thus must meet this challenge by propagating the concept of
Hindustan and spreading the knowledge among Hindus of the fundamentals
of Hindutva. The challenge today confronting Hindus is however much
more difficult to meet than was earlier in history because the forces
at work to erode and undermine the Hindu foundation of the nation,
unlike before, are unseen, clandestine, pernicious, deceptive but most
of all sophisticated and media-savvy.

Tragically therefore, a much more educated and larger numbers of
Hindus have been unwittingly co-opted in this sinister conspiracy
directed by foreigners who have no love for India and who also see,
much as Lord Macaulay saw in the nineteenth century, that the hoary
Hindu foundation of India is a stumbling block for the furtherance of
their nefarious perfidious game for castrating Hindustan. Adherence to
Hinduism is also being sought to be diluted in the name of modernity
and this dilution is made a norm of secularism.

Religion, it is advocated, is personal. To be a good Hindu today is
conceptually being reduced to just praying, piety, visiting temples,
and celebrating religious festivals. The need for a collective Hindu
mindset, an essential fundamental of Hindutva, is being ridiculed as
chauvinist and retrograde, even fundamentalist. The concept of a
corporate Hindu unity and identity however is that of a collective
mindset that identifies us with a motherland from the Himalayas to the
Indian Ocean and it’s glorious past, and the concomitant resolve to
defend that vision.

However pious a Hindu becomes, however prosperous Hindu temples become
from doting devotees’ offerings, when the nation is in danger it is
this collective mindset of the people that matters, and not the piety
of the individual in that collective. The sacking of Somnath Temple by
Ghazni should serve as a reminder of the validity of this dictum.
Hindu society today lacking a cohesive corporate identity, is thus in
the process of becoming fragmented, and hence increasingly in
disarray. This fission process is on simultaneously with the reality
of millions of Hindus who go to temples regularly or walk to
Sabarimalai or participate in Kumbh Mela.

When I speak of Hindu unity, I am not taking of piety of Hindus as a
community. I am instead referring to the Hindu consciousness, which
encompasses the willingness and determination to collectively defend
the faith from the erosion that is being induced by the disconnection
with our glorious past. What Swami Vivekananda, Bankim Chatterjee, Sri
Aurobindo, and Subramania Bharati had achieved by raising Hindu
consciousness, has now in the name of Nehruvian secularism been
distorted and dissipated over the last six decades.

Even the writings of Dr. Ambedkar, and his oration in the Constituent
Assembly for a strong united country have been vulgarized by the
Nehruites. In his scholarly paper presented in a 1916 Columbia
University seminar [and published in Indian Antiquary, vol. XLI, May
1917 p.81-95] Dr. Ambedkar stated: “ It is the unity of culture that
is the basis of homogeneity. Taking this for granted, I venture to say
that there is no country that can rival the Indian Peninsula with
respect to the unity of its culture. It has not only a geographic
unity, but it has over and above all a deeper and much more
fundamental unity - the indubitable cultural unity that covers the
land from end to end”. Ambedkar wrote several such brilliant books,
but alas, Nehru and his cohorts so thoroughly frustrated him and
isolated him that in the end, bitterness drove him to Buddhism.

Thus, if this degeneration and disconnect are not rectified and
repaired by a resolve to unite Hindustanis [Hindus and those others
who proudly identify with India’s Hindu past], the Hindu civilization
may go into a tail spin and ultimately fade away like other
civilizations have for much the same reason. Today the sacrilege of
Hindu concepts and hoary institutions, is being carried out not with
the crude brutality of a Ghazni or Ghori, but with the sophistication
of the constitutional instruments of law.

The desecration of Hindu icons, for example the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt,
is being made to look legal, thereby completely confusing the Hindu
people, and thus making them unable to recognize the danger, or to
realize that Hindus have to unite to defend against the threats to
their legacy. We Hindus are under siege today, and we do not know it!
That is, what is truly alarming is that Hindu society could be
dissembled today without much protest since we have been lulled or
lost the capacity to think collectively as Hindus. To resist this
siege we first need Hindu unity based on the fundamentals of Hindutva.
Let us remember that numbers [of those claiming to be adherents to
Hinduism] do not matter in today’s information society. It is the
durability and clarity of the Hindu mindset of those who unite that
matters in the forging of an instrument to fight this creeping
danger.

We Hindus cannot fight against looming and creeping danger, unless we
first identify what we have to fight. We cannot effectively respond
unless we understand the nature and complexity of the challenge. What
makes the task of defending Hinduism much more difficult today is that
the oppressors are not obvious marauding entities as were Ghazni,
Ghori, or Clive. The means of communication and the supply of funds in
the hands of our enemies for camouflaging their evil purposes are
multiples of that available in the past.

My contention here today is that Hindus are facing a four dimensional
siege and this siege is pernicious, clandestine, deceptive and
sophisticated. It requires an enlightened Hindu unity to combat the
threats and get the siege lifted. We have to begin by first
understanding the content and scope of the four-dimensional siege
before we Hindus can unite to battle it.

The clandestine defamation of Hindu symbols and institutions

Making Hindus to lose their self-esteem by disparaging their
tradition, which also had been the strategy of British imperialists
for the conquest of India, as Lord Macauley made clear on February 2,
1835 in the British Parliament.

“I do not think we would ever conquer this country unless we break the
very backbone of this nation, which [backbone] is her spiritual and
cultural heritage. And therefore, I propose that we replace her old
and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think
that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their
own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and
they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation”.

That basic strategy of those who want to see a weak and pliant India
remains. Only the tactics have changed. Now the target is the Hindu
institutions and Hindu icons, and the route is not the creation of a
comprador class to subdue the nation, but fostering a psychological
milieu to denigrate the heritage and to debunk Hindutva, thereby
causing a loss of self esteem and a pride in the nation’s past.

Demographic restructuring of Indian society

People of India who declare in the Census that they are adherents of
religions born on Indian soil, that is Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and
Jains constituted 84.21 percent of the total Indian population in
2001. In 1941, the proportion adjusted for Partition was 84.44
percent. This figure hides the fact that Hindus resident in undivided
Pakistan have migrated to post- Partition India, which is why the
share of Hindus and co-religionists have barely reduced since 1941. In
the area now called Bangladesh, Hindus were 30 percent in 1941. In
2001 they are less than 8 percent. In Pakistan of today, Hindus were
20 percent in 1941, and less than 2 percent in 2001.

Such religious cleansing has not been noticed by anybody. If the
figures are adjusted for this migration, then in the five decades
1951-2001, Hindus have lost more 3 percent points in share of Indian
population, while Muslims have increased their share by about 3
percent. What is even more significant is that Hindus have lost 12
percent points since 1881, and the loss in share has begun to
accelerate since 1971 partly due to illegal migration from Bangladesh.
The continued rise in the share of Muslims and Christians in the total
population is a threat to the Hindu foundation of the nation.

We have to find ways and means to meet this threat. Kerala is a state
where the Hindu population declined from 69 percent in 1901 to 56
percent in 2001. Muslims are now 25 percent and Christians 19 percent.
But Hindus share in agricultural activities has fallen to 24 percent;
while for Christians the share has risen to 40 percent. For Muslims it
is 33 percent. In commerce and industry too the same proportions
obtain, while in foreign employment, Hindus share is just 19 percent,
Muslims 49.5 percent and Christians 31.5 percent.

In the land fertile districts of Western UP, from Rampur to
Saharanpur, Muslims due to a much higher population growth rate are
now 40 percent of the population. Six of the 14 districts of Assam in
the northeast are already Muslim majority, and by 2031, all fourteen
will be Muslim majority if present trends of differential population
growth rate and illegal migration from Bangladesh continue. In
northeast India, minus Assam, 45.5 percent of the population is
already Christian. Every one of the seven sisters states has a
galloping Christian population. Arunachal, which had zero Christian
population in 1971, now has over 7 percent.

These two communities today fiercely safeguard their control of
institutions spawned on public money besides receiving funds from
abroad. Take for example the educational institutions. ‘Jamia Millia
Islamia University’ has been reorganized as a central university with
liberal government grants. But 88 percent of the faculty is Muslim.
American College, Madurai’s faculty is 66 percent Christian. Its
junior faculty is 95 percent Christian. Union Christian College at
Aluva, Kerala has 83 percent Christian faculty. There are no
exceptions. All institutions run by Muslims and Christians have
grossly disproportionate share of their religionists.

Differential application of family planning, non-uniform civil code,
illegal migration, and induced religious conversion have together
created a serious looming crisis for the Hindu character of the
nation. We see what Muslim majority will mean to Hindus when we look
at the situation in Kashmir. Even if Muslims are in a majority at the
municipality level, they begin to oppress the Hindu minority. We can
witness this in Thondi in Ramanathapuram and Rasathipuram in Vellore
districts, in Mau and Meerut in U.P., and in the Northeast.

We can learn from witnessing how Muslim majority treats minorities or
even women of Muslim faith when we look around the world and study
Islamic nations. Muslims believe the world is divided as Dar-ul-Islam
where Muslims are in a majority and are rulers, and Dar-ul-Harb in
which Muslims are in a minority and are entitled by the Koran and
Shariat, by hook or crook to transform these countries to Muslim ruled
and/or Muslim majority. At present India is viewed as Darul Harab, and
unless the Hindu majority compels or persuades the Muslim minority to
enter into a contract to live in peace, whence India becomes Dar-ul-
Ahad, the Muslim population will always play host to fanatics bent
upon creating upheaval in India. That is why I am emphasizing that
Muslims in India must declare that their origin and ancestors are
Hindus, and that Hindustan is their matrubhoomi and karmabhoomi.

Christians too have their view of the world as divided between
heathens who have to be ‘saved’ by conversion and followers of Jesus
Christ. Now with the publication of Dan Brown’s ‘Da Vinci Code’ and
revelations about Opus Dei organization, Hindus have to go on high
alert about Christian missionaries from abroad. Moreover, patriots
concerned with the safeguarding of the Hindu foundation of the nation
have to take note that religious entrepreneurs have put conversion to
Christian faith on a war footing. In Dallas, Texas, USA, the Global
Pastors Network [GPN] held a conference and resolved that over the
next fifteen years, the organization will support financially
worldwide the construction of five million churches and conversion of
one billion persons to Christianity. From India alone, according the
Evangelist Pat Robertson the target is 100 million persons. Hence,
Hindus are not only under siege, but face a terrible pincer of Islamic
fast population growth and illegal migration, in conjunction with
Christian money-induced conversion activities.

Therefore, Hindus will have to hang together or ultimately be hanged
separately. This is no inflamed psychosis. Not long ago, despite being
the overwhelming majority, Hindus had to pay discriminatory taxes to
the Muslim and Christian emperors who were ruling India. Lack of unity
was the reason, and not poverty. In fact when the onslaught and
enslavement took place, India was the richest country in the world.
Within 150 years thereafter we were reduced to the poorest in the
world. Now if the demographic restructuring described herein goes on
unchecked, then the danger becomes several fold than before.

The Rise of Terrorism Directed at Hindus

If one were to study the terrorism in Kashmir, Manipur, and elsewhere
it is apparent that only Hindus are the target. The driving away of
the Hindu population from the Kashmir valley by targeted terrorism of
Islamic jihadis is the single biggest human rights atrocity since Nazi
Germany pogroms against the Jews. Yet it has hardly received noticed
in international fora. Why?

Hindu population in Bangladesh has declined from 30 percent to less
than 8 percent of the total population by deliberate targeted ethnic
cleansing by Islamic fanatics aided and abetted by their government
[see Hindus in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India’s State of Jammu&
Kashmir: A Survey of Human Rights, June 17, 2005;
hinduamericanfoundation. Org], and yet there is no outcry. Why?

This is because of the lack of Hindu mindset to retaliate against
atrocities against Hindus. When in 1949, anti-Hindu riots took place
in East Pakistan, Sardar Patel had declared that if the government
there could not control it, then India was quite capable of putting it
down for them. Soon after then the riots stopped. Terrorist attacks
against India and Hindus in particular are growing because we seem
today incapable of retaliating in a manner that it deters future
attacks.

According to the well known National Counter terrorism Center, a US
government body, in it’s report titled A Chronology of International
Terrorism for 2004 states that: “India suffered more significant acts
of terrorism than any other country in 2004”, a damning comment. India
is suffering on an average about 25 incidents of terrorism a month.
India’s Home Ministry in its 2004-05 Annual report to Parliament
acknowledges that 29 of the 35 states and union territories are
affected by terrorism. Moreover, all India’s neighbours have become
hotbeds for anti-Hindu terrorists training.

Because of a lack of Hindu unity and a mindset for deterrent
retaliation, terrorists have become encouraged. In 1989, the Indian
government released five dreaded terrorists to get back the kidnapped
daughter, Rubaiyya, of the then Home Minister. Kashmir terrorists got
a huge boost by this capitulation. When the Indian Airlines plane with
339 passengers was hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan, the government
again capitulated and released three of the most dangerous terrorists.
Today these three freed terrorists direct the three most murderous
terrorist organizations in Kashmir. And yet there is chorus today to
give clemency to the terrorist Mohammed Afzal who masterminded the
attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001.

Then there is the case of the LTTE, which murdered Rajiv Gandhi. We
have made no effort to apprehend the leader of the LTTE who had
ordered the assassination. On the contrary, those MPs [of PMK, MDMK,
and DMK] who publicly praise that terrorist, and hold the
assassination as justified, have become Union Ministers in a coalition
led by the widow of Rajiv Gandhi! During the NDA rule on Ms. Sonia
Gandhi’s plea, one of the LTTE conspirators ordered to be hanged by
the Supreme Court viz., Nalini was given clemency!

Terrorism cannot be fought by appeasement. But that precisely is what
the government is doing today. Tragically, innocent Hindus have
invariably been the victims of this capitulation. To combat terrorism,
there has to be a determination to never to negotiate a settlement
with terrorists. Citizens of a country have to be educated that there
will be hazards when faced with acts of terrorism, but that the goal
of the government will always have to be to hunt down the terrorists
and fix them. Only under such a zero tolerance policy towards
terrorism, will the ultimate good emerge.

For example in the Indian Airlines hijack case in order not to risk
339 passengers’ lives the government released Mohammed Azhar from
jail. But Azhar went to Pakistan after his release and formed the
Jaish-e-Mohammed, which has since then killed nearly a thousand
innocent Hindus and is still continuing to do so. How has the nation
gained by the Kandahar capitulation then? Hence the Hindu political
leadership must treat the fight against terrorism as a dharmayudh, as
a fight to the finish and a religious duty not to negotiate,
compromise or capitulate to terrorists. The government must safeguard
the nation by adopting a policy of “hot pursuit” of terrorists by
chasing them to their sanctuaries no matter in which country they are
located.

The Erosion of Moral Authority of Governance

The well-known organization Transparency International has graded
about 140 countries according to the corruption levels from least to
the most. India appears near the bottom of the list as among the most
corrupt. Recently The Mitrokhin Archives II has been published wherein
KGB documents have been relied on to conclude that shamefully “India
was on sale for KGB bribes”. If India is the one of the most corrupt
countries today and purchasable, it is because the core Hindu values
of simplicity, sacrifice and abstinence have been systematically
downgraded over the years. Wealth obtained by any means has become the
criteria for social status.

There was a time in India when persons of learning and simplicity
enjoyed the moral authority in society to make even kings bow before
them. Not long ago, Mahatma Gandhi and later Jayaprakash Narayan
without holding office were here exercising the same moral authority
over political leaders. In a very short period, that Hindutva value
has evaporated. India is fast becoming “a banana republic” in which
everything, a person or policy is available to anyone for a price.

The proposal, now implemented in some states, to have reservation in
government employment for Muslims and “Dalit” Christians is one such
sell-out. Reservation quotas are strictly for those whom the Hindu
society due to degeneration had suppressed or had isolated from the
mainstream. But those who were ruling classes in our nation, such as
Muslims and Christians, and that too for a total of 1000 years, cannot
claim this facility. But some political parties in reckless disregard
for equity and history have sold out for bloc votes the national
interest by advocating for such a reservation proposal.

In such a situation the nation’s independence and sovereignty slides
into danger of being subverted and then rendered impotent. This has
happened before in our history, not when the nation was poor but was
the richest country in the world. India then was ahead in science,
mathematics, art and architecture. And yet because the moral fibre
weakened, all was lost. We had to struggle hard to recover our
freedom. But by the time we did, we had lost all our wealth and
dropped to the bottom of the list of countries in poverty.

In this time of creeping darkness in our society, there are still
venerated souls who draw crowds of people who come on their own
expense to hear such evolved souls and follow them. These are our
Dharmacharyas, many of whom are members of the newly formed Hindu
Dharma Acharya Sabha. With the RSS and VHP, this Sabha must, just as
Rshi Vishwamitra picked his archers and hunters to put an end to
asuras and rakshasas, pick a political instrument to cleanse the body
politic of the nation.

This however cannot be done without Hindu unity in our democracy, and
hence formulating a code of ethics and moral principles is essential
for creating a meaningful and purposeful Hindu unity. This code and
principles together constitute the fundamentals of Hindutva. The
nation looks to this spiritual force today, for guidance in this hour
of need. Therefore my call today is first and foremost for the unity
of Hindus, a unity based on a mindset that is nurtured and fostered on
the fundamentals of Hindutva. This also requires an action plan to
fight and lift the siege [see my Hindus Under Siege—The Way Out,
Haranand Publishers 2006, for a detailed elaboration]. Only then
Hindus can meet the challenge of Christian missionaries and Islamic
fundamentalists. I can do no better here than quote Swami Dayananda
Sarasvati:

“Faced with militant missionaries,

Hinduism has to show that its plurality and all-encompassing
acceptance

are not signs of disparateness or disunity.

For that, a collective voice is needed.”

Non-Hindus can join this Hindustani unity, but first they must agree
to adhere to the minimum requirement of recognizing and accepting that
their cultural legacy is Hindu, and revere their Hindu origins, that
they are as equal before law as any other but no more, and that they
will make sacrifices to defend their Hindu legacy just as any good
Hindu would his own. In turn then, the Hindu will defend such non-
Hindus as they have protected the Parsis and Jews, and take them all
as part of the Hindustani parivar.

India can be only for those who swear that Hindustan is their
matrubhoomi and karmabhoomi. Since the task to defeat the nefarious
forces ranged today against Hindu society is not going to be easy, we
cannot therefore trust those amongst in our midst whose commitment to
the motherland is ambivalent or ad hoc, or those who feel no kinship
to the Hindu past of the nation. We have partitioned a quarter of
Hindustan to enable a homeland for those Muslims, who could not live
with Hindus in a democratic framework of equality and fraternity.
Hence only those are true children of Bharatmata today who accept that
India is their matrubhoomi and karmabhoomi.

I have tried summarizing the above stated concept of Hindustan and the
fundamentals of Hindutva in the following axioms of Hindu
renaissance:

1. A Hindu, and those others who are proud of their Hindu past and
origins, must know the correct history of India. That history which
records that Hindus have always been, and are one; that caste is not
birth-based and nor immutable. India is a continuum, Sanatana. That
ancient Hindus and their descendents have always lived in this area
from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean, an area called ‘Akhand
Hindustan’, and did not come from outside; and that there is no truth
in the Aryan-Dravidian race theory. Instead, Hindus went abroad to
spread learning and spiritual knowledge.

2. Hindus believe that all religions equally lead to God, but not that
all religions are equal in the richness of it’s theological content.
Respecting all religions, Hindus expect from others that respect is
two-way. If Hindus are to defend the right of others to adhere to
one’s own religion, then other religionists have to stand up for
Hindus too. Thus, by this criterion, secular attitude as defined till
date is a one-way obligation for Hindus, and hence Hindus must reject
such a concept because of its implied appeasement. At the same time
enlightened Hindus must defend and protect vigorously those non-Hindus
who identify with the concept of Hindustan. That is, a nation of
Hindus and those whose who accept that their ancestors are Hindus. A
vibrant Bharatvarsh of course cannot be home to bigotry and
obscurantism since that has never been Hindu tradition or history. But
Muslims and Christians shall be part of the Hindustan parivar or
family if they accept this truth and revere it.

3. Hindus must prefer to lose everything they possess rather than
submit to tyranny or to terrorism. Today those in India who submit to
terrorists and hijackers must be vehemently despised as anti-Hindus.
They cannot be good Hindus merely because they are pious or go
regularly to the temple or good Hindustanis just because they are
citizens of India.

4. The Hindu’s must have a mindset to retaliate when attacked. The
retaliation must be massive enough to deter future attacks. If
terrorists come from training camps in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri
Lanka, Hindus must seek to carpet bomb those training camps, no matter
the consequences. Today’s so-called self proclaimed “good” Hindus have
failed to avenge or retaliate for the attack on Parliament, Akshardham
Mandir, Ayodhya, and even a former Prime Minister’s [Rajiv Gandhi’s]
assassination. On the other hand those who defend these assassins and
praise the terrorist organization behind them are permitted to be
central government Ministers today.

5. All Hindus to qualify as true Hindus must make effort to learn
Sanskrit and the Devanagari script in addition to the mother tongue,
and pledge that one day in the future, Sanskrit will be India’s link
language since all the main Indian languages have large percentage of
their vocabulary common with Sanskrit already.

These five axioms if followed will constitute the virat Hindu unity, a
bonding that Hindus need to be in a position to confront the challenge
that Hindu civilization is facing from Islamic terrorists and fraud
Christian missionaries from abroad, who are also aided and abetted
from confused Hindus within the country. Without such a virat Hindu
unity and the implied mindset, we will be unable to nullify and root
out the subversion and erosion that undermine today the Hindu
foundation of India. This foundation is what makes India distinctive
in the world, and hence we must safeguard this legacy with all the
might and moral fibre that we can muster.

In this we can get great moral support from Hindus resident abroad
because of their sheer commitment to the motherland. Free from
economic constraints, aching for an identity, and well educated, I
have seen them organize effectively to challenge the attempts to
slander Hindu religious symbols and icon. Overseas Hindustanis have
contributed during our Freedom Struggle, the Emergency and in enabling
our acharyas to spread the message of the Hindu religion abroad. This
has been done without demeaning other religions.

I urge and implore the Acharya Sabha, that since in a democracy the
battle is in fighting elections, therefore to resolve to foster a
Hindu consciousness that leads to a cohesive vigorous Hindu unity and
mindset, so that the Hindustani voter will cast his ballot only for
those candidates in an election who will be loyal to a Hindu Agenda
drawn up by the Dharmacharyas. The Tirupati Declaration of July 2006
adopted by the acharyas must be electorally translated.

Dr. Subramanian Swamy

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/yugabda-5109/2008012699/6-varshapratipada-april-2007/articles/dharma/fundamentals-of-hindutva-and-concept-of-hindusthan/menu-id-36.html

bademiyansubhanallah

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Feb 20, 2010, 7:54:19 AM2/20/10

Hindutva Not a Way of Life
Written by Arvind Bal

The concept of Hindutva got evolved in British period as Indian
Nationalism. Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Vivekanand, Swami Shraddhanand,
Lala Lajpatrai, Masurkar Maharaj propounded various ideas which
interpreted Hindutva as Nationalism of Hindu people and started
various movements to put their ideas in practice. The concept was more
concerned with Nationalism and less with religion...

Hindutva : Not a way of life

Savarkar's Hindutva

Veer Savarkar is considered to be the father of ‘areligious concept of
Hindutva'. Savarkar wrote a book "Hindutva" in 1923, which elaborates
the concept in great detail. The book runs into some hundred pages.
The book gives historical background of the word "Hindu", explains in
details the idea of Nationalism and establishes Hindutva as a secular
form of Bhartiya Nationalism.

He goes on to define the word "Hindu" in one Sanskrit anushtap shloka.
His famous definition is

The definition comes almost at the end of the book and therefore
should be considered as his inference of all the arguments made in the
book.

The shloka defines who a Hindu is. The definition first describes a
geographical piece of land with loosely defined boundaries. A person
is a Hindu if he considers this piece of land as his “Fatherland” and
his “Holyland”. Thus the definition considers three aspects (a)
geographical, (b) ancestral and (c) emotional.

Savarkar claims that his definition is precise and it does not omit
anyone nor includes any person who is not a Hindu (avyapti and
ativyapti). But if we consider those Hindus who are dwelling in other
countries for generations and considers that country as a fatherland
are omitted. Also those foreigners staying in India, who have
willingly accepted Hinduism cannot be called Hindus due to their
ancestry.

Also, if Indian Muslims, Christians and others who got converted to
Islam or Christianity from Hinduism, start considering this country
India as their holyland also, will have to be considered as Hindus
because their ancestral fatherland is anyway India. Punyabhu concept
presumes that allegiance to religions established outside India makes
a person non-Hindu because of extra-territorial faith. This is not
correct. I deplore Islam not because it was established in Arabia, but
because of its contents. Even if someone in India would have put
forward such anti-humanistic ideology and established Islam as a
religion, it would have been equally deplorable as it is now.

My intention is not to find fault with Savarkar’s definition, but to
stress that it is not wise to hang on to any precise definition “who
is Hindu and who is not”. Any person who wholeheartedly and very
honestly considers himself as a Hindu must be accepted as a Hindu.

Because Savarkar specifically discerns Hinduism from Hindutva, he
wants to keep Hindus’ religions away from Hindutva. He keeps his
concept of Hindutva completely secular. He succeeds in this, because
in any case Savarkar never believed in any religious tenets to
interfere in worldly matters. It was therefore both easy and natural
for Savarkar to keep his concept of Hindutva completely and strongly
secular. But ultimately Hindutva is an abstract noun formed from the
word Hindu. Savarkar even preferred English word ‘Hinduness’ as a
closest alternative to Hindutva. The point is the word Hindutva is
derived from the word Hindu and if ‘Hindu’ is defined wrongly,
Hindutva also is misunderstood.

Savarkar wants to stress only one point in his book - Hindus are a
National Society in Hindusthan and others are not. ‘Others’ include
mainly Muslims and secondarily Christians. He does not very much
bother about Jews (anyway a very small community in India) and feels
sorry that Parsees, who are loyal to the land and people of this land,
cannot be included in ‘Hindus’. But frankly, there was no need to make
such a precise definition of Hindus to exclude Muslims and Christians
from Hindutva. No Muslim or Christian had ever made a claim to be
called a Hindu.

But to prove his point, he went on to define who is a Hindu and
therefore what is Hindutva. Unfortunately, he did not stop at that and
went on to include Hindus settled in other parts of the world in the
concept of Hindutva. It is worthwhile to give the extract from the
book verbatim.

“There are hundreds of thousands of Hindus who have settled in all
parts of the world. A time may come when these our Hindu colonist, who
even today are the dominating factor in trade, numbers, capacity and
intellect in their respective lands, may come to own a whole country
and form a separate state. But will this simple fact of residence in
lands other than Hindusthan render one a non-Hindu? Certainly not; for
the first essential of Hindutva is not that a man must not reside in
lands outside India, but that wherever he or his descendents may
happen to be he must recognize Sindhusthan as the land of his
forefathers.

Nay more; it is not a question of recognition either. If his ancestors
came from India as Hindus he cannot help recognize India as his
Pitribhu. So this definition of Hindutva is compatible with any
conceivable expansion of our Hindu people. Let our colonists, continue
unabated their labour of founding a Greater India, a Mahabharat to the
best of their capacities and contribute all that is best in our
civilization to the up building of humanity. So long as ye, O Hindus!
Look upon Hindusthan as the land of your forefathers and as the land
of your prophets, and cherish the priceless heritage of their culture
and their blood, so long nothing can stand in the way of your desire
to expand. The only geographical limits of Hindutva are limits of our
earth.”

The tone of the above passage is blatantly imperialistic. But we must
realize one thing. Hindutva is not an intellectual property right of
Veer Savarkar. We have our own talent and reason to make our own
interpretation of the concept of Hindutva.

RSS’ Hindutva

Now we must consider second claimant to Hindutva i.e. Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). Dr. Hedgewar established RSS in 1925.
Savarkar had already written his book ‘Hindutva’ in 1923. Dr. Hedgewar
had not only read it but also had a dialogue with Savarkar before
starting RSS. The difference which I can see in thinking of these two
great men is, Savarkar thought Hindu people are actually a Nation,
whereas Dr. Hedgewar was convinced that unfortunately Hindus never
lived as one national society (this inspite of tall claims of ‘this
nation of last 5000 years etc’). That was the reason all aggressors
could easily succeed in their aggression. For centuries, Hindus could
not push the aggressors out of the country.

Dr. Hedgewar therefore decided to form an organization to establish
Hindus as a Nation. However, he scrupulously avoided to bring in
religion and therefore named the organization as National Volunteer
Corp. He behaved in his personal life in such a manner that none could
charge him as a religious bigot. He also scrupulously kept Hindu
religion and religious practices away from RSS daily shakhas. Thus the
concept of Hindutva as put forward by RSS was also a secular national
concept, clearly independent of Hindu religion.

The picture definitely changed after Guruji Golvalkar became
Sarsanghchalak in 1940. Guruji was a Sanyasi himself and therefore had
long hair and flowing beard. He used to carry Kamandalu always along
with him. His personality was of a staunch religious Hindu from top to
bottom. He used to perform Pratah Sandhya and Sayam Sandhya regularly.
Such a behaviour of the Head of an organization inevitably attracted a
criticism that RSS was an orthodox religious organization.

It is true that he believed in many antiquated practices like
Chaturvarna and believed in pristine Vaidic Sanatan Dharma. If one
reads his books “We” and “Bunch of Thoughts”, it is not possible to
repel the charge of religious bigotry and generally reactionary and
regressive attitude. However again, whatever way, Dr. Hedgewar or
Guruji Golwalkar might have interpreted Hindutva, it is not their
intellectual property right either.

Before leaving Savarkar’s and RSS’ Hindutva, I must state one common
objection taken against Savarkar’s Hindu Mahasabha and Dr. Hedgewar’s
RSS. If the basic idea was to achieve a national resurrection in a
secular way, why their membership was not open for non-Hindus. On the
face of, it appears to be an insurmountable objection. But it is not
really so.

After all, it was due to aggressive nature of Muslims that these
organizations were started in self-defense. It was but natural that
non-Hindus were not allowed to become members. That in itself does not
make these organizations “Communal”. The basic condition to make any
organization communal is that the organization must be working not
only in the interest of that community but also against the legitimate
interests of other communities. Hindu Mahasabha and RSS were
organizations made for self-defense (although it may sound amusing
that a majority community should be doing so) due to the strong
communal character of Muslims and Christians.

Common Enemy – Islam and Christianity

Now let me come to redefining Hindutva in my own way. Before we do
that, we must understand Islam and its philosophy. We should
understand why Muslim psyche is so intolerant and perpetually
aggressive.

Islam divides the mankind in two parts – One who believes in Allah,
his last prophet Muhammad and Quran as the divine book of command i.e.
Muslims; and those who are non-believers (i.e. those who do not
believe in Islam) who are called Kafirs in Islam. Islam commands all
Muslims to either convert the non-believers into believers i.e.
Muslims or eliminate them. By obeying their religious command, Muslim
population has increased from 200 believers in 622 A.D. i.e. at the
time of Hijrat to Medina (the world population was 20 crores then i.e.
Muslims constituted of 0.001 percent), to 126 crores at present in a
world population of 804 crores i.e. 15 percent; a phenomenal increase
indeed.

Muslims have developed a peculiar mentality. Where in majority, they
have an Islamic state with total rights for Muslims and no rights for
non-Muslims. Where in minority, they must have special rights over and
above the rights of majority community. Muslims just cannot peacefully
live with equal rights with non-Muslim community.

In spite of this coercive Muslim mentality, there is no doubt that
Hindutva must remain a secular concept. This simply means that
religious commands of Hindu religion should not interfere in worldly
matters. But that should not mean that various indigenous religions of
Indian people should have no space in worldly life. In fact, it is
necessary to strengthen the pride in our own religion and keep that
self-esteem high.

I feel that too much stress on Secularism has come to mean that
concept of religion itself is something mean, substandard and
outdated. To be a proud secular person has automatically come to mean
a progressive person. To be religious has come to mean (in Hindus at
least) to be retrograde, backward and behind times. This feeling must
go. Hindus must be given to understand that being secular is a minimum
condition of present day life and not something great achievement, not
something lofty.

Secularism does not mean deriding Religion. A wide diversity in Hindu
religious ethos is normally ridiculed by secular rationalists
intellectuals. But this in fact was a strong point due to which Hindus
and their religions did not get wiped out in Islamic onslaughts. A
loose religious organization proved to be a strong point for
survival.

Hindus have a unique problem, which no other religionists have to
face. Hindu word had a geographical context in the beginning. It has
become a religion later. There were several religious faiths in India,
co-existing peacefully for ages. There were dissents, friction, even
armed conflicts but never a total enmity. This was not a big issue
until a totally alien religion aggressively entered India with an
intention to destroy indigenous religions and convert the people to
their intolerant religion. Hindus unfortunately could not judge the
seriousness of the calamity fallen on them and considered Islam (and
also Christianity) as just one more way of praying just one more God

Hindus – Their own enemy

Actually Hindus are their own enemies. Hindu intellectuals take great
sadistic pride in making fun of Hinduism. Saffronisation is considered
as worst form of communalism. But have you heard anything like
Greenisation? Because for rationalists, Hinduism is a great danger to
liberal civic society of India, not Islam or Christianity. The word
Hindutva is used as a pejorative.

Now we must understand Hindu mindset also. Somehow Hindus are tolerant
of external aggression though intolerant internally. Hindus must have
inculcated this trait right from mythological period. The stories of
Raja Harishchandra, Ram, Yudhishthir, Bhishmacharya, all depict this
pervert mindset and still they are all considered great heroes.
Whatever may be the historical background, Hindus must painstakingly
change their nature, should realize who their enemies are and learn to
behave with them as enemies.

The diversity amongst Hindu fold can be bridged only due to existence
of a common enemy of all Hindus transcending caste, creed, language,
ethnicity, etc. Fortunately Hindus have a common enemy in Islam and
Muslims led by Mullah and Maulvis are really deadly, virulent and
wicked enemy at that. As far as Muslims are concerned, they do not
distinguish between Brahmins and Dalits, between Begalis and
Maharashtrians, Aryas and Dravids, between Adivasis, Vanvasis and
Nagarvasis, all are just Kafirs for them and hence all equally deserve
extermination. This was very well experienced at the time of partition
in 1946-47-48. All leftist Hindus got the same treatment like the
rightists. All Manmohans, Indrakumars, Khushwantsinghs, Kuldeepsinghs,
and Jyoti Basus, had to run away inspite of their leftist leanings,
along with rightist LalKrishnas. Atleast such an enemy should help
Hindus unite.

With eyes wide shut, Hindus are meekly observing their numbers
dwindling and land shrinking. And progressive intellectuals of today
and philosophers of yesteryears do not feel perturbed nor concerned.
Hindus are by nature and also by its philosophical doctrine against
spreading their religion. This has proved to be suicidal. As a
religion, Hinduism either considered to be too great only to be
admired but not be followed by others or some consider it out-dated
and therefore not apt for spreading. Although these points are
contradictory, they are put forward as they are.

Non-proselytizing nature of Hindu religion and Hindu people has turned
out to be suicidal to Hindus. It is bound to be a permanently
shrinking religion. It is not only that Hindus do not spread their
religion, they even oppose taking back people in Hindu fold, who were
forcibly converted to Islam or Christianity. Hinduism at one level is
considered too sacrosanct to accept “fallen” people back in its fold,
lest it may be contaminated. At another level, Hindus plead that,
after all, all paths lead to the same God. Therefore one can be good
Muslim or a good Christian and achieve the same goal of Mukti
(emancipation) or Swarga (heaven). But Muslims or Christians do not
think that way. Therefore there is only a one-way traffic, Hindus
getting converted to Islam and Christianity.

We can learn a thing or two from Buddhism. It is a proselytizing
indigenous religion. However there are no instances of individual or
mass conversions of Muslims or Christians to Buddhism. Either
indigenous religionists of Srilanka, China, etc eastern countries
accepted Buddhism two thousand years back or in recent times it is
only a mass conversion within Hindu fold.

There are two aspects of proselytizing. One accepting Indian Muslims
and Christians back to Hindu fold. Those Hindus, who were converted to
Islam, fell in Stockholm syndrome. They started feeling love and
affection for captors because Hindus considered those who were forced
to accept Islam or Christianity as “fallen” people and not
“aggrieved”. It is necessary to appreciate the circumstances in which
they were converted and bring them back to Hinduism with all honour
and not by ‘Shuddhi’ process as if they were polluted. In fact Hindus
must declare that Hinduism is purified to the extent more and more
Muslims and Christians come back to Hindu fold.

While considering proselytizing, we should not rule out Sikhism.
Although Sikhism has some similarities with Semitic religions like one
founder, one book, strict worldly dress and behavioral codes, strong
community life, that may in fact help in getting Muslims back to a
similar alternative as Sikhism.

We should rope in spiritual Gurus also in our attempt to de-Islamise
Muslims and bring them closer to Hindu ethos, if not a total
conversion to Hinduism, Yoga, Meditation, Vipashyana, Art of Living,
Swadhyay, etc. Rationally speaking, there is no reason why Hindus
should find a counter answer for every Muslim religious symbol.
Therefore Hindus need not invent an Avtar to counter a Prophet, invent
a book Bhagwad Geeta as an answer to Quran or Swastik and Om to
counter Star and Crescent.

But at the same time, creating, accepting and revering such symbols
cannot be under-rated. Not only intellectuals, even common Hindus do
not consider such symbols or even superstitions necessary to bring the
people around some intangible mark of religion to sacrifice their life
for. This has proved to be a disadvantage for making Hindus unite. A
little irrational faith in religion is perhaps a practical
requirement.

I do not see any point in perpetually whining against Muslim
behaviour, their aggressive nature and their loyalty towards world
Ummah. Hindus must develop a cogent policy for Hindus in various
countries. Developing a Hindu commonwealth is not against any
nationalism or patriotism towards a country. For centuries, Hindus
have not given any thought in that direction. It is necessary to
develop a well thought out policy.

Decolonizing Hindutva

Hindutva has nothing to do with any economic theory. There is a
general feeling that Hindutva stands for rightist policies. This
impression must be removed. With socialist and left leaning views, one
can be a “Hindutva”wadi. A Bardhan or a Yechuri must ridicule Hindu
customs to prove that he is a Marxist. But have you come across any
Muslim Marxist who has blamed Islam for its anti-liberal views? No.
Never. Because even for a Marxist Muslim, he is a Muslim first and
Marxist afterwards.

Also, Hindutva is not any political theory. It has nothing to say, for
or against, democracy, globalization, SEZs, big dams, etc. Bhartiya
Janata Party or Shiv Sena has no right to claim an exclusive right on
Hindutva. A Hindutvavadi can be a member and leader of any other
political party like Congress, Janata Dal, etc for various other
issues, keeping his Hindutva in tact.

Hindutva also does not have any sociological viewpoint. Hindutva need
not subscribe to a joint family system and other conservative ideas.
Even to the extent of accepting free sex relationship, same sex
relationship should not come in the way of one being a Hindutvawadi.
Hindutva is not Puritanism. It is, considering all Hindus as one
people and protecting their worldly interests. So take courage in both
hands and listen “Hindutva is not a way of life”.

Now we must come to the last point of the meaning of Hindutva in
different contexts.

Savarkar had enunciated Hindutva before independence i.e. before
partition of British India which Savarkar called Bharatbhumi. The
country was partitioned entirely on the basis of religious
nationalism. Pakistan became a Muslim nation-state and India (named as
India i.e. Bharat in Indian Constitution subsequently as a Hindu
nation, howsoever secular the state might be.)

It is necessary to fresh up the memory that it was Indian Muslims i.e.
the Muslims in that part of India which never could have become
Pakistan, who fought tooth and nail to create Pakistan under the
leadership of an Indian Gujarati Muslim - a domicile of Bombay -
Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

It is inappropriate here to narrate the entire story of partition. But
it must be noted that All India Muslim League was not automatically
partitioned on 15th August 1947 along with India’s partition. A
special session was called to split Indian Muslim League at Karachi in
December 1947. In this session by a special resolution, All India
Muslim League was split into two – Pakistan Muslim League (with Liaqat
Ali Khan elected as special convener) and Indian Union Muslim League
(with President of Madras Provincial Muslim League, M. Mohammad
Ismail, elected as special convener.) The resolutions adopted in
Karachi session are worth studying in totality. But I reproduce below
(in part) resolution no.3.

Resolution no. 3 (All India Muslim League, Karachi Session, 14-15 Dec
1947) –

"The Council of All India Muslim League views with great satisfaction
the attainment of its great objective, namely, the establishment of
Pakistan, and congratulates Musalmans of the Indian subcontinent on
sacrifices they have made for achievement of their national goal. The
council feels confident that the unique struggle of Muslim League for
establishment of a fully independent sovereign state, under the superb
leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and its ultimate
triumph in the birth of largest Muslim State and fifth largest of all
States of the world, will go down in history as the most outstanding
world-event of modern times."

The tenor of the above resolution will make it amply clear that
Muslims in partitioned India could not sever their relationship with
brother Muslims in Pakistan. After expressing their pride in
partitioning the country on religious basis, they could not be
expected to be loyal national of Bharat.

But Indian National Congress just automatically ceased to exist in
Pakistan. Congress was not required to be partitioned. It was always a
Hindu organization irrespective of what Congress pleaded. Therefore
none ever thought what happened to Congress houses in Lahore, Karachi,
Peshawar, Multan and Dhaka.

Therefore we must redefine Hindutva in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
too as Pakistan was further dismembered and Bangladesh became a
separate nation-state in 1971.

As far as India is concerned, the Hindutva concept remains unchanged
i.e. same as before partition. But we must remember after complete
independence from British rule and any left hangovers of Muslim rules,
the responsibility of Hindus is increased. Not only they must remain
as united national people in India, but they must be able to bring all
non-Hindus and particularly Muslims in the main national stream,
leaving behind their ambition of creating Muslim State. The onus is on
Hindus to integrate Muslims in territorial and cultural Nation-State
as Bharat and not look to making India a Hindu Nation-State.

The clock cannot be turned back. What Hindus could not achieve in
thousand years, cannot be achieved now. If Hindus can turn all Muslims
into loyal Indian nationals with no attachment to Muslim Ummah, it
will be a big achievement. And it should be possible. After all, every
Muslim is as much a homosapien as any Hindu. To turn a Muslim as a
true national, he will have to be weaned away from Mullah, Maulavis
who keep on harping on the old ideas of Dar-ul-Harb and Dar-ul-Islam.
Muslims will have to be liberated from their blind faith in Islam and
treating remaining humanity as Kafirs.

How do we define Hindutva for Bangladesh? Even today Bangladesh has 16
percent Hindu population. What is the meaning of Hindutva to them?
Their Hindutva should aim at making Bangladesh a true secular Nation-
State. In fact, it was born as a secular state in 1971. but due to
lack of Indian diplomacy and lack of fighting spirit of Bangladeshi
Hindus, Bangladesh became an Islamic State in 1975 and also a member
of Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC). Hindus of Bangladesh can
still aspire to take more and more active part in political life to
turn the country back to a secular state and press for their rights
within the legal and constitutional framework.

Pakistan (then West Pakistan) solved the Hindu issue just by pogroms
and squeezing Hindus out of Pakistan. The percentage of Hindus came
down from ten percent at the time of partition to just one percent at
present. So we are relieved of the issue of defining Hindutva of
Pakistani Hindus.

To sum up, Hindutva is a still relevant secular, non-communal, non-
political concept. Just defining nationalism of Bharat keeping it open
for non-Hindus to assimilate in a territorial cultural nationalism. In
Bangladesh, it means attempts to turn the Islamic Republic to Secular
Republic in which Hindus can live honourably and flourish as equal
citizens.

Arvind Bal

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/yugabda-5109/20080126101/6-varshapratipada-april-2007/articles/dharma/hindutva-not-a-way-of-life/menu-id-36.html

bademiyansubhanallah

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Feb 20, 2010, 8:03:13 AM2/20/10

Alternative to Govt Control of Hindu Math and Temples
Written by R. Venkatanarayanan

Return by State governments, of places of worship,
religious teaching and reverence, of Hindus to their management and
control.

(R.Venkatanarayanan)

Historical overview

Despite initial reluctance of the judiciary during the British
colonial rule, temples and mathas came under more and more intrusive
judicial intervention even in the colonial days. This was largely
because of petty minded quarrels among influential devotees (a classic
example is the Vaishnavas’ long and bitter infighting in South India),
greedy sevadars, hereditary beneficiaries of devotee offerings to the
deity and power hungry ‘trustees’. Over time blatant misuse by the
’matathipathi’ of the matha property and income. and systematic
plunder of temple wealth and mismanagement resulted in strong public
opinion including that of educated and religiously inclined elite in
favour of State intervention. Starting with the Tamilnadu in the 1920s
State governments began to bring these places of reverence under their
increasing supervision over a period of about 80 years, on the ground
that temples and mathas were places of public importance and interest
and should not be allowed to be misused or be centers of in-fighting.
But after Independence the motive of legislation became government
control (instead of regulation) of the financial and other assets of
these places of religious importance to Hindus. Misinterpretation of
the Constitution by the Judiciary both in the States and the Center
aided this development. The avarice of elected legislators and
ministers made temples virtually a government department, particularly
in the Southern States. The moneys and patronage involved were simply
irresistible. Today the Tamilnadu Endowment Act and Rules, the oldest,
is the model for similar law in States such as Andhra Pradesh. In many
States big and ancient individual temples are controlled under
specific individual laws. Examples are Varanasi Kashivishwanath
temple, Bhadrinath and Kedarnath etc. The term ‘temple’ or ‘matha‘
does not occur in the Constitution. They are strangely treated as no
more than.” public religious and charitable institutions”—not as
places of worship—in the Concurrent List of the Constitution. The Sir
C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer Commission appointed in 1960 by the Government of
India to look into temple and matha management in the country,
produced a classic and comprehensive report in 1962. It recognized
matters of gross mismanagement in places of Hindu reverence but
emphasised that government should have only a regulatory role in
improving matters and such regulatory role should also apply to
Muslim and Christian places of worship. It also, (i) wanted a model
law to be drafted by the Central government; (ii) insisted that temple
income and wealth must be spent only on temples and in strengthening
knowledge of Hindu religion and philosophy among Hindu populace; and
in training of archakas and pujaris. A Religious Trusts Bill
introduced in the Parliament was, however, allowed to lapse. Pseudo
secularism had already begun to raise its ugly head. The States were
left to do what they pleased with Hindu places of worship and
teaching. Christian and Muslim places of worship were left out of the
State legislations.

Why should places of worship and reverence be under devotee control?

The present regime of control of only Hindu places of reverence is
blatantly discriminatory against the majority population. In Hindu
tradition temples were not merely places of periodic visit for worship
of the deity. They were places of social, literary and cultural
expression of Hindu society. Places of Hindu worship and reverence
were also places of sacred pilgrimage for people from far and wide in
the country. Thus temples and mathas played a major role in
establishing sacred connectivity and essentially a common
understanding of life’s values and philosophy, among Hindus in various
nooks and corners of this vast land of ours, irrespective of their
language and local customs. Temples and mathas were thus verily living
and vibrant symbols of Hindutva, the tattva (essence) of Hindu Dharma
and philosophy. Government management of temples has tended to make
them establishments of sterile commercialism, centers of mere tourist
attraction and bureaucratic centers of pelf and patronage. Devotee
management of places of spiritual reverence to Hindus will, besides
restoring their sanctity, bring back the sense of self esteem and
pride in their tradition to the Hindu populace, long lost because of
several centuries of colonization, brutality and religious oppression.
It will bring a sense of unity to Hindus, rejuvenate Hindu Dharma and
Society and make them once again the envy of the world. Thus
strengthened in a wholesome manner Hindus can play an effective role
in fostering social harmony in the country.

What is required to regain devotee control and management.

These places of Hindu worship and teaching have been managed by well
entrenched and large bureaucracy under legislative control for a long
time. A huge Case Law, generally adverse to Hindu sensitivities, has
accumulated over the years thanks to much puerile litigation. We will,
therefore, need to establish the credibility of the new model of
governance evolved, to the satisfaction of State organs including the
Judiciary as well as of the common temple-going Hindu masses who look
for proper treatment, orderliness, and financial accountability.
Reasonable traditional arrangements of remunerating sevadars and long
standing trusteeships would need to be accommodated. The only way this
can be done is for temples, small and medium ones to begin with, to be
actually run efficiently by local Hindu temple committees. The manner
in which the committees are put in place, the manner in which
succession takes place from time to time, the transparency and
accountability that the committees show in financial and personnel
management, and the support they receive from stake-holders, are all
crucial for the new model of governance to gain credibility and to
succeed. The first step, therefore, is to form such committees and to
run temples which are not under any State law and gain grass root
experience and responsiblity.

The possible route to regain control

There appears to be good ground to challenge the Constitutionality of
government control of places of Hindu reverence. This aspect is dealt
with briefly in the next section. But it seems virtually impossible,
with the present constellation of political parties and forces, to get
the State legislatures or the Parliament to enact any significant
change either in the Endowment law or in the Constitution. All
politicians, irrespective of the political party, are now benefiting
from temple property, temple income and the associated patronage
system. Large scale Hindu public agitation could help but sustaining
it till success is achieved is very difficult, considering the
fragmented nature of Hindu political mass. By a process of
elimination, we come to litigation. High quality Constitutional battle
appears a viable option. But steps to implement this option must go
hand in hand with the implementation, State wise, of the suggestions
in paragraph 3 above.

Legal and Constitutional aspects

The Constitution says that the Indian Republic is ‘secular’. It is,
therefore, a travesty to allow the State to interfere in the present
manner in the control of places of Hindu religious sanctity. The
travesty becomes worse when such interference is only in respect of
one religion—the religion of the vast majority –Hinduism. It is open
to argument if the term ‘denomination’ in the Constitution, has been
defined and treated rightly and fairly by the Courts from the
standpoint of Hinduism. There is ambiguity and perhaps contradictory
opinion in several judgements on what is ‘secular’ and what is
‘religious’ in the affairs of a temple. It is not certain if a temple
can be categorized as merely a ‘religious and charitable
institution’ (Entry 28, List III of the Constitution) and laws to
control temples and mathas can be enacted, overriding the Fundamental
Rights guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution to all citizens
in regard to practice of religion. Another relevant aspect is whether
protective rights under the Constitution, of ‘minorities’, meant to
prevent possible ‘majority’ oppression in our democracy, can be
construed and interpreted as privileges not available to the
‘majority’.

It is also to be noted that in many cases affecting temples and mathas
which went before higher courts in the country, it was the claims of
hereditary trustees, and other sevadars, that were pressed, contested
under the pretext of ‘religious freedom’ and adjudicated upon; the
more basic issue of religious freedom of Hindu society at large in
respect of places of sacred reverence to it, does not seem to have
been specifically and effectively argued or considered.

Elements of a Model of good governance of temples and mathas.

Any system of good governance of places of worship, religious teaching
and reverence of Hindus should rest on the following basic
principles:

The mechanism of governance should rigorously obviate mismanagement
and should be transparent and accountable but confine government to a
regulatory role and not allow it to get into a control mode.

There is some opinion in the country that the model to be canvassed
should completely keep government out of temple legislation and leave
everything to devotee hands. If a statutory recognition is to be
sought to the model of governance, it is not possible to keep
government totally out of the picture because implementation of any
statute has necessarily to have a nexus with government. Also it must
be recognized that given the impossibility of having a single
religious authority, in the very nature of things in Hindu Dharma, the
State cannot be just wished away. Without some supervisory authority
on non-religious matters, from whatever distance it may be exercised,
it is very unlikely that all stakeholders in temple management can be
taken along to support a new system of governance that insists on
accountability and transparency.

The SGPC Act applicable to Sikhs and the Wakf Act applicable to Muslim
trusts are hardly suitable models. The former is basically a political
instrument; the latter is a dead letter for all intents and purposes.

Elections on western model for governing entities of temples should
not be immediately attempted. Elections are not likely to promote
harmony and unitedness, nor will they result in good governance of
temples, given the fractious nature of society and insufficient
democratic maturity, which we witness in India even after 50 years of
Constitutional democracy.

There should be a Statutory Dharmic Council in each State. Members
should be venerated Acharyas of ancient Sampradayas and mathas in the
State and widely respected and eminent exponents of Hindu Dharma. A
Committee comprising the Chief Justice of the State High Court, the
Chief Minister of the State, and the Leader of the Opposition (if any
of them is not a temple worshipping Hindu, the next senior most member
in the institution, who fulfils that criterion) shall invite
suggestions, select and nominate the members. In filling up the
Council, the Committee may consult those who already stand nominated.
Suitable criteria for membership could be evolved. The Council should
reflect all the ancient Sampradayas in the State and should have in
its membership, at least two lay Hindus, erudite in Hindu Dharma and
knowledgeable in managing religious entities. The number of members
may not exceed eleven. It may be reconstituted once in a few years on
a rotational basis to ensure participation by all Sampradayas and
continuity. This Council shall be the ultimate authority to decide on
all matters of spiritual and religious nature. The Council shall also
have general powers of supervision in respect of all Dharmic aspects
in the governance of all places of sacred reverence to Hindus in the
State.

There shall be a Statutory Hindu religious Tribunal in each State,
with three members. A retired Judge of the high Court or the Supreme
Court shall preside over this Tribunal. A personage of great Hindu
Dharmic scholarship and a retired civil servant highly regarded for
his/her integrity and administrative capability shall be the other
members. Membership of the Tribunal shall not be open to politically
active persons. The Chief Justice of the State High Court shall
nominate the Chairman of the Tribunal and in consultation with him
select the other two members. This Tribunal shall be the final
authority on all non-religious, (temporal) matters, which come under
dispute or question. All matters connected with temple trustees, the
welfare of sevadars , pujaris and archakas and associated personnel
shall be finally decided by this Tribunal. Appeal against the
Tribunal’s decision shall lie only in the Supreme Court, subject to
its procedures. The Tribunal shall be reconstituted at five-year
intervals on a rotational basis.

The only other State level entity required is a Temple Management
Board of five members. The State government should constitute it. The
Statute should prohibit the nomination to the Board, of serving
government officials or persons active in politics, but mandate
membership of women. Members shall be temple-worshipping Hindus, with
a good record of public service. The Board will have quasi-judicial
authority in implementing the Statute, supervise (not control) the
financial and administrative management of temples and mathas. It
shall not have a large bureaucracy. Its main purpose is to educate,
encourage and guide temple management committees in transparent and
accountable management of temples. Appeals against the Board ‘s
decision shall lie with the Tribunal.

Individual temples or groups of small temples of the same Sampradaya
shall have individual temple management committees. They should have
rotating membership once in a few years. The manner of nominating this
committee is for further careful thought. The Statute shall provide
specifically for membership of women and Hindus of all classes, and
‘castes’ in these committees.

At the District or the regional level as may be required by the number
of temples and mathas, there shall be a Committees to supervise the
temple level committees. They will also operate as localized dispute
settling entities. Representation of individual temple management
committees could be provided for in these Committees. There shall be
minimum qualifications prescribed for the membership of the temple and
the regional committees.

Obligatory and desirable purposes shall be prescribed in the Statute
for the use of temple income. Expenditure proposals for any purpose
other than for temple rituals and for immediate and direct temple
needs, shall be subject to scrutiny and prior approval of an
independent and competent committee for each temple or group of small
temples. Illustratively, obligatory purposes are proper performance of
temple rituals; training of archakas, adhyapakas and reciters of holy
texts; loan liabilities; repair, renovation and extension of temple
premises, cleanliness and hygienic maintenanace of pilgrim amenities.
Desirable purposes are, illustratively, free food supplies to
pilgrims; propagation of fundamentals of Hindu Dharma; commissioning
of and publication of religious literature; financing scholarly
research in Hindu history and publications; promotion of temple
architecture, sculpture and fine arts; creation and maintenance of
schools and colleges specializing in Hindu religion and philosophy;
poor homes for destitute devotees, Hindu widows and aged people and
socio-economic welfare activities among needy communities.

A Dharmic Fund shall be constituted at the State and at the district
or regional level. Each temple with sufficient income shall contribute
a portion of its income to these Funds, as prescribed. These Dharmic
Funds are to be utilized for rejuvenation, education and welfare of
poor and underprivileged communities of Hindu Society in accordance
with Rules under the Statute. These Funds shall be audited and reports
thereof published in local language.

External and concurrent audit shall be prescribed and annual accounts
mandated to be published for each temple or group of small temples.

Such a model will reflect a fine balance of the Constitutional
guarantees, concerns of accountability, authority to enforce the
Statute, Case Law, sentiments of Hindu devotees at large and also
reasonable elements of religious tradition. It is very likely to be
widely accepted. It will ensure in a constructive manner salutary
principles of good governance of places of public worship and
reverence of Hindus.

Implementation

17. As mentioned earlier a suitable entry point for judicial recourse
must be looked for. Simultaneously and without any more delay temple
management committees must be set up State by State and experience
gathered in satisfactorily governing temples to which the Endowment
Act does not apply. Intensive legal research must be undertaken under
the leadership of a dedicated Entity to be identified, on the massive
Case Law to enable a comprehensive judicial challenge on a solid
footing against the Endowment Acts, as indicated in paragraphs 5 and 6
above. This judicial challenge will take some years to fructify and
will require the services of some of the best Constitutional lawyers
in the country. A substantial Fund is required to be set up for the
entire exercise. The dedicated Entity mentioned above should be
amenable to be held accountable for efficient use of finances made
available and spent.

October 14,
2006
R.Venkatanarayanan

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/yugabda-5109/20080126102/6-varshapratipada-april-2007/articles/dharma/alternative-to-govt-control-of-hindu-math-and-temples/menu-id-36.html

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Feb 20, 2010, 8:10:35 AM2/20/10

Islam's Weakness
Written by Dr. Moorthy Muthuswamy

A multi-front jihad has been underway to Islamize India and bring it
under Islam’s control. This Islamization drive appears to be supported
by a large percentage of Indian Muslim population and by neighboring
Muslim nations. Islamists have skillfully taken advantage of
weaknesses among majority Hindus thus far. In fact, India seems to be
under an Islamic siege. Islam's Weakness

Moorthy Muthuswamy, Ph.D.

(Text of the Third Annual Arvind Ghosh Memorial Lecture, Houston,
Texas, September 17th, 2005)

A multi-front jihad has been underway to Islamize India and bring it
under Islam's control. This Islamization drive appears to be supported
by a large percentage of Indian Muslim population and by neighboring
Muslim nations. Islamists have skillfully taken advantage of
weaknesses among majority Hindus thus far. In fact, India seems to be
under an Islamic siege.

That may be changing.

The recent Ayodhya attack by Islamists may signal further attacks on
India's economic interests, Hindu religious institutions and
organizations. Such attacks may finally present an opportunity for
majority Hindus to mobilize behind the fear of Islamic terror and wage
a counter-jihad.

Despite some daring successful acts of terror, by and large, Muslim
communities and nations remain weak and disorganized outside of their
religious institutions. These are the weaknesses of Islam. The
strength of Islam is its religious institutions and clerical
leadership. On this basis, thus far Muslim communities have terrorized
the civilization world over.

In the next stage of the war on terror, powerful western nations,
awoke by the recent brutal London terror acts, will work to neutralize
Islam's strength -- its religious institutions and clerics. In India's
case too the majority Hindu community will have to initiate a
counteroffensive on Islam's power structure within India. Capable and
resource-rich Indian Diaspora will have to play an important role in
aiding the Indian majority. Various strategies and a role for Indian
Americans for a successful counter-jihad are listed below.

What is at stake for Non-Resident Indians (NRI)?

A positive evolution of Hinduism and Hindus hinges on educational
uplift and wealth creation. If India doesn't quickly eradicate the
Islamic threat, the escalating cost of fighting it and the subsidizing
cost of its growing Muslim population will suffocate it. Deprived of
resources to improve its infrastructure and educate its population
India will not be able to compete with emerging nations such as China.
Large portion of its Hindu population will remain impoverished and
illiterate. In such a scenario many more Hindus will embrace naxal
ideologies and will be vulnerable to Christian soul harvesters. In the
long run an India bled by Islamists will see its majority religion
Hinduism destined for history books. With the home-base of Hinduism
destroyed, Hinduism abroad will likely follow the same fate. Other
India centric religion such as Sikhism or Jainism will too follow in
the same foot steps.

For instance, Christian percentage among South African Indians was no
more than a few percent decades ago. But now it hovers around 50%.
Malaysia too is seeing a rapid conversion of its Hindu population to
Christianity.

On the other hand a thriving India will offer opportunities - from
religious, cultural, economic to social. It should be a good "brand"
to be associated with. A strong India will come to the aid of Hindus
everywhere.

This is also a personal challenge for many of us - whether in this new
millennium we can come together as a community and succeed in saving
our civilization from extinction!

Islamic thrust in South Asia

Muslim kings ruled for at least six hundred years, but India remained
mostly Hindu!

Among the reasons: Hinduism was not institutionalized for rapid
conversion of India to Islam. Also, India was too vast for a few
Muslim ruling elite; Hindus provided free labor for this elite (an
economic incentive to let Hindus live)! Eventually, stagnant Indian
Muslims lost power to a resurgent Hindus, Sikhs and the mighty British
Empire.

Islam's power structure in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or
Iran still wants to recapture and Islamize India. Statistics of the
last sixty years tell the real story of islamization of South Asia.

Data from pre-1947 India and 2004 CIA fact files:

Hindu% Pre-1947
Hindu% 2004
Muslim% Pre-1947
Muslim% 2004

India
85
80
10
14

Bangladesh
35
16
64
83

Pakistan
20
1
75
97

The 24% Muslim population in India in 1947 demanded and got 25% of the
land in the name of Pakistan. But these lands have been virtually
cleansed of Hindus. Since most Muslims stayed back in India, India had
to accommodate 85% of the population in 75% of the land. This 1947
Islamic partitioning of India constitutes a 25% reservation for Indian
Muslims - land, wealth and opportunities.

Muslim outlook within India's only Muslim majority state of Kashmir:

Over 300,000 Hindus were driven out from Muslim majority Kashmir
valley. Kashmiri Muslims have reserved most opportunities for
themselves at the expense of non-Muslims (who pay most taxes). Muslim
majority Kashmir gets very high per capita subsidies (that come from
Hindu majority states!). Not only Muslim Kashmiris sponsor terrorism,
Kashmir is now used as a staging post to expand terrorist operations
inside India

(http://www.saveindia.com/perfect_con_job.htm,

http://www.saveindia.com/woes_of_jammu_and_ladakh.htm,

http://www.saveindia.com/india-colony.htm).

Based upon the above statistics what can be concluded about Hindu and
Muslim outlook in South Asia?

When Muslims are in majority in South Asia they have worked to
annihilate non-Muslim populations through - killings, ethnic
cleansing, coerced-conversions, land, opportunity & wealth grab. This
shows that versions of Islam practiced in South Asia are essentially
fascist ideologies. When Hindus are in a majority in India they have
proven to be secular, democratic and tolerant. Also, Hindus are unable
to defend their interests either as a minority or as a majority (to be
discussed later).

What is the outlook of the Muslim population in the rest of India -
where they are a minority? Also, when Muslims are in a minority what
yardsticks can be used to gauge their outlook?

Invariably extremists represent Muslims in India. According to a 1970
govt. study -- almost 99% riots were engineered by Indian Muslims.
Reformed versions of Islam even in a secular democratic India do not
exist (http://www.saag.org/papers6/paper599.html). A recent poll
(Where Indian Muslims have gone wrong, by Aakar Patel, Mid-day,
September 5, 2004) revealed that just under 90 per cent of Mumbai's
Muslims, presumably the most progressive in the country, rejected a
secular civil code preferring instead Shariah law, favoring polygamy,
triple talaq and Islam's unequal inheritance laws which allow women
half as much property as they allow men. The views of most younger and
educated Muslims and of women were also the same, in almost the same
proportion.

Conclusions: vast majority of Indian Muslims appear to be extremist
sympathizers and have leaning toward radical Islam. Indian Muslim
clerics are at the forefront of a jihad to convert India into an
Islamic country.

How is jihad born?

The clerics first create a sense of "grievance" against the majority
and/or the State through sermons. In the next stage a small band of
armed men are created to "protect" the Muslim community. Who then
start an armed conflict with the State and take shelter among the
sympathetic Muslim population. But in retaliations some "innocent"
Muslims die - thus spiraling into a jihad! This is how Muslim
insurgency in Kashmir was established.

But in areas where Muslims are a minority the above model of full-
fledged insurgency is not possible. Here other forms of jihad are
waged.

A more complete definition of various forms of jihad:

•• Sponsor insurgency in Muslim majority areas and engineer
riots in Muslim minority areas; ensure a high Muslim population growth
rate

•• Demand reservation for Indian Muslims in education & jobs
(Indian Muslims already have 25% reservation!)

•• Make Indian state spend vast sums of money on fighting
terrorism and security

•• Demand special laws for Muslims

•• Increase Muslim population in India through infiltration,
preferably from Bangladesh

•• Undermine India's relations with Israel and America

Most Islamic extremists see increased Muslim reservation as part of an
integral strategy to destroy India and extend Islam's boundaries.
Reasons: this unfair reservation for Indian Muslims takes wealth away
from the deserving majority and others into the hands undeserving
Muslims - resulting in an India with an increasingly poor and
illiterate majority and a wealthier and well-placed Muslims, primed
for destruction. A case in point: the jihadi movement in Muslim-
majority Kashmir strengthened over the years through a system whereby
Kashmiri Muslims unfairly reserved a lion-share of job opportunities
and educational seats for themselves at the expense of mostly non-
Muslim Jammu and Ladakh. With Indian Muslim population percentage
increasing from 10% in 1955, now to about 14% and with Muslim vote-
bank controlled by some with proven retrogressive/extremist intent, it
is not hard to see the kind of future awaiting India's children.

Efforts are underway to establish forms of Kashmir Muslim insurgency
"model" in many parts of India with a large concentration of Indian
Muslims (Hyderabad, Mallapuram in Kerala etc). This is spearheaded by
Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI - an Al-Qaeda wing inside
India). Arms accumulation is already underway in many Indian mosques
and Muslim "community" centers.

A Hindu movement born

What is constraining Hindu fight back? Almost a thousand year slavery
has kept politics out of Hindu religious institutions - making them
unlikely organizations to mobilize Hindus. Being from a poor and
largely illiterate country the majority population lacks problem-
solving skills. Hence the government or the press/media lack support
from the majority to take on Islamic extremists who are well-funded
and community-supported. This has led to mostly Muslim "approved" top
leaders or editorial boards or columnists functioning in India!
Result: India has no plans to deal with jihad, while indoctrination of
Indian Muslims continues unabated. At the moment the Indian political
system (under a largely dysfunctional democracy) and media are
subservient to jihadi interests. Article 30 of the Indian Constitution
actively promotes minority discrimination/apartheid of majority Hindus
and is in fact can be seen as a jihad-catalyst

(http://www.saveindia.com/religious_apartheid_in_india_and.htm).

There may be light at the end of the tunnel, after all!

For the first time in a thousand years Hindu civilization has created
communities that can compete with the best. Such a community is mostly
here in America and is also getting established in India. We no longer
want to be losers; we want to be winners! Hindus have also learnt to
work together to advance their interests in one area - this has
already happened in a large scale in software industry. Internet has
created a medium to bring Hindus together socially, filling the void
that is inherent in non-politicized Hindu religious institutions. An
intellectual framework - facts and figures, understanding the weakness
of the enemy and Hindus and ideas on defeating the enemy - has been
built, to the most part. In fact, this signifies the first significant
steps of the burgeoning Hindu movement.

The experience of rich Hindus who were driven to India from Pakistan
at the time of 1947 partition or expelled Hindus from Bangladesh
drives home the point: you are only as strong or as weak as your
community. Conclusion: Allocating resources and time to build strong
community organizations is among the best investments in anyone's
children's future.

Neutralizing Islamic fascism

Indian Islam's only strengths are its religious institutions and its
clerics. These entities are driving Muslim masses into jihad and away
from modernism. The very same entities have also left Muslims
disorganized and weak outside of Islamic institutions. These strong
pillars of Islam are also its weakness, with the Muslim power so
centered. How to neutralize Islamic fascism? Answer: discredit
ideological foundations of Islam to drive a wedge between Islamic
clerics and Muslim masses and mobilize Hindus on the basis of
"grievances" and "injustices" in the hands of Islam.

Even most Islamic scholars accept that the Koran was put together in
the current format at least one hundred years after the death of
Mohammed. When the "Prophet" made "revelations" from "God", notes were
apparently taken in leaves and other material. Question: How complete,
accurate or well-preserved were these "notes" for over one hundred
years? This angle offers an effective platform of de-legitimizing and
discrediting the significance of Muslim "holy book" and "sharia". It
also de-legitimizes the role of Muslim clerics as the interpreters of
the God's "words".

Grievances are the proven basis of mobilizing communities to fight an
enemy. Worldwide jihad movement is based on "grievances" - mostly
invented to keep the war on "infidels" everlasting. Even Srilankan
Hindus were mobilized successfully on the basis of grievances in the
hands of Singhalese who had discriminated against them in jobs, land
and educational opportunities

(http://www.saveindia.com/how_were_srilankan_hindus_united.htm).

Lack of effective marketing thus far have failed to take advantage of
the fear of terror among the majority Hindus (A poll conducted by
India Today over two years ago identified terrorism as India's most
important issue). I am confident that once economic and human rights
grievances of Hindus in the hands of Muslims are well-articulated and
publicized, India will be able to repulse and defeat Islamic fascism.

So far past Muslim atrocities on Hindu religion institution (example:
Ayodhya) has been used to mobilize Hindus - only with limited appeal.
The economic (jobs and educational opportunities) taken away by
Muslims, land & wealth taken away by Muslims (25% Muslim
"reservation"), insecurity and instabilities created by Muslims,
Muslim population growth - should concern the middle class and even
the rich. That is, create a perception that without "solving" India's
Muslim problem - there wouldn't be much future left for Hindus and
other non-Muslim Indians.

Once a movement is formed what kind of measures can be taken to solve
the Islamic problem? As discussed before, reformed versions of Islam
simply do not exist within India. Dialogue or attempt at
"accommodation" with Islam in South Asia is a losing risk management
strategy. Islam in the South Asian context must be seen as an
ideological intoxicant - incompatible with civilization. An effective
strategy must be geared toward liberating Indian Muslims from this
corrupt and fascist ideology and destroy Islamic institutions engaged
in jihad. A potential for an oil embargo from Middle Eastern Islamic
nations does exist if efforts are underway dismantle Islam's power
structure with India. But India can justifiably treat such an embargo
as an act of war as these very same nations have a long track record
of waging war on India by other means (also called jihad).

The Muslim community-sponsored track record of genocide in South Asia
and continued low-intensity jihad in India gives the right of
preemption to impose a total war on Islamic fascism within India. The
new war - in which Muslim civilians indoctrinated to kill non-Muslims
in a no-rules-barred war - makes the current definition of human
rights vis-à-vis civilian protection defunct. The fate of non-Muslims
in Muslim majority regions of South Asia is proof that the enemy not
only has no regard for human rights but also can get away doing
anything. Hence as part of a military response, it is necessary to
inflict huge casualties among Muslim communities sponsoring jihad.
Islamic leadership involved in various forms of jihad should be
treated as enemy combatants.

The real solution to India's Muslim problem can be summarized along
these lines: If Saudi Arabia has the right to impose a proven,
fascist, intolerant, genocide, and non-performing version of Islamic
ideology on Indian Muslims, India has even more rights to conduct a
humanitarian liberation of Indian Muslims toward an ideology of Muslim
ancestors, proven to believe in coexistence and progress: Hinduism.

Going forward

Efforts needed in the theatre of operation: Cultivating existing Hindu
organizations such as RSS or VHP. Help them develop ideas and
projects, and nurture capable young leaders -- among the important
tasks ahead. Deeply pocketed Hindu Diaspora here in America needs to
be tapped to raise funds for the "Save India" project. Also, many
outside powers and other non-Muslim communities need to be made aware
of the ongoing Islamic expansion in South Asia and the need to help
the majority community in India.

These issues are extensively discussed in various workshops of the
current conference.

Conclusions

•• India's growing cancer is Islamic terrorism

•• This terrorism also spawns other instabilities and keeps
the majority Hindus impoverished and illiterate

•• An India with a poor and backward majority is primed for
destruction

•• A resurgent Hindu civilization in India, with the Diaspora
helping, can "solve" Indian Islamic "problem"

•• Hindu economic and human rights grievances in the hands of
Muslims should be articulated to mobilize Hindus

•• With Indian Islam not capable of reforming, the end goal
should be one of liberating Indian Muslims from Islam by neutralizing
Islam's power structure within India

•• The much-needed critical step is to get the Hindu majority
in India develop a sense of grievance against Indian Muslims,
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Islam!

(The writer is an America-based physicist with well over twenty peer-
reviewed publications in nuclear physics and related areas. In the
past six years he has also published over thirty articles on terrorism
related issues - available at http://www.saveindia.com/mutpage.htm)

Dr. Moorthy

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/news-feeds/2007093024/articles/islam/islam’s-weakness/menu-id-7.html

bademiyansubhanallah

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Feb 20, 2010, 8:14:40 AM2/20/10

Chand Bardai's Prithviraj Raso is Authentic History
Written by Dr. Murlidhar H. Pahoja

Kaviraj Chand Bardai was a court poet of Maharana Prithviraj and his
composition "Prithviraj Raso" is an historical epic and an authentic
source of India's medieval history. But the British termed it as
spurious and fake. Dr. Buhler was instrumental in having the British
regime put a ban on Raso's publication. Regrettably some Indian
scholars were also taken in by the British slander against the Raso.
Kaviraj Syamaldas of Udaipur wrote an article supporting the British
thesis 1, 2. But Raso is an authentic history and this can be
established from data available in inscriptions.

Chand BardaiChand Bardai's Prithviraj Raso is Authentic History

Murlidhar H. Pahoja, Ph.D.

Dr. Buhler's thesis as also the criticism by Kaviraj Syamaldas, are
mainly in relation to the interpretation of certain facts mentioned in
the Raso. Their main arguments are as follows:

•1. The Raso states that Prithviraj Chauhan's sister Prithabai
was married to Raval Samar Singh of Chittaurgarh. Chronologically this
is an impossibility as Prithviraj Chauhan (c.1200 AD) and Raval Samar
Singh (c.1300 AD) are placed a century apart.

•2. The Raso states that Prithviraj Chauhan defeated and killed
Solanki Bhola Bhim of Gujarat in a battle. Solanki Bhim was living
even after the death of Prithviraj as is proved by Solanki Bhim's
copper plate grant of Samvat 1256 (1199 AD).

•3. The dates given in the Raso do not correspond with the known
dates and uniformly precede the known dates by 90 years. The dates
given in Raso are therefore, in error and are not reliable.

The above arguments are examined below:

Raval Samar Singh: Guhil Raval Samar Singh, father of Raval Ratna
Singh of Padmini fame, is placed in c.1300 AD, is true. But the Raso
does not associate Samar Singh with the Guhil clan of Rajputs. It is
true that Chittaurgarh was ruled by the Guhil Rajputs for centuries
and the first Guhil Raval was the famed Bappa Raval. But the question
here is who was the contemporary of Prithviraj, ruling at
Chittaurgarh. Was there another Raval Samar Singh? Sure enough, an
examination of the list of inscriptions brings forth another Samar
Singh placed in the required time period. Songira Chauhan Maharaj
Samar Singh Dev issued two inscriptions dated in Samvat 1239 and 1242
corresponding to AD 1182 and 1185 (Bhandarkar, List Nos. 396 and 406)
3. Kirtipal (also known as Kitu), father of Samar Singh Dev was the
founder of the Songira branch of the Chahamanas at Jalor. Kirtipal
took possession of Chittaurgarh by defeating Guhil Samant Singh4.
Kirtipal was succeeded by his son Samar Singh. It was this Samar Singh
who was ruling at Chittaurgarh during the times of Prithviraj and
whose wife was Prithabai the sister of Prithviraj.

In addition to the above inscriptions, there are available documents
of the time of Samar Singh which corroborate the marriage of Prithabai
and Samar Singh. These are as follows5:

•1. Letter from Prithviraj dated Anand Samvat 1143 (1175
AD) to Acharaj Rishikesh telling him that he has been assigned to
Prithabai as part of her dowry.

•2. Letters of Raval Samar Singh to Acharaj Rishikesh

•(i) Dated Anand Samvat 1139 (1171 AD) welcoming him
as a part of Prithabai's entourage and assigning him his rights.

(ii) Dated Anand Samvat 1145 (1177 AD) stating that the village
of Moi is being granted to Acharaj Rishikesh.

•3. Letter of Prithabai to her son informing him that
Samar Singh has been killed in battle and I am performing Sati, please
take care of Rishikesh and his children.

It is clear from the above that Raval Samar Singh of the Raso is a
Songira Chauhan ruler and not a Guhil King and that this Raval Samar
Singh was ruling at Chittaur and was married to Prithabai.

Solanki Bhola Bhim: Detractors of Raso cite Chaulukya Bhimdev's copper
plate grant of Samvat 1256 (No. 438 of Bhandarkar's list) 3 to point
out that Solanki (Chaulukyas of Gujrat are also called Solanki) Bhim
was living even after the last battle of Prithviraj (Samvat 1249) and
hence conclude that Raso was wrong in stating that Bhola Bhim was
killed by Prithviraj. As a matter of fact Inscriptions of Solanki Bhim
Dev are available from Samvat 1235 (1178 AD) to Samvat 1296 (1239 AD)
(Nos. 381, 386, 435, 438, 451, 452, 486, 487, 526 and 527 of the
Bhandarkar list) 3 However, all of these do not belong to the same
Bhim Dev. The inscription of Samvat 1236 (No. 386 of Bhandarkar list)
calls Bhim as Bala Bhim son of Ajay. The geneology given in the copper
plate of Samvat 1256 on the other hand, shows Bhim as grandson of Ajay
and son of Mulraj. Clearly, Bala Bhim and Mulraj were brothers and
Bhim Dev son of Muldev was a nephew of Bala Bhim. It is significant
that Bhola Bhim is also called Balakka Bhim in the Raso. This Bala
Bhim of inscriptions is the Bhola Bhim or Balakka Bhim of Raso who was
killed in battle by Prithviraj sometime after Samvat 1236 (1179
AD).

Anand Samvat: The Samvats of Raso uniformly precede the known Vikram
Samvats by 90 years. It only means that the Samvat used in the Raso
has a starting point in 90 Vikram Samvat. In fact the Raso itself
states that the Samvat of Prithviraj is Anand Samvat and is different
from Vikram Samvat.

,dkn'k ls iapng fodze 'kkd vuanA

frfg fjiq iqj tS gju dks gq; i`fFkjkt ufjUnAA

In the year 1115 by Vikram Anand reckoning, Prithviraj took birth to
win in battle the cities of the enemies.

The Raso equates the Anand Vikram era with Gupta Era.

,dkn'k le;s lqd`r fodze ftfe /kzelqÙkA

r`rh; lkd i`Fohjkt dks fy[;ks foizxqu xqIrAA

The year 1100 refers to the reckoning of Prithviraj which like Vikram
and Dharmaraj era's is a third era described by the learned as
'Gupta'.

This is an important statement regarding Gupta Era the starting point
of which the Raso fixes at 90 Vikram. This is at variance with the
view held by historians that the Gupta Era starts at 376 Vikram which
view needs to be reconsidered in the light of the above assertion in
the Raso.

In conclusion it can be said that based on inscriptional data, the
objections raised with regard to the authenticity of the Raso are
without foundation and result from ignorance of facts and incomplete
homework on the part of the detractors of Raso. The decision by the
British Regime to ban the publication of Raso was a highhanded and ill-
motivated action. Dr. Buhler who initiated the action, did not base
his recommendations on objective analysis and his claim to scholarship
is questionable.

References

•1. Kaviraj Syamaldas "The Antiquity, Authenticity and
Genuineness of the epic called the Prithviraj Rasa and commonly
ascribed to Chand Bardai" J Asiatic Soc. of Bengal, V 55, Pt.1, 1886.

•2. dfojkt ';keynkl % ^i`Fohjkt jklk dh uohurk*] i`Fohjkt jklks
dh foospuk] lEiknd eksguyky O;kl 'kkL=h ,oa ukFkwyky O;kl] i`- 1&61]
mn;iqj] la- 2015 ¼bZ- 1959½

•3. D.R. Bhandarkar : List of Inscriptions of Northern India in
Brahmi and its derivative scripts from about 200 A.C., Appendix to
Epigraphia Indica Vol XIX to XXIII, 1983.

•4. D.C. Ganguly, "Northern India during the Eleventh and
Twelfth Centuries", History and Culture of the Indian People, Ed. R.C.
Majumdar, Vol 5, Ch II, pp 87-88, Bombay 1979.

•5. jk; cgknqj ia- xkSjh'kadj ghjkpUn vks>k % ^jklks dk fuekZ.k
dky*] i`Fohjkt jklks dh foospuk] lEiknd eksguyky O;kl 'kkL=h ,oa
ukFkwyky O;kl] i`- 214&48] mn;iqj] la- 2015 ¼bZ- 1959½

Note: The author has completed his Ph.D in Theoretical & Applied
Mechanics, University of Illinois, USA with specialization in Computer
Applications in Engg. Analysis. He was also associated with IIT
Kharagpur for nine years after completing his Ph.D as Faculty &
Research in Tractor and Farm Machinery. He retired in 1998 from
Escorts Research Centre, Faridabad.

[a1]

Dr. Murlidhar H. Pahoja

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/yugabda-5108/2007100229/2-vijayadashmi-oct-2006/articles/history/chand-bardai-s-prithviraj-raso-is-authentic-history/menu-id-29.html

bademiyansubhanallah

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Feb 20, 2010, 8:18:06 AM2/20/10

Global Jihad and its Implications for the Hindu Identity of
India
Written by Ram Kumar Ohri

After Al Qaeda’s attack on WTC and Pentagon on Sept 11 2001, the world
has been in incessant turmoil. Before deliberating on the objectives
of global jihad, its massive reach and far reaching implications for
India, it is necessary to understand and analyze the global dimensions
of the problem. America’s high voltage campaign against Islamist
terror by attacking Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in October 2001 and
subsequent attack on Iraq are part of recent history. These
developments have to be viewed against the backdrop of 9/11.

GLOBAL JIHAD AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR HINDU IDENTITY OF INDIA

R.K. Ohri, I.P.S. (Retd.)

"Islamic governments have never and will never be established by
peaceful solutions and cooperative councils. They are established as
they have always been, by pen and gun, by word and bullet, by tongue
and teeth"

- Preamble of Al Qaeda

After Al Qaeda's attack on WTC and Pentagon on Sept 11 2001, the world
has been in incessant turmoil. Before deliberating on the objectives
of global jihad, its massive reach and far reaching implications for
India, it is necessary to understand and analyze the global dimensions
of the problem. America's high voltage campaign against Islamist
terror by attacking Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in October 2001 and
subsequent attack on Iraq are part of recent history. These
developments have to be viewed against the backdrop of 9/11.

For understanding the genesis of global jihad, it is necessary to
comprehend Samuel Huntington's famously controversial thesis about
clash of civilizations and his prophecy that the clash between the
radical Islam and the West might continue for many centuries, even a
thousand years. Broadly Huntington has listed 8 major civilizations,
viz., the Western, the Slavic (the Balkans & Russia), the Sinic (Sino-
Confucian), the Japanese, the Hindu, the Latin American, the Islamic
and the African - the Jewish could be the ninth, though Huntington did
not count it.

In terms of history Samuel Huntington has analyzed four types of
conflicts -

a) between the monarchs and rulers in the past for territorial and
economic gains
b) between nation-states (a concept born after French revolution) for
gains
c) between competing ideologies like democracy, communism, fascism,
etc and
d) Clashes between civilizations which are likely to increase in the
near future and will dominate the geopolitical space in the coming
decades.
Challenge of Terror

The twentieth century witnessed the growth of numerous country-
specific terrorist organizations like the IRA of Northern Ireland,
Basque insurgency of Spain, Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) of
Columbia (a leftist outfit), LTTE of Sri Lanka, Maoists of Nepal, the
Naxalites /Maoists of India and several other terrorist outfits. But
all these terrorist campaigns had limited reach and very specific
objectives which limited their depredations to certain geographically
defined areas. The Islamic terror, however, is altogether of a
different genre. According to Al Qaeda's Preamble their aim is to
conquer the world by defeating the West (i.e., the Crusaders and the
Jews) and also destroying the Hindu civilization. In view of its long
reach and global dimensions the Jihadi campaign is far more dangerous
than the Nazi ideology of 20th century. Despite immense appeal of
Communist ideology to the poor and the deprived masses the world over;
the Communist could never acquire the following of such large numbers
in as many countries, as Islamic militancy has.

No wonder, Stella Remington, a former chief of MI 5 (British
Intelligence) had forecast nearly five years ago in her well
researched status paper that radical Islam was "the geopolitical
menace of the future".

Two powerful turbo engines of Islamist terror are the concept of Ummah
and the radical ideology of Jihad worldwide. Islam as a religion has a
unique ideological bonding evolved through the concept of Ummah, sort
of a transnational bonding which is way above nationalism. The concept
of Ummah connotes that all Muslims across the world are united, have
one common identity and are one single people belonging to the nation
of Islam. And this nation, strongly bonded with the glue of Ummah, is
an extra-territorial entity which ignores all national and
transnational borders. It places the Islamic fraternity above every
other identity, including one's motherland. Shariah enjoins on all
Muslims the duty to wage holy war, or Jihad, whenever any part of
Ummah is persecuted anywhere in the world, or a call for Jihad is
given. For a true Muslim the allegiance to motherland comes a poor
second, because he has a higher commitment, the extra-territorial
commitment, to defend the Ummah, as ordained in his scriptures.

Most Hindus, including eminent analysts and column-writers, don't know
that in addition to the well known five pillars of Islam, namely
Shahda (i.e. reciting Kalma), Namaz (compulsory prayer 5 times a day),
Zakat (i.e., charity), Fasting (i.e., Roza) and Haj, there is another
pillar of Islam, the most important sixth pillar, which is called
Jihad.

As vividly brought out by Sheikh Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Humaid (ex-
Chief Justice of Saudia Arabia) in his commentary, Jihad is superior
to non-obligatory Prayers, Fasting, Zakat, Umra and Haj, as elucidated
in the Quran and the Ahadith. He has emphasized that Allah has
ordained through the Prophet that Jihad should be carried out by the
following means:

•i) with the heart (i.e.,
through intentions or feelings)

•ii) with the hands (i.e.,
by weapons)

•iii) with the tongue (i.e.,
by preaching Jihad and addressing the faithful).

Qur'an promises that Allah will reward all Jihadi warriors with lofty
dwellings in paradise. The holy book of Islam chides those Muslims who
shy away from Jihad. Apart from waging war against the ‘Kafir's' the
doctrine of Jihad has following important components:

(a) Slaughter in the land which entails that after victory the
Mujahids should put to sword all infidels, excepting those who submit
and convert to Islam.

•(b) Ghanima, which means that the booty
plundered from the vanquished Kafirs, including their wives and
children, should be shared and distributed between the victor
Mujahids, after sending the "holy one-fifth" to the Prophet, and after
him to the Hajaz or the Caliph. Verse 8.69 of the Qur'an in Surah
Anfal clearly proclaims: "Eat ye the spoils of war. They are lawful
and pure". According to Verse 4.24 "All married women are forbidden,
save those (captives) whom your right hand possesses". The expression
right hand possesses means those hapless womenfolk (of the vanquished)
who have been captured in Jihad.

•(c) Imposition of jiziya, or protection
money, on those infidels who refuse to convert to Islam. Originally
the right to life by paying jiziya was limited only to the People of
the Book, i.e., the Christians and Jews, but with expansion of Islamic
empire its benefit was extended even to idolators like Hindus of
India.

The history of Jihad throughout Islam-dominated centuries has been
very brutal and gory. Even now, in the 21st century, the Jihadi
warriors of Islam have been displaying decapitated heads of infidels
on TV channels.

Over the centuries Jihad has been fine tuned into a comprehensive art
of war against non-Muslims. Terrorism is only one of the many tools,
or ground tactics, of Jihad which aims at striking fear into the
hearts of the infidels, as explained by Brig. (Retd) S.K. Malik of
Pakistani army in his strategic war book, ‘The Qur'anic Concept of
War'. He has lucidly explained by quoting Prophet Muhammad the
importance of "instilling terror into the hearts of unbelievers" as
laid down in Surah Anfal.

As admitted by M.J. Akbar, who is widely considered to be a secular
Muslim, in his tome, The Shade of Swords, "Jihad is the signature tune
of Islamic history". He further elaborates that "Jihad is not merely a
question of cleansing the inner spirit; it is also a call for the holy
war regularly heard since the beginning of Islam". There are many
Islamic scholars who keep on saying, perhaps to deceive the gullible
Hindus, that the true Jihad (i.e., Jihad-e Akbar) is an act of self-
purification, as mentioned by their Prophet in one or two places, and
that the lesser Jihad (or Jihad-e Asghar) was some kind of aberration.
But credit must be given to M.J. Akbar for candidly admitting that it
was "the lesser Jihad which inspired the spirit that once powered the
armies of Islam and made them all conquering". He also draws attention
to the fact that according to Prophet Muhammad "paradise comes under
the shade of swords". More or less a similar claim was made by Osama
bin Laden in an interview aired by the CNN on May 10, 1997, when he
grandly proclaimed that "the acme of this religion is Jihad."

Some very disquieting aspects of the concepts of Ummah and Jihad were
lucidly brought out by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in his book, ‘Pakistan or
The Partition of India', by quoting from the deposition made by
Maulana Mahomed Ali, a stalwart activist of Khilafat movement and
close associate of Gandhiji, while facing the charge of preaching
sedition by exhorting the Muslim soldiers of the British Indian army
not to take up arms against the Amir of Afghanistan during the
latter's war against the British. Maulana Mahomed Ali's contention was
that if the Amir of Afghanistan was motivated for waging Jihad in
defence of Khilafat and wrongful occupation of the Jazirat-ul Arab and
other holy places, Islam does not permit Muslim soldiers to take up
arms against the Amir. He argued that whenever a Jihad is launched,
the law of Islam requires that no Muslim shall render any assistance
to anyone against the Mujahideen. And in the second place, and more
importantly, if Jihad approaches the region where Muslims were living,
every Mussalman of that region must join the Mujahideen and assist
them to the best of his or her ability. That was the clear and
undisputed law of Islam, as expounded by Maulana in his deposition
duly supported by scriptures. No wonder, many Muslims living in the
western countries, or even in India, frequently opt to act as
collaborators or spies in the global Jihad unleashed by Islamists.

That explains how and why Muslim warriors from 42 countries were found
waging war against the U. S. coalition forces in Afghanistan in 2001.
A total of more than 760 Islamic warriors from 42 countries were
arrested in Afghanistan alone. Presently Jihadis are reported to be
militantly active in more than 60 countries, including many non-Muslim
nation-states. Not many Indians know that during the ongoing Pakistan-
sponsored terrorism in J&K, armed Islamic warriors from at least 19
countries have been caught or killed while fighting the Indian
security forces.

For centuries the concept of Jihad has been the major source of
innumerable conflicts between Islam and other civilizational groups.
According to Islamic orthopraxy, Jihad is continuum and will continue
till the Day of Judgment.

During his lifetime Prophet Muhammad had waged 82 Jihads and in 26 of
these he personally led the Jihadis. These were called ‘Ghazwahs' (the
word ghazi appears to be derived from the word ‘ghazwah'). Many
Chechen rebels, especially their group-leaders wear berets/skull caps
with the word "Ghazwah" emblazoned across their headgears. Today Jihad
is the only fully globalized enterprise with franchises in more than
80 countries.

The Jihadis draw their authority from certain verses of the Qur'an.
Two such examples are given below:

•1. Verses 47.4-6 of the Qur'an proclaim - So when
you meet (in Jihad-in Allah's cause) "those who disbelieve smite at
their necks till when you have killed many of them, then bind a bond
firmly (on them, i.e., take them as captives). Thereafter (is the
time) either for generosity (i.e., free them without payment) or
ransom (according to what benefits Islam), until war lays down its
burden. Thus you are ordered by Allah to continue in carrying out
Jihad against the disbelievers till they embrace Islam (and are saved
from hell-fire) or at least come under your protection."

•2. Verse 2.193 says "Make war on them until
idolatory is no more and Allah's religion reigns supreme."

A regular Jihad against the Crusaders (i.e. Christians) and the Jews
was declared by Al Qaeda, under Bin Laden's leadership on February 23,
1998, by publishing a proclamation in Al Qudus al-Arabi, a London-
based Arabic newspaper. Immediately after 9/11 the name of ‘Hindu
India' was added to the list of nations and communities to be targeted
by Jihadis because of the so-called persecution of Muslims in India,
especially in Kashmir. It was done in October 2001 through a video-
taped message, released through Al Jazeera television network.

Unfortunately the successive Indian governments and our mainstream
media have successfully managed to keep under wraps the important
truth of a regular Jihad against Hindus of India, with the avowed aim
of destroying their ancient civilizational identity. And the ever-
somnolent Hindus society, too, has failed to realize its gravity
despite repetitive attacks at will on Hindu temples, religious
festivals, unarmed pilgrims and innocent worshippers across the
country. Today Mumbai and Delhi are the most bombed cities in the
world regularly targeted by Jihadi warriors of Islam and hundreds of
Hindu temples are security protected in scores of Indian cities.
Whatever is happening all over the country is not mere terrorism; it
is much more. It is a regular Jihad against Hindu identity of India.
The sooner our people understand it, better it will be for all of us.

Today the Hindu society stands at the cross roads of history. Frankly,
the Hindu leadership has miserably failed to devise a strategy to
fight the ongoing Jihad. Another aspect of the problem is that due to
sheer gullibility most Hindus have come to believe that all religions
are equal and that every religion preaches peace. But the truth is
altogether different. It is time to realize the important difference
between what is ‘dharma' and what is ‘adharma'. The word ‘dharma'
derived from Sanskrit syntax ‘dhri' has a sacred meaning in as much as
it signifies all those actions which are fit to be adopted and
followed by the householders, e.g., commitment to truth, kindness
towards the oppressed and the weak, performance of one's duty with
dedication, and similar other ‘dharmic' actions. But does every
religion says so, or preaches spiritual values? No, perhaps not. Can
the ‘adharmic' concepts like senseless slaughter of the vanquished, or
plunder of the booty, including carrying away of women and children,
be accepted as ‘dharma'? Can imposition of ‘protection money' by a
ruler on his or her subjects be considered ‘dharma'? Yet without
realizing the true import of what they are saying, many Hindu
preachers and Dharmagurus have been proclaiming in congregation that
all religions are equal. Some have even written books by unwittingly
equating the ‘dharma' with ‘adharma' by placing all religions on equal
footing. Surely all such religious scholars of Hindu Samaj have lost
their spiritual moorings. That is the tragedy of Hindu society.

Yet another important development fuelling global Jihad is the
exponential growth in Muslim population all over the world, an
important fact missed out by most strategic analysts. Muslims were
only 12 percent of the world population in 1900; became 18 percent in
1990s when Huntington wrote his first article on the ‘Clash of
Civilizations'; became 20 percent in 2001 and will be 30 percent of
the world population by 2025 - barely 19 years away from now. Some
analysts feel that they could constitute 37 to 40 percent of the world
population by the year 2100. Along with increase in Muslim population
across the globe the number of Jihads has grown. In 1990s there were
only 6 or 7 Jihads (Huntington calls them fault line conflicts.
Presently more than 25 Jihads are being waged worldwide from the
Philippines to USA.

In the coming decades India is bound to emerge as an important
civilizational battleground in the ongoing Jihad, it being the sole
bulwark of democracy and civil society against the growing menace of
Jihad. While the Americans and the British are aware of this important
fact, the middle class Hindus and political leaders of the country
have failed to realize the gravity of the situation. Unless a bold
proactive counter strategy to meet the challenge of Jihad is evolved
soon, in the coming years the Hindu identity of India is likely to
suffer extensive damage, including the possibility of its
disappearance from several parts of India. Time has come to spread the
message of Gita all over the country by reminding all Hindus of the
import of Krishna-Arjuna samvad. So long as the threat of Jihad
remains it will be useful to forget Gautam Buddha, and remember only
Sri Krishna and Sri Rama who preached and practiced the path of
‘victory through valour'. Buddha's teachings are useful only in times
of peace. Let us not forget that even a deeply religious Buddhist
country like Thailand has opted to fight the Jihadi menace by
following the glorious path shown by Sri Ram and Sri Krishna.

R .K. Ohri

(Retd. I.P.S.)

Ram Kumar Ohri

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/yugabda-5108/2007100125/2-vijayadashmi-oct-2006/articles/islam/global-jihad-and-its-implications-for-the-hindu-identity-of-india/menu-id-29.html

bademiyansubhanallah

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Feb 20, 2010, 8:27:24 AM2/20/10

Home Yugabda 5108 Genetics on Migrations in History
Written by Navaratna S. Rajaram

When we examine the accounts of ancient India as given in history
books still in use against the background of empirical data and the
primary (literary) sources, we find fundamental mismatches between
data and historical theories. These mismatches are both qualitative
and quantitative in nature.
GENETICS ON MIGRATIONS IN HISTORY

George Santayana said: "History is always written wrong, it needs
always to be rewritten." When it comes to Indian history, we need to
identify the people who inhabit the country. Recent findings in
population genetics can shed light on the problem.

N.S. Rajaram

Background: Mismatches

1. There is no archaeological record of any invasion and/or massive
migration from Eurasia in the Vedic period. If anything we find traces
of movement in the opposite direction- to West Asia and even Europe.

2. The geography described in the Rigveda corresponds to North India
in the

fourth millennium BC and earlier and not Europe or Eurasia.

3. The flora and fauna described in the Vedic
literature, especially those found in

the sacred symbols, are tropical and subtropical
varieties and not from the

temperate climate or the steppes.

4. The climate corresponds to that found in North
India.

In quantitative terms, there is huge time gap-exceeding a thousand
years-between the dates assigned to significant features and what we
actually find. These include:

1. Indian writing is supposed to be based on borrowings from the
Phoenicians, but

the Indus (Harappan) writing is more than a thousand years older
than the

oldest Phoenician examples known.

2. Naturalistic art with realistic depictions is supposed to have been
brought to

India by the Greeks, but we find superb realistic depictions in
Harappan

remains. To summarize John Marshall: "The Indus artist anticipated
the Greek

artist by more than 2000 years."

3. Indian astronomy is claimed to be a borrowing from the Greeks, but
the

Vedanga Jyotisha cannot be dated later than the 14th century BC.
The name

Vedanga indicates it is later than the Vedas, so the astronomical
references in

the Vedas must be older.

4. Migrations: The major migration or invasion is supposed to have
taken place

after 2000 BC, but the genetic evidence shows that the people of
India have

lived where they are for tens of thousands of years.

It is clear that we need a serious re-examination of history- both of
the chronology and the descriptive accounts. Two fundamental tasks
suggest themselves: (1) establishing independent chronological markers
that connect literary accounts and datable physical features; (2)
determining the identity of the people of India on scientific grounds,
independent of historical and/or linguistic theories.

The Indian people

Indian literary records are the most extensive in the ancient world.
Indian archaeologists have also found many important settlements going
back to prehistoric times. They include not only the well-known
Harappan and pre-Harappan sites in India and Pakistan but also
Neolithic and Paleolithic sites as well as cave dwellings like those
at Bhimbetka. These are now being supplemented by underwater
discoveries like the ones at Poompahar in Tamil Nadu and off the coast
of Gujarat. In spite of this profusion of records, a basic question
remains: who are the people that created all this? This remains a
closed book.

It is not as if Indian records are silent about them. We have
references to various peoples like the Purus, the Turvashas, the
Druhyus, the Yadus and others who remain unidentified in
archaeological terms. In even broader terms, although there are many
theories about their languages and culture, the Aryans and the
inhabitants of the south have not been archaeologically delineated.
Existing historical theories make arbitrary assignments and then use
these to define important kingdoms, events, and even chronology. This
is a highly unsatisfactory situation. What are needed are objective
methods that lead us to chronological and historical identification of
the different people of India and their contribution- in archaeology
and in literature.

This identification has to address two basic issues- chronological and
descriptive. We need to find objective ways of relating the
archaeological dates with the dates assignable to literary passages.
For example, if the Harappan sites in a particular region may be
assigned to a particular period-say 3000 to 2000 BC-we need to find
references in the literature that refer to this period. We may note
that this corresponds to what is known as the Krittika period (equinox
in Pleiades in Taurus). So references to this in the literature, found
for example in the Yajurveda and the Shatapatha Brahmana, may be taken
as the first step in establishing a chronological link between
archaeology and literature.

When we come to the identity of the inhabitants, the problem becomes
qualitatively different and at once more challenging. First, we need
to ask a basic question: are the inhabitants of India primarily of
indigenous origin or are they the result of successive migrations? The
historical theories that have dominated textbooks for over a century
lean towards the latter view, especially as regards the creators of
the Vedic civilization. Of late, there is a tendency to attribute even
the Harappan civilization to foreign inspiration, notably from West
Asia and Elam. The languages of India, the two main classifications-
Aryan and Dravidian-are said to be imports. The first from some "Aryan
or Indo European homeland' (or Urheimat) and the latter from Scythia.

As a result, we may say that the first task in establishing the
identity of the Indian people is to get an idea of the evolutionary
history of its inhabitants going back some tens of thousands of years.
This takes us to the last Ice Age. In pursuing such an inquiry, we may
take a clue from paleontology where data are scarce, but intelligent
use of molecular biology, especially genetics, has led to important
breakthroughs in our understanding of human origins in different parts
of the world. As Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, one of the world's
foremost human geneticists put it:

"Historians relying on written records can tell us nothing about 99.9
per cent of human evolution which preceded the invention of writing.
It is the study of genetic variation, backed by language and
archaeology which provides concrete evidence about the spread of
cultural innovations, about the movements of peoples across the
globe... and the sheer scientific absurdity of racism."

He further notes speaking of his most recent and most ambitious work:
1 "It is a history of the last hundred thousand years, relying on
archaeology, genetics, and linguistics. Happily, these three
disciplines are now generating many new data and insights. All of them
can be expected to converge to a common story; and behind them must
lie a single history."

Needless to say such an approach, while promising, is fraught with
pitfalls some of which the eminent author is not entirely successful
in avoiding. Upon critical examination, one finds the work in the
field to be marred by oversimplifications, uncritical acceptance of
discredited historical theories, and unsupported flights of fancy all
of which serve to highlight the promise as well as the pitfalls that
challenge researchers in the field. This perhaps is to be expected in
any work that seeks to break new ground. A critical examination
therefore is the need of the hour. For this reason, various claims and
conclusions need to be subjected to careful scrutiny. This is what is
done here, beginning with the notion of race- a colonial legacy that
has so dominated historical discourse in India.

Science on race

Racism has no scientific basis; the genetic variation
within any geographical or any other group is always greater than the
variation between different groups.2 In quantitative terms, the human
species on the planet now has 99.9 per cent of its genetic material in
common. As a result, samples taken from any two human groups will be
overwhelmingly similar. Further, we share 98.4 per cent of our genes
with the chimpanzees. According to the evolutionary tree used by some
paleontologists, humans are a subspecies of chimpanzees. So, anyone
using genetic similarity to argue that a particular people (like the
Indo Europeans) invaded a particular geographical region had better be
aware that an almost equally strong case can be made for an invasion
of chimpanzees!

(An even stronger case can be made for an invasion theory
of Parsees, who happen to speak Gujarati. It may be argued that the
invading Parsees drove away the Dravidians from western India and
imposed the Gujarati language and culture. This can draw further
support from the fact that numerous Kannada inscriptions have been
found in the region- a legacy of the Chalukya and Rashtrakuta
dynasties that ruled the region in early medieval times.)

To return to race, many biologists once believed that
different races carried dramatically different sets of genes. But
studies in human genetics have shown that they were completely wrong.
Geneticist Mark Feldman puts it this way: "The biological notion that
we used to have of races is not compatible with the reality of the
genetics we are finding today."

So, when one finds claims that try to revive old race
based theories and their conclusions in the name of genetics research,
it is necessary to look for reasons that lie beyond the frontiers of
science. They will usually be found to lurk behind social, political
and religious beliefs. As a rule, one cannot apply biological or other
scientific rules and causes to man-made classifications like race,
caste or creed. Yet, theories that purport to do precisely this
persist in the literature, especially in history and anthropology.
Nature does not respect man-made laws. We need to understand nature on
its own terms. This is what is examined next, in the context of human
populations.

Genotypes and phenotypes: no "blending" of traits

Many historical and anthropological theories, especially
those created during the European colonial period, start with the
assumption that civilizations in different parts of the world began
with a massive migration from a central homeland. The most famous-or
infamous, depending on one's viewpoint-is the Aryan invasion theory
(AIT) of India, now being repackaged as AMT or the Aryan migration
theory. It is too well known need elaboration. Though discredited, it
persists in various forms because of entrenched academic and political
interests.

This is not to suggest that migrations have not made an impact on
history and civilization. They certainly have. But a migration
thousands of years ago, is not easy to establish based on the genetic
profile of a population today. To take an example: Parsees now living
in Western India migrated from Persia more than a thousand years ago.
We know this only because of historical records. Genetics alone may or
may not be able to establish the fact, unless there is a specific
genetic polymorphism like a particular blood group, which the
immigrants carried- one that is found in Persia but rare in India.
Physical appearance is the most misleading of indicators; what we see
is only the phenotype or the reaction of the individual to the
environment, and not any blending of imported traits (like skin color)
into an existing population.

The idea that phenotypes (observable traits) somehow
‘blend' from parents to offspring is probably the greatest fallacy
that people generally have. It was this fallacy that gave rise to
colonial anthropologists like Herbert Risley coming up with
classifications like Nordic Indo-Aryans and others that are supposed
to be the result of the blending of the invading Nordic races with the
natives, thousands of years ago. Gregor Mendel demolished the whole
notion in 1865 by showing that heritable traits are transmitted from
generation to generation by discrete units that we now call genes. So,
if we see a gradation in color in India as we move north, it is for
the same reason that we see a similar gradient in Europe- adaptation
to the environment through natural selection. 3

How about race? Here genetics makes it clear that the
determining factor in physical similarity is geographical proximity.
In Cavalli-Sforza's words, "...the genetic distance between two
populations generally increases with geographic distance separating
them." This is still not the whole story, for the differences between
individuals within a group are always greater than differences between
different groups. That is to say, human beings now inhabiting the
world are extraordinarily close, genetically speaking, though they
exhibit great variability in observable traits (phenotypes) like
physical appearance. This is a very complex issue: the phenotype is
the result of interaction between the genotype (inherited factors) and
the environment. And the same genotype can produce different
phenotypes in different environments. The simplest example is
language. Though all of us inherit the capacity to learn language, the
language we actually use is strictly the product of the environment.
The same applies to height, weight and other features that strike the
eye. They are a complex mix of inheritance and environment.

Genes determine the pattern of variation in response to
variation in the environment. This makes it virtually impossible to
recover the past history of a people based on genetic analysis,
because, the environmental conditions in which the population
underwent the changes leading to its present genetic state are lost
forever. A possible exception is a clearly defined polymorphism
(different form) like blood group that is constant across
environments. Even this can be lost due to natural selection, which
may favor some groups but not others. We see this phenomenon both in
the Basque region of Spain and among South American Indians. This
means that the best we can do is speculate and offer plausibility
arguments. This is the reason that human geneticists like Cavalli-
Sforza (and his lesser imitators like Spencer Wells) frequently fall
back on the phrase "it is likely" in presenting a particular
scenario.

Norm of reaction

The great difficulty in using genetics as a tool in
history arises from the fact that we are all incredibly similar.
Geneticists use a measure known as the genetic distance to measure
differences between population groups. This is based on the frequency
of some observable genetic trait like the blood group. As Cavalli-
Sforza observes: "For most genes, the frequency differences between
populations are nil to very slight and their contribution to the
global genetic distance between populations is close to zero." In the
face of this, it would take a very brave man indeed to try to
reconstruct the history of some current practices (like caste) based
on genetic data.

This is further complicated by the fact that the same
genotype can give rise to different phenotypes, and also, different
genotypes can produce the same or similar phenotypes. In general, the
relationship between the genotype and phenotype varies from one
species to another, or even between phenotypic traits that are
superficially similar within a species (like skin color). There is no
simple way of characterizing the relationship between the genotype
(even if it is known) and phenotype. For this reason, geneticists use
a technical term they call the ‘norm of reaction.' It describes a
range of responses of a genotype to different environments. But our
norm of reaction, the manner in which human genes (or genotypes) react
to different environments, is unknown.

As Harvard Geneticist Richard Lewontin observes: 4 "Except for such
traits as the presence or absence of blood-group antigens, which are
absolutely constant across environments, we do not have the norm of
reaction for any human trait."

This fact, there is no known norm of reaction for any
human trait, should be firmly kept in mind in evaluating any
historical claims made supposedly on the basis of genetics. Again as
Lewontin observes (Op. cit. p 163): "Reconstructing the evolutionary
past of the human species is almost as difficult as predicting the
future, although both are common exercises that biologists engage in,
especially when they address a nonscientific public." This is doubly
so for history where the time scale is shorter than in evolution and
the influence of culture is incomparably greater. Regrettably, even
knowledgeable geneticists (including Cavalli-Sforza) tend to indulge
in speculative reconstructing of human history, especially of
migrations, based on genetic data. There is of course no shortage of
such theories created by historians and anthropologists in the past.
This leads to an illusion of scientific plausibility to theories that
have already been discredited, giving them a lease of life which they
don't deserve.

Most variation is within groups
What then is the story of the spread of human populations
that our genes do have to tell? This may be stated very simply: we
humans are incredibly alike. Something like 85 percent of the genetic
variation is within any group or tribe. And it does not matter what
race you assign them to- Caucasian, Mongoloid, Negro or anything else.
Africa is the most varied continent, but Yorkshire, for example, has
85 percent as much variation as all of Africa. (This means, among
other things, that the genes responsible for the white skin of
Europeans were already present in Africans before they made their way
to Europe! The same holds for Aryan genes, Dravidian genes, Dalit
genes and so forth even if they exist.) At the same time, at the
individual level, there is enormous variability, which is what makes
possible genetic matching (as in parentage) and identifying inherited
disorders. By this combination of extreme similarity on a global scale
and great variability among individuals, nature has conspired to keep
our past locked from scrutiny- or so it seems.

This means that any two population groups can be shown to
be similar by looking at the genetic inheritance. The difficulty lies
in finding the differences- contained in 0.1 percent of our genes
spread over a population of over 6 billion. So, a classification based
on language families (which is what Indo European studies claims to
do) can be shown to have a genetic basis by comparing Indian and
European populations. (More rigorous studies based on blood group
frequencies have shown this to be unfounded.) Some genetic marker or
other can always be found that shows up a statistical quirk to which
historical significance can always be attached. This doesn't make it
historical fact.

The statistical method that many population geneticists
use is the principal component, which realigns multi-dimensional data
along directions that represent the smallest set of coordinates. (This
is done with the help of eigenvalues and eigenvectors for those who
might be mathematically minded.) This is based on the pioneering work
of the late Sir Ronald Fisher, who carried on the work of Mendel and
developed many statistical techniques that are in use today. 5

Garbage-in, garbage-out: language theories

It is important to note, however, that any mathematical entity (like a
principal component) is meaningful only in a physical context. For
example, Einstein's famous equation E = mc2 is important only because
of its physical content: it establishes a fundamental relationship
between mass and energy. Without the physical meaning, it is a
commonplace equation that describes a parabola. Assigning arbitrary
meanings to some computable mathematical quantity does not make a
theory valid. A dubious theory cannot be made rigorous by appealing to
mathematics; it may only obfuscate the truth. But this is what some
scholars have done in attempts to correlate statistical results with
theories in linguistics and anthropology. Even competent scientists
like Cavalli-Sforza can fall into this trap when they allow their
enthusiasm to get the better of judgment. The following examples
illustrate the dangers.

The first example relates to the work of Kruksal, Dyen and Black who
applied statistical tests to the languages that make up the Indo
European family. 6 The most important member is of course Sanskrit,
but their analysis threw up a major contradiction: Indian and Iranian
languages failed the grouping test! This is a bombshell, for according
to Indo European linguistics, Indo-Iranian is the lynchpin of the
whole discipline, but the one quantitative test that was applied to
the hypothesis discredited it.

Cavalli-Sforza is too good a scientist to ignore the problem. So he
contents himself by observing that his (and his group's) analysis
gives a similar linguistic grouping, "but slightly contradicting the
results of Kruksal and his colleagues." It is more than a slight
contradiction. In fact, the author himself had noted in his earlier
work that the Kruksal, Dyen and Black study "...found no similarity at
all between Italic and Celtic languages, nor between Indian and
Iranian ones... The non-identification of an Indo-Iranian group by
Dyen, et al. is the major departure from the conclusions accepted by
the majority of traditional linguists." (Great Human Diasporas,
Addison-Wesley, 1995: page 190)

This is quite unequivocal, and not slightly contradicting, as he
suggests in his more recent Genes, Peoples and Languages. To his
credit, in a more recent article, Cavalli-Sforza appears to have gone
back to his original position- that there is a problem with the
conclusion of linguists. He and his coauthors note that genetic data
don't support the linguistic, or caste and/or race based division of
the Indian population.7 The real meaning of all this: if the empirical
base of a subject is weak, genetics and mathematics may be used to
give an appearance of scientific soundness, but it is a bubble that
waits to be punctured by critical scrutiny. "Garbage-in, garbage-out"
works in genetics no less than it does in computing and statistics.

It is the same story with the Kurgan homeland theory of Indo European
speakers. (This refers to prehistoric settlements in the region north
of the Black Sea in Ukraine.) Since there are no genetic methods for
detecting what language a people spoke thousands of years ago-or speak
today-its proponents have to exercise considerable ingenuity in
support of their theory. This they have done. The Kurgan people have
left no written records of any kind. Noting this Cavalli-Sforza
observes: "Without written documents, it is very difficult for
archaeologists to say what language was spoken in this region at the
time." Difficult? Impossible seems a better description. Apparently,
the argument for the Kurgans as the original Indo European speakers is
based on the fact that some horses have been found buried in the
region. The logic of this lies beyond the grasp of this writer who
happens to be a mathematical scientist.

Methodological confusion

Several observers have noted that the tree diagrams used to classify
language families bear a striking similarity to tree diagrams used in
biology, and later, in evolutionary genetics. From this some have
concluded that there must be some mysterious connection. This is no
accident. It is simply an artifact of analysis, which it would be
naïve to see as the manifestation of a natural law. Here is the story
in brief. August Schleicher (1821 - 1868), an amateur biologist,
borrowed the idea of tree diagrams for classifying species from
biology and applied it to languages. Later, scientists applied the
same tool in evolutionary biology and genetics. So, the fact that
language tree diagrams bear a resemblance to tree diagrams used by
some geneticists is simply the result of this historical accident.

Indo European scholars are now hailing the resemblance between the
tree diagrams used in genetics and linguistics as scientific
validation of their conclusions. It is nothing of the sort: it is
simply a restatement of their method and the fact that both-
population genetics and linguistics have borrowed the same tool from
the same source. This was noted as far back as 1935 by Leonard
Bloomfield: 8 "The earlier studies of Indo-European did not realize
that the family tree diagram was merely a statement of their method:
they accepted the uniform parent languages and their sudden clear-cut
splitting, as historical reality." But some linguists and
anthropologists are now going further, attempting to revive
discredited race theories in the name of genetics research. This is
what we may examine next, looking especially at migrations and the
important but neglected concept of genetic drift.

Evolutionary forces: Founders' Effect

The human species is young, no more than 10,000 generations or 200,000
years old. Modern humans evolved in Africa between 100,000 and 200,000
years ago. As things currently stand, the major geographical races-
meaning the people that inhabit different parts of the world-are
believed to have diverged from their common African ancestors between
40,000 and 50,000 years ago. This corresponds to some 1500
generations. This means that all the physical differences we see in
non-African humans today are the result of changes in these 40 to 50
thousand years that took place after our ancestors left Africa. But
the seeds of these or the potential for these changes - like the
capacity to learn language - must already have been there in our
African ancestors. Evolutionary forces acting in conjunction with the
environment have brought about these changes. In the process they have
produced the rich diversity of peoples and cultures that we see in the
world today.

Four evolutionary forces have contributed to the evolution of modern
humans: natural selection, mutation, genetic drift and migration (or
gene exchange). Natural selection selects those members of the
population that have the best chance of survival in a particular
environment. It is in reality an elimination process, with those
members with low probability of survival and reproduction being
allowed to become extinct. Mutation is random change in the genetic
structure that is passed on to successive generations. The great
diversity of organisms and species that we see on the planet is the
result of mutation and natural selection working together. It is the
main creative force in evolution; evolution is the great unifying
theme in biology.

Observable features in different geographical regions, like the high
concentration of brown skin pigmentation in parts of India, Southeast
Asia and Africa are adaptive characteristics. The same is true of the
high frequency of hemoglobin S in parts of Africa, Yemen and South
India. This confers an advantage to its possessors in the form of
resistance to malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum. This advantage
was lost when some of these Africans ended up on the American
continent as slaves. The same hemoglobin made them susceptible to the
disease sickle cell anemia. This shows the importance of the
environment in natural selection.

Drift (or genetic drift) works differently and accounts for
fluctuations in gene frequencies in small populations. "The smaller
the population, the greater the fluctuation in the gene frequency over
generations," is how Cavalli-Sforza puts it. This allows small
population groups to survive, provided the environment is benign. A
good example is furnished by the Parsees of Western India. They began
as a small group of immigrants arriving in India more than a thousand
years ago. When successful, as the Parsees were, the members of such a
group become ‘founders'. For this reason, the phenomenon is also
called the Founders' Effect.

The key though is survival by adaptation in the new environment.
Founders' Effect is important because, if the founders succeed, the
population that it gives rise to will also succeed rapidly. This was
the case with the Parsees in India a thousand years ago and may also
be the case today with the Indian immigrants in the United States. On
the other hand, the Vikings who landed in North America several
centuries before Columbus's voyage could not survive in the hostile
environment. They became extinct within a few generations. Unlike the
Parsees, they did not become founders. The environment was against
them.

Genetic drift is important in history and can work in different ways.
But a genetic analysis cannot reveal if a particular feature
(phenotype) in a population is the result of drift or natural
selection. For example, if there is some observable feature in Parsees
that distinguishes them from their surrounding populations (this is
not known), we can only attribute it to their being of Persian origin;
we cannot prove it by genetic analysis. We may assume that this is due
to genetic drift, only because of our knowledge of history. At the
same time, a proper understanding of drift can be a useful tool in
reconstructing history, for the Founders' Effect may well prove to be
a major historical force, as it has been the case in the United States
and in Australia. This may also have been the case 50,000 years ago,
when our modern ancestors moved out of Africa and settled in different
parts of the world, possibly mixing with or even replacing earlier
inhabitants. This is what seems to have happened when modern humans
encountered the Neanderthals of Europe. (See Figure 1)

Drift and migration in India

The Founders' Effect is usually the outcome of migration
of a small population followed by drift. It need not be permanent. To
begin with, it needs a benign environment in which the population can
thrive in isolation. But drift can accentuate negative features that
work against long term survival due to excessive in breeding in the
small population. In addition, the genetic identity of the small
population may be lost due to changed historical and social
conditions, when the founders and their descendants mix freely with
the local populations. This is what seems to have happened following
the Mongol invasions in Russia and West Asia. This is true also of the
Delhi Sultanate established by Central Asian Turks, and later, the
Mogul Empire. There was no Founders' Effect. (We should not confuse
cultural traits like language, art and dress with the Founders Effect,
which is strictly a biological and demographic phenomenon.)

Until recently, and even now to some extent, histories of
India have emphasized the impact of migrations (and invasions) going
back to ancient times. Karl Marx, who incidentally knew next to
nothing about India, asserted that the history of India is nothing but
the "record of successive intruders." We may now have the scientific
tools to test these theories- like the Aryan invasion. All attempts so
far to establish the presence of European (or Eurasian) genetic traits
in the Indian population, especially the upper castes, have failed.
Brahmins for example, share the physical traits of the rest of the
people in the region where they come from. Kerala Brahmins for
example, look like other Keralites and not like Kashmiri Pandits, much
less European invaders who were supposed to have been their ancestors
thousands of years ago. The same is true of their genetic traits to
the extent they are known.

A comparison with the Parsees is illuminating. The Parsees
are a Founder Group. According to the various Aryan invasion-migration
theories, the upper castes, including the Brahmins, should also be a
Founder Group. But unlike the Parsees, who until recently were
concentrated in small isolated communities in Western India, Brahmins
are found all over India. They show no indication of any peculiar
genetic traits that may be attributed to the Founders' Effect or even
genetic drift. (Cultural influences like the study of Sanskrit and
rituals are not genetic traits.) Also, literary and archaeological
records show that India has been heavily populated for at least 5000
years. So, it would have been impossible for Founder Groups of
Brahmins to be established in all parts of India through diffusion,
while simultaneously genetic drift would have preserved their genetic
traits. This is a clear contradiction. It is a serious indictment of
scholarship that this simple analysis has not been applied to these
theories.

Genetic studies of European populations based on the frequency of RH
gene (blood group), suggests a gradual movement of humans from south
and east. This is the reverse of the gradient that would have appeared
if the migration were from Europe. (See Figure 2) All the different
forms (known as alleles) of the RH gene are present in Africa and Asia
also, though the frequency is less than in Europe. Combined with
archaeology, some scholars attribute the increasing RH gene frequency
in Europe to the diffusion of agriculture from Asia into Europe. But
we do not know when the spread took place, if at all it did, so the
picture is hopelessly confused.

A common error is to confuse linguistic and other cultural diffusion
with genetic drift caused by migration. Migration doesn't always
result in the Founders' Effect and drift, except under highly
favorable conditions. But the confusion persists with its authors
generally unaware of the phenomenon involved. In fact, it can be said
that the whole discipline of Indo European studies rests on this
confusion. This is the reason that biological (race) and cultural
(language) features are readily interchangeable, and often lead to the
same conclusions.

Genetics of caste and race 9

In the past few years, there have been several articles
purporting to show that the Indian caste system was imposed by
invading (or migrating) Indo-Europeans-or ‘Aryans'-though the term
Aryan has lost some of its appeal following Hitler. This is claimed to
have scientific support in the form of genetic evidence of the present
day Indian population. In an article titled "Genetic Evidence on the
Origins of Indian Caste Populations," eighteen authors, mainly from
Utah in the U.S. and Vishakapatnam in India, led by Michael Bamshad of
the Department of Pediatrics from the University of Utah make the
claim that there were several waves of immigration into India, the
last of which (from Europe) was responsible for the caste system. In
their words: 10

"In the most recent of these waves [of immigration], Indo-
European speaking people from West Eurasia entered India from the
Northwest and diffused throughout the subcontinent. They purportedly
admixed with or displaced Dravidic-speaking populations. Subsequently,
they may have established the Hindu caste system and placed themselves
in castes of higher rank."

To begin with it is palpably absurd to mix genetics and
language: how does one distinguish the genes of "Dravidic-speaking
populations"? In his press statements, Bamshad has gone a good deal
further, claiming, "we are able to demonstrate unequivocally that the
upper castes are more similar to Europeans than lower castes..."

The first point to note is that it is impossible to trace
the origin of a small segment of a population like upper caste Indians
through genetic analysis. We have already seen that the genetic
variation within any group-like the upper castes-is always greater
than the variation between two groups like the upper caste Indians and
Europeans. Scientifically speaking it requires no great effort to
demolish the claim. This can be further illustrated with the example
of the Zoroastrian Parsees who are fairly recent immigrants (by Indian
standards of time), having emigrated from Persia only some 1200 years
ago.

This of course, we know from historical records. But
Bamshad and his colleagues would have us believe that they can detect
this from genetic analysis, and even "unequivocally demonstrate" it.
This means their genetic analysis should be able to tell us how the
Parsees living in Western India happen to be speaking Gujarati. To go
by the Aryan invasion analogy, the migrating (or invading) Parsees
brought the ancestor of the Gujarati language and imposed it on the
native population, which the Bamshad method can prove with the help of
genetic analysis!

A point to note is that despite its appeal to science, it
is simply a reincarnation of nineteenth century colonial race
prejudice. No less a ‘scholar' than Max Müller wrote: " ...how the
[English] descendants of the same [Aryan] race, to which the first
conquerors and masters of India belonged, return ...to accomplish the
glorious work of civilization, which had been left unfinished by their
Aryan brethren."

There was more than scholarship involved in this, for Max
Müller was as much a colonial-missionary politician as he was a
scholar, for which he was richly rewarded. As he proudly declared in
his Autobiography: "Lord Derby, then Secretary of State for India,
declared that the scholars who had discovered and proved the close
relationship between Sanskrit and English, had rendered more valuable
service to the [British] Government of India than many a regiment."
The most eloquent statement relating this ‘history' to the British
rule came from Stanley Baldwin, in a speech he made in the House of
Commons in 1929:

"Ages and ages ago, there sat, side by side, the ancestors
of the English, Rajputs and Brahmins [upper caste Indians]. Now, after
ages, the two branches of the great Aryan ancestry have again been
brought together by Providence.... By establishing British rule in
India, God said to the British, "I have brought you and the Indians
together after a long separation, not in order that you should lord
over them, or that you should exploit them, but in order that should
recognize your kinship with them.... It is your duty to raise them to
their own level as quickly as possible, and work together; brothers as
you are, for the evolution of humanity...." "

From brotherhood, it took only a step to turn them into
oppressors. This was done with a sleight of hand by missionary
‘scholars' and colonial officials. Anthropologists like Herbert
Risley, a colonial official, equated caste with race with the help of
what he and his colleagues claimed were measurements of facial
features, of the nose in particular. Risley wrote in 1891: "The social
position of a caste varies inversely as its nasal index.... Community
of race... is the real meaning of the caste system."

All this ‘science' was part of the agenda to divide the
people of India into antagonistic groups under labels like Aryan and
Dravidian to facilitate colonial rule and conversion to Christianity.
The most influential figure in this was Robert Caldwell, Bishop of
Tirunelveli, who wrote the highly influential Comparative Grammar of
the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages. First published in
1856, it continues its influence today, especially in Tamil Nadu. This
is due less to its scholarly content than the fact that it became the
political manifesto of Dravidian politicians who not infrequently
engaged in obscene conduct towards innocent people that were labeled
as descendants of Aryan oppressors.

This digression is necessary to understand the sources and
motivations of the research of men like Michael Bamshad who would seek
to prove all this with the help of genetics. This is worth a brief
look.

Semantic confusion

A study that appeared in February 2004 takes this exercise
further.11 Specifically it claims that tribal females and caste
females are of indigenous origin while caste males are descended from
Eurasian ancestors. Further, they claim that this is supported by
linguistic and archaeological evidence. Upon closer examination, one
finds that their ‘linguistic evidence' is nothing more than the
conclusion of linguists derived under the assumption of the Aryan
invasion, which, as previously noted, cannot withstand scrutiny. The
archaeological evidence is only an interpretation (by Walter
Fairservis) of archaeological remains, again assuming the Aryan
invasion theory to be valid. So it is no evidence at all but a
circular argument that proves itself. It is nothing but a combination
of ignorance and shoddy science.

It is worth noting that the authors of the study depend on
the work of Michael Bamshad and associates that has been refuted, with
one of his co-authors repudiating his claims. 10 For example,
Bamshad's label of Europe was applied to "anything West of the Indus,"
and his sample was from the East Coast of India. Further, as
previously noted, claims were made about Indo European language
speakers, who, needless to say are not distinguished by genetic
features. Further, there is the claim that these Eurasian (Aryans)-
males only-arrived in India 3500 years ago (1500 BC). There is no
genetic method of determining this date; Max Müller derived the 1500
BC date for the Aryan invasion based on the Biblical belief that the
world was created was on 23 October 4004 BC!

In evaluating all this, it helps to recall Risley's claim,
"Community of race... is the real meaning of the caste system." We are
asked to believe that theories about racial invasions and migrations,
concocted by nineteenth century colonial officials like Risley and
missionary propagandists like Bishop Caldwell-and modern Dravidian
politicians-has all been proved by the magic of genetic research!

A close look at these studies show them to be full of
technical sounding terminology in an attempt to convince the
uninformed reader that high science is being used to derive profound
results of great importance. But an informed reader, familiar with
quantitative methods, will have little difficulty in recognizing this
as scientific name dropping- an example of what physicist Robert Park
calls "Voodoo Science." 12

Recent revisions

Happily, some recent studies in which Cavalli-Sforza has
been a leader, have taken steps to correct this error. 7 As previously
noted, an important article based on a study of Indian tribal and
caste populations by Cavalli-Sforza and his colleagues observes:
"Taken together, these results show that Indian tribal and caste
populations derive largely from the same genetic heritage of
Pleistocene southern and western Asians and have received limited gene
flow from external regions since the Holocene. The phylogeography
[neighboring branches] of the primal mtDNA and Y-chromosome founders
suggests that these southern Asian Pleistocene coastal settlers from
Africa would have provided the inocula for the subsequent
differentiation of the distinctive eastern and western Eurasian gene
pools." (Italics added)

Put in non-technical language, it means that the Indian
population-upper castes, tribals (or indigenous peoples), Dravidians
and so forth-are mainly of indigenous origin, and the contribution of
immigrants (gene flow) is negligible. This is a major blow to the many
invasion-migration theories that continue to dominate academic (and
political) discourse in India. These of course hold that only the
adivasis (‘first settlers') as tribals are often called, are
indigenous while caste Hindus are descended from later immigrants,
with the upper castes made up of immigrants from Europe. What these
careful scientific studies have shown is this is simply not true.

A basic fallacy in many of these analyses is to compare
paternal lineages using Y-chromosomes and maternal lineages using
mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). (Y-chromosomes are passed on along the male
line while the mtDNA are transmitted along the female line.) The mtDNA
mutate (change) much more rapidly than other DNA (or nuclear DNA) - by
as much as 15 to 20 times. The Y-chromosomes on the other hand hardly
change at all. As Walter Bodmer, one of the originators of the Human
Genome Project observed: 13 "No matter where they look, scientists
have found that the Y chromosome, regardless of race or creed, has a
molecular configuration that hardly varies at all. It does not matter
whether the sample is Japanese, or from a Bushman, or a South American
Indian, its composition produces extraordinarily few distinctive
characteristics and none that can distinguish human populations from
each other..."

Origins of Indian populations

Where does all this leave one with regard to the origin of Indian
populations? Put simply, unlike the Americans or the Australians,
Indians are overwhelmingly of Indian origin. There must have been
migrations in past several thousand years, but their influence is
negligible. The social structure of Indian society, or the linguistic
evolution for that matter, cannot be attributed to migrations. But
there is more: the Y-chromosome patterns suggest that modern Indians
are descended from migrants from Africa who settled along coastal
regions, that is to say in peninsular India. (Note that this Y-
chromosome pattern changes hardly at all.) In addition, some mutations
in the blood groups found in South India, which evolved as resistance
to malaria, are found in Africa and South India. This is further
evidence of migration from Africa to Coastal India. This took place
according to modern studies-by no means a consensus-some 40,000 to
50,000 years ago. 14

This means: all of us are immigrants, but hardly any the result of any
recent ones - like the Aryan invasion 3500 years ago or an earlier
Dravidian migration from Scythia as Bishop Caldwell would have it. To
understand the evolution of the Indian people, and the civilization
they created-Pre-Vedic, Pre-Harappan and so forth-we need look deeper
into the early settlements in peninsular India, especially in the
coastal regions. It is probably no accident that the oldest
settlements in India are being found in the peninsular region, like
the caves of Bhimbetka, and, more recently, underwater settlements off
the Gujarat coast and also Tamil Nadu. This is where historians need
to look. But a multi-disciplinary approach is essential.

Conclusion

The picture one obtains from a study of our evolutionary
past is one of great diversity- biological diversity as well as
cultural diversity. They do not lend themselves to simple, not to say
simplistic, explanations based invading people bringing forth their
genes, cultures and languages supplanting local populations- all in a
few thousand years. We now have the beginnings of the technical tools
needed to unlock the secrets of human past, but it needs many more
years of dedicated study and research in several disciplines. It is
important, however, to familiarize oneself with the basics of human
genetics to be able to make use of the wealth of ideas and data that
are becoming available to historians. 15 This probably calls for a new
generation of historians that is less intimidated by science and also
less deferential towards anything coming from Western academia as
valid. Indian scientists and technologists have achieved this
progress, but humanities scholars in India are yet to.

The following words of Sri Aurobindo written seven decades ago remain
substantially true, especially in history: "... [that] Indian scholars
have not been able to form themselves into a great and independent
school of learning is due to two causes: the miserable scantiness of
the mastery in Sanskrit provided by our universities, crippling to all
but born scholars, and our lack of sturdy independence which makes us
over-ready to defer to European [and Western] authority."

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1.Genes, Peoples and Languages by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza 2001
Penguin, U.K. Pages: 228 + xii. Price: £7.99, Preface. See also The
Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey by Spencer Wells (2002). Penguin,
India. It is based on a television series drawing upon Cavalli-
Sforza's work, but often fails to distinguish between science and
speculative theories, especially in linguistics and history. Quite
different is Mapping Human History: Genes, Race and Our Common Origins
by Steve Olson (2002), Mariner Books: New York. Olson makes a
distinction between what is scientifically established and speculation
about origins, especially when writing about linguistic groups.

2.For example, this means that the variation within one caste group
(like upper caste Hindus) will be greater than between upper castes
and so-called adivasis or aborginals.

3.The skin color tends to get darker as we move closer to the equator
and lighter as we move towards the poles. This is due to the effect of
natural selection. Human pigmentation has evolved to be dark enough to
prevent sunlight from destroying the nutrient called folate but light
enough to foster the production of vitamin D. The fact that we see
wide variation in skin color in India and Europe is evidence that they
have lived there long enough for natural selection to work and
therefore not recent migrants. Even then, there is a tendency to argue
from extreme cases. There are fair skinned Keralites and dark skinned
Kashmiris, but we tend to ignore them!

4.Human Diversity by Richard Lewontin (2000), New York: Scientific
American Library, p 22.

5.R.A. Fisher was the founder of two important closely related
disciplines- population genetics and mathematical statistics. Cavalli-
Sforza carried forward Fisher's work in population genetics while C.R.
Rao, another of Fisher's students, came to be recognized as the
world's foremost mathematical statistician. (Thirty years ago, I was
fortunate enough to be Rao's student at Indiana University in
Bloomington, where I learnt some of this at first hand.)

6.The Vocabulary and Method of Reconstructing Language Trees:
Innovations and Large Scale Applications by J.B. Kruksal, I. Dyen and
P. Black, in Mathematics in the Archaeological and Historical Sciences
(1971) edited by F.R. Hodson, D.G. Kendall, and P. Tatu, Edinburgh
University Press, Edinburgh.

7.The Genetic Heritage of the Earliest Settlers Persist Both in Indian
Tribal and Caste Populations: by T. Kisilvid, S. Rootsi, M. Metspahi,
S. Mastana, K. Kaldma, J. Parik, E. Metspalu, M. Adojan, H.-V. Tolk,
V. Stepanov, M. Gölge, E. Usanga, S.S. Papiha, C. CinniÄŸolu, R. King,
L. Cavalli-Sforza, P.A. Unterhill and R. Villems. 2003. American
Journal of Human Genetics, 72: pp 313 - 332.

8.See Language by L. Bloomfield (1935), London: Allen and Unwin, p
310. See also Chapter 4 (Emperor's Clothes) in The Politics of History
(1995) by N.S. Rajaram, New Delhi: Voice of India.

9.The material in this section (except for facts on genetics) is
discussed in detail in The Invasion that Never Was by Michel Danino
(2001), Mysore: Mira Aditi. See also, The Politics of History, Op.
cit.

10.Genetic Evidence on the Origin of Indian Caste Populations by M.
Bamshad, T. Kivisild, W.S. Watkins, M.E. Dixon, C.E. Ricker, B.B. Rao,
J.M. Naidu, B.V.R. Prasad, P.G. Reddy, A. Rasanagam, et al. 2001,
Genome Research 11, pp 994 - 1004. (This article has a checkered
history. When I pointed out the fallacies contained in the article to
the editor of Genome Research, he stated that he was not the one
responsible for its publication!)

11.Independent Origins of Indian Caste and Tribal Parental Lineages by
Richard Cordaux, Robert Aunger, Gilian Bentley, Ivan Nasidze, S.M.
Sirajuddin and Mark Stoneking, Current Biology, Vol. 14, February
2004: 231 - 35. This division into male migrants and indigenous
females became necessary because, with no European traces in the
mitochondria, the females could not have come from Europe. Cavalli-
Sforza on the other hand concluded that females moved around more than
the males, who for the most part stayed put in one location!

12.Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud by Robert Park
(2000). New York: Oxford University Press. Park makes the telling
observation: "This brings up another symptom of pathological
science ...: there does not appear to be anything resembling progress.
The evidence never gets any stronger. Decades pass, and there is never
a clear photograph of a flying saucer or the Loch Ness monster. Ten
years after the announcement of cold fusion, results are no more
persuasive than those obtained in the first weeks." (P 199) In the
case of these race theories, including their linguistic incarnations,
not decades but centuries have passed. To Park's observation, I would
add another: while no evidence may be forthcoming, terminology
multiples without end. This is what we are witnessing in these
publications- the same conclusions being recycled in ever more profuse
technical sounding verbiage.

13.The Book of Man: The Quest to Discover Our Genetic Heritage by
Walter Bodmer and Robin McKie (1994), London: Abacus, p 225.

14.This is not accepted by several scientists, especially those who
rely more on fossil data than on molecular analysis alone. See for
example, The Multiregional Evolution of Humans by Alan G. Thorne and
Milford H. Wolpoff that appeared in the April 1992 issue of Scientific
American. This was updated in the Special Edition of Scientific
American, Volume 13, Number 2, as A New Look at Human Evolution, that
appeared in the summer of 2003. Thorne and Wolpoff state (p 46): "Both
fossil and genetic evidence argue that ancient ancestors of various
human groups lived where they are found today." This pushes back the
date our ancestors in India by hundreds of thousands of years. See
also The First Chimpanzee: In Search of Human Origins by John Gribbin
and Jeremy Cherfas (2003), New York: Barnes and Noble, for an
interesting account of the various controversies surrounding human
origins and world populations.

15.A useful place to start is Human Diversity by Richard Lewontin
(1995), New York: Scientific American Library. It is a popular work by
one of the world's foremost human geneticists. Those more technically
inclined might consult, The Molecular Biology of the Gene by James
Watson, Tania Baker, Stephen Bell, Alexander Gann, Michael Levine and
Richard Losick, 5th edition (2004), Delhi: Pearson Education. It does
not, however, discuss population genetics. Genes and Evolution by A.P.
Jha (1994), Delhi: MacMillan, India, is more comprehensive but can be
hard going. Several others are cited in the article.

Navaratna S. Rajaram
About the author:

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/yugabda-5108/2007100231/2-vijayadashmi-oct-2006/articles/history/genetics-on-migrations-in-history/menu-id-29.html

Please read:

Horseplay in Harappa: Sid Harth

to know more about this idiot's,( N S Rajaram,) Hindu shenanigans on
this newsgroup discussion...

bademiyansubhanallah

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Feb 20, 2010, 8:30:48 AM2/20/10

Aryans: A People or an Obsession?

Written by Navaratna S. Rajaram

No single aspect of ancient Indian history and historiography has so
dominated discourse as the so-called ‘Aryan problem.’ There is the
Aryan invasion (or migration), which is supposed to have brought the
Vedic civilization and the ‘Aryan’ language (Sanskrit) the Aryan race
and even an Aryan nation thousands of years later, of all places in
Germany! Even archaeology has not escaped the Aryan assault with
scholars claiming that the Harappan civilization was non-Aryan,
destroyed by the invading Aryans, who, of all things are supposed to
have introduced the horse into India. Never mind the fact that horse
fossils in India are over a million years old. What is the reality?

ARYANS: A PEOPLE OR AN OBSESSION?

The Aryan problem is a modern European creation that has no relevance
to ancient India. The invasion is the tail wagging the Aryan dog.

N.S. Rajaram

Who were the Aryans?

No single aspect of ancient Indian history and
historiography has so dominated discourse as the so-called ‘Aryan
problem.' There is the Aryan invasion (or migration), which is
supposed to have brought the Vedic civilization and the ‘Aryan'
language (Sanskrit) the Aryan race and even an Aryan nation thousands
of years later, of all places in Germany! Even archaeology has not
escaped the Aryan assault with scholars claiming that the Harappan
civilization was non-Aryan, destroyed by the invading Aryans, who, of
all things are supposed to have introduced the horse into India. Never
mind the fact that horse fossils in India are over a million years
old. What is the reality?

In the whole of the Rigveda, consisting of ten books with more than
1,000 hymns, the word "Arya" appears fewer than 40 times. It may occur
as many times in a single page of a modern European work, like for
example, in Hitler's Mein Kampf. As a result, any modern book or even
a discussion on the "Aryan problem" is likely to be a commentary on
the voluminous 19th and 20th century European literature on the Aryans
having little or no relevance to ancient India. This is simply a
matter of the sources: not only the Rigveda, but also the whole body
of ancient literature that followed it have precious little to say
about Aryans and Aryanism. It was simply an honorific, which the
ancient Sanskrit lexicon Amarakosha identifies as one of the synonyms
for honorable or decent conduct. There is no reference to any "Aryan"
type.

A remarkable aspect of this vast "Aryanology" is that after two
hundred years and at least as many books on the subject, scholars are
still not clear about the Aryan identity. At first they were supposed
to be a race distinguished by some physical traits, but ancient texts
know nothing of it. Scientists too have no use for the "Aryan race."
As far back as 1939, Julian Huxley, one of the great biologists of the
20th century, dismissed it as part of "political and propagandist"
literature. Recently, there have been attempts to revive racial
arguments in the name of genome research, but eminent geneticists like
L. Cavalli-Sforza and Stephen Oppenheimer have rejected it. The M17
genetic marker, which is supposed to distinguish the "Caucasian" type
(politically correct for Aryan), occurs with the highest frequency and
diversity in India, showing that among its carriers, the Indian
population is the oldest.

Natural history of modern humans

There have been some strange claims in the name of genome research,
going so far as to claim that they support the Aryan invasion. But
here is what world leading geneticists like L. Cavalli-Sforza and S.
Oppenheimer have to say: Our ancestors used to live in Africa 150,000
years ago. A small group of homo sapiens left Africa some 80,000 years
ago and settled along the South Asian coast from where they spread out
to colonize different parts of the world. All non-Africans in the
world today are descendants of a small group of South Asians living
south of a line from Yemen to the Himalayas, especially along the
Indian coast. This ‘founder group,' from which all non-Africans are
descended, barely survived the fallout from a volcanic eruption in
Sumatra known as the ‘Toba Explosion' 74,000 years ago.

This is roughly the story of our past growing out of more than fifty
years of intensive mapping of human genes and climate changes by
different scientists. By relating these movements to ecological
upheavals, what we obtain is the genetic history of modern humans
correlated with the natural history of our planet. Climate changes
have been the drivers of both evolution and migration, and hence the
growth and decline of civilizations.

Equally interesting is the message of the M17 genetic marker, which
some have sought to identify with the ‘Aryan' gene. It appears in
India, Iran, Eurasia and Europe, but exhibits the greatest frequency
and diversity in India showing that among its carriers, the Indian
population is the oldest. This means that proponents of the Aryan
invasion (or migration) have got both the origin and the direction of
movement wrong. (See migration map. Source: Out of Eden by Stephen
Oppenheimer.)

It is important to interpret this properly. It does not mean that
there were no non-African humans before the Toba Explosion, but only
that no descendants of those earlier populations have survived outside
Africa. A group out of Africa 120,000 years ago made its way to Egypt
but disappeared 90,000 years ago without a genetic trace. All
Europeans living today are descended from South Asians, possibly as
recently as 40,000 years ago. South Asia, India in particular, was the
jumping off point for the colonization East Asia, Southeast Asia,
Australia and ultimately the Americas.

This raises some questions for theories about Indian history and
anthropology created during the colonial era. Leaving aside pseudo-
scientific theories about race and language, which have been
discredited by science but continue in various guises in some academic
circles, it shows that both the so-called adivasis (tribals or
aborginals) and the caste Hindus share a common African origin. The
same is true of Dravidians and Dalits.

Tail wagging the dog

It is a similar situation with the Aryans as a linguistic group, which
is what some scholars, sensitive to the disrepute that race theories
have fallen into are proposing. But the vast body of Indian literature
on linguistics, the richest in the world going back at least to Yaska
and Panini, knows nothing of any Aryan language. The German-born
Friedrich Max Müller made his celebrated switch from Aryan race to
Aryan language only to save his career in England following German
unification, when the British began to see Germany as a major threat.
The "Aryan nation" was the battle cry of German nationalists. It was
German nationalists, not ancient Indians who were obsessed with their
Aryan ancestry.

All this means that the "Aryan problem" is a non-problem- little more
than an aberration of historiography. It has been kept alive by a
school of historians with careers and reputations at stake. According
to its advocates, the Vedic language and literature are of non-Indian
origin. In the words of Romila Thapar, a prominent advocate of the non-
indigenous origin theory: "The evidence for the importation of the
earliest form of the language [Vedic] can hardly be denied." (Foreword
to Aryans and British India by Thomas Trautmann (1997), Vistaar
Publications: New Delhi, page xiv)

In other words, Aryans are needed because without them there can be no
Aryan invasion (or migration). The invasion is the tail that wags the
Aryan dog.

In the face of this overwhelming evidence, it is best ignore labels
and stereotypes like ‘Aryan' and ‘Dravidian' and look simply at the
record of the people who lived in India and created her unique
civilizations. This is the spirit in which my colleagues and I study
history- as a combination of natural history and the human record.

Dr. N.S. Rajaram is a mathematician who has worked in population
genetics, and the author of several books on ancient history including
Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization with David Frawley and
The Deciphered Indus Script with Natwar Jha.

Navaratna S. Rajaram
About the author:

http://hindurenaissance.com/index.php/yugabda-5108/2007100233/articles/history/aryans-a-people-or-an-obsession-/menu-id-29.html

bademiyansubhanallah

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Feb 20, 2010, 8:50:21 AM2/20/10

Awards received by and CV of S. Kalyanaraman, Ph.D.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14845554/sk

Scholar Kalyanaraman was given the society’s centenary honour on
Sunday

Anudana samarpakavagi balasi:CM (Yediyurappa) -- Kannada news report

A century of cultural calling
3 May 2009, 2349 hrs IST, TNN

Bangalore: The beautiful colonial piece of architecture on Nrupatunga
Road has donned a new look. The Mythic Society, the premier institute
of Indology and path-breaking studies, has just completed 100 years.
The three-day valedictory celebrations were inaugurated on Sunday.

Formed in 1909 to study the culture of Mysore state, it has now
evolved into a national organization that nurtures anthropology,
epigraphy, numismatics, folklore, linguistics, south Indian history,
archaeology, ethnology, mythology and religion.

It's birth

The Mythic Society was founded by the then collector of Bangalore F J
Richards, chief architect of Mysore government G H Krumbriel,
professor at Central College S Krishnaswamy Iyengar and many others.

"British officers wanted to know more about Mysore state, our culture,
language and architecture. Seventeen members of the founding group
were Britishers while only two were Indians. Later their interest
encompassed whole of India and its culture," explains managing
committee member and centenary celebrations convener V Nagaraj, who
has been with the society for over 30 years now.

Rare library

Mythic Society has one of the best libraries in the world with over
40,000 books. These include some of the rarest books on Indology that
are over 100 years old. The library also has reports on Indian life
and culture, written by eminent British officers and scholars.

Distinguished speakers

Many renowned personalities have been associated with the society.
Scientist C V Raman used to be the president of the society; in 1919,
Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore delivered lectures on the influence
of art on the Indian mind. In 1927 Mahatma Gandhi delivered a talk on
`Harijan uddhara' or liberating lower castes.

Seminars a treat

The society is also known for its seminars and sessions, like the one
in 1983 on the scientific heritage of India. Many international
speakers from all over the world attended and debated the contribution
of ancient India to modern science. Sessions on the Aryan problem,
whether it is a myth or a reality, also opened up new areas of study.

A few years back, a seminar on the date of the Mahabharata war based
on astronomical calculations generated a lot of interest. "The
Mahabharata has more than 600 astronomical details. Scholar Dr
Narahari Acharya brought a planetarium software developed by Nasa,
using which sky configurations of 5000 years ago from Kurukshetra can
be seen. All the configurations tallied. "It was one of the most
interesting seminars that saw a response from all over the world,"
adds Nagaraj. Seminars on Indian heritage, right from the Harappa
Mohenjodaro period, Indian culture and women and Indian culture and
agriculture were held recently as part of the centenary celebrations.
Currently a seminar on the socio-religious movements in India is being
held.

The celebrations

On Sunday, the centenary honour was awarded to scholar Kalyanaraman,
who is known for his work on tracing the mythical river Saraswati and
the science behind Rama Setu. CM B S Yeddyurappa inaugurated the
ceremony and honoured Kalyanaraman who narrated his journey as an
officer for the Asian Development Bank to finding the reality of river
Saraswati, that has been referred in the Vedas innumerable times. He
also spoke about how he managed to get the right judgment on the Rama
Setu issue after it was under the threat of being demolished.

The chief minister said, "Indian culture and religion have
international interest and appeal. Scholars like Arya Bhatta have been
born on this soil. The Mythic Society over the years has played a very
important role in upholding our culture and preserving it for future
generations." He announced a fund of Rs 1 crore for the maintenance of
the building and the ongoing celebrations.

Chancellor of Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana H R
Nagendra; president of Mythic Society M K L N Sastry and home minister
V S Acharya were also present.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangalore/A-century-of-cultural-calling-/articleshow/4479874.cms

Mythic Society
Śatamānotsava felicitation citation to Dr. S. Kalyanaraman (3 May
2009)

River Sarasvati is adored in Rgveda as ‘ambitame, naditame, devitame’.
From generation to generation, over a long span of time of over 5
millennia the collective memory of the people of India has cherished
the faith that the all pervading Hindu culture took birth on her banks
and nourished by her sacred waters. The world wondered whether the
river Sarasvati was mythical or ground
truth.

Dr. S. Kalyanaraman by his single minded dedication and extensive
research has presented the ground truth – bhumi satyam of the river
Sarasvati in all her splendour.

Kalyanaraman born on 20th October 1939 to Sri S. Srinivasan and Smt.
Rajammal, graduated in Economics and Statistics from the Annamalai
Universiy and followed it up with Post Graduation and Ph.D. in Public
Administration from the University of the Philippines. He is a multi-
lingual talent well versed in Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada, English and
French languages.

He was the Chief Controller of Accounts in Karnataka Electricity
Board, member of Indian Railway Accounts Service and Financial Advisor
to Railways. Dr. Kalyanaraman joined the Asian Development Bank as a
senior executive and became an icon of multi-lateral banking
expertise.

When Dr. Kalyanaraman was at the peak of his career, a model of the
Harappan seal presented to him disturbed his mind. It urged and
stimulated him to dive deep, to unravel the mystery of the legendary
river Sarasvati. He tool voluntary retirement and returned to India.
He plunged deep into research on this Vedic river and possibility of
its revival as part of national network of rivers.

His epoch making scholarly work on the Vedic River Sarasvati has
brought a paradigm shift in the studies related to ancient India.

His website provides about 40,000 files including a lexicon on 25
ancitnt Indian languages, Rgveda text and translations. His dedication
and devotion to our ancient heritage has resulted in a scholarly work
on Ramasetu with irrefutable scientific evidences.

The Managing Committee of the Mythic Society is pleased to present
its Śatamānotsava praŚasti 2008-09 to Dr. S. Kalyanaraman. May Goddess
Sarasvati fulfil all his noble endeavours.

Presented at the inauguration of the Valedcitory of the Centenary
Celebrations.

The Managing Committee
3rd May 2009

Mythic Society celebrates centenary
By Team Mangalorean Bangalore

Bangalore, May 3: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today
sanctioned Rs One crore to Mythic Society for conducting centenary
celebrations and repairs of the heritage structure devoted to study of
Indology in the city.

He said the State Government would preserve cultural and traditional
heritage of India by giving impetus to ancient Indian sciences like
ayurveda, yoga and study of Indology. The Chief Minister was speaking
after unveiling a three-day centenary celebrations of the Society.

Mr Yeddyurappa recalled the yeoman contribution made by the Society,
started by Britishers ten decades ago and carried on by Indian
researchers in Indology "by making the whole of western world knew
about the rich Indian heritage''.

Founded in 1909, the Society has a pride of place among the classical
institutions of India. Though at its inception, the Society was
limited to Indian and Western classical studies, but later the
interest veered around Indological studies, he added.

The Chief Minister bestowed the centenary honour to Dr Kalyanaraman
for his research on Saraswati river.

http://mangalorean.com/images/newstemp21/20090503mythic1.jpg

http://mangalorean.com/images/newstemp21/20090503mythic2.jpg

http://mangalorean.com/images/newstemp21/20090503mythic3.jpg

http://mangalorean.com/images/newstemp21/20090503mythic4.jpg

http://mangalorean.com/images/newstemp21/20090503mythic5.jpg

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=123186

NEW DISCOVERY ON HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION WITH A NOTE ON FLOWING
SARASVATI RIVER

http://www.scribd.com/doc/16166433/NEW-DISCOVERY-ON-HARAPPAN-CIVILIZATION-WITH-A-NOTE-ON-FLOWING-SARASVATI-RIVER-

Letter to Prime Minister: Sarasvati Heritage Project
http://www.scribd.com/doc/5706111/Letter-to-Prime-Minister-Sarasvati-Heritage-Project

Saraswati in Hindu Civilizational History and Culture
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6087426/Saraswati-in-Hindu-Civilizational-History-and-Culture

Sarasvati Book
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7734436/Sarasvati-Book

Rebirth of River Saraswati
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23641436/Rebirth-of-River-Saraswati

sarasvati300pages
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6192078/sarasvati300pages

chhotemianinshallah

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Feb 20, 2010, 9:24:51 AM2/20/10

My Thoughts on Aryan Migration to Indus Civilization
Posted on December 25, 2006 by Kedar
We all learned in history books that around the time 1800 BC to 1500
BC, the group of people called Aryans invaded India and defeated the
aboriginal people. The invaders replaced the existing culture and
language with their own. This is how the linguistic relation between
European languages and Indian languages can be explained.

This theory left many many questions unanswered. This did not explain
the creation of unparalleled volume of literature, philosophy and
emergence of several spiritual traditions. But as all Indian young
men, I left the history behind and began the quest of improving
standard of my life. In this quest, the questions about my own origins
had almost no room.

Now 20 years later, looking back at the same history I learned in
books , I see that this theory of origin of Sanskrit and Indian
culture gives rise to more questions than it answers.

If we accept the Arya Migration in India around 1500 BC, we have to
cram the development of giant amount of Sanskrit literature in just a
few centuries. Also the great epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata are
reduced to fictions.

According to AIT, for this great literary development we end up giving
credit to a group of people whose existence is not corroborated by
anything other than linguistics. At the same time, we strip out the
widely spread Harappan culture of any cultural and literary
achievements .

In short, we end up with what we call as Fawley’s Paradox. We have a
giant, well established civilisation with no literature, and we have
giant literature with no trace of establishment or civilisation.

So wouldn’t it be rather easier to think that Harappan people were the
ones who laid foundation of Sanskrit and Indian culture?

You can read my post on IIDB here. I have listed certain questions I
can think of that are not answered by Aryan Invasion Theory.

According to Konrad Elst, the Vecid culture and Sanskrit language is
indigenous to India and its beginning dates far back in history than
the Western historians predicted. In his on-line book “Update on the
Aryan Invasion Debate”, he makes some really good points. The entire
on-line book by Konrad Elst on Aryan Migration theory is here.

One of the most interesting points is astronomical evidence. It is
indeed surprising to find that so far the astronomical observations in
Rigveda and other texts have been outright ignored. If ignoring
becomes impossible, then very unsatisfactory explanations are given to
explain the consistency and accuracy of these astronomical
observations.

An example from Konrad Elst’s book in his own words is

“Hindu tradition makes mention of the conjunction of the “seven
planets” (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, sun and moon) and
Ketu (southern lunar node, the northern node/ Rahu being by definition
in the opposite location) near the fixed star Revati (Zeta Piscium) on
18 February 3102 BC. This date, at which Krishna is supposed to have
breathed his last, is conventionally the start of the so-called Kali-
Yuga, the “age of strife”, the low point in a declining sequence of
four ages. However, modem scholars have claimed that the Kali-Yuga
system of time-reckoning was a much younger invention, not attested
before the 6th century AD.

Against this modernist opinion, French mathematicians Bailly and
Playfair had already shown that the position of the moon (the fastest-
moving “planet”, hence the hardest to back-calculate with precision)
at the beginning of Kali-Yuga, 18 February 3102, as given by Hindu
tradition, was accurate to 37’.9 Either the Brahmins had made an
incredibly lucky guess, or they had recorded an actual observation on
Kali Yuga day itself.”

At several places in ancient Sanskrit texts, we find very accurate
astronomical observations and they are consistent with each other,
meaning the sequence in which these observations are mentioned is
indeed the sequence in which these astronomical events happened as
confirmed by the modern science. So either we can say these are valid
astronomical observations, or we can argue that they are back
calculated. But the back calculation of positions of astronomical
objects is one the most complex tasks requiring calculators with at-
least four or five decimal point precision, the more likely scenario
is that these obeservations were recorded by somebody who was present
when those astronomical events happened.

Second important point is genetical evidence. Recently there have been
some interesting attempts to map genes and use genetic data to trace
human the history of human race. The genetic study of a subset of
Indian population does not suggest any genetic mixing around 1800-1500
Bc. There is a change in genetic material of Indians around 6000 BC,
and there is change around 300 BC, the later being more likely due to
the invasion by Alexander. So if no marked difference exists in
Indians in 2000 BC and Indians in 1000 BC, then probably nobody from
outside India came and settled here.

If Aryan Migration Theory is proven false, then the repercussions are
huge. That means Mahabharata and even likely Ramayana indeed happen.
That means Vedic hymns once reverberated in the walls of Harappa. That
means clearly by a big margin, India is the oldest civilisation on
earth.

But that does not mean Indians had nuclear weapons back in 3000 BC.
That does not mean we had airplanes and rockets. Can you find some
hints and clues that suggest we might have had airplanes back then?
Yes you can. But that is like trying to say US government organized
destruction of world trade center. We must know that if some
possibility cannot be ruled out, that that does not mean that
possibility is validated. We can always build some conspiracy, but we
must focus on building a foolproof cases. We must not let our pride
and nationalism run ahead of scientific enquiry of facts.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

Pakistani “Indus Valley” predated Indian Hindu Aryan culture’

kedarsoman, on December 26th, 2006 at 3:45 pm Said:
Here is another interesting link

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VRT-424MHP6-21&_coverDate=11%2F18%2F1999&_alid=512522197&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6243&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=335c22b2bd1b9c1ad3cd9d2dc0a0facf

The abstract of the paper is as follows
“Abstract

About a fifth of the human gene pool belongs largely either to Indo-
European or Dravidic speaking people inhabiting the Indian peninsula.
The ‘Caucasoid share’ in their gene pool is thought to be related
predominantly to the Indo-European speakers. A commonly held
hypothesis, albeit not the only one, suggests a massive Indo-Aryan
invasion to India some 4,000 years ago [1]. Recent limited analysis of
maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of Indian populations
has been interpreted as supporting this concept [2 and 3]. Here, this
interpretation is questioned. We found an extensive deep late
Pleistocene genetic link between contemporary Europeans and Indians,
provided by the mtDNA haplogroup U, which encompasses roughly a fifth
of mtDNA lineages of both populations. Our estimate for this split is
close to the suggested time for the peopling of Asia and the first
expansion of anatomically modern humans in Eurasia [4, 5, 6, 7 and 8]
and likely pre-dates their spread to Europe. Only a small fraction of
the ‘Caucasoid-specific’ mtDNA lineages found in Indian populations
can be ascribed to a relatively recent admixture.”

Neville Ramdeholl, on December 30th, 2006 at 4:36 pm Said:
Sir/Madam, Your article is interesting in trying to find a scenario
for the denying th Aryan migration to India. But they are there and
you can’t deny that but Indian and foreign scholars alike confirm from
the evidence on the ground is that they came in around 1500BC. As for
Mr. Elst imaginative theory that Aryans are an indigenous lot is
nothing but that, an active imagination. Mr. Elst like all the
revisionists have written that the Indus is Aryan saying that from
Ropar to Surkotada there are discoveries of horse remains and bones.
This is false. If the Indus was teeming with horses , where is the
evidence of horse trade between the Indus and the other civilizations.
And we all know that the Indus traded every item that they made and
imported every thing under the sun to their cities. But nowhere has
the trade documents have any mention of horses. Unlike the Aryans who
are a horse people and whose ulture was saturated with this animal. If
you or your supporters including NRajaram et al and yes including Elst
and his et al can provide attested documentation or other evidence
that the Indus traded horses at a time (3500-2500 BC) which the
revisionists say that horse remains are found, I will gladly accept
their theories. The Indus and its neighbors lived in the Stone and
early Bronze Age of which the leading technology was the ass and cart
or the onagers and half asses. It is mind boggling that the Indus
ALONE possessed horses and there is no evidence of horses in these
other empires at this time and period. How can this be so? Mr G. L
Possehl the Indian archaeologist is right in saying:

As far as I can tell , there are lots of asses
documented at the Indus settlement but
not domestic horses.

And he is right. The remains of the supposedly horses are nothing but
asses and onagers from the Rann Of Kutch which is the breeding ground
for such animals and the Indus people used them for transports and
other purposes. It is here where the Indus got its supply of such
animals known as “Khurs”

kedarsoman, on January 1st, 2007 at 11:36 pm Said:
Sir/madam,

Thanks for posting. I started writing reply to your post, which became
too big, so I posted it as another post, same title No. II.

Your point about horses is noted. It is a highly debated topic. Even
the book I mentioned here has a chapter devoted to precisely that
topic.
http://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.com/books/ait/ch44.htm.
This indeed is the weak point of non-invasion model. But still not
enough to settle the argument, especially if you consider recent
genetic evidence.

Some good references to understand where I am coming from (in my
argument based on comparative religions and evolution of philosophy)
are as follows.

1. “The Way of Zen” – Alan Watts
2. “The geography of thought” – Richard Nisbett
3. “Collapse” – Jared Diamond

If you have any recommended reading, I would appreciate it.

bachodi, on January 3rd, 2007 at 6:35 pm Said:
Nice read.

There are couple of books i would like to suggest you, since you are
interested in AIT.

P.N. Oak was one of my favorites on this topic(AIT). I dont know his
book name of in English version. ( his full name must be Purandara
Narayana Oak , if you happen to search)

” Volga to Gunga” is a collection of short stories by Rahula
Sankrityayana. Originally written in Russian. The social situation of
each stories are in chronological order. First one starts with naked
pagans living near Volga river , last one of age of 1947. All stories
constructed on ( pro- ) AIT.

Waiting for more posts on this topic..

vijay, on February 11th, 2007 at 5:47 pm Said:
I am fascinated by these discussions. I am from Kerala. ( The tip of
South India )
I have always read, fair skinned Aryans and the Dark Skinned
Dravidians ( The south Indians )

From childhood, I have learned this theory of Fair Aryans and the Dark
Dravidians.
But I have observed that, the most orthodox Brahmins ( So called
Aryans) in Kerala and Dark skinned with all the features of our
Dravidian concept…….The Brahmins never married from out of their
GOTHRA and have preserved their original genetic features………..

The orthodox Brahmins of Kerala, look very similar to the Tamil
speaking communities……

These dark skinned Brahmins follow the Rig Veda.
The other group of Brahmins, in Kerala are light / brown coloured……….
These Brown skinned Brahmins follow “Yajur Veda”

The Gad Saraswath Brahmins ( may be from Saraswathy river ?? ) along
the Canara ..Mangalore …maharashtra coastal region is lighter in color
than the Brown, skinned Kerala Brahmins who follow the Yajurveda………..

These Fair skinned Saraswatha Brahmins, look similar to the fair
skineed Brahmins of Kashmir and the some areas of North India.

I have also seen Dark skinned Brahmins in Tamil Nadu, Andhra pradesh
etc……..The former Prime minister of India, Sr. Atal Bihari Vajpey is a
Brahmin and is not fair skinned !!!!!!!!!

I have also seen the so called ” Backward class” of people with Fair
skin in the south and the North………..

I am totally surprised that, why nobody has taken a look at this very
very simple observation, which might be of global significance….

The oldest sanskrit theater ” Koodiyattam” ( still exists in Kerala )
is performed by a class called ” Chakiars………who are dark
skinned !!!!!!!!!!!

” Dark skinned, Brahmins, who follow the Rig Veda, ( who look very
very Dravidian as per our vision………. )”

Were they the most ancient ” Aryans” who wrote the Rig veda………

So were Dravidians, were the writers of Rig Veda ??

Did we do a mistake by making the “Aryan” “Dravidian” division ???

One need to be a real intellectual , free of racism and politics and
unbiassed to look in to these facts…

vijay
USA

vijay, on February 11th, 2007 at 5:48 pm Said:
please include my posting

kedarsoman, on February 12th, 2007 at 8:55 pm Said:
Hi Vijay,

Your observation is true and very interesting. Now that you mentioned
it, even I remember several of my Brahmin friends who are dark skinned
and several of my friends from SC/ST who are fair skinned.

Dravid/Aryan theory really needs re-examination. Lots of ancient
Indian history needs re-examination.

Kedar

Madhuri Bapat, on March 16th, 2007 at 6:25 pm Said:
Dr. Jagannath Dixit form Illinois, U.S.A. has done expetensive genetic
research in finding origin of chitpavan brahmins from kokan-
maharashtra. He found their origin lies in six places. Europe, Greece,
Israel, Ethiopia, Middle east and Parsia. His book ‘Chitpavanism’
explains many facts.

Microbiologist-Dr. Spencer wells of Harvard, has done again extensive
research in origin os Indians, Native Americans and Europeans. He
found a person in Kazgistan-north of Afganistan-that carrys all three
genes.

menokki, on April 15th, 2007 at 3:54 pm Said:
I have seen kerala brahmins who could beat any European in their
color. But truely these are rare I suppose.

Let us talk about the Namboodiri Brahmins, the strictest in all of
India. they must have been a very Aryan looking people when they first
came, but with their lifestyle, not many were left. A lot of them
converted to Christianity (Syrian Christians) and many married into
the Nair Caste.

What was left were very few. It has been said that the rich and
powerful Nairs took away many of the fair and handsome Namboodiris.

As for the Iyers, i can say that the Kerala Iyers (who are strictly a
Tamil group) are pretty Aryan compared to their Tanjavur counterparts.
Why I dont really know except to conjecture-that a large Aryan bunch
must have come to Kerala and intermarried.

menokki, on April 15th, 2007 at 3:55 pm Said:
and it is not so much color as features

Madhuri Bapat, on May 7th, 2007 at 4:05 pm Said:
If you read Lokamanya Tilak’s book ‘Arctic Home of Vedas’, you find
many answers to origin of Aryas.

kedarsoman, on May 8th, 2007 at 4:45 am Said:
Yes, I have to read that book.

I have read “Geeta Rahasya” and he briefly touches some points.
However a lot of new ancient artifacts and places have been found
since his time.

I have something to post related to linguistics. I will post it soon.

Comments like yours encourage me. Thanks.

Madhuri Bapat, on June 4th, 2007 at 11:13 pm Said:
Yes , languages! It fascinates me to see the similarity in greek
alphabets and sanskrit alphabets. Also the way words end with ‘aha’ in
sanskrit and in Native american languages.
And similarity many myths or superstitions. Including seeing deer in
journey is a bad luck.

mgheewala, on July 7th, 2007 at 12:03 pm Said:
Can any one tell me if the Aryan invasion of India has been mentioned
in the records that we may have of the old Egyptians, Chinese or other
old civilizations?

Ahmed, on July 10th, 2007 at 4:37 pm Said:
Nice

menokki, on July 15th, 2007 at 3:29 pm Said:
about that ‘aha’ similarity between Sanskrit and the Native American
languages. can you elaborate please? Thanks

Josie, on September 13th, 2007 at 12:33 am Said:
Can you tell me why there are many Indians from Kerala that are really
light skinned? It makes no sense because the stereotypes are that most
people from Kerala are dark skinned but I have seen many from Kerala
that are more light skinned than those from Northern India

ramkumar, on February 14th, 2008 at 1:07 am Said:
Neville is right.There was migration of people into India though
archaeo cannot substantiate it.Wilhelm Rau suggested if Aryan
migration could ever be substantiated by archaeo because nomadic
people leave behind no material culture.

Kedar, on February 14th, 2008 at 6:06 am Said:
Indeed there was migration at some point. But the question is whether
it was between fall of Indus civilization and dawn of Vedic culture.

Yes, nomadic people don’t leave archeo trail. But neither they do
leave prominent literary trail. The strong knowledge passing
traditions required to build up on each others abstract thinking just
don’t exist in nomadic cultures.

And we are talking about cultural discontinuity of order never seen
before and after this migration. So in this one incidence, there were
nomadic tribes out-culturing, out-languaging an established
civilization more than 2000 years old, spanning more than 1.5 million
square Kms.

Why this magnitude of cultural/linguistic/archeological discontinuity
could not be made to happen by armies of Alexander, Chengiz Khan,
Huns, Kushans, Turks, Afgans, British empire but a group of nomads did
it?

Every verse in Rig-veda is balanced for a “Chhanda” or ‘Vritta”, that
makes it easier to sing. It is like poetry. It rhymes. So it is more
likely that the authors were more concerned with rhyming than the
precise meaning of the words. In that case is it a reliable source to
reconstruct precise vocabulary?

Dinkar, on April 10th, 2008 at 9:17 pm Said:
First of all there are no hard and fast rules which dictate the skin
color based on caste. As for the aryan invasion, it is a pure myth.
How can there be aryan invasion when we are all aryans? Another myth
is that all brahmins and kshatriyas are supposedly aryans and that
other backward castes constitute the dravidian stock. Such feeling has
ingrained very deeply into the hearts of the people. Tamil Nadu is a
perfect example with most of them being anti brahmin and pro backward
caste. The term dravidian does not mean race, it is more of a ethnic
group. To be more precise you can say that dravidians are a branch of
the aryan people just like punjabis, sindhi, gujrati, bengali etc.

Again you might argue that dravidians are dark skinned and hence are
not of the same race as aryans. But when you live in the tropical
climate for generations after generations you are bound to get dark
and under the influence of constant heat your body frame tends to
become smaller. Take the example of Europe, the northern
europeans(Finns, Swedes, Danes) have a much lighter complexion than
the southern europeans(Italians, Spaniards, Greeks). But we call them
all Europeans. The same applies to all Indians.

The only people to have migrated to india are the persians, the
barbarians and the mongloids. Also you should remember the fact that
all europeans descended from us. You can get a white from black but
not a black from white, which implies that the original caucasians
were black in color(not to be confused with africans) who inhabited
the now “Lost Continent” of Lemuria(Kumari kandam). After Lemuria sank
into the ocean the caucasians migrated to different parts of the
world. It is the white people’s ignorance which makes them think that
they are the Mankind’s chosen Race and that all other races are mud
races. They are missing the obvious thing which tells that the
caucasian race varies from jet black to pale white with every shade of
brown in between.

Hoax - “Giant Skeleton Found In India” « The Eastern Horizon, on June
22nd, 2008 at 5:59 pm Said:
[...] My thoughts on Aryan Migration Theory [...]

Juven Bachan, on June 28th, 2008 at 5:22 am Said:
The Quirky, Engimatic Shifting Historical Data of an ‘Aryan Indus’
Civilization

With the demise of the theory of an Aryan invasion, scholars have now
taken on the idea that the Indus Valley Civilization is aryan in
nature and origin. But this quirky idea cannot seem to hold well with
the evidence which the archaeological explorations have produced in
recent years. On one hand the civilization of the Vedas don’t seem to
fit or to use a better word, correlate with the discoveries of the
Indus valley excavations. There are several reasons this is so and
proponents of an ‘Aryan Indus’ although they may reject the invasion
idea, are desperate to paint an ‘Aryan Indus’ which certainly did not
exist and are prepared to shift historical data to accommodate its
‘Aryan Indus’. Thus, an ‘Aryan Indus’ would seemingly but impossibly
accommodate and comprise of the following:

1) TWO sets of lifestyles, one described as nomadic and steppe like in
the Vedas quite in contrast to the settled and urban life of the
Harrapans. Here we have the IE or Aryans as you will, riding and
warring as all nomads do on the plains of India, whilst the staid
citienzry of the Indus are basking in luxurious trade with its
neighbors.

2) TWO modes of transport, of which the speed of the horse and chariot
used by the nomadic intruders to settle disputes and in sports, whilst
in the Indus the rich and contented people travel with the donkey and
heavy wooden cart.

3) TWO religions, first we have the Vedic religion dominated by
warrior gods and nature gods to a nomadic people always praying for
wealth and cattle and animistic in nature. The other religion is the
Harrapan religion of the Indus people mostly connected with the animal
kingdom and iconic.

4) TWO sets of astronomic literature, the Vedic astronomy having the
horse as one of its symbol and which is missing in the Indus one.
Then, there is the Harrapan astronomy whose people were well versed in
its intracies and very established.

5) TWO languages of which we have the Vedic language well refined and
used in ancient India, called Sanskrit. The other is the
undecipherable Indus Scripts and its seals, still unbroken and a
fascination for linguists. Used by the Indus people for its
unparalleled value for its tremendous and burgeoning trading partners.

6) TWO different funerary burial rituals, the Aryans cremated their
dead through libations in the hope their loved ones reach the land of
the Fathers. The Indus people buried their dead as is evidenced by the
cemeteries discovered in their civilization.

7) TWO eminent Indian scholars, Professors Jha and Misra among others
have claimed to have deciphered the Indus language and its complicated
writings. If this is true and world breaking , how come we don’t know
what is the true nature of the Indus? All of these concerted attempts,
so valiant and persevering seems to come to naught. So I ask, what is
it? Vedic or indigenous Indus? One thing is certain though. All these
failed attempts are done from the perspective of the Sanskrit
language. Wrong, I say. All linguists should know that to decipher a
language, there must be a related Rosetta Stone or a related root
language. Obviously, the linguists of India are finding out that the
Indus Scripts and seals are not related to Sanskrit, thus there is an
ominous silence.

There are TWO Indias. One that is fair to white skinned, the other
dark skinned of which the fair to white ones occupy the northern half
of India and the other the southern half of India. I am saying that if
all the people of India was indigenous, then all of them would have
been dark skinned from living from time immemorial under the blazing
tropical sun. But this is not so. Thus, there was an ancient European
intrusion into India sometime in its history. Professor Spencer Wells
an eminent geneticist and anthropologist among others states that
there is an intrusion of East European genes from the steppes of
southern Russia, thus giving India its fair to white population from
the time of the Rgveda. He has also traced the ancestry of the dark
skinned people from Africa who were the first to occupy India.

This is fantastic , here we have a civilization just emerging from the
Stone Age with its brilliance and is credited with ALL of the above, a
double of every facet of human life. Is this possible? This quirkiness
of an’Aryan Indus’ has western and eastern scholars and historians
baffled. To speak of an ‘Aryan Indus’ with such glaring contradictions
in its society and lifestyle is probably a minor embarrassment to its
proponents, for what can be more embarrassing than to shift historical
dates to accommodate a quirky theory? Best of luck to its proponents.

R.D.Mishra, on July 15th, 2008 at 3:19 am Said:
At one stage, quite sometime ago, this world of ours was very cold.
The Northern part and the southern part if this world were covered
with thick caps of ice. Human habitation was impossible. Human beings
lived around equator where it was warm.
As the world became wormer human beings travelled north -from the
equator region northwards.

The Aryan people living in India travelled north and thus settled in
Europe etc. They took the Sanskrit language etc with them. By living
in colder climates the former Aryans became lighter skin coloured. The
darkest people even today live around the equator. This happened may
be 10-15 thousand years or so a go.

There was no such nonsense as migration from Europe to India. This
story of Europeans migrating to India was cooked up by the English to
humiliate the Indians and tell them that they were inferior to the
English – the Indian monkeys had just come down the tree i .e. lesser
civilized. – a technique to humiliate the Indians and thus submit to
the English as superior race. i.e. Macaulayism.

The Europeans still regard themselves as racial superiors. They have
manufactured history to maintian this.

The lighter coloured Indians lived in the cooler part of India whereas
the darker ski nIndians live in the warmer parts.

When Alexander was defeated by Indians he fled India disguised as a
woman. No European history bookl will tell you that. Instead they say
he left his generals to look after his conqured land. Whereas the
truth is he fled leaving his army in India. The soldiers were all
single and they mixed with the locals. This led to some odd looking
Indians.

It is not the genes from any part of Europe – it is the Indian gene
that is in Europe, The Europeans will tell any amount of lies to
maintian his superiority.

Of course history is written by the victor not the defeated. English
wrote the “modern history.” of Europeans coming to INdia. TRUTH AND
JUSTICE SPEAKS FROM THE BARRELL OF A GUN.

Ashutosh Srivastava, on July 15th, 2008 at 6:08 pm Said:
Really Who are the Aryans and where they have come from none knows,
but look Indus has got ‘Shivalingam’ still which is worshiped by
Indians (so called Aryans). What a bullshit comment as those who were
the whites are Aryans and Blacks are dravidians, who has written those
children history books must have single mind to corrupt the minds of
children not the intellectual adults.

If Aryans have migrated than why not they have flourished in the same
way as they ancestors Europeans. Invasion and Migration are two
different things, Invasion -called when once civillization is strong
enough to take care of themselves and want an expansion, where as
migration is done under weak and scarse conditions. Simply if it was a
migration than what was the scarse condition (famine, flood, calamity)
had happened that led the Aryans to migrate to South, or were Aryans
strongest civilisation at that time to invade to another
civilization???

Since childhood I was reading to all such things but no body was able
to explain. what is the evolutionary history of horse? Where had the
evolution of bull taken place? Its similar to the hoax of NASA’s moon
landing by Neil armstrong in 1969. Why indian history is perceived as
per the views of some old historians why not a new research is being
taken to highlight the facts. Lets end this hoax of Aryans and start a
fresh looking at Indian history and if the things which come out
negating the existance of Aryans than please first change class
Seventh Text book. It is corrupting the mind of children and teaching
them the same policy of DIVIDE & RULE!!!

Juven Bachan, on July 26th, 2008 at 5:17 am Said:
I hope you enjoy this blog and print it in your magazine if possible.
Thanks.

The Indus Valley Civilization: Its Reality and Maddening
Prevarications of Academia.
Ever since the discovery of the IVC, the rush to Aryanize its society
and culture has filled books, papers,
media forums and other such articles and such entities has funded and
encouraged historians and writers to
let loose their imaginations in order to rewrite the history of India.
The fierce debate whether the IVC is
Aryan or not has opened up emotions and a stirring of nationalistic
feelings among Indians of different social
and political persuasions and has led to the rewriting of some history
books. Even though the undertaking
and exposing of the vast archaeological empire of the Indus still
remains buried below the ground, opinions
and speculations still persist that further and more radical change be
made to the history of India.

The proven point that the Aryans did not invade India and that horses
existed in its society are two areas
juxtaposed between the migrationist theories and those who proposed an
“Aryan India” Between this sliver
of Aryan and Indus woodwork, lies the heart of the matter, its linch-
pin— the horse. Whoever can prove that
the horse existed at the Indus empire will cap a belated crowning
glory and achieve at the same time a
kind of immortality in Indian history. The playing with historical
dates like pushing them back further in time
sounds like Russian roulette in order to achieve the inevitable and if
such a hand can be played and the
horse can be accommodated to form Indian history as among other
things, thus far are historians are willing
to go. The claims of historians and other writers of horse remains has
so far has not been proven or
recognized by some of local and international academia, even though
such claims have been taken up by
readers of different sorts of books and articles. The horse have
remained evasive to not only archaeologists
who would know one when they have analyzed its bones but to those who
advocate its existence at the
Indus. The so called tentative discovery of horse bones in the cities
of the Indus, is the one weakness of
those who want to weld Aryan history and Indus history together. This,
I think will fail. The Indus civilization
does not have a mythology that speaks of the existence of horse and
chariot. First of all, all peoples have
from their beginnings tales of mythology and from this, their
civilizations are born, their society evolves, their

beliefs entrenched and their livelihood maintained. Without these a
people may not survive as a strong entity

such like the Greeks and the Indian civilizations. Mythology is the
fountain of a people, where a kind of fairy

tale comes down to generation after generation, where images of the
mythology are graven in the minds of

its citizens and from which stories of daring and derring do are told.
Greek mythology is filled with horses
such as Pegasus and Arion, so we know that the Greeks knew about
horses, Helios, the Sun god and the
horses and also the Trojan horse. Our Hindu civilization also has a
mythology of horses of the Sun, as well
as other places mentioned in the Vedas and the Swat culture is one of
the first places that the horse
appeared in India. But can that be said of the Indus civilization?
Where is the mythology of the horse and
chariot in its ancient belief system? The belligerent screaming and
writing by academia of horse bones in
the Indus does not prove anything. There is not a shred of evidence of
a horse culture or part of a
mythologic reference to a horse or chariot in the history of the
writing of the Indus nor in its society and the
isolated claims of nationalistic writings has no foundation
whatsoever. Claims of horse presence in the
absence of a mythology in comparison with Hindu or Greek is not only a
failure, but a historical greed to
fulfill nationalistic grandeur for India which would be penitently
false. I am sure Hindus would not like to
incorporate a false version of historical data in their proud history.
I personally would abhor such a travesty.

Win, on August 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 am Said:
Juven , you are hiding fact that as per opposers of AIT/AMT , IVC
planned town period is a post-veda period. Even AMT supporters says
that swastik sign is post-veda , but IVC has many swastik seals
excavated. So, it matches well with AMT opposing view.

`Ashwa’ may not be exactly Horse. Also, Ass in English is
linguistially nearer to Ashwa than Horse. Famous Unicorn sign of IVC
is of horse/ass with one horn. Swat Valley people still make woolen
sweaters with IVC Unicorn sign where as most indians have forgot that
sign.

Yoga is derived from Veda ( this is not my assumption , but Yoga
scripts says so ). But, IVC excavations have given us many small
terracota statues of men in different Yoga postures. So, it means that
IVC people were well verse with Yoga. So, that means that Veda is pre-
IVC. Even, this matches well with AMT opposers.

IVC had loos like current western style one , but in historical
periods we don’t find such western style loos in whole India.

Your Aryan tribe in central asia were not performing any cremation and
practicing burials ( same as IVC indians ), so we can not say that
cremation was introduced by some Aryan tribes migrating to
India.Finding of Painted Red Wares don’t imply that look this is
marker of aryan tribes. How urban sanitary preferences changed ( and
remember that western style loo & modern plumbing in west is just 2 –
3 centuries old. Your previous kings were not using western style
loos ! ) or funeral preferences changed – it has nothing to do with so
called Aryan migration.

Since Veda is pre-IVC planned town period and hence you find two
different Indias.

So your arguments are not right and hides many aspects to common
readers not knowing that deep in this matter.

TYPHON, on August 20th, 2008 at 12:19 pm Said:
I read your ideas and yes, me too after rediscovering history for the
last 10 years I came to agree with some points of your ideas

I agree that the european migration didnt took place in the second
millenia BC, but rather a lot before that, my thoughts were about 5000
BC but I must accept your genetic proof of 6000 BC

however what this proves is that the mahabharata and ramayana ARE the
creations of indo-europeans and not the Harappans

your idea that the epic creations were made by the Harappan only
stands if we accept the date of 1800-1500 as the european invasion,
but if we accept the 6000 BC, as proven by genetics, than all the
astrals date of 18 February 3102 is well within the indo-european
presence.

also many details from Mahab.. and ramayana talk about plant and
animal species which are not indigenous to India , but rather to
europe, further proof of the european origins of the invaders, and
also the total lack of exemples of indigenous fauna from India. this
is for the oldest fragments of the tow epopeeas.

from the language point of view todays indian dialects are filled with
european morfems, morfems which are almost unchanged in the south-
eastern part of europe, while modified on other parts of europe and
asia.

Juven Bachan, on September 22nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm Said:
“At one stage, quite sometime ago, this world of ours was very cold.
The Northern part and the southern part if this world were covered
with thick caps of ice. Human habitation was impossible. Human beings
lived around equator where it was warm.
As the world became wormer human beings travelled north -from the
equator region northwards.

Mr. R. D. Mishra, Why should a people living in a warm climate travel
to a cold inhospitable one. Your article does not make sense.
Historically, people from the northern cold climes left their homes to
travel and conquer from the South. There is no historical data where
people from the South ever travel to the inhospitable and bitter cold
regions of the north to settle or to conquer. The movement was always
from the north if you read your history well enough. Before the Aryans
or Indo-Europeans came south, there were no horses, chariots or
swastikas in the southern hemisphere or anything of the sort. Even the
great Egyptian empire did not possess the horse.

Kal-k, on October 11th, 2008 at 5:07 pm Said:
Hello people,

I am replying in response to those people who ASSERT that anyone who
tries to go AGAINST the AIT are history revisionists and their
thoughts come from active imaginations….

mmmmmm….

it bewilders me that people come on such sites and make such comments
without viewing their suggestions with an open mind…

the AIT suggests that people came from outside of india and bought
their culture and the language SANSKRIT with them and left it with the
indians….

first stump –

the 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0 ONLY entered EUROPE in the 8th century thanks
to the ARABS who owe their mathematical knowledge to the ancient
Indians…

so how is it that these poor deluded people with their over active
imaginations expect us to believe our Indian knowledge came from
outside?

the first time the world heard of an AIT was when Max Mueller invented
it to help fuel German NAZI nationalism. So in fairness any one
promoting the AIT can be considered to be a racist who does not want
to accept that CAUCASIANs are pale Indians…

CAUC – ASIAN

2nd stump –

notice how they move the goal posts every time their theories fall
flat on their faces? first it was an Aryan Invasion – then when it
became known that the TRUE meaning of the word ARYAN….

ARYAN means – ‘follower of VEDIC life’ – thus they would not have
behaved in such a primitive manner to invade they changed it to ARYAN
migration theory…

and as an act of desperation and as a safety net is the PIE language…
the non-existent language that the west are trying to create so they
can create an ‘alternate pocket of reality’ that will then be
propagated as the TRUTH…

we can talk about Hebrew, Latin, Greek and Sanskrit because they all
exist – yet somehow these people have managed to make a fairytale non
existent language become an academic construct & topic…

who are the ones with their heads in the clouds?

the joke is that Latin, Greek and the Indo Euroean langauges are
called Indo – European because they are orignally derived from a
broken-watered down version of SANSKRIT… so they are like leaves on a
branch with the roots being SANSKRIT…

so how is it they expect us to believe that people came from Europe
with languages that originate from SANSKRIT, yet arrived on the shores
of India with the paternal language to SANSKRIT?

thats like saying breaking a branch of a tree and planting it next to
the tree, means that the branch gave birth to the tree it was broken
off in the first place….

mmm…

just doesn’t make sense does it?

Thats like the English marching over to Italy and claiming that Latin
comes from their English language….

are birds born still?with feathers? then start to breath, fly and grow
younger day by day until it turns into an egg?

no – that would be stupid and illogical as is the AIT, AMT, the PIE
language and is BLATANTLY NAZI flavoured propaganda being propagated
by white racist people who feel that insecure, that they need to
convince the world they are PURE…

HENCE –

the very very fair, very very sexy

adverts in india to condition you guys into being white – and thus
making it easier for them to claim us indians want to be like them….

pleeeeeeeease…

very very dark, very very happy…

The reasons are quite simple for their childish behaviour – if you
control the past, you control the present, if you control the present
time then you will control the future…

the past, the present and the future run concurrently…

Wicket 3 –

Mother of SANSKRIT ?

Just one of SANSKRITs special qualities is that it has over 65 words
for Earth and 70 for water. Each one being originally SANSKRIT and NOT
derived from any other language…

these synonyms for the word water which then mulitply into 280 words
with prefixes…

when the west can produce evidence of their cultures that had numbers
as high as 10×53 as early as 3500 bc or way before, if they intend to
convince us that they bought this knowledge with them – then yes it
can be a possibility…

until then it is no different from when they thought the world was
flat…

they say this, they say that, they thought the world was flat!!

and this was many centuries after having the zero, the moon and the
sun as clues!!!! and they want to claim they are the owners of VEDIC
knowledge….

the Vimanika shatra?

aeronautics along with other topics of great ANFRACTUOSITY existed in
india whilst others cultures were just developing…

‘Your either with us or with the terrorists….’ DUBYA BUSH

well us indians can use the same level of primitive forms of neural
linguistic programming if we chose to regarding this debate – but then
again we are not willing to lower our level of neural activity
insulting our cereberum, our ancestors and our culture….

‘Your either with us, or with the NAZIS….’
easy as that…

If us Indians continue to shine the shoes of imperial master s who
wish to dominate us then so be it – in the future indians will all be
mutating from the ‘very very fair very very sexy’ products and will
sing songs about McDonalds, KFC and a Pizza Hut in their schools like
the children do here in the UK…

yes its true the food here is so crap that they have to use Neuo
linguistic programming on the children whilst they’re at school to
permanently embed their adverts into your sub conscious mind so that
you eat that crap…

until you are old enough to think….

they even made into a hit song a few years back!!!!

these tactics they deploy on their own people so don’t be fooled by
the smiles of weasels, fools & tools dear Aryavarthans…

on that note i will say..

oh yeah what happened on the 21st September 1995?

They said it was ‘mass hysteria’ yet it started with one person….

They said it was ‘capillary action’ – so why doesn’t it happen
everyday on any other stuatues etc?

If it as an illusion then why can’t the worlds greatest magicians
recreate it ?

Jai hind…

Love, Peace & TRUTH

Kal-k

The 3rd Side of a Coin…
The Beginning & The End…

Kal-k, on October 12th, 2008 at 4:42 pm Said:
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the person who set up
this website hosting this forum, as it is through these means that us
Indians will be able to communicate with each other mellifluously.

http://www.ibollytv.com/idocumentary.php

on this above link there are a few documentaries regarding this topic
and there are 2 that favour the AIT, and one that dismantles it in a
step by step manner.

I would advise people to watch the two that attempt to use primitive
marketing techniques to promote the AIT first. This is so one can see
the difference between charlatan academics and those who want to
present to you the truth in an unbiased manner.

(western medicine – deals with the symptoms, Vedic medicine deals with
the root of the problem. In the same way these conspiracy theorists
who promote the AIT will correlate what ever information they can to
weave the fabric of their veil, but like a spider web you can walk
through it, or like a veil in front of something hidden you can remove
it if you know how or that it exists…)

One will be able to witness the DESPERATE attempts to slot in their
‘alternate pocket of reality’ in many different ways so that it would
embed it self into the sub conscious mind if one was unaware of this.

Our lecturers use the same method here in the UK, when they want to
EMPHASISE a particular point – like waving their hand whilst saying
‘the richer WEST…’ like cheap magicians….

Origins of Civilization-INDIA-The Empire of Spirit | 2002

Sanskrit Language-The Most Scientific Ancient Spirit.. | 2004

The above 2 are the ones that promote the AIT – and notice how they
only go briefly into it ONLY explaining one side of the story…
———————————————————————————
Scientific Verification of Vedic Knowledge in Hind | 2003

This is the documentary that dismantles the AIT in such a step by step
manner that the it no longer has a leg to stand on, also covering
Frawleys’ paradox.

I would also like to point out that when it comes to history we can
ONLY consider it to be

‘the story so far…….’

it is the ‘dot dot dot dot’ – that is important because we are always
finding new things as Mother Earth begins to unveil some of her hidden
secrets….

like the tsunami uncovering a hidden city and washing up the skeleton
of an unknown ‘perhaps’, pre-historic type of oceanic dinosaur.

Most of the people who are still trying to clutch to the invented AIT
are still using ‘out of date’ information and changing their story
constantly to suit their needs. This is how cheap magicians work in
order to keep their illusion going.

I would like to dismantle all of their so called evidence in one
cleans swoop, but it won’t be today since the top left half of my body
is still partially paralysed as it has been since the first day i
posted here, hence the bad spelling.

I hope the above information will be helpful to those truth seekers.
Please do not be discouraged by cheap blows of charlatans who TRY and
suggest anyone who goes AGAINST the AIT are history ‘revisionists’.

Which is where life will display her iconic & ironic sense of humour,
as it the AIT which is the ultimate example of a work that comes from
‘a historic revisionist’ – MAX MUELLER.

Kal-k, on October 16th, 2008 at 2:27 am Said:
This topic is very important to me and I am writing a book called ‘The
R-e-Un Connection’. The reason for me spelling the word in that manner
is to EDUCATE the west as to how they should pronounce it.
As R-e-Un

- in the west they pronounce it as AIR-IAN, thanks to the NAZIS. Why
is it only in the Western ARYAN realm that you find the peace loving
word ‘ARYAN’ associated to NAZISM, hate, war & lies?

Maybe because such people are opposed to the realm of LOVE,PEACE &
TRUTH….

The profits from the book are to help Professor Rao & others with
their work at Dwarka and elsewhere, whilst some of the money will go
towards restoring ancient Vedic temples.

It will also dismantle the AIT, AMT and the PIE language in such a
refined & defined ANFRACTUISITOUS manner, that their construct of
illusion that promotes delusion, will end up resembling sand…

As an Indian born in Britain, I will say that if us Hindus don’t know
WHO we ARE, then we are inviting people into our DOMAIN to TELL us who
they want us to be.

No matter how hard the strongest person tries to push over a tree,
they will fail. This is because the tree has roots, and this is the
same for us Aryavarthans, if we do NOT have our roots firmly attached
then we will wither and die whilst being diluted down.
———————————————————————————
The rumour about the ARYAN / DRAVIDIAN – 2 indias etc is nonsensical
nonsense. This was a simple attempt – and successful in some cases, of
divide and conquer to make the inhabitants of the land fight amongst
themselves. It is a known ‘alleged’ fact that Aborigines and African
people migrated to India, therefore that does NOT make them the
original inhabitants.

There are Afro-Caribbean people in the remotest parts of Wales here in
the Uk, does that mean they are the original people of that land?

If India was originally inhabited by those two groups – then their
should be lots and lots of mixed race people in India if the AIT
happened. This is because when a person, from the Afro-Caribbean
community has children with someone from a Caucasian group, they have
mixed race children that do NOT look Indian.

That is why the cheap charlatan attempts to use genetics cannot work
in this ANFRACTUISITOUS topic. It is obvious that after spending
70,000 years in India that the newly arrived tribes would eventually
amalgamate with the local inhabitants.

That is why you have south indians who look afro-indo or indo-afro… in
the same way if an AIT had happened where all the ‘mix raced’ people?

There aren’t any because there was no AIT, this is the reason why some
indians will obviously have similar genetic mapping as African or
Aborigine people because of the inevitable nature of tribes
amalgamating.

yes tribes from the middle east invaded india bringing their new
religions where the necks of animals were slit and hung upside down…
with their newly developed ‘back to front writing’ which we call
Semitic languages, but that does NOT make them ARYANS.

(which is why Buddha preached against what was happening in hinduism
at the time, not preaching against SANATANA DHARMA itself as he was
actually preaching it, without the use of GOD)

One thing GENE MATLOCK does is to try cleverly promote the Indo-
Hebrews as the ARYANs in his works – he is another one of these fake
friends of india, who uses his knowledge to create ‘alternate pockets
of reality’.

What all of these charlatans forget is that you cannot destroy the
TRUTH, you can hide it, hide from it, pretend it doesn’t exist. But
the TRUTH is, it will always be there, behind the veils & illusions,
if one looks hard enough it will find a way to reveal itself.

Kal-k, on October 19th, 2008 at 3:26 pm Said:
Before i post the last segment to my post please may I ask you
Aryavarthans….

- where were all the Hindu fanatics to help the Indian Christians
against IDIOTS pretending to be hindus?

There are 150 million Indian Muslims ready to defend India, where were
all the Hindu fanatics to protect our Christian neighbours?

After all a TRUE hindu fanatic would have stopped these acts as they
are anti-dharmic actions…

Kal-k, on October 21st, 2008 at 2:04 am Said:
Lets examine the biggest bunch of charlatans, who we can use as an
example of propagating ‘alternate pockets of reality…’

‘Saddam has weapons of mass destruction’ DUBYA BUSH
‘We know Saddam has WMD, in this region….’ Rumsfield
‘Saddam has WMD and can DEPLOY them in 45minutes..’ Tony Blair

These were various statements read out by the puppets at the White
House & elsewhere to justify their war whilst using primitive scare
mongering tactics to get public support by promoting FEAR.

why is Colin Powell no longer at the white house?
on the day he quit, he ALLEGEDLY threw the script he was expected to
read, up in the air, whilst shouting ‘ this is bull-turd’ whilst
marching off.
(quoting from various secondary sources)

‘GOD told me to invade Iraq…’ DUBYA

see how charlatans will attempt to clutch to anything to keep their
illusion going? what they don’t understand is that the harder you
grab, at something that’s not yours, the quicker it will slip away, or
something else of yours will, whilst you hold onto something that
isn’t yours, a bit like the American economy whilst they grasp on to
the oil & souls of other countries to secure their resources… karma,
dharma..

Marshall Lentini, on November 17th, 2008 at 12:14 am Said:
95% of Indian ’sources’ and ’scholars’ can very safely be ignored
(Phulgenda Sinha, D.N. Jha, and N.C. Chaudhury are probably most of
the remnant 5%) as self-serving propaganda. Witzel, Mallory and lately
David W. Anthony, along with the whole centuries-long tradition of
Indo-European research, have solved the Aryan question once and for
all:

ARYANS = WHITE MEN FROM THE CASPIAN DEPRESSION.

They came, they saw, they conquered, they left language and some other
crap behind to confuse the latter-day enfranchised “national” Indians
of wholly non-Aryan extraction. And with the internet there’s no end
in sight to their impudent yiddling to the contrary.

So while those beautiful Vedic verses probably did at some point
reverberate among the muddy walls of Harappa, as the author of this
stupid blog so eagerly imagines, they did so only after white men
whispered them to the bright blue sky.

Kal-k, on November 27th, 2008 at 7:36 pm Said:
‘95% of Indian ’sources’ and ’scholars’ can very safely be
ignored……..’

and we are supposed to believe the people who claimed the world was
flat as reliable sources?

or that they are ARYAN because they say so, yet have no way to sustain
their racist bigoted claims?

‘ARYANS = WHITE MEN FROM THE CASPIAN DEPRESSION’

why can you not back your claim and expect us indians to believe this
just because you SAY so?

intimidated by intellectual conversation that requires anfractuosity
is normally the first sign of weakness by people like you Marshall…..

‘So while those beautiful Vedic verses probably did at some point
reverberate among the muddy walls of Harappa, as the author of this
stupid blog so eagerly imagines, they did so only after white men
whispered them to the bright blue sky.’

look at the childish attack you make on the person who set up this
blog – and your childish racist claim that these verses only existed
after ‘white men’ whispered them into the sky –

yet we know up until the 15th century – white people in the west
thought the world was flat……

mmmm……..

yes it makes so much sense –

see indians it is people like this who want to put us down to being
nothing more than monkeys rather than acquiesce to the facts that are
plentyful and incremental in their nature to display their true
origins…

so indians please get out your cloths, boot polish and line up to
clean Marshalls shoes cos that is all he sees in us……

and maybe the females should get together and create ‘murcha na
pendas’ in honour of Marshall – and we can all celebrate that he has
solved the whole ARYAN problem with such wise words…..

get over it Marshall you know that the AIT, AMT and the PIE lie is
crumbling like a mouldy cookie…. which is why you and others have to
take such low blows that actually entertain those sat in the
transcendental realm as it displays the same weakness as a flagging
boxer throwing punches here there and everywhere – yet nowhere cos
they never hit the target….

i am so sorry you feel so low about yourself and have such low self
esteem that you have to behave in such a way…

good luck…..

Marshall bhai Zindabad…..!!!!

Kal-k, on January 25th, 2009 at 11:36 pm Said:
Looks like Marshall bhai’s punches landed on no other place than on
his own face, perhaps causing his teeth to shatter with the final blow
causing him to swallow both his words and crumbled teeth….

sound like the AIT, AMT & the PIE lie too Marshall?
———————————————————————————
What Is the PIE language?

The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the unattested,
reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken
by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The existence of such a language has been
accepted by linguists for over a century, and there have been many
attempts at reconstruction. Nevertheless, many disagreements and
uncertainties remain.

from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language
————————————————————————————
That source language was never written down and is now extinct, but it
has a name: it is called the “Proto Indo-European” language (“PIE”),
and the family of languages believed to have developed from it is
called “Indo-European” (“IE”).

http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html
———————————————————————————-
The above are 2 quotes regarding the PIE language…

If a person starts to watch a movie trailer and like what they see,
they can choose to pursue watching the whole movie. So what I am doing
is openly showing Indians the trailer of one of the biggest webs of
deception ever to be created in the history of mankind, right under
our noses in the 21st century.

The difference between the movie trailer & the above 2, is that with a
movie you are paying to be sold a lie. With the PIE lie it being sold
to create an artificial construct – like a mini invisible cage for
your mind. If you goto the trailer there are many more layers of the
web to help you cocoon your mind into.

Please, I have nothing to hide – so please go visit this trailer & see
how far the web has been spun for yourselves. The stronger & bigger
web, acts like a stronger & bigger net for the predator.

These people are being psychologically obtrusive, displaying sheer
opacity in the nature of how the VEDIC realm really existed, and
creating deluded, obtuse minded people like Marshall telling us how it
is with their wise words.

For those who believe that the Kohi-Noor & the jewels ‘taken like
candy from a child’ was their main objective I ask you to get real.
The real Jewel in their crown will be to claim they were our masters
in the past and givers of our heritage.

Below is a link to a very well researched author who has a quote from
a letter allegedly written by the German fantasist Max Mueller to his
wife. In this letter he writes to his wife somewhere along the lines
of

‘now that we have India under physical control we must now convert
them to Christians…’

This book is called Proof Of Vedic Cultures Global Existence

http://www.stephen-knapp.com/death_of_the_aryan_invasion_theory.htm
———————————————————————————-
The deluded people are like those who chase things like ‘immortality’,
and need something to give them a sense of belonging. So they will do
anything they can to clutch to this dream especially if it involves
Satanic behaviour.

After all a lie is Satanic, as is the creation of the PIE lie, whilst
there are so many people suffering people in the world, acting in such
a childish immoral way only display
the actions of a non-Aryan. Once again how iconic & ironic.

The thing they want to be the most, their actions have confirmed they
are not. Like those who chase the secrets of immortality miss the
whole point, which is that a pure soul lives forever in the minds &
hearts of those touched. So the chasers spend their whole life looking
for these secrets instead of ‘living’, and then they wonder why they
are looking for it in the first place.

Just like the NAZIS wanted to be pure, supreme & the master race, only
to have karmic irony display quite the opposite.

The below link is to a variety of book titles by Gene Matlock who is
the charlatan who tries to cleverly promote our Jewish cousins as the
Aryans….

you can’t escape the reticle eyesight of karmic knight Mr Matlock..
but never the less his works give a different insight into our past
and his research can come in handy.

http://www.alibris.com/search/books/author/Matlock,%20Gene%20D

this link appears to be his own website –

http://www.viewzone.com/hinduturk.html

Hope all the above helps provides an interesting read & help see the
difference between the representation of our realm by Mr Matlock & Mr
Knapp, and see why i would happily invite Mr Knapp to be a co-author
along with the likes of Dr David Frawley to raise the VEDIC realm
again like a phoenix from the ashes.

Love, peace & TRUTH

Kal-k, on January 30th, 2009 at 9:59 am Said:
for every psychological term there is in English, there are 4 in
Greek, and forty in Sanskrit.

quote by A.K Coomaraswamy from ‘You Are Being Lied Too’ –
Disinformation group

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KALsz08ijnkC&pg=PT357&lpg=PT357&dq=for+every+psychological+term+in+english,+there+are+4+in+greek,&source=web&ots=p16z7saVau&sig=uyEu6Tdq5TIJQGm9uoh_Ol3Z_vg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result
———————————————————————————————
The Vedas contain the knowledge of the following ;

Art, Linguistics, Music, Literature, Economics, Religion, Weaponry,
Space Science, Geometry, Logic, Technology, Hpnotism, Mathematics,
Philosophy, Rituals, Health & Long life, Magic, Medicine,
Architecture, Aeronautics, Spiritual Wisdom….

65 words for Earth, 70 for water – (each being originally Sanskrit,
not being derived from any other language) – the 70 synonyms for water
then multiplies into 280 words words with prefixes for specific
descriptions of rainfall…

Takshila – 2700 years ago had students from Babylonia, Greece, Syria,
Arabia & China…68 different streams of knowledge were available on the
syllabus including the following;

Vedas (thus all the above topics), Language, Grammar, Philosophy,
Medicine, Surgery, Archery, Politics, Warfare, Astronomy, Astrology,
Accounts, Commerce, Futurology, Documentation, Occult, Music, Dance..

Gyaamiti – (geometry)
Trikonamiti – (trigonometry)
emerged in india 1000 BCE (if not earlier)

tallakshanam = 10×53 being used as early 100BCE
Krati = 34000th of a second

( why would we be using such intricate numbers? Both big & small?
‘YANTRA SARVASVA – The Encyclopedia of Machines, which includes the
famous VYMANIKA SHASTRA which is only one volume or chapter in the
works,that contains refined details of things like ’spectrometers’ &
alot more )

Shushruta the father of surgery describes the details of more than 300
operations and 42 surgical processes in his compendium Shushruta
Samhita classifying surgery into 8 types.

plastic surgery in india 2600 years ago with 125 types of surgical
instruments –

‘The Hindus were so advanced in surgery that their instruments could
cut a hair longitudinally’ Mrs Plunkett…

the above information is part of a permanent exhibition at
BAPS SHRI SWAMINARAYAN MANDIR,
105-119 Brentfield Road,
Neasden
LONDON
NW10 8LD

school children of all religions & cultures come visit this temple
everyday via arranged tours with their institute….
———————————————————————————
The VEDIC realm has 330 million deities just for this material realm,
with another 330 billion deities for the realm external to this one,
with each one having their own unique thread of metaphorical encrypted
data opening a gate to their own kingdom of wisdom.

Mmmmmmm…. I wander what they could be compared to? I suggest looking
up at the sky at night….

Which culture or nomadic group wants to claim they are the creators or
the owners of this knowledge? With the their vast amounts of scholarly
& academic evidence displaying the ANFRACTUOSITY required to back
their claims?

I will leave it as that, make your own minds up Aryvarthans..
Please understand the only people who have a lucrative interest in
promoting the AIT, AMT or the PIE lie are deluded people who have
roots in NAZI ideology, just like Max Mueller who created the AIT to
neuro liguistically programme Indians into believing they are
INFERIOR….

The only people who have to go through all that kind of trouble to do
that to a race, are the ones displaying negativity due to a inner
insecurity….thus making them inferior by their OWN actions, and this
is what they have gone down in history for, and in some cases proud
of. Are these the people whose minds & egos you Indian AIT promoters
want to inflate?

Interesting….

Just with the above information one can see why they continually have
to alter, or in some cases create new ‘conspiracy theories’ or
constructs, always moving the goal posts, or creating new PIE models
etc….

What a joke – which court or judge would even consider the so-called
laughable proof or evidence, the NAZI lovers desperately try to
promote as worthy?

Game, set & match….

Love,peace & TRUTH

Jai Hind

Indian Born In Britain…

Juven Bachan, on March 1st, 2009 at 11:43 pm Said:
Question, Did the Zero exist in the Indus civilization as a number? I
am curious to know.

srivi019, on March 4th, 2009 at 5:26 am Said:
Ofcourse it did. The Europeans discovered zero from books that they
found in the Arab world, that were translated from Sanksrit into
Arabic. That is why the numbers are called Arabic numerals.

Juven Bachan, on March 7th, 2009 at 8:37 pm Said:
As far as I know the zero is of Vedic origin , not from the Indus
civilization. Is this correct?

Juven Bachan, on March 15th, 2009 at 11:30 pm Said:
WIN, THANKS FOR REPLYING TO MY BLOG ON THE ARYAN QUESTION. MAY I ASK
YOU ONE QUESTION? IS THE BRAHMI SCRIPT AND THE INDUS SCRIPT ONE AND
THE SAME? IF SO THEN THE INDUS AND THE ARYANS ARE THE SAME. IF NOT
WHAT THEN? CASE IN POINT— THE VEDAS IS TAINTED WITH STEPPE LIFE AND
ARTIFACTS AND CUSTOMS AND RITES. CASE IN POINT– THE HORSE SACRIFICE.
IF YOU AND YOUR ACADEMICS CAN SHOW ME ANY ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF
HORSE SACRIFICE IN THE INDUS CIVILIZATIONS , I AM WILLING TO ACCEPT
THE INDUS ANSWER. NEXT POINT- WHERE IS THE HORSE MYTHOLOGY OF THE
INDUS CIVILIZATION? HOW CAN INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND ACADEMICS ACCEPT
THE INDUS CIVILIZATION AS ARYAN IN ORIGIN WHEN THE SCRIPTS AND SEALS
DO NOT SPEAK OF A HORSE MYTHOLOGY? THIS ONLY SHOWS THAT THEY ARE
PUSHING A POLITICAL AGENDA OR SOME OTHER MEANS. THE INDUS CIVILIZATION
HOWEVER GREAT DOES NOT HAVE A SKY GOD AND HORSE MYTHOLOGY. THIS IS THE
GREAT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO AND YET THIS IS IGNORED BY INDIAN
HISTORIANS. WHETHER THE ARYANS CAME BY CONQUEST OR MIGRATION IS
IRRELEVANT TO ME. THE FACT IS THE VEDIC STEPPE LIFE PORTRAYED IN THE
VEDAS IS REAL. THE INDUS CIVILIZATION ALTHOUGH GREAT IS NOT THE FOUNT
OF INDIAN CIVILIZATION IN TERMS OF SPIRITUALITY AND MORALITY. THERE IS
NO SUCH WRITINGS TO ILLUSTRATE THAT THE PEOPLE OF THE INDUS GAVE TO
INDIA A VAST BODY OF KNOWLEDGE AS THE VEDAS. ITS WRITING IS NOT EVEN
DECIPHERED AS YET. IT IS INDEED STRANGE THAT THE INDUS WHOSE WRITINGS
IS UNDECIPHERED IS TOUTED AS THE ORIGINAL “VEDIC” CIVILIZATION. THIS
IS NOT UNDERSTANDABLE. THE MOST CONRETE EVIDENCE OF VEDIC INDIAN
RELIGION AND LIFE IS FOUND IN THE VEDAS THAT VAST STOREHOUSE OF OUR
MOST HOLIEST WRITINGS. THAT IS VEDIC CIVILIZATION, THAT GAVE US ITS
BRILLIANT LANGUAGE AND BELIEFS IN CONTRAST TO THE SCRIPTS AND SEALS
WHICH IS NOT A LANGUAGE WITH BASIC GRAMMAR. ANOTHER CONTENTION IS THE
CLAIMS OF DISCOVERY OF SUPPOSEDLY HORSE BONES IN THECITIES OFTHE
INDUS. SURE THERE ARE HORSE BONES , HORSE BONES FROM THE ANIMALS OF
THE ARYANS. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? THE ARYANS AND THE HARAPPANS DID LIVE
TOGETHER EVEN UP TO TODAY. THE VEDAS ANDTHE OTHER TEXTS AS THE GITA,
THE PURANA AND THE MAHABHARATA ALL SMACKS OF STEPPE LIFE. YOU MAY NOT
LIKE TO HEAR THIS BUT IT IS A FACT. ANOTHER THING IS THAT YOU ARE
WRONG ON THE SUBJECT OF CREMATION. CREMATION WAS PRACTICED ON THE
RUSSIAN STEPPE ALONG WITH HORSE SACRIFICE AND SATI WITH THE SAME
SIMILARITIES AS IN VEDIC INDIA. THERE IS ENOUGH ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD
THAT THE INDUS BURIED THEIR DEAD IN WOODEN COFFINS AS IS EVIDENCED IN
THE HUNDREDS OF BURIAL CEMETERIES IN THE INDUS. HOW CAN YOU DENY THIS?
ALSO, FINALLY, THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT ILLUSTRATES THAT THE INDUS
PEOPLE INTERACTING AND INTEGRATING WITH THE HORSE AND CHARIOT. NONE
WHATSOEVER. THE MESOPOTAMIAN SOCIETIES SHOW THIS NOT THE INDUS.

Kedar, on March 23rd, 2009 at 9:34 pm Said:
Hello Juven,

Thanks for your comment. I would appreciate if you could type all in
lowercase. Makes it easier to read.

Now, the points you mentioned are the same things again and again
everywhere. Even people who believe prevailing Aryan Migration come up
with same points and people who believe otherwise also come up with
same points. We are going in circles.

Here is my take.

Certainly at some point people came from outside India into India and
established civilizations. Heck, we are all from Africa finally.
However I think it is very doubt-prone when the far-ancient history of
an entire sub-continent rests on a discipline like linguistics, which
is highly subjective to interpretation. If we had found some forts and
caves by Indo-Eurasian tribes that supposedly conquered Indus, we
could accept it. Not purely on linguistics.

Why I say that? I will give you two examples. I have studied Sanskrit
from people who have studied Sanskrit their whole life in India. And I
have found their interpretation and interpretation of Western scholars
different.

For example, the meaning of word Shardula according to my Sanskrit
prof. is Lion. But the meaning of Shardula according to Prof. Witzel
is Tiger.

Second example, the word European word “ass” (an animal between donkey
and horse) is closer to “ashwa”. So why not say the word “ashwa” means
“ass” and not “horse” ? They have found lots of ass bones, but no
horse bones at Indus sites. How are we so sure that when Vedas talk
about “ashwa” it means horse, not ass?

There are many many examples like that.

Second, archeological footprint. Indians have accepted first Farsi and
then English linguistic influence. But in each case the conquerors
have left behind more buildings and stuff compared to the same period
Indians. Because the conquerors were more advanced than contemporary
Indians. There is no example in the world of a civilization with
smaller archeological footprint overthrowing the language and culture
of a civilization with vastly bigger archeo footprint.

Your claim that the Vedas and Geeta talk about life on Steppe is not
accurate. Vedas and Sanskrit texts talk abundantly about mountains and
rivers and also sea (“Samudra”). But they rarely mention lake. Lake
was the most prominent natural geographic feature on Steppes. No?

Also Vedas and Puranas talk about seven rivers all the time. There are
very few regions in world which have seven rivers almost all
originating at same point. None of them lies in Steppes.

How about genetic research that shows the Indus people were not
different from people in India today? How about the geographical study
that found the vdic river Saraswati (on whose bank 80% of Indus sites
lie) was dried up in 1900 BC?

Do I think the European and American historians don’t know anything
about Indus and Sanskrit? No I don’t. I think they know about Indus
and Vedic civilizations as much as people at Lehman brothers knew
about finance. It’s just understanding built on each others theories
in a small circle of people. It vastly strays from reality. They get a
lot of help from Marxist historians in India. Every time if anyone
tries to cast doubt on what they say, they shout “nationalism”. Agreed
lots of nationalism has been present in the picture too. But not
always.

Do I think ancient Indians knew about nuclear physics and stuff? Hell
No. !! They were primitive.They came up with some good stuff like
philosophy and bunch of imaginary stuff.

But I do think it all happened somewhere very close to India and I
think Vedic happened at the same time or before Indus, and they
influenced each other highly.

Conclusion. I don’t know anything for sure. In fact no one knows. We
need more research.

My fellow Indians:

At this point we need people who will educate themselves and try to do
more research than assert that it’s all wrong. We need to take
everything with a grain of salt, including Vedas. The point here is
not to prove India is great. The point is to find who were are really.

Juven Bachan, on May 3rd, 2009 at 3:48 pm Said:
The Mythology of the Vedic Horse

The discovery of the ruins of the Indus Civilization in northern India
remained virtually unknown for decades until Indian writers and
historians realized that they were overlooking something of historical
importance for their country’s history. The gradual archaeological
evidence from the exposed ruins excited Indian academia so much so
that

they began to formulate a new history for India’s history to equate it
with Rig Vedic
civilization, a latecomer to the Indian subcontinent. The rush to bind
the suburban Indus
with the pages of Vedic steppe life ran into a brick wall literally,
with the total
archaeological absence of the horse and chariot in its ruins, the two
most central
innovations brought by the Indo-Europeans from the vast steppes of
Russia and together
with the rite of cremation as the central focus of their religion.
Since then, Indian writers
and historians have been stumbling among themselves in a desperate
effort to absorb the
two distinct entities as a continuity of their history. Unfortunately,
these efforts have
been unsuccessful due to several factors but the most powerful of
these are the horse and
chariot that characterize so much of the pages of the Rig Veda.

The massive efforts by writers and historians to conceptualize the
pages of the Rig Veda
as part of the Indus has brought forth bitterness and indeed some bad
blood. Books and
literature has been reprinted to cast it as indigenous despite the
glaring evidence that the
horse and chariot did not exist in the Neolithic period in Indian
history. But historians
and their surrogate writers are going to make sure one way or the
other that Vedic and
Indus history are one and the same, despite the deep varying
contradictions that stare
them in its ruins.

Ah, the Rig Veda, it is so unique with its vibrant life from the
steppes of Russia and its
bards and seers singing and chanting the praises of Indra and the sky
gods and the new
found, fertile land of rivers and forests of northern India. Here the
Aryan tribes,
fascinated with their new surroundings brought a new type of burial,
the rite of cremation
and the innovations that would cause such contention, the horse and
chariot. This central
focus of horse and chariot played an important role in their religion,
the mythology of the
horse, a mythology that never existed or seen before in Neolithic
India.

THE NEOLITHIC INDUS CIVILIZATION

The enigma of the Indus remains exactly what it is today, from its
date of discovery.

The Indus civilization with its vast population and cities with modern
conveniences as we
enjoy today, still baffles archaeologists, historians and writers with
its absence of the
horse and chariot. Its writing and imagery of seals do not portray any
pictures of the
horse and chariot but its supporters insist to this day that the horse
and chariot did and do
exist in its history. This persistence, at times vehement encounters
embarrassment and
raised tempers from those who support an Aryan Indus. But to begin to
write about
anything historical, one must begin with periods or dates. There is no
doubt that the
Indus civilization began in 2600 and ended in 1900 BCE, a time when
although huge
cities and roads were built and trade prospered, the horse and chariot
was nowhere in
sight. The seals and script of the Indus provided an intellectual use
for trade and
commerce and although trade was far and wide, nowhere in the records
of the Indus
are the existence of horse trade. Everything else under the sun was
traded with Sumer,
Mesopotamia and Babylon and those are very faraway places. The taboo
to portray the
horse in writing as suggested by some writers , I cannot buy. Why
should an advanced
civilization with such high intelligence, if it possessed the horse
and chariot consider it
taboo to expose it images? This, I think is an excuse by some in
academia to account for
its absence and which they can’t produce any evidence whatsoever. Some
writers see
horse finds and remains in some cities of the Indus and even
illustrate such figures in
their writings. None of these scarcely resemble the horse and I can
tell a horse when
I see one. No doubt the Indus was heavily populated with asses and
onagers which
was used to pull heavy wooden carts and these scarcely resembled
chariots. The
Neolithic Age in India have not produced any horses or chariots and
the people of India
had to wait for the advent of the Bronze Age for the horse. Horse
remains and finds
in the Indus as written by certain writers are just that. There are no
justifiable evidence
that they can produce simply because compared to the pages of the Rig
Veda, the Indus
was not blessed with a mythology of the horse. That is only found in
the Rig Veda. The
Greeks had one, the Trojans had one and the Hittites had one. We see
in all these
civilizations the populace interacted and integrated with the horse
and chariot, in wars,
horseback riding and social interaction. This is completely absent
from the civilization of
the Indus and we read in the pages of the Rig Veda the vibrant horse
trade and breeding
between the Aryan tribes. In substitute, what the people of the Indus
did was make use
of the vast herds of asses and onagers for transport from the feeding
grounds of the

Rann of Kutch. It had a plentiful supply of asses.

There is no depiction of the true horse or chariot in the ruins of the
Indus civilization
irrespective of what is written or what is read by Indian scholars and
historians. The
attempt to do so otherwise makes one suspicious of their true
intentions. Now, why
should some writers and historians attempt to include the horse and
chariot in the Indus
and give it an Aryan character? Whatever the motive is only exposes
the agenda or
angle from which the writer or historian is coming from. Whatever that
is does not
concern me. What concerns me is the point that the Indus is not an
Aryan entity and
had never been one. Here, I will enunciate several points and
arguments that the Indus
was just the Indus and nothing else.

As I said before, the Indus has never possessed a mythology of the
horse nor of the
chariot. We have not seen any images of the chariot or horse in the
seals of the Indus
nor in its writing , however much has been deciphered. We have not
seen people of the
Indus interacting with the horse and chariot as illustrated in other
civilizations, nor have
we seen any evidence of horse trading on the seals with other
countries. A high
civilization such as the Indus with writing and no mention of the
horse nor its images is
very, very baffling. In the archaeological record of other
civilizations there are
depictions of the horse and chariot either in battle, riding postures,
or simply interacting
with its citizens. This lack of integration in the Indus, the lack of
evidence of breeding,
the lack of describing of the colors of horses and lack of training is
preponderant and
the Indus either did not receive horses from the Aryans or their
civilization collapsed
before the Aryans moved in.

THE BRONZE AGE HORSE

Book Two, the oldest book of the Rig Veda first mention the horse in
Hymn I, Verse 5
and give a description as a steed and we all know that the Rig Veda is
full of such
descriptions of this animal. As a nomadic tribe or tribes, the Aryans
came from the
steppes and we read of their nomadic life on the banks of the northern
rivers of India.

How they worship the horse, revere it, care for it and ultimately
sacrifice it according
to their religion. The horse is the main pillar of the lifestyle of
the Aryan tribes and
their daily life and activities is centered around it. Those writers
who expound so
loftily about horse and faunal remains of these animals in the cities
of the Indus are
forgetting one central point. The writings and seals of the Indus so
far have not uttered
one word of horses existing in the civilization nor have the seals and
language of the
Indus depicted any horse strappings as saddles, bits and bridles. Nor
have there been
depictions of authentic parts of chariots such as yokes, six-spoked
wheels, fellies or
any such parts. All this is known in the pages of the Rig Veda. The
fact is that the
Aryans worshipped a religion dominated by the horse and every Indo-
European
religion is similar to that of the Aryans of India.

The horse first made it appearance in Greece around 2100BC with a well
developed
mythology and so do Troy with its famous Trojan horse around 1900 BC.
Later on,
Egypt possessed the horse due to the invasion of the Hyksos in 1700BC.
Although,
every stone has been literally overturned in the Indus in quest of the
horse, nothing
has been found. So much so in some quarters, much ado about nothing is
being made of
about the very name of the horse in India. Doubts are being cast about
the very existence
of the horse in the pages of the Rig Veda as various writers are now
suggesting that the
word for horse is being used as a symbol in its pages. Decades of
failure to find this
animal in the ruins of the Indus, its maddening existence in the Rig
Veda and its
stumbling block as an obstacle to prove that the Indus was Aryan , has
taken hold the
obsession of writers and historians to now obliterate its very name in
Indian history. The
denial that the horse existed as something real and only as a symbol
is now accepted by
Indian scholars in an effort to clear the way for an Aryan Indus. It
was only recently, that
an effort was made through fraudulent means to concoct a picture of a
horse in a sordid
display of attempted forgery to put the horse in the Indus. This
attempt is how far some
zealous scholars are prepared to go to achieve what they cannot
achieve by legal means.

Why is it that other great civilizations have shown the existence of
the horse and chariot
in its everyday life of war and peace but the Indus cannot produce any
evidence of this
in its history? There can be but one answer to this question and that
is by the time the
Aryans reached the cities of the Indus, they were already abandoned
and the inhabitants
more or less had deserted the cities due to geographical and climate
changes. It was a
time of chaos and confusion which its unsettled people neither had the
time and place to
practice its culture and normal way of life. Strange newcomers with
stranger animals and
vehicles together with climate change gave no time to the Harappans to
include the horse
and chariot in its culture and history.

THE HORSE EVIDENCE

So many writers and scholars have analyzed the horse evidence with
varying degrees
of their opinions on the absence of the horse at the Indus. Horse
evidence by various
historians and scholars have written volumes that remains of horses
have been found
at various places as Rupnagar, Kalibangan, Lothal, Mohenjo-Daro and
other areas
and terracotta images of this animal has also been found in its ruins.
None of these
finds have stood the test of true horses and a glance at these bones
and figures shows
the uncanny resemblance to asses and onagers and hemiones, found in
such numbers
in the Rann of Kutch. Even if for argument sake, that horses were part
of the culture
of the Indus, why is there not a mythology in its culture , why is
there no images or
mention in its writings and seals? Why are there no evidence of
interaction or
integration of the Indus people with this animal? The far fetched idea
that a taboo was
the reason is preposterous and at the same time humorous. How more
serious can you
get? The play with words such as the term as ‘the linguistic horse’ is
another instance
where writers in imagined scenarios stated that Indians emigrated from
India and settled
in Central Asia where they acquainted themselves with horses. If this
is so then, Central

Asia was not the place to know horses but around the foothills of the
Ural Mountains in
the deep steppes of Russia’s Sintashta, over thousands of miles away
to the north. There
they would have witnessed the same sacrificial rites practiced by the
Rig Vedic Aryans
of later India. So much for this scenario and its linguistic term and
its suppositions that
that the archaeological record of India does not have enough horse
remains in the
in the Aryan civilization. It is all well and correct to use the taboo
to find an excuse
for the absence of the horse in the Indus, so why can’t the climate be
used to
accommodate the reason why only a few places in India has horse
remains. The fact
is that the Indus has NO remains of the true horse but the Gandhara
Grave culture among
a few other places do exist with horse remains. The symbolic argument
by some
authors to deny that the Rig Veda of the true existence of the horse
in India is a very
weak one, for as days go by , the Indus is not yielding any evidence
of the horse and
chariot. This fear is gripping Indian academia and new arguments with
weak intonations
are constantly being trumphed up to bolster sagging egos.

VEDIC HORSE MYTHOLOGY

When the Aryans came into India riding horses and chariot, it was a
new phenomenon
never before seen by the indigenous people for these were not wild
horses but
domesticated ones. Those who deny this have only to sift through the
Gandhara Grave
culture in the Swat Valley around 1600 BC. This evidence of horse
remains on the
Indian subcontinent is not disputed and confirms the existence of
horses in Aryan
settlements in northern India. The Rig Vedic attestation of horses and
chariots are
written in the earliest verses of their intrusions into the plains and
river valleys of ancient
India. There are also clear attestation of horse riding in the Rig
Veda in the form of the
Maruts in their journeys on horseback. We read of reins, bits and
bridles being used for
riding in other instances in their history. Now, a nomadic people who
are always on
the move would not chant and sing and compile experiences if they had
not encounter
such things in the past. The horse which was central to their religion
was sacred to their
entire life and the argument that these things were symbols and not
tangible is a weak and
stupid and intellectual dishonest. The opening pages of the Rig Veda
describes the
flames and the sacrifice of the horse or the Ashvamedha as it is known
in our history.

Some writers should be ashamed to play with the word ashva or horse
for this is the
correct word for the horse and not an intangible or symbolic entity to
substitute for the
horse. The horse sacrifice is real in Rig Vedic practice and the
attempt to abolish the
horse as flesh and blood from the pages of the Rig Veda is vicious and
is an effort to
equate the sleepy , metropolitan Indus society to the fresh vigorous
and vibrant nomadic
clans from the steppes of Russia. Indian horse mythology and legend
also describes
the flying horse, similar to the Greek Pegasus, emerging from the
churning of the ocean.

It’s a white horse with two wings which Indra took to his heavenly
abode Svarga and
chopped off its wings to let it remain on earth.

This richness of Indian mythologic horse lore corresponds to other
Indo-European horse
mythologies which is absent in the Indus civilization for without such
mythology, the
Indus could not experience the horse in its environs. The absence of a
horse mythology
contributes to the absence of the horse and its image among its
people.

The Indus Civilization built in the Neolithic Age is one of the
wonders of the ancient
world, peering through the mists of time with its magnificient
buildings, toiletry, baths
and network of roads through which one expects to see a motor car
swerving through
its path. This civilization with its vast network of irrigation, docks
and trading vessels
ranged far and wide beyond India to trade its products. Overland it
used the plentiful
supply of asses and onagers and heavy wooden wagons to trade with its
neighbors but
it did not have the horse. Why? Because the horse did not reach these
trading empires
but were on the fringes of their borders of Central Asia. The trading
ships and companies
do not have any records of lists of horses traded between Mesopotamia,
Sumer and
Bablyon. Trade apart from sailing vessels was carried on in heavy
wooden wagons
hauled by hemiones and onagers and even these were used by the kings
and emperors to
fight in battles as imaged on seals. The advent of the horse changed
everything in these
countries but by that time the Indus civilization had declined and its
inhabitants scattered
to the four winds. Nature had taken its toll. The Indus Civilization
would never
experience the beauty of horseback riding nor the grooming of horses
and their
domestication at the hands of humans. That would be left to the
empires that traded with
Vedic India for the horse was a relative late comer to the rich
empires of the south,
arriving on the fringes of India from the vast steppes of Russia in
the form of Aryan
nomadic tribes, with a new way of life and philosophy and religion and
a new art of war.

The Aryans were notorious cattle rustlers and superb horse breeders.
There is not even
an instance where any Indian writer could point with a clarity of mind
that he or she
could identify that the Indus Civilization knew the horse. The variety
of reasons for this
is that the limitless number of arguments concerning the horse has
been lost by those who
are busy with the obsession of the Aryan Invasion thus, overlooking
important areas of
Indus history which could not accommodate the presence of the horse in
its civilization.

All the arguments, all the bitter acrimony of those who wrote with
such gusto and
glowing richness of purpose that the Indus is Aryan may have India at
heart and that is
admirable. But to argue for something and present papers to further
such a purpose
without any foundation to build upon such arguments is not worth the
while. To argue
for the presence of horses in the Indus Civilization at a time and
period in its history
when such an age does not present archaeological evidence is
stretching Indian history
to the limit. Other civilizations have left us with their history of
the horse and its
mythological lore it played in the lives of men.

Pegasus, the winged steed flew in Greek history, Homer sang of the
horses on the plains
of Troy and of the Trojan horse, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
foretold of the
pestilences of the earth and yes, the Vedic horsemen drove their
chariots across the
Indian sky. And the Indus mythology? I see no horses or horsemen
flashing across the
Indus sky. The Indus people have not left us any written word or
images that would tell
us that their history also contained such animals of mythological
lore.

There is hardly a paper or book that does not imply or describe that
the Indus possessed
horses, horse bones, or remains of horse evidence in its excavations.
As one person puts
it, “ No archaeological evidence from Harappan India has been
presented that would
indicate anything comparable to the cultural and religious
significance or the horse…”

(Hans Hock) The sweeping suggestions by Indian writers and historians
of numerous
versions of Indus expertise that most of the cities of the Indus and
its surroundings are
areas of excavated horse bones and remains, is just a stretch of the
imagination. Even
Prof. Bokonyi could not identify a horse from an ass and he is the
most quoted being
among those who feverishly look for a vestige of this animal in the
ruins of the Indus.

They should pay attention to the astronomical symbols of the Indus
with its telling
absence of the horse on its calendar. This is in contrast with the
Vedic one which has
the horse’s head and even this part of the horse ,putting aside its
whole body is not even
illustrated nowhere in the Indus civilization and its cultural
history.

THE HORSE- A CHARACTERISTIC OF STEPPE LIFE IN INDIA

The rousing denial of those who do not believe in an Aryan Indus and
that India
is not part of the Russian steppe life should realize that the horse
by its very nature
is part of the steppe life from the Russian steppes. Its sacrifice and
burial from the
remote vastness of the Southern Russian steppes just as practiced in
Vedic India
in Aryan times, together with the chariot must be like bitter almonds
to the taste buds
of Indian historians who are trying to rewrite its history. Such a
ritual as practiced
by Vedic Aryans from wherever they came from with this animal tells us
that they
tamed and domesticated the horse, was accustomed to the vastness of
the steppes to
let the animal wander for years and that the ritual was done among the
warrior caste
in its homage. Further, this was not done in isolation but among Indo-
European
peoples in dedication to this powerful animal. The horse and chariot
are steppe
innovations brought to India among other places by migration or
invasion whichever
you chose to believe. It is very strange that one writer stated that
why the horse is not
found in the seals of the Indus is because it is considered taboo by
either the ruling class
or its people. Stranger still, if that is so, writing its name is
taboo too? That is silly. But
some people use their writing to confuse, obfuscate and mystify others
who believe in
the dark arts and probably, that is why we see so much vehemence and
acrimony from
readers coming out from India who fervently believe in an Aryan Indus.
No one has
stopped to think that the ritual of the Ashvamedha by the Vedic Aryans
is a steppe
culture brought by them to India and its part of the mythology of the
horse, a mythology
that is absent from the Indus. As one writer puts it, “It would be
very difficult to dispel
the case made by the great Ashvamedha hymn of dirghatam A auchathya of
the clan of
the gotamas that reeks so strongly of the steppes and not the riverine
valleys of the

Indus.” ( A Quick Look at the Aryan Problem)

Then, there is the suggestion that the Indus with its nearness to the
BMAC and
Afghanistan could have had the horse in its history. Then, what about
the large
bone and faunal findings in the cities of the Indus? It that not
evidence of the
existence of this animal in this civilization? Several writers gone to
great lengths
describing the existence of the horse and chariot at the Indus with
illustrations of
pictures and depictions of bones of horses and chariots. Who do they
think they
are fooling? Those illustrations appearing in articles written by
those who believe
that horses and chariots existed at the Indus are fooling themselves.
Those
pictures of horse remains and bones are nothing but remains of onagers
and hemiones
or half ass that roams the fields of the Indus. They look nothing like
the real
horse that the Aryans brought to India. Much emphasis is placed on
Surkotada where
Indus historians and writers are placing their hopes that the horse
existed there but they
seem not to realize that without a mythology , the horse cannot just
appear in a primitive
society without some historical attachment to its power, virility and
its ability for speed.

Ancient people are not like us, they were very primitive in their
thinking and perception
of things around them, they were cautious and put a cause and reason
for everything that
happens in the world that surrounds them. The animals that the Indus
people etched on
their seals proves that they worshipped and adored them and had the
horse existed there,
surely something in writing would have remained in its ruins. We have
not seen any
interaction with this animal nor its integrative image with the
people. For example,
in other civilizations nearby to the Indus there are evidence that the
horse was there
after it was introduced by Aryan tribes. We see etchings and
depictions of people
riding horses as a method of interaction and its integration in its
society and it would
gather some mythologic accretion to this newly introduced animal. The
Indus has not
provide this kind factual existence nor its mythologic beginnings to
warrant a prehistoric
Indus horse. It has not left any depictions nor imagery of the horse.
Then, why do the
writers and historians persist in this endeavor to prove something
that never existed in
ancient times? This I cannot answer, but nearby civilizations of
Sumer, Mesopotamia
and Bablyon did obtain the horse at a time when Aryan tribes were
pouring and over-
running the rich southern empires of the south but the Indus was
apparently left out.

This is baffling, since as a civilization it traded far and wide and
the absence of the
horse and chariot in its archaeological ruins should not be
surprising, since most likely
it was already in ruins due to some ecological and geographical
disaster. The massive
effort to provide a horse for the Indus, even by fraud is surprisingly
taken lightly by
intellectuals and their supporters and this does not bode well for
Indian history. Even
horse trade did not make it any easier for the Indus to have a horse
and this great trading
civilization with its mystifying seals and scripts still have
brilliant linguists and
historians puzzled even today in their attempts to decipher them. The
writings of the
Indus like the horse seem to elude the searchers of that piece of
evidence that will
clinch it for posterity.

THE HORSE IN INDIA BUT NOT AT THE INDUS

The myth that there are horse bones and remains in the Indus Valley
sites and that
excavations have also found such remains in pre-Indus areas are just
what they are-
a myth. The claim that chariots have also been used in the cities of
the Indus are
also a myth and the writers and historians who compose these writings
have not
been able to provide evidence to prove their points. These claims are
the jumping
off points from the case of the supposedly dead theory of the Aryan
Invasion which
is now being used to marshal and stitch together a patchwork for an
Aryan Indus.

This theory now being propagated by writers and historians can only
fail because of
historical circumstances which when laid out here will show that it is
impossible
for the Indus to become Aryan. An ancient seal of Abbakalla UR III
around
2050-2040 BC images of people riding horses, BMAC seal impression also
shows
around 2100- 1700 BC riders of horses. These are two of the oldest
images of
people riding horses .( The Horse, the Wheel and Language – David ,W.
Anthony)
The expansion of the Aryans into Mesopotamia and Syria introduced the
horse and
chariot culture to these areas. Sumerian texts from ED IIIb Ngirsu
(2500-2350 BC )
already mention the chariot (gigir) and Ur III texts (2150-2000 BC)
mention the

horse (anshe-zi-zi) (Wikipedia –Indo-Iranians)

It is strange is it not that these civilizations have a word for the
horse and chariot but
the Indus which our writers are desperately searching for a horse does
not have a
name for it. But they are searching for the animal. The other
civilizations have
the horse and chariot and rides horses at a time when the Indus is at
its peak and is
able and has the ability to write in its records and carvings of
humans riding horses
but not so the Indus. But the reason that is given for the absence of
the horse is that
of a taboo as one writer puts it. How is it that the Indus Aryanists
are searching for
an Indus horse and its neighbors are already riding horses but these
Aryanist writers
are telling us that horse bones exist in the cities of the Indus. How
is it that the
Sumerians and Akkadians are using chariots and riding horses in the
same time
period and all that the Indus Aryanists could come up with nothing but
bones of asses
and hemiones and onagers? How is it that the Sumerians and the
Akkadians are
enjoying horse rides and in this same time period there are no horses
or chariots in
the streets of the Indus? How is it that a proven archaeological fact
that stratified
finds of horse bones and remains are found in the Kachi and Swat
valleys of India on
the border of Sindh / E. Baluchistan around (1700 BC )? Isn’t it
possible that the Indus
could not have the horse because their civilization had already
disintegrated? (Witzel
EJVS)

Unsubstantiated reports and writings by Indian writers and historians
are kept churning
out to keep the controversy growing. Already, the Indus has yielded a
lot of
archaeological evidence but so far nothing about the horse. And it
will not ever yield
such remains simply because the horse was never at the Indus. Keep on
dreaming.

Juven Bachan, on May 3rd, 2009 at 3:55 pm Said:
Ever since the Aryan Invasion theory was disregarded( though some
still believe in it) there has been an
escalating and sustaining effort to restructure the Indus as an Aryan
or Vedic civilization by Indian writers
and historians and some fellow travelers. It is universally agreed
that the Aryans were a pastoral and
nomadic tribe who apparently left no tangible archaeological remains
in their intrusion to the well organized
urban cities of the Indus. Arguments back and forth has been going on
for years, with the pro- Aryan Indus
writers bitterly defending their position that the Indus is Aryan and
the other side rejecting it with the horse
argument, stating that there was no true horse in the cities of the
Indus. But then, the pro-Aryan Indus
supporters are claiming that horse remains has been found in all
levels of the Indus, thus making the
civilization Aryan. Such too is the argument for the chariot. Foreign
scholars in their opinions,does not
view it this way and thus to the chagrin of the Indian scholars, a lot
of rage and anger now passes under
the bridge, so to speak. The Aryans who originated from the vast
steppes of Southern Russia, brought a
few customs and rites that were entirely new to the citizens of the
Indus and to the rest of India. These
steppe customs include the rite of cremation, the new innovation of a
war chariot, with spoked wheels
instead of heavy wooden ones as was found in other civilizations,
shaft holed axes and swords, the swift
horse, quite different from the onager and hemiones found in the
region, a new religion , the horse sacrifice
and in general a new way of life and a new language. The intrusion of
this new people with their strange
rites and customs must have fascinated the locals, especially their
way of burying their dead after its
cremation. But the most fascinating probably was the horse sacrifice.
This custom of letting the horse to
wander and then sacrifice it to bring prosperity to the Aryans ,
though brutal and a bit fiendish, was done to
exalt the power of the animal. Archaeological discoveries of the
burial of sacrificed horses in the homelands
of the Aryans in the far reaches of the steppes at Sintashta and
Petrovka is explicitly described in the Rig
Veda and truly distinguished the urbanite Indus citizens from the
nomadic Aryans. Here is a rite that
cuts deeply in the differences of the two civilizations. The search
for the trail of the Aryans by those who
believe that the horse did not exist at the Indus can sure sink their
teeth into this argument with the idea that
the Indus could not have possess horses as the Indus Aryanists
propose, for if they were indigenous Aryans
some remains of burial of horses and evidence of horse sacrifice would
have been in the archaeological
ruins and burial grounds. The Indus has not provided such evidence. If
their argument that the Indus cities
were as old as 3300 BC, then where are remains of sacrificed horses?
And Aryans whose life revolves
around the horse consider this rite as very important. The Ashvamedha
argument , can destroy the claims of
Indus Aryanists in their quest for such an entity. The horse argument
can easily slip out of the hands of
Indus Aryanists with those who reject the existence of the horse at
the Indus. If the horse existed at the
supposed Aryan Indus, archaeological evidence will have to be shown
that all the rites and customs
associated with this animal is true. We can’t have horses at an Aryan
Indus civilization and there are no
horse sacrifices for these peoples’ religion demand that the horse be
revered and exalted, since they come
from an Indo-European heritage and culture that believed in the
sacredness and its lore of mythologic
worship. The mythology of the horse is absent from the Indus
civilization because the horse was absent
from its pantheon and heritage. This consistent energy by Indus
Aryanists in battering their way for an

Aryan Indus will eventually , I think disappear.

JayM, on May 31st, 2009 at 12:44 pm Said:
Juven,

Your argument is based completely on the domestication of the horse.
First of all there is no record of a chariot to have existed before
2000 BC inside or outside of India. There is also the very large FACT
that the overwhelming majority of the current Indian population is the
same since the initial out of Africa migration.

As for your so-called Andronovo culture, there have been no trace
elements of that culture warrior interment or timber-frame substance
have been found in India at all. The European aryanists were the ones
to have originally introduced race into the whole issue and claim
themselves to be the master race, relative to the mud races (of
course).

The Sarasvati River is agreed upon by most scholars to be the Ghaggar-
Hakra River, which of course could not be any closer to Europe.

There is no mention of a migration at all in the Vedic texts.

As the Rig-Veda was found at earliest based on physical evidence at
around 1500BC it does not seem impossible for horse-drawn chariots to
have been come into existence a few centuries prior. There are also
references to elephants, camels asses, buffalos, guars, wolves,
hyenas, peacocks, geese, lions. sheep and mountain goats. Elephants of
course being far from the arid deserts of Central Asia.

To suggest that Indo-Aryan branched off from Indo-European would be to
say that the original language had come to India and then decided to
leave.

As for your theory about people migrating from cooler climates to
warmer climates, if that were the case then people would never have
left Africa. First of all do not forget the fact that there was an ice
age. Europe was not inhabitable by many up until around 35,000 years
ago, it was then when the climate started to warm that increased
migrations into Europe from through the Eurasian steps had occurred.
If you look at the East Asian migration from out of Africa you would
see that they also went up north and then eventually to the point of
crossing the land bridge and arriving in the Americas.

The whole Aryan Migration theory is based on pure speculation, the
evidence is “linguistic” not genetic or physical, as the Andronovos
did not have.

The latest definite remains of a horse is at 1600BC which still does
not rule out the Out of India theory. There have also been horse
remains discovered in India from 2265 BC to 1480 BC near Allahabad.
There have been horse remains from 2200BC in Lothal, Kutasi 2300-1900,
and Surkotada from 2400-1700. The earliest chariot found in
Mesopotamia at around 1800BC, and the Equus sivalensis an extinct
species may have been alternative to the horse used . There was a
written passage in the Rig-Veda that referred to horse traders, it is
not realistic to think that trade between Mesopotamia and Central Asia
was impossible.

The earliest depiction of a horse used in warfare was in Sumer at
2500BC. Many near-eastern civilizations themselves have remains of the
horse, yet they do not possess and non-circumstantial evidence until a
date closer to that of India.

While the horse has not been found on any Indus Valley seal thus far,
neither has any cow been found, and yet large bovine bones have been
found. There is also the very large fact that there have been no
uncontroversial bone remains of a horse found in the BMAC culture as
well. So it is hypocrisy to reject the Indus Valley claim for horse
remains and then claim that the Aryans had come from central Asia
through that land. There are no timber graves present south of the
Oxus river which would seem foreign to Andronovo culture, or at the
minimum very peculiar. The archeological data for the Andronovo
penetration into Bactria and Margiana is at a very minimal extent even
in itself. The data itself only goes as far as the Central Asian
steppes, and it would be a stretch to point out as noted by Bryant
that it could reach as far as Medes, Persia or India.

Juven Bachan, on July 25th, 2009 at 11:15 pm Said:
You did not give your name but you said, “The earliest depiction of a
horse used in warfare was in Sumer at 2500BC. Many near eastern
civilizations themselves have remains of the horse..” Here you admit
that the surrounding empires possessed the horse. True ,but why is the
Indus bereft of horses and chariots at a time that these kingdoms used
these new technologies? This is strange. Is it not? Sumer, Babylonia
and the Akkadian people have depictions of humans riding horses or
using chariots. Frawley says this is taboo. A highly educated man as
Frawley and Indian scholar would consider taboo as the main cause for
the absence for horses at the Indus. At a time in their history when
these empires were very aggressive and warlike they showed off their
horse and chariots. Frawley won’t fool me. His inability to find a
proper excuse for the absence of the horse at the Indus is
inexcusable. The simple fact is that whenever something is new in one
country, it turns up in another country. It did not happen in the
Indus. Why? Several causes may have played out here. (a) The Indus was
already fallen, (b) the people had already fled the cities. (c)
Natural causes such as flooding and earthquakes , (d) The arrival of
Indo-Europeans , meant the takeover of society and culture. Frawley
may have proved that there was no Aryan invasion but his reasoning for
the absence of the horse and its mythology at the Indus is succinctly
incorrect.

Certa, on August 11th, 2009 at 7:56 pm Said:
Juven,

You still seem to have not have addressed the fact that there is no
evidence of a link between the domestication of the horse in Central
asia and the transition of it to South asia.

There have been some disputed remnants of the horse left in the indus
valley, however they remain controversial.

It is your assertion that the horse arrived from Central Asia to India
via the aryans, however there has not been any material which proves
that to be the case.

There is not enough evidence at this point however that would settle
the argument of the horse arriving in India via the aryan migration.

The PIE central asian theory was based on the invention of a new
language, and all other points surrounding that theory are merely to
rationalize that point of view.

http://kedarsoman.wordpress.com/2006/12/25/a-new-perspective-on-aryan-migration-to-indus-civilization/

chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 20, 2010, 9:34:27 AM2/20/10

HOW OLD IS OUR CIVILIZATION -

Arun Kumar Upadhyay

1. Surya-siddhanta View-Surya siddhanta tells that in 7th Manvantara,
it is 28th yuga of 43,2000 years each in which part yuga kali started
in 3102 BC. Each manvantara is of 71 yugas. In a day of Brahma,
called Kalpa, there are 1000 yugas, divided into 14 manvantaras of 71
yugas each. At beginning and end of kalpa and between manvantara,
there are 15 sandhyas (junction periods) of 1 satya yuga each. Kali is
10th part of 1 yuga, i.e. of 4,32,000 years. In each yuga-Satya,
treta, dvapara, kali of 4, 3, 2, 1 parts come in that order. Thus the
total time elapsed since creation or day of Brahma is-

6 manvantaras of 71 yugas each +7 sandhya of satya-yugas of 17,28,000
years each +27 completed yugas of 43,20,000 years each + part yugas in
current yuga-Satya (17,28,000 years) + Treta (12,96,000 years) +
Dvapara (864,000 years) till 3102 BC.

This comes to 1,97,31,44,000 years of the total day of Brahma of 432
crore years. After deducting 47400 x 360 years spent in creation, it
is 1, 95, 58,80,000 years till start of kali.

Sri Vasudeo Poddar in his book-Vishva ki Kala Yatra- has assumed that
two-day nights of Brahma of 864 crore years each have passed and it is
the time in 3rd day. Thus the total time passed is about 1926 crore
years. This tallies with the modern estimates of 10 to 25 billion
years life of cosmos. Third day of Brahma has been indicated in-
Bhavishya pu, pratisarga (1/1/3), Yajurveda (12/75), Rigveda
(10/97/1), Brahmanda (1/2/6/5-9,16,51,52, 61, 70, 76) and (2/3/1/8).

Aryabhata has taken 1 kalpa of 14 manvantaras of 72 yugas each, i.e. 1
kalpa =1008 yugas. He takes 4 equal part-yugas each of 10,80,000
years. Here also, kali started on 17-2-3102 BC.

(2) Historic Yuga-This has been called Ayanabda or Brahmabda in
Bhavishya, pratisarga (1/1/3) or Vayu purana (9/46, 23/40-55, 31/3,
33/5). This is based on precession of equinoxes in 26000 years called
a manvantara in Brahmanda purana (1/2/9/36, 37). 26000 years before
kali Svayambhuva Manu had come. 16000 years or 43 yugas after him
Vaivasvata Manu came followed by 28 yugas of 360 years each (Matsya
purana 129/76, 77). This is based on the real glacial cycle which is
result of two motions as per Milankovitch theory (1923)-(1) Rotation
of major axis of earth orbit in 100,000 years, and (2) precession of
earth axis in 26000 years in reverse direction. When earth is at
apogee of orbit and simultaneously North Pole is farther side, then
glaciations occurs. When the two are in opposite ends, glacial floods
occur. Mathematically, this should occur in 21,600 year cycle, but
practically, it happens in a cycle of 24,000 years. That is divided
into 2 halves-(1) Avasarpini in order of Satya, Treta, Dvapara, Kali
of 4800, 3600, 2400, and 1200 years, (2) Utsarpini yuga in reverse
order of Kali, Dvapara, Treta, Satya. In historic context, divya year
is of 365.25 days compared to Manusha years of 12 moon revolutions in
327 days each. Thus, Saptarshi era is told of 2700 divya or 3030
manush years. (Vayu purana 57/17, 99/419, Brahmanda 1/2/29/16). The
same puranas tell Dhruva or Kraunch year of 9090 manusha years or 8100
divya years. This is 3 times saptarshi year. This appears to have
started from Vaivasvata Manu in 13,902 BC (Satya +treta+ dvapara
before 3102 BC). Thus Svayambhuva Manu was in initial Treta. Third
Brahmabda has started with Vaivasvata Manu after whom Avasarpini
started. Svayambhuva was in previous Treta of second Brahmabda (Vayu
purana 23/40, 31/3, 33/5) Prior to that first Brahmabda started in
61,902 BC- i.e. 2 x 24000 years before Vaivasvata Manu. This cycle of
24000 years has been accepted for long term correction from tradition
by Brahmagupta (Brahma-sphuta-siddhanta, madhyamadhikara,, 60,61) and
Bhaskara-II in Siddhanta-Shiromani (Bhu-paridhi 7,8).

Saptarshi era stated in 3076 BC i.e. in kali year 25 when
Yudhisthira expired after 25 years of Sanyasa (Rajatarangin 1/101 ). 1
Dhruva cycle before that was in 11,176 BC-when glacial flood started
after Vaivasvata Yama. 2 Dhruva cycle before in 19,296 BC was
supremacy of Asuras based in Kraunch Dvipa (North America in shape of
Heron bird). Later on this was captured in time of Karttikeya. Thus it
is called Krauncha year also. 3 Dhruva year before, king Dhruva
expired after which Dhruva era started (Bhagavata purana etc) in 27,
376 BC. About 1700 years before that is time of Svayambhuva Manu whose
son (descendant) Uttanapada was father of Dhruva. Elder brother of
Uttanapada was Priyavrata who had measured solar system up to Uranus
(Bhagavata purana, skandha 5). Konrad Elst and K.D. Sethna have
assumed saptarshi vatsara of 3600 years without any basis to suit
their assumptions. (http://www.indicstudies.us/Astronomy/)

3. Greek writers-All Greek writer starting with Herodotus (quoting
Homer), Megasthenes and later writers quoting him have unanimously
stated that India is only country where no migration has taken place.
At one place, he had written that India had never attacked any country
since 15000 years (before Megasthenes). That was omitted in later
editions 15000 years was omitted, but all tell that India neither
captured others nor was attacked except by Dionysus. From Dionysus to
Alexander in 36 BC, July, there was gap of 6451 years 3 months. In
which 154 generations of Indian kings ruled. It is stated that King
Bahu of Surya vansha had been killed by yavanas helped by Haihaya and
Talajanghas (Brahmanda purana 2/3/63 etc.). His son Sagara retaliated
and expelled yavana from west border of India (Arab) to Greece when it
was called Ionia (Herodotus). Sagara had given goat shaped beard to
Turushkas, Parthians which is still kept by muslims with pride. Thus,
Bahu was killed in 6777 BC, April month. Parashurama (incarnation of
Vishnu =Hercules) was 15 generation later. After his death, kalamba
(Kollam) year started in Kerala in 6177 BC. His destruction of kings
21 times has been indicated as 120 years of democracy in 3
generations. Thus start of 21 republics was in 6297 BC. Parashurama
must have been at least 35 years then, i.e. born in 6330 BC. By
calculating yuga parts of 360 years (10 parts in Treta), Parashurama
(6330-6177 BC) comes in 19th and Rama (4433-4361 BC) in 24th Treta as
indicated in vayu purana, chapters 70, 86, 98). Dattatreya was in 10th
and Bali (Asura king-Vamana period) was in 3rd Treta. Only attack by
India is mentioned as 15000 years before Megasthenes. That was by
Karttikeya who trounced Kraunch dvipa (north America). Effect is still
visible in that same maori culture exists in Hawaii and Newzealand
separated by 15000 kms of ocean. Maori is named after army of
Karttikeya called Mayura (peacock) as counter to Krauncha (Heron)-name
of Asura kingdom. His time has been indicated in Mahabharata, vana
parva, chapter 230. Then Pole star had shifted from Abhijit (Vega) and
year started with sun in Dhanishtha (Delphini). Till today, panchaka
starts when moon is in 5 stars starting with Dhanishtha. That is
system of Vedanga jyotish. But it is assumed that year started with
start of uttarayana (north ward motion of sun) with Dhanishtha in
2983BC. But fall (shift) of pole from Vega started in 16400 BC and
continued for about 2000 years. Thus, Dhanishtha must be at start of
dakshinayana (south motion of sun) in 15800 BC (half of equinox cycle
of 25800 years). That tallies with assessment that India did not
attack other country for 15000 years before Megasthenes (15500
years).

Greek references are given below. Palibothri is on banks of Yamuna
in Prasii and its kings are called Palibothri. Delhi on banks of
Yamuna was also called Prabhadraka (walled town, fort). Commandants
and men of that cantonment were called Prabhadraka-gana. In Kashmir
also, there is a place called Bhadravah which must be cantonment area
there. Persons of that place are still called Bhadauria Rajputs. Even
after becoming muslim, many families are called Bhadauria. Palibothri
was built by Hercules and there was a pillar there. Kutub Minar means
Vishnu-dhvaja or Pillar of Hercules. Shadow of pole is used for
finding north-south direction (called Traversing in survey). Sun is
called Vishnu, so it is Vishnu-dhvaja. Sun has caught earth in its
gravitation, so Hercules (Sun) is shown lifting earth. The smallest
shadow is when sun is at top-called kutup muhurtta. Locus of shadow
end is in shape of kutup (funnel). It is bisected by fish (mina) which
is common part between two arcs or circles. So, north south direction
is Kutup (b)-Minar and compass is Kutub-numa. Some reference are given
below-

Megasthenes:Indika-http://projectsouthasia.sdstate.edu/docs/history/
primarydocs/Foreign Views/GreekRoman/Megasthenes-Indika.htm

(37.) India,… Owing to this, their country has never been conquered by
any foreign king: (38.) It is said that India, being of
enormous size when taken as a whole, is peopled by races both numerous
and diverse, of which not even one was originally of foreign descent,
but all were evidently indigenous; and moreover that India neither
received a colony from abroad, nor sent out a colony to any other
nation.

(39.) Herakles also was born among them…. He was the founder, also, of
no small number of cities, the most renowned and greatest of which he
called Palibothra.

FRAGM. LVI. Plin. Hist. Nat. VI. 21. 8-23. 11. List of the Indian
Races.

(22.) …The river Jomanes flows through the Palibothri into the Ganges
between the towns Methora and Carisobora

BOOK IV. FRAGM. XLVI. Strab. XV. I 6-8,--pp. 686-688.

6. But what just reliance …….Its people, he says, never sent an
expedition abroad, nor was their country ever invaded and conquered
except by Herakles and Dionysos in old times, and by the Makedonians
in our own…. Herakles among the Greeks, carried his arms to the
Pillars

FRAGM. L. C. Plin. Hist. Nat.VI. xxi. 4-5. Of the Ancient History of
the Indians.

For the Indians stand almost alone among the nations in never
having migrated from their own country. From the days of Father
Bacchus to Alexander the Great, their kings are reckoned at 154, whose
reigns extend over 6451 years and 3 months.

Solin. 52. 5.-- Father Bacchus was the first who invaded India, and
was the first of all who triumphed over the vanquished Indians. From
him to Alexander the Great 6451 years are reckoned with 3 months
additional, the calculation being made by counting the, kings who
reigned in the intermediate period, to the number of 153.

http://ia311205.us.archive.org/2/items/AncientIndiaAsDescribedByMegasthenesAndArrian/HTML/0000%20-%200044.htm

22. Same as (38) above.

Ancient India as described by Arrian-

http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Indica.html

[Excerpted from Arrian, "The Indica" in Anabasis of Alexander,
together with the Indica, E. J. Chinnock, tr. (London: Bohn, 1893),
ch. 1-16]

From Dionysus to Sandracottus the Indians reckoned 153 kings, and
6,042 years. During all these years they only twice asserted their
freedom; the first time they enjoyed it for 300 years, and the second
for 120. They say that Dionysus was earlier than Heracles by fifteen
generations, and that no other ever invaded India for war, not even
Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, though he marched against the Scythians,
and in other matters was the most meddlesome of the kings of Asia.
However they admit that Alexander came and overcame in battle all the
nations whom he visited, and that he would have conquered them all if
his army had been willing. But none of the Indians ever marched out of
their own country for war, being actuated by a respect for justice.

4. Deliberate falsehoods by Oxford- Megasthenes had come at start of
Gupta period which was known to Vincent Smith (Early History of India,
page 206) and R.C. Mazumdar (Ancient India, page 138) also who have
quoted him to give strength of army of Andhra kings. This is possible
only when he had come in period of Gupta who were Andhra-bhritya (i.e.
servants of Andhra kings at capital Patna). In Period of Ashoka, his
13th pillar inscription is clear that Andhra was a subordinate state.
In all web-sites of Andhra Pradesh, it is quoted for glory of Andhra,
but for general history, they all revert back to Megasthenes in Maurya
period. Sri Mazumdar omitted this reference in his later 3 volume book
in collaboration with K.K. Dutta and H.C. Raychaudhuri. For this
obedience to Oxford by telling falsehood, he was made general editor
of 12 volume history by Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan. Some links-

(1) www.bihar.cc/index.php?article=an-article-on-patna - 9k- Sri R,C.
Mazumdar in his ancient India (page 138) has written that Pliny has
quoted Megasthenese for giving strength of Army of Andhra kings. ...

(2) The early history of India By Vincent A. Smith Page 206-
http://books.google.com/books?id=
8XXGhAL1WKcC&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=Army+of+Andhra
+kings&source=bl&ots=Pfb41J7bZf&sig=qOKZj44EAj12UEqO10q6tzwhuzQ&hl=en&ei=tBTrSf
4L06APb3uDEAw&sa= X&oi= book_result&ct=result&resnum=5

(3) http://www.vepachedu.org/Andhra-Telangana.html

(4) http://www.aponline.gov.in/quick%20links/hist-cult/history.html-
Megasthenese, who visited the Court of Chandragupta Maurya (B.C.
322--297), mentioned that Andhra country had 30 fortified towns and an
army of 1,00,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 1,000 elephants. Ashoka
referred in his 13th rock edict that Andhras were his subordinates.

(5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andhra_Pradesh.

5. Mahabharata-After mahabharata war and 1 month mourning,
Yudhishthira became king. After 5 days, Bhishma passed away at
beginning of north motion of sun on 22 December. In that period
Parikshita also was born. After 36 year rule, Kali started on
17-2-3102 BC when Krishna passed away. Thus coronation of Yudhishthira
was on 17-12-3139 or roughly 3138 BC. After about 2 months of kali,
Yudhishthira went for abhyudaya to Himalayas, when Jaya samvatsara
started after Vijaya at start of Kali. That is Jayabhyudaya shaka.
After 25 years of sanyasa, Yudhishthira died in kali year 25, from
when Laukikabda started. Mahabharata was a world war, so it is taken
as deluge all over world. But real deluges were in 31000 and 10000 BC.
See dates on http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/ancient/mahabharat/mahab_patnaik.html.

Nanda was coronated in 1534 BC, 1504 years after birth of Parikshita,
called 1500 years in all puranas. This was changed by Wilson and
Partgiter to 1050 in Vishnu purana by manipulation, but they did not
understand Saptarshi era and left the original. Then Shudraka era in
756 BC (Jyotisha-darpana of Yallaya) and Sriharsha Shaka in 456 BC (Al-
Biruni) started. This 300 years period is the second period of
Democracy (Malava-Gana) mentioned by Greeks.

6. Shankaracharya-His period of 509-477 BC has been shifted to 788-820
AD. All students read contradictory versions and accept it, because
they cannot pass without writing false. 90% of students of History
honours keep Hindi as side subject in all Hindi states. In history of
Hindi literature, they read that Gorakhnath had united India with 4
pithas at Jajpur, Kamrup, Purna and Jalandhar. When Sindh was
captured by Mohammed bin Kasim in 712 AD, he made an alliance between
Nagabhata Pratihar and Bappa Raval of Mewar. Nathapanthis started
literature in local languages then. That is birth of Hindi, Oriya,
Bangla, Assamese, Gujrati and Marathi. Same students in History paper
accept that as period of Shankaracharya who did shastrartha in
Sanskrit. It is not known as to which muslim scholar was doing
shastrartha in Sindh. Veda period in 1500 BC is totally arbitrary, but
is accepted because it is given by Maxmuller. So far I have not seen
any reference for that date, except blind devotion to Oxford.

6.References-See Articles-Shaka and Samvatsara, Sankhya-siddhanta on
these web-sites-

(1) www.scribd.com/Arunupadhyay, (2) www.hindu-tva.com googlepages.com/
kalaganana.pdf

http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:hzKTpMx_QmUJ:www.divyabharat.com/articles/downloads/VEDIC%2520CIVILIZATION%2520HOW%2520OLD.doc+Dr+Conrad+Elst+Sid+Harth&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

http://www.divyabharat.com/articles/downloads/VEDIC%20CIVILIZATION%20HOW%20OLD.doc.

http://rac.sagepub.com/cgi/pdf_extract/34/4/83

http://www.islam-watch.org/articles.htm

chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 20, 2010, 9:53:55 AM2/20/10

Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims
02 Jan, 2001

Part II: Addendum

We have received a few complaints that Islam-watch, particularly its
forum, has allowed a free rein to Hindu propagandists. In recent
weeks, we have been repeatedly smacked for misrepresenting Hinduism in
our Website, the latest being Ms Eka's article, Freedom of Mind. In
this context, although a digression, I am posting this old essay of
Abul Kasem. I wish to assure the doubters of our mission that we
remain committed to a liberal, progressive ideal. - Editor

Note from Author: If you think that only Islam mistreats women (which
I have personally delved in extensively), perish that thought. Here is
how Hinduism treats women. I did not publish this for a long time not
to offend many Hindu readers. But it is essential to expose the
misogynist nature of all ancient religions for a humane, just, and
progressive society to emerge. Please feel free to comment and prove
what is written in this article wrong.

Women in Vedas

Soma Sablok, The Indian Constitution, guarantees equal rights to both
the sexes and does not discriminate on the basis of caste, color and
creed. However, despite the constitutional provisions, do women enjoy
equality with men?

The answer is 'No'. Their condition still remains miserable. Newspaper
carry report of rape and burning of women for not bringing sufficient
dowry or their inability to satisfy the demands of greedy in laws.

Our present attitude towards women, undoubtedly, streams from our
religious scriptures, which refer to women with contempt. Our oldest
book are the 'Vedas', which contain highly objectionable and
condemnable passages concerning women. Taking cue from the 'Vedas'
authors of subsequent religious scriptures referred to women in more
contemptuous form. 'Sati pratha' (custom of burning widows with the
body of their husbands), 'Dasi Pratha' (keeping the slave-girls),
'Niyog Pratha' (ancient Aryan custom of childless widow or women
having sexual intercourse with a man other than husband to beget
child), were among cruel customs responsible for the plight of the
women.

Naturally, seeking shelter under such religious sanctions,
unscrupulous women disgraced women to the maximum possible extent and
made them means of satisfying their lust. No one wanted a daughter. As
a result; female infant came to be considered unwanted. No one wanted
a daughter. Everyone was interested in having a son. The birth of the
son was celebrated, but the birth of the daughter plunged family into
gloom. This attitude still persists, even though certain other customs
have undergone changes.

'Rig Veda' itself says that a women should beget sons. The newly
married wife is blessed so that she could have 10 sons. So much so,
that for begetting a son, 'Vedas' prescribe a special ritual
called 'Punsawan sanskar' (a ceremony performed during third month of
pregnancy). During the ceremony it is prayed:

"Almighty God, you have created this womb. Women may be born somewhere
else but sons should be born from this womb" [Atharva Ved 6/11/3]

"O Husband protect the son to be born. Do not make him a
women" [Atharva Ved 2/3/23]

In 'Shatpath Puran (Shatpath Brahman)' a sonless women has been termed
as unfortunate.

'Rig Veda' censures women by saying:

"Lord Indra himself has said that women has very little intelligence.
She cannot be taught" [Rig Ved 8/33/17]

Hindu scriptures in other places say:

"There cannot be any friendship with a women. Her heart is more cruel
than heyna" [Rig Ved 10/95/15.]

'Yajur Ved (Taitriya Sanhita)- "Women code says that the women are
without energy. They should not get a share in property. Even to the
wicked they speak in feeble manner" [Yajur Ved 6/5/8/2]

Shatpath Puran, preachings of the 'Yajur Veda' clubs women,
'shudras' (untouchables), dogs, crows together and says falsehood, sin
and gloom remain integrated in them. [14/1/1/31]

In 'Aiterey Puran', preaching of the 'Rig Veda' in Harsih Chandra -
Narad dialogue, Narad says: "The daughter causes pain"

Despicable

To insult and humiliate women further, the Hindu scriptures depict
women of having sexual intercourse with animals or expressing desire
for intercourse with them. What greater insult can be heaped upon
women than this!

Such references are found at a number of places in Yajur Veda, where
the principal wife of the host is depicted as having intercourse with
a horse. For example, consider the following hymn:

"All wife of the host reciting three mantras go round the horse. While
praying, they say: 'O horse, you are, protector of the community on
the basis of good qualities, you are, protector or treasure of
happiness. O horse, you become my husband.'" [Yajur Veda 23/19.]

After the animal is purified by the priest, the principal wife sleeps
near the horse and says:

"O Horse, I extract the semen worth conception and you release the
semen worth conception'" [Yajur Veda 23/20]

The horse and principal wife spread two legs each. Then the Ardhvaryu
(priest) orders to cover the oblation place, raise canopy etc. After
this, the principal wife of the host pulls penis of the horse and puts
it in her vagina and says: "This horse may release semen in
me." [Yajur Veda 23/20]

Then the host, while praying to the horse, says:

"O horse, please throw semen on the upper part of the anus of my wife.
Expand your penis and insert it in the vagina because after insertion,
this penis makes women happy and lively" [23/21]

Custom of Polygamy

In the Vedic age, the customs of polygamy was prevalent. Each wife
spent most of the time devising ways and means to become favorite to
her husband. Clear references are available in Rig Veda 14/45, and
Atharva Veda 3/81.

The Aryans in those days used to attack the original inhabitants of
this place, or other tribe within their own race, loot them and snatch
away their women. Thus, these militant, wicked men had more wives.
This custom of polygamy helped a great deal in bringing down the
women.

Rig Ved 10/59 says that Lord Indra had many queens that were either
defeated or killed by his principal wife.

In 'Aitrey Puran', preachings of 'Rig Veda', (33/1), Harish Chandra is
referred to have had 100 wives.

'Yajur Veda' in the context of 'Ashva Medha' (Horse Sacrificing
ceremony) says that many wives of Harish Chandra participated in the
'Yagyna' (religious sacrifice).

In 'Shatpath Puran (Shatpath Brahmin)', preachings [13/4/1/9] of the
Veda, it is written that four wives do service in 'Ashva Megha'. In
another place, Puran [Tatiraity Brahamin, 3/8/4] says wives are like
property.

Not only one man had many wives (married and slave girls), but there
were cases of many men having a joint wife. It is confirmed from the
following hymn in 'Atharva Veda': "O men, sow a seed in this fertile
women" [Atharva Veda 14/1]

Both these customs clearly show that a women was treated like a moving
property. The only difference between the two customs was that whereas
according to former one man had a number of movable properties, in the
latter, women a joint movable property.

'Vedas' also sanction 'Sati Pratha'

Widow was burnt at the funeral Pyre of her husband. The widow was
burnt at the funeral pyre of her husband so that she may remain his
slave, birth after birth and may never be released from the bonds of
slavery.

The Atharva Veda says:

"O dead man following the religion and wishing to go to the husbands
world, his women comes to you."

In the other world also may you give her children and wealth in the
same manner. In the 'Vedas', widow is treated inhumanly. For example
it is mentioned that on death of her husband, the wife was handed over
to some other man, or to her husband younger brother.

Swami Vivekananda opines that even at that time women used to have
sexual intercourse with a person other than her husband to beget a
child. The hymn says:

"O woman, get up and adopt the worldly life again. It is futile to lie
with this dead man. Get up and become the wife of the man who is
holding your hand and who loves you. [Rig Ved 10/18/8]

Apparently this shows that woman is considered to be a property.
Whenever and whosoever desired, could become her master. If the women
was not remarried, then her head was shaved. This is evident from
Atharva Veda (14/2/60).

This custom was obviously meant to disgrace her. For what connection
does shaving of widows head has with the death of her husband? The
condition of widows was miserable. She was considered to be a
harbinger of inauspiciousness and was not allowed to participate in
ceremonies like marriage. This custom is still prevalent in some
places. She has to spend her life alone In Rig Veda there are
references to slave girls being given in charity as gifts. After
killing the men-folk of other tribes, particularly of the native
inhabitants, their women were rounded up and used as slave girls. It
was custom to present slave girls to one other as gifts. The kings
used to present chariots full of slave girls to their kith and kin and
priests (Rig Veda 6/27/8). King Trasdasyu had given 50 slave girls. It
was custom to present slave girls to Saubhri Kandav (Rig Veda 8/38,
5/47/6).

Intercourse without marriage

A slave girl was called 'Vadhu' (wife), with whom sexual intercourse
could be performed without any kind of marriage ceremony. These girls
belonged to the men who snatched them from the enemies, or who had
received them in dowry, or as gifts. Only the men to whom they
belonged could have sexual intercourse with them. But some slave girls
were kept as joint property of the tribe or the village. Any man could
have sexual relations with them. These girls became the prostitutes.
The 'Vedas' also talk about 'Niyog', the custom of childless, widow or
woman having sexual intercourse with a person other than her husband
to beget a child.

In simple words 'Niyog' means sending a married woman or a widow to a
particular man for sexual intercourse so that she gets a son.
Indication of this custom is available in 'Rig Veda' In 'Aadiparva' of
'Mahabharata' (chap. 95 and 103), it is mentioned that Satywati had
appointed her son to bestow sons to the queens of Vichitrvirya, the
younger brother of Bhishma, as a result of which Dhratrashtra and
Pandu were born.

Pandu himself has asked his wife, Kunti, to have sexual intercourse
with a Brahmin to get a son [Aadi Parva, chapters 120–23].

Chastity of woman was not safe

In the name of 'beejdan' (seed donation), they used to have sexual
intercourse with issueless women. This was a cruel religious custom
and the chastity of the women was not safe. The so called caretakers
of the religion were allowed to have sexual intercourse with other
man's wife. From 'Niyog pratha' it can be inferred without fear of
contradiction that women were looked upon as mere child producing
machines.

In The Position of women in Hindu Civilization, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
writes:

"Though women is not married to man, she was considered to be a
property of the entire family. But she was not getting share out of
the property of her husband, only son could be successor to the
property."

Gajdhar Prasad Baudh says [Arya Niti Ka Bhadaphor, 5th ed., p. 14]:

"No woman of the Vedic age can be treated as pure. Vedic man could not
keep even the relations brother-sister and father-daughter sacred from
the oven of rape and debauchery/adultery named 'Niyog'. Under the
influence of intoxication of wine, they used to recognize neither
their sister nor their daughter and also did not keep the relations
with them in mind. It is evident from their debauchery and adultery
what a miserable plight of women was society in then."

In the 'Vedas' there are instances where daughter was impregnated by
her father and the sister by her brother. The following example of
sexual intercourse is found between father and daughter in the 'Rig
Veda':

"When father had sexual intercourse with his daughter, then with the
help of earth he released his semen and at that time the Righteous
Devas (deities) formed this 'Vartrashak (Rudra) Devta' (Pledge keeper
deity named Rudra)" [Atharva Veda 20/96/15].

Women: A Low-grade creature

From the aforesaid account, it is clear that, in the Vedas, women have
been considered to be a low-grade creature. It is high time we expose
scriptures, preaching such inhuman teachings so that they lose their
credibility. Only then can there be a hope on women's liberation, and
of equality between sexes which is guaranteed by Indian constitution.

Here is a rebuttal to this article from R Maliger: http://www.lulu.com/content/6097850

Abul Kasem is an Bengali ex-Muslim and academic. He has contributed in
Leaving Islam - Apostates Speak Out and Beyond Jihad - Critical Voices
from Inside and Why We Left Islam.. He has also written extensively on
Islam in various websites and is the author of five e-Books: A
Complete Guide to Allah, Root of Terrorism ala Islamic Style, Sex and
Sexuality in Islam, Who Authored the Quran? and Women in Islam. Mr.
Kasem leaves in Sydney, Australia. He can be contacted at
abu...@hotmail.com.

Comment:

Name: We will have a healthy debate on this issue
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 00:43:26 -0500

First of all where are the references who has translated these verses
of vedas are missing, please quote the links, books, author. I think
mr qasam neither you know sanskrit nor have gained the spiritual
enlightment in samadhi, so it is somebodys interpretation. I will give
you interpretation with mantras. But it will take time. Please wait.

Name: jenn
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 00:44:54 -0500

Abul kasem i admire your courage for exposing another cult Hinduism
which denegrades women. As a western woman who converted to islam and
was brave enough to escape it , i say that Hinduism is equally
responsible for crimes against Hindu women. Both these rubbish cults
islam and hinduism must be exposed and i once again admire you for
been so honest. well done abul

Name: >>Provide us with link..
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 01:02:09 -0500

I have the book but not able to get this information. Any body can
provide the source of the above stated translation....

Name: devi. rani.
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 01:13:04 -0500

Fantastic !fantastic ...............i cant explain . i also admire
you.

Name: agnostic
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 01:19:00 -0500

Each and every religion, on close scrutiny, will reveal some negative
aspects. However, discussing and debating them on this site will
dilute the focus of this site, and give a false alibi to Muslims. No
matter what the shortcomings of other religions, none of them, except
Islam, teaches hatred and violence against adherent of other
religions.

Name: Abul Kasem
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 01:40:36 -0500

As the editor of IW has mentioned this article is quite old, perhaps
around eight years. If I have to write this article today, it will be
more pungent, its content will be totally unpalatable to civilized
people. Since penning this article I lost interest in Hinduism,
because I was more concerned about Islam and its savagery. Therefore,
I decided to specialize in Islam. Please visit this site for many
verses quoted here. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm Please
note that this site has deliberately excised many indecent,
pornographic, and uncivil verses, especially verses referring to a
woman having sex with animals (horse, especially), incest...etc. Some
translations are quoted with dots.... For a complete reference please
contact a good Hindu library or a Hindu organisation to read the
original translations. In case this is not possible, you may have to
buy the books (especially the Vedas) from India or wherever they are
available. Thanks to those readers who still have some respect for the
dignity of women. In my experience, I have noted that all religion,
without exception is misogyny.

Name: To JENN
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 01:45:09 -0500

Hindu are peaceful so as if they follow the vedhas. Now many hindu do
not follow vedha script. that is the why many hindu are getting
mislead. but the "Jews" are, after all a captive a army for the last
3000 years and boys have they suffered? and so have Hindus,
Christians, Muslims Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists along with everyone
else. But they would have to see what has been done to them and reject
it. Not one single "Jew" I have come across will denounce the Talmud's
hatred. They never condone what happening in Palestine. What I am
trying to expose is the hate that is being wielded upon the whole
World. That in itself is not hating, it is opposing hate. Generally
those who call people who expose this material haters are those who
wish to hide Jewish supremacism from the World. Their law WILL be used
to subjugate everyone and they will reduce World population to below
500 million. And there will be no rapture. Maybe the elite going into
underground bases to escape a global cull, but no rapture. They wrote
that for you.

Name: Satan has many branches of his corporation.
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 02:01:20 -0500

Islam is a violent form of satanic religion while Hinduism is a mild
form of satanic religion. Satan has many branches of his corporation
doing business on earth in different fields from religion to education
to mislead the unwary.

Name: Ilham Abdullah (ex-muslim)
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 02:48:03 -0500

Interesting article. It is my opinion that Islam is the worst of all
the worlds major religions devised by man. Worse than Buddhism,
Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Etc. Though all have doctrinal
falsehoods and other accompanying problems, Islam is the worst of the
lot. Islam has destroyed the lives of innumerable good people.
Mohammed was not the messenger of God. The Quran is not the word of
God. Islams fundamental claims are untrue. Despite it's claims, Islam
prevents peace and the appropriate development of mankind. Islam
ultimately leaves men alone in a state of ignorance indifferent to
truth. It is tragic so many good people are deceived by this
fraudulent religion.

Name: vbv
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 03:13:14 -0500

Aha! There you are making your own translation!Rigveda 10.18.8
actually reads "Rise ,come unto the world of life,O woman: come ,he is
lifeless by whose side thou liest; Wifehood with this thy husband was
thy portion,who took thy hand and woed thee as a lover" You have made
up your own Rigveda . Again you have quoted a supposed vrse from
Athrva Veda20.96.15.There is nothing like what you have stated. I will
quote for you the same Atharva Veda 20.96.15 :- "What rests by thee in
borrowed form of brother,lover,or of lord,And would destroy the
progeny,- even this we will exterminate." This is a far cry from your
made up verses of your supposed Vedas, there is no limit to your
concoctions! The translations I have given is from Ralph Griffth's
translations of Rig Veda and Atharva Veda. Ralph Griffith was not a
Hindu but a British Indologists of repute who lived in the later part
of 19th century. Further Hinduism is not a monolithic system of belief
like the semetic cults where you are an enemy fit to be butchered if
you are not one of them. The practice of Sati came about due to muslim
conquest and the resultant raping spree by the lecherous muslims. Even
then it was only confined to a few areas in Northern part of India. No
sati was practiced in any other part of the country even during muslim
rule. This is rampant with the rajputs only . Today you don't find
this ,except in a rare case in some backward area. Asfor dowry and
bride burning ,this is not ordained by hindu religion or culture but
by human greed to get easy money. Even this is not very common ,but
rare. I can agree only with castism being the real malady of Indian
culture. However there are strict laws against this in force making it
a nonbailable offence. This is guaranteed by constitution. What about
blacks in USA (despite Obama) Canada, Europe? The Europeans practice
some form of apartheid even today. History has proof that christians
abducted and herded blacks from Africa in slavery ,as approved by your
Bible. Islam is notorious that practices slavery even today - the
Asian women,especially South Asian women are lured with an offer of
lucrative job as domestics and then treated in the most inhuman
manner ,sexually assaulted,raped,not paid the promised wages, and many
a time not paid anything at all , the arabs come to India to "marry"
young girls of 9 - 13 years of age just to take them as slaves in
their own country. Can anything be worse and immoral than that! Look
into your own black hearts rather than concoct verses that are
nonexisting in the Vedas!

Name: ab
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 03:14:49 -0500

I am no authority on the Vedas or Hinduism. But before I get into
specifics, let me say that the Hindu scriptures comprising the Vedas,
Upanishads and the Gita laid different rules for different sects of
people according to the caste they were born in and the yuga they were
living in as well. The scriptures have to be studied in its entirety
before you can really comment upon it. In order to understand the
scriptures in its proper sense, a great many commentaries as well as
commentaries on them (sub-commentaries) have been written over a
period of time by great men. One needs to understand all before you
can comment on them. Due to the flexibility offered in the scriptures,
Vedic India saw great prosperity and peace in contrast to the chaos,
hatred and violence prevailing now where people are on the path of
adharma. Hinduism is the only religion where women were treated with
the greatest respect, where women were idolised as Devi, where women
competed with men in knowledge, administration, warfare and every
other aspect of life. Please visit this website http://www.hinduwisdom.info/index_new.htm
which is the creation of a woman and click on the menu “Women in
Hinduism” which will give you a detailed account of the status of
women in Vedic India. I have no arguments about the plight of women in
modern day India that has to improve a lot. But you can see that if
women power, which was at its pinnacle during ancient times, has
progressively worsened with time it is probably due to lot of other
factors and the scriptures have absolutely got nothing to do with the
decline. Getting into specifics, let us take Option no.1 (ie) the
widow has to marry the husband’s younger brother. I suggest you should
research more into this because as far as what I understand this rule
was applicable to the Kshatriya clan during the Vedic times. This was
also applicable only when the king dies without an heir to the throne
and the younger brother marries the king’s wife with the aim of
begetting a son for the throne. This rule is not to be applied in
Kaliyuga (our present yuga) as per the following verse in the
scriptures. Asvalambham gavalambham sanyasam palapatrikam Devarena
sutotpattim kalau panca vivarjayet The meaning of the above verse is
animal sacrifices, meat in sraddha ceremonies and begetting a son by
the husband’s brother are not permitted in the age of Kali. You may
ask why these were permitted then. The Vedic times were possibly the
most glorious of all eras including the Roman, Greek, Islamic or the
Christian eras. The power of spirituality and austerities was so high
and people were always seeking union with the One Truth that certain
things were permitted but the same scriptures foresaw a decline in the
spiritual and moral strength of the people in these present times and
hence banned these. Isn’t this unique to Hinduism which one should
appreciate? it is quite true that there are rules as to how widows
should lead their lives but you should be aware that there are rules
for widowers as well. For example, a widower loses his right to
perform pujas and sacrifices the moment he loses his wife
(Patnivatasya agnihotram bhavati). Women are looked these days as
objects of sensual pleasure, whereas our Vedas call the wife “saha-
dharma-carini”, thus underlying her connection with Dharma. We should
look at both sides and not twist facts as to say that the Vedas say
this about widows just because women’s plight is pathetic today. The
cure for a headache is not in cutting the head but trying to find a
solution for the headache. I quote below from the same website what is
said about the glory of women. This concept of the spiritual equality
of souls naturally influenced the status of women on an individual and
social level. "Where women are honored there the gods are pleased; but
where they are not honored no sacred rite yields rewards," declares
Manu Smriti (III.56) a text on social conduct. "Women must be honored
and adorned by their fathers, brothers, husbands and brothers-in-law,
who desire their own welfare." (Manu Smriti III, 55) " Where the
female relations live in grief, the family soon wholly perishes; but
that family where they are not unhappy ever prospers." (Manu Smriti
III, 57). "The houses on which female relations, not being duly
honored, pronounce a curse perish completely as if destroyed by
magic." (Manu Smriti III, 58) " Hence men who seek their own welfare,
should always honor women on holidays and festivals with gifts of
ornaments, clothes, and dainty food." (Manu Smriti III, 59) In an old
Shakta hymn it is said - Striyah devah, Striyah pranah "Women are
Devas, women are life itself." (source: Bharata Shakti - By Sir John
Woodroffe p. 95). "If a husband dies, a wife may marry another
husband. "If a husband deserts his wife, she may marry
another." (Manu, chapter IX, verse 77). (source: Hindu Superiority -
By Har Bilas Sarda p. 95). In the Vedas, she is invited into the
family 'as a river enters the sea' and 'to rule there along with her
husband, as a queen, over the other members of the family. (Source:
Atharva Veda xiv. i. 43-44). Regarding Sati, there is absolutely no
sanction for it in the Vedas. During Vedic times there were chaste
women who unable to bear the pangs of separation committed Sati
voluntarily. Just read the following verse and understand yourself.
"If a husband dies, a wife may marry another husband. "If a husband
deserts his wife, she may marry another." (Manu, chapter IX, verse
77). (source: Hindu Superiority - By Har Bilas Sarda p. 95). Please
visit this website which is an extensive resource about Hinduism.
http://www.hinduwisdom.info/index_new.htm Regarding your quotes from
the Vedas regarding women, I don't think it can be true though I am no
authority on the Vedas. I will get these clarified from experts and
come back on this.

Name: sat-chit-ananda
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 03:37:21 -0500

There are a great many fantastic tales in the Puranas, Vedas etc, and
many of them are symbolic and not literal. I'm sure there must have
been imperfections in the social customs in ancient India, as there
are imperfections in all societies even today. As regards the factual
correctness of this article I will not comment since one can't be
bothered to go digging up the references and various commentaries
thereon. But this is nothing to do with "core Hinduism", which
consists of the "Yoga Sutras" of Patanjali, the Advaita doctrine of
Adi Shankara, and the philosphical principles expounded in the
Bhagavad Gita. It would be best for Islam-watch to stick to Islam -
its core focus.

Name: Good work
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 03:38:18 -0500

All religions were created by men to fulfil the evil desires. Please
whack all the religions which does not share the current human
decency

Name: To Abul Kasem
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 03:44:12 -0500

How can you say that many verses were removed from that site? I
crosschecked many references u have provided and many (90%) of them
don't exist at all. Now you say they have removed such references. I
am sure you are lying here. If someone is a genuine translator, NO
MATTER WHAT THE CONTENT IS, he/she will still present it AS IT IS.
There are many missionary organizations that twist verses and
distribute them. Coming to some references provided by you: Atharva
veda (6/11/3) states "The father sows the genial seed, the woman tends
and fosters it. This is the finding of a son: thus hath Prajāpati
declared" see the link here www.sacred-texts.com/hin/av/av06011.htm ;
Rig veda 8/33/17 states "The mind of a crooked woman is not stable and
hence she cannot be trusted". Look how you have translated. There are
only 6 verses in Atharva veda (2/3). I don't know how you foubd verse
23 in that chapter. Rig veda 10/95/15 states "There cannot be lasting
friendship with some evil-minded women for such women have hearts of
hyenas". This a general caution against some bad women in society.
Look how you have translated. The so called incest b/w father n
daughter in Atharva veda 20/96/15 is ur hallucination. See the link
provided by urself (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/av/av20096.htm
There is nothing like that mentioned there. Most of the translations
are either wrong or totally bastardi$ed. Rig veda 10/18/8 from the
same website states "Rise, come unto the world of life, O woman: come,
he is lifeless by whose side thou liest.Wifehood with this thy husband
was thy portion, who took thy hand and wooed thee as a lover". Here,
in the context a saintly person is informing that her husband is dead
and there is no soul in his body and hence she should not grieve. As
her karma of spending her life with her husband is over, his soul is
preparing for its next journey while she has to console herself. Dude
Kasem, I dont know why you are twisting verses to suit ur needs. Most
of the verses are like that (see the link u provided). No author will
change the meanings of such verses. It shows your communist agenda.
BTW Bengalis are influenced by communism. A total rebuttal to this
article will be published soon. Janani janmabhoomishcha swargadapi
gariyasi-- mother and motherland are greater than heaven yatra nari
pujyati tatra devaapi ramyante-- whereever woman is respected there
gods reside

Name: Concerned
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 03:46:41 -0500

AK has done a good job of putting things in proper perspective. You
can see it is hurting some presumptive characters. You can see them
going into the denial mode. Of course, the Vedas and the Puranas
predate Islam by millennia. So tribal and primeval practices which are
horrendous by modern standards can be noticed in them. That should not
surprise anybody. I pity those who have to defend them. It only shows
how futile it is to parade ones beliefs as sacrosanct and rubbish
every other belief system. But Islam is a threat to human civilization
as it has an agenda to foist its inhuman ideology on the whole
mankind. Lets all join to fight it.

Name: sat-chit-ananda
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 03:53:42 -0500

Judging from the comments, it appears that there are inaccuracies in
this article. Islam-Watch should stick to its core anti-Islam mission.
But now that this article has been published, I hope the editors will
allow a rebuttal to be published also, perhaps by the author of the
comment Name: To Abul Kasem Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009 Time:
03:44:12 -0500

Name: Ibrahim
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 04:06:43 -0500

First of all there is no reason for people to get angry on what kasem
has written. If you feel he is telling lies, all you have to do is to
refute him, you can visit www.lulu.com and publish your rebuttal. In
any case I am not bothered with what the Aryans used to do 5000 years
back. They are my ancestors and I dont feel the need to be apologetic
for what they did such a long time back. The Indian society is
evolving every day. The Vedas and Puranas exist only in Libraries and
are consulted only by the scholars. No Hindu to my knowlege lives his
life according to what is written in these books. Futhermore if Kasem
says that he can write an article which wil be unpalatable to
civilized people then I think he should write one. Let him not judge
the moralities of others. Let him write what he wishes to, if some
does not like what he writes then that is not his problem. Why this
self imposed censorship?

Name: explanations from vedas
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 04:21:28 -0500

first i would like to explain their are thousands of people who write
every day meaning of vedic mantras , their are foreign authors like
max muller etc, many professor of oxford, harvard etc. however who are
authorised first i would like to state that A person should
traditionally learn it from a mantra drista rishi and a samadhist
yogi, means one who has traditinally not only learnt it from a
samadhist yogi, but himself has seen this knowledge in samadhai is
alone entitled to teach this and talk of this. I would in this regard
say swami dayanad Saraswatiu was the one, after him second one i have
met is my Guru Swami ramswarup ji.A person at the last stage of
samadhi controls five perceptions,five senses and five indriyan and in
nirvikalpa samadhi see himself vedas thats why he is called
mantradristha.Now i request you to read authentic interpretation with
explanations from vedas on niyog and women, it is lengthy but
important to shed the truth on the matter rest of the mantras quoted
by you i will quote with mantras and its meaning later. An act is
considered illegal, illicit and immoral when it is to be hidden from
society, parents spouses etc. For Niyog the consent of husband , wife,
family mambers are to be taken, the person is chosen who himself has
control over senses.Person when do not have control over senses can do
havoc, so in present day number of atrocities on women has gone
up .There is a great difference between marriage and above quoted
relation of Niyog. In marriage, the girl/bride has to leave her
father’s home and she does not further maintain her relation with her
parents. The girl then forever remains in her husband’s house and goes
to her parents ocassionally. In niyog, widow gets her children through
niyog but remains always in her husband’s house, who has gone to
heavenly abode or alive. According to Vedas remarriage is not
permitted for a widow. In this connection please refer Rigveda mantra
10/40/2. The lady if is capable to maintain brahamcharya then only the
problem ends otherwise property dispute, destruction of morality which
requires to maintain pativrat dharma takes place. Yet if a widow is
interested to get children then Rigveda mantra 10/85/45 allows her to
get child by adopting niyog from widower or married person. But in my
view procedure for a widow to get child will not be fruitful in these
days where the eternal knowledge of four Vedas is not being adopted in
life. The said procedure was in practice during the previous three
yugas. For example- after the death of their husbands, Ambika, and
Ambalika got children. They were all maintaining brahamcharya and
adopting eternal knowledge and moral duties of Vedas, they knew that
as soon as the widow gets pregnancy the relationship has to be broken
forever and the child would get the name of his deceased father and
not the present father. Rigveda mantra 10/95/15- (PURURAVAHA) He who
gives order to number of army troops under him i.e., commander of army/
king (Ma) not (MRITAHA) meet with death. Meaning/Idea- Oh! King do not
meet with death uselessly. (MA) not (PRA PAPTAHA) fall in a pit.
Meaning/Idea- Do not meet with downfall in your life. (VRIKASAHA)
wolves (MA) not (TVA) you (ASHEEVASAHA) unauspicious/not beneficial (U
KSHANN) definitely eat away. Meaning/Idea- Oh! king, the unauspicious
wolves may not definitely eat you away. (STRAINNANI) with regards to
lady (SAKHYANI) friendly connection i.e., worldly love (NA VAI) never
(SANTI) permanently established i.e., are not auspicious. Meaning/
idea: Relations with lady based on worldly love only are never
established permanently i.e., are never auspicious. (ETA) the said
relations (HRIDYANI) are like a cruel heart (SALA VRIKANNAM) of wolves
who attack forcefully. Idea: The idea of the mantra is that when a man
becomes sensuous and makes contact with several ladies or makes
several sexual contacts with his wife even then he loses his mental as
well as physical power and meets with early death uselessly. Even in
some cases, he commits suicide. Some people go to the jungles where
they commit suicide and their body flesh is eaten away by wild animals
like wolves etc. So, the mantra warns against the sexual attachment
with ladies and maintains Brahamcharya stage in family life like
several Rishi-Munis, Shri Ram, Shri Krishna Maharaj etc. Mahabharat
clearly states that Satyawati had two sons- Chitrangad and
Vichitraveerya. One of his son was actually sensuous who met with
early death due to fatal diseases. In the present world also, There
are several cases of such instances. God does not allow the lady to be
seen with bad intention mainly sexual. Physical charms never make
everlasting love/relations. It is only a love which based on soul and
the said love is everlasting. The sexual relation is like an attack of
cruel wolves who eat the flesh of his hunt cruelly and immediately.
Thus, the uncontrolled sexual relation with lady/ladies attack the
body of man to eat it badly and immediately. One should have a vedic
target of family life to increase pure love and to get only children
and not mere sexual pleasure. Atharvaveda mantra 6/11/3: This mantra
relates to women. (PRAJAPATIHI) Protector of public (ANUMATIHI) who is
follower of the thought of husband. (SEENIVALI) who has the plenty of
food grains and the best use there of (ACHEEKLRIPT) capable/powerful.
Idea is that the woman who has the said quality, Prajapati, Anumati
and Seenivali becomes self-sufficient, capable, powerful to carry out
moral duties and to give birth to the intelligent babies.
(STRAISHUYAM) the said woman for giving birth to baby and (ANYATR)
keeping the baby at different places, (U) i.e., (Ukar word of hindi
devnagari) definitely (IHA) here i.e., in this world (PUMANSAM DADHAT)
gives birth to brave male baby. Meaning/Idea of the mantra: It has
been eternal tendency in the world to obtain brave male babies for the
protection of the nation. Yajurveda mantra 22/22 too states to get
male member also in the shape of Brahmin who knows Vedas and yoga
philosophy to educate the nation well, Kshatriya to protect the nation
well and the vaishya/Mahajan to have control and well distribution on
every needful item of the household i.e., their business must suits
the nation. Similarly in the mantra, it is stated that brave women
must be there to help their husbands. The said Yajurveda mantra states
that PURANDHIHI YOSHA i.e., the learned women must also take birth in
the nation who are capable to hold several public i.e., to nurse
several public well in the nation. The society must be learned to
think deeply on the above quoted Atharvaveda mantra also that who
gives birth to brave sons. Definitely a woman having qualities quoted
in the mantra gives birth and then only nation is protected well. So
we should never have any bad thought against girl/woman. Otherwise it
would be a great sin and God punishes. Sorry for it to be lengthy but
we should learn truth whether we like it or not. Further Dev dasi
pratha and dasi pratha was against vedas as every time vedas stress on
control of senses through brahmacharya (both pre and post marriage)
for both men and women .But yes it was present post mahabharat period,
girls were married to idols.However it is against vedas.Rest is upto
people whether to follow it or not. Similarly vedas say human beings
to follow Ek patni vrat dharam, i.e only one wife, however i have seen
in places especially when i was serving in visakhapatnam polygamy(more
than one wife) was prevalent in local people both educated and
uneducated, it is not supported by vedas atleast.Further, Arjuna in
mahabharat had four wives whereas Yudhisthir only one.It was purely
persons wish.Bhishma pitamaha was naisthiik brahmachari.Vedas clearly
say rules for humans, there is not even mention of word hindu in it,
it says man/women are free to do deeds but result is in hand of
God.There is always a thin line of abuse.However i consider only great
yogis only to be the real follower of vedas . In the society it is
quite possible on the name of Niyog, position and dignity of women
must have been miused, at times it must have been forced upon her
against her wishes especially post mahabharat war, on the name of
vedas, still it must must be happening.But scriptures does not suggest
that.But i accept Dowry system is like a curse in india, still women
are not treated fairly.But as a Hindu, i am a women, i am an
engineer , served in military . My sister is equally qualified.I have
married out of my choice to my spouse who is Keralite and they follow
matriarchal system.One thing i must admit at times women herself is
the greatest enemy of another women. My mother-in-law has not accepted
me till now, so its our view, opinion, sense of differentiation which
binds us not religious dogmas.At times it is difficult to change
others untill enlightment happens it is same every where, becos
differentiation is created by man not God.

Name: To:Mr.Abul Kasem
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 05:05:19 -0500

What you have quoted above was written thousands of years ago.
Todays's hinduism has outgrown this. Today anybody who does not follow
any religion is a hindu, whether he is montheistic,atheistic or
anything. Nobody can issue fatwas to you in Hinduism or nobody can
threaten to kill you. That is the basic difference between Islam and
Hinduism.

Name: Ibrahim
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 05:06:40 -0500

To all my Indian my Indian friends, kidly abstain from spaming the
comments section. It costs a lot of money to maintain a website, and
adding lenghty comments merely create problems for the Editor who is
already facing a finacial crunch. Make a rebuttal to the above article
if you feel that Kasem is misinterpreting or has the inability to
understand the meanings of the texts.

Name: Abul Kasem
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 05:12:41 -0500

For simplicity, some verses have been written in plain english and
shortened (similar to what I do for the Qur'anic verses). For example:
"Almighty God, you have created this womb. Women may be born somewhere
else but sons should be born from this womb" [Atharva Veda 6/11/3] The
full translation by Ralph T. H. Griffith says:Atharva Veda book 6,
hymn 11, line 3: The father sows the genial seed, the woman tends and
fosters it. This is the finding of a son: thus hath Prajāpati
declared. 3Prajāpati, Anumati, Sinivāli have ordered it. Elsewhere may
he effect the birth of maids, but here prepare a boy. Please
verify :http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/av/av06011.htm This does not
change the central meanining, which is that a boy is preferable to a
girl. In a few places the hymn numbers might differ from the print
version. But the content remains the same. Please visit the sacred
text web site, it might take some time to find and match the hymn
numbers. Sorry, I do not have the time to quote all the hymns.If you
want further information please contact the publisher of vedas: Low
Priced publications, A-6 Nimri Commercial Centre, Near Ashok Vihar
Phase-IV, Delhi 110052, India. Phone 217401672, 27452453. email:
l...@nde.vsnl.net.in. url: www.lppindia.com Please do not blame me if
any of the above links do not work. As I mentioned previously, I wrote
this essay more than eight years ago. I cannot readily recall all
information and links. Thanks to the readers who took the trouble to
verify the web site. If you do not believe me that the sacred text web
site has expunged many obnoxious hymns, please get the printed version
of the Vedas and check for yourselves. Unfortunately, I cannot do this
for you. Abul Kasem

Name: Ilham Abdullah (ex-muslim)
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 05:19:20 -0500

Some turn to Islam for the following reasons: Answers to the questions
raised by our existence; The fear generated by Islams threats; The
desire to acquire the rewards Islam claims it delivers in both this
life and apon death; The comforts and security suppied by membership
to a group; and last but not least PERSONAL IDENTITY. Islam can
deliver none of the above. These are the accepted beliefs of the weak
minded - Not the beliefs of the authentic human being - Not the views
of the free individual. These are the "views" of the "slaves of
Allah". LOL. Who knew how absurb life would become?

Name: jenn
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 06:13:33 -0500

This world will be a safer place for underaged girls if islam and
Hinduism is wiped out because both these filthy cults condone and
encourage pedophilia

Name: if no religion existed all humans maybe safe
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 06:32:21 -0500

if all religion did not exist maybe humanity wud be safe.

Name: vbv
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 06:36:19 -0500

To jenn: The world would be a safer place if all three cults -
Islam,Christianity and Judaism- are wiped out . All three practice
pedophilia,incest,rape,sodomy,etc. Take Abraham who was a sexual
pervert sleeping with slavewomen he kept, or his nephew Lot who slept
with his daughters to beget amobites and maobites (two trbes), Solomon
was a sleazy sexpervert who would put modern porn artists to shame, or
Judah in the book of Genesis who impregnated his own daughter in law
after trying to get his sons to sleep with her. What about Jesus? His
father was supposed to be "god" , mind that is worse than incest!
Talking of incest what about Adam and Eve? They were"created" by god ,
and by relationship brother and sister and yet they slept and begat
Caine and Abel ..... And we can go on with thjis unholy shit that goes
in the name of "holiness" and "religion". Totally immoral,amoral
absolute pervarsion, nothing else!

Name: vbv
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 06:37:22 -0500

To jenn: The world would be a safer place if all three cults -Islam,
Christianity and Judaism- are wiped out . All three practice
pedophilia, incest, rape, sodomy, etc. Take Abraham who was a sexual
pervert sleeping with slavewomen he kept, or his nephew Lot who slept
with his daughters to beget amobites and maobites (two trbes), Solomon
was a sleazy sexpervert who would put modern porn artists to shame, or
Judah in the book of Genesis who impregnated his own daughter in law
after trying to get his sons to sleep with her. What about Jesus? His
father was supposed to be "god" , mind that is worse than incest!
Talking of incest what about Adam and Eve? They were"created" by god ,
and by relationship brother and sister and yet they slept and begat
Caine and Abel ..... And we can go on with thjis unholy shit that goes
in the name of "holiness" and "religion". Totally immoral,amoral
absolute pervarsion, nothing else!

Name: jenn
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 06:54:51 -0500

To vbv, let me remind you how your lord krishna commited pedophilia
with dancing girls and they were all under 10. no wonder they say that
islam's Mohammad and Hinduism's krishna were both born under the same
star. LOL

Name: seeker
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 07:08:29 -0500

Hindus never claim the Vedas to be the revealed word of God.What was
written thousands of years BC is not relevant in these times.Today In
India Hindu women are successful
Doctors,lawyers,enterpreneurs,engineers, educationists etc. Their
presence is noted in almost every field including the Armed forces.
The government has jobs for women in all fields and sectors. As if
this article was not enough the author is threatening to come up with
another one.

Name: Ilham Abdullah
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 07:37:11 -0500

Islam is essentially humanities most base and desperate attempt to
achieve spiritual and self-understanding. Essentially Islam is a
discusting cult Mohammed and His immediate Arabian Followers created
that should be abandoned by all self respecting people.

Name: balam
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 08:41:41 -0500

There is no difference between Hinuism and Islams as shown in this
very well reseached article by Mr. Kasem. I never knew this ugly side
of this Pagan cult called Hinduism. It is equally filthy .There is no
righteousness but human concocted filth. It only preaches sex and
sensulity even with animals. Hence it suits only the animals in human
form. Muslims on the other hand falsely connect themselves with
Judaism and Christianty because Mohammad knew about the prophets these
faith. If for example, I happen to know some information about the
members of the British Royal family, It does not make me a member of
the Royal family. That is the logic Mohammad used to declare himself a
Prophet. The sword of Islam played a major part in that.Both Hinduism
and Islam are Pagan cults. Both were poly Deist but Mohammad cleverly
retracted the worship of three daughters of Allah and became the
founder of mono-pagan deism called Islam. Mono-theism of Judeo-
Christian faith does not preach Immorality, murder, robbery and rape
as preached and practiced in hinduism and Islam. I enjoyed the
excellent article which exposes the fallacy of both Hinduism and Islam

Name: Ex-Muslim
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 09:06:28 -0500

The only thing Hindus need to do is to refute with clear proofs the
article of Kaseem.If they can't it's there failure. But it is true
that the status of Hindu women both scriptualy and also in present day
are much better than Muslimahs. BELIEVE ONLY IN TRUTH.

Name: Taqiyah
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 09:21:38 -0500

To Jenn and Abul Kaseem what do you understand by Rasleela? Did you
think that Krishna had Sex with the gopiyans? Please read the Srimad
Bhagawantam again.Do not make speculations on others' interpretation,
please. Read for yourself then you reply. Women are the finance
minister in the couple.Do you think that hinduism would have permitted
this if it did not look at the woman as the other half of men? In
court, the woman's word is accepted above that of a man because she is
considered purer and sincerer. She is considered as the light of the
house and if people, with the advent of Christianity and Islam, have
started treating the woman otherwise it is not the fault of
Hinduism.Do you know sanskrit or did you read the writings of muslims
who wrote false things to incite hindus to their realm. You want the
truth about the Vedas, we have God on earth actually in
Puttaparthi.Please pay him a visit or visit the official website.The
truth will come out.

Name: To Abul Kaseem
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 09:43:20 -0500

Sir, I am an Indian Hindu and there is nothing wrong in what you have
written,but what you fail to understand many hindus,unlike muslims,
have spoken against the evils in hindiusm.Unlike Islam Hinduism is
capable of reforms.I believe in what Gandhi said...he said discard the
bad things in your religion and follow the good things that your
religion preaches.there are a lot of stupid and evil things in
hinduism, even now there are people who would like to burn a widow to
death [sati].Bhagvat gita says that there should never be mixing of
caste, its very bad for thew society.You gladly brought to light all
these evil verses but didn't bother to add that the Indian
constitution has made all laws that would help in giving equal
treatment to women and in some cases these laws are even misused [the
dowry law] and the people who have made these laws are Hindus

Name: Ibrahim
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 09:57:53 -0500

Jenn, don't try to take a high moral ground. Every religion in the
past has imposed strict moral codes on women in the past. The women in
Christian west were not so free until very recently. Infant the
Victorians used to call the Arabs indecent, immoral and filthy. Today
Westerners call the same women in Arabia as subdued. So please don't
be a hypocrite.

Name: VP
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 10:07:10 -0500

I doubt that these are practiced now. It is an ancient and what is the
meaning of Knowledge. So knowledge is both evil and good. I doubt that
the ordinary Indian is going about practicing this. If India needs to
change let them do it through the process that is in place. It is a
young democratic nation that will take time to change and bring about
its promises. However I do not find that the Christian Cult or Islamic
Cult be given their aggressive supremacist agenda to promote their
intolerant ideology to be a solution. They can keep theirs.

Name: Vp
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 10:27:42 -0500

Jenn is full of hate. Women in western societies were hardly better
off either. It is only recently that many are allowed to vote and keep
jobs. So Jenn keep your hate to yourself and the anti Hindu and anti
Jain and anti Buddhist agenda to your Christian Cult.

Name: Deadly Poison
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 10:49:49 -0500

If Islam is the most potent poison designed for instantaneous death
then India's native religious belief is a diluted poison designed for
a slow and agonizing death. Both are Satan-inspired and succeeded in
deceiving a large proportion of humanity. For Satan is the Deceiver,
the ruler of this world, the Destroyer. Ephesians 2:2, " You followed
the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler
continues to work in people who refuse to obey God.", John 18:33, " So
Pilate went back into the governor's headquarters, summoned Jesus, and
asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" John 18:36, " Jesus
answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom
belonged to this world, my servants would fight to keep me from being
handed over to the Jews. But for now my kingdom is not from here."

Name: Abul kasim have ever read those veda books really?
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 11:10:13 -0500

Abul kasim have ever read those veda books really???I have been
searching for years for original versions of those books but still i
coud not find them.Vedas just known few brahmins and script is also
unknown but one veda Rigveda is largely known and it is presently
written devanagari script(script of Hindi language).Even the maxmuller
the great german Schoolar who reasearched for entire life on vedaS
could not get all of them.brahmins refused to reveal to him all.All te
vedas are known from ancestral throgh oral tradition only.what you
have said should have clear reference through credible books.What you
have given aer completely baseless references from anauthorised
persons.there was no referece that god ordered to do these nasty ways
of tradtions and ther was no reference of slaves in vedas.Vadhu means
bride and vara means bride groom during marriage ceremony.regarding
gender discrimination that exists ,it is never mantionaed in vedas to
give dowry(money to groom)it was a tradition follwed in the society as
share of father's wealth to daughter in movalble asset such as gold
and money.Immovable wealth is given to son as the girl ahs to go with
husband after marriage.This is also not compulsion.But this has now
turned to mistradtion of compulsion in some parts of india.IF this
essay is itself is baseless with no credible refernece and just giving
some numbers seperated (vedas mantras have no separation they are
continuous in each veda)then why can't your essays on till now be
fiction or baseless?

Name: RS
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 11:33:01 -0500

I am glad the debate is on. One cannot bash one faith alone as all
faiths have plenty of things that are not compatible now. However I
will have to say and Mr kasem would admit that hindu scriptures
provide the frame work for spirituality but does not force a dogmatic
view upon followers. various aspects has been debated, reformed
changed over the period of many thousand years by any one who had
courage to speak out the truth. jain tirthanker , buddha and later
sikh gurus are the testimonial to it.

Name: Veda means knwledge(ve=unknown +da=Tobe known)
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 11:44:56 -0500

Veda means knwledge(ve=unknown +da=Tobe known).Abul kaseem has lost
his intellectual credibilty.Alsina has never commented on Quron or any
other book with out reading or quoting it from credible
references.REgarding gender discrimination and opprtunites to women in
jobs and politics ,it is global problem.Dowry is daughters share of
family wealth(money and gold) given at the time of marriage and lies
with her.It is also not complusion.How ever rouges and criminal minded
people exist in evry society who tortue wifes with or with out
reason.India is the only coutry where women are given highst value and
respect.Mother is first worshipped even god comes only later.Niyogi is
widow remarriage which was allowed in vedic times.your reference as
animal sex is vulger and shocking.you seem to have intentionally
insult by with no reference.No where in vedas or in any sacred texts
it is referred.Yes ancient indians desired(not preferred) son to in
addition to daugheter only for security from invaders and for family
supproting in the old age.(daugter has t go to mother in laws house
and take care of them)In kareal state of india do you know daughters
are preferred as sons have to go to father in laws house as
tradition.Insulting vedas with out knowing ,reading and understanding
them is declaring elephant is like a snake just by tauching its tail
and closing eyes.I ask you to read Rudolf Stiener or Max muller
translation Works on indian religion.perhaps THat great german
schoolar may be not intelligent like you and has taken several dacades
to partially translate them into english and german.Germany has also
opened Sanskrit dapartment a century ago only to understand vedas and
technology in it.All the basic sciences like mathematics(decimal
conting),astronomy,Mediation,medicine and architechture and many more
sciences evolved from them (preferably fro Atharwa veda).Go to Any
vedic research centre in australia and have brief introduction of
vedas.Maharshi Mahesh yogi centre is als there.

Name: PLEASE EXPLAINE
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 12:19:06 -0500

WHY IS THAT ALL PEOPLE WHO MAKE COMMENTS ON ALL THE FORUMS ARE ALWAYS
THE SAME??? YOU MUST BE SHORT OF PEOPLE WITH SOME COMMON SENSE!!

Name: TO ALL.. DONT WORRY
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 12:24:07 -0500

TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO CANT FIND THE SOURCE WHICH ABUL KASIM IS
USING..PLEASE DONT WORRY YOU CANT FIND THEM BECAUSE THERE AINT ANY!!
ABUL KASIM HAS BEEN EXPOSED AS A LIER AND A CON BY SOMEONE IN HIS
ARTICAL A Guide to the Quranic Contradictions, Part 3. SEE FOR YOUR
SELF!!

Name: sat-chit-ananda
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 13:01:54 -0500

Reply to post at Time: 09:43:20 -0500 : It is true that mixing of
"castes" is not favored in Hinduism, but the term "caste" is supposed
to correspond to natural ability or natural evolutionary status. Even
as per the much-reviled Manu Smriti (which in any case is not a core
Hindu scripture), caste is not meant to be hereditary - the child of a
Shudra can be a Brahmin and vice-versa (Manu Smriti X:65)

Name: Rohit Narayan
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 13:26:57 -0500

Yes it is true that Hindu scripture has codified misogyny (like most
scripture). This should neither be overlooked or excused in any way.
The moder-day discrimination that we see in Hindu society has its root
in ancient customs and traditions in Hinduism. However, it is
important to keep things in perspective. The main thrust of the
criticism against the world of Islam today is NOT that the Koran has
bad things in it. The main criticism is that a sizeable number of
people are unwilling to countenance any reform specifically because
the are presumed to be "divine inspiration". There are many cases
where bad things are done in the name of religion - but society
understand that those things are "bad". The problem with the Islamic
world is that these societies are unwilling to call these things bad.
For instance considering a woman half-of-a-man is a terrible thing but
Islamic societies defend and stick to these ideas based on Koranic
doctrine. That is the MAIN problem. Dowry deaths and Sati are terrible
things and the Indian society has banned them. This does not mean it
does not happen. It just means that when it happens, society knows
that it was a bad thing. In other words there is no moral ambiguity.

Name: Islam´s contribution to World Culture
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 15:08:58 -0500

Pbuh, pbuh and even more pbuh and never ending pbuh, pbuh,
pbuhahahaha! There is no sculpture allowed in Islam, no painting,
music, dancing and theatre and printing of anything in arabic letters
was strictly forbidden for more than two centuries. That´s why there
is hardly any arabic literature available, that there are hardly any
arabic publishing companies, nor bookstores since there are no people
who read books. Even arabic writers know that and that´s why most of
them write in english or french. Did I mention that it is difficult to
study anything in arabic because the arabic language hasn´t developed
the capabilities yet? However, the islamic world is still superior to
any other civilisation. Why? They have the pbuh and it is very
revealing to see that they are soooo proud of their "pbuh".
Pbuhahahahaha!

Name: On Hinduism ........... by scrutator
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 15:15:22 -0500

No one here has so far said that India is a secular country, where
religious edicts have no place in administration of the country.
Besides making women equal to men in all applicable spheres, it in
fact has introduced positive discrimination to help women and the
downtrodden catch up with the rest of the populace. Christian
societies too have implemented similar measures. In the Old Testament,
among many other objectionable edicts, there is one which says if a
widow is childless, she should beget a child by laying down with her
dead husband's brother; if he refuses to do it, she can publicly
humiliate him -- is this still in practice ? Obviously not !
Similarly, many of the statements in ancient religious scriptures are
not applicable in this day and age, and many others have been reformed
by legislation, viz. equal divorce and inheritance rights. Further,
religious practices of the 'satya yuga' can not be accomplished in
this 'kali yuga' -- who can meditate for 1000 years ? Can any king
actually carry out the 'ashwamedha yagna' -- will he be able to
capture all the territories where the horse roams ? Can he have more
than one wife, never mind his 'chief' queen having sex with a horse ?
For the present 'kali yuga', chanting and glorifying the name of the
Lord remain the only valid and achievable means to practise
Hinduism(Sanatan Dharma). This is where Hinduism (and to an extent,
Christianity and Judaism too) differ from Islam. Whereas Hinduism and
other religions have evolved through the ages, ISLAM HAS REMAINED
STUCK TO 1400 YEAR OLD CRUEL & UNFAIR BEDOUIN CUSTOMS. THIS POINT
NEEDS TO BE EMPHASISED AND RE-EMPHASISED. Interestingly, Jenn and her
ilk never, ever quote from the Bhagawat Geeta, the summary of all
knowledge from the Vedas, Upanishads and other Hindu sriptures.
Personally, I derive immense pleasure by immersing myself in the
philosophy of the Geeta, which says 'People worship Me in different
Forms', 'none is dear or loathful to Me', etc.

Name: @ Jenn - the stinking corpse worshipper
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 16:12:27 -0500

Who cares about what Jenn thinks about Hindu Dharma. I certainly don't
give a crap about her opinions. She should start to take a long look
at her own bible. As far as i am concerned she is just a follower of a
cult that worships a stinking corpse on a cross. Christians are
nothing more than stinking corpse worshippers.

Name: Hemanth
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 16:55:14 -0500

I shall be refuting what Abul Kasem wrote here by providing
transliteration of the verses cited by him in a separate rebuttal
column. I am sure his reputation will be at stake. Many of the verses
reproduced by him are taken from Christian missionary websites that
know nothing about Sanskrit. I have rich knowledge of Sanskrit and
know vedas. But my question to Khan and Kasem is : will my rebuttal be
published on this site? If you are sincere and open-minded you should
publish it. Can you confirm that to me? If not, I shall publish it on
other websites and get the link to you. Hemanth P.S: Abul Kasem might
have a good knowledge of Arabic and Bengali, but he messed up with
verses in vedas. I can assure you that much. People will then start to
doubt on his ability as an author.

Name: To Ex-muslim ...... from scrutator
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 16:59:47 -0500

Well said ! In Hinduism(Sanatan Dharma), it is said "God is
Truth"...... this encompasses agnostics, atheists andnon-believers,
for any sane person will subscribe to 'Truth' ! Also, "Ekam Sat Vipra
Bahuda Vadanti" -- Truth is one, but the learned know it by different
names.

Name: Jagmohan Singh Khurmi
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 17:33:29 -0500

True or not, this article gives a person very good reason to embrace
Islam

Name: Hemanth to moderator and Abul Kasem
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 19:47:22 -0500

I would like to know from you if you are ready to publish my rebuttal
to Abul Kasem's article. I shall provide the original Sanskrit verse
and word-by-word transliteration. I am sure you will realize that Abul
Kasem blindly copied verses from websites. In a way it shall prove
that prior knowledge of language is extremely important when it comes
to publishing articles on religion. Abul Kasem cannot wash off hands
by directing to a particular website or author. If he has published an
article, he must be able to defend it by himself. He should not give
mumbo-jumbo answers like- some verses are deleted from the website.
When I publish my rebuttal, I am sure many people will catch him with
his pants down and may not trust him anymore. Waiting for your reply,
Hemanth

Name: Hemanth to moderator and Abul Kasem
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 19:48:04 -0500

Name: VedasBeliever
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 20:13:26 -0500

Mr. Abu Kasem Please do not misguide the people by copying pasting the
above quotes from illegal sources in internet. By reading the quotes
it is quite obviuos that some ill-intentioned people are trying to
defame Vedas. When you quote such things you should have complete
proof of this with you. I simply beleive the quotes are rubbish and do
not belong to Vedas. Please stick to your prime focus that is Islam
since I believe you don't have any ideas about Vedas.

Name: Sunny
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 21:38:11 -0500

Hinduism, being one of the oldest religion on earth, has undergone
many reforms over time. There are some social problems, but they will
eventually go away with education and awareness. Despite it's
drawbacks, it has many good features. In Hinduism, there is a concept
of "Moksha" or salvation which can be achieved by pleasing God and by
denouncing worldly pleasures and leading a saintly life. It does not
preach hatred towards other religions. It does not thrust it's
ideology on others. There is no threat to world from Hindus. It
believes in freedom of faith. It believes in peaceful co-existence
with other religions. Unlike Islam and Christianity, there is no
concept of converting people forcefully. As a Hindu, I am "free" to
lead my life in my own way and nobody forces me to follow a certain
path. It's solely upto me. I have many choices to pick up if I want to
attain God. I am proud of my religion and consider myself very blessed
by having born as Hindu.

Name: re balam
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 21:47:41 -0500

You wrote,Mono-theism of Judeo-Christian faith does not preach
Immorality, murder, robbery and rape as preached and practiced in
hinduism and Islam. Please visit SKEPTIC'S ANNOTATED BIBLE to see the
truth for yourself. Oh Deari, Deari, me!!

Name:
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 21:52:17 -0500

Its philosophy of self-doubt in Hinduism, which has probably keeps
Islam alive now. Muslims are really correct in worshiping their God
Allah., the one and only God. Muslims are economically subjected to
harassment with the label terrorism, and are unfairly targeted around
the world because they are weak and most of the Muslims especially in
Saudi do not go to schools as the government discourages it in order
to loot the countries resources, so that the So called western regimes
can take advantage. Most countries take advantage of them. It’s very
hard to even imagine darkness when you are used to living in light and
that’s what happened to most Muslims who’s only education is
confronted to the madras’s, Muslim believe that Allah is the only
truth and Muslims are slaves of Allah who’s kingdom is in heaven.

Name: Kasem's pants down
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 21:55:15 -0500

Kasem writes: If the women was not remarried, then her head was
shaved. This is evident from Atharva Veda (14/2/60).>>>>>> crosscheck
with the link www.sacred-texts.com/hin/av/av14002.htm for that verse.
The true meaning of this verse is if a daughter in a house weeps then
negative karma follows you for you have to keep her happy all the
time. What a dirty ba$tard this Kasem is! I am sure he is following
the footsteps of his paedophile prophet (lying, twisting things etc).
I couldn't locate many of the verses he has quoted. As a result of his
islamic past he still has deceptive genes. What a pathetic lier he is!
My goodness I thought X-Muslims were honest. The moment he translated
Eka's article from Bongali to English without even thinking twice
about 85 BC, I thought some of these X-Muslims do not have the ability
to think.

Name: Libran
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 22:11:29 -0500

I was wondering if MA Khan will give a positive nod to what Hemanth
wrote on challenging Kasem's article. If this is a website on freedom
of speech, then Khan should allow Hemanth to publish his rebuttal. If
not, then well... that means Kasem's position is under scrutiny.

Name: MA Khan
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 22:35:50 -0500

This is not a site for "freedom of speech". This is a freethinking
site, which should criticise any religion but we focus on Islam. It
shouldn't be made a platform for preaching any creed either;
unfortunately our forum has been turned into something like that by a
few fanatics. We cannot distract from our central mission of
criticising Islam. You are free to post anything you write on the
discussion area.

Name: sat-chit-ananda
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 23:02:45 -0500

In the interest of maintaining the quality of this site it would be
best for all articles to focus on Islam alone. Even the comments
should be restricted to Islam. All other comments should be declared
"off-topic" and deleted. The puerile fighting between people who are
trying to criticize Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism etc is really
detracting from the pleasure of reading this site.

Name: I AM hindu i quiting ISLAM WATCH
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 23:13:51 -0500

i am quiting islam watch for false this stupid article because the
versus quoted in this article are either wrongly translated from
sankrit or made up. i wonder the QURAN ALSO MISQUOTED FALSLY LIKE THIS
HINDUISM ARTICLE. SO QURAN MUST BE TRUE LIKE VEDAS. ABDUL KASEM PANTS
DOWN.

Name: To MA Khan
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 23:17:51 -0500

There is always a right to critism but it should be based on facts.
You can see for yourself that majority of what he says about vedas is
not even present in the website he is referring to. Then he says they
might have deleted those verses. If he not lying then he should quote
the verse in its original language and the translation for that. When
you do that for Arabic Quran, why can't you do the for Sanskrit, which
is ethnically more related to you than Arabic?

Name: seeker
Date: Tuesday January 20, 2009
Time: 23:33:45 -0500

Mr. Kasem. I am not angry or shocked by what you have written. The
vedas by written by men thousands of years ago and what you have
quoted may be true. I would like to caution you. Under thr British
rule the missionaries tampered with the Vedas to discredit Hinduism so
that they could harvest souls. (they failed miserably). Now in the
internet age there are many sites doing the same thing. So please be
sure what you are quoting from authentic sources. I will do a bit of
research myself because like 99%Hindus I have not read the Vedas
myself. I will get back to you. Regards.

Name: @@JENN
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 00:00:56 -0500

Your responses reminds me one of the islamists character as ONEGOD
from ffi website....Your replies are exactly xerox of akhtar (again an
ffi website islamic character).. Please come up with right verse and
their interpretation.. Abusing is not going to benefit the forum..
only healthy arguments can contain some meaning....

Name: kafir/infidel ( & Ex-communist ).
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 00:32:25 -0500

To all: It seems certain that ABUL kasem has done a sloppy ,biased,
crooked job as far as Hindu dharma and particularly by posting this
above article. Question to Mr. KASEM . Did you read and study original
scriptures, their true translations and then prepared this article ?
or DID you take the above mentioned article and qutations from some
other website - maintained by ISLAMISTS/CHRISTIANS who are bent on
denigrating, defaming, maligning, discrediting HINDU DHARMA by their
mis/dis information ,campaign of lies,deception etc. You can see them
even today - in INDIA , throuout . To be sure , it is possible HINDU
dharma may have some defects - but essentially it is diametrically
opposite of fascist forces ,intolerant, dogmatic ideologies like ISLAM
and christianity. HINDU DHARMA has many, many noble things ,practices,
principles, philosophy............. It looks like that KASEM merely
copied from some other web site - not his own research and going to
the original scriptures and true trans lations. Kasem is giving lame
excuses - that after some people here ( not even scholars ) have shown
that Mr. KASEM is wrong . His- Mr. Kasems references and translation
is wrong .

Name: sat-chit-ananda
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 00:35:41 -0500

Sigh! Now it seems we have Muslims posing as Hindus any trying to
discredit criticism of the Koran. Best if Islam-Watch sticks to Islam.
Those who want to criticize Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism
- I am sure there are plenty of other sites where you can vent your
feelings. All those comments should be declared off-topic and deleted
in the interest of the readability of this site.

Name: free thinking does not mean baseless and false crititism
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 01:37:04 -0500

Free thinking does not meen baseless and false criticism .Hindus
always welocme freethinking and freedom of thought. No hindu worries
about fact based criticism.To be a hindu one need not to be theistic
or believe in any god. Spirituality is just a science (anthrosophy)
according to hindus and one can device his own technology (way for
enlightenment) based on this like what great buddha or Mahavir jain
has done.. If these criticism on vedas is all false and baseless then
how can islam-watch's articles from Abul kaseem or any other author on
any other relgion like islam be true and fact based critisms?is not
waste of time for base less accusations. I have never read Quron or
sunnah in any language from authorised sources but believed in you
with your quotations thinking that they are from true references and
Quron as they are and you have well read and researched them.Now how
can your words here are true further ??is it not waste of time and
resourses for false accusations??

Name: ExMuslim
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 01:39:43 -0500

Ibrahim, you have raised an interesting point concerning "hypocrisy".
Medieval and early Renaissance-age Europeans used to call Muslims
immoral, indecent, mainly for two reasons: Islamic culture of polygamy
and sex-slavery. True, sexual restriction was there in Europe, but it
applied largely to both sexes. Despite sexual restrictions, veiling of
women only, as in Islam, was not a part of European culture either. In
Islamic culture, sexual liberty existed for men and continues to
exist. For women, opposite was the case and it mostly remains. On the
count of polygamy and slavery, European criticisms of Islam still
stand. Concerning, change in sexual liberty, if we want to change our
ethical standard in the light of new realities as time passes and be
labeled as hypocrite for that, we, being a product of Indian
civilization, cannot claim high moral ground on the count that we have
moved away from the ethical standard that our ancestors had set 5,000
years ago. MA Khan should be ignored for setting up this Website and
calling upon his readers, particularly Muslims, to shed their cultural
and religious rigidity and embrace progress.

Name: Hinduism reformed = Buddhism
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 01:45:36 -0500

Hinduism without widow burning, caste system, idol worship & worship
of many gods equates to Buddhism!!

Name: ab
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 02:10:00 -0500

I don't want to spam here about the glory of Hinduism but if anyone is
interested in knowing what kind of status was accorded to women please
visit this website http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Women_in_Hinduism.htm
And as sane human beings, we should be able to distinguish between
what religions actually said in the scriptures and whether it is
actually being followed today. Presently, a lot of Hindus do not
follow what was laid down in the scriptures but that is not the fault
of the scriptures, is it? In fact, the corruption and decay in values
was predicted in the Hindu scriptures. If you want to read more about
it, please read the book by Steven Knapp called "The Vedic Prophecies,
A new look into the future". There are a huge number of Western
Indologists (people who study India and Hinduism)who have spoken in
glorious terms, just to name a few great ones like Arthur
Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau. Rather than
debunking all religions as mad, it is good to know what other
religions say.

Name: ExMuslim:: correction..
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 02:16:53 -0500

"True, sexual restriction was not there in Europe" should read "True,
sexual restriction was there in Europe".

Name: HINDU
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 02:42:34 -0500

As an INDIAN HIndu I strongly object to the ways some hindus have
spoken of Kaseem. Everybody prases him when he writes on Islam. Kaseem
as a HINDU I support him

Name: Further quotes
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 03:31:41 -0500

Atharva veda (14.1.43-45) So be imperial queen when you come within
your husband's home.Over your husband's fathers and his brothers be
imperial queen. Over your husband's sister and his mother bear supreme
control. Manu-smriti (55.59)Men who seek their own welfare should
always honor women on holidays and festivals with ornaments, clothes
and food.

Name: TO THE PERSON WHO POSTED THIS
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 04:26:06 -0500

Name: RELIGION IS A DISEASE TRUTH IS THE CURE
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 06:24:40 -0500

NO FALSE IMAGINARY JEHOVA/ALLAH CREATED MAN FROM MUD/DIRT. BRAHMIN DID
NOT COME FROM ANY GOD MOUTH, NOR KSHATRIYA FROM HIS SHOULDER, NOR
VAISHYA FROM HUIS LEG NOR SHUDRA FROM FOOT. MAN IS EVOLVED BY NATURE
AND TRUTH AND PROOF IS IN HIS DNA AND GENES. RELIGION IS A DISEASE
TRUTH IS THE CURE. OM SHANTI.

Name: seeker
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 07:50:06 -0500

I came to know of two experts on the Vedas. They are Stephen Knapp and
Dr. David Frawley. Interested readers may Google their names and visit
their websites. Please do so and see for yourself. I wonder what these
exponents of the Vedas will have to say regarding the topic in
discussion and if the verses quoted by Mr. Kasem are authentic or not.
Readers please visit and let me know. Meanwhile my search continues.

Name: MA Khan
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 08:17:29 -0500

Ananda, I am taking your advice. It will be too costly to be
distracted from the mission we are on. We have no scope to be
distracted at all. I will add extra labour to clean up all distracting
comments and will probably blacklist some of the fanatical distractors
on the forum.

Name: Argho Das
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 08:48:48 -0500

I am a borderline hindu/agnostic. The aspects of hinduism that I
appreciate are very much its tolerance of other religions and
spirituality its quest for becoming one with nature, etc. I however,
welcome critism against hinduism from all front because it would allow
the "leaders" in hinduism to improve or shed light on the wrong doings
that have occured in the past and still persist currently. I would
like to remind those emphasising hinduism's intolerance towards women-
in no other religion the thought "women gods/deities" is even remotely
entertained. Sarawasti is the good of wisdom and hindus pray to her
for knowledge. In hindu texts there are descriptions of avatars/gods
like Durga and Kali who have even taken on men and the traditionally
muscular work men (in other religions) of eradicating evil. Women and
wisdom usually are not seen in the same wavelength in any other
religion but hinduism. Lastly, I would like to reveal this from my
experience in hinduism: the books that most hindus know and study is
Bhagbad Gita NOT vedas. There are adds in India that address issues
like domestic violence, dowry, etc. I have seen those being run on
prime time during breaks of cricket matches. About the caste system I
would also like to bring out the example of Balmiki Muni (sage) who
wrote the story of Ramayana as it unfolded (supposedly). He was a
thief before in the first phase of his life and became a brahmin so
there is at least one example I can think of which shows that caste is
that important anymore or it lost its lustre with time. Also, in
Mahabharata Yudistir, described that someone who is bramhin and
commits crime should be punished more than he is illterate because he
knowingly committed crimes. As far the marriage issues and inter-caste
issues those are products of class differences and not really
religious and even if they are I am sure hinduism could and perhaps
will evolve to overcome these barriers. Free thinking has never been
discourage in hinduism and perhaps that's why I am still a hindu which
in India includes Buddhists, Sikhs and non Christians, Jews and
Muslims. Followers of Vedas, Gita, Ramayana, Upanishad, etc practice
SANATA dharma.

Name: sk
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 09:12:32 -0500

the difference is that hindus have moved on. no one in modern hindu
society practices any of these. hindus themselves have rid their
society of many of these ills. dowry deaths, female infanticide still
exists in several pockets but they dont have religious scanction.
secondly these scriptures are only known to a handful priests and they
do not command the same influence on the hindu society as the
'mullahs' have on muslim society. above all no hinud will be killed by
organised gangs through religious sanction if he/she disagrees with
these practices. lastly hindus have and are not going out into the
world trying to preach superiority of these practices or converting
people into these practices.

Name: chumbawamba
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 09:34:50 -0500

Hmm..I really wonder what an article on/against Hinduism is doing on
website called " islam watch"?? It seems Tu qoque is ingrained deeply
in muslim psyche. Some one rightly said...once a muslim always a
muslim. The damage done by Islam on human mind is irreparable. The
credibilty of this site has been severly dented. It will only be fair
to allow a rebuttal of the same to be posted on the site as suggested
by other posters.

Name: Islam, Hinduism and other Religions
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 11:43:24 -0500

I think this site is called Islam-Watch and not Islam-Bash. The
difference is that the main subject islam should be discussed with
good and reasonable arguments. Therefore we cannot critisize islam
while ignoring the fact that there are problems in other religions
too. Why should we bash islam whereever we can and accept
fundamentalism, obscurantism and mysogynism in other religions? What
merit would we have? And what about our credibility?

Name: Islam, Hinduism and other Religions II
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 11:47:25 -0500

However, this does not mean that there should be any relativism
towards islam. Islam is and remains the most violent religion I know,
perhaps with the one exception of the Maya religion which was
sacrifying humans for good weather and better harvests. We all know
that this religio did not survive and I dont except Islam to survive
so much longer - at least not in it´s todays dimensions.

Name: sat-chit-ananda
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 11:55:15 -0500

To commenter at Time: 11:43:24 -0500. You say: "I think this site is
called Islam-Watch and not Islam-Bash... Therefore we cannot critisize
islam while ignoring the fact that there are problems in other
religions too. Why should we bash islam whereever we can and accept
fundamentalism, obscurantism and mysogynism in other religions?" I
think you have the wrong idea. "Islam-Watch" should mean criticism and
defense of Islam. It doesn't mean that one must concern oneself with
the merits and faults of various other religions like Buddhism,
Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity etc. The credibility lies in fair
criticism and defense of Islam.

Name: chumbawamba
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 12:03:46 -0500

fair enough. but am sure you would agree that the same reasonable
arguements should be allowed to be extended to other religions as well
(if et all they are being discussed here). The point here is that
topic being discussed does not come under pursued mission of the
website. the intro to the article by author clearly smacks of tu qoque
which is irrelevant and again makes the same folly which muslims
famously commit...comparison. Our credibility lies in presenting the
truth. now that author has presented a case, i believe a rebuttal
should be allowed as many posters have raised concern over
authenticity of verses quoted. so why not let the other side be heard.
I request the moderator for the same and also suggest that such
deviations should be avoided in future.

Name: rup
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 12:07:13 -0500

ALL THE OTHER RELIGION WANT PROGRESS FOR HUMAN RACE AND DEVELOPMENT OF
CIVILISATION .AS CRISTIANS GO FOR DEVELOPMENT, HINDUS GO FOR PEACE,
JAINS, BUDHHA, JEWS, ALL WANT DEVELOPMENT.EVEN NOW DIPRIVED CLASSES OF
ALL THE RELIGIONS ARE GIVEN SPECIAL INCENTIVES BY HINDUS AND CRISTIANS
IN THEIR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES.in India the case is same as in the
whole world. In 1947, when India was partitioned, the Hindu population
in Pakistan was about 24%….Today it is not even1%. In 1947, the Hindu
population in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was 30% …. Today it is
about 7%. What happened to the missing Hindus?Do Hindus have human
rights?If they are in minority, in any country they say they are
secular But there are 53 Muslim countries, where no rights are
protected for minoritiesIn contrast, in India, Muslim population has
gone up from 10.4% in 1951 to about 14% today; whereas Hindu
population has come down from 87.2% in 1951 to 85% in 1991Why post -
Godhra is blown out of proportion, when no-one.Wherever this community
assembles or makes their habitat, they make the entire area a hell and
makes quite inaccessible for other communities. Even the law
enforcement agencies are resisted from entering. That makes a safe
heaven for the anti-social; anti-nationals to go at large do at their
own will.

Name: rup
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 12:13:45 -0500

it means Abul Kasem want to justify the stoning of girls and marring
teen girls.either or not hindus are good or bad with there women.

Name: Addition to Rup
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 12:48:27 -0500

We can see a very similar situation in Turkey, where the quote
christians fell from around 20% to less than 1%.

Name: kafir/infidel ( & EX.COMMUNIST )
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 14:27:34 -0500

To the EDITOR MR.M A KHAN and Mr. ABUL KASEM ; There are 3 or 4 ( and
more ) web sites , operated by Christian ( western scholars ) . I will
give them here . 1) STEPHEN-KNAPP.com . 2) Dharmacentral.com by DR .
FRANK morales 3) American vedic studies institute by DR. DAVID
Frawley . 4) The konrad elst site - a Belgium INDOLOGIST ( KONRAD ELST
from the lineage of christian priests . I urge both MA KHAN and ABUL
kasem to visit their sites and discuss with them about the
authenticity of the above postings . All the above are nonindians and
nonhindus . This is the challenge to ABUL KASEM . WHen you put your
name to or on some idea or article , you must face the truth whether
you are right or wrong . Thye other alternative for MA KHAN and ABUL
kasem is to go and live in INDIA for a couple of years and study the
history ,Hinduism ,politics,culture,philosophy for themselves , see
them selves and experience themselves to know the truth. INDIA -
because of HINDUS AND VEDIC philosophy is the noble land - PUNYA BHUMI
like no other country on this earth.

Name: Re: sat-chit-ananda
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 15:58:31 -0500

Both title and subtitle strongly suggest that this site provides
critical information about islam. The fact that there are some muslims
defending islam with their comments doesn´t change that at all.
Moreover, most if not all of these comments are not very impressive.

Name: kamal
Date: Wednesday January 21, 2009
Time: 19:31:50 -0500

I have come across another related article here, called "Women and the
Vedas" http://www.ivarta.com/columns/OL_070503.htm which seems to
discredit this authors interpretations.

http://www.islam-watch.org/AbulKasem/women_in_hinduism.htm

chhotemianinshallah

unread,

Feb 20, 2010, 10:05:23 AM2/20/10

India Culture Disucssion chat forums:
History of India: Myths Realities Fiction ?
Facts ! Ancient to Modern to FUTURE: Indian People - Their origin -
discussions on history of Indian people, communities and ethnic
groups: ARE DRAVIDIANS REALLY AFRICANS???:
Archive through July 06, 2003

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By Facts (24.69.255.204) on Sunday, July 6, 2003 - 12:58 pm:

Hi 'Historian',

You are still refusing to answer the question or credit your sources .
Therefore this conversation is not leading anywhere.

Thanks for your time.

P.S. By the way,on the topic of Dravadians,it was Ibbetson who noted
that some Jat clans are aboroginal and have Dravadian roots,namely the
'Her,Man and Buller'.

By Historian (67.116.24.35) on Sunday, July 6, 2003 - 12:16 pm:

Facts,

You are rather touchy on the subject of "dravidian origins of
Brahmins". As you know, there are historians on both sides of the
issue and historical theories are updated and revised as new evidence
and analyis come to light all the time (Not so long ago, the dominant
view in Europe was that the earth was flat and the sun revolved around
it. This "theory" is now laughed at.)

Similarly, these historian who claim Brahmins to be "aryans" cannot
explain the following two hard facts (from complete article):

B) The original hymns of the Rig-Veda were composed by the Vedic
Aryans of the ancient �Saptha Sindhu� country (located northwest of
the Yamuna river up to the Indus river). These hymns describe only
three Gods - Indra, Varuna and Mitra - as per se the Persian Avestan
and depict the Vedic Aryans eating cows. Moreover, Avestan refers to
"Rathastriyas","Vashiyos" and "Athravans" as members of "Arya"
society, however, there is absolutely no mention of any "Brahmins"!
Further, the more authentic Rig Vedic hymns contain verses such as
"Indra, the destroyer of Krishna-yoni-dasyus" and Brahmanical
literature depicts mythological battles between Indra (an Aryan Vedic
God) and Krishna (a dark-skinned dravidian god) where Krishna is the
victor and hero! Nor do we see any Vedic gods in any present-day Hindu
Brahmin temples.

C) Brahmins and their non-Aryan deities are spread throughout
southasia, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Bali, Malaysia. The physically
traits of these communities are largely indistinguishable from the
local population. "Brahmin" is hardly a racial concept.

Regards

PS Please pass on the above note to "Michael Witzel,Chair of Sanskrit
Dept., Harvard and all sane present day scholars". Hope they don't try
to steal this idea for their next publication!

By Facts (24.69.255.204) on Sunday, July 6, 2003 - 11:30 am:

'Historian',

I didn't ask you where but when. Can you read? Try again.(And,for your
info., the first Vedas were not written in U.P.Not even close)

Further,Brahmins are Aryans,as per the Brit. ethnologists like Bingly
et al, Michael Witzel,Chair of Sanskrit Dept., Harvard and all sane
present day scholars,including DNA data by Prof. Bamshed(2002) of
Utah.

By Historian (67.116.24.35) on Sunday, July 6, 2003 - 11:02 am:

Northwest of UP.

You wanna try this one: What is the origin of Brahmins?

By Facts (24.69.255.204) on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 04:02 pm:

'Historian',

When were the original hyms of the Rig-Veda composed?

Thanks,

By Historian (67.116.24.35) on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 12:13 pm:

Are Brahmins Really Dravidians?

The original hymns of the Rig-Veda were composed by the Vedic Aryans
of the ancient �Saptha Sindhu� country (located northwest of the
Yamuna river up to the Indus river). These describe only three Gods -
Indra, Varuna and Mitra - as per se the Persian Avestan and depict the
Vedic Aryans eating cows. Moreover, Avestan refers to
"Rathastriyas","Vashiyos" and "Athravans" as members of "Arya"
society, however, there is absolutely no mention of any "Brahmins"!
Further, the more authentic Rig Vedic hymns contain verses such as
"Indra, the destroyer of Krishna-yoni-dasyus" and Brahmanical
literature depicts mythological battles between Indra (an Aryan Vedic
God) and Krishna (a dark-skinned dravidian god) where Krishna is the
victor and hero! Nor do we see any Vedic gods in any present-day Hindu
Brahmin temples.

The Sanskrit language expanded from the Punjab region to the rest of
the subcontinent as some minority "Arya" groups broke RigVedic taboos
and ventured southward from Saptha Sindhu (into present-day UP and
beyond) occupied by the dreaded "dasyus". It appears that, out of
political expediency, these invaders began using the local dravidian
priests - the Brahmins - to entrench their new social order over the
largely dasya population. This explains how the Brahmins, although
ethnically separate, began appearing as the "borrowed" agents of the
Vedic �Kshatriyas� outside of Saptha Sindhu. It also explains their
acquisition and use of Sanskrit � just as Indians and English today.

Further, Brahmins and their non-Aryan deities are spread throughout
southasia, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Bali, Malaysia. The physically
traits of these communities are largely indistinguishable from the
local population. "Brahmin" is hardly a racial concept.

By Tarashanker Patil (208.18.154.131) on Saturday, July 5, 2003 -
04:02 am:

Foreigner your model will never pick up in India even if you spend
billions you have no understanding of the civilization of Aryavarta.
Most Indians are pure Aryans and Aryans originated in India. The Negro
of the Gir was brought into India by the Arabs.

By . (202.156.2.82) on Friday, July 4, 2003 - 10:52 pm:

Aryan race originated in India? tats wat u fellows trying to prove,
because even if u fellows are aware that the aryans are intruders, u
wouldn"t wanna accept the fact, coz if u do accept the fact....u indo
aryans will be also considered outsiders, or nomadic breed

so i woun"t be suprise if u fellows were to say
aryan race originated in india
aryan race originated in india
aryan race originated in india

aryans are from aryavartha....
aryans are from aryavartha ..............: )

funny craps......... who cares ,look into the encyclopedia, look into
the world history, wellllll
to the hell with wat u fellows think, the whole world knows that the
aryans were nomads from central asia..

so wat more u wanna prove,,,,maybe just to console urself.....u can
post such says.....which is of least value..........

By Tara Chand Sinha (65.206.67.132) on Friday, July 4, 2003 - 08:05
am:

Dr. Joshi is correct the Aryan race originated in India. Most Indians
are pure Aryans and the colour of the Aryans ranged from brown to
white. Only the Indian criterion can be applied to Aryans. Aryan means
a race which originated in India. This race in India has about 400
million people as white or whiter than the Europeans. These people
live mostly in cold regions of India.

By Mahadev Sastri (65.206.67.132) on Friday, July 4, 2003 - 07:59 am:

We are Aryans and that is the truth.

By . (202.156.2.82) on Thursday, July 3, 2003 - 08:06 pm:

f.uck u shastri.....full of crap

By Mahadev shastri (208.18.154.139) on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 -
08:47 am:

Moist Indians in every part of India are the purest Aryans. The Negro
was brought by the Arab slave traders.

By Desi Voice (129.130.231.34) on Monday, June 23, 2003 - 12:27 pm:

(We are discussing exactly the same issue in mucg greater detail at
Desi Voice)

Join Desi Voice

http://pub14.ezboard.com/bdesivoice

The forum for discussions relevant to India and South Asia. Join us in
here to entertain and to educate; to find new friends and to promote
understanding and mutual respect among our diverse communities united
through shared history and cultural heritage; and most of all, to have
clean fun!

(We get over 80 posts a day)

http://pub14.ezboard.com/bdesivoice

By Phool Singh (208.18.154.149) on Saturday, June 21, 2003 - 09:56
am:

The Aryan the true one who live only in India range from white to
brown the true Aryan colours. We have 400 million Indians whiter or as
white as Europeans.

By Siva (202.156.2.83) on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 - 07:06 pm:

hey ganga ram,,,u are one piece of joke man.....y cannot accept the
fact is it...cool down bro...by giving such lame posts will make us
laugh at gangaRam
ur nick or name is equally funny as u r

By Ganga Ram (208.18.154.139) on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 - 08:59 am:

The first Negro I saw was in Andamans and the origin of these are the
Arab slave traders. No Negro exist prior to this in India and most
Indians are Aryans.

By Facts (24.69.255.204) on Saturday, June 14, 2003 - 04:15 pm:

Mr. 'Race is a social disease',

The 'theories' I propound are not mine but those of world renouned
experts .Learn something for a change instead of complaining.

Part 1 of 2

�Gods of love and ecstasy,the traditions of shiva and dionysus�,Alan
Danielou,1982 ed., east-west publishers.

Prof. Danielou is one of the foremost scholars on the cult of Shiva.
The Dravadians

"During the Neolithic age a new race appeared amongst the Mundas in
India.They had brown skin,straight hair and spoke an agglutinative
language.The origin of these people,who are called Dravadian(from the
Prakrit damila:Tamil),is obscure,but they and their
religion,Shivaism,pp.21,played a basic role in the history of
humanity.�The people who created and developed the first Greco-
oriental civilization,of which the Isle of Minos was the principal
center�despite their relations with Mesopotamia and Egypt�confirm that
they were neither Greek ,nor Semitic,nor Indo-European�It is possible
to suppose..that the people involved spread throughout the whole of
Greece�There was in the Greek language a substratum of words of
foreign origin�which must have survived from long before,despite the
occupation of the country by various invaders�.Their
Anatolian,Pelasgian,and even Proto-Indo-European origin is still being
debated�.The language thus formed was spoken throughout the Aegean,the
whole of Greece and southwest Anatolia.�(Charles Picard,Les Religions
prehelleniques,pp.53-54)

The Dravadian language and culture,which even today are those of the
population of Southern India,seem to have spread their influence from
India to the Mediterranean before the Aryan invasions.It was this
civilization,some of whose linguistic vestiges�such as
Georgian,Basque,Peuhl,Guanche and the dialects of Baluchestan�survive
still in outlying areas,which served as a vehicle for ancient
Shivaism.It appears that Sumerian,Pelagsian,Etruscan and Lydian,as
well as Eteocretan,also belonged to the same linguistic family :the
relationship between Sumerian ,Georgian and Tamil leaves no doubt as
to their origins.Moreover,the Basque language(Eskuara) and Georgian
both have the same structure and,even today,have more than three
hundred and sixty words in common.Again,Basque songs and dances are
related to those of the Caucasian Iberians.

Herodotus(Histories 1,57) speaks of the barbarian language used by the
Pelasgians who in his time were living in Southern Italy and at the
Hellespont.He considered that the Pelasgian language was closely
related to the Etruscan and Lydian.Saint Paul,who was shipwrecked at
Malta in 69A.D.,mentions the �barbarian�(non-Aryan) language which was
still spoken there.�The main provenance of the Pelasgians was�.from
the far side of the Black Sea.There is some possibility that they did
not arrive in Crete before the beginning of the secondmillennium B.C�.
[The name of the place where they lived,Larsia,proves it].�(R.F.
Willetts,�cretan Cults and festivals�,pp.135 and 136.)

By Facts (24.69.255.204) on Saturday, June 14, 2003 - 04:14 pm:

Part 2

pp.20,

The proto-Australoids

"The Proto-Australoids,in India called adivasi(first
inhabitants),speak Munda languages.They form one of the great racial
and linguistic groups,the other two being the Dravadians and the
Aryans.Accotrding to S.S. Sarkar(Aboriginal rqaces of India),the Proto-
Australoids are �the most archaic race which has survived�.They show
affinities with Neanderthal man(according to Huxley,Sollas,Von Luschon
and howells),a more ancient race than the Negroids.To this group
belongs the vedds of Ceylon and the Konds of Central India,the Khais
of Assam and the Shom Pen of Great nicobar.Outside of India,the Sakai
of Malaysia,the Moi of Indochina,the Orang batin,Lubu and Ulu of
Sumatra,the Toula of the Celebes,certain populations in southern
Arabia and the Dhofar,as well as the Aborigines of Australia,may all
be included in the same anthropological group.Their relationship with
the African Pygmies and Bushmen of the Kalahari appears probable.They
seem to have been the most ancient inhabitants of Europe,India and
Africa.Skelitons of this type have also been discovered in predynastic
Egyptian tombs,as well as in Mohenjo Daro in present-day Pakistan.

�The hunting tribes of whomthe bushmen and Pygmies are the last
remnants,once covered all of Africa.Even the Caspian art of the late
Paleolitihc period,found in areas around the western Mediterranean has
affinities with Bushman paintings�.The bushmen represent an early
group of humans ancestral to the larger and darker skinned peoples who
lived around the fringes of the Indian Ocean before they in turn
spread to all parts of Africa,except for the far South.�(Cottie
Burland,�Africa south of the sahara�,in Primitive erotic Art,p.198).
"

By RACE is a social disease, NOT A SCIENTIFIC THEORY/ FACT.
(219.65.128.50) on Saturday, June 14, 2003 - 03:07 pm:

Hey facts, I didn't say that you are giving us compliments. Just meant
that its the first time u didn't diss us. FIRST TIME. SO pointed it
out. Just a joke thats all. U need to get a sense of humour. Why are u
so touchy? can't you take a joke?

I got no interest in your theories.They are not facts, just
hypotheses. Well, more conjecture than anything.So don't go cussing me
now. You put forward a theory, you are gonna get some criticism. But i
see that u don't handle criticism well. If you can't handle criticism,
don't give out your theories.Simple. I am not criticising you here,
just saying that u take things( and yourself) too seriously. Just an
observation, "aryan" boy.
No offense....no, really, no offense.:-D

By Chatur singh (208.18.154.138) on Saturday, June 14, 2003 - 09:10
am:

The first Negro in India was brought by the arab slave traders. No
Dravid race exists and most Hindustanis are Aryans.

By Facts (24.69.255.204) on Friday, June 13, 2003 - 03:32 pm:

I don't hate Dravadians.I am only interested in the Facts,where ever
they lead me.

Why would my last post cause you to believe me a fan of Dravadians?Did
I say anything extraordinarily nice about them in that post?--I only
spoke the truth as science has so far discovered.

By Whats the catch? (219.65.134.253) on Friday, June 13, 2003 - 02:37
pm:

OK......wasn't "facts" a dravidian hater? Why is he being nice all of
a sudden? Hmmmmmm.Somethings up.FOr sure.

By Facts (24.69.255.204) on Friday, June 13, 2003 - 08:51 am:

We all originated from Africa,if we go back far enough in time....

To answer the question whether 'Dravadians are Africans',the answer is
no, Dravadians are not Africans.Dravadians or proto-Dravadians belong
to a large sub-stratum of the human family;they were originally a
brown skinned race and include the Mesopotamians,ancient
Cretians,Lidyans and founded of pre -Grecian and proto Myceanian
civilizations of Southern Europe.They also found as as the 'marsh
people' of Iraq and have kinship to the Altaic,Georgian ,Hungarian
etc. tongues. The Dravadians of south India today ultimately mixed
with the indeginious south Indians over time and many became almost
Negroid looking.Even today you will find some Dravadians in the South
who do not resemble Africans.The bruhais and Balochies and some Jat
tribes of North India(heer,Man,Buller) are also Dravadian,but they do
not look negroid because they have not mixed with the Southern Natives
of India.

On an unrelated note,Scientists have unearthed three 160 000 year old
skulls in Ethiopia that they say are the oldest known and best
preserved fossils of man's immediate predecessors.

Discovered in Africa's fossil rich Afar region,the skulls have clearly
modern features,that contrasts with older humans' projecting,heavy-
browed skulls.

'They are not quite completely modern,but are on their way,they are
clse enough to call Homo Sapiens',said Tim White a University of
California,berkeley paleontologist.

Previously the earliest fossils unearthed had been dated to 130 000
years,although they were less complete than the newer finds.

The new skulls which date from 160 000 to 154 000 years are assigned
the name Homo Sapiens idaltu--idaltu meaning 'elder' in the afar
language.

By . (202.156.2.83) on Thursday, June 12, 2003 - 12:23 am:

hahahah advani firstly aryans are illiterate nomads longing for food
and shelters than they set their foot in the indus valley,later they
came out with caste system/sanskrit etc which is not part of
Indhuism,,, to bring a meaning for their stay in the indian
soil,aryans became indians by chance, the aryans are intruders, if
thats the case wat abt u indo-aryans, son of nomads u too an outsider
who became indian by chance, to escape from all this facts, u are
coming out with nonsence saying that aryan invasion theory is fake
and
"ARYAN RACE ORIGINATED IN INDIA", u indo aryans might have born in
India by chance, but that dosen"t mean facts can be hidden by ur lame
lies or fabrication...

funny craps u r

By R.K. ADVANI (208.18.154.150) on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 09:59
am:

NO POWER CAN REMOVE THE WORD ARYAN FOR A RACE FROM INDIA. TWO FAKE
THEORIES ARE BEING PUSHED. ONE IS THE ARYAN INVASION THEORY. IN THIS
THE ARYANS ARE SAID TO HAVE COME FROM CENTRAL ASIA BUT CENTRAL ASIA IS
ARYAVARTA.

THE SEND THEORY IS THAT OF DAVID FRAWLEY, KONRAD ELST AND THEIR INDIAN
OPPORTUNISTIC PIMPS. THE AIM IS TO CREATE A NEW MEANING FOR THE WORD
ARYAN BOTH THESE FAKE THEORIES HAVE FAILED AND WILL FAIL.

DR. JOSHI AN INTELLIGENT AND HONEST PERSON IS CORRECT THE ARYAN RACE
ORIGINATED IN INDIA. THIS IS BEING TAUGHT IN INDIA.

ALSO THE INDIAN EPICS AND IRANIAN HISTORY DESCRIBE THE ARYANS AS
RACE.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PRE- IMPERIAL IRANIAN PEOPLES
... Darius refers to his Behistun inscription (DBiv.89) as (written)
in Ariyan; he
and ... I am Persian, son of a Persian; an Aryan, belonging to the
Aryan race. ...

By religion IS the problem (219.65.134.126) on Thursday, June 5, 2003
- 03:49 pm:

I'm a dravidian . And if i AM african, whats the matter with that? U
got a problem with that? So what r u racists gonna do about it?
U know little besides hating people and spreading lies. Slander is the
only thing "aryans" know."Aryans" are all bitchez cuz all they do is
bi tch about everything and everyone.LOL.
Besides , ARYAN is a hoax. No such thing.

Its the ultimate wannabe statement. And for losers who are destitute &
ignorant and want to be important.
Fukking wannabes.

By . (202.156.2.83) on Tuesday, June 3, 2003 - 10:23 pm:

F ... U

By Anonymous (208.18.154.138) on Saturday, May 31, 2003 - 09:53 am:

The Aryan Race originated in India.

By . (202.156.2.84) on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 04:25 pm:

No such race as Aryan just means Paryan which means outcasted. people
of so called aryavarta are pure Aryans or nomads who woundered for
left over food and shelter. They became indians by chance, culturally
and politically, aryans are never and can never be the the natural
inhabitants of the indian soil coz they are intruders......so is their
so called classical language sanskrit.....

By Manoj (65.206.67.138) on Sunday, May 25, 2003 - 04:49 am:

No such race as Dravidian just means South. Most people of aryavarta
are pure Aryans. The Negro in andamans and Gir was brought by Arabs
who traded in slaves (Abids).

http://indiaculture.net/talk/messages/128/10112.html?1057496337

Sid Harth

unread,

Feb 20, 2010, 1:27:38 PM2/20/10

Subramaniam Swamy is a CIA Spy!!!!!!!!!

1. shrivatsav View profile

Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian.delhi, soc.culture.indian.marathi
From: shrivat...@yahoo.com
Date: 1998/12/11

Subject: Subramaniam Swamy is a CIA Spy!!!!!!!!!

We know that many anti-national forces are working within our borders
to
destabilize the country. The only forces of unity are BJP and other
nationalist’s brothers like them. Subramaniam Swamy, a stooge of the
American
Imperialists to control the destiny of our country has spoken in a
FOREIGN
press claiming BJP ministers are receiving money for their actions. I
think
the ministers concerned should sue him in a court of law to put an
end to
this bootlicker of the CIA. This anti-Hindu fellow is a shame to our
country.
Like minded people should work together to stop him from further
destabilizing our country.

BJP-LTTE links EXPOSED!
Bandula Jayasekara in
New Delhi

India's Baratiya Janata Party (BJP) Government has ordered its
coastguard to
relax its surveillance on the LTTE and two of its ministers are openly
aiding
and promoting the terrorists, a prominent Indian leader has charged.
Dr. Subramaniam Swamy former minister and now member of the
Parliamentary
Standing Committee on defence told the Midweek Mirror he came to know
from
Indian military personnel that the BJP government had ordered the
coastguards
to go slow and easy on the LTTE.

He charged that two ministers of the Vajpayee Govt. were aiding and
abetting
the LTTE."They are out and out supporters of the LTTE and pushing hard
for
them," Dr
. Swamy said.

"They have been compromised or have taken financial assistance in the
past or
they are scared of the LTTE," he charged

Mr. SWAMY SHOULD BE EXPOSED IN COURT OF LAW

He said the LTTE apparently felt far more comfortable with the BJP
government
than with any other government of India.

"Rastriya Swayam Sevek Sangh (RSS), which controls BJP,

WHAT A SHAME BOOTLICKER, BJP IS ITS OWN PARTY NO ONES STOOGE LIKE YOU

seems to have fallen for the LTTE ploy that it is a Hindu force. Even
Shiv
Sena Leader Bal Thackeray had fallen for it but recently changed his
opinion," Dr. Swamy said.

--- SO MR. SWAMY thinks HINDUS IN SRI LANKA ARE NOT HINDUS AT ALL,
THEY ARE
ALIENS FROM MARS LIKE HIM. HINDUS ARE DYEING EVERYDAY IN SRI LANKA AND
HE HAS
THE AUDACITY TO SAY THAT RSS IS WRONG.BAL THCKERAYJI IS NOT A CIA
STOOGE LIKE
SWAMY. HE IS AN INDIAN FIRST, HINDU SECOND.

Dr. Swamy said that Sri Lanka should learn from the Indian federal
constitution a unitary one with federal principles wherein the states
have
their assemblies and devolution of powers. "There is no room for a
negotiated
settlement with the LTTE. Certainly in India we are not going to
forget Rajiv
Gandhi's assassination. We cannot allow foreign terrorist
organisations to
come to the Indian soil and kill one of our leaders," he said. Dr.
Swamy said
he was shocked at President Kumaratunga's fluctuation from hardline
against
the LTTE to wanting to negotiate with it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- KILL ALL HINDUS IN LANKA DON’T NEGOTIATE WITH THEM IS DR. SWAMYS
POSITION

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Pre-Hindu Origins of Ram as a Sun God - A Hypothesis

1. sudheerb View profile
More options Dec 13 1998, 3:00 am

Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian, soc.culture.indian.marathi,
soc.culture.indian.tamil, soc.culture.indian.kannada
From: sudhe...@my-dejanews.com
Date: 1998/12/13

Subject: Pre-Hindu Origins of Ram as a Sun God - A Hypothesis

Sri-Ramnavami is dedicated to the memory of Lord Rama. It occurs on
the ninth
day (navami). The festival commemorates the birth of Rama who is
remembered
for his preperous and righteous reign. Ramrajya (the reign of Rama)
has
become synonymous with a period of peace and prosperity. Mahatma
Gandhi also
used this term to describe how, according to him, India should be
after
independence.

Ramnavami occurs in the month of March. Celebrations begin with a
prayer to
the Sun early in the morning. At midday, when Lord Rama is supposed to
have
been born, a special prayer is performed. In northern India
especially, an
event that draws popular participation is the Ramnavami procession.
The main
attraction in this procession is a gaily decorated chariot in which
four
persons are dressed up as Rama, his brother Laxman, his queen Sita and
his
disciple Hanuman. The chariot is accompanied by several other persons
dressed
up in ancient costumes as work by Rama's solders. The procession is a
gusty
affair with the participants shouting praises echoing the happy days
of
Rama's reign.

On the face of it Sri-Ramnavmi appears to be just a festival
commemorating the
reign of a king who was later deified. But even behind present-day
traditions
there are clues which unmistakably point to the origin of Ramnavmi as
lying
beyond the Ramayana story.

Sri Ramnavami occurs at the beginning of summer when the sun has
started
moving nearer to the northern hemisphere. The Sun is considered to be
the
progenitor of Rama's dynasty which is called the Sun dynasty
(Raghukula or
Raghuvamsa, Raghu means Sun and Kula or Vamsa mean familial
descendant). Rama
is also known as Raghunatha, Raghupati, Raghavendra etc.

That all these names begin with the prefix Raghu is also suggestive of
some
link with Sun-worship. The hour chosen for the observance of the
lord's birth
is that when the sun is overhead and is at its maximum brilliance. In
some
Hindu sects, prayers on Ramnavami day start not with an invocation to
Rama
but to Surya (sun). Again the syllable Ra is used in the word to
describe the
sun and brilliance in many languages. In Sanskrit, Ravi and Ravindra
mean
Sun.

Ra or Amon Ra - the Sun God of the Egyptians

Significantly, the ancient Egyptians termed the sun as Amon Ra or
simply as
"Ra". In Latin the syllable Ra is used to connote light. For example,
we have
Radiance which emission of light, or Radium which means any substance
emitting
light or brilliance. The common element is the syllable Ra which in
many
languages is used to derive words for describing Sun or light.

The occurrence of this syllable in most names used for Rama alongwith
other
clues is strongly suggestive that the festival Ramnavami antedates
the
Ramayana and it must have originated much before the Ramayana, as a
'Sun-festival' for invoking the Sun who was recognised as the source
of light
and heat even in ancient times.

The importance of the Sun was much more in the higher latitudes from
where
the Aryans are supposed to have migrated into India. Many royal
dynasties
portrayed symbols of virility like the Sun, Eagle, Lion etc. as their
progenitor. Rama's dynasty considered themselves to have descended
from the
Sun. This could have led to the tagging on, of Rama's birthday to a
festival
devoted to the sun.

More information on the Scientific interpretation of Hindu Culture is
given in
the online book at the non-profit site:

http://india.CoolAtlanta.com/GreatPages/sudheer/book2/festivals2.html

Sudheer Birodkar

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Historical Fraud: Brahmins are "Vedic Aryans"

1. gandasa View profile
More options Dec 14 1998, 3:00 am

Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian.marathi, soc.culture.tamil,
soc.culture.french, soc.culture.canada
From: gand...@my-dejanews.com
Date: 1998/12/14

Subject: Historical Fraud: Brahmins are "Vedic Aryans"

In article <3674E763.9398D...@erols.com>,

chakrabo...@iname.com wrote:
>All people today are a genetic mixture evolving out of the four basic races. There is no evidence to suggest that even the famously
> enigmatic "aryans" were a pure race . . .

Historical Fraud: Brahmins are "Vedic Aryans"

Neo-Brahmanist social and racial dogma asserts that Brahmins and their
loyal
"twice born" tag-along Banias, who collectively form 7% of
"Hindus" (Mandal
Commission), are the superior "Vedic Aryans" and "kshatriyas" who
deserve to
be the lords and ruling class of their Hindu flock and empire while
the rest,
including "minorities", (93%) should submit to their Caste Order and
serve
them as loyal obedient chownkidars and sudras (soldiers and labor).
The old
chatur-varna system (four caste social ideology) of the gangetic
Brahmins
blessed by their god Brahma in the Puranic "creation myth" was updated
under
neo-Brahmanism along 19th century lines of socio-racial
Darwinianism.

Reality and Facts:

1) Southasia has historically been a

multi-national/cultural/ethnic/linguistic region, like Europe or the
middle-east. There has never been a ONE NATION or country in
southasia. A
few short regional empires arose, crumbling under their own weight
within a
few decades (e.g. Mauryan Empire, lasted 92 years). As a
historical/political entity, Winston Churchill aptly states "India is
merely
a geographical expression. It is no more a single country than the
equator."

2) The fantasy of southasia as a "One Hindu Nation" under
Brahmanist
rule never existed. For example, the oldest northwest region of
southasia,
including Punjab, was politically unified to the rest of subcontinent
less
than 10% of its known 3500 years history (that too under Buddhist and
Muslim
regimes) prior to annexation by the British in 1847. The region was
independent from the rest of southasia over 90% of its verifiable
history and
pursued its own unique and distinct ethnic, historical, political,
religious,
linguistic, and cultural evolution.

3) From geographical information in the RigVeda, the Vedic
Period
(1500-500BC) was confined to the northwest. The hyms composed by
Vedic
mystics/poets of Punjab (Saptha Sindhva) tell that the Vedic peoples
worshipped non-Brahmanical Gods (Indra, Varuna, Mitra), ate cows,
elected
their chiefs, drank liqor, considered the Punjab rivers to be sacred,
and
refer to people living to the south in the gangetic region as
"Dasyas"! None
of the gangetic Brahmanical gods (e.g Ram, Krishna, Vishnu, Brahma,
etc.) are
mentioned in RigVeda hyms nor do they appear in connected Aryan
Avestan texts
and Hittite tablets. Avestan terms for soldiers ("rathaestar") and
citizens
("vastriyo") are similar to Vedic-derived terms (kshatriyas, vasihyas)
but
the Avestan term for priest ("athravan") is not even close to
"Brahmanas".
Moreover, central Gangetic religious texts like the Mahabharta and
VarnaAshramDharma of Manu call the Vedic Aryans in Saptha Sindhva
"mlechas",
"sudras" and "vratyas"; "forbid Brahmins" from even visiting the
northwest
country ("Vahika-desa"); and depict dark Dravidian Gods like Krishna
fighting
and defeating Vedic Aryan gods like Indra (Mahabharta). Similarly,
the
RigVeda contains taboos and injunctions against the "dasya-varta"
region to
the south of Saptha Sindhva and praises Indra (god of thunderbolt)
for
victories over "dasya-purahs" (dasya cities).

Both early RigVedic and gangetic Puranic sources clearly point to
ethnic,
cultural and religious differences and a "clash of civilizations and
nations"
at the ganga indicating that the Vedic people and culture of the
northwest
did not accept the gangetic priests, their gods, shastras, religion,
culture
and Brahmanical caste ideology. The eastern gangetic heartland is not
only
historically a separate region, but geographically resides over 1500
miles to
the southeast of the Saptha Sindhva country. Uptil the advent of
Mohammed
Ghori in the 13th century, the northwest was politically unified with
southasia only 92 years under the Mauryas (out of 27 centuries) since
the
start of Saptha Sindhva's Vedic period (1500 BC).

4) A few Vedic tribes from Saptha Sindhva broke RigVedic norms
and
migrated southward. These numerically outnumbered groups expanding
into the
trans-gangetic region near the end of the Vedic period (8-6th century
BC)
tried to use the indigenous Dravidian priesthood to entrench
themselves as
the new ruling order. Within a few generations of acquiring control
over the
foreign Gangasthan, the minority Vedic tribes were usurped by the
indigenous
"borrowed" priesthood; their Aryan religion, gods and customs mostly
deposed
and supplanted with indigenous gangetic gods and mythologies; and
their new
social order (varna or color based) replaced with the pre-existing
profession
(jati) based Brahmanical caste system ("chatur-varna" ). Through
religious
manipulation and intrigue, the Vedic in-comers to Gangasthan were
usurped and
made to surrender their political rule and soon pigeon-holed into
becoming
the loyal obedient chownkidars of their "superior" dravidic Brahmanas
till
the rise of Buddhism two centuries later.

The religious and political revolt against Brahmanical hegemony
started by
Rama (Bhagwatism) and the Buddha (Sakamuni) - Vedic and Saka princes -
in the
7-6th century BC checked Brahmanical hegemony in Gangasthan and
provided the
masses relief from its perversions (e.g. Manu's code and laws) until
its
revival and expansion by Shankarcharya of Malabar and cronies between
8-11th
century AD. Later, in revisionist Brahmanical texts, attempts were
devised
to "absorb" both anti-Brahmanical movements into Brahmanism and
eliminate
them as threats by claiming both Rama and Buddha to be reincarnations
of
Vishnu. The oldest Brahmanical texts including the Ramayana date to
the 11th
century AD (written in Devnagri, created in the 11th century) while
the older
Buddhist Ramayanas (e.g. Tibetan, 8th century) have vastly different
storylines.

5) Despite the colonial racial complexes developed by Poorbia
Brahmanists during British rule and their revisionist and fantastical
19th
century "One Hindu Nation" propaganda, there is overwhelming
historical and
archeological evidence of Brahmanism (so-called "Hinduism") being of
Dravidian origin from the historically and geographically separate
gangetic
region (Gangasthan). Social customs, dress, cuisine, dance,
ethnicity,
cultural heritage, ethos and political history of the two regions are
very
different.

6) The northwest country ("Saptha-Sindhva" in Rig Veda,
"Sakasthana" on
Saka inscriptions/coins) was politically independent from rest of
southasia
over 97% of its history from the start of its Vedic period to the
Afghan
conquest (500 BC - 1200 AD). Between 500 BC-1200 AD, it was under
the
political rule of Saka tribes and dynasties who form 65% of the
present
northwest population based on ethnological information collected in
colonial
censuses. Saka priests were known as "Magas" (Sun priests who prayed
to the
sun for bountiful harvests) who, along with Buddhist masters of
Sakasthan,
found themselves out of work when Buddhism and its institutions
declined
during 8-10th century. Many of them eventually became recruited into
the
"Brahmin" fold (e.g. Saraswat, Dakaut divisions) while gangetic
emigrants
form the "Gaur" division of Brahmins. These Saka converts to
Brahmanism did
not intermarry Brahmins from other regions and divisions, ate meat and
were
occupationally lax. Although they were indoctrinated into the
gangetic caste
ideology, they have always been regarded as a "lower grade" by the
easterly
orthodox Brahmins. Brahmins as a whole in southasia are ethnically,
culturally and racially a diverse heterogenous group geographically
distributed up to Indonesia, Burma and Thailand, while the Saka-Vedic
population is predominantly confined to the northwest country where
they form
the majority.

7) Brahmins collectively are not of one racial or ethnic origin
as
fantasized under 19th century Poorbia Brahmanist racial dogma ("Vedic
Aryan"). In the south, they take on the physical traits of south
Indians, in
Nepal they look Nepali, in Burma and Thailand they are mongoloid, in
Gangasthan they look Bhiya, and in the Punjab many share a Punjabi
ethnicity
derived from their Maga and Buddhist predecessors while others are
undoubtedly post 9th century AD migrants from Malabar
(Shankarcharya's
revivalist horde) and the gangetic region.

8) Ironically, two of the three core concepts of the Poorbia
Brahmanist
imperialistic program of "Hindu and Hindusthan" are borrowed from
post-12th
century Muslim (Afghan and Mogul) regimes and were never used in
southasia
before then; they are not found in any pre-12th century Brahmin or
Buddhist
text ! Under the historical mithya and fraud of late-19/20th
century
ideologues and organizations from Gangaland (e.g. Vivekananda,
Dayananda,
Gowalker; Arya Samaj, VHP, RSS, Hindumahasaba), these terms were
crafted into
a new fantasy "ancient Hindu" identity, history and nationalism
through which
Brahmanists idealogues, politicians and organizations launched their
own
hegemonic program during British Raj of becoming the
"superior" (Aryan)
ruling class of their Hindu flock and never existent "10,000 year old
Hindusthan".

The facts of objective history show that these terms and concepts have
no
"historical depth" in any social, religious, ethnic or national sense
past
the 12th century when Mohammed Ghori for the first time named his
conquered
domains in northern southasia "Hinduthan" and his subjects "Hindus".
No
southasia text preceding the 12th century ever uses these terms. What
did
Ghori’s "Hindus" call themselves prior to the 12th century?

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gandasa View profile
More options Dec 18 1998, 3:00 am

Newsgroups: soc.culture.punjab, soc.culture.pakistan,
soc.culture.indian, soc.culture.indian.marathi
From: gand...@my-dejanews.com
Date: 1998/12/18

Subject: Mauryas and Dharan-Gupta Dynasties were Saka Dynasties

In article <75bp18$...@Bayou.UH.EDU>,
kjo...@Bayou.UH.EDU (Kishore Joshi) wrote:

> >The Puranas do not even refer to the largest imperial dynasties of the north

> Do you know when the Puranas were written ?????

The current version date to 11th century AD - most are
plagerized, distorted, dasuized versions of earlier Saka Buddhist
texts
(e.g. RgVeda, Ramayana, Mahabharta, etc.). All written in
devnagri text invented by gangu bahmans in ANCIENT 11th century AD.

No Brahmin temple/ruin in northern southasia predates 10th century
AD.

> >such as the Mauryas (324 - 232 BC) and Dharan Guptas (320 AD - 515) as
> >"Kshatriyas". Regarding the Mauryas,

> >Dehiya, B.S., Jats: the Ancient Rulers, 1980, [p.147] states "Another
> >indication of the foreign origin (Saka) of these people is . . . The Vishnu
> >Purana calls them (Gupta rulers) Sudras. The Markandeya Purana brands the
> >Mauryas as Asura. The Yuga Purana called them `utterly irreligious, though
> >posing as religious'. The Mudra Rakshasa calls these people as mlechas and
> >Chandragupta himself is called 'Kulahina', an upstart of unknown family".

> That's because he was conceived of an ordinary maid in the King's palace.

Another Kirar spicy fantasy; coins, inscriptions and Puranas
themselves show they were Saka dynasties expanding from northwest
Sakasthana. The Mauryas came from northern Sakasthan; Dharan-Guptas
from Mathura region. Kushana Sakas had 3 capitals: Peshawar
and Mathura and Jats ruled gangu-Brahmins in the east from there.

After the Guptas, Tibetans and Nepali ruled in Gangasthan until
Afghans and Moguls came.

Historical Fraud #3: "Brahmins made Kshatriyas"; "Mauryas and Guptas
were
Brahmanas" !

Another central claim of neo-Brahmanist historical dogma is that
Kshatriyas
(rulers) were created by Brahmins who loyally served their masters!
Moreover, in mainstream Indian history books written by Brahmanist
historians, the two largest imperial dynasties of southasia history -
the
Mauryas (324 - 232 BC) and Guptas (320 AD - 515) - are claimed to be
Brahmanas and (Ghori’s) "Hindu" kings!.

Reality and Facts:

1) In typical Puranic myths, the "bad Kshatriyas" who refused
Brahmin
codes and religious authority and did not respect them are claimed to
have
been "annihilated" by Brahmanas who took birth as Kshatriya Devtas!
For
example, Parsurama, the battle-axed Brahmana Rama, "destroyed all
the
Kshatriyas" not once but "21times"! In reference to this incident,
D.D.
Kosambi [p. 212] says "This is merely over compensation in poetic
imagination
for the reverse phenomenon, the slaughter of the ancestors of Brahmins
by the
warriors". Moreover, in their own revisionist and fantastical Puranic
tale,
Parsurama had to bow before Rama and Laxman - Kshatriyas of Ayodhya -
and
surrendered his arms.

2) In the northwest subcontinent, the Brahmanists have almost
never
formed the ruling class over any known period of history. The
recorded
rulers over 3500 years of known history have been drawn from the
followings
groups and their descendants: British, Sikhs/Jats/Gujars/Rajputs,
Afghans,
Moguls, Sakas (Scythians), Bactrian Greeks and Vedics. The Kshatriya
(ruling
class, administrators and soldiers) during all periods and in all
regions of
the world have come to power through conquest by their sword and
military
prowess despite Brahmanical canards about "creating Kshatriyas". To
gain the
favor and employment from chieftans rising to power, the ready witted
priests
concocted fanciful tales of divine origin from solar and lunar
lineages and
imaginary Brahmanical gods.

3) There have always been two types of ruling classes
(Kshatriyas) in
southasia: i) those who patronized the Brahmin priesthood and
ii) those who felt no need or desire to do so and patronized other
religions
(e.g. Vedic religion, Saka religion, Buddhism, Islam, Sufism,
Sikhism,
Christianity). In dateless and placeless revisionist Brahmanical
texts
(written centuries later when Brahmins gained larger influence; eg.
post-9th
century Shankarcharya revival), the latter are dubbed "mlechas",
"sudra", and
"low castes kings", etc. while the former are glorified with
fantastical
tales and showered with the blessings of their devtas. The second
type form
most of the known and verifiable Kshatriyas and ruling orders in the
history
of southasia - all in the case of the northwest!

4) The Puranas do not even refer to the largest imperial
dynasties of
the north such as the Mauryas (324 - 232 BC) and Dharan Guptas (320
AD -
515) as "Kshatriyas". Regarding the Mauryas, Dehiya [p.147] states
"Another
indication of the foreign origin (Saka) of these people is . . . The
Vishnu
Purana calls them (Gupta rulers) Sudras. The Markandeya Purana brands
the
Mauryas as Asura. The Yuga Purana called them `utterly irreligious,
though
posing as religious'. The Mudra Rakshasa calls these people as
mlechas and
Chandragupta himself is called 'Kulahina', an upstart of unknown
family".

Mauryan coins have the symbol of the sun, a branch, a humped bull and
mountain (Dehiya, p.155). All these are pre-eminently Scythian
MassaGetae
icons who were Sun worshippers with the high mount symbolizing earth
and the
irregular curving lines alongside it symbolizes water. The tree
branch is a
symbol of productivity of the earth - agriculture and soldiering were
the
traditional "noble" occupation of Sakas. The historians of Darius
record
that when he attempted to attack the Scythian MassaGetae (an old-
Iranian
culture of central asia) along the Black sea in the 5th century BC,
the Saka
kings swore by the sun god and refused to surrender "earth and
water".

D.B. Spooner who evacuated Pataliputra was struck by his findings and
writes
in his article "The Zoroastrian Period of Indian History" as follows:
"For
Chandragupta' s times, the evidences are more numerous and more
detailed, and
indicate a following of Persian customs all along the line - in public
works,
in ceremonial, in penal institutions, everything".

5) Regarding the Guptas, Dehiya [p.181] states "The coins of
SamudraGupta, Chandragupta I, Kacha, Chandragupta II Vikramaditya,
Kumaragupta I, Skandagupta, etc. all have the central asian long coat
and
trousers and boots and long swords. This is the most significant
fact
proving that the Guptas were in fact central asian Jats (a Saka
tribe;
derived from “Getae”) . . . ".

P. L. Gupta writes "The most common gold coins of the Guptas appear to
be the
direct descendants of the gold coins of the later Kushans . . .". He
adds
that the standing pose of the Gupta kings at the altar is almost
identical to
that of the Kushan kings, as is their dress - Kushan long coats and
trousers
(uchkin, salwar/kameez). The Kushana or Kasvan tribe of the Sakas had
rule
over Sakasthan (northwest) in the period from 1st century to 4rd
century AD.
The early Gupta coins are significantly called "dinar" and their
weight is
the same as those of westerly Kushana coins. Moreover, Alberuni (an
Arab who
traveled to southasia in A.D. 1030) learnt that "the Guptas were
powerful but
bad and the locals (in the gangetic region) celebrated the end of
their rule
by starting a new era" (Dehiya, p. 190). This again supports the
Scythian
origin of the Guptas: the end of the Saka empire in the eastern
subcontinent
was a cause of celebration to the gangetic Brahmins.

6) The term "Gupta" is a misnamed version of "Jarta" found in
early
texts and inscriptions by modern pro-Brahmanist historians (e.g.
Majumdar,
Belvelkar, Satavalekar). "Jarta" is the sanskritized form of "Jat" as
other
Saka tribal names "Gujar" become "Gurjara" and Munda become Marunda.
Gupta
is derived from "Goptri" meaning "military governor" as in the
inscription of
Skandagupta (Dehiya, p 176). It was not a surname or clan name but a
title.
Chandragomin, a gramarian of 6th century AD, wrote "Ajay Jarto Hunan"
or "the
invincible Jartas defeated the Hunas". Dehiya [p. 22] further writes
"The
Jain author Vardhamana mentions Sakas and Jartas in 1139-40 AD
(Ganaratana
Mahodadhi, Kasika, 201). Chandragomin, therefore makes no mistake at
all
when he states that the invincible Jats defeated the Hunas.
Yasodharman
(Virk) as well as the so-called Guptas were Jats . . . even though the
Hunas
were themselves late-comer Jats. The clan name of Toramana and
Mahirgula,
viz Jauvla, is still available among Indian Jats who are now called
Jauhl.
Majumdar and Belvelkar have to revise their revision. Their is no
need to
change the word Jat (Jarta) into Gupta. The original is quite correct
and
was mentioned by a contemporary writer".

7) A contemporary inscription at Mandasor (558 AD) supports
Chandragomin's account that under the command of Yashodharman Virk,
"the Jats
not only defeated the Huns but also exterminated them" (Puniya, 178).
This
is futher confirmed by Archarya Gopita, a Jain scholar of the 12th
century
AD, according to whom "Huns were defeated by the Jats". Similarly,
the
Artharva Veda says that god Rudra is the king of a people called
"Garta-Sada": "Gartasadam Jananam Rajanam". Many modern Brahmanist
"historians" like Satavalekar, after numerous contortions (Dehiya, p.
310),
translate "Garta" as being equivalent to a cave (Guha) !

The coin, inscriptional, archeological and literary evidence from
Jain/Puranic/Persian/Buddhist/Chinese sources clearly demonstrate the
non-Brahmanical and non-gangetic origins of the Mauryas (Maur clan)
and
Guptas (Dharan clan). Both are proved to be Saka imperial dynasties
which
expanded their empire into the eastern subcontinent from their home
base in
northwest "Sakasthana". Jat/Gujar clans and villages named "Maur"
and
"Dharan" exist even today in Punjab, Haryana, Bihar and western MP.

Selected Historical References on Sakas and Northwest Sakasthana
(See Dhillon (1994) for catalogue of over 400 references)

Banerjea, J.N. (1987), The Scythians and Parthians in India, in a
Comprehensive History of India, edited by K.A.N. Sastri, Vol.
2,
Peoples Publishing House, New Delhi, India, 1987, pp 186-309,
pp
830-838.

Bingley, A.H. (1978), History, Caste & Culture of the Jats and Gujars,
Ess
Ess Publications, New Delhi, India (first published in 1899).

Cunningham, A. (1971), Coins of the Indo-Scythians, Sakas, and
Kushanas,
Reprinted by Indological Book House, Varanasi, India (first
published
1888).

Dahiya, B.S. (1980), Jats: The Ancient Rulers, Sterling Publishers
Pvt.
Ltd., New Delhi, India.

Dhillon, B.S. (1994), History and Study of the Jats, Beta Publishers
Inc., Ottawa, Canada

Eggmont, P.H.L. (1970), Alexander's Campaign in Ghandhara and
Ptolemy's List
of Indo-Scythian Towns, Orientalis Lavaniensia Periodica I, pp
63-123.

Gupta, P.L. (1988), Coins, National Book Trust, New Delhi, India,
pp51-52.

Hewitt, J.F. (1894), The Ruling Races of Prehistorical Times in
India,
South-Western Asia, and Southern Europe, Archibald Constable
& Co. ,
London, pp. 481-487.

Herodotus (B.C. 490-425): The Histories, translated by de Selincourt,
Penguin Books, New York, 1988.

Ibbetson Denzil (1916), Punjab Castes: Races, Castes and the Tribes
of the People of Punjab, Cosmo Publications, New Delhi
(1981).

Jats, The New Encylopaedia Britannica, Vol. Encyclopedia Britannica,
Inc.,
Chicago, pp. 510.

Kosambi, D.D. (1953), The Study of Indian Tradition, Indica, Silver
Jubilee
Issue.

Pradhan, M.C. (1966), The Political System of the Jats of Northern
India,
Oxford University Press, London.

Ptolemy (90-168 A.D.), Geography of Claudius Ptolemy, translated and
edited
by E.L. Stevenson, The New York Public Library, New York,
1932.

Pawar, H.S. (1993), The Jats: their Origin, Antiquity and
Migrations,
Manthan Publications, Rohtak, India

McCrindle, J.W. (1987), Ancient India as Described in Classical
Literature,
reprinted by Eastern Book House, Patna, India, pp 164-165
(first
published 1901).

McGovern, W.N. (1939), The early Empires of Central Asia, he
University of
North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, pp
419-21.

Rolle, R. (1989), The World of the Scythians, University of
California
Press, Berkeley.

Sara, I. (1978), The Scythian Origin of the Jat-SIkh (Part 1 & 2), The
Sikh
Review, pp. 15-27, pp. 214-233.

Smith, V. A. (1903), The Kushana or Indo-Scythian Period in Indian
History
(165 B.C.-320 A.D.), Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of
Great
Britain and Ireland, pp. 1-64.

Tod, J.(1972), Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. 1, Routledge
&
Kegan Paul Ltd., London, pp. 623(first published in 1829).

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Peshwa Brahmins destroyed the Maratha Tribes and Empire

7. gandasa View profile
More options Dec 18 1998, 3:00 am

Newsgroups: soc.culture.punjab, soc.culture.pakistan,
soc.culture.indian, soc.culture.indian.marathi
From: gand...@my-dejanews.com
Date: 1998/12/18

Subject: Re: Peshwa Brahmins destroyed the Maratha Tribes and Empire

In article <75bp18$...@Bayou.UH.EDU>,
kjo...@Bayou.UH.EDU (Kishore Joshi) wrote:

> You pathetic Sardar, you are now relying on the History of Sikhs
> written by a Bania, Why the sudden trust in the very people
> whose blood you despise, you zoo exhibit !

Here even your fellow Bania historian is saying "Peshwa was no
statesman".
Trust him. The other was a British historian - J.D. Cunningham -
who was a political officer appointed to the Jat Empire of Bharatpur
(early 18th century) and then to Lahore (1840s). He saw the
reduction
of the Marathas, Jats and the Sikhs by the British and their Poorbia
Hindu allies FIRST HAND. And wrote all his observations in a 1849
book!!!

He was fired by the British Govt. for being so forthright and for
criticising British policies against Jats and Sikhs.

I dont have any trust in any harami monkey loving bania or Bahman
- no matter how "educated" he thinks he is. They are all shit to the
core - and they know it too. I would put more trust in the integrity
and humanity of a Chamar over a Kirar lala - any time.

Fact is, these 7% kirars have no history and rulers but carry a
mother
load of supremacist fantasies and are always monkeying around with
the
history of others, especially Sakas and Punjabi Vedics. A couple of
exceptions one finds turn out to be treacherous namak-harami Bahman
usurpers who betrayed their lords to inherit non-Bahman empires
built by Sakas. E.g. killing Mahavir Shahu's 5 YEAR OLD son to set up
an
illegitimate Peshwai in 1730; the Bahman Dahir who usurped a Jat-Saka
(Jasrat) dynasty in a region of Sindh (8th century).

In the entire western subcontinent, these 2 are the only recorded
Bahman
dynasties out of 3500 years - and both were treacherous upurpers,
traitors, and namak-harams.

Within a couple of decades they even misgoverned, pillaged and drove
these Saka kingdoms into the sewer: e.g. Maratha debacle at Panipat,
1761; and
current hopeless and gutter state of former 1947 British Indian
Empire.

Despite all the charades, the following well known and established
facts
about the Maratha-Saka revival in the 17-18th century still stand:

1) The Brahmin Peshwa killed the 5 year old son of MahaVir Shahu with
poison to usurp the Maratha court and throne.

2) Brahmin usurpers always considered Marathas tribes to be
dispensible
"low caste shudras" who could be exploited for their casteist
and supremacist ambitions and whims.

3) Foolish and disloyal Brahmin Peshwas (1730-60) then formed an
alliance
with the Mogul Emporer AlamgirII and protected the Mogul Ruler and
his empire from Saka wrath when Jats, Sikhs and Rajputs
wanted to attack and end the Mogul empire.

4) The Moguls then screwed the Peshwa by switching to Abdali
and his re-powered Afghans in 1760, leading to defeat of Maratha
army and killing of +100,000 of brave Maratha warriors in 2 days.

5) The Marathas, who outnumberd the Pathans-Mogul army, were defeated
due to the incompetent and foolish Brahmin Rao made their
field general. He wouldnt listen to the experienced Maratha
Commanders and made planning and tactical blunders allowing
Afghans to cut his supply lines and starve them out.

6) Sikhs and Jats then had to face the Afghans and Moguls onslaught
alone but destroyed them and the Moguls by 1765. It is a
Brahmanist myth that Sikhs and Jats benefitted from Maratha
victory
over Afghans.

There was NO VICTORY to help - in fact they were crushed due to
mistakes/policies of their foolish Brahmin Peshwas who even did
not trust the Maratha Chiefs/Army and put them under charge
of stupid Brahmin political appointees.

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Sid Harth vs. Naresh Chandra.

1. Sid Harth View profile
More options Dec 16 1998, 3:00 am

Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian, soc.culture.usa, soc.culture.canada,
soc.culture.british, soc.culture.indian.marathi

From: Sid Harth <gautamasidha...@malexcite.com>
Date: 1998/12/16
Subject: Sid Harth vs. Naresh Chandra.

Y'all know who Sid Harth is. Naresh Chandra is our honorable
Ambassador
of government of India to the United States of America. Sadanand
Dhume,
a veteran journalist writing for Earth Times, a darling newspaper
started by my good buddy, Pranay Gupte, always fair and always sane,
interviews this rascal, for whatever good it does, I am doubtful of
its
outcome.

I never met Naresh Chandra, given opportunity, I shall refuse
to see
him. He is one, (expletive deleted,) (expletive deleted,) (expletive
deleted,) (expletive deleted,) dishonorable man. Worth (expletive
deleted,) as far as I am concerned. A goddamned liar, I hope
Dejanews.com dunces may not find the term "goddamned,"
unparliamentary
and go berserk.

Please read this informative interview. Please also note what
this
hoodlum, Naresh Chandra, says about the truth I pass to you, my
readers,
about India, Indian conditions, Indian political malarkey, Indian
lies,
Indian forked tongues, Indian mafia domination in every single field
of
endeavor. Indian government's lack of duty, will, desire to protect
230,000,000 Shudra/minority souls from the eternal harassment from
high
holy Hindu bastards.

India is a sewer. Pure and simple. Sewer rats that these RSS
goons are,
are the ones who are falsifying the reality. Muna, Kulbir, Jaswinder,
and bunch of other good people are trying to tell the truth, with
universally acceptable, valid, fresh, unbiased, third party proofs to
back their charges that Indian sewer rats are lying, cheating, when
justifying the rapes, murders, looting, pillaging, subjugating, slave
trading, starving, neglecting, ransacking, vulgarizing, double
talking,
misinforming, conniving, conspiring, flesh trading, smuggling, rail
roading, misbehaving, and putting propaganda about India.

As far as I am concerned, Naresh Chandra is a goddamned idiot.
Bring
that SOB, don't ask me to spell that term out, I may hurt the
delicate,
bleeding hearts of Dejanews.com dunces and break my vow of silence,
to
me and I shall tear his pulsating Hindu heart out of his chest cavity
by
my bear hand, left hand, just an expression of genuine anger, not a
threat, no cause for legal action, I do not believe in violence, and
I
shall straighten his crooked head, screw it right and tight.

Who is conducting false propaganda? Indian government and RSS
goons,
that's who. Bunch of bold and fearless people are tearing these
goons'
fake facades. Gopal Saraswat and his ilk, the ones Naresh Chandra
wants
to depend upon for some financial and moral support, are the rascals
doing all kind of legal and illegal, moral and immoral shit work that
Naresh Chandra is so proud of.

American citizens have duty to protect the American
constitution not
that of (expletive deleted,) India, a hostile, abusive, irreverent
sewer
of a country which glows in the dark with her anti American attitudes
and actions from the highest government level to the low lying,
lying,
cheating worms, nay, shit worms level of Gopal Sarswat kind of Hindu
thugs.

Thanks to the Earth Times dated, December 16, 1998.

http://www.earthtimes.org/dec/politicsneedforbettertiesdec15_98.htm

Sid Harth..."I exposed government of India who have hired one of the
notorious US law firm at astronomical prices to conduct Public
Relations/Propaganda/Lobbying for a sewer of a country where people
die
like dogs for want of clean air and water."

http://www.comebackkid.com/views.html

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_frm/month/1998-12?start=250&sa=N

Sid Harth

unread,

Feb 20, 2010, 2:29:36 PM2/20/10

Koenraad Elst
Born 1959

Nationality Belgian (Flemish)
Occupation writer

Koenraad Elst (born 7 August 1959) is a Belgian writer and orientalist
(without institutional affiliation). He was an editor of the New Right
Flemish nationalist journal Teksten, Kommentaren en Studies from 1992
to 1995, focusing on criticism of Islam, various other conservative
and Flemish separatist publications such as Nucleus, 't Pallieterke,
Secessie and The Brussels Journal. Having authored fifteen English
language books on topics related to Indian politics and communalism,
Elst is one of the most well-known western writers (along with
François Gautier) to actively defend the Hindu nationalist Hindutva
movement. He frequently contributes to Hindu nationalist publications.

Biography

Elst was born in Leuven, Belgium into a Flemish Catholic family. Some
of his family members were Christian missionaries or priests.[1] He
graduated in Indology, Sinology and Philosophy at the Catholic
University of Leuven. He then obtained a Ph.D. from the same
university. The main portion of his Ph.D. dissertation on Hindu
revivalism and Hindu reform movements eventually became his book
Decolonizing the Hindu Mind. Other parts of his Ph.D. thesis were
published in Who is a Hindu and The Saffron Swastika. He also studied
at the Banaras Hindu University in India. Several of his books on
communalism and Indian politics are published by the Voice of India
publishing house[2].

In his twenties, he participated in the New Age movement, worked in a
New Age bookstore and organized New Age events[3], although he later
seemed to depart from New Age groups[4]. In the 1990s he became
interested in the European Neopagan movement: he co-edited the extreme
New Right[5] Tekos journal [4] from 1992, together with "pagan high
priest" Koenraad Logghe, whom he joined at the "World Congress of
Ethnic Religions" [5].

During a stay at the Banaras Hindu University between 1988 and 1992,
he interviewed many Indian leaders and writers.[6] He wrote his first
book about the Ayodhya conflict. While establishing himself as a

columnist for a number of Belgian and Indian papers, he frequently
returned to India to study various aspects of its ethno-religio-
political configuration and interview Hindu and other leaders and
thinkers.

In 1989, Elst met Sita Ram Goel after reading Goel's book History of
Hindu Christian Encounters. Elst later sent Goel a manuscript of his
first book Ram Janmabhoomi Vs. Babri Masjid: A Case Study in Hindu
Muslim Conflict. Goel was impressed with Elst's script: "I could not
stop after I started reading it. I took it to Ram Swarup the same
evening. He read it during the night and rang me up next morning.
Koenraad Elst's book, he said, should be published immediately."[7] In
August 1990, L. K. Advani released Koenraad Elst's book about the
Ayodhya conflict at a public function presided over by Girilal Jain.[7]
[8]

His research on the ideological development of Hindu revivalism earned

him his Ph.D. at Leuven in 1998. He has also written about

multiculturalism, language policy issues, ancient Chinese history and

philosophy, comparative religion, and the Aryan invasion debate. Elst
became a well-known author on Indian politics during the 1990s in
parallel with the BJP's rise to prominence on the national stage. He
describes himself as an independent scholar.[9]

Elst says that his language has "softened and become more focused on
viewpoints rather than groups of people such “the” Muslims or the
Marxist historians." [10] He writes that he has reoriented his
scholarly interests towards more fundamental philosophical studies and
questions of ancient history, rather than questions in the centre of
contemporary political struggles.[11]

Opinions

Religion and politics

At the end of March 2008, Koenraad Elst ridiculed Hugo Claus's
decision to commit euthanasia, claiming that it was influenced by the
purple agnostic lobby to embarrass the Roman Catholic Church [12].

Nouvelle Droite and Vlaams Belang

Elst actively contributes to nationalist New Right Flemish
publications, and has shown sympathy to the Nouvelle Droite movement
since the early 1990s. He has sometimes criticised that movement in
relation to particular topics. He said that the collaborationist
aspects of the careers of two Belgian writers were covered up in
Nouvelle Droite articles, and that he suspected that "its critique of

egalitarianism in the name of 'differentialism' could at heart simply

be a plea against equality in favour of inequality, Old-Right style".
[13]

However, his endorsement with the Nouvelle Droite is still active:

Wisely or unwisely, I have not taken my scepticism to be a reason for
any active hostility to the Nouvelle Droite people, some of whom I

count as friends... Time permitting, I accept invitations from that

side, so that I spoke at their conference in Antwerp in 2000, if only
as a stand-in for an announced speaker who had cancelled at the last
minute for health reasons (Pim Fortuyn, no less, the Dutch liberal
sociology professor who criticized Islam, subsequently went into

politics, and ended up murdered by a leftist).[14]

Jan De Zutter criticized Elst for being too close with the Vlaams
Belang, as in June 1992, Koenraad Elst gave a speech directed against
Islam at the Vlaams Blok Colloquium where the party proposed its first
version of its 70 point anti-immigration policy[15] Elst said that he
spoke there because it was the only party where the "problem of Islam"
was brought up, but that he also explicitly said that he did not agree
with the party's solution for that problem, and disapproved of their
xenophobia.[16] He stated that the VB can not be and was never his
party because of its xenophobia and ethnocentrism.[17] Since this
event, he has often been accused of being the party's specialist on
Islam and its link with the new Pagan Movement.[citation needed]
Though he himself denies any affinity to the party program,[18] he
admits to "lukewarm" sympathy for the Flemish cause (of independence).
[19] Lucas Catherine contrasted Elst's viewpoint with the viewpoint of
Filip Dewinter, who according to him could not have been very happy
with Elst's opinion that not Muslims, but Islam, is the problem.[20]

Islam

Some of his books or articles contain harsh criticisms of Islam as a
whole (among others "Wahi: the Supernatural Basis of Islam", "From
Ayodhya to Nazareth", an article written in the form of an open letter
to the Pope and Indian church Bishop Alan de Lastic, whom Elst calls
"Your Eminences", and in which he invites them to ask Muslims for
repentance towards Christians, or "Ayodhya And After", a book in which
he delves into the realm of establishing a purported link between
Ayodhya and the conflict between Palestinians and Israel -section 2.2
Jerusalem and Ayodhya-, not an isolated attempt in some far-right
European movements; similarly, section 13.2 of that book is called
Islam and Nazism). More precisely, Elst argues often that "not Muslims
but Islam is the problem". [21] [22]. His views on Islam are markedly
in line with the neoconservative think-tank "Middle East Forum", to
which he has contributed [6].

Belgian journalist and neoconservative activist Paul Belien has
reported that Elst thinks that "Islam is in decline, despite its
impressive demographic and military surge" – which according to Elst
is merely a "last upheaval."

Hinduism and Indian politics

Part of a series on
Hindu politics

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Organisations
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Authors on Hindu politics[show]
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Politics portal

Government of India portal

v • d • e

Elst is one of the few western writers (along with François Gautier)
to actively defend the Hindutva movement[23] though he makes some
secondary criticisms about particular points. For instance he claims,
"there is no intellectual life in this Hindutva movement".[24] He
claims that Hindutva advocates have not developed a "wellfounded
coherent vision on a range of topics which any social thinker and any
political party will have to address one day", and that there is as
yet very little original or comprehensive work being done in the
Hindutva movement.[24] According to Elst, "Hindutva is a fairly crude
ideology, borrowing heavily from European nationalisms with their
emphasis on homogeneity. Under the conditions of British colonialism,
it was inevitable that some such form of Hindu nationalism would
arise, but I believe better alternatives have seen the light, more
attuned to the genius of Hindu civilization."[25]. Sometimes, Elst is
critical of Hindutva for not going far enough in its criticism of
Islam[26]. He has also criticized fringe Hindutva writers for claiming
that the Taj Mahal is a Hindu temple, or for claiming that the Vedas
contain all the secrets of modern science.[24].

The same pattern also applies with respect to Elst and the RSS. Elst
views the RSS as an interesting nationalist movement, while addressing
some secondary critics, in which Elst criticizes the RSS for not going
far enough in the nationalist realm. For instance, he says that RSS's
intellectual output is minimal: "Most of its pamphlets and manifestoes
contain a lot of puffed-up patriotism and wailing over the Partition
of the Hindu motherland, but little penetrating analysis that could be
the basis for imaginative policies and a realistic strategy."[26] Elst
has criticized alleged Anti-Hinduism and anti-Hindu biases. Elst
writes for example that "when Hindus complain of factual problems such
as missionary subversion or Muslim terrorism, it is always convenient
to portray this spontaneous and truthful perception as an artefact of
"RSS propaganda".[27]

Elst's book Ram Janmabhoomi vs. Babri Masjid, a Case Study in Hindu-
Muslim conflict (1990) was the first book published by a non-Indian on
the Ayodhya debate.[24] His opinion is that "until 1989, there was a
complete consensus in all sources (Hindu, Muslim and European) which
spoke out on the matter, viz. that the Babri Masjid had been built in
forcible replacement of a Hindu temple."[28] He claimed that
politically motivated academics have, through their grip on the media,
manufactured doubts concerning this coherent and well-attested
tradition.[24] Elst alleges that the anti-Temple group in the Ayodhya
conflict have committed serious breaches of academic deontology and
says that the "overruling of historical evidence with a high-handed
use of academic and media power" in the Ayodhya controversy was the
immediate reason to involve himself in the debate.[29]

Elst's book Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam makes
the case that the Islamic history in India is being whitewashed. He
claims that there is a larger effort to rewrite India's history and to
whitewash Islam. He says that the goal and methods of this alleged
history rewriting is similar to the denial of the Nazi holocaust, and
that in India jihad negationists are in control of the academic
establishment and of the press.[30]

Elst's book The Saffron Swastika proposes an examination of the
rhetoric of "Hindu fascism". He argues that "objective outsiders are
not struck by any traces of fascism in the Hindutva movements, let
alone in the general thought current of anti-imperialist Hindu
awakening. While one should always be vigilant for traces of
totalitarianism in any ideology or movement, the obsession with
fascism in the anti-Hindu rhetoric of the secularists is not the
product of an analysis of the data, but of their own political
compulsions."[24]

In an article, he writes that the current tendency to accuse Hindu
movements of “fascism” is nothing but a "replay of an old colonial
tactic."[31]

On the topic of the "Indigenous Aryans" polemic within Hindu
nationalism, Elst writes

"One thing which keeps on astonishing me in the present debate is the
complete lack of doubt in both camps. Personally, I don’t think that
either theory, of Aryan invasion and of Aryan indigenousness, can
claim to have been “proven” by prevalent standards of proof; even
though one of the contenders is getting closer. Indeed, while I have
enjoyed pointing out the flaws in the AIT statements of the
politicized Indian academic establishment and its American amplifiers,
I cannot rule out the possibility that the theory which they are
defending may still have its merits."[32]

The Hindu nationalist N.S. Rajaram criticized Elst's book Asterisk in
Bharopiyasthan because of Elst's alleged agenda of "rescuing Indo-
European linguistics from oblivion".[33] Elst's views on the Aryan
Invasion Theory were also criticized by, for example, Hans Hock[34],
Edwin Bryant[35], George Cardona[36] and by Michael Witzel[34].

Influences

Elst has published in English and Dutch. He contributed for example to
the conservative magazine Nucleus.[37][38] He is also a contributor to
the conservative internet magazine The Brussels Journal, the Flemish
satirical weekly 't Pallieterke and other Belgian and Dutch
publications. He has also written for mainstream Indian magazines like
Outlook India. He wrote a postscript to a book written by Daniel Pipes
(The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West). He has
also published critiques of Islamism in the West[39]. According to
Sanjay Subrahmanyam, he has connections to the far-right Vlaams Blok.
[40]

He has described himself as "a secular humanist with an active
interest in religions, particularly Taoism and Hinduism, and keeping a
close watch on the variegated Pagan revival in Europe."[41]

In his books, articles, and interviews, he describes some of his
personnal motivations and interests in Indian nationalism and
communalism[42][43][44].

Reviews

David Frawley wrote that Elst has a command of political and social
issues in India that is unmatched by any western writer and researched
in great detail.[45]. Elst's speculation are described as "fanciful"
by academic Chetan Bhatt.[46]

Criticism

Manini Chatterjee, in a review in the Calcutta Telegraph, called
Elst's book Ramjanmabhoomi vs. Babri Masjid a "very bad book".[47] She
also said that it was marred by miserably tentative terminology, like
"maybe" and "possibly".[26] Paul Teunissen's review of the same book
criticizes Elst for the unfavourable portrayal of Syed Shahabuddin.
[47]

Thomas Blom Hansen described Elst as a "Belgian Catholic of a radical
anti-Muslim persuasion who tries to make himself useful as a 'fellow
traveller' of the Hindu nationalist movement”[48] Ashis Nandy
criticized the alleged dishonesty and moral vacuity of Elst.[49].

Sarvepalli Gopal in the book Anatomy of a Confrontation calls Elst "a
Catholic practitioner of polemics" who "fights the Crusades all over
again on Indian soil". He also says that it is difficult to take
serious an author who "speaks of the centuries when there were Muslim
rulers in India as a bloodsoaked catastrophe".[26]

Ayub Khan says that Koenraad Elst is the most prominent advocate of
Sangh Parivar in the West. He further says: "Such is his importance in
Hindutva circles that L.K. Advani quoted him at length while deposing
before the Liberhans Commission investigation the demolition of Babri
Masjid." In a reply to Ayub Khan, Elst says that he has been critical
of the Sangh Parivar in his writings.[50]

Christian Bouchet criticized Elst's book The Saffron Swastika for
having placed far too much trust in Savitri Devi's autobiography, and
for claiming that Savitri Devi was bisexual.[51]

Elst has replied to most of his critics in books or in articles.[52]

Bibliography

Dr. Ambedkar - A True Aryan (1993)

Asterisk in Bharopiyasthan, Koenraad Elst, Voice of India

Ayodhya, The Finale - Science versus Secularism the Excavations Debate
(2003) ISBN 81-85990-77-8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayodhya,_The_Finale

Ayodhya: The Case Against the Temple (2002) ISBN 81-85990-75-1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayodhya:_The_Case_Against_the_Temple

Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991) [7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayodhya_and_After:_Issues_Before_Hindu_Society

BJP vis-à-vis Hindu Resurgence (1997) ISBN 81-85990-47-6
http://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.com/books/bjp/index.htm

Decolonizing the Hindu Mind - Ideological Development of Hindu
Revivalism, Rupa, Delhi (2001) ISBN 81-7167-519-0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decolonizing_the_Hindu_Mind

The Demographic Siege (1997) ISBN 81-85990-50-6
http://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.com/books/demogislam/index.htm

Indigenous Indians: Agastya to Ambedkar, Voice of India (1993)
http://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.com/books/demogislam/index.htm

Gandhi and Godse - A review and a critique ISBN 81-85990-71-9 (transl:
Pourquoi j’ai tué Gandhi, examen critique de la défense de Nathuram
Godse par Koenraad Elst, Les Belles Lettres)

Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam (1992) ISBN
81-85990-01-8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negationism_in_India:_Concealing_the_Record_of_Islam

Psychology of Prophetism - A Secular Look at the Bible (1993) ISBN
81-85990-00-X
http://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.com/books/pp/index.htm

Ram Janmabhoomi vs. Babri Masjid. A Case Study in Hindu-Muslim
Conflict. Voice of India, Delhi 1990. (a large part of this book is
included in Vinay Chandra Mishra and Parmanand Singh, eds.: Ram
Janmabhoomi

Babri Masjid, Historical Documents, Legal Opinions & Judgments, Bar
Council of India Trust, Delhi 1991.)

Return of the Swastika, Koenraad Elst, Voice of India

The Saffron Swastika - The Notion of Hindu Fascism. (2001) ISBN
81-85990-69-7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saffron_Swastika

Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate Aditya Prakashan (1999) ISBN
81-86471-77-4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Update_on_the_Aryan_Invasion_Debate

Who is a Hindu? (2001) [8] ISBN 8185990743
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_Hindu%3F

Linguistic Aspects of the Aryan Non-Invasion Theory, In Edwin Bryant
and Laurie L. Patton (editors) (2005). Indo-Aryan Controversy:
Evidence and Inference in Indian History. Routledge/Curzon. ISBN
0-7007-1463-4.

The Rushdie affair's legacy. Postscript to Daniel Pipes: The Rushdie
Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West (1990), Transaction
Publishers, paperback (2003) ISBN 0-7658-0996-6
http://www.meforum.org/395/the-rushdie-rules

Gujarat After Godhra : Real Violence, Selective Outrage/edited by
Ramesh N. Rao and Koenraad Elst. New Delhi, Har-Anand Pub., 2003, 248
p., ISBN 81-241-0917-6.

“The Ayodhya demolition: an evaluation”, in Dasgupta, S., et al.: The
Ayodhya Reference, q.v., p. 123-154.

“The Ayodhya debate”, in Pollet, G., ed.: Indian Epic Values. Râmâyana
and Its Impact, Peeters, Leuven 1995, q.v., p. 21-42. BJP Hindu
Resurgence. Voice of India, Delhi 1997. (adapted from a paper of the
International

Ramayana Conference and the October 1995 Annual South Asia Conference
in Madison, Wisconsin)

The Ayodhya debate: focus on the "no temple" evidence, World
Archaeological Congress, 1998

India's Only Communalist: In Commemoration of Sita Ram Goel (edited by
Koenraad Elst, 2005) ISBN 81-85990-78-6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvind_Sharma

The Rushdie Rules Middle East Quarterly, June 1998

Foreword to: The Prolonged Partition and Its Pogroms Testimonies on
Violence against Hindus in East Bengal (1946-1964) by A. J. Kamra.

India's Only Communalist: an Introduction to the Work of Sita Ram
Goel. In "Hinduism and Secularism: After Ayodhya", Arvind Sharma (ed.)
Palgrave 2001 ISBN 0-33 79406-0

"Banning Hindu Revaluation", Observer of Business and Politics,
1-12-1993,

Notes

^ The Problem of Christian Missionaries
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/chr/missionaries.html

^ Michael Witzel, 'Rama's Realm: Indocentric rewriting of early South
Asian archaeology and history' in: Archaeological Fantasies: How
Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public
Routledge (2006), ISBN 0415305934, p. 205.

^ New Age Fascism: Review of an Exercise in Marxist Defamation
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/politics/marxism.html

^ Hinduism, Environmentalism and the Nazi Bogey
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/politics/bogey.html

^ Country Reports - Stephen Roth Institute for The Study of
Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism
http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw98-9/france.htm

^ Elst, K. Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam

^ a b Sitam Ram Goel, How I became a Hindu. ch.9

^ Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991) Footnote 64

^ "So, Mr. Ghosh may be the Director of the Indian Council of Social
Science Research, but as an

independent scholar I am not impressed by such titles and positions."
Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991)

^ Koenraad Elst. Who is a Hindu? Chapter Four

^ Ayodhya, The Finale - Science versus Secularism the Excavations
Debate (2003) ISBN 81-85990-77-8

^ De Apotheose van Claus
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3126

^ http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/fascism/Nazi5Poewe1.html
The religion of the Nazis

^ http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/fascism/Nazi5Poewe2.html
The religion of the Nazis

^ Jan De Zutter "Heidenen voor het blok - Radicaal rechts en het
moderne Heidendom" (Heathens in favour of the Blok - the radical Right
and modern Heathenism), ISBN 90 5240 582 4 (Published by Uitgeverij
Houtekiet, Antwerpen / Baarn; 2000), p 17

^ http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/dutch/isvb.html Het VB
en de islam

^ Wat is racisme?
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/dutch/watisracisme.html

^ [1] Het VB en de islam - Koenraad Elst, published in Nucleus,
october-november 2001

^ [2] Vlaanderen, Kasjmir, Tsjetsjenië, Kosovo... Het ene separatisme
is het andere niet (Flanders, Kashmir,

Chechnya, Kosovo: one separatism does not equal another) - Dr.
Koenraad Elst, published in Secessie, Antwerpen, 2001

^ Lucas Catherine - Vuile Arabieren, p.81, quoted at [3] Het VB en de
islam - Koenraad Elst

^ Book Review - Saffron Wave
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/reviews/saffronwave.html

^ Let's Combat Communalism "Koenraad Elst--Sangh Parivar's Apologist",
a review of Decolonizing the Hindu Mind: Ideological development of
Hindu Revivalism (Rupa, Delhi 2001), by Ayub Khan in Communalism
Watch, 13 March 2003
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/politics/PolSec03AyubKhan1.html

^ See M. R. Pirbhai Demons in Hindutva, writing a theology for Hindu
nationalism, Modern Intellectual History (2008), 5 : 27-53 Cambridge
University Press doi:10.1017/S1479244307001527, and Dibyesh Anand
Anxious Sexualities: Masculinity, Nationalism and Violence doi:
10.1111/j.1467-856x.2007.00282.x BJPIR: 2007 Vol 9, 257–269 p.259.

^ a b c d e f Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991)
Chapter Fifteen

^ Let's Combat Communalism

^ a b c d Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam (1992)
ISBN 81-85990-01-8

^ Hinduism, Environmentalism and the Nazi Bogey -- A preliminary reply
to Ms. Meera Nanda
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/politics/bogey.html

^ Koenraad Elst. Who is a Hindu? Chapter Nine

^ Koenraad Elst. Who is a Hindu? Chapter Eleven

^ Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam (1992) ISBN
81-85990-01-8

^ Was Veer Savarkar a Nazi?
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/fascism/savarkarnazi.html

^ Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate Aditya Prakashan (1999) ISBN
81-86471-77-4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Update_on_the_Aryan_Invasion_Debate

^ N.S. Rajaram, "This asterisk has no fine prints", Review in The
Pioneer, 18 March 2007

^ a b Edwin Bryant and Laurie L. Patton (editors) (2005). Indo-Aryan
Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History.

^ The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture By Edwin Bryant. Oxford
University Press

^ The Indo-Aryan Languages By Dhanesh Jain, George Cardona. Routledge

^ Nucleus Nucleus on Dutch Wikipedia
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleus_%28tijdschrift%29

^ bharatvani.org op.cit.
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/dutch/afghanistan.html

^ The Rushdie Rules, by Koenraad Elst, Middle East Quarterly, June
1998
http://www.meforum.org/395/the-rushdie-rules

^ Sanjay Subrahmanyam in the Times of India, August 22, 2006
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1913851.cms

^ bharatvani.org op. cit.
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/chr/missionaries.html

^ Elst interview
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/interviews/sulekha.html

^ Voice of Dharma review
http://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.com/reviews/saffronwave.html

^ Let’s combat communalism
http://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.org/articles/fascism/PolSec03AyubKhan1.html

^ David Frawley:How I became a Hindu.
http://www.hindubooks.org/david_frawley/how_i_became_a_hindu/journalistic_work/page9.htm

^ Bhatt, Chetan (1997). Liberation and purity: race, new religious
movements and the ethics of postmodernity. Taylor & Francis. pp. 159.
ISBN 9781857284232.
http://books.google.com/books?id=aap0HaCzrFwC&pg=PA159&dq=%22Koenraad+Elst%22&lr=&num=100&as_brr=3&ei=W2JQS6ijNZ72kQTp_IibDQ&cd=25#v=onepage&q=%22Koenraad%20Elst%22&f=false

^ a b Koenraad Elst Who is a Hindu? (2001)

^ Thomas Hansen. The Saffron Wave. (p.262)
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/reviews/saffronwave.html

^ A. Nandy ("Creating a Nationality", p.5)
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/interviews/sulekha.html

^ Let's Combat Communalism “Koenraad Elst--Sangh Parivar's Apologist”,
a review of Decolonizing the Hindu Mind: Ideological development of
Hindu Revivalism (Rupa, Delhi 2001), by Ayub Khan in Communalism
Watch, 13 March 2003.

^ The eternal return of Nazi nonsense: Savitri Devi's last writings
Savitri Devi Mukherji: Le National-Socialisme et la Tradition
Indienne, with contributions by Vittorio de Cecco, Claudio Mutti and
Christian Bouchet, published in the series Cahiers de la Radicalité by
Avatar-éditions, Paris/Dublin 2004.

^ For example, Ayodhya-The Case Against the Temple, Asterisk in
Bharopiyasthan, http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/politics/PolSec03AyubKhan1.html

Sid Harth

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Feb 20, 2010, 3:20:06 PM2/20/10

Of PR, Press Pool and Cess Pool Options

Sid Harth View profile
More options Jun 14 2000, 2:00 am

Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian, soc.culture.pakistan,
soc.culture.bangladesh, soc.culture.nepal
From: Sid Harth <bak...@my-deja.com>
Date: 2000/06/14

Subject: Of PR, Press Pool and Cess Pool

http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/jun/13arvind.htm

Pf PR, Press Pool and Cess Pool

Arvind Lavakare is a seasoned Journalist, so are bunch of others who
write interesting commentaries and opinion pieces, if not hard news
for
major Indian media, including but not limited to newsprint media and
their specialized publications, TV media or electronic journalism and
now with a vengeance, for dot com hasty journalism.

Once my teacher and mentor, Shankar Palsikar, a famous Indian
painter
of some repute, who later became dean of Sir J.J.School of Art, a
premier institution devoted to arts, Fine Arts like painting,
Sculpture, Industrial design, such as metal works, iron and gold,
Applied Art, Architecture and such that each medium has its own
beauty
but at the same time its own limitations.

Famous Art critic, a curator and an accomplished artist himself,
Ananda Coomarswamy used pencil sketching as an art form and developed
it to perfection. Coomarswamy was a child born to a Ceylones father
and
an American mother thus had proper western education but heavily
influence of his heritage. Coomarswamy is sometimes referred to
as "Indian," because of his last name but he had nothing to do with
India. Ceylon was a separate territory, part of British empire, when
given freedom, became known as Sri Lanka. Never part of India and now
that Hindu separatist and the majority Buddhists are fighting a duel
to
death, most probably a definitely non, as in anti India.

The point is that medium decides the value. Arvind Lavakare writes
supporting saffron rascals as he is their appointed spin doctor.
Being
a journalist has one advantage, not to my liking but I admit that it
exists. Journalists can and do soft peddle the issue which bothers
everyone else and hard sell an issue that bothers only their own
conscience.

At one time when press as we know did not exist in India. The
London
Times became a model for English daily suitably named the Times of
India. It was managed and staffed by English journalists with added
support from talented Indian journalists trained by the British
education system, colleges and universities.

None matched the premier place this publication had as they had
money, money and more money to push British point of view. Later,
knowing the need of the public, the Times of India opened its doors
to
talented and educated Indians including artists. Bal Thackeray like
cartoonists got their feet wet in the Times of India starting as
interns. J D Gondhalekar, dean of the J J School of Art became art
director of the Times of India group of publications with four figure
salary, in those days very few artists enjoyed such real fat
salaries.

The Times of India dominated as well as shaped the Indian
journalism
and nothing but the best could ever pass thru their publication. When
Jain boys bought the established enterprise, things started going
southwards more because newer local language dailies started biting
the
Times of India's butt and competition required to reformat the looks
as
well as the content to suit the needs of English speaking new elite.
Birth of commercially dependent journalism.

Even at this stage of fierce competition, the standards did not
diminish. Overbearing control over editorial contents by specialists
and dedicated journalists meant no sacrificing the conscience for
cold
cash. In depth, hard hitting investigative journalism needs issues
that
bother people. Political arena has issues of various kinds but only
those issues which are within the view or grasp of a common paid
subscriber are developed as it sells the newspaper.

The issues which are important but too technical are usually find
very few readers and such readers have more options to pursue their
queries. Such small group cannot support huge expensive press. Space
constraints also played havoc as newsprint was a controlled
commodity.
Thus real journalistic integrity over serious non political issues
never mattered much. Cheap hustling became a new standard and was
gladly accepted by readers who cared less for deeper understanding of
the issues but needed glossy, gossipy, titillating pieces, both news
and commentaries kind. They got what they asked for.

TV journalism also was controlled as it was a private pasture of
the
government of India. For years propaganda machines churned out
material
and forced people to accept very biased and very pro and pretty
version
of the government dictated and directed news. The real competition
came
to TV journalism in only recentyears when private parties were
allowed
the same privileges as monopoly government in TV broadcasting.

It bothers me a lot that as Arvid Lavakare like obviously tainted,
perhaps, painted (saffron) colored monkeys are calling names when
they
are the culprits of this downward trend in journalistic ethical
conduct. If Arvind finds comparison as a weapon so do I. I compare
good
with bad, mostly parochial, putrid, "pundit," punditry of chosen
hitters who play favors with saffron boys and demand that others see
thru their pigmented eyes.

Arvind is like a Devil quoting Bible. Shameless saffron media never
address the issues and take high moral road when independent
journalists and commentators like Saisuresh Sivaswamy rock the boat.
Forget about Sid Harth not only rocking the boat but throwing caution
to the winds and slashing tall sails out of the rickety, crotchety
spokesmen of saffron shade using vulgarity as a weapon but nailing
the
damned, demented and dogmatic dagos like Arvid Lavkare, Varsha
Bhosle,
Rajeev Srinivasan and their ilk.

Pound for pound, ounce for ounce, the real McCoy journalism is
coming
from non saffron camp. Brahmin boys like Arvind Lavkare are scared
shit
that their two timing acts sell only in Brahmin ghettoes not in the
mainstream media. Brahmin boy, Arvind Lavkare cannot play fast and
loose as he is dishonest ding bat. He picks and chooses what he likes
to comment upon, mostly caricaturing his journalistic buddies. I
never
see him commenting on the malaise, malarkey and massacre that happens
under his hoity-toity Brahmin nose.

Good brother Saisuresh, Dilip D'Souza, Kuldip Nayar, Malini
Parthasarathy, M J Akbar and bunch of others destroy the Brahmin
dichotomy. Kancha Ilaiah is no journalist but Dr. V T Rajshekar is.
How
much credibly these saffron simians have against these writers, not
journalists, per se? Dilip D'Souza gets death threats. Kancha Ilaiah
is
asked pointedly by his Hindu bosses to cut down, water down his
caustic
argument. Dr. V T Rajshekar's free speech matters none for the
Brahmin
hoodlums. Kuldip Nayar is regularly maligned by saffron media and
witch
hunters like Arvid Lavakare.

If the truth hurts these goddamned liars so much they better not
evoke fairness issue and journalistic integrity as it become a
caricature portraying their own filthy journalistic traditions.

Thanks to Rediff dated June 6, and June 13, 2000.

Arvind Lavakare
A sturdy pillar or a decrepit column?

The time seems to have come for Indian journalists to go back to
school... To learn moral science! It is time for them to intone that
subject's fundamental prayer seeking god's help in never offending
his
holy law in thought, word or deed.

If there ever was doubt in anyone's mind about the immorality in
Indian
journalism, it was demolished by the landmark article penned by one
of
its own fraternity -- by Saisuresh Sivaswamy posted on rediff.com on
June 6, 2000.

That immorality is not of sudden, recent birth. As a PR man in the
late
Sixties, this columnist recalls uninvited journalists gatecrashing at
a
press conference, getting tipsy, asking inane questions and imploring
for a second or third extra gift.

In the early Seventies, there was that party of journalists taken,
all
found, to see the burgeoning industrial scene in Maharashtra's Nashik
District, asking for taxi fare to home on return to Bombay airport.
Work-wise, giving readymade copy to a journalist was part of a PR
man's
line of duty those days.

The internecine jealousy in the vocation was best reflected in a
reporter's comment about a rival who wrote for a prestigious paper as
its `Shipping Correspondent'. "Next time he meets you," I was
advised, "ask him to explain the plimsoll line." And as for the
general
professionalism those days, that kind of advice didn't need to be
tested --- the outcome was known!

On the whole though, they were a jolly good lot, mild-mannered,
fairly
easily obliging with favourable copy and quick in saying "Sorry" for
little devils therein -- theirs or the printer's. That overall
meekness
came through crystal clear during the national Emergency imposed in
1975 by Mrs Indira Gandhi. Save a couple or so, all the newspapers
simply caved in. As a worthy summed it later, they were merely asked
to
bend but they chose to crawl. It was the yellow phase of India's
journalism.

An almost dramatic change came in the early Eighties with the cement
scandal of Maharashtra Chief Minister A R Antulay, that first brought
investigative journalism to Indian homes. Arun Shourie, given a free
hand by Ramnath Goenka of The Express group, went hammer and tongs
after Antulay's shady Trust. Soon afterwards he thundered about
Ambani's shenanigans with pre-dated Letters of Credit and unlicensed
imports of whole manufacturing plants.

V P Singh's rise to power aided the intrepid trend in our press. The
Bofors guns boomed in newsprint. The helicopter and submarine deals
were unleashed. His Mandal mission singed our news pages. And soon
after Narasimha Rao began his liberalisation process, Sucheta Dalal's
expose of Harshad Mehta's manipulation of millions of rupees in the
stock market heralded a brilliant peak for our journalism, especially
financial journalism.

However, the advent of crass materialism in the wake of economic
liberalisation and the BJP's simultaneous strident march to centre
stage with its Hindutva agenda would appear to have had a peculiar
fallout on the mainstream media, especially its so-called secular
intellectuals.

Earlier, specific gift items to journalists had, at the latter's
initiative, been replaced by pre-paid gift vouchers of major
department
stores. Now these vouchers began to be discounted for hard cash from
passersby at suburban railway stations; the vouchers themselves
tended
to be replaced by assured quotas of shares from the spate of public
issues by the private sector. The freebies from the government
continued: Reserved housing, plots of prime land at concessional
rates,
patronage of Press Clubs (alias watering holes), quick telephone and
LPG connections, free trips of Bharat or world darshan and fixation
of
salaries not by negotiations with newspaper managements but by
sympathetic government-appointed wage boards.

Side by side, it became a fad first, a fashion next and then second
nature itself for our leading English language dailies -- along with
their minions in the vernacular sector -- to uphold "secularism," to
debunk and damn the BJP in or out of power. All of this was rooted in
the Ayodhya episode. All of it was done:

*Without going into the mystery of why the Babri Masjid Action
Committee did not attend what was to be the last decisive meeting
with
the temple protagonists who were by then armed with solid proof
supporting their contention.

*Without reading the definitive work on Ayodhya by Koenraad Elst, a
young Belgian scholar who is credited with having a better grasp of
India than most Indians have.

Doing honest, hard work, leave alone being scholarly, is now the
exception rather than the rule among our journalists. Some two years
or
so ago, the financial editor of The Times of India lamented how her
staff did not read even their own newspaper's commercial pages. The
other day, the cricket editor of the same group misread the visiting
card of a clinical psychologist and labelled her as a "clinical
pathologist" for a front-page Sunday story on match-fixing. Lethargy
is
now the leitmotif.

Instead of application and attainment, aggressiveness and arrogance
have become the traits. Instances of this nonchalant profile are
many,
but one should suffice because it represents the conclusive symptom
of
the affliction.

That clincher came from the winsome lass with long flowing hair who
anchors prime time news on Star TV. Discussing an event one cannot
quite recall now, she agitatedly alluded to freedom of the press
being
a Fundamental Right. The gumptious woman didn't know that freedom of
the press is not a Fundamental Right in the Indian
Constitution; "freedom of expression" is, but subject to limitations.

Another editorial staffer, Amrita Abraham of The Indian Express,
began
her piece of June 7, 2000, with "There has never been a more immoral,
politically biased and economically unsound decision than the one
reducing subsidies on food intended for India's 300 million poor
people." The woman then went on to churn out another thousand more
words shredding the BJP-led government's recent budget enactment.

She had the gall to do that without even once referring to Prime
Minister A B Vajpayee's letter of May 16, 2000, of 1,200-odd words to
Sonia Gandhi, explaining the position to the leader of the
Opposition.
One of the points the PM had made in his letter was that when the
Congress was in office, the issue price of rice given through the
Public Distribution System (PDS) was increased by 30.4 per cent in
1991, by a further 15.9 per cent in 1993, and by another 22.8 per
cent
the very next year. In respect of wheat supplied under the PDS, the
PM
had pointed out that the Congress government raised the price in 1994
by 43.6 per cent over its 1991 level.

Conclusion: Like many others of her genre, Abraham probably believes
that comparisons are so odious that they ought not to debar
journalists
from pronouncing historic indictments about unprecedented immorality
or
political bias et al.

Take the example of Seema Mustafa, the chief political columnist of
The
Asian Age, who is forever itching to claw the very entrails of the
Hindutva BJP while being ignorant that saffron is the colour of her
pirs as well. Very recently, she pounced on Yashwant Sinha
for "allowing" chosen Foreign Institutional Investors to be exempted
from paying capital gains tax through what she labelled as "The
Mauritius Connection". The finance minister's daughter-in-law was
dragged into the muck Mustafa sought to create with three continuous
front-page "exposes". The connivance of the CPI-M and the Congress
was
also roped in to weave the noose for Sinha, at least if not for
Vajpayee too.

Soon enough, the PM's Office issued a clarification on the
inviolability of the old treaty with Mauritius and the advantage it
had
brought to our country; it also gave a clean chit to Sinha vis-à-vis
his bahu. Bingo... Mustafa dumped her defused detonator without
publishing the PMO's clarification, leave alone tendering an apology.

Two more horror stories and the case against journalists will rest.
Both happened when a group of them was invited by the Indian Army
last
year to gauge the Kashmir scenario. That was a little before Kargil
occurred. The stories themselves are such that the press would
probably
never again have been hosted by our Army but for the Kargil war
itself.

A conspicuous feature of that pre-Kargil invitation to the press was
several editors responded by deputing their crime reporters for the
assignment. Yes, crime reporters for assessing the Kashmir situation!
Further, many journalists in the group kept on pressing the liasing
Major General to show them an encounter with the terrorists! It was
only the screening of one rare videotape of such an "encounter" (shot
by BBC by chance) that enabled the Army to silence by fright that
demand of those naïve journalists.

Another demand on that visit was that the journalists be taken to
Srinagar for sightseeing around the Dal Lake before returning home.
When the Major General repeatedly declined on the ground that
civilian
security in Srinagar was the responsibility of the State Police and
not
of the Indian Army, one of those journalists threatened the Major
General with a phone call to Defence Minister George Fernandes. That
call, so went the threat, would end up kicking the Major General back
to Bihar.

It is a well-kept secret that the Major General's response was to
drag
the journalist concerned by his collar to a nearby telephone and dare
him to dial, not the Defence Minister, but the Supreme Commander of
the
Armed Forces who sits in Rashtrapati Bhavan. He also told the
pressman
that if orders were at all received to include Srinagar in the last
lap, he would do so only after getting an indemnity bond exonerating
the Army from any responsibility for any untoward harm befalling the
journalists. Ergo, no phone call was made to anyone. Significantly --
and tellingly -- only one newspaper is reported to have carried
coverage of that conducted press visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

Hence it is that one part of India's journalistic scenario is such as
was summed up by Seema Sirohi in an article of May 30, 2000, in The
Telegraph of Calcutta. Its crux is that (a) "A certain chalta hai
attitude and cynicism have begun to grip the media not only about the
subjects they cover but about their own conduct. There seem to be few
or no rules about what favours the press will or will not accept from
the government and how it will partake of the taxpayers' inadvertent
largesse." (b) "It is every journalist's secret dream to be on the
Prime Minister's plane with all the frills and special service...
with
the reporters using the free international calling facilities to call
a
whole battery of relatives and then some."

Sirohi's account is, of course, only one part of the story. The other
part is about the yuppies and the pseudo-intellectuals, the Abrahams,
the Mustafas and the Nayars. And also about a Delhi editor who wrote
a
whole article the other day about how the government is partisan in
granting patronage to the press and how, probably because of
three "Diary" items of hers about Rashtrapati Bhavan, she was not
invited to accompany the President on his recent visit to China.

Hence the grave doubts. Is India's fourth estate merely the rogue
estate? Is the one sturdy pillar of democracy merely a decrepit
column
in our land?

Tailpiece: Addressing thousands of journalists in the Vatican City on
June 4, 2000, Pope John Paul II observed that "ethics could not be
separated from journalism" and that journalism should be considered
a "sacred" task. If only our "secular" journos took those words to
heart, it would surely lead to one mass conversion even the rabid
Hindus would not oppose.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/jun/06sai.htm

Saisuresh Sivaswamy
In defence of tehelka.com

Journalists, as a tribe, can be extremely territorial, as well as
envious of others' achievements. Given this, they follow a very
simple
rule of thumb to judge the importance of a news report: did it appear
under their own byline, ie, name? If it didn't, then the report needs
to be trashed.

And apropos tehelka.com's superlative effort in taking the match-
fixing/bribery/match-throwing scandal forward, the media has,
unfortunately, chosen to tie itself into knots over the ethicality or
otherwise of employing the hidden camera, rather than excoriate the
establishment for playing the ostrich or try to take forward the
truth.

Look at the twists and turns in the match-fixing scandal since it
first
exploded on our frontpages three years ago. Since then, despite the
all-
around conviction that yes, the Indian cricketing establishment,
barring one or two, was on the take, all that we have seen were
official efforts to brush the truth under the carpet. Oh yes,
everyone
was willing to implicate everyone else's father and sister in the scam
-
- but purely off the record. On record, the BCCI was as virtuous as a
convent.

This, despite Hansie Cronje being nailed in India for deciding the
outcome of a match off the pitch. Simple logic indicates that Cronje
would not have done what he did had match-fixing not existed on
Indian
soil, but logic was something that those who preside over the game's
destiny had kissed goodbye long ago.

So what did tehelka.com do? It went behind the scenes and ripped the
masks off the faces of the very same people who either told us that
match-fixing was a concept alien to India or that no Indian player
was
involved in altering the outcome of a match through unfair means.
Obviously, to get the stiff upper lip to ease must have taken a bit
of
inveigling, and an element of deception, but Manoj Prabhakar was up
to
the task.

What he and tehelka.com produced may not win ratings for technical
brilliance, but as someone who has spent 15 years in the production
and
presentation of news I have no hesitation in saying that this was
brilliant journalistic work.

For, as I see it, the media's job is not to merely present the
establishment's version of the truth, but to tell its audience --
whether readers of the print media, viewers and listeners of the
electronic media, or surfers of the Internet media -- what the truth
is
all about. That is the prime responsibility, all other things are
secondary. There is no ethics involved in getting at the facts, for
truth is often its own defence.

The chorus against the means employed by tehelka.com could well have
another explanation. Which is that there is no true investigative
journalism practised in India, at least not in the mainstream media.
The greatest exposes that lay claim to tenancy in the profession's
hall
of fame were all handed out on a platter, by interested parties who
chose to involve the media in their quarrel so that public opinion
could be moulded in their favour by outraged and underpaid scribes.

Journalists are so used to documents, facts, etc being delivered to
them, that the task of actually going out there and finding out the
truth has begun to pall them. What I would have liked to see our
venerable media institutions do following tehelka.com's expose was to
nail the cricketing barons who have lied through their teeth, and not
go after those who are ranged on their own side.

Indian legends are full of instances where the hero has often veered
off the straight and narrow to achieve his goal. Sugreeva could never
have vanquished his elder brother, the innocent and heroic Vaali, but
for Rama's timely, but concealed assistance. And yet, Ram is feted as
the maryada purshottam while Vaali has somehow become the villain in
our eyes. Instances abound of such dichotomy, when those who we
worship
as paragons of virtue have been shown up to be mere men. May not be
full of warts as the rest of us, but surely not deserving of the
adulation we heap on them, if only we stopped to think.

What our legends tell us is that apart from the ends justifying the
means, very often the means also justify the end. tehelka.com decided
that its end was the exposure of the truth, and it chose the only
means
available to it, the only means that could have delivered the truth,
packed and sealed. Does it matter that the evidence it turned up may
not stand legal scrutiny? Frankly, the case has been tried in the
people's court and the jury has returned its verdict: guilty as
charged.

So let not the rest of the media's insistence on ethics confuse you.
If
you want a soupcon of the media's high ethical standards, allow Manoj
Prabhakar and his hidden camera to travel with the media on just one
of
the prime minister's jaunts. What he will unearth there will stun
you...

Sid Harth..."The Pagans, maybe, 'pagals, idiots in Hindi such as
Arvind
Lavkare like pugilism as much as I do but are afraid to get down and
dirty when push comes to shove and seek higher moral and ethical
grounds, throwing temper tantrums playing shadow boxing."

http://www.comebackkid.com/

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Hindu_mahasabha

http://politics.kosmix.com/topic/Bharatiya_Jana_Sangh

http://politics.kosmix.com/topic/Hindu_nationalist_parties

http://politics.kosmix.com/topic/Ram_Rajya_Parishad

http://politics.kosmix.com/topic/Shiv_Sena

http://politics.kosmix.com/topic/Akhand_Hindustan_Morcha

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Hindu_Rashtra

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Hindutva

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Abhinav_Bharat

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Arya_samaj

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sangh

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Syama_Prasad_Mookerjee

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Vinayak_Damodar_Savarkar

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/K.B._Hedgewar

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Madhav_Sadashiv_Golwalkar

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Praveen_Togadia

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Rajendra_Singh_(RSS)

http://politics.kosmix.com/topic/Madhukar_Dattatraya_Deoras

http://politics.kosmix.com/topic/K._S._Sudarshan

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Madhukar_Dattatraya_Deoras

http://politics.kosmix.com/topic/Deendayal_Upadhyaya

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Ashok_Singhal

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Uma_Bharti

http://www.kosmix.com/topic/Vinay_Katiyar

http://politics.kosmix.com/topic/Atal_Bihari_Vajpayee

http://sports.kosmix.com/topic/Lal_Krishna_Advani

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.pakistan/browse_thread/thread/435211d878e009ed/254f8096abe11421?lnk=st&q=artist+by+cricket+english+match+painting&rnum=3&hl=en

Sid Harth

unread,

Feb 20, 2010, 3:28:09 PM2/20/10

India Culture Disucssion chat forums:

Culture Vulture :
Social Issues Society Living Behaviour
OPEN free discussions: Image of India and Indians abroad - Myths &
Realities !!:
Can Indians Abroad Contribute Improving India's Image ?:
Archive through April 07, 2002

By J.J. on Sunday, April 7, 2002 - 12:32 pm:

I have a question I hope someone here can answer. What area of India
is known as the "Happy Valley"? I appreciate an answer. My email
address is uspsw...@webtv.net to get the answer to me quickly. Thank
you.

By USNavy on Monday, September 10, 2001 - 11:29 pm:

Yes, it can improve IT industry abroad. So we can come back to kill
you more!

By mahesh on Tuesday, December 21, 1999 - 08:54 pm:

Hi savarna,
Iappreciate you.You are a great women.
Let me translate you a sanskrit shloka.that is

"your mother and your mother land are greater than heaven for you".So
for the kids who born to first generation indians here, AMERICA should
be their mother land.Parents should not impose INDIA on them.They
should teach them good values of hinduism and INDIA.They can have
affection for india.Parents should make them good citigens. So the
kids who born here should be an american of indian origin but not an
indian american.This is what hinduism say's.Hinduism is not restricted
to india only.India and hinduism are not same.Any body who understands
the pragmatic values of hinduism can become a good citizen in any
country.Any indian living abroad who wants help india need not spend
money.Let him think he is not an indivisual but an ambassador of
india.whatever he does right or wrong will directly reflect on indian
image.

By Aki on Saturday, December 11, 1999 - 07:50 pm:

Sidharth is truly a madman.

One of those oppressed dalits! Or a converter. He has an agenda, that
we can all see through and won't fall for, once you look at his site
you'll know the sort of low person he is. It shows his hatred.
Dingbat is an understatement.

By mp on Friday, December 10, 1999 - 09:55 pm:

Mr Sid
You say - worship a charlatan named Dr. David Frawley - have you ever
thought what are you ?
Possibly one should substitute the word Dr David Frawley and write
your name.
btw you are one of the ding bats!

By Sid Harth on Friday, December 10, 1999 - 04:51 pm:

Political and social commentary does not pay, until and unless one
wields a weapon of some sort and becomes an advocate of something or
other. My good buddies Dilip D' Souza, of Rediff, S Sadananda of Free
Press Journal do a lot of impartial commentaries on the good and the
bad in indian culture, politics and shambled social stigmata. Frank
Moraes, R.K Karanjia, Adi Marzban of those good old days used to not
only educate but entertain their readers with variety of techniques. R
K Laxman, Mario and Bal Thackeray like accomplished cartoonists made
reading newspaper a delight.

In vernacular press people like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Acharya Atre,
Bhopatkar, Keshav Thakre, Khadilkar, Laxmanshastri Joshi and many
others held the court as far as bringing the tough subject out and
about. Each had a personality of their own and some appeared
parochial, after the fact but were of impeccable character and
journalistic integrity.

Such unbiased or slightly biased views are not appreciated by the fast
track computer coolie culture. These goons have grown up in a society
where one's aims were set by their middle class parents and justified
by the social needs to do financially better than care for spiritual
and morally strong life style of mature adults.

None of the recent immigrants of computer coolie kind shows any signs
of being acquainted with the political and social scene where they
were raised and succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of their parents.
The education system in India has become a money making proposition
and those who can afford do take their kids out of the run of the
mills municipal or state schools and enroll them into what they refer
to in India as "Public Schools." The term is exactly opposite to what
we in the United States of America take as state supported manadatory
schools.

The resultant rush to find the quickest and the best education that
brings more bucks for the bang neglects strong elements from arts.
Techical education does not make a person, perhaps, a money making
robot whose legendary successes must be witnessed in the California
computer coolie coal mines. Such failed and frustrated individuals
need some kind of fucked up and cooked up glory story of India which
never existed or is highly exaggerated by the vested interests,
especially those chest beating Brahmin deluded dunces of RSS kind.

Excellence is avilable for anyone to experiment with, explored and
enjoyed with little more determination and personal struggle to better
oneself. Shashi Tharoor is no kind of chest beating, jingoistic dingo
dog of saffron kind. He writes what he sees as the good and the bad of
Indian society. He is smart and young which should be what these
computer coolies ought to hold as a model.

These ding bats rather worship a charlatan named Dr. David Frawley, a
circus barker, a snake oil vendor, two timing, •••• shoveling common
criminal whose idiotic theory that Aryans did not come from anywhere
but were local Indian tribe is the hottest thing for these computer
coolies.

Thanks to the Public Radio's News Hour of various dates.

http://web-cr05.pbs.org/plweb-cgi/fastweb?search
http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/dec/08dilip.htm

Sid Harth..."There is no crime in accepting the truth as witnessed by
those whose interest is not in selling snake oil."
--
http://www.comebackkid.com/

By Savarna on Thursday, September 9, 1999 - 07:09 pm:

Namaste, all,

I just had to vent a little. First, a background--I am an American
(caucasion) lady married to an Indian man. We are both Hindu and we've
been to India. There is a vast difference between Indians here and
Indians in India. Indians here (and mind you, there are exceptions)
are like teenagers who have gone away to college and gone wild with no
family to watch over them. In some cases this could be good to drop
some outdated traditions such as dowries. On the other hand, I think
that Indian behavior in the U.S. for the most part is shameful.

To give an example, we just celebrated Indian Independence Day in our
area. The event was held in a local high school auditorium. The
program was mostly formal, consisting of several performances with a
break for food half way through the program. Several student groups
worked very hard to organize and rehearse their programs. The mayor
came to present a certificate and declare the day to be India Day in
that city. Instead of well-behaved people, I saw grown up children.
People were not sitting down in their seats, nor were they mindful of
the performers. They came and went, talked in their loudest voices,
sometimes shouting over the music or talking that was on stage. Their
children were totally wild, running in gangs of 5 or 6, running full
speed up and down, sometimes onto the stage, bumping into people.
Their parents were too lazy to control their children. When the mayor
presented the certificate I could not hear a word he said and he was
speaking into a working microphone! They left the auditorim a mess,
with food and plates and napkins everywhere. I was so embarassed for
the Indian community. What an impression they were giving to the
outside world! These immigrant families are doctors and engineers,
too. They should know better.

Further, the Indo-American Cultural Center in our area has almost no
funding, despite the fact that we have about 6,000 families in the
area. It would take 1000 families to pledge a meager $5/month to keep
up the costs of the center. Every month the leaders of the center have
to give their own money. When they hosted Ganesha Chaturthi last year
and flew a priest in from Austin (we don't have a temple in our city),
the cost was substantial. Food was served to about 200 people for
free. There were donation boxes at several spots for people to leave
money. The total amount counted after the function was $10, in
quarters and one dollar bills. Furthermore, we had a table set up to
sell relgious books and several people walked off with our books
without paying. They said that they were going to show their husband/
wife and never returned the books. Others were more brazen and just
took them and we were forced take our books off the table. Again, they
left the place a real mess. We spent 2 hours cleaning up and putting
chairs away. The sad thing was that most of these people were very
well-off, living in big houses, driving nice cars.

Now we are trying to organize a temple building project but it's not
going very far. We planned a Ganesha temple to be very generic so that
all sects would be interested. Everyone wants to see the murthi we had
made but no one wants to be on the temple board, and no one wants to
donate money. We have satsang every Sunday in a private home and we
can't even get regular attendees to come to that! Sometimes we only
have my husband and I and 2 or 3 other people. People know about it
but they don't come, and it's not like we are doing a specific sect of
puja (Saivite or Vaishnavite). It's just a generic Ganesha puja.

I don't know what's wrong with Indians in the U.S. but it is really
pathetic. Their kids are even worse, caught between two worlds. Their
parents do not educate them about their culture. Therefore they have
no cultural pride.

If they are going to abandon their Indian-ness, fine, but don't go to
Indian functions and act like a bunch of uncivilized heathens. It
gives the rest of us a bad name.

Savarna

http://indiaculture.net/talk/messages/766/9821.html

Sid Harth

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Feb 20, 2010, 3:36:39 PM2/20/10

www.americanmeditation.org March - April 2005 Vol. 8 No. 3

The Heart and Science of Yoga™

Meditation • Easy-Gentle Yoga • Retreats • Calendar

The NYSNA Council on Continuing Education announces the approval of:
AMI's Educational Program
"American Meditation"
The Heart and Science of Yoga™-Level 1

YOGA SCIENCE IN BRIEF

Yoga and the Sacred Fire

Dr. David Frawley's new book, Yoga and the Sacred Fire, is a
monumental work, encapsulating the profound wisdom the author has
accumulated over decades of deep study, meditation and spiritual
experience. In this important book David Frawley explores the
evolution of life and consciousness according to Vedic cosmology and
the psychology of Fire--not only as a physical force but also as a
spiritual principle. He explains how yoga's deepfire wisdom can help
mankind move forward into an enlightened planetary age where humanity
and nature can again be united in a higher awareness. Dr. Frawley is
one of the few Westerners ever recognized as a Doctor of Vedic
Science. He is the author of over twenty books and numerous articles.
Yoga and the Sacred Fire is available through the AMI bookstore.

Meditation in Public Schools

A University of Michigan study concludes that two, ten-minute
meditation sessions per day in a public school setting reduces stress
in children and teens and promotes emotional stability. Participants
within the study group were found to exhibit less verbal aggression,
anxiety and loneliness. Based on this study, a growing partnership of
Detroit area parents, teachers and physicians are now calling for
schools around the country to offer meditation breaks each day. "It
wouldn't be difficult," a spokesperson said, "and it requires no
expensive equipment, no special outfits or footwear." Since meditation
is not a religion, proponents claim that meditation would be an
appropriate stress reliever in the schools.

Did Jesus Practice Yoga?

A new book, entitled The Second Coming of Christ, by Paramahansa
Yogananda (author of the spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yogi)
has recently been published. Yogananada takes the reader on a
profoundly enriching journey through the four Gospels into the deeper
meaning of Jesus's teachings and reveals the underlying unity of the
original Christianity and ancient precepts of yoga.

Wealth and Happiness

According to a recent study by PCN Financial Advisors, significant
wealth is usually accompanied by worries about spoiling children and
about whether even generous assets are sufficient. How much is enough?
"It's almost always double whatever they have," the study reports.

New Alzheimer's Study

Ayurvedic medicine has long maintained that disease begins when
incompletely digested food produces a poisonous residue that is
deposited at susceptible locations throughout the body. Similarly, a
new Washington University study indicates that a sticky plaque,
amyloid beta peptide, may be the culprit that eventually robs victims
of memory and the ability to communicate. According to Ayurveda, such
poisonous deposits can be reversed if proper diet and lifestyle
changes are made early in the disease process.

A Very Old Secret

Time magazine's special edition on "Happiness" echoes the teaching of
ancient yoga masters who always valued the benefits of living
according to a philosophy of life. According to Dr. Harold Koenig, co-
director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke
University, "religious people are less depressed, less anxious and
less suicidal than nonreligious people. And they are better able to
cope with such crises as illness, divorce and bereavement." Recent
studies have indicated that the more an individual consciously relies
on a philosophy in directing their daily lives, the greater their
happiness and overall sense of satisfaction will be.

Unusual Remedies for Stress

In the current issue of Yoga International, Ayurvedic physician, Dr.
Vasant Lad, explains that anxiety is primarily due to an aggravated
vata constitution. Lifestyle factors such as late hours, overwork,
windy weather conditions and improper diet all contribute to an
imbalanced vata condition. To soothe the nervous system, Dr. Lad
suggests a strict routine of eating, sleeping, working and slow,
methodical exercises like walking or swimming. In addition, he
encourages a daily oil massage, alternate nostril breathing, a hot
bath containing one-third cups each of ginger and baking soda,
aromatherapy (using three drops of frankincense, basil, orange or
clove essential oil) and a glass of warm almond milk containing a
pinch of ginger, nutmeg and saffron.

Yoga's Secret Teaching
The hidden becomes obvious
through concentrated attention
and service to discrimination
by Leonard and Jenness Perlmutter

Imagine all the apples that fell to Earth before Isaac Newton realized
that every object in the universe attracts every other object. Of
course, the Law of Gravity has always been in force, but it wasn't
until Newton focused the creativity of his one-pointed attention on a
falling apple that he (and all humanity) received the blessing of
finally recognizing a perfectly obvious truth. In fact, grace always
dawns when we demonstrate our willingness to sacrifice the limitations
of our habitual way of seeing. As French novelist Marcel Proust aptly
observed, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new
landscapes but in having new eyes."

In 1993 Jenness and I attended a talk by Swami Rama. When we arrived,
we were greeted by a woman who was brimming with excitement. "What's
the cause of this enthusiasm?" we asked. "There are very few people
registered for this weekend's lecture and they're the right people,"
she replied. "Rumor has it that tonight Swamiji is going to give us
the 'secret teaching.'" I must admit it all sounded quite flattering,
mysterious and even a bit tantalizing. In anticipation of what might
be the revelation of cosmic secrets by a true yoga master, we arrived
early, sat in the very first row--with head, neck and trunk straight
in order to show the requisite respect to the teacher--and we listened
very intently. What we heard, however, sounded very familiar. In fact,
it was virtually the same lecture Swami Rama had given on many
occasions--about how the habits of the mind alienate human beings from
their own Divine Perfection. "But of course," we realized, "this is
the secret teaching!" In fact, this simple message has been a secret
from most people for thousands of years--even when they've heard or
read it many times.

Listen how Jesus the Christ commented on the notion of a secret
teaching two thousand years ago in the Gospel of Thomas: "I took my
stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I
found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. My soul
ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their
hearts and do not see, for they came into the world empty, and they
also seek to depart from the world empty. (Then) His disciples said to
him: On what day will the kingdom come? Jesus said: It will not come
by expectation; they will not say: 'See, here,' or 'See, there.' But
the kingdom of the Father is spread upon the earth, and men do not see
it . . . I am the Light that is above them all, I am the all, and all
came forth from Me and the all attained to Me. Cleave (a piece) of
wood, I am there; lift up the stone and you will find me there."

If, as Jesus the Christ suggests, the truth that leads to peace,
happiness and freedom from fear is really right before us, why is such
an enlightened state of consciousness so rarely experienced?

A brilliant young student, feeling proud of his great knowledge, once
asked his teacher, Narada, a similar question. "Why is it," the
student asked, "that everyone cannot know the Eternal truth, cultivate
one-pointed attention, make discriminating choices and thereby end
their sorrow?" Having both a great love for the disciple and an
understanding of his limitations, the master agreed to share this
knowledge, but only after the young man fetched a glass of water from
a nearby house to quench Narada's thirst.

Eager to please his master, the disciple approached the house and
knocked. To his amazement, when the door opened the most beautiful
woman he had ever seen stood before him. As he gazed into her eyes, he
fell deeply in love and the two soon married. In the years that
followed, he and his wife found joy in one another, were blessed with
healthy children and amassed considerable wealth and property.

But eventually his fortunes changed. Death snatched away the lives of
his wife and children, and floods destroyed his property. He was left
alone, poor and old. One night, as he sat brooding in his hut, there
came a knock at the door. When he opened it, his master, standing
before him, asked, "So? Where's my glass of water?"

When we ignore the Supreme Reality within, the senses, ego and
unconscious mind habitually tantalize us with unending desires, fear
and anger. When the mind operates in this manner, the decision-making
process is corrupted, and the human being sacrifices the
discriminative faculty of buddhi in favor of the rapid-fire reaction
of deep-seated, unconscious habit or compulsion (samskaras). As a
result, we rarely see the truth that can liberate us because the
habits of the mind limit our vision.

To realize the secret teaching of yoga science that leads to peace,
happiness and freedom from fear, you must first adopt a philosophy of
life that recognizes you as a citizen of two worlds. Clearly, you are
a citizen of the ever-changing material world of animal, vegetable and
mineral matter. In this familiar environment, the body is your vehicle
for action and your mind is your most powerful instrument for
evaluating circumstances and motivating your body into action. For
every action your body-mind-sense complex takes, a consequence
results. Remember, however, that you are also a citizen of the
distinctly non-material, yet profoundly real world of consciousness.
Within this subtle world there exists an intuitive library of
knowledge that unerringly identifies which of your possible actions
will lead you to realize peace, happiness and freedom from fear, and
which will lead to physical, mental, emotional and spiritual dis-ease.

Whenever your outer actions reflect the perfection of your inner
wisdom, you will be led for your highest and greatest good. This is
the secret teaching of all yoga.

The word yoga means union, and the science of yoga provides a reliable
blueprint for building a trustworthy, ever-accessible bridge to your
own inner wisdom. Through the testimony of their lives, the sages of
every tradition are urging you to experience the blessings that are
available to flow--right now--from the kingdom of heaven within. "When
you make your own inner wisdom the basis of your thoughts, words and
deeds," the sages promise, "you will experience the strength, courage,
creativity and rewarding relationships that will enable you to fulfill
your life's true purpose."

IN SERVICE -- WITH LOVE
LEONARD AND JENNESS PERLMUTTER

By philosopher, teacher and author Leonard Perlmutter
Publication date: September 2005

"What the Bleep Do We Know?"
Movie and Yoga Nidra Healing Workshop

Join us for a special screening of "WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW?"--an
entertaining and enlightening film about quantum physics, habits,
creativity and consciousness. The movie examines the life of a young
woman who learns how to conquer her fears by using her own inner
wisdom. Interspersed throughout the film are commentaries by
scientists and mystics who question the commonly accepted distinctions
between science and spirituality. During the second half of the
workshop, you'll learn ancient Yoga Nidra healing practices that help
reduce stress while strengthening the immune and autonomic nervous
systems. Yoga Nidra facilitates both the mind's and body's access to
the vital life force known as prana--thereby enhancing energy,
concentration and memory, while optimizing the performance of internal
glands and organs.

Leonard & Jenness Perlmutter AMI Founders and Directors
Dr. Robert Iwaniec Doctor of Chiropractic, Author & Armchair Physicist
Peter Fallon Holistic Compounding Pharmacist

Saturday, April 16, 1 - 5 pm * AMI Home Center, 60 Garner Rd, Averill
Park
Registration: $50 for workshop and complementary film

Three Special Seminars

Mundaka Upanishad
Wisdom of the Ancient Sages
Swami Tadatmananda
Self Improvement versus
Self-Realization
Swami Ajaya
Direct Disciple of Swami Rama

Today's world is passing through a series of crises. During this
seminar Swami Tadatmananda will teach how the ancient wisdom of
humanity's noble history can help each of us overcome unnecessary
suffering. As a Sanskrit scholar and former engineer, Tadatmananda
will draw upon his wealth of contemporary scientific and psychological
insights as he presents the relevant spiritual teachings of this
important scripture. His warmth, humor and informal style make his
teachings enjoyable and rewarding for all.

AMI Home Center
60 Garner Road, Averill Park
April 2, Saturday Evening, 6:30 - 8:30pm

Registration Fee: $25

During his first visit to AMI, Swami Ajaya will share the highest
Truth of non-duality from the depths of his own personal experience
and realization. Trained as a clinical psychologist at Wesleyan
University and the University of California, Berkeley, and a direct
disciple of Swami Rama of the Himalayas, Swami Ajaya wrote the
introduction to Living with the Himalayan Masters. He is also the
author of Yoga Psychology, and Yoga and Psychotherapy: East and West.

AMI Home Center
60 Garner Road, Averill Park
March 24, Thursday Night, 6:30 - 8:30pm

Registration Fee: $25

Religious Therapeutics

Purification of the Mind in
South Asian and Indigenous American Traditions

Dr. Gregory Fields

Professor of Comparative Religions, Southern Illinois University

In this seminar Dr. Fields will explore the relationship between
religion and spiritual and psychophysical health. Dr. Fields is a
noted authority on Black Elk and native Northwest coast spirituality
as well as Tibetan Buddhism. He will discuss the healing philosophies
of Yoga, Ayurveda, Buddhism and Tantra within the domains of medicine,
psychology, education, and our socio-political life.

Thursday Night, April 7 * 6:30 - 8:30pm * AMI Home Center, 60 Garner
Rd, Averill Park
Registration Fee: $25

Forward from The Heart and Science of Yoga™

By Linda Johnsen

Linda resides in Sonoma, California

and is the author of:

A Thousand Suns

Meditation Is Boring?

The Living Goddess

It wasn't what I'd expected. I'd spoken at many yoga centers before;
they were often large, empty rooms where students could unroll their
hatha mats and launch into a series of stretches and twists imported
from India. When I'd show up to lecture, folding chairs would
materialize from hidden closets and an audience would listlessly
filter in from the dirty city streets.

The American Meditation Institute, it turned out, was more like a
beautiful estate than a yoga business. The grounds were magnificent,
colored with an astonishing array of flowers and flowering shrubs. A
sparkling pond brimming with minnows and a small, man-made waterfall
interrupted the rolling green lawn. This oasis twenty minutes outside
Albany, New York was a paradise of tranquility and fragrant blossoms.

The AMI building was friendly and clean, scented with the inviting
aroma of vegetarian cooking and filled with co-founder Jenness Cortez
Perlmutter's paintings of country landscapes, scenes from Indian
mythology and especially--everywhere--horses. Jenness herself was tall
and lean, exuding both warmth and intelligence. Her husband and fellow
AMI founder Leonard Perlmutter had a thick beard that made him look
like an Indian baba who'd just come down out of the Himalayas after
years of meditation. He appeared very serious but the moment he began
to speak, not only his vast knowledge of the world's mystical
traditions but also his totally disarming sense of humor were
immediately evident.

I didn't for a moment feel I was visiting a yoga "institute." Len and
Jen made all of us at the seminar feel like family. Their emphasis on
yoga as a preeminently practical form of spiritual discipline kept
their teaching very real, grounded and relevant to their students'
everyday lives.

The Perlmutters are students of Swami Rama of the Himalayas, the yogi
who revolutionized our understanding of human physiology back in the
1970s. Before Swami Rama allowed researchers at the Menninger
Institute in Topeka, Kansas to hook him up to their EEGs, EKGs and
temperature monitors, Western scientists had never believed India's
yogis could do what the Indians always claimed they could, controlling
every component of their physical bodies to the extent that they could
appear virtually lifeless according to the electronic printouts, yet
remain fully conscious. The swami repeatedly demonstrated full mastery
of his autonomic nervous system, which until then most Western doctors
had assumed was impossible.

I studied with Swami Rama for some years when he founded a graduate
program in Eastern Studies here in the United States in the 1980s.
Swamiji complained that the experiments the researchers conducted at
Menninger were comparatively trivial. The real value of yoga lay not
so much in stopping one's heartbeat or regulating the temperature in
individual cells in his body (skills he actually demonstrated there)
but in its deep and transforming effect on human consciousness. That,
unfortunately, the scientists didn't know how to measure.

Swami Rama left his body permanently in November, 1996. He died like a
yogi, having announced the exact moment of his departure earlier that
day. He sat up in a yoga posture and, in full consciousness, vacated
the body we'd come to love so well. He taught us how to live and, in
his final moments, showed us how to die.

Swami Rama's work lives on through the efforts of his students.
Swamiji strongly encouraged the Perlmutters to teach. His blessings
have transformed their originally modest home into one of the finest
yoga centers in North America. The Heart and Science of Yoga™ is the
story of yoga as they live it, in the vibrant tradition of Swami Rama
of the Himalayas.

Linda Johnsen
Sonoma, California

The Heart
and Science of Yoga™

QUESTION: I've heard it said that every form of yoga has Self-
realization as its goal.
Why is this so important?

LEONARD: Knowing our true Self brings ever-increasing access to an
intuitive library of wisdom that will always lead us for our highest
and greatest good. The great value of this human life is that it
provides both the capacity and the means to end our suffering. We now
have a human body, mind and discriminative faculty--all the requisites
for making the transition from enslavement and suffering to freedom
and Divinity. The sages promise that we can be free in this very
lifetime. Each of us, therefore, can realize this state by
transforming our old habits and purifying our personalities. We have
been granted this rare opportunity by Providence to make ourselves fit
to receive our full inheritance. This is our challenge as human
beings.

QUESTION: Every tradition and religion has a different name for God,
yet the more I practice yoga science it seems that all the sages are
speaking about the same Divinity. Is this your experience?

LEONARD: Words are always less than what they describe. Current
scientific research indicates that it is the helpful habit of the left
brain to represent complicated concepts with simple, easy-to-refer-to
symbols. Such symbols save the time of re-examining in detail what is
to be communicated. However, this inclination of the left-brain can be
problematic. Its shorthand symbols never explain anything completely,
yet, as a culture, we accept these symbols as reality. There is a Zen
injunction that advises, "If you meet the Buddha, kill him." The
saying is meant to caution an earnest seeker against the common trap
of deifying the teapot instead of drinking the tea. The Buddha, no
matter how exalted and holy, is still a limitation on the Divine.
Therefore, if you accept this limitation, you cut yourself off from
experiencing the truth that lies beyond the word or form. In this Zen
instruction, you are urged to "kill" (or surrender) the limitations
that the mind tries to impose on that which exists beyond the mind.
Similarly, in Judaism, there is an injunction against writing the name
of G-d, and against creating any "graven images." According to yoga
philosophy, the reasoning is essentially sound. When the name of the
Lord is written, the word is something less than the Lord. A word is a
human being's narrow concept. The Absolute Reality includes the
limitations, but also extends beyond the limitations of both the
conscious and unconscious mind. The purpose of all spiritual practice
is to help you transcend the limited perspectives of the mind.

QUESTION: Would you briefly explain the value of contemplating the
question, "Who am I?"?

LEONARD: This inquiry, called vichara in ancient yogic texts, has been
esteemed for thousands of years as a reliable method of knowing the
true Self. If you are sincere and persistent in posing this question
to yourself, the answer will come. And, as the truth
of that answer motivates you to steward the energy of your innumerable
desires, large and small, you will begin to experience freedom from
your fear, anger, anxiety and dis-ease. This process occurs
differently for each human being. Guided by the philosophy of yoga
science, you will begin to follow your own distinct path to Self-
realization and freedom. Each of us has been born with a unique body-
mind-sense complex, and through this vehicle each of us has the
capacity to experience union with the Divine.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

MARCH 2005

March 2 - April 6: Bhagavad Gita $150 (6 weeks)
Wednesday Nights: 6:30 - 8:30 PM, AMI Home Center, Averill Park

March 11: Dinner, movie, satsang $15 The Terminal
Friday Night: 5:30 - 10:00 PM. See page 6 for details.

March 15 - April 19: American Meditation $275 (6 weeks)
Tuesday Nights: 6:30-8:30 PM * AMI Home Center, Averill Park

March 21 - April 25: American Meditation $275 (6 weeks)
Monday Nights: 6:30-8:30 PM * Empire State College, One Union Ave.,
Saratoga

MARCH 3, 17, 31: Yoga Science Book Club FREE
Thursday Night: 6:30-8:30 PM AMI Home Center, click here for details.

March 17: Introduction to Meditation $15
Thursday Night: 6:30 - 7:30 PM, AMI Home Center, Averill Park

March 14 - April 18: Easy-Gentle Hatha Yoga $90 (6 weeks)
Monday Nights: 6:30-8:00 PM * Kathleen Fisk * AMI Home Center

March 24: Swami Ajaya $25
Thursday Night: 6:30-8:30 PM * AMI Home Center, Averill Park

SUNDAY MORNING Meditation & Satsang
Join Leonard and Jenness every Sunday 10-11:30 AM. FREE

APRIL 2005

April 2: Swami Tadatmananda $25
Saturday Night: 6:30-8:30 PM * AMI Home Center, Averill Park

April 7: Dr. Greg Fields $25
Thursday Night: 6:30-8:30 PM * AMI Home Center, Averill Park

APRIL 8: Dinner, Movie, Satsang $15 Little Buddha
Friday Night: 5:30 - 10:00 PM

APRIL 14, 28: Yoga Science Book Club FREE
Thursday Night: 6:30-8:30 PM, click here for details.

APRIL 14: INTRODUCTION TO MEDITATION $15
Thursday Night: 6:30 - 7:30 PM, AMI Home Center, Averill Park

APRIL 16: WHAT THE BLEEP & YOGA NIDRA WORKSHOP $50
Saturday: 1:00 - 5:00 PM, AMI Home Center, Averill Park

SUNDAY MORNING Meditation and Satsang
Join Leonard and Jenness every Sunday morning 10-11:30 AM. Free.

MAY 2005

MAY 5: Dr. James Austin $25
Thursday Night: 6:30-8:30 PM * AMI Home Center, Averill Park

Join us for Friday Night
Dinner
Movie
Satsang

5:30 - 10 PM

Yoga Science in the Movies

AMI will present a series of entertaining and thought-provoking films
and documentaries reflecting the practical philosophy of yoga science.
Each Friday night program will begin at 5:30 PM with a gourmet
vegetarian dinner followed by a movie. After the video will be a
discussion (satsang) on how yoga philosophy can help uncomplicate our
lives. A group meditation will conclude the evening. $15 per person
(dinner & complementary film).

The Terminal · March 11 · Tom Hanks

A light-hearted and thoroughly entertaining film about the joys that
can be ours when we slow down, practice deep listening through one-
pointed attention and cultivate the art of patience and trustful
surrender. An Eastern European visitor (Hanks) becomes a resident of a
New York airport terminal when war breaks out and erases his country
from the map, voiding his passport.

Little Buddha · April 8 · Keanu Reeves & Bridget Fonda

A beautiful travelogue and history lesson unfold in the two parts of
this film: a historical text of Siddhartha, later known as the
Compassionate Buddha, and the contemporary quest of Lama Norbu, who
believes he has found the reincarnation of his former teacher in a
Seattle child.

$15 per person (dinner & complementary film). Reservations are
Required!

Reservations must be received no later than
the Thursday before the program you plan to attend.

Tell a Friend about AMI

If you know someone who might benefit from our American Meditation
class, let them know about the AMI program or call us with their name
and address and we'll send them a brochure with our current class
schedule.

Karma Yoga --- the practice of selfless and skillful action

If, as part of your practice, you have a few extra hours during the
week and are interested in helping grow the American Meditation
Institute, we need your dedicated, volunteer energy. As a student of
yoga science, you are already familiar with the kinds of practical
services the Institute provides. Each month we write, edit and publish
this newsletter, teach an average of thirty new meditation students
and present stress-reduction seminars to various businesses and
organizations. We also invite visiting speakers of interest to our
area, organize seminars on yoga science and do continuing personal
counseling.

Our immediate needs include press relations, seminar management,
clerical assistance and general delivery work. Remember, whatever time
or talents you possess will be put to meaningful, productive use.

If you have the time, please call the Institute at (518) 674-8714.

Site maintained by Rob Washington and hosted by The Hostworks

http://www.americanmeditation.org/newsletter%20archives/transformation8_3.html

Sid Harth

unread,

Feb 20, 2010, 3:56:23 PM2/20/10

CRUSADE IN INDIA
Christianity's struggle for survival in the post-colonial world

Edited by
David Frawley and Navaratna S. Rajaram
NAIMISHA RESEARCH FOUNDATION — BANGALORE, INDIA

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

While writing the publisher's note for the recent publication of
Naimisha Research Foundation casually I mentioned about the difference
between Dharma Yuddha and Jihad and Crusade. Where in I also had a
word of wish about a publication to be penned by our esteemed authors
describing the danger of crusades in India. And now, within a short
time, as a pleasant and welcoming surprise we have a thorough and yet
a lucid study of Christianity's struggle for survival in the post-
colonial world in general and in India in particular by the same
authors (Here we also have an article on the recent church blasts by
Prof. S. V. Seshagiri Rao). Therefore it is needless to spare a word
more to drive home our learned author's earnest concern for our
country and its true culture. All the more this issue has a global
concern too. This booklet is sure to buttress in our minds the grave
need for yet another serious examination in our religions, social,
economical, political and cultural histories. I don't want to harp
much about the book for, the very reading and understanding of the
same will be much rewarding. Hence I retrain from further dwelling
upon it and feel contented by paying my heart felt thanks to Dr.
Frawley, Dr.Raja Ram and Prof. Rao.

Sahlvadhani Dr. R. Ganesh Hon. Director Naimisha Research Foundation
Bangalore

CONTENTS

Introduction: Christianity's struggle for survival
by Dr. N.S. Rajaram and Dr. David Frawley

Background: Image and reality
Christianity's crisis I: Doctrinal collapse
Christianity's crisis II: Global collapse
Message to Christians

Church Blasts: Truth and Propaganda
by Prof. S. V. Seshagiri Rao

Background
Propaganda blitz
The bubble bursts
The Pakistan connection
Church leaders' responsibility

Vatican's Paranoia and its 'Cyber-crusade'
Dr. N.S. Rajaram

Background: Strange bedfellows
Christianity's fear of Islam
Vatican's new-old mission
The politics of turmoil
India and the 1857 uprising
Vatican's CIA
Crusade driven by paranoia
Cyber-crusade
Conclusion: Church as agent of destruction

'Christians Under Siege:' A Missionary Ploy
Dr. David Frawley

Background: Christianity and intolerance
Posing as 'victims'
The Indian scene
Politics, not spirituality

About the Authors

Footnotes

INTRODUCTION: CHRISTIANITY'S STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL

Christianity's aggression in India is a consequence of its collapse in
the West.
It has nowhere else to go.

by Dr. N.S. Rajaram and Dr. David Frawley

Background: Image and reality

Christian organizations in India spare no efforts to project
Christianity and its leaders as mighty institutions of the mighty West
that Indians should respect and fear. By and large, the Indian
establishment - consisting of the Government, media and educational
institutions have accepted this claim on face value. The reality is
entirely different. Christianity has all but collapsed in the West.
The Pope has himself admitted that, "Christianity has lost the West."
It is this, as well as the specter of rising Islam that is making
Christian organizations resort to desperate methods - like possible
collusion with Muslim fundamentalist outfits to create discord - in
their efforts to convert India. And this is in spite of the fact that
Christian organizations recognize the reality that Islam is the
greatest enemy of Christianity. At a recent Vatican meeting organized
by the Synod of European Bishops, Archbishop Guiseppe Bernardino
proclaimed that Islam was the number one threat to Christianity. This
is based on several factors including the fighting in the Caucasus
(Chechnya) and the presence of Muslim Fundamentalist forces in Kosovo
less than hundred miles from Trieste on the Italian border.

This perception is confirmed by what is happening to Christians at the
hands of Muslims in neighboring Pakistan. In their article in The
Sunday Times Magazine (reprinted in Reader's Digest, May 2000 as
'Pakistan's War Against Christians'), reporters Cathy Scott-Clark and
Adrian Levy wrote that Christians are routinely "raped, falsely
accused and beaten to death; their land is taken from them - all
because of their faith." One of the more lamentable episodes in recent
history is the willingness of Church leaders in India to come to the
defense of these tormentors of their brothers and sisters in Pakistan.
And the Pope did not cover himself with glory when, soon after meeting
Prime Minister Vajpayee, expressed concern for Christians in India and
Indonesia - an outrageous comparison - but said nothing about the hell
in Pakistan.

The reason behind this ignoble conduct is simple: Christian leaders
are less concerned about the fate of Christians in India and Pakistan
than advancing the missionary-political agenda of the Vatican and
other Christian organizations. They feel that Muslims will be Muslims
but the Hindus will not retaliate no matter what the provocation. They
also feel that Indian Governments are more sensitive to criticism than
Islamic governments like Pakistan. So a cynical reading of this: in a
calculated move Christian leaders - including the Pope - have decided
to let their brothers and sisters in Pakistan suffer atrocities in
Pakistan, but use their torrnentors to defame the Hindus and
destabilize the Government. This suggests that times are getting
desperate for Christian leaders, which is what we examine next.

Christianity's crisis I: Doctrinal collapse

Christianity is in a crisis today on two fronts - the doctrinal and
the temporal. The first is the collapse of the doctrinal foundation of
Christianity due to the revelations of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Here is
the problem in brief. (For details see Profiles in Deception by N.S.
Rajaram.) Recent archaeological discoveries in the Qumran region of
Palestine, especially the Dead Sea Scrolls, show that the whole of
Christianity, including Jesus of the Gospels, is a later fabrication.
Following the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, the Vatican
managed to gain control of them and tried to suppress the whole thing
for over forty years. Its monopoly was broken only in 1991, thanks to
the untiring efforts of the California Biblical historian Robert
Eisenman.

What Biblical scholars who have studied the Dead Sea Scrolls tell us
is that everything in Christianity, including the life of Jesus Christ
found in the Gospels is a later fabrication based on texts that
existed at least a century before the supposed birth of Jesus! Almost
everything connected with Jesus Christ and his teachings can be traced
to earlier sources like the Dead Sea Scrolls. John Allegro, a pioneer
in the study of the Scrolls in the original, had this to say:

"The origins of some Christian rituals and doctrines can be seen in
the documents of an extremist Jewish sect that existed for more than a
hundred years before the birth of Christ...

"As far as details in the New Testament record of Jesus' life is
concerned, I would suggest that the scrolls give added ground for
believing that many incidents are merely projections into Jesus' own
history of what was expected of the Messiah. "

In other words, Jesus of Christianity probably' never existed, at
least as Christian doctrine proclaims that he did. The story of Jesus
of the Gospels is a later fabrication based on what people wanted
their Messiah to be. It should also be noted that many important
events of Christianity including the Last Supper and even the
Crucifixion have no historical basis. Catholics observe a ceremony
called the Lord's Supper as a commemoration of the Last Supper. The
Dead Sea Scrolls tell us that the Jews of Qumran used to observe the
Lord's Supper a hundred years before the birth of Christianity. This
means that the story of the Last Supper is a dramatization of this
ancient Jewish practice.

Recent documents released by Eisenman show the same to be true of
Crucifixion. The seed of the story can be found in a fragmentary
scroll the 'Pierced Messiah'. The distinguished scholar of the Dead
Sea Scrolls, Neil Asher Silberman had this to say regarding this very
important Scroll fragment - known as the 'Pierced Messiah' -
discovered by Robert Eisenman. "Here, as Eisenman believed, was
additional proof (as if any was needed) ... on explosive material for
decades, material that would show that the passion of the messiah [by
crucifixion] was a common expectation and not a historical event."

So Jesus of the Gospels, the Only Son of God, who would bring
salvation to believers, is a myth fabricated by borrowing upon ideas
that were current in the Qumran region of Palestine more than a
hundred years before the supposed birth of the supposed Jesus. This is
well known in the West, but the Indian media has kept a studious
silence probably because its missionary education has conditioned it
not to look at any claims of Christianity with a skeptical or even a
rational outlook. To go with this doctrinal collapse, Christianity is
faced also with a crisis in the secular realm.

Christianity's crisis II: Global collapse

While its doctrine has collapsed, Christianity is facing a no less a
serious challenge in the secular world. (We use the world 'secular' in
the dictionary sense to mean 'worldly' or 'unrelated to religion' and
not in the Indian political sense to mean antiHindu.) The major
problem faced by Christianity today is its collapse in the West,
especially Europe. While the public has been indifferent to this
development, Western students of Christianity are well aware of the
seriousness of the crisis. Here is what the Belgian scholar Koenraad
Elst has to say about the current state of Christianity in Europe: 1

Anyone, who cares to look, can see that Christianity is in steep
decline. This is especially the case in Europe, where church
attendance levels in many countries have fallen below 10% or even
5%. ...Even more ominous for the survival of Christianity is the
decline in the priestly vocations. Many parishes that used to have two
to three parish priests now have none, so that the Sunday Service now
has to be conducted by a visiting priest, who has an ever fuller
agenda as his colleagues keep dying, retiring or abandoning the
priesthood without being replaced...

Many former churches in Europe have now been taken over by non-
Christian religious and cultural organizations. The phenomenon is now
spreading to America where Church buildings are being put up for sale.
It is symbolic of this change that the famous Bharitaya Vidya Bhavan
in West Kensington, London is a former church. Elst is by no means
alene in seeing the impending collapse of Christianity in the West.
David Yallop is probably England's foremost investigative reporter. He
had this to say regarding the state of Christianity in Rome, the home
of Christianity in most people's minds: 2

The new Concordat [agreement] recently signed between the Vatican and
the Italian Government makes a fitting epitaph for the current Pope's
[John Paul II] reign. Italy, for nearly two thousand years regarded by
Catholics as the 'home of their faith, no longer has Roman Catholicism
as 'the religion of the State'. The Church's privileged position in
Italy is ending. (p 323)

Rome has a Catholic population of two-and-a-half million [in 1978]. It
should have been producing at least seventy new priests per year. When
Luciani (John Paul I) became Pope [in 1978] it was producing six. ...
Many parts of the city were, in reality. pagan, with Church attendance
less than 3 percent of the population. ... (p 194; our emphasis.)

This bleak picture painted by outside observers like Elst and Yallop
is confirmed by official Vatican reports. Peter de Rosa, a former
Catholic priest who had access to official Church documents cites a
secret Vatican study;

It revealed that from 1963 to 1969 over 8000 priests had asked to be
dispensed from their vows and nearly 3000 others had left without
waiting for permission. The study estimated that over the next five
years 20,000 would leave. The estimate proved to be far too
conservative.

Matters were worst in countries that pontiffs had relied on for
providing missionaries. Holland for example, used to produce over 300
priests a year. Now ordinations are almost as rare as mountains [in
Holland]. The average age of those who remain is a startlingly high
54. [Today, it is closer to 65.] The future, too, looks bleak. Over
the last twenty years, the number of Seminarians in the States
[America] has fallen from 50,000 to 12,000.3

A loss of 76 percent in less than two decades! Even this understates
the real loss because seminaries that do remain open have fewer
students and teachers than they used to. Many of them have been kept
alive only through a massive infusion from third world countries like
India and the Philippines; even the United States Army has been
reduced to employing many of these non-Americans as chaplains. And
these men and women have been lured less by faith than by the
attractions of a more comfortable life in the West.

The situation has grown steadily worse since that time.

When Pope John Paul 11 visited the United States in October 1995,
newspapers reported that the number of Seminarians in the country was
only 3500 in 1993! It is less than 3000 today. What is true of the
losses in the priesthood is true also of its age profile; the numbers
understate the real loss. Elst tells us that the average age of
Catholic priests in the world is 55 (in 1992), whereas in the
Netherlands (i.e., Holland) it is an astonishing 64 and still rising.
And those that leave the priestly professions are invariably the
younger members. All this is stark testimony to the spiritual
bankruptcy of the institution. The simple fact is that the Church is
collapsing. Thus the condition of the Church is of far greater
importance to its officials than to its devotees who are deserting it
in droves.

A no less serious problem is the shortage of nuns. In America and
Europe, health care is the largest single industry. Christian
hospitals are major providers of health care to both individuals and
corporate employees. These depend heavily on nuns for skilled workers
like nursing sisters. Lay hospital workers - i.e., when not nuns -
cost anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 in salary and benefits per year
per person depending on the skill level. Nuns on the other hand cost
next to nothing. The number of young women in America and Europe
opting to be nuns is almost zero. The resulting shortage has to be
made up by recruiting nuns from Third World countries like India, the
Philippines, and African countries.4 This is one of the major factors
behind the conversion drive in India. In fact, the major activity of
some highly touted Christian missions in India like Mother Teresa's
Missionaries of Charities is to recruit nuns(through conversions) as
cheap labor for Church run hospitals in Europe and America.

The message is clear: without massive new conversions in India,
Christianity is finished. This state of affairs accounts for the siege
mentality bordering on paranoia that is displayed by Church
authorities - including the Pope - when faced with resistance to
conversion activities as is the case today. This also account for the
willingness of Christian leaders to resort to any method - including
possible collusion with Pakistani organizations - to save themselves
from extinction. It also means that they will step at nothing to save
themselves and their Church.

It is against this background that one must evaluate Pope John Paul's
pronouncement before the Asian Bishops' Conference in Manila, repeated
during his recent visit to India: "A new harvest of faith will be
reaped on this vast and vital continent." He presumably did not tell
them that without this 'new harvest' their Church is all but doomed.

Message to Christians

It is our hope that Indian Christians will learn the right lessons
from this and not allow themselves to be swayed by emotion and
propaganda. It is futile for them to think that the West will
intervene to save them if their leaders whip up a propaganda campaign
against the Hindus. This is very shortsighted, for their greatest
safeguard is the goodwill of the majority. The folly of their leaders,
of trying to manipulate a Fundamentalist Muslim organization in a
smear campaign against the Hindus and the Government could well result
in a Muslim backlash as Gandhi found to his grief during the Khilafat
Non-cooperation movement. Should that ever happen, neither the Pope
nor their 'leaders', will be around to protect them. It is in their
own interest to rebuild broken bridges with their Hindu brethren
before it is too late. First and foremost they must give up any idea
of turning India into a Christian country. It is a pipe dream.

In all this there seems to be a mystical belief in the power of the
Pope to influence political decisions in the West, to intervene in
India to protect Christian interests. This is a delusion carefully
nurtured by their 'leaders' to serve their own interests. The Pope is
an insignificant figure in Europe today and in much of the world. It
is only in the imagination of Indian Christians - and in that of the
convent educated 'elite' - that he seems a figure of heroic stature.
To see a concrete example, Christians are being decimated in Pakistan
but Western nations and financial organizations like the IMF and the
World Bank are still prepared to consider aid packages. Their only
concerns are economic like excessive budget deficits, not the
persecution of Christians. Even Britain has lifted its arms embargo
against Pakistan. This should tell them where Western nations place
their priorities. When the Pope is prepared to sacrifice Christians in
Pakistan to serve his propaganda campaign against the Vajpayee
Government, he cannot be too concerned about the fate of Indian
Christians. They exist only to serve as pawns in the Vatican's
foolhardy mission to convert a vulnerable India, by exploiting Hindu
tolerance and the servility of the Indian elite.

It is the tragedy of Indian Christians that their 'leaders' do not
lead them but instead serve their own foreign masters who have
appointed them to their offices. In other words, there are no
Christian leaders but only Church officials. Such 'leaders' are no
more concerned about the real welfare of Christians in India than of
those in Pakistan. Their loyalty is to the Mother Church and not to
the motherland- or her people. Their concern is to remain in the good
books of their mother organizations so that they can hold on to their
secure positions and keep missionary money flowing. In this scheme,
the lives of Indians - including Christians - are a dispensable
commodity. To see this, just look at Pakistan. It is time for Indian
Christians to give up their slave mentality towards foreign
organizations and reclaim their human dignity.

CHURCH BLASTS: TRUTH AND PROPAGANDA

Investigations reveal coordination between the blasts and the
propaganda campaign. There was also a ' Naxalite link between
'minority leaders' and the organization that carried out the blasts.

by Prof. S. V. Seshagiri Rao

Background

On May 21, 2000, a crude bomb with a timer exploded near a religious
congregation of Christians at Machilipatam in Andhra Pradesh, No one
was injured and no property was damaged. A week later police recovered
two bombs from churches at Medak and Vikarabad on receiving
information from Church authorities. ('n June 8, similar devices
exploded in Jewett Church at Ongole and Mother Vanini Church at
Tadepalligundam at about 8.45 AM. Almost simultaneously two explosions
in St. Ann's Church, Vasco da Gama, Goa also occurred. All explosions
were of minor intensity. Except at the Jewett Church, Ongole, in all
other places no one was around at the time of the explosions. Prayers
on weekdays would be held in the evenings and 8 June was a Thursday.
In the church at Wadi, the wooden frame of a window was shattered and
there were some minor cracks.

Propaganda blitz

The Church and Christian organizations saw this as a golden
opportunity to malign the Sangh Parivar [some Hindu organizations] and
destabilize the Vajpayee Government. They mounted an unprecedented
propaganda blitzkrieg.

When the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu
rushed to Ongole the same day to assess the situation, the church
leaders present, significantly, demanded withdrawal of his support to
the Vajpayee Government. That was their priority demand- not an
investigation inio the blasts to catch the culprits. Within two hours
of the explosion, by lOAM, the Marxists were seen distributing
pamphlets attributing the crime to 'Hindu communalists'. [It will be
seen later that some of those responsible for the bombings used to
belong to the Naxalite (Marxist) War Group.]

On June 10, Christian leaders from southern states issued a statement
at Hyderabad rejecting outright the view that external agencies [like
the ISI] were involved in these attacks and held the Union Government
and the 'Sangh Parivar' 'directly responsible' for the incidents. They
said that after the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two
sons were burnt at Manoharpur in Orissa, the Sangh Parivar and a Union
Minister spoke of a "foreign hand" and were repeating the same claim
now in the wake of attacks on churches and Christians in different
parts [of the country]. The Christians in general had "become sick of
these statements" because all these were "engineered" by the Sangh
Parivar, while the "Union Government remained a silent spectator." The
signatories to this statement were Mr. Joseph D'Souza, Chairman, All
India Christian Council, Mr. John Dayal, National Secretary, All India
Catholic Union, Mr. G. Samuel, President, Fellowship of Telugu Baptist
Churches, Mr. David Seamonds, President, Karnataka Christian
Association, and Mr. K.P. Yohanan, Vice Chairman, Christian Council of
Kerala. They urged the Chief Minister of AP to reconsider his alliance
with the BJP.

The next day, a delegation of thirty, including Rev. Fr. Hendry
D'Souza, Rev. Fr. B. Julian, Chancellor and Vice-general respectively
of the Hyderabad Archdiocese (Catholic), Mr. A. VUay Kumar, President,
Baptist Churches Association of India, Mr. C. Francis, Vice President,
All India Catholic Union, Mr. Sam Paul of the All India Christian
Council (Protestant) Rev. D. John Augustine, Rev. Y. Thomos and Fr. G.
Gananandam, priests of Ongole, Vicarabad and Tadepalligundam churches,
called on the Chief. Minister of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and emphasized
that the attacks on churches were the handiwork of the RSS. The
Pentecoast priest from Ongole said that he had received a telephone
call on June 10 from a person who spoke in Hindi threatening him about
his religious activities. Citing this as evidence the dignitaries
insisted that the attacks took place at the behest of BJP and RSS.
They also proposed that the Christian youth be allowed to form self-
defense committees. But the CM politely rejected the proposal.

A 'fact-finding committee' consisting of C. Francis, National Vice
President, All India Christian Council, Rev. P.P. Johnson, State
Overseer, New India Church of God, A. Vijayakumar, President, City
Baptist Church, J. Joseph Reddy, Secretary All India Catholic Council,
and some Naxalite outfits, which visited the places of the blasts,
insisted that the RSS had been found responsible for the blasts. [The
Naxalites again!] Blaming the ISI for blasts was a propaganda ploy,
they argued. They demanded that the RSS be banned. However, they have
not shared any of the so-called evidence that they could collect. [The
had none beyond the claim of the threatening phone call reported by
the priest of the Ongole Church.]

Speaking at a press conference on June 16 at Chennai, President of the
All India Christian Council Mr. Joseph D'Souza announced that they
would launch a campaign against "Parivar terrorism" from 8'" July
onwards. [In effect they already had launched one against the Sangh
Parivar.) Referring to the attacks on the churches, he said that the
Government had been quick to attribute it to a foreign hand, making
political capital out of the issue. "The foreign hand theory is
nonsense and it is the work of an internal hand," Mr. D'Souza said.
Mr. John Dayal added, "An extra-constitutional authority was having a
free run of the State capitals and indulging in terror tactics." "Even
a blind man will know who is behind these assaults," he added.

The AICC [All India Congress Committee] lost no time in deputing a
three-member 'fact-finding team' headed by none other than Mr. Ajit
Jogi to Andhra Pradesh. They accomplished admirably the job expected
of them by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. Addressing the press at Vijayawada on
June 22, Mr. Ajit Jogi said that the needle of suspicion pointed
towards the communal and fascist forces (read RSS and VHP), which are
out to vitiate the atmosphere in the country. [He also said, "Forget
the ISI and arrest the 'real culprits'." (Again read RSS and VHP.)]

On June 25 at 9.45 PM, a bomb of minor intensity exploded in Markaz
Masjid of Guntur located near the busy APSTC bus station. A boy
received some minor injuries and a few windowpanes were shattered.
Within minutes a crowd of 200 Muslims collected and went on a rampage,
torching State Government buses and private vehicles. About 50 buses
were damaged and 5 shops were attacked. Private and public property
worth rupees two crores (20 million) was destroyed. The Government had
to impose a curfew for four days.

Mr. YS. Rajashekara Reddy, leader of the AP Congress Legislative Party
issued a statement repeating the usual Congresslie that the explosion
was the handiwork of RSS, VHP and the Bajrang Dal. He also asserted
that it was not the act of the {SI. However, the Chief Minister
revealed that among the 50 persons arrested for arson there were
several functionaries of the Congress (I).

On July 8, Christian Organizations observed 'National Solidarity Day'
in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai. They also
held a demonstration near the Parliament Building in New Delhi. On
July 9, a huge speech cum prayer rally was held in the Nizam College
grounds, Hyderabad. Rt. Rev. M. Joli, Archbishop of Hyderabad, Rev.
B.P. Sugandhar, Bishop, Church of South India, Medak, Mr. Joseph
D'Souza, National President, All India Christian Council, Mr. G.
Samuel, its State Vice President, and Rev. P.p. Johnson and others
spoke. 25 Christian organizations participated in the mobilization for
which lakhs of rupees were spent on advertisements alone.

The bubble bursts.

Within hours of this elaborate political buildup by the Christian
Associations in Hyderabad, on 9'h July, the balloon of lies burst in
Bangalore. One Maruti van, racing towards St. Mary's Basilica exploded
at about 9.45 PM near Binny Mills area, killing Mohamad Zakir of
Hyderabad and Rahman Siddique of Bangalore on the spot. Another, one
S.M. Ibrahim ofVijayawada had suffered serious injuries. The bomb
planted by them in St. Peter's and Paul's Church earlier, exploded a
few minutes later. Investigations further revealed that they belonged
to a little known organization, Deendar Anjuman whose headquarters is
located in Hyderabad. This organization was responsible for all the
explosions in religious places in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa
since May 2000 [when the serial bombings began].

One Hazrat Moulana Siddiqi of Gulbarga propunded the cult Deendar
Anjuman in 1929 [sic 1924] at Hyderabad. His sons migrated to
Pakistan. One of them, Ziaul Hassan now heads the cult with
headquarters in Mardan in Pakistan. It was revealed that Ziaul Hassan
usually made an annual trip to India for the urs [death anniversary]
of his father. (Siddiqi's grave is in Hyderabad.) The Government of
India further revealed that Ziaul Hassan set up the Jamaat Hizbollah
Mujahideen with offices in Lahore, Mardan, Karachi, Faislabad,
Rawalpindi and Sargodha (all in Pakistan). The DGP of AP, Mr. H.J.
Dora revealed that Deendar Anjuman was involved in militant activity
in Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya through the World Association of Muslim
Youth (WAMY), A Saudi Arabia based fundamentalist outfit. During Mr.
Bill Clinton's visit to Hyderabad, Deendar Anjuman published a
pamphlet, where it advised Mr. Clinton to embrace Islam.. , '

[Editors' comment: Here are a few more facts. In 1924 its founder,
Moulana Siddiqi, a Muslim mendicant from Gulbarga, went around
claiming to be the reincarnation of Lord Chennabasaveshwara. While
quoting profusely from Basavanna's poems, he proclaimed that all
religions in India were valid but incomplete. His main injunction was
that it was unnecessary for Veerashaivas to wear the lingam, but they
could reach heaven simply by converting to Islam. In other words, he
had borrowed a page from some Christian missionaries who went around
presenting Christianity as the 'completion' of the 'incomplete'
Hinduism. This camouflage by the founder of Deen Anjuman Siddeshwara -
to give its original name - did not escape notice. A contributor to
the paper Mysore Star (February 1926) cautioned readers that Moulana
Siddiqi had the support of Nizami officials who were sponsoring
conversions in the Nizam's domains. (This 'Nizami official' was Sir
Akbar Haidari, the Diwan of Hyderabad. The Nizam also had given a
substantial grant of land to the founder Moulana Siddiqi.) In an
article titled 'Warning toYeerashaiva brothers'. (in Kannada) the
correspondent of Mysore Star cautioned all Veerashaivas against
falling into the trap set by this impostor. Its founder was expelled
from Mysore State by the Maharaja's Government for false claims and
complaints from the citizens, especially Veerashivas, that it was
disturbing the peace.].

During his visit to Hyderabad last November [1999], Ziaul Hassan [its
present head] and his son Zahid Pasha conducted closed door meetings,
where they called for lehad and asked the members to "create hatred
among religious groups in India." Ziaul Hassan coordinated these
explosions from Pakistan through his follower,s in southern states.
[He also proclaimed a lehad claiming that, following widespread
communal disturbances in India, he would bring 9 lakh Pathans on an
invasion of the country!]

Rahman Siddiqi [killed in the Maruti van explosion in Bangalore] was
in the people's War Group of Naxalites for sometime. [The Naxalite
connection again!] Along with ten associates he visited Pakistan to
undergo training insubversion.

Zakir maintained a low profile as an auto rickshaw driver in
Hyderabad. A year back he was arrested by the Maharashtra police for
desecrating the statue of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in Prabhani.
According to senior officials of the AP police, members of Deendar
Anjuman were also responsible for attacks on Sikh Gurudwaras in Mumbai
about three years back, which led to communal riots.

The Pakistan connection

Ibrahim [wounded in the Maruti van explosion in Bangalore] was also a
frequent visitor to Pakistan. The police have recovered from Ibrahim's
houses in Bangalore and Vijayawada, documents, pamphlets and
literature in Urdu, English and Telugu. This literature was printed in
Mumbai, Delhi, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The anti-Christian
stickers found in Ibrahim's house tallied with the stickers pasted
sometime ago on the walls of Stanley's Girls School and Methodist Boys
School in Hyderabad. [Hyderabad again!] The police also seized a
picture from his house in Vijayawada in which all religions were shown
as different animals while Islam was depicted as the hunter. The
hunter [in the picture] aims his guns at the 'animals' to demonstrate
that Islam would triumph ultimately. Police officials say that Deendar
Anjuman attracted people by stating that all that religions were equal
and slowly impressed upon them the deficiencies in other religions and
drove home the point that Islam was superior. The titles of the
documents - "The God That Never Was Jesus", "Is This the Bible You
Believe In?" are self-revealing. [Is this is the cult that Christian
leaders and the 'secular' Congress are defending?]

Ibrahim visited Wadi, Goa and Hubli and handed over explosives to
local contacts. Syed Muniruddin and Hiramath, secretary and joint
secretary of Deendar Anjuman together with Zakir planted the bomb in
the Hubli Church. Muniruddin and Hiramath were arrested by Karnataka
police.

The Andhra Pradesh police have arrested on July 17, Syed Iqbal,
Secretary of the Deendar Anjuman of Vijayawada and his accomplice
Najeemuddin. Both had received training in Pakistan. Investigations
revealed that that they desecrated the statues of Dr. Ambedkar in
Macharam and Purnandapet of Krishna District in 1996-97. The Deendar
Anjuman of Vijayawada converted some Hindu students of Siddhartha
Evening College into Islam according to a letter dated August 27,
1998, written by Iqbal to WAMY, Riyadh. He requested more funds to
distribute Islamic literature. The police have recovered a copy of the
letter. [The cult is known to have made extravagant claims about
conversions, including supplying false names. This was one of the
complaints that resulted in the expulsion of its founder by the
Maharaja of Mysore.]

The AP police have also arrested Shaik Khaja and MJ. Humayun Khan who
planted the bomb in the Ongole Church. The police identified other
culprits- Khaliq-ul-Zaman responsible for the blast in the Guntur
Masjid, Maqbool and Abdul Khadar Jeelani for the Mauslipatam
explosion. Maqbool also planted a bomb in the Kodandarama Temple in
Vijayawada.

Church leaders' responsibility

Since the involvement of the agents of Pakistan in the blasts has been
established beyond any doubt, the Church leaders owe an explanation to
the country why they made false allegations against the Sangh Parivar
without any shred of evidence in their possession. On the contrary,
they are continuing their tirade against the RSS without any remorse.
Mr. John Dayal of All India Christian Council, addressed a press
conference in Bangalore (16 July) along with some Muslim leaders and
stressed that, "the hate campaign spearheaded by the Sangh Parivar
provides the ambience in which fringe groups, cult criminal elements
are engaged to carry out their agenda of terror." [Why are Christian
groups still trying to shield Muslim organizations?] Obviously some
Church leaders and Christian associations are not interested in
finding the truth. [They probably dread it!] They are working for some
hidden agenda.

[Editors' comments: The real question is, what do the Christian
leaders know and are any of them involved in this obviously highly
coordinated plan of action and propaganda? There appears to be a
Naxalite link between the church leaders and the Deen Alljuman. Also
interesting is how Hyderabad seems to have been the focal point for
both Christian and Muslim groups. Reports from America indicate that
Hyderabad has become the center for planning and organization for
several Christian missions. The police investigations seem to lend
support to this. Of course, Hyderabad has always been a hotbed of ISI
activity. But again the question is- was there any coordination
between the Muslim blasts and the Christian propaganda blitz? The
police should begin questioning some Christian leaders and spokesmen,
beginning with John Dayal, for surely, making false statements meant
to mislead the police in such a serious criminal conspiracy is a very
serious offence. No less disturbing is the role of the Congress.]

VATICAN'S PARANOIA AND ITS 'CYBER-CRUSADE'

The Vatican lives ill fear of the encroaching hand of Islam, now
active in Kosovo, not far from Rome. One of its goals is to consume
India with its vast resources of men and material to save itself.

by Dr. N.S. Rajaram

Background: strange bedfellows

A basic factor in the current geopolitical scene relates to the
Vatican's concerns about its doctrinal and secular survival against
the twin threats of the collapse of Christianity in Europe and the
presence of Islamic armies - now at its doorstep in Kosovo. (This
applies to other churches also but they don't have the Vatican's
organization or the financial muscle.) I am not being original in
observing that the Church today is more an economic, social and
political institution than a spiritual one. (Was it ever a spiritual
entity?) While the Vatican may see itself as the most vulnerable
institution, with few European 'Christians' willing to lay down their
lives to defend it, the burden of defending civilization against
terrorism has fallen on Hindu India and the secularhumanistic West,
especially America. The Vatican and other Christian institutions have
nothing constructive to offer in this struggle for civilization. They
have at best a nuisance value, especially in India, where they are
trying to compensate for losses in Europe by expanding their numbers,
while creating social turmoil in the process. This was clear during
the Kargil crisis, when Christian. leaders in India showed far greater
concern for the wellbeing of sundry missionaries of dubious
credentials than the lives of hundreds ofIndian soldiers fighting
Pakistani sponsored terrorists.

(This was clear also during the serial Church bombings that now seem
to have been carefully orchestrated, with terrorist acts by Muslim
organizations coinciding with a massive propaganda blitz by Christian
organizations, notably the Churches. They certainly made strange even
if opportunistic bedfellows.)

An extraordinary, even bizarre episode in the geopolitical scene is
the recent inglorious campaign of Sonia Gandhi to become the Prime
Minister- first in a coup attempt and then through the election
brought on by its failure. It is a puzzle that only future can
unravel. To this writer, who has made a study of the history and
sociology of the Vatican, her surrealistic campaign looks very much
like an example of the Vatican method of political subversion. Her
methodology (or those of her manipulators)- from her failed coup
attempt to the 'cyber-campaign' of media manipulation and repeating
falsehoods - is pure Opus Dei, the shadowy militant organization that
now controls the Vatican and many other Christian institutions. A
question that begs for an answer is whether there was any connection
between her destabilization campaign and the Pakistani infiltration
into Kashmir that went on at the same time, or if it was pure
coincidence. One hopes that future investigation will unravel the
truth for it may hold important lessons for national security and
world peace.

Christianity's fear of Islam

Professor Samuel Huntington in his widely acclaimed book Clash of
Civilizations referred to 'Islam's bloody frontiers'. This serves to
highlight the historic fact that Islam is a theocratic ideology that
cannot follow the ancient Pagan or the modern secular humanistic
practice of 'live and let live'. This intolerance, he called 'Islam's
indigestibility' in societies. But there is another theocratic
ideology - now mostly de-fanged - that has also wrought destruction on
a global scale: this of course is Christianity, especially the
Catholic Church with its seat in the Vatican. But Christianity today
is in a singularly vulnerable position: in regions as far apart as
Indonesia, Pakistan and Kosovo, Christians are finding themselves on
the losing side against the soldiers of Islam. At the same time, the
West or the 'Christendom' doesn't seem to be excessively concerned
about the survival of Christianity in Europe. For example, the West is
willing extend credit - with Britain even selling arms - with an
ongoing genocide of Christians in Pakistan.

But the Vatican sees it differently. With Islamic warriors in Kosovo,
at the doorstep of Rome, Christianity feels besieged. Its recurring
nightmare is that the Vatican may share the fate of Constantinople of
1453 (and Jerusalem in the first century of Islam). It is not just the
Vatican but the whole world - notably Russia and the United States -
that is now concerned about the threat of Islam. This is what is
behind the dramatic change in US policy towards India and Pakistan.
Countries of the West recognize that as the frontline state against
Islamic terror, India holds the key to success in fighting it. This is
what that has brought Western leaders calling on India.

The Vatican, much more vulnerable than America or Russia should do the
same. But characteristically, the Vatican and its institutions in
India have been subversive and devious, trying to undermine the Indian
state by creating social turmoil. The reason is ideological: it cannot
concei ve of compromise with a 'heathen' country like India. Even when
threatened with extinction, the Church wants to pursue the foolhardy
mission of converting the population of India to Christianity - or at
least turn India into a Christian dominated colony - in the hope of
using India's teeming millions to defend itself against the onslaught
of Islam. To understand the recent turmoil created by missionaries in
tribal areas - and possibly also the engineered church bombings - it
is necessary to view the state of the Church in its geopolitical
context.

Vatican's new-old mission

Apologists for Christian missionaries often proclaim that Christians
number less than three percent of the national population, implying
that their attacks on Hindu culture, traditions and even places of
worship should be little cause for concern. But there is another side
to the same coin: when their population is so miniscule, how come a
few stray incidents in Gujarat involving Christiansin which not a
single life was lost - was flashed so prominently on the front pages
of national and international media? (The same was the case with the
recent 'church bombings', in which not a single life was lost but was
accompanied by the most intense propaganda blitz in recent times.) A
partial answer was provided by Father P. Augustine Kanjamala, a
prominent Indian Christian leader who wrote in his book Integral
Mission Dynamics (p 399):

"The influence of the mission and the Church in India far exceeds
their numerical strength."

Nor does Father Kanjamala leave any room for doubt about his mission
when he writes: "The objective of conversion and numerical strength -
the top priority during the colonial mission - is not rejected here."
In other words, the goal of Christianity is to establish a colonial
empire in the name of God and Christ! The more things change, the more
they remain the same.

Father Kanjamala's is not by any means a solitary voice. Reinhard
Bonnke, widely regarded as the world's foremost evangelist, has spoken
openly about his mission. At a press conference in Kochi (Kerala),
Bonnke boasted that in the twenty years that he was acti ve in Africa,
the Christian population rose from just 2 percent to over 40 percent.
(This refers probably to the areas in which he was active, and not all
of Africa.) He further stated: "Now India is on top of my agenda."

The present Pope also, in his various publications, has expressed
similar sentiments. During his recent visit to India he proclaimed
that" A great new harvest of faith will be reaped on this vast and
vital continent." He also demanded conversion as a fundamental human
right - a right that Christianity denies others.

So there cannot be the slightest doubt that the goal of Christianity
is to use every avai]able resource to promote its mission to
'evangelize the world' - a euphemism for establishing a theocratic
world empire in the name of God and Christ.

This has been the goal of Christianity ever since its inception by
Saint Paul. But now there is a new development: many Christian
institutions in the world - the Catholic Church in particular - have
passed under the control of a secret organization known as the Opus
Dei ('God's work). It now controls much of the world media. Direct]y
or indirectly, it may control also a good deal of the English language
media in India - not to mention something like 70 percent of the N
GOs.

What is worth noting is that the Vatican coming under the control of
this purely secular institution - the Opus Dei - is a natural
development in the face of the threat from Islam, now at its doorstep
in Kosovo. The Vatican sees itself under siege, and under Opus Dei, it
has now become a military state. I will present a brief glimpse into
this 'secret, sinister, Orwellian' organization as Dr. John Roche of
Oxford - a former member of Opus Dei - called it. I will focus on the
Vatican and the Catholic Church, but Opus Dei is making rapid inroads
into other Christian organizations also. Its formula for success is a
combination of turmoil, terror and propaganda. (The recent church
bombings also fit this pattern.) But like all secretive and sinister
organizations, it lives in a wold dominated by paranoia - of the
ultimate defeat of Christianity at the hands of Islam. It has cast its
covetous eyes on the billion Hindus to save itself. In the process, it
is trying to use India, either by conversion or through subversion by
having one of its own as the leader. The Vatican's plan is to fight
Islam to the last Indian.

The politics of turmoil

Several highly placed officials in India, including cabinet ministers,
have charged that the recent disturbances in Gujarat tribal areas -
now spreading to Orissa - are the handiwork some foreign agencies bent
on discrediting and destabilizing India. (This was written before the
serial church bombings, which also had the same goal as is now clear.)
These are serious charges made by serious officials, including the
Defense Minister. What is troubling is the ineffectiveness of the
media- its failure to trace the problem to the source. Their
'investigations' haven't gone beyond talking to a few Christian and
Hindu leaders and reporting their statements, and then pontificating
that the Christians are a 'small minority' in India, making up less
than three percent of the population. Everyone knows that, one doesn't
need a hotshot reporter to spell it out. The percentage of the British
in India was even smaller. It didn't stop them from eventually
dominating India.

What the Indian media doesn't know - or doesn't want to face - is that
there is now a new thrust by the Vatican (and other churches) to
expand its presence in India and other third world countries. To
achieve this, it is using its vast missionary apparatus to provoke
conflicts between Christians and non-Christians. This is the pattern
not only in India, but also in Indonesia, Sudan and several African
countries. There is much more to it than meets the eye. While it sees
tolerant countries like India as a soft target that it is safe to
attack, its real concern is the threat of Islam. Creating turmoil is
the centerpiece of its strategy. Recognizing this, the publication
Saudi Gazette (13 February] 993) observed:

"All that the Pope and his men in the media want is social lawlessness
resulting in economic collapse in Muslim countries - as is the
situation in Sudan due to the Christian lawlessness - so as to exploit
it under the pretext of the 'only political task of the Church' is to
evangelize the Muslims."

Replace 'Muslims' by 'Hindus' and 'Sudan' by 'India', and what one is
left with is a perfect description of the turmoil being created by the
missionaries in India. So there is nothing new in the spate of church
bombings, which had the same goal. This is the historic pattern going
back to the beginning of Christianity. St Paul began the process by
attacking the Jewish congregation making up the then Church of
Jerusalem headed by James the Righteous. He then accused them of
causing the death of Christ! A few centuries later, St Cyril and his
hooligans destroyed the great academy of Alexandria and killed
Hypatia, beginning the process that destroyed the Greek Civilization.
A thousand years later, Columbus and his successors, along with the
Jesuits, destroyed several great American Indian civilizations like
the Inca, Maya and the Aztec. Having committed unspeakable atrocities,
the priests accused the victims of being instruments of the Devil. At
Yucatan in Mexico, after destroying a large quantity of ancient
manuscripts containing priceless records, Bishop of Landa wrote:

"As they contained nothing but superstitions and lies of the Devil, we
burned them all, which the Indians regretted to a great degree and
which caused them great anguish."

Jesuits in India were no better though they had less 'success' than in
the Americas. Indianswere less insular and better prepared to resist
than Native Americans even though there were bursts of vandalism. A
French priest (Louis Jacolliot) reported that Catholic priests
consigned to the flames those manuscripts that seemed the oldest.
'Saint' Xavier went much further by demanding the Inquisition in India
to punish those who refused to convert to Christianity. It was their
knowledge of this record of the Church, as well as the Inquisition,
that made the Founding Fathers of the American Republic like Jefferson
and Madison pass the First Amendment to the US Constitution: This made
the American Constitution secular ~ not pseudo-secular as in India -
by removing the influence of religion on the government.

India and the 1857 uprising

Coming to.India, the activity of Christian missionaries was a major
contributor to the great uprising of 1857.The great historian R.C.
Majumdar wrote:

"The sensitiveness of the sepoys to their religious beliefs and
practices and the dread of conversion to Christianity worked as a
nightmare upon their minds. ... A vague dread that the [British]
government was determined, by hook or by crook, to convert the Indians
to Christianity pervaded all ranks of society, and the sepoys, fully
shared these apprehension with the rest... The aggressive attitude of
the Chrisitian missionaries... in matters of proselytisation had been
frequent subjects of complaint."

Among such aggressive activities, Majumdar noted the practice of "open
unchecked denunciation of their cherished social usages and customs in
most violent language, and filthy ahnses of their gods and goddesses
by bands of Christian missionaries."

The situation today does not look much different, with the
'secularists' in the English language press and the so-called
intellectuals, heaping abuse on the sensitivities of the Hindus. Even
when forced to acknowledge that Christian mobs often began the
violence and the Hindus only reacted, reporters gratuitously
pontificate: "Of course, two wrongs don't make a right,"It means of
course that the party, which commits the first offence, gets to keep
the fruits of its crime. The point of all this: Christian
institutions, the Vatican in particular, are always looking for any
opening to advance their interests. But now, the Vatican is concerned
for its survival. (It is also worth noting 'that these intellectuals
and' columnists have fallen silent following the arrest of Muslim
fundamentalists responsible for the Church bombings.)

Vatican's CIA

The Vatican's plan to fight Islam needs a military organization. This
is what it now has in Opus Dei. The media in India has been almost
totally silent over two of the major international stories of the
nineties: first, the revelations of the Dead Sea Scrolls leading to
turmoil in the Christian world; next, convulsions in the organization
of the Catholic Church due to its takeover over by a sinister,
secretive organization known as Opus Dei. The person who presided over
this takeover is the present Pope, John Paul II. There were repeated
attempts at Vatican reform, the most recent, by his predecessor John
Paul. He tried to humanize the Church with reforms like allowing
contraception for birth control. But he died - probably murdered -
barely a month after assuming office, and the reactionaries in the
Vatican elected Karol Wojtyla, better known as John Paul II. The
organization that engineered it was Opus Dei, which means 'God's
work'. The founder of Opus Dei had foreseen the threat of Islam to the
survi val of the Vatican, which enabled him to convince the Vatican to
fall under his protection. It is worth taking a brief look at this
extraordinary man.

Opus Dei was founded shortly before the Spanish Civil War by a Spanish
adventurer and Christian fanatic by name Jose Maria Escriva de
Balaguer. Born in the sleepy town of Barbastro, he rose by the dint of
his determination, industry and ruthlessness to become the virtual
dictator of the Vatican - often called the 'Super Pope'. With 80,000
members worldwide, and more than a million activists, his Opus Dei now
controls the Catholic Church worldwide. When Escriva died in 1975, the
organization he had created was so strong that its officials openly
boasted: "In 20 or thirty years, all that remains of the Church will
be Opus Dei." This has now come to pass.

As a result, the Catholic Church today - along with numerous other
Christian organizations - is controlled by a covert, militant
organization like the CIA with a fundamentalist mindset, except that
it is far more efficient than the CIA. In addition, unlike the CIA, it
does not have to report either to the President of the United States
or the Congress. It is as if the CIA itself were to control all
aspects of the United States Government, and the beliefs of its
citizens. Opus Dei's agenda IS t0 combine economic and political
control with thought control. It believes that the first two cannot be
achieved without the third. So conversion is simply the means to the
end of the political and economic control of the world - or the
establishment of a world empire in the name of God and Christ. But
first it must gain control of India.

To understand the makeup of Opus Dei, one must go to its founder Jose
Maria Escriva (1902-75). The Vatican regards him as its savior, 'God's
gift to the Church in our time.' His beatification - prelude to his
elevation to sainthood - was rushed through in record time by John
Paul II. Escriva was a strange man, to say the least. He expressed
sympathy for Hitler as a victim of bad publicity in the West. He once
told his colleague Vladimir Felzman that Hitler "could never have
killed six million Jews. It could only have been four million at the
most."

Crusade driven by paranoia

The vision of the Opus Dei founder Jose Maria Escriva was to make the
Church the central - meaning the most authoritative institution in
society. This was not limited to his native Spain or even the Catholic
Church. His vision was for a theocratic world empire - something like
the Islamic vision of the Caliphat. This was spelled out by an Opus
Dei internal document as: "The labor of placing Jesus [i.e., the
Church] at the summit of human activity throughout the world."

This is the institution that now controls the Catholic Church- as well
as much of Christianity. Being exclusivist like Islam, Opus Dei cannot
conceive of a world of 'live and let live'. This is rooted in its idea
of an unending crusade against unbelievers. We may think of the
Crusades as history, but to the Vatican and also to fundamentalist
Islam, it is an ongoing struggle. From at least the eleventh century,
the Vatican has lived in fear of Islam. History books treat the
Crusades as a series of campaigns by the Christian armies of Europe to
gain control of the holy city of Jerusalem from the Muslims. This is a
serious contraction of the true scope of the struggle between the
Christians and the Muslims. More importantly, neither Christianity nor
Islam sees the Crusades as past history, but as a struggle continuing
into the present. The grand strategy of Christianity - now controlled
by Opus Dei - is to use India and its vast resources in men and
materials in its war against Islam. But for this to happen, it must
win the Crusade in India before it can defeat Islam.

(Was this the reason why the Vatican and its 'leaders' in India
supported Sonia Gandhi's campaign to be Prime Minister of India? Did
it hope that they could get her to commit Indian troops to defend the
Vatican when Islamic warriors make the short leap from Kosovo to Rome?
Is this still the reason why the first concern of Christian leaders
after the church bombings was to get Chandrababu Naidu to withdraw
support to the Vajpayee Government rather than solving the crime?)

To return to the Crusades, after the conquest of Spain by the Moors in
the early Middle Ages, Muslim armies penetrated into France, to the
banks of the river Loire. But in 732, Charles Martel inflicted a
crushing defeat on the Moors and drove them back into Spain. This was
one of the decisive battles of European history. For more than six
centuries, the Moors ruled Spain except for a small part in the north.
The Christian reconquest of Spain began with the siege of Barbastro in
northern Spain in 1064. (Barbastro is the birthplace of Opus Dei
founder Jose-Maria Escriva.) Both Christians and Muslims regard this
as the real beginning of the Crusades. By 1492, the year in which
Columbus discovered America, Ferdinand and Isabella had completely
driven Islam out of Spain.

In the east, Crusader armies led by European princes and knights took
Jerusalem in 1099 and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem with
Godfrey of Buillon as king. Unlike the reconquest of Spain, the
Christian kingdom of Jerusalem was short lived. It was ended in 1187
by Saladin (Salah al-Din)- one of the heroes of Islam. Repeated
attempts by European princes to retake Jerusalem failed. Less than
three centuries later, in 1453, there was a much greater catastrophe
for the Christians. Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman
Empire, fell to the Ottoman Turkish ruler Mehmed II. And for the next
three centuries, the Turks menaced the heart of Europe, while ruling
large parts of southern Europe including Greece, Yugoslavia and parts
of Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. In 1570, they were at the gates of
Vienna. It looked as though Rome itself might fall to the Turks like
Constantinople in the previous century. It was saved by the naval
victory of Don Juan in Battle of Lepanto in 1571. This was the high
point of the Turkish Empire. It went into along decline until it broke
up in 1919. (Gandhi's Khilafat Non-Cooperation movement was meant to
restore it!) In 1917, British and Indian troops led by General Allenby
'liberated' Jerusalem, only to have the Jewish state of Israel
established thirty years later.

As a result of all this, while Islam regards the Crusades as a defeat
because of the loss of Jerusalem and Spain, Christianity also sees it
as a defeat because of the loss of Constantinople. But now the
conflict has reappeared in Kosovo, less than a hundred miles from
Trieste on the Italian border. This is history repeating itself
because the Turkish conquest of the Eastern Roman Empire began with
the takeover of Kosovo by the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid. The media refers
to the conflict in Kosovo as ethnic, thereby obscuring the fact that
it is really religious in nature. The Kosovo Liberation Army is an
Islamic army, reinforced by Mujahadeen from countries like Pakistan
and Afghanistan. They are only biding their time, and the Vatican
knows it.

Weighed down by this memory - compounded by the reality of Islamic
warriors on its doorstep - the Vatican now sees itself being encircled
by a rising tide of Islam in Europe itself. France and Germany, not to
speak of Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Turkey and now Italy itself, have
significant Muslim populations. To make matters worse, unlike the
Muslims, Europeans, though nominally Christian, show no willingness to
lay down their lives for the Vatican. The Vatican also knows that many
fundamentalist Muslims believe that Allah has promised them Europe as
Dar-al-Islam- or the land of the faithful. All they have to do is
fight for it.

When Pope John Paul II visited India recently, he openly stated that
he wanted the third millennium of Christianity to be in Asia. There is
more to the statement than meets the eye. In the first millennium,
Christianity lost Jerusalem to the Arabs. In the second millennium,
the Ottoman Turks took Constantinople (now Istanbul). The Vatican now
fears that with Islamic armies in Kosovo less than a hundred miles
from the Italian border, it may next lose Rome itself. Its only hope
of survival is expansion in Asia- meaning India. Nowhere else is it
welcome.

The scenario just described is not simply a reconstruction based on
history and imagination. It is supported by direct evidence that is
available from formal and informal sources. Participants at a closed-
door Opus Dei seminar near Barcelona concluded that, "a parallel
exists between the present situation in the Occident [Europe] and the
fall of the Roman Empire." A leading Canadian expert on Opus Dei
observed: "Now this was an alarmist, not to say scaremongering
conclusion. But it was perfectly in line with Opus Dei's use of the
psychology of fear." At the same time, one cannot ignore the fact that
"Christianity has lost the West," as the Pope has himself stated.

The issue here is not whether this doomsday scenario is valid, but the
undeniable fact that Opus Dei (and Vatican) regards it as valid, and
uses it as the basis for its plans and actions. To make matters worse,
many Islamic armies also believe that Rome is theirs for the taking.
This background is needed to understand the Vatican's paranoid
behavior like its self-destructive conversion campaign in India and
its possible connivance in the foolhardy mission to bring down the
Indian Government with church bombings. It helps also explain the
enormous influence enjoyed by Christian organizations in the Indian
media, which they used in their desperate effort to make Sonia Gandhi
Prime Minister. This influence is part of what Opus Dei (and the
Vatican) calls 'cyber-crusade' .

Cyber-crusade

Here then is the problem faced by the Vatican and its master Opus Dei:
it is menaced by Islam from all around, but has neither the manpower
nor fellow Christians the willpower to fight for it. To meet this
challenge, the Vatican - which really means Opus Dei - has launched a
worldwide campaign on all fronts. In particular, India is to become a
second front in its battle against Islam. But then, why should the
Hindus of India be willing to lay down their lives for the Vatican
when the Christians of Europe are not? This is where the conversion of
India to Christianity becomes all-important. This is also the reason
why missionaries in India have suddenly become aggressive. They see
time running out. (They were also active in Sonia Gandhi's campaign
for reasons already outlined.)

It must be noted that America also fears Islam. This is what seems to
have prompted the US to give its blessings to the activities of
Christian missionaries in India, including at least tacit support to
the campaign of Smt Sonia Gandhi in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections. The
right wing Heritage Foundation, an Opus Dei front with links to the
CIA was behind Smt Sonia Gandhi's decision to bring down the Gujral
Government leading to fresh elections. Media and missionary propaganda
had portrayed India as a weak country that could be turned into a
Banana Republic, with a stooge like Sonia Gandhi at the helm. At the
same time, the US by law cannot get directly involved with any
religious organization. So the CIA pays many missionaries as covert
agents. This was acknowledged in the US Congress by former CIA
Director John Deutch.

(There now seems to be a change of policy in the U.S., following the
recognition that India is now led by a strong Government. There are
reasons to believe that it has given up on Sonia Gandhi. It is now
preparing to work with the Vajpayee Government to fight terrorism.
This has since been confirmed by President Clinton's visit to India
and Pakistan. This shows that successive weak Governments in India
forced the US to look for individuals and groups that would protect
its strategic interests. Let there be no mistake about it: the
greatest fear of the US is disruption of oil supplies by Islamic
terrorists, making the leap from Pakistan and Afghanistan to the
strategically vital Middle East. The result would be a Kashmir or
Chechnya type situation in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, with catastrophic
consequences for Western economies.)

To return to Opus Dei, Christian organizations frequently use the word
'conquest' in describing their evangelical activities. But Opus Dei
sees is this at least as much as a 'cyber-crusade'a war on all fronts,
especially propaganda and mind control. Its principal assault is on
higher education and the media. It has set up several universities and
research institutions with names like the Institution for Human
Sciences in Vienna, University of Human Rights in Geneva, the
Weatherford Foundation for African Students in New York and many
others. It even attempted to set up a college at Oxford but was
thwarted. As early as 1979, an Opus Dei memorandum stated:

"Members of Opus Dei already work in the following professional
enterprises... 479 universities and institutes of higher learning in
'five continents; 604 newspapers, magazines and scientific
publications; 52 radio and television stations; 38 news and publicity
agencies; 12 film production and distribution companies..." .

This was twenty years ago! Now it is many times more. To give an idea
of the scope, in 1989: "Christian churches in the world command $145
billion, 4.1 million full-time Christian workers, 13,000 major
libraries, 22,000 periodicals published, and 1800 Christian radiorrV
stations. Missionary activity is being carried out by 4000 Mission
Agencies with an apparatus manned by 262,300 missionaries at an annual
cost of $8 billion. There are 10,000 new books and articles of foreign
evangelization alone. " A good part of this has now come under the
control of Opus Dei. (Seven Hundred Plans to Evangelize the World: The
Rise of a Global Evangelization Movement by David Barrett and James
Reapsome.) Of course such an enormous machinery that is not fully
productive is more a liability than asset.

Opus Dei has not neglected governments. Among its prize catches were
FBI director Louis Freeh and CIA director William Casey! India has not
been ignored either. We can be sure that Opus Dei is well represented
at Indian universities, NGO's, foundations and the media. Indian
English language publications, because of their serious financial
problems, are especially vulnerable to Opus Dei influence. (This may
account for the fact that during the recent election campaign many
English language publications in India functioned as political
propaganda sheets, fabricating stories and repeating Sonia Gandhi's
lies. In a recent interview of Defense Minister George Fernadez, the
interviewer referred to the 'Kargil Fiasco', a description used by
Sonia Gandhi in her election speeches.)

As recently as 1993, Opus Dei opened a new center in India headed by a
Spanish wool merchant. But this was far from being its first active
interest in India. More than forty years ago, Raimundo Panikkar came
to India armed with a scholarship from the National Scientific and
Research Council (NSRC) - another Opus Dei front. (It should come as
no surprise if the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation were to be found to
represent Opus Dei interests, as does its American counterpart The
Heritage Foundation of Washington. I already noted that Sonia Gandhi
visited a Heritage Foundation seminar before withdrawing support to
the Gujral Government.)

Conclusion: Church as agent of destruction

The fundamental point to note is that while the Vatican and other
churches are concerned about their own survival, they have nothing
constructive to offer in the war against terrorism. With the tendency
to 'run with the hare and hunt with the hounds' - as demonstrated in
their double-dealing during the recent church bombings - they are a
disruptive, even destructive force. India in particular, must be wary
of this sinister institution introducing Trojan Horses in the shape of
missionaries 'in the service of God and Christ' and anti-national
politicians trying to subvert national institutions to serve Church
interests. India's goals and those of the Vatican (and other churches)
are in direct opposition. They are the ultimate in materialism though
presented in religious garb while India is a spiritual civilization.
As Sri Aurobindo said:

"Each nation is a Shakti or power of the evolving spirit in humanity
and lives by the principle which it embodies. India is the Bharata
Shakti, the living energy of a great spiritual civilization, and
fidelity to it is the very principle of her existence..."

The challenge for India today is defeating the forces of terror
masquerading as religion. India and her spiritual civilization do not
exist to serve the Vatican and its camp followers that have nothing
constructive to offer the world in this time of crisis. They seek to
survive by consuming others. The Vatican in particular is now in a
state of paranoia. Its plan for survival calls for fighting Islam to
the last Indian. This is what India is up against.

'CHRISTIANS UNDER SIEGE': A MISSIONARY PLOY

Missionaries in India are using their age-old tactic
of posing as victims to camouflage their aggression

Dr. David Frawley

Background: Christianity and intolerance

Christianity does not have a notable reputation for tolerance and
respect for other religions. The Christian need to convert the entire
world has been an historical obsession that continues in major
Christian groups today, both Protestant and Catholic. The Christian
failure to honor other religions, particularly non-biblical
traditions, is well known, with Christians still denigrating the
sophisticated yogic traditions of Asia as mere superstition, idolatry
and polytheism. Christian missionaries have had a reputation for using
methods to promote conversion that are not always honest, including
employing military and political force during the colonial era. Their
targeting of the poor and illiterate for conversion, shows that they
don't like open debates in the light of day. Yet Christians like to
ignore such inconvenient facts while posing as peaceful people
concerned with human welfare, not with conversion. They are surprised
if members of other religions are suspicious of them, even if they
look at these religions and condemn them as works of the Devil. They
feel easily hurt and insulted should anyone question their motives or
their actions that they would certainly not allow other religious
groups to practice in their own Christian communities.

In the modern secular world Christians now demand conversion as a
democratic right, even though their religion is authoritarian, not
democratic, accepting only one way, and not honoring pluralism in
approaching the Divine. Christianity and its Churches have always been
despotic institutions. They offer no freedom of choice about the
savior, the book or the creed that can bring salvation and there is
little tolerance for those who chose another way outside their faith.
Europe had to reject the church and Christian dogma in order to become
democratic over the past several centuries. So Christian churches are
the last people on earth who should be talking about 'democratic
rights'. It is merely a smokescreen for promoting their own agendas,
spreading their authoritarian and exclusivist beliefs, recklessly
eliminating other cultures and religions along the way.

Posing as 'victims'

The Christians of India continue to harbor attitudes hostile to the
other religions of their country. They want a freedom to convert
others but they are not willing to accept the other religions of the
land as valid. They have abused Hindu tolerance and respect.

for all religions, which allows Hindus to honor Christ and Christian
mystics, and used it as a pretext to promote Christian superiority,
not to reciprocate with honoring Hinduism and its great sages and
yogis. They say Christ must be great because Hindus honor him. They
don't honor Hindu teachers in return.

Today Christians in India are highlighting minor attacks on Christians
done by unidentified groups as a concerted Hindu campaign against
them, while they themselves are actively working to change Hindu India
into a Christian nation by all available means. While Christians have
a long history of aggression against other faiths that certainly has
not come to an end, they are quite offended if their religion faces
minor obstructions or even criticism from the groups they have long
maligned and, not long ago, actively oppressed. In all this they
assume an aggrieved posture and claim to be victims of the very type
of persecution that they themselves have historically practiced.

This came to the fore soon after the arrest of the members of a Muslim
organization showing it to be responsible for serial church bombings
in South India. It proved that the charges made by Christian leaders
against Hindu organizations for the bombings were unfounded, if not
malicious. However, instead of admitting their mistake Christian
leaders and organizations started a propaganda campaign, again blaming
the Hindu organizations for 'creating an atmosphere' that led to these
crimes!

Recent arrests in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have shown that,
Deendal Anjuman, a Muslim organization led by a Pakistani national was
behind most of the bomb blasts and attacks on Christian groups in
South India. The Christian response has been to ignore or deny the
report, though it is quite well documented and occurred in states of
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, not ruled by the so-called Hindu BJP
party. (See 'Church Blasts: Truth and Propaganda' by S.Y. Seshagiri
Rao, in this volume.) In fact many Christians in India - especially
its so-called 'leaders' - are defending the ISI, the Pakistani
intelligence agency that has long tried to destabilize India, by
absolving it of responsibility in the affair even without any
investigation. This would be like an American religious minority
defending the KGB during the Cold War. Whether the ISI is directly
involved in such efforts to cause communal conflicts in India, we must
recognize that it is a project it would certainly support and would be
likely to promote. To dismiss their involvement out of hand, as
Christian leaders in India are doing, is highly suspicious. Christians
are publicly blaming Hindu organizations for attacks for which they
have no evidence, let alone proof, and which no court has found them
guilty of. (The latest evidence does suggest official Pakistani
involvement, possibly of the ISI.)

Christians in India exaggerate such minor incidents into a national
and even an international anti-Hindu propaganda campaign. More
churches have been burnt in America in recent years than in India.
Several dozen black American churches were burnt to the ground, not
merely slightly damaged like the few Indian churches that have been
attacked. Christian priests and ministers are also robbed, assaulted
and sometimes killed in all Western countries in numbers not unlike
what occurs in India. We should also note that many more priests in
America have been arrested for sexual molestation of children than
have priests been assaulted in India. Should we use that to make
conclusions about the nature of Christianity?

That a few priests or ministers have been harmed in a country of one
billion over a period of several years is not surprising even if we
only consider ordinary crimes like robbery. Such things are law and
order problems not an attack on one religion in particular. Many more
Hindu religious workers are killed in India each year than Christians
are in many years. That Christian missionaries have run into
difficulties in sensitive tribal areas where there is not much
government or police control is also not surprising, particularly
given their hostility to tribal culture and tribal religions. The main
purpose in all this drama is to whip up a propaganda campaign in order
to bring international pressure on India to give Christians more
freedom in their conversion efforts. Many Christians seem to prefer
this to dealing with the Hindus in a spirit of give and take.

What makes this affair is especially distasteful is that even when
there is a systematic cleansing of Christians in Pakistan, Indian
Christian leaders are prepared to ignore their plight for their
propaganda purposes against the Hindus. Even the Pope, while
condemning Indonesia and India, refused to mention the atrocities
against Christians in Pakistan. His equating of Indonesia where
hundreds of Christians have been killed in recent months to India,
where only a few have died over several years, also highlights the
propaganda urge behind his statements. It was as though Christians
wanted the situation in India to be worse and are trying to promote
communal disharmony to highlight their presence in the country.
Christians almost seem desperate to make a scene in India to highlight
to the world media.

All this is enough to make one wonder if Christians are staging some
of these attacks to pose as victims of persecution. Whether or not
this proves to be the case, certainly they are exaggerating such
incidents out of all proportion. Christianity has had a long history
of using victimization in order to promote conversion. We know of the
stories of Christians being fed to the lions in Rome. We are not told
that many more pagans were killed by Christians, and thousands of
pagan temples were destroyed throughout Europe. The great Greek (Neo-
Platonic) Academy in Alexandria was destroyed and its scholars like
Hypatia killed by 'Saint' Cyril and his followers. The number of
native Americans killed or forcibly converted by Catholics was also in
the many millions, and yet the Catholics emphasize a few priests
martyred by the native Americans as being the real victims.

Such stories of Christian oppression are good ploys to gain donations
in Western countries. India as a pagan country, where image worship is
common, is an easy target for such conversion sentiments.

The Indian scene

Mother Teresa's successor, Sister Nirmala, claims that Hindu fears
that conversion is being done by force, deception or propaganda are
not true and are ridiculous. But she should well know that 'such
devices have long been used in Christianity' We can find native
peoples all over the world whose cultures have been destroyed and even
whose populations have been decimated by the missionaries and by the
colonial armies that they supported. The Indian public is by and large
unaware of the magnitude of destruction caused by Christianity, which
may. exceed the destruction due to Islam and its Jihads. Until
recently, any discussion of even the Goa Inquisition was taboo, and it
is still barely mentioned in Indian history books. This is due to the
fact that Christian (colonial) institutions practically control the
education agenda in India, especially in history and other humanities.
In fact Christianity in India is much more conservative than that in
the West where most Catholics violate the main tenets of the church
about contraception and divorce and fail to attend church and take its
rituals in any regular way. Christianity in India is still projecting
a medieval view of the church triumphant that has long been discarded
in the West.

Even if the Hindu fear of missionary mischief is exaggerated, it is
entirely understandable. We should remember that the Pope in his
recent visit to India himself threw down the gauntlet, stating a
renewed church policy to convert Asia to Christianity in the coming
years. To dismiss the Hindu fear as baseless only shows that it is
not. If Christians were really sincere they would acknowledge that
missionary activity has used such questionable methods in the past and
work to insure that it does not do so in the future, and not simply
ignore the issue. In the circumstances, it is prudent and proper for
Hindus to view Christian. activities and statements with suspicion.

The missionaries have altered their tactics to what is possible in the
post-colonial era, but that is not a change of heart. They have not
opened to Hindus, dialogued with them sincerely, or sought a common
ground with them for social harmony or for seeking true knowledge of
God. They have aimed at the poor and displaced of Hindu society to
promote a conversion effort that has failed with the educated and
affluent of the country. They are striking below the belt and then
complain of unfairness if their efforts are exposed.

Politics, not spirituality

What is most surprising is that Christian missionaries have more
freedom of operation in India than in the rest of Asia. They are
banned in Islamic countries, including Pakistan, and strictly
monitored in China, which has its own nationalist Catholic Church
apart from Rome. Even Russia under Putin has recently come out against
Christian missionaries as causing mischief in the country and often
being agents of the American government. Christians are under direct
attack in Indonesia where thousands of Christians have been killed in
recent years. Neighboring Pakistan does not allow the missionaries the
freedom they have in India and routinely oppresses its Christians. A
few years ago a Catholic Bishop committed suicide in a Pakistan court
to protest the issue. But it is India that being called to task in the
world forum for its oppression of Christians!

Mexico, which used to be part of the 'Catholic Empire of Spain', does
not allow missionaries the kind of freedom they enjoy in India. Only
in some so-called 'Banana Republics' of Latin America do we find
missionaries being so powerful. Even this, as has been revealed by
recent hearings in the US Congress, was often financed by the CIA,
with priests serving as CIA agents.

Such information suggests that Christian leaders have given up most
countries of the world as beyond their reach but concentrated on India
as the US did on the Banana Republics.

. Missionaries and Christian organizations are very much on the
defensive in most of the world today, where they are simply trying to
hold their ground. The West continues to discard Christianity. The
Islamic world will not let it in and China is keeping it at a safe
distance. In America such missionary groups, which would still like to
ban the teaching of evolution in the schools, complain how the country
has all but abandoned real Christianity. But in India the missionaries
remain aggressive. The reason is simple. India allows missionary
activity and so is a soft target. Islamic countries and China are hard
targets. The missionaries are targeting India because they feel they
can make headway in India, not because India is a place where they are
particularly under siege!

The hypocrisy of the whole thing is easy to see. It shows the
condescending attitude that missionaries have towards Hindus, thinking
that they can bully them or appeal to their tolerance by a feigned
persecution. It ollly proves that Christians are still promoting a
medieval religion that will not honor other religions and is still
seeking world domination by any means, fair or foul. If we count the
victims of Christian aggression on one side and the Christians
themselves who have been victimized we will find that the victims of
Christianity are overwhelmingly in the majority. While some Christians
have apologized to African and Native American groups for such
missionary misdeeds, the Hindus have so far not received any such
apology, though they have suffered from the same methods. The reason
is that the missionaries have not yet triumphed in India. The apology,
like crocodile tears, comes only after the victim is dead.

In the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, Christian colonial
governments used their influence to promote conversion in the
countries they ruled. Now Christians want to use freedom and
democracy, which they didn't allow under their rulership, to continue
the conversion process. And all without an apology or explanation for
this about face! If Christians want to be honored and respected let
them first proclaim that Christianity is not the only true religion
and Jesus is not the Only Son of God. Let them say that Hinduism,
Buddhism, Sikhism, J ainism, Zoroastrianism and other Indian religions
are as good as Christianity. Let Christians say clearly that members
of other religions will not go to hell but will gain immortality in
the presence of God by following what is good in their own teachings.

Major Christian groups, however, will certainly not make such
statements, though they may cover over their exclusivism with
platitudes about human peace, brotherhood and Divine love.
Their,failure to honor other religions shows an intolerance that
naturally breeds conflict and inevitably leads to communal tension.
Christians wouldn't even accept a Mahatma Gandhi and worked to convert
him, while the Mahatma described missionary activity as a great danger
and as spiritually and ethically flawed.

As a former Catholic I know in what little esteem the Church holds
Hinduism and Buddhism with all their great sages and yogis.
Christianity, like Islam, sees tolerance not as a virtue to be
emulated but as a weakness to be exploited. Were Christians to really
honor Hinduism as a valid religion all Hindu-Christian hostility could
easily come to an end. As long as Christians hold that theirs alone is
the True Faith and are working to convert the members of other
religions in one way or another, they should not be surprised if
members of other religions do not welcome their presence.

It is only a matter of time before missionary Christianity is seen for
what it is-imperialism in the name of God and Christ, the proverbial
wolf in sheep's clothing. It is a political, worldly movement with
little spirituality in it. Unfortunately such Christians confuse the
real Divine work, which is improving ourselves through introspection,
with the institutional work of imposing a single belief upon all
humanity. This political view of religion has no place in the global
age of consciousness that is dawning in enlightened minds all over the
world today. The quicker it comes to an end, the better it will be for
all humanity.

FOOTNOTES

1 Koenraad Elst. 1993. Psychology of Prophetism New Delhi: Voice of
India
2 David Yallop. 1984. In God's Name. London: Jonathan Cape

3 Peter de Rosa, Vicars of Christ. 1988. London: Corgi Press. p 23.
The report he cited was later leaked to the press.

4 This is obvious to anyone visiting a Catholic hospital in America.

ADDITIONAL READING

De Rosa, Peter. 1988. Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy.
London: Corgi Books.

Goel, Sita Ram (editor). 1998. Niyogi Committee Report on Christian
Missionary Activities. New Delhi: Voice of India.

Hutchison, Robert. 1997. Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World
of Opus Dei. London: Corgi Books.

Rajaram, N.S. 1995. Secularism, the New Mask of Fundamentalism:
Religious Subversion of Secular Affairs. New Delhi: Voice of India.

Rajaram, N.S. 1997. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Crisis of
Christianity: An Eastern View of A Western Crisis. Loudon: Minerva
Press. .

Rajaram, N.S. 1998. A Hindu View of the World: Essays in the
Intellectual Kshatriya Tradition. New Delhi: Voice of India.

Rajaram, N.S. 2000. Profiles in Deception: Ayodhya and the Dead Sea
Scrolls. New Delhi: Voice of India.

Swarup, Ram. 1992. Hindu View of Christianity and Islam. New Delhi:
Voice of India.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri) is one of the few Westerners ever
recognized In India as a Vedacharya or teacher of Vedic wisdom. His
field of sfudy includes Ayurveda. Vedic and Vedantlc philosophy.
Tantra and Yoga. His influential book. Gods. Sages and Kings is
recognized as a pioneenng effort that set the stage for a revolution
in the study of ancient history. His several books on the Vedas
including his poetic translation of the Vedic hymns, Wisdom of the
Ancient Seers have been published both in India and the west. He is
the author of numerous books on Veda. Indian spirituality and current
affairs including Arise Arjuna. Awaken Bharata, Hinduism. The Eternal
Tradition and many more. He lives in Santa Fe in the United States
where he is the Director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies.

Dr. Rajaram is a mathematician, linguist and historian of science with
a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Indiana University in U.S.A. He has been a
consultant to several high technology companies in America and Europe
including NASA. He is now an independent researcher and author workIng
on ancient India. His most recent work relates to the decipherment of
the 5000 year-old Indus scnpt done jointly with the great Vedic
scholar Dr. Natwar Jha. Their research has resulted In the book The
Deciphered Indus Script. which is set to become the standard for all
future work on Ancient India. In May 1999. Dr. Rajaram deciphered the
newly discovered sample of what has been called the "world's oldest
writing", showing it to be related to the Rlgveda. He has also written
about Christianity and Islam, including The Dead Sea Scrolls and the
CrisIs of Christianity. published In England. His book A Hindu View of
the World provides a new basis for studying Indian history and
nationalism by drawing upon the wisdom of Sri Aurobindo and Swami
Vivekananda. His book on the Ayodhya dispute, Profiles in Deception:
Ayodhya and the Dead Sea Scrolls. has just been published. He lives In
Bangalore. India and Oklahoma City. USA.

Prof. S. V. Seshaglri Rao graduated in Mathematics from the Osmania
University. Hyderabad and later obtained Ph.D. for his research work
carried at the liT, New Delhi, He authored a book 'End of Communist
Utopia '.

Dr. David Frawley's website is: American Institute of Vedic Studies
[opens in new window]

You may contact Dr. Frawley through His website and Dr. Rajaram at
Email.

http://www.burningcross.net/crusades/crusade-in-india.html

Sid Harth

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Feb 20, 2010, 4:01:55 PM2/20/10

Bharata Kalachakra

Hindu TimelineIt has ever been so.

Words of Our Master. WM2, P. 360

Women gather at common wells throughout India to wash their hair,
clean laundry, fetch fresh water, share the news of the day, and more.
One such South Indian well is shown in four different periods of its
history: clockwise from upper left, 1000 BCE; 1700 CE; 1900 CE; and
2002 CE.

UCH OF WHAT INDIA AND HINDUISM ARE TODAY CAN BE UNDERSTOOD BY
EXAMINING THEIR ORIGINS AND HISTORY. HERE IS A HUMBLE CHRONOLOGY THAT
TELLS THE STORY OF THE SAGES, KINGS, OUTSIDE INVADERS AND INSIDE
REFORMERS WHO contributed to the world's oldest living civilization
and largest modern-day democracy. Hindu India has been home to twenty
to thirty percent of the human race throughout most of recorded time.
Her story, summarized here, is crucial to human history. The emphasis
on spirituality in India's thought and history is unparalleled in
human experience. The king in his court, the sage on his hill and the
farmer in one of Bharat's 700,000 villages each pursues his dharma
with a common ultimate purpose: spiritual enlightenment. This
perspective is the source of Hinduism's resilience in the face of
competing faiths and conquering armies. No other nation has faced so
many invaders and endured. These invasions have brought the races of
the world to a subcontinent one-third the size of the US. There are
many feats of which the ancient Hindus could be proud, such as the
invention of the decimal system of numbers, philosophy, linguistics,
surgery, city planning and statecraft. And most useful to us in
preparing this timeline: their skill in astronomy.

Dates after Buddha are subject to little dispute, while dates before
Buddha have been decided as much by current opinion and politics as by
scientific evidence. The overwhelming tendency of Western scholarship
has been to deny the great antiquity of Hinduism. Indian scholar S.B.
Roy points out that the commonly accepted chronology of German-born
and Oxford University educated linguist Max Muller (1823 - 1900) is
based "on the ghost story of Kathasaritasagara." Indologist Klaus K.
Klostermaier agrees: "The chronology provided by Max Muller and
accepted uncritically by most Western scholars is based on very shaky
ground indeed." Muller admitted his covert intention to undermine
Hinduism. In a letter to his wife in 1886 he wrote: "The translation
of the Veda will hereafter tell to a great extent on the fate of India
and on the growth of millions of souls in that country. It is the root
of their religion, and to show them what the root is, I feel sure, is
the only way of uprooting all that has sprung from it during the last
3,000 years.''

Contemporary researchers, such as Dr. B.G. Siddharth of B.M. Birla
Science Centre, Dr. S.B. Roy, Professor Subhash Kak, Dr. N.R.
Waradpande, Bhagwan Singh and Dr. David Frawley, have developed a much
earlier picture of India, assembling new chronologies based on dating
scriptural references by their relationship to the known precession of
the equinoxes. Earth's axis of rotation "wobbles," causing
constellations, as viewed from Earth, to drift at a constant rate and
along a predictable course over a 25,000-year cycle. For example, a
Rig Vedic verse observing winter solstice at Aries can be correlated
to around 6500 BCE. Frawley states, "Precessional changes are the
hallmark of Hindu astronomy. We cannot ignore them in ancient texts
just because they give us dates too early for our conventional view of
human history." Besides such references from scripture, there is other
evidence to support these scholars' dates, such as carbon-14 dating,
the discovery of Indus-Sarasvati Valley cities and the recent locating
of the Sarasvati River, a prominent landmark of Vedic writings.

Many entries in this timeline prior to 600 BCE derive from the work of
Dr. S.B. Roy ("Chronological Framework of Indian Protohistory - The
Lower Limit") and that of David Frawley, PhD (Gods, Sages and Kings).
In many cases, we have included more than one entry for an event to
show the diverse postulations on its dating. For a comprehensive
review of the Timeline, we were fortunate to have the scholarly
assistance of Prof. Siva G. Bajpai PhD, Director of Asian Studies at
California State University, who co-authored the remarkable tome, A
Historical Atlas of South Asia.

Max Muller was an early evangelist of another, more invidious, dogma
imposed on Hindu history: the "Aryan invasion" theory. Originally a
Vedic term meaning "noble," then applied to the parent-language of
Greek, Sanskrit, Latin and Germanic, the term Aryan soon referred to
those who spoke that parent language - a supposed race of light-
skinned Aryans. The idea of a parent race caught the imagination of
18th and 19th century European Christian scholars, who hypothesized
elaborate Aryan migrations from Central Asia, west to Europe, south to
Iran and India (ca 1500 BCE) and east to China - conquering local
"primitive" peoples and founding the world's great civilizations. This
theory holds that the Vedas, the heart and core of Sanatana Dharma,
were substantially brought to India by these outsiders and only in
part composed in India. Though lacking scientific evidence, this
theory, like the alleged Aryan-Dravidian racial split, was accepted
and promulgated as fact for three main reasons. It provided a
convenient precedent for Christian British subjugation of India. It
reconciled ancient Indian civilization and religious scripture with
the supposed late 4000 BCE Biblical date of Creation. It created
division and conflict among the peoples of India, making them
vulnerable to conversion by Christian missionaries.

Many scholars today, of both East and West, believe the Rig Veda
people who called themselves Aryan were indigenous to India, and that
there never was an Aryan invasion. India's languages have been shown
to share common ancestry in ancient Sanskrit and Tamil. Even these two
apparently unrelated languages, according to current "super-family"
research, have a common origin: an ancient language dubbed Nostratic.

Evidence substantiating the New Model for India's history includes the
following. Rig Veda verses belie the old chronology: i.51.14-15 cites
winter solstice occuring when the sun rises in Revati nakshatra, which
is only possible at 6,000 bce, long before the alleged invasion.
Carbon dating confirms horses in Gujarat at 2,400 bce, contradicting
the claim that Aryans must have brought them to the region around 1500
BCE. NASA satellite photos prove the Sarasvati River basin is real,
not myth. Fire altars excavated at Kali Bangan in Rajasthan support
existence of Rig Veda culture at 2,700 bce. Kunal, a new site in
Haryana, shows use of writing and silver craft in pre-Harappan India,
6-7,000 bce. Supporters of the New Model include B.G. Tilak, P.C.
Sengupta, S.B. Roy, S.D. Kulkarni, Pargiter, Jagat Pati Joshi,
Dikshit, K.N. Shastri, Sri Aurobindo, Hermann Jacobi, S.R. Rao,
Dayananda Saraswati, Subash Kak, David Frawley and B.G. Siddharth. The
New Model states that India's native peoples founded the Indus/
Sarasvati River civilization, developed Sanskrit and wrote her ancient
texts, that European dates are wrong, and that the dating of the
Bharata War at 3139-38 bce (not 1424 bce) is the true "sheet anchor"
of Indian chronology. By this school of thought, India's history goes
back perhaps 10,000 years, and India is not indebted to invaders for
her traditions. Evidence shows that Vedic texts, once deemed partly
mythology, are Earth's oldest factual account of human experience.

How to Read the Timeline: [Not included in this web version - only in
the printed edition: The thick maroon vertical line represents the
flow of time. The thinner colored lines to the left indicate the
duration of major dynasties. Not all are included, for at times India
was divided into dozens of independent kingdoms.] Approximate dates
are preceded by ca, an abbreviation for circa, which denotes "around"
or "in approximately." Most dates prior to Buddha (624 bce) are
considered estimates.

The weaver-saint Tiruvalluvar is part of Hindu history. Living in
South India around 200 BCE, he wrote the ethical masterpiece Tirukural
to guide humanity along the right path. Here he is etching verses onto
a palm leaf, while his family spins thread and looms cloth.

-2 M Stone artifacts are made and used by hominids in North India, an
area rich in animal species, including the elephant.

-500,000 Stone hand axes and other tools are used in North India.

-470,000 India's hominids are active in Tamil Nadu and Punjab.

-400,000 Soan culture in India is using primitive chopping tools.

-360,000 Fire is first controlled by homo erectus in China.

-300,000 Homo sapiens roams the Earth, from Africa to Asia.

-100,000 Homo sapiens sapiens with 20th-century man's brain size
(1,450 cc) are in East Africa. Populations separate.

-75,000 Last Ice Age begins. Human population estimated at 1.7
million.

-60,000 According to genetic scientist Spencer Wells' research,
televised by National Geographic, early man's first wave of migration
from Africa occurred at this time to India, evidenced by the genetic
makeup of Tamil Nadu's modern-day Kallar community, who are related to
the Australian aborigines.

-50,000 Genetic research by Richard Villems of the Estonian Biocentre
concludes that the maternal lineages of modern-day India's populations
are largely unique to India, and on the order of 50,000 years old. As
a result, Villems said, "I think that the Aryan Invasion theory in its
classic form is dead."

-45,000 Seafaring migrations from S.E. Asia settle Indonesian Islands
and Australia.

-40,000 Hunter-gatherers in Central India are living in painted rock
shelters. Similar groups in Punjab camp at sites protected by
windbreaks. Cave paintings found in 2002 in Banda depict a hunter
riding a horse in a group hunting scene.

-30,000 American Indians spread throughout the Americas.

-10,000 Last Ice Age ends after 65,000 years; earliest signs of
agriculture. World population is 4 million; India, 100,000.

-10,000 Taittiriya Brahmana 3.1.2 refers to Purvabhadrapada
nakshatra's rising due east, a phenomenon occurring at this date (Dr.
B.G. Siddharth of the Birla Science Institute), indicating earliest
known dating of the sacred Veda.

-10,000 Vedic culture, the essence of humanity's eternal wisdom,
Sanatana Dharma, lives in Himalayas at end of Ice Age.

-9000 Old Europe, Anatolia and Minoan Crete display a Goddess-centered
culture reflecting a matriarchial order.

-8500 Taittiriya Samhita 6.5.3 places Pleiades asterism at winter
solstice, suggesting the antiquity of this Veda.

-7500 Excavations at Neveli Cori in Turkey reveal advanced
civilization with developed architecture. B.G. Siddharth believes this
was a Vedic culture.

-7200 War of the Ten Kings is fought (dating by S.D. Kulkarni).

-7000 Proto-Vedic period ends. Early Vedic period begins.

-7000 Time of Manu Vaivasvata, "Father of Mankind," of Sarasvati-
Drishadvati area (also said to be a South Indian monarch who sailed to
the Himalayas during a great flood).

-7000 Early evidence of modern horses in the Ganga basin (Frawley).

-7000 Indus-Sarasvati area residents of Mehergarh grow barley, raise
sheep and goats, store grain, entomb their dead and construct
buildings of sun-baked mud bricks. (S.D. Kulkarni asserts such
refinements had existed for ages, though archeology reaches only to
this period.)

-6776 Start of Hindu king's lists according to Greek references that
give Hindus 150 kings and a history of 6,400 years before 300 BCE;
agrees with next entry.

-6500 Rig Veda verses (e.g., 1.117.22, 1.116.12, 1.84.13.5) say winter
solstice begins in Aries (according to D. Frawley), giving antiquity
of this section of the Vedas.

-6000 Early sites on the Sarasvati River, then India's largest,
flowing west of Delhi into the Rann of Kutch; Rajasthan is a fertile
region with much grassland, as described in the Rig Veda. The culture,
based upon barley (yava), copper (ayas) and cattle, also reflects that
of the Rig Veda.

-5500 Date of astrological observations associated with ancient events
later mentioned in the Puranas (Alain Danielou).

-5500 Mehergarh villagers make baked pottery and thousands of small,
clay of female figurines (interpreted to be earliest signs of Shakti
worship), and are involved in long-distance trade in precious stones
and sea shells.

-5000 World population, 5 million; doubles every 1,000 years.

-5000 Beginnings of Indus-Sarasvati civilizations of Harappa and
Mohenjo-daro. Date derived by considering excavated archeological
sites 45 feet deep. Brick fire altars exist in many houses, suggesting
Vedic fire rites. Earliest signs of Siva. This mature culture lasts
3,000 years, ending around -1700.

-5000 Rice is harvested in China, with grains found in baked bricks.
But its cultivation originated in Eastern India.

-4300 Traditional date for Lord Rama's time (Kulkarni's date is -5500;
see also-2040, and latest dating at -500).

-4004 Archbishop Usher's (17th century) supposed date of the creation
of the world, based on genealogies in the Old Testament.

-4000 Excavations from this period at Sumerian sites of Kish and
Elamite Susa reveal presence of Indian imports.

-4000 India's population is 1 million.

-3928 July 25th: the earliest eclipse mentioned in the Rig Veda
(according to Indian researcher Dr. Sri P.C. Sengupta).

-3761 The year of world creation in the Jewish religious calendar.

-3200 In India, a special guild of Hindu astronomers (nakshatra
darshas) record in Vedic texts citations of full and new moon at
winter and summer solstices and spring and fall equinoxes with
reference to 27 fixed stars (nakshatras) spaced nearly equally on the
moon's ecliptic (visual path across the sky). The precession of the
equinoxes (caused by the mutation of the Earth's axis of rotation)
makes the nakshatras appear to drift at a constant rate along a
predictable course over a 25,000-year cycle. Such observations enable
specialists to calculate backwards to determine the date the indicated
position of moon, sun and nakshatra occurred.

-3139 Reference to vernal equinox in Rohini (middle of Taurus) from
some Brahmanas, as noted by B.G. Tilak, Indian scholar and patriot.
Now preferred date of Mahabharata war and life of Lord Krishna (see
also -1424).

-3102 Beginning of Kali Yuga (Kali Era) in Hindu time reckoning.

-3100 Early Vedic period ends, late Vedic period begins.

-3100 Indian culture in Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia.

-3100 Aryans inhabit Iran, Iraq and Western Indus-Sarasvati Valley
frontier. [Frawley describes Aryans as "a culture of spiritual
knowledge." He and many Indian scholars believe 1) the Land of Seven
Rivers (Sapta Sindhu) cited in the Rig Veda refers to India only, 2)
the people of Indus-Sarasvati valleys and those of Rig Veda are the
same, and 3) there was no Aryan invasion. Others claim the Indus-
Sarasvati people were Dravidians who moved out or were displaced by
incoming Aryans.]

-3000 Weaving in Europe, Near East and Indus-Sarasvati Valley is
primarily coiled basketry, either spiraled or sewn.

-3000 Evidence of horses in South India.

-3000 People of Tehuacan, Mexico, are cultivating maize.

-3000 Saiva Agamas are recorded; time of the earliest Tamil Sangam (by
traditional dating; see also -500).

-2700 Tolkappiyam Tamil grammar is composed (traditional dating; see
also -500).

-2700 Seals of Indus-Sarasvati Valley indicate Siva worship,
represented by Pashupati, Lord of Animals.

-2600 Indus-Sarasvati civilization reaches height it sustains until
-1700. Spreading from Pakistan to Gujarat, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh,
it is the largest of the world's three oldest civilizations, with
links to Mesopotamia (possibly Crete), Afghanisthan, Central Asia and
Karnataka. Harappa and Mohenjo-daro each have populations of 100,000.

-2600 Major portions of the Veda hymns are composed during the reign
of Visvamitra I (Dating by S.B. Roy).

-2600 Drying up of Drishadvati River of Vedic fame, along with
possible shifting of the Yamuna to flow into the Ganga.

-2600 First Egyptian Pyramid under construction.

-2500 Main period of Indus-Sarasvati cities. Atharva Veda indicates
culture relies heavily on rice and cotton, which were first cultivated
in India. Ninety percent of sites are along the Sarasvati, the
region's agricultural bread basket. Mohenjo-daro is a large peripheral
trading center. Rakhigari and Ganweriwala on the Sarasvati are as big
as Mohenjo-daro. So is Dholavira in Kutch. Indus-Sarasvati sites have
been found as far south as Karnataka's Godavari River and north into
Afghanistan on the Amu Darya River.

-2500 Reference to vernal equinox in Krittika (Pleiades or early
Taurus) from Yajur and Atharva Veda hymns and Brahmanas. This
corresponds to Harappan seals that show seven women (the Krittikas)
tending a fire.

-2350 Sage Gargya (born 2285), 50th in Puranic list of kings and
sages, son of Garga, initiates method of reckoning successive
centuries in relation to a nakshatra list he records in the Atharva
Veda with Krittika as the first star. Equinox occurs at Krittikia
Purnima.

-2300 Sargon founds Mesopotamian kingdom of Akkad, trades with Indus-
Sarasvati Valley cities.

-2300 Indo-Europeans in Russia's Ural steppelands develop efficient
spoked-wheel chariot, using 1,000-year-old horse husbandry and freight-
cart technology.

-2051 Divodasa reigns to - 1961, has contact with Babylon's King
Indatu (Babylonian chronology). Dating by S.B. Roy.

-2050 Vedic people are settled in Iran (Persia) and Afghanistan.

ca -2040 Prince Rama born at Ayodhya, site of future Rama temple (this
and next two dates by S.B. Roy; see also -4000).

-2033 Reign of Dasaratha, father of Lord Rama. King Ravana, villain of
the Ramayana, reigns in Sri Lanka.

-2000 Indo-Europeans (Celts, Teutons, Slavs, Balts, Hellens, Italics)
follow social usages and beliefs that parallel early Vedic patterns.

-2000 Possible date of the first formulated Saiva Agamas.

-2000 World population: 27 million. India: 5 million or 22 percent.
India has roughly one fourth of human race through much of history.

-1915 All Madurai Tamil Sangam is held at Thiruparankundram (according
to traditional Tamil chronology).

-1900 Late Vedic period ends, post Vedic period begins. (Early dating;
see also -1000).

-1900 Drying up of Sarasvati River, end of Indus-Sarasvati culture,
end of the Vedic age. After this, the center of civilization in
ancient India relocates from the Sarasvati to the Ganga, along with
possible migration of Vedic peoples out of India to the Near East
(perhaps giving rise to the Mitanni and Kassites, who worship Vedic
Gods). The redirection of the Sutlej into the Indus causes the Indus
area to flood. Climate changes make the Sarasvati region too dry for
habitation. (Thought lost, its river bed is finally photographed via
satellite in the 1990s.)

-1728-1686 Hammurabi, famous lawgiver, is king of Babylon.

-1500 Egyptians bury their royalty in the Valley of the Kings.

-1500 Polynesians migrate throughout Pacific islands.

-1500 Proposed date of submergence of the stone port city of Dwarka
near Gujarat. Residents use iron and employ a script halfway between
Harappan and Brahmi, India's ancient pre-Sanskritic alphabet.
[Findings from recent excavations by Dr. S.R. Rao, larger than Mohenjo-
daro. Many identify it with the Dwarka of Krishna's time, suggesting
possible date of Lord Krishna. Indicates second urbanization phase of
India between Indus-Sarasvati sites like Harappa and later cities on
the Ganga.]

-1500 Indigenous iron technology in Dwarka and Kashmir.

-1500 Cinnamon is exported from Kerala to Middle East.

-1450 End of Rig Veda Samhita composition.

-1450 Early Upanishads are composed during the next few hundred years,
also Vedangas and Sutra literature.

-1424 Mahabharata War occurs (dated from reference in the Mahabharata
citing winter solstice at Dhanishtha, which occurs around this time).
Reign of Kaurava king Dhritarashtra and of Pandava king Yudhishthira.
Time of Sage Yajnavalkya. (See now-preferred date at -3139. Subash Kak
places the battle at -2449. Others give later dates, up to 9th century
BCE.)

-1424 Birth of Parikshit, grandson of Arjuna, and next king.

-1350 At Boghaz Koy, Turkey, stone inscription of the treaty with
Mitanni lists as divine witnesses the Vedic Deities Mitra, Varuna,
Indra and the Nasatyas (Ashvins).

-1316 Mahabharata epic poem is composed by Sage Vyasa.

-1300 Very early date (by S.B. Roy) for lifetime of Panini, whose
Ashtadhyayi systematizes Sanskrit grammar in 4,000 rules. (Western
scholars place him at -400 bce, or as late as 300 ce.)

-1300 Revisions are made in the materials of Mahabharata and Ramayana
through 200 BCE. Puranas are edited up until 400 CE. Early smriti
literature is composed over next 400 years.

-1255 King Suchi of Magadha sets forth Jyotisha Vedanga, dating it by
including an astronomical note that summer solstice is in Ashlesha
Nakshatra.

-1250 Moses leads 600,000 Jews out of Egypt. (Early traditional
dating.)

-1200 Approximate time of the legendary Greek-Trojan War celebrated in
Homer's epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey (ca -750).

-1150 Nebuchadnezzar I of Isin, king of Babylon, throws off Elamite
domination.

-1000 Late Vedic period ends. Post-Vedic period begins. (Later dating,
see also -1900).

-1000 World population is 50 million, doubling every 500 years.

-1000 Jewish king David (reigns to ca -962) rules a united kingdom in
present-day Israel and parts of Jordan and Syria.

-950 King Hiram of Tyre in Phoenicia, in treaty with Israel's King
Solomon (son of David), trades with the port of Ophir (Sanskrit:
Supara) near modern Mumbai. Same trade with India goes back to
Harappan era.

-950 Jewish traders arrive in India in King Solomon's merchant fleet.
Later Jewish colonies find India a tolerant home.

-950 Breakdown of Sanskrit as a spoken language occurs over the next
200 years.

-900 Iron Age in India. Early sporadic use dates from at least -1500.

ca -900 Earliest records of the holy city of Varanasi (one of the
world's oldest living cities) on the sacred river Ganga.

-900 Use of iron supplements bronze in Greece.

-850 The Chinese are using the 28-nakshatra zodiac called Shiu,
adapted from the Hindu jyotisha system.

ca -800 Later Upanishads are recorded.

-800 Later smriti (secondary Hindu scriptures) are composed,
elaborated and developed during next 1,000 years.

-776 First Olympic Games are held and documented in Greece.

-750 Prakrits (vernacular or "natural" languages) develop among
India's common peoples. Already flourishing in 500 BCE , Pali and
other Prakrits are chiefly known from Buddhist and Jain works composed
at this time.

-750 Literary Sanskrit is refined over next 500 years, taking on its
classical form.

-700 Early Smartism emerges from the syncretic Vedic brahminical
(priestly caste) tradition. (It flourishes today as a liberal sect
alongside Saiva, Vaishnava and Shakta sects.)

-623 - 543 Life of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, born in Uttar
Pradesh in a princely Shakya Saivite family. (Date by Sri Lankan
Buddhists. Indian and other scholars favor -563 to - 483; Mahayanists
of China and Japan prefer -566 to - 486 or later.)

-605 Nebuchadnezzar II is king of Babylon (-605 to -562). His building
program makes it the world's largest and most magnificent city,
slightly larger than present-day San Francisco.

ca -600 Life of Zoroaster, founder of Zoroastrianism, original
religion of the Persians. His Zend Avesta, holy book of that faith,
has much in common with the Rig Veda, sharing many verses.
Zoroastrianism makes strong distinctions between good and evil,
setting the dualistic tone of God and devil which pervades all later
Western religions.

ca -600 Life of Susruta of Varanasi, the father of surgery. His
ayurvedic treatises cover pulse diagnosis, hernia, cataract, cosmetic
surgery, medical ethics, 121 surgical implements, antiseptics,
toxicology, psychiatry, classification of burns, midwifery, surgical
anesthesia, therapeutics of garlic and use of drugs to control
bleeding.

ca -600 The Ajivikas, an ascetic, atheistic sect of naked sadhus is at
its height, continuing in Mysore until the 14th century. Adversaries
of Buddha and Mahavira, their philosophy is deterministic, holding
that everything is inevitable.

ca -600 Lifetime of Lao-tzu, founder of Taoism in China, author of Tao
te Ching. Its esoteric teachings of simplicity and selflessness shape
Chinese life for 2,000 years and permeate the religions of Vietnam,
Japan and Korea.

-599 - 527 Lifetime of Mahavira Vardhamana, 24th Tirthankara,
renaissance Jain master who stresses vegetarianism, asceticism and
nonviolence. (Some place him 40 years later.)

-560 In Greece, Pythagoras teaches math, music, vegetarianism and
yoga, drawing from India's wisdom ways.

-551 - 478 Lifetime of Confucius, founder of Confucianism. His
teachings on social ethics form the basis of Chinese education,
religion and ruling-class ideology.

-518 Darius I of Persia (Iran) invades Indus Valley. This Zoroastrian
ruler shows tolerance for local religions.

ca -500 Lifetime of Kapila, founder of Sankhya Darshana, one of six
classical systems of Hindu philosophy.

ca -500 Dams to store water are constructed in India.

-500 World population reaches 100 million. India's population is 25
million, 15 million of whom live in the Ganga basin.

ca -500 Over the next 300 years (according to later dating by Muller)
numerous secondary Hindu scriptures (smriti) are composed: Shrauta
Sutras, Grihya Sutras, Dharma Sutras, Mahabharata, Ramayana and
Puranas, etc.

ca -500 Tamil Sangam age (-500 to 500) begins (see -3000). Sage
Agastya writes Agattiyam, first known Tamil grammar (Kulkarni places
him at -8576). Tolkappiyar (Kulkarni says -2700) writes Tolkappiyam
Purananuru, on grammar, stating he is recording rules on poetry,
rhetoric, etc., of earlier grammarians, indicating prior high
development of Tamil. Gives rules for absorbing Sanskrit words. Other
Sangam Age works are the poetical Paripadal, Pattuppattu, Ettuthokai
Purananuru, Akananuru, Aingurunuru, Padinenkilkanakku. Some refer to
worship of Vishnu, Indra, Murugan and Supreme Siva.

ca -486 Ajatasatru (reign -486 to - 458) ascends Magadha throne.

-480 Ajita, a nastika (atheist) who teaches a purely material
explanation of life and that death is final, dies.

-478 Prince Vijaya, exiled by his father, King Sinhabahu, sails from
Gujarat with 700 followers. Founds Sinhalese kingdom in Sri Lanka.
(From the Mahavamsa chronicle, ca 500.)

-469 - 399 Lifetime of Athenian philosopher Socrates.

-428 - 348 Lifetime of Plato, Athenian disciple of Socrates. This
great philosopher founds Athens Academy in -387.

-400 Panini composes his Sanskrit grammar, the Ashtadhyayi (date by
Western scholars; see Indian dates at -1300).

ca -400 Lifetime of Hippocrates, Greek physician and "Father of
medicine," formulates Hippocratic oath, code of medical ethics still
pledged by Western doctors.

ca -350 Rainfall is measured by Indian scientists.

-326 Alexander the Great of Macedon invades but fails to conquer
Northwestern India. Soldiers' mutiny forces him to retreat and he
leaves India the same year. Greeks who remain intermarry with Indians.
Mutual interaction influences both civilizations. Greek sculpture
impacts Hindu styles. Bactrian kingdoms later promote Greek influence.

-305 Chandragupta Maurya, founder of first pan-Indian empire (-324 to
-184), expels Greek garrisons of Seleucus, founder of Seleucid Empire
in Iran and Syria. At its height under Emperor Asoka (reign -273 to
-232), the Mauryan Empire includes all India except the far South.

ca -302 Kautilya (Chanakya), minister to Chandragupta Maurya, writes
Arthashastra, a compendium of laws, procedures and advice for running
a kingdom.

-302 In Indica, Megasthenes, envoy of King Seleucus, reveals to Europe
in colorful detail the wonders of Mauryan India: an opulent society
with intensive agriculture, engineered irrigation and 7 castes:
philosophers, farmers, soldiers, herdsmen, artisans, magistrates and
counselors.

ca -300 Chinese discover cast iron, known in Europe by 1300 ce.

ca -300 Pandya kingdom (-300 to - 1700 CE) is founded, builder of many
of South India's grandest temples, including Madurai Minakshi,
Srirangam and Rameshwaram (ca 1600).

ca -300 Pancharatra Vaishnava sect is prominent. All later Vaishnava
sects are based on the Pancharatra beliefs (formalized by Sandilya
around 100 CE).

-297 Emperor Chandragupta abdicates; becomes Jain monk.

-273 Asoka, the greatest Mauryan Emperor, grandson of Chandragupta,
seizes power and rules until 232. He converts to Buddhism after his
brutal conquest of Kalinga in -260, and several other countries. He
excels at public works, sends diplomatic missions to Syria, Egypt,
Cyrene (now Libya), Epirus and Greece; and Buddhist dharma missions to
Sri Lanka, China and throughout Southeast Asia. In his 40-year reign,
Buddhism becomes a world power. He records his work and teaching in
inscriptions, the Rock and Pillar Edicts. India's national emblem
features the lion capital from his pillar at Sarnath.

-251 Emperor Asoka sends his son Mahendra (-270 to - 204) to spread
Buddhism in Sri Lanka, where to this day he is revered as the national
faith's founding missionary.

ca -251 The latest (Western) date for Panini's grammar. (See -1300,
-400.)

ca -250 Lifetime of Maharishi Nandinatha, first known satguru in the
Kailasa Parampara of the Nandinatha Sampradaya. His eight disciples
are Sanatkumar, Sanakar, Sanadanar, Sananthanar, Sivayogamuni,
Patanjali, Vyaghrapada and Tirumular (Sundaranatha).

ca -221 Great Wall of China is built, ultimately 2,600 miles long, the
only man-made object visible from the moon.

ca -200 Lifetime of Rishi Tirumular, disciple of Maharishi Nandinatha
and author of the 3,047-verse Tirumantiram, a summation of Saiva
Agamas and Vedas, concisely articulating the Nandinatha Sampradaya
teachings, founding South India's monistic Saiva Siddhanta school.

ca -200 Lifetime of Saint Auvaiyar of Tamil Nadu, Ganesha devotee,
mystic poet and yogini (see also 800).

ca -200 Lifetime of Patanjali, shishya of Nandinatha and brother monk
of Tirumular. He writes the Yoga Sutras at Chidambaram, in South India
(Kulkarni dates him at -550).

ca -200 Bhogar Rishi (one of 18 Tamil siddhars) shapes from nine
poisons the murti enshrined in today's Palani Hills temple in South
India. He is from China or visits there.

ca -200 Lifetime of Saint Tiruvalluvar, poet-weaver who lived near
present-day Chennai, author of Tirukural, "Holy Couplets," the classic
Tamil work on ethics and statecraft (sworn on in today's South Indian
law courts).

ca -200 Jaimini writes the Mimamsa Sutras.

ca -150 Ajanta Buddhist Caves are begun near present-day Hyderabad.
Construction of 29 monasteries and galleries continues to 650 CE.
Famous murals are painted 600 - 650 CE.

-145 Chola Empire (-145 to - 1300 CE) of Tamil Nadu is founded, noted
for government organization and artistic accomplishment, including
enormous irrigation works.

-140 Emperor Wu begins three-year reign of China; worship of the
Mother Goddess, Earth, attains importance.

-130 Reign ends of Menander (Milinda), Indo-Greek king who converts to
Buddhism.

-117-116 Greek navigators Eudoxus of Cyzicus and Hippalus of
Alexandria discover use of monsoon winds in the direct sea traffic
(rather than coast wise) to and from India. This results in the great
increase of Western commerce, especially under the early Roman
Empire.

-58 Vikrama Samvat Era Hindu calendar begins.

-50 Kushana Empire begins (-50 to -220 CE). This Mongolian Buddhist
dynasty rules most of Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan and parts of
Central Asia.

ca -10 Ilangovadikal, son of King Cheralathan of the Tamil Sangam age,
writes outstanding epic Silappathikaram, classical Tamil treatise on
music and dance.

-4 Jesus of Nazareth (-4 to -30 CE), founder of Christianity, is born,
traditionally in Bethlehem of Judea (dates according to current
Biblical scholarship).

Western calendar begins. C.E. - Common Era
10 World population is 170 million. India's is 35 million: 20.5
percent of world.

ca 50 South Indians occupy Funan, Indochina. Kaundinya, an Indian
brahmin, is first king. Saivism is state religion.

53 A Christian legend places the death of Saint Thomas, one of
Christ's 12 Apostles, in Chennai. But history offers no evidence he
ever came to India and shows that Bharat's first Christian community
was Kerala's Syrian Malabar Church, founded in 345 by Thomas of Cana.

ca 60 Emperor Ming-Ti (reign: 58 - 76) converts to Buddhism and
introduces the faith in China. Brings two monks from India who erect
temple at modern Honan.

69 A large Jewish community is established in Cochin.

ca 75 A Gujarat prince named Ajisaka invades Java.

78 Shaka Hindu calendar/era begins.

ca 80 Jains divide, on points of rules for monks, into the
Shvetambara, "White-clad," and the Digambara, "Sky-clad."

ca 80 - 180 Lifetime of Charaka, court physician to the Kushana king,
Kanishka. He formulates a code of conduct for doctors of ayurveda and
writes Charaka Samhita, a manual of medicine.

ca 100 Lifetime of Sandilya, first systematic promulgator of the
ancient Pancharatra doctrines. His Bhakti Sutras, devotional aphorisms
on Vishnu, inspire a Vaishnava renaissance. By 900 CE the sect has
left a permanent mark on many Hindu schools. (The Samhita of Sandilya
and his followers, Pancharatra Agama, embodies the chief doctrines of
present-day Vaishnavas.)

100 Hsuen Tsang of China establishes trade routes to India and as far
west as Rome, later known as the Silk Roads. (See alternate date:
630-644).

105 Paper is invented in China.

117 The Roman Empire reaches its greatest extent.

125 Satakarni (reign: ca 106 - 130) of Andhra's Shatavahana dynasty
(-70 - 225) destroys Shaka kingdom of Gujarat.

ca 175 Greek astronomer Ptolemy, known as Asura Maya in India, spreads
the knowledge of solar astronomy, Surya Siddhanta, to Indian students.

180 Mexican city of Teotihuacan has 100,000 population and covers 11
square miles. Grows to 250,000 by 500 CE.

ca 200 Lifetime of Lakulisa, famed guru who leads a reformist movement
within Pashupata Saivism.

ca 200 Hindu kingdoms are established in Cambodia and Malaysia.

205 - 270 Lifetime of Plotinus, Egyptian-born monistic Greek
philosopher and religious genius who transforms a revival of Platonism
in the Roman Empire into what present-day scholars call Neo-Platonism,
greatly influencing Islamic and European thought. He teaches ahimsa,
vegetarianism, karma, reincarnation and belief in a Supreme Being that
is both immanent and transcendent.

ca 250 Pallava dynasty (ca 250 - 885) is established in Tamil Nadu.
They erect the Kailasa Kamakshi Temple complex at the capital of
Kanchi and the great 7th-century stone monuments at Mahabalipuram.

ca 275 Buddhist monastery Mahavihara is founded in Anuradhapura,
capital of Sri Lanka.

350 Imperial Gupta dynasty (320 - 540) flourishes. During this
"Classical Age" norms of literature, art, architecture and philosophy
are established. This North Indian empire promotes both Vaishnavism
and Saivism and, at its height, rules or receives tribute from nearly
all India. Buddhism also thrives under tolerant Gupta rule.

ca 350 Licchavi dynasty (ca 350 - 900) establishes Hindu rule in
Nepal. Small kingdom becomes the major intellectual and commercial
center between South and Central Asia.

358 Huns, excellent archers and horsemen possibly of Turkish origin,
invade Europe from the East.

375 Maharaja Chandragupta II Vikramaditya, greatest Hindu monarch,
reigns to 413, expanding the prosperous Gupta Empire northward beyond
the Indus River.

ca 380-460 Approximate lifetime of Kalidasa, the great Sanskrit poet
and dramatist, author of Shakuntala and Meghaduta. (An earlier dating
championed by some scholars is 50 BCE.)

391 Roman Emperor Theodosius destroys Greek Hellenistic temples in
favor of Christianity.

ca 400 Manu Dharma Shastra is written. Its 2,685 verses codify
cosmogony, four ashramas, government, domestic affairs, caste and
morality. (Others prefer -600; Kulkarni gives 150 BCE for latest
edition of a code in vogue since -7000.)

ca 400 Polynesians sailing in open outrigger canoes reach as far as
Hawaii and Easter Island.

ca 400 Chaturanga, the Indian forerunner of chess, has evolved from
ashtapada, a board-based race game, into a four-handed war game played
with a die. Later, in deference to the Laws of Manu which forbid
gambling, players discard the die and create shatranj, a two-sided
strategy game.

ca 400 Vatsyayana writes Kamasutra, the famous text on erotics.

419 Moche people of Peru build a Sun temple 150 feet high using 50
million bricks.

ca 430 Hindu ancestors of present-day Romani people, or Gypsies, leave
Rajasthan, Sindh and other areas of India, move to Persia and
gradually on to reach Europe ca 800.

438 - 45 Council of Ferrara-Florence, Italy, strengthens the Roman
Catholic stance against the doctrine of reincarnation.

ca 440 Ajanta cave frescoes (long before Islam) depict Buddha as
Prince Siddhartha, wearing chudidara pyjama and a prototype of the
"Nehru shirt."

450 - 535 Life of Bodhidharma of South India, 28th patriarch of
India's Dhyana Buddhist sect, founder of Ch'an Buddhism in China
(520), known as Zen in Japan.

ca 450 Hephthalite invasions (ca 450 - 565) take a great toll in North
India. These "White Huns" (or Hunas) from the borders of China may or
may not be related to Europe's Hun invaders.

ca 450 As the Gupta Empire declines, Indian sculptural style evolves
and continues until the 16th century. The trend is away from the
swelling modeled forms of the Gupta period toward increasing flatness
and linearity.

453 Attila the Hun dies after lifetime of plundering Europe.

499 Aryabhata I (476 - ca 550), Indian astronomer and mathematician,
using Hindu ("Arabic") numerals accurately calculates pi () to 3.1416,
and the solar year to 365.3586805 days. A thousand years before
Copernicus, Aryabhata propounds a heliocentric system with
elliptically orbiting planets and a spherical Earth spinning on its
axis, explaining the apparent rotation of the heavens. His Aryabhatiya
contains history's first exposition on plane and spherical
trigonometry, algebra and arithmetic.

ca 500 Mahavamsa, a Pali text chronicling Sri Lankan history from
-500, is written, probably by Buddhist monk Mahanama. A sequel,
Chulavamsha, continues the history to 1500.

ca 500 Sectarian folk traditions are revised, elaborated and reduced
to writing as the Puranas, Hinduism's encyclopedic compendium of
culture and mythology.

500 World population is 190 million. India's is 50 million: 26.3
percent of world.

510 Hephthalite Mihirakula from beyond Oxus River crushes imperial
Gupta power. Soon controls much of North-Central India.

ca 533 Yasovarman of Malva and Isanavarman of Kanauj defeat and expel
the Hephthalites from North India.

ca 543 Pulakesin I founds Chalukya Dynasty (ca 543 - 757; 975 - 1189)
in Gujarat and later in larger areas of West India.

548 Emperor Kimmei officially recognizes Buddhism in Japan by
accepting a gift image of Buddha from Korea.

553 Council of Constantinople II denies doctrine of soul's existence
before conception, implying that reincarnation is incompatible with
Christian belief.

565 The Turks and Persians defeat the Hephthalites.

570 - 632 Lifetime of Mohammed of the Quraysh Bedouin tribe, founder
of Islam. Begins to preach in Mecca, calling for an end to the "demons
and idols" of Arab religion and conversion to the ways of the one God,
Allah.

ca 590 - 671 Lifetime of Saiva saint Nayanar Tirunavukkarasu, born
into a farmer family at Amur, now in South Arcot, Tamil Nadu. He
writes 312 songs, totalling 3,066 Tirumurai verses. Cleaning the
grounds of every temple he visits, he exemplifies truly humble service
to Lord Siva. His contemporary, the child-saint Nayanar Sambandar,
addresses him affectionately as Appar, "Father."

ca 598 - 665 Lifetime of Brahmagupta, pre-eminent Indian astronomer,
who writes on gravity and sets forth the Hindu astronomical system in
his Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta. Two of 25 chapters are on sophisticated
mathematics.

ca 600 Religiously tolerant Pallava king Narasinhavarman builds China
Pagoda, a Buddhist temple, at the Nagapatam port for Chinese merchants
and visiting monks.

ca 600 - 900 Twelve Vaishnava Alvar saints of Tamil Nadu flourish,
writing 4,000 songs and poems (assembled in their canon Nalayira Divya
Prabandham) praising Narayana, Rama and narrating the affairs of
Krishna and the gopis.

ca 600 Life of Banabhatta, Shakta master of Sanskrit prose, author of
Harshacharita (Story of Harsha) and Kadambari.

606 Buddhist Harshavardhana, reigning 606 - 644, establishes first
great kingdom after the Hephthalite invasions, eventually ruling all
India to the Narmada River in the South.

ca 610 Mohammed begins prophecies, flees to Mecca in 622.

ca 630 Vagbhata writes Ashtanga Sangraha on ayurveda.

630 - 34 Chalukya Pulakesin II becomes Lord of South India by
defeating Harshavardhana, Lord of the North.

630 - 44 Chinese pilgrim Hsuen Tsang (Xuan-zang) travels in India,
recording his copious observations. Population of Varanasi is 10,000,
mostly Saiva. Nalanda Buddhist university (his biographer writes) has
10,000 residents, including 1,510 teachers, and thousands of
manuscripts. (Alternate date: 100.)

641 - 45 Arab Muslims conquer Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia.

ca 650 Lifetime of Nayanar Saiva saint Tirujnana Sambandar. Born a
brahmin in Tanjavur, he writes 384 songs totalling 4,158 verses that
make up the first three books of Tirumurai. At 16, he disappears into
the sanctum of Nallur temple, near Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu.

ca 650 More than 60 Chinese monks have traveled to India and her
colonies. Four hundred Sanskrit works have been translated into
Chinese; 380 survive to the present day.

686 - 705 Reign of Pallava king Rajasinha. He inherits the stone-
carving legacy of Emperor Mahendra and his son, Narasinha, who began
the extensive sculptural works in the thriving seaport of
Mahabalipuram.

ca 700 Over the next hundred years the 2,095-square-mile Indonesian
island of Bali receives Hinduism from its neighbor, Java.

712 Muslims conquer Sind region (Pakistan), setting up base for
pillaging expeditions that drain North India's wealth.

732 Franks prevent Muslim conquest of Europe, stopping Arabs at
Poitiers, France, northwest limit of Arab penetration.

739 Chalukya armies beat back Arab Muslim invasions at Navasari in
modern Maharashtra.

ca 750 - 1159 Pala dynasty arises in Bihar and Bengal, last royal
patrons of Buddhism, which they help establish in Tibet.

ca 750 Rashtrakuta dynasty carves Kailasa temple out of a rock hill at
Ellora.

ca 750 A Hindu astronomer and mathematician in Baghdad translates into
Arabic Brahmagupta's Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta (treatise on astronomy),
transmitting decimal notation and use of zero to the Arab world.

ca 750 Lifetime of Bhavabhuti, Sanskrit dramatist, second only to
Kalidasa. Writes Malati-Madhava, a Shakta work.

ca 750 Valmiki writes 29,000-verse Yoga Vasishtha.

ca 750 A necklace timepiece, kadikaram in Tamil, is worn by an emperor
(according to scholar M. Arunachalam).

788 Adi Sankara (788 - 820) is born in Malabar. The famous Smarta monk-
philosopher writes mystic poems and scriptural commentaries, including
Viveka Chudamani, and regularizes ten monastic orders called
Dashanami. Preaches Mayavada Advaita, emphasizing the world as
illusion and God as the sole Reality.

ca 800 Bhakti revival curtails Buddhism in South India. In the North,
Buddha is revered as Vishnu's 9th incarnation.

ca 800 Life of Nammalvar, greatest of Alvar saints. His poems shape
beliefs of Southern Vaishnavas to the present day.

ca 800 Lifetime of Vasugupta, modern founder of Kashmir Saivism, a
monistic, meditative school.

ca 800 Lifetime (by later dating) of Auvaiyar, saint of Tamil Nadu,
Ganesha devotee, author of Auvai Kural. She is associated with the
Lambika kundalini school. (An earlier strong traditional date for
Auvaiyar of 200 BCE is from a story about her and Saint Tiruvalluvar
as contemporaries. A third reference places her around 1000. Auvaiyar
means "venerable, learned lady;" some believe there were three
different Auvaiyars.)

ca 800 Lifetime of Karaikkalammaiyar, one of the 63 Saiva saints of
Tamil Nadu. Her mystical, yogic hymns, preserved in Tirumurai, remain
popular to the present day.

ca 800 Lifetime of Andal, girl saint of Tamil Nadu. Writes devotional
poetry to Lord Krishna, disappears at age 16.

ca 825 Nayanar Tamil saint Sundarar is born into a family of Adishaiva
temple priests in Tirunavalur in present-day South Arcot. His 100
songs in praise of Siva (the only ones surviving of his 38,000 songs)
make up Tirumurai book 7. His Tiru Tondattohai poem, naming the Saiva
saints, is the basis for Saint Sekkilar's Periyapuranam.

ca 825 Vasugupta discovers the rock-engraved Siva Sutras.

846 Vijayalaya re-establishes his Chola dynasty, which over the next
100 years grows and strengthens into one of the greatest South Indian
Empires ever known.

ca 850 Shri Vaishnava sect established in Tamil Nadu by Acharya
Nathamuni, forerunner of the great theologian Ramanuja.

ca 850 Life of Manikkavasagar, Saiva Samayacharya saint, born in
Tiruvadavur, near Madurai, into a Tamil brahmin family. Writes famed
Tiruvasagam, 51 poems of 656 verses in 3,394 lines, chronicling the
soul's evolution to God Siva. Tirupalli-eluchi and Tiruvembavai are
classic examples of his innovative style of devotional songs.

875 Muslim conquests extend from Spain to Indus Valley.

885 Cholas kill Aparajita, king of the Pallavas, in battle.

ca 900 Lifetime of Matsyendranatha, exponent of the Natha sect
emphasizing kundalini yoga practices.

ca 900 Under the Hindu Malla dynasty (ca 900 - 1700) of Nepal, legal
and social codes influenced by Hinduism are introduced. Nepal is
broken into several principalities.

ca 900 - 1001 Lifetime of Sembiyan Ma Devi, queen of Maharaja
Gandaraditta Chola from 950 to 957. A loyal patron of Saivism, she
builds ten temples and inspires and influences her grand-nephew, son
of Sundara Chola, who as King Rajaraja I becomes a great temple-
builder.

900 Mataramas dynasty in Indonesia reverts to Saivism after a century
of Buddhism, building 150 Saiva temples.

ca 950 Lifetime of Gorakshanatha, Natha yogi who founds the order of
Kanphatha Yogis and Gorakshanatha Saivism, the philosophical school
called Siddha Siddhanta.

ca 950 - 1015 Lifetime of Kashmir Saiva guru Abhinavagupta.

960 Chola king Vira, after having a vision of Siva Nataraja, commences
enlargement of the Siva temple at Chidambaram, including the
construction of the gold-roofed shrine. The enlargement is completed
in 1250 CE.

985 Rajaraja I (reign 985 - 1014) ascends the South Indian Chola
throne and ushers in a new age of temple architecture exemplified at
Tanjavur, Darasuram, Tirubhuvanam and Chidambaram. Pallava
architectural influences (dominant vimanas, inconspicuous gopuras)
fade.

ca 1000 Gorakshanatha writes Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati, "Tracks on the
Doctrines of the Adepts." In 353 verses he explains the nature of God
and universe, structure of chakras, kundalini force and methods for
realization.

1000 World population is 265 million. India's is 79 million, 29.8
percent of world.

ca 1000 Vikings reach North America, landing in Nova Scotia.

ca 1000 Polynesians arrive in New Zealand, in the last stage in the
greatest migration and navigational feat in history, making them the
most widely spread race on the planet.

1001 Turkish Muslims sweep through the Northwest under Mahmud of
Ghazni, defeating Jayapala of Hindu Shahi Dynasty of South
Afghanisthan and Punjab at Peshawar. This is the first major Muslim
conquest in India.

ca 1010 Tirumurai, Tamil devotional hymns of Saiva saints, is
collected as an anthology by Nambiandar Nambi.

1017 Mahmud of Ghazni sacks Mathura, birthplace of Lord Krishna, and
establishes a mosque on the site during one of his 17 Indian invasions
for holy war and plunder.

1017 - 1137 Life of Ramanuja of Kanchipuram, Tamil philosopher-saint
of Shri Vaishnava sect that continues bhakti tradition of South Indian
Alvar saints. His strongly theistic, nondual Vishishtadvaita Vedanta
philosophy restates Pancharatra tradition. Foremost opponent of
Sankara's system, he dies at age 120 while head of Srirangam
monastery.

1018 - 1060 Lifetime of Bhojadeva Paramara, Gujarati king, poet,
artist and monistic Saiva Siddhanta theologian.

1024 Mahmud of Ghazni plunders Somanath Siva temple, destroying the
Sivalinga and killing 50,000 Hindu defenders. He later builds a mosque
on the remaining walls.

1025 Chola ruler Maharaja Rajendra I sends victorious naval
expeditions to Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia, initiating decline of
Mahayana Buddhist empire of Srivijaya.

ca 1040 Chinese invent the compass and moveable type and perfect the
use of gunpowder, first invented and used in India as an explosive
mixture of saltpetre, sulfur and charcoal to power guns, cannons and
artillery.

ca 1050 Lifetime of Srikantha, promulgator of Siva Advaita, a major
philosophical school of Saivism.

ca 1130 - 1200 Lifetime of Nimbarka, Telugu founder of the Vaishnava
Nimandi sect holding dvaitadvaita, dual-nondual, philosophy. He
introduces the worship of Krishna together with consort Radha.
(Present-day Nimavats revere Lord Vishnu Himself, in the form of the
Hamsa Avatara, as the originator of their sect.)

ca 1130 Lifetime of Sekkilar, Tamil chief minister under Chola Emperor
Kulottunga II (reign 1133 - 1150) and author of Periyapuranam, 4,286-
verse epic hagiography of the 63 Saiva saints, which is book 12 of the
Tirumurai.

ca 1150 Life of Basavanna, renaissance guru of the Vira Saiva sect,
stressing free will, equality, service to humanity and worship of the
Sivalinga worn around the neck.

ca 1150 Khmer ruler Suryavarman II completes Angkor Wat temple (in
present-day Cambodia), where his body is later entombed and worshiped
as an embodiment of Vishnu. This largest Hindu temple in Asia is 12
miles in circumference, with a 200-foot high central tower.

ca 1162 Mahadevi is born, Saiva ascetic saint of Karnataka. She wrote
350 majestic and mystical poems.

1175 Toltec Empire of Mexico crumbles.

1185 Mohammed of Ghur conquers Punjab and Lahore.

1191 Eisai founds Rinzai Zen sect in Japan after study in China.

1193 Qutb ud-Din Aybak, a freed slave and first Muslim Sultan of
Delhi, establishes Mamluk Dynasty (1193 - 1290).

1197 Great Buddhist university of Nalanda is destroyed by Muslim
Ikhtiyar uddin.

1200 All of North India is now under Muslim domination.

1200 India population reaches 80 million.

ca 1200 An unknown author writes Yoga Yajnavalkya.

1215 King John is forced to grant the Magna Carta, giving greater
rights to the people of England.

1227 Mongol Emperor Genghis Khan, conqueror of a vast area from North
China to Iran and Central Asia, the largest empire the world has yet
seen, dies.

1230 - 60 Surya temple is constructed at Konarak, Orissa.

1238 - 1317 Lifetime of Ananda Tirtha Madhva, venerable Vaishnava
dualist and opponent of Shankara's Mayavadin Advaita philosophy. He
composes 37 works and founds the Dvaita Vedanta school, the Brahma
Vaishnava Sampradaya and its eight monasteries, ashtamatha, in Udupi.

ca 1250 Lifetime of Meykandar, Saiva saint who founds the Meykandar
school of pluralistic Saiva Siddhanta. His 12-sutra Sivajnanabodham
becomes the core scripture.

1260 Meister Eckhart, the German mystic, is born.

1268 - 1369 Lifetime of Vedanta Desikar, gifted Tamil scholar and poet
who founds the Vadakalai, a sect of Vaishnavism headquartered at
Kanchipuram.

1270 - 1350 Lifetime of Namadeva, foremost poet-saint of Maharashtra's
Varkari ("pilgrim") Vaishnava school, disciple of Jnanadeva. He and
his family compose a million verses in praise of Lord Vithoba
(Vishnu).

1272 Marco Polo visits India en route to China.

1274 Council of Lyons II declares that souls go immediately to heaven,
purgatory or hell; interpreted by Catholic fathers as condemning the
doctrine of reincarnation.

1275 - 96 Lifetime of Jnanadeva, Natha-trained Vaishnava saint,
founder of the Varkari school, who writes Jnaneshvari, a Marathi verse
commentary on Bhagavad Gita, which becomes Maharashtra's most popular
book.

1279 Muktabai is born, Maharashtran Varkari saint and Natha yogini,
known for her 100 sacred verses.

1280 Mongol (Yuan) dynasty (1280 - 1368) installed in China, under
which the bulk of translation of works from Sanskrit into Chinese is
completed.

1296 Ala-ud-din, second sultan of the Khilji dynasty, rules most of
India after his General Kafur conquers the South, extending Muslim
dominion all the way to Rameshwaram.

ca 1300 Lifetime of Janabai, Maharashtran Varkari Vaishnava woman
saint who writes a portion of Namadeva's million verses to Vithoba
(Vishnu).

ca 1300 The Ananda Samucchhaya is written, 277 stanzas on hatha yoga,
with discussion of the chakras and nadis.

1300 Muslim conquerors reach Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari) at the
southernmost tip of India and build a mosque there.

1317 - 72 Life of Lalla of Kashmir, Saiva renunciate and mystic poet.
She contributes significantly to the Kashmiri language.

1336 Vijayanagara Empire (1336 - 1646) of South India is founded.
European visitors are impressed by the opulence and sophistication of
its 17-square-mile capital.

1345 Aztecs establish advanced civilization in Mexico.

1346 - 90 Life of Krittivasa, translator of Ramayana into Bengali.

1347 Plague called the Black Death spreads rapidly, killing 75 million
worldwide before receding in 1351.

ca 1350 Svatmarama writes Hatha Yoga Pradipika.

ca 1350 Lifetime of Appaya Dikshita, South Indian philosopher-saint
whose writings reconcile Vaishnavism and Saivism. He advances Siva
Advaita and other Saiva schools and compiles a temple priests' manual
still used today.

1398 Tamerlane (Timur) invades India with 90,000 cavalry and sacks
Delhi because its Muslim ruler was too tolerant of Hindu idolatry. A
Mongolian admirer of Sufism, he was one of the most ruthless of all
conquerors.

1399 Haridwar, Ganga pilgrimage town, is sacked by Timur.

ca 1400 Goraksha Upanishad is written.

1414 Hindu prince Paramesvara of Malaysia converts to Islam.

1414 - 80 Life of Gujarati Vaishnava poet-saint Narasinha Mehta.

1415 Bengali poet-singer Baru Chandidas writes Shrikrishnakirtana, a
collection of exquisite songs praising Krishna.

1429 Joan of Arc, age 17, leads French to victory over English.

ca 1433 China cloisters itself from the outside world by banning
further voyages to the West, forming the first "bamboo curtain."

1440 - 1518 Lifetime of Kabir, Vaishnava reformer who has both Muslim
and Hindu followers. (His Hindi songs remain immensely popular to the
present day.)

ca 1440 Johannes Gutenberg (ca 1400 - 1468) invents the West's first
moveable-type printing press in Germany.

1450? - 1547 Lifetime of Mirabai, Vaishnava Rajput princess saint who,
married at an early age to the rana of Udaipur, devotes herself to
Krishna and later renounces worldly life to wander through India
singing to Him beautiful mystic compositions that are sung to the
present day.

1469 - 1538 Lifetime of Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism, originally a
reformist Hindu sect stressing devotion, faith in the guru, repetition
of God's name and rejection of renunciation and caste. (Most present-
day Sikhs consider themselves members of a separate religion.)

1478 Spanish Inquisition begins. Over the next 20 years, Christians
burn several thousand persons at the stake.

1479 - 1531 Lifetime of Vallabhacharya, a married Telugu brahmin saint
who teaches pushtimarga, "path of love," and a lofty nondual
philosophy, Shuddhadvaita Vedanta, in which souls are eternally one
with Brahman. Vallabhacharya's Vaishnavism worships Krishna in the
form of Shri Nathji.

1483 - 1563 Lifetime of Surdas, sightless Hindi bard of Agra, whose
hymns to Krishna are collected in the Sursagar.

1486 - 1543 Life of Chaitanya, Bengali founder of popular Vaishnava
sect which proclaims Krishna Supreme God and emphasizes sankirtan,
group chanting and dancing.

1492 Looking for India, Christopher Columbus lands on San Salvador
island in the Caribbean, thus "discovering" the Americas and proving
the Earth is round, not flat.

1498 Portugal's Vasco da Gama sails around Cape of Good Hope to
Calcutta, first European to find sea route to India. Portuguese
Catholics soon capture Goa (1510) and other places, beginning conquest
and exploitation of India by Europeans.

ca 1500 Life of Arunagirinathar, Tamil saint, author of Tiruppugal
hymns; emphasizes feeding the hungry during a time of Muslim
oppression and disrupted family life.

ca 1500 Buddhist and Saiva Hindu princes are forced off Java by
invading Muslims. They resettle on neighboring Bali, with their
overlapping priesthoods and vast royal courts: poets, dancers,
musicians and artisans. Within 100 years they construct what many call
a fairytale kingdom.

1500 World population 425 million; 105 million live in India.

1503 - 1566 Lifetime of Nostradamus, French physician and astrologer
who wrote Centuries (1555), a book of prophecies.

1509 - 1529 Reign of Maharaja Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara
Empire in Andhra Pradesh.

1510 Portuguese Catholics conquer Goa to serve as capital of their
Asian maritime empire, beginning conquest and exploitation of India by
Europeans.

1517 Luther begins Protestant Reformation in Europe.

ca 1520 Poet-saint Purandardas (1480 - 1564) of the Vijayanagara court
systematizes Karnatik music.

1526 Mughal conqueror Babur (1483 - 1530) defeats the Sultan of Delhi
and captures the Koh-i-noor diamond. Occupying Delhi, by 1529 he
founds the Indian Mughal Empire (1526 - 1761), consolidated by his
grandson Akbar.

1528 Emperor Babur destroys temple at Lord Rama's birthplace in
Ayodhya, erects Babri Masjid (mosque).

1532 - 1623 Life of monk-poet Tulsidas, author of Ramacharitamanasa
(1574-77) (based on Ramayana). It advances Rama worship in the North.

1542 Spanish Jesuit priest Francis Xavier (1506 - 1552), most
successful Catholic missionary, lands in Goa. First to train and
employ native clergy in conversion efforts, he brings Catholicism to
India, Malay Archipelago and Japan.

1544 - 1603 Life of Dadu, ascetic saint of Gujarat, founder of
Dadupantha, which is guided by his Bani poems in Hindi.

1556 Akbar (1542 - 1605), grandson of Babur, becomes third Mughal
Emperor at age 13. Disestablishes Islam as state religion and declares
himself impartial ruler of Hindus and Muslims; encourages art,
culture, religious tolerance.

1565 Muslim forces defeat and utterly destroy the city of
Vijayanagara. Empire finally collapses in 1646.

1565 Polish astronomer Copernicus' (1473 - 1543) heliocentric system,
in which Earth orbits the sun, gains popularity in Europe among
astronomers and mathematicians. (See Aryabhata, 499.)

1569 Akbar captures fortress of Ranthambor, ending Rajput
independence. Soon controls nearly all of Rajasthan.

ca 1570 Ekanatha (1533-99), Varkari Vaishnava saint and mystic
composer, edits Jnanadeva's Jnaneshvari and translates Bhagavata
Purana, advancing Marathi language.

1588 British Navy destroys the Spanish Armada off the coast of Calais,
France, to become rulers of the high seas.

1589 Akbar rules half of India, shows tolerance for all faiths.

1595 Construction is begun on Chidambaram Temple's Hall of a Thousand
Pillars in South India, completed in 1685.

ca 1600 "Persian wheel" to lift water by oxen is adopted, one of few
farming innovations since Indus Valley civilization.

1600 Royal Charter forms the East India Company, setting in motion a
process that ultimately results in the subjugation of India under
British rule.

1603 - 4 Guru Arjun compiles Adi Granth, Sikh scripture.

1605 Akbar the Great dies at age 63. His son Jahangir succeeds him as
fourth Mughal Emperor.

1605 Sikh Golden Temple (Harimandir) at Amritsar, Punjab, is finished;
covered with gold leaf two centuries later.

1608 - 49 Lifetime of Tukaram, beloved Varkari sant famed for his
abhangas, "unbroken hymns," to Krishna. Considered greatest Marathi
spiritual composer.

1608 - 81 Lifetime of Ramdas, mystic poet, Sivaji's guru, Marathi
saint, who gives Hindus the dhvaja, saffron flag.

1610 Galileo of Italy (1564 - 1642) perfects the telescope and with it
confirms the Copernican theory. Catholic Inquisition condemns him a
heretic for his assertions.

1613 - 14 British East India Company sets up trading post at Surat.

1615 - 18 Mughals grant Britain right to trade and establish factories
in consideration for English navy's protection of the Mughal Empire
against Portuguese sea power.

1619 Jaffna kingdom is annexed and Sri Lanka's ruling dynasty deposed
by Portuguese Catholics who, between 1505 and 1658, destroy most of
the island's Hindu temples.

1619 First black slaves from Africa are sold in Virginia.

1620 English pilgrims land and settle at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts.

1627 - 80 Life of Sivaji, valiant general and tolerant founder of
Hindu Maratha Empire (1674 - 1818). Emancipates large areas
confiscated by Muslims, returning them to Hindu control. First Indian
ruler to build a major naval force.

ca 1628 - 88 Lifetime of Kumaraguruparar, prolific poet-saint of Tamil
Nadu who founds monastery in Varanasi to propound Saiva Siddhanta
philosophy.

1630 Over the next two years, millions starve to death as Shah Jahan
(1592 - 1666), fifth Mughal Emperor, drains the royal treasury to buy
jewels for his "Peacock Throne."

1647 Shah Jahan completes Taj Mahal in Agra on the Yamuna River. Its
construction has taken 20,000 laborers 15 years, at a total cost
equivalence of US%25 million.

1649 Red Fort is completed in Delhi by Shah Jahan.

ca 1650 Dharmapura Aadheenam, Saiva monastery, founded near Mayuram,
South India, by Guru Jnanasambandar.

ca 1650 Robert de Nobili (1577 - 1656), Italian Jesuit missionary
noted for fervor and intolerance, arrives in Madurai, declares himself
a brahmin, dresses like a Hindu monk. He is credited with composing a
Veda-like Sanskrit scripture extolling Jesus.

ca 1650 Two yoga classics, Siva Samhita and Gheranda Samhita, are
written.

1654 A Tamil karttanam is written and sung to celebrate recovery
installation of the Tiruchendur Murugan murti.

1658 Zealous Muslim Aurangzeb (1618 - 1707) becomes Mughal Emperor.
His discriminatory policies toward Hindus, Marathas and the Deccan
kingdoms contribute to the dissolution of the Mughal Empire by 1750.

1660 Frenchman Franchois Bernier reports India's peasantry is living
in misery under Mughal rule.

1664 Great Plague of London kills 70,000, 15 percent of population.

1675 Aurangzeb executes Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur, beginning the Sikh-
Muslim feud that continues to this day.

1679 Aurangzeb levies jizya tax on non-believers, Hindus.

1680 - 1747 Lifetime of Italian Jesuit missionary Costanzio Beschi,
who preached for 36 years in Tamil Nadu. Under the name of
Viramamunivar, he lived in Indian fashion and attained proficiency in
the Tamil language. His long poem Tembavani retells Biblical stories
in ornate style.

1682 - 1722 Peter the Great rules in Russia.

1688 Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb demolishes all temples in Mathura, said
to number 1,000. (During their 500-year reign, Muslim rulers destroy
roughly 60,000 Hindu temples throughout India, constructing mosques on
3,000 of those sites.)

1700 World population is 610 million. India population is 165 million:
27 percent of world.

ca 1770 - 1840 Life of the Rishi from the Himalayas, guru of
Kadaitswami and first historically known satguru of the Nandinatha
Sampradaya's Kailasa Parampara since Tirumular.

1705 - 42 Lifetime of Tayumanavar, Tamil Saiva poet-saint and
devotional yogic philosopher of Tiruchirappalli.

1708 Govind Singh, tenth and last Sikh guru, is assassinated.

1708 - 37 Jai Singh II builds astronomical observatories in Delhi,
Jaipur, Ujjain, Benares and Mathura.

1718 - 75 Lifetime of Ramprasad, Bengali Shakta poet-saint.

ca 1725 Jesuit Father Hanxleden compiles the first Sanskrit grammar in
a European language.

ca 1750 Shakta songs of Bengali poets Ramprasad Sen and Kamalakanta
Bhattacharya glorify Her as loving Mother and Daughter and stimulate a
rise in devotional Shaktism.

1751 Robert Clive, age 26, seizes Arcot in modern Tamil Nadu as French
and British fight for control of South India.

1760 Saiva sannyasis fight Vaishnava vairagis in tragic battle at
Hardwar Kumbha Mela; 18,000 monks are killed.

1760 Israel ben Eliezer (Besht), liberal founder of Hasidic Judaism,
dies.

1761 Afghan army of Ahmad Shah Durrani routs Hindu Maratha forces at
Panipat, ending Maratha hegemony in North India. As many as 200,000
Hindus are said to have died in the decisive eight-hour battle.

1764 British defeat the weak Mughal Emperor and gain full control of
Bengal, richest province of India.

1769 Prithivi Narayan Shah, ruler of Gorkha principality, conquers the
Nepal Valley and moves capital to Kathmandu, establishing the present-
day Hindu nation of Nepal.

1773 British East India Company obtains monopoly on the production and
sale of opium in Bengal.

ca 1780 - 1830 Golden era of Karnatic music. Composers include Sastri
Tyagaraja Swamigal, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Sama Sastri.

1781 George Washington routs British at Yorktown, Virginia.

1781 - 1830 Lifetime of Sahajanandaswami, Gujarati founder of the
Swaminarayan sect (with 1.5 million followers today).

1784 Judge and linguist Sir William Jones founds Calcutta's Royal
Asiatic Society. First such scholastic institution.

1786 Sir William Jones uses the Rig Veda term Aryan ("noble") to name
the parent language of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and Germanic tongues.
Nostratic is a more recent term for this hypothetical parent language
of Indo-European and certain other languages previously deemed totally
unrelated.

1787 - 95 British Parliament impeaches Warren Hastings, Governor
General of Bengal (1774 - 85) for misconduct.

1787 British Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade is formed,
marking the beginning of the end of slavery.

1789 French Revolution begins with storming of the Bastille.

1792 Britain's Lord Cornwallis, Governor General of India, defeats
Tipu Sahib, Sultan of Mysore and most powerful ruler in South India,
main bulwark of resistance to British expansion in India.

1793 Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin in the US, vastly increasing
cotton production, proliferating slavery required to process it.

1796 Over two million worshipers compete for sacred Ganga bath at
Kumbha Mela in Hardwar. Five thousand Saiva ascetics are killed in
tragic clash with Sikh ascetics.

1799 Sultan Tipu is killed in battle against 5,000 British soldiers
who storm and raze his capital, Srirangapattinam.

1803 Second Anglo-Maratha war results in British Christian capture of
Delhi and control of large parts of India.

1803 India's population estimated at 200 million.

1803 - 82 Lifetime of Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet who helps
popularize Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads in US.

1804 - 91 Lifetime of renaissance guru Kadaitswami, born near
Bangalore, sent to Sri Lanka by the Rishi from the Himalayas to
strengthen Saivism against Catholic incursion.

1807 Importation of slaves is banned in the US through an act of
Congress motioned by Thomas Jefferson.

1809 British strike a bargain with Ranjit Singh for exclusive areas of
influence.

1812 Napoleon's Grand Army retreats from Moscow. Out of a 500,000-
strong invasion force only 20,000 survive.

1814 First practical steam locomotive is built.

1817 - 92 Lifetime of Bahaullah, Mirza Husayn 'Ali, founder of Baha'i
faith (1863), a major off-shoot religion of Islam.

1818 - 78 Lifetime of Sivadayal, renaissance founder of the esoteric
reformist Radhasoami Vaishnava sect in Agra.

1820 First Indian immigrants arrive in the US.

1822 - 79 Life of Arumuga Navalar of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, renaissance
activist who propounds Advaita Siddhanta, writes first Hindu catechism
and translates Bible into Tamil to enable Hindus a faithful comparison
to the Vedas and Agamas.

1823 - 74 Life of Ramalingaswami, Tamil saint, renaissance founder of
Vadalur's "Hall of Wisdom for Universal Worship."

1824 - 83 Lifetime of Swami Dayananda Sarasvati, renaissance founder
of Arya Samaj (1875), Hindu reformist movement stressing a return to
the values and practices of the Vedas. Author of Satya Prakash, "Light
on Truth."

1825 First massive emigration of Indian contract workers from Chennai
is to Reunion and Mauritius islands.

1828 Ram Mohan Roy (1772 - 1833) founds Adi Brahmo Samaj in Calcutta.
Influenced by Islam and Christianity, he denounces polytheism, idol
worship; repudiates the Vedas, avataras, karma and reincarnation,
caste and more.

1831 - 91 Lifetime of Russian mystic Madame H.P. Blavatsky, founder of
Theosophical Society in 1875, bringing aspects of psychism, Buddhism
and Hinduism to the West.

1831 British Christians defeat Ranjit Singh's forces at Balakot, in
Sikh attempt to establish a homeland in N.W. India.

1833 Slavery is abolished in British Commonwealth countries, giving
impetus to abolitionists in United States.

1834 - 79 Lifetime of Sir Mutu Coomaraswamy, brings Saiva Siddhanta to
England, is first Asian knighted by Queen Victoria. Dr. Ananda
Coomaraswamy is his son.

1835 Macaulay's Minute furthers Western education in India. English is
made official government and court language.

1835 Mauritius receives 19,000 immigrant indentured laborers from
India. Last ship carrying workers arrives in 1922.

1836 - 86 Lifetime of Sri Paramahansa Ramakrishna, God-intoxicated
Bengali Shakta saint, guru of Swami Vivekananda. He exemplifies the
bhakti dimension of Shakta Universalism.

1837 Britain formalizes emigration of Indian indentured laborers to
supply cheap labor under a system more morally acceptable to British
Christian society than slavery, declared illegal in the British Empire
in 1833.

1837 Kali-worshiping Thugees are suppressed by British.

1838 British Guyana receives its first 250 Indian laborers.

1838 - 84 Life of Keshab Chandra Sen, Hindu reformer who founds Brahma
Samaj of India, a radical offshoot of the Adi Brahmo Samaj of Ram
Mohan Roy.

1840 - 1915 Lifetime of Satguru Chellappaswami of Jaffna, Sri Lanka,
initiated at age 19 by Siddha Kadaitswami as next satguru in the
Nandinatha Sampradaya's Kailasa Parampara.

1840 Joseph de Gobineau (1816 - 1882), French sociologist, writes The
Inequality of Human Races. Proclaims the "Aryan race" superior to
other great strains and lays down the aristocratic class-doctrine of
Aryanism that later provides the basis for Adolf Hitler's Aryan
racism.

1841 First US chair of Sanskrit and Indology established at Yale
University; American Oriental Society founded in 1842.

1842 - 1901 Life of Eknath Ranade, founder of Prarthana Samaj. His
social-reform thinking inspires Gokhale and Gandhi.

1843 British conquer the Sind region (present-day Pakistan).

1845 Trinidad receives its first 197 Indian immigrant laborers.

1846 British forcibly separate Kashmir from the Sikhs and sell it to
the maharaja of Jammu for £1,000,000.

1849 Sikh army is routed by the British at Amritsar.

1850 First English translation of the Rig Veda by H.H. Wilson, first
holder of Oxford's Boden Chair, founded "to promote the translation of
the Scriptures into English, so as to enable his countrymen to proceed
in the conversion of the natives of India to the Christian religion."

1851 Sir M. Monier-Williams (1819 - 99) publishes English-Sanskrit
Dictionary. His completed Sanskrit-English Dictionary is released
after three decades of work in 1899, weeks after his death.

1853 - 1920 Lifetime of Sri Sarada Devi, wife of Sri Ramakrishna.

1853 Max Muller (1823 - 1900), German Christian Orientalist in
England, advocates the term Aryan to name a hypothetical primitive
people of Central Asia, the common ancestors of Hindus, Persians and
Greeks. Muller speculates that this "Aryan race" divided and marched
West to Europe and East to India and China around 1500 BCE. Their
language, Muller avers, developed into Sanskrit, Greek, Latin,
Germanic, etc., and all ancient civilizations descended primarily from
this Aryan race.

1856 Catholic missionary Bishop Caldwell coins the term Dravidian to
refer to South Indian Caucasian peoples.

1857 First Indian Revolution, the "Sepoy Mutiny" (native troops of the
Army of the East India Company), is quashed within months as the
British retake Delhi, then inflict bloody retribution and plunder
throughout North India for atrocities at Kanpur. Britain introduces
direct rule through the India Office, a British department of state -
ending the 100-year reign of the East India Company.

1858 India has 200 miles of railroad. By 1869 5,000 miles of steel
track are installed by British railroad companies. In 1900, total
track is 25,000 miles, and by World War I, 35,000 miles. By 1970, at
62,136 miles, it is the world's greatest train system. Unfortunately,
this vastly depletes India's forests.

1859 Charles Darwin publishes controversial book, The Origin of
Species, propounding his "natural selection" theory of evolution and
laying the foundations of modern biology.

1860 S/S Truro and S/S Belvedere dock in Durban, S. Africa, carrying
first indentured servants (from Chennai and Calcutta) to work sugar
plantations. With contracts of five years and up, thousands emigrate
over next 51 years.

1861 American Civil War begins in Charleston, S. Carolina.

1861 - 1941 Lifetime of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, awarded the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.

1863 - 1902 Life of Swami Vivekananda, dynamic renaissance missionary
to West and catalyst of Hindu revival in India.

1869 - 1948 Lifetime of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Indian nationalist
and Hindu political activist who develops the strategy of nonviolent
disobedience that forces Christian Great Britain to grant independence
to India (1947).

1870 Doctrine of papal infallibility is asserted by the Vatican.

1872 - 1964 Lifetime of Satguru Yogaswami, Natha renaissance sage of
Sri Lanka, Chellappaswami's successor in the Nandinatha Sampradaya's
Kailasa Parampara.

1872 - 1950 Life of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Bengali Indian nationalist
and renaissance yoga philosopher. His 30-volume work discusses the
"superman," the Divinely transformed individual soul. Withdraws from
the world in 1910 and founds international ashram in Pondicherry.

1873 - 1906 Lifetime of Swami Rama Tirtha, who lectures throughout
Japan and America spreading "practical Vedanta."

1875 Madame Blavatsky founds Theosophical Society in New York, later
headquartered at Adyar, Chennai, where Annie Besant, president (1907 -
1933), helps revitalize Hinduism with metaphysical defense of its
principles.

1876 British Queen Victoria (1819 - 1901), head of Church of England,
is proclaimed Empress of India (1876-1901).

1876 Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.

1876 - 1890 Max Muller, pioneer of comparative religion as a scholarly
discipline, publishes 50-volume Sacred Books of the East, English
translations of Indian and Oriental scriptures.

1877 - 1947 Lifetime of Sri Lanka's Ananda Coomaraswamy, foremost
interpreter of Indian art and culture to the West.

1879 Incandescent lamp is invented by American Thomas Edison
(1847-1931). He patents more than a thousand inventions, among them
the microphone (1877) and the phonograph (1878). In New York, Edison
installs the world's first central electric power plant (1881-82).

1879 The Leonidas, first emigrant ship to Fiji, adds 498 Indian
indentured laborers to the nearly 340,000 already working in other
British Empire colonies.

1879 - 1966 Lifetime of Sadhu T.L. Vaswani, altruistic Sindhi poet and
servant of God, founds several Hindu missions in India and seven Mira
Educational Institutions.

1879 - 1950 Lifetime of Sri Ramana Maharshi, Hindu Advaita renunciate
renaissance saint of Tiruvannamalai, S. India.

1882 - 1927 Lifetime of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Indian-born Muslim mystic,
instrumental in bringing Sufism to the West.

1884 - 1963 Lifetime of Swami Ramdas, known as Papa, Indian saint and
devotee of Lord Rama.

1885 A group of middle-class intellectuals in India, some of them
British, found the Indian National Congress to be a voice of Indian
opinion to the British government. This is the origin of the later
Congress Party.

1885 First automobile powered by an internal combustion engine is
produced by Karl Benz in Mannheim, Germany. Henry Ford makes his first
car in 1893 in the US and later invents assembly line production.

1886 Rene Guenon is born, first European philosopher of some note to
become a Vedantin.

1887 - 1963 Lifetime of Swami Sivananda, Hindu universalist
renaissance guru, author of 200 books, founder of Divine Life Society,
with 400 branches worldwide in present day.

1888 Max Muller, revising his stance, writes, "Aryan, in scientific
language, is utterly inapplicable to race. If I say Aryans, I mean
neither blood nor bones, nor hair nor skull; I mean simply those who
spoke the Aryan language."

1888 - 1975 Lifetime of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, renowned Tamil
panentheist, renaissance philosopher, eminent writer; free India's
first Vice-President and second President.

1891 The Maha Bodhi Society, an organization to encourage Buddhist
studies in India and abroad, is founded in Sri Lanka by Buddhist monk
Anagarika Dharmapala.

1893 Swami Vivekananda represents Hinduism at Chicago's Parliament of
the World's Religions, first ever interfaith gathering, dramatically
enlightening Western opinion as to the profundity of Hindu philosophy
and culture.

1893 - 1952 Life of Paramahamsa Yogananda, universalist Hindu,
renaissance founder of Self Realization Fellowship (1925) in US,
author of famed Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), popular book
globalizing India's spiritual traditions.

1894 Gandhi drafts first petition protesting the indentured servant
system. Less than six months later, the British announce the halt of
indentured emigration from India.

1894 - 1994 Lifetime of Swami Chandrasekharendra, venerated
Shankaracharya saint of Kanchi monastery in South India.

1894 - 1969 Lifetime of Meher Baba of Poona, silent sage whose
mystical teachings stress love, self-inquiry and God consciousness.

1896 - 1982 Lifetime of Anandamayi Ma, God-intoxicated yogini and
mystic Bengali saint. Her spirit lives on in devotees.

1896 Nationalist leader and Marathi scholar Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1857
- 1920) initiates Ganesha Visarjana and Sivaji festivals to fan Indian
nationalism. He is first to demand complete independence, Purna
Svaraj, from Britain.

1896 - 1977 Lifetime of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In 1966 he
founds International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in the
US.

1896 American humorist Mark Twain writes Following the Equator,
describing his three-month stay in India, during a voyage to Hawaii,
Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, South Africa and
England. According to him, and his critics, it is one of his finest
works.

1897 Swami Vivekananda founds Ramakrishna Mission.

1898 - 1907 Cholera epidemic claims 370,000 lives in India.

1900 World population is 1.6 billion. India population is 290 million:
17.8 percent of world.

1900 India's tea exports to Britain reach 137 million pounds.

1900 - 77 Uday Sankar of Udaipur, dancer and choreographer, adapts
Western theatrical techniques to Hindu dance, popularizing his ballet
in India, Europe and the US.

1905 Lord Curzon, arrogant British Viceroy of India, resigns.

1905 Sage Yogaswami, age 33, is initiated by Chellappaswami at Nallur,
Sri Lanka; later becomes the next preceptor in the Nandinatha
Sampradaya's Kailasa Parampara.

1906 Muslim League political party is formed in India.

1906 Dutch Christians overcome Bali after Puputan massacres in which
Hindu Balinese royal families are murdered.

1908 - 82 Lifetime of Swami Muktananda, a guru of the Kashmir Saiva
school who founds Siddha Yoga Dham to promulgate Indian mysticism,
kundalini yoga and philosophy.

1909 - 69 Lifetime of Dada Lekhraj (1909 - 1969), Hindu founder of
Brahma Kumaris, an international social reform movement stressing
meditation and world peace.

1909 Gandhi and assistant Maganlal agitate for better working
conditions and abolition of indentured servitude in South Africa.
Maganlal continues Gandhi's work in Fiji.

1912 Anti-Indian racial riots on the US West Coast expel large Hindu
immigrant population.

1913 New law prohibits Indian immigration to South Africa, primarily
in answer to white colonists' alarm at competition of Indian merchants
and expired labor contracts.

1914 US government excludes Indian citizens from immigration.
Restriction stands until 1965.

1914 Austria's Archduke Francis Ferdinand is assassinated by Serb
nationalists. Chain reaction leads to World War I.

1914 Swami Satchidananda is born, founder of Integral Yoga Institute
and Light of Truth Universal Shrine in the US.

1917 Following the Bolshevik Revolution, communists under Lenin seize
power in Russia, one sixth of Earth's land mass.

1917 Last Hindu Indian indentured laborers are brought to British
Christian colonies of Fiji and Trinidad.

1917 - 93 Life of Swami Chinmayananda, Vedantist writer, lecturer,
Hindu renaissance founder of Chinmaya Mission and co-founder of the
Vishva Hindu Parishad.

1918 World War I ends. Death toll estimated at ten million.

1918 Spanish influenza epidemic kills 12.5 million in India, 21.6
million worldwide.

1918 Sadhu J.P. Vaswani is born in Hyderabad, charismatic orator,
mystic, poet, philosopher, humanitarian leader.

1918 Sirdi Sai Baba, saint to Hindus and Muslims, dies at
approximately age 70.

1919 Brigadier Dyer orders Gurkha troops to shoot unarmed
demonstrators in Amritsar, killing 379. Massacre convinces Gandhi that
India must demand full independence from oppressive British Christian
rule.

1920 Gandhi formulates satyagraha, "truth power," strategy of
noncooperation and nonviolence against India's Christian British
rulers. Later resolves to wear only simple dhoti to preserve India's
homespun cotton industry.

1920 System of Indian indentured servitude is abolished following
grassroots agitation by Gandhi.

1920 Ravi Shankar is born in Varanasi. Sitar master, composer and
founder of National Orchestra of India, he inspires Western
appreciation of Indian music.

1922 Pramukh Swami is born, renaissance traditionalist Hindu, head of
Bochasanwasi Swaminarayan Sanstha Sangh.

1922 Tagore's school at Santiniketan (founded 1901) is made into Visva
Bharati University. Becomes a national university in 1951.

1923 US law excludes Indian nationals from naturalization.

1924 Sir John Marshall (1876 - 1958) discovers relics of Indus Valley
ancient Hindu civilization. Begins systematic large-scale
excavations.

1925 K.V. Hedgewar (1890 - 1949) founds Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS), a Hindu nationalist movement.

1926 Satya Sai Baba is born, charismatic universalist Hindu
renaissance guru, educationalist, worker of miracles.

1927 Sivaya Subramuniyaswami is born in Oakland, California, 162nd
satguru in the Nandinatha Sampradaya's Kailasa Parampara and author of
this book.

1927 Maharashtra bars tradition of dedicating girls to temples as
Devadasis, ritual dancers. Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa soon
follow suit. Twenty years later, Tamil Nadu bans devotional dancing
and singing by women in its thousands of temples and in all Hindu
ceremonies.

1927 & 34 Indians are admitted as jurors and court magistrates in
India.

1928 Hindu leader Jawaharlal Nehru drafts plan for a free India;
becomes president of Congress Party in 1929.

1929 Chellachiamman, saint of Sri Lanka, dies. She was mentor to Sage
Yogaswami and Kandiah Chettiar.

1931 Sri Chinmoy is born in Bengal, yogi, artist, self-transcendence
master and United Nations peace ambassador.

1931 2.5 million Indians reside overseas; largest communities are in
Sri Lanka, Malaya, Mauritius and South Africa.

1931 Dr. Karan Singh is born, son and heir apparent of last maharaja
of Kashmir; becomes parliamentarian, Indian ambassador to the US and
global Hindu spokesman.

1934 Paul Brunton's instantly popular A Search in Secret India makes
known to the West such illumined holy men as Sri Chandrasekharendra
and Ramana Maharshi.

1936 - 1991 Lifetime of Srimati Rukmini Devi, founder Kalakshetra - a
school of Hindu classical music, dance, theatrical arts, painting and
handicrafts - in Chennai.

1938 Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is founded in Mumbai by K.M. Munshi to
conserve, develop and diffuse Indian culture.

1939 Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"), manifesto of Nazism,
published 1925, sells 5 million copies in 11 languages. It reveals his
racist Aryan, anti-Semitic ideology, strategy of revenge and National-
Socialist (Nazi) rise to power.

1939 World War II begins September 1 as Germany invades Poland.

1939 Maria Montessori (1870 - 1952), renowned Italian physician and
"discoverer of the child," spends nine years in India teaching her
kindergarten method and studying Hinduism through the Theosophical
Society in Adyar.

1939 Mohammed Ali Jinnah, President of the All-India Muslim League
from 1934 to his death in 1947, calls for a separate Muslim state. His
firm stand at the time of independence is instrumental in the
formation of Pakistan.

1942 At sites along the lost Sarasvati River in Rajasthan,
archeologist Sir Aurel Stein finds shards with incised characters
identical to those on Indus Valley seals.

1945 Germany surrenders to Allied forces. Ghastly concentration camps
are discovered where 6 million Jews were killed.

1945 US drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, ending
World War II. Total war dead is 60 million.

1945 The United Nations is founded by the four Allied nations and
China to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war."

1947 India gains independence from Britain August 15. Leaders agree to
partition into India and Pakistan despite Gandhi's opposition (as
chronicled in a letter to Lord Mountbatten that surfaced in 1996: "I
pointed [out] the initial mistake of the British being party to
splitting India into two. It is not possible to undo the mistake.")
Death toll is 600,000 in dual exodus of 14 million.

1948 The last British troops leave India February 28 in a procession
through the city of Mumbai culminating at the Gateway to India, a
monument erected to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen
Mary in 1911.

1948 Britain grants colony of Sri Lanka Dominion status and self-
government under Commonwealth jurisdiction.

1948 Establishment of Sarva Seva Sangh, Gandhian movement for new
social order (Sarvodaya).

1948 Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated January 30th in Poona by Nathuram
Godse, 35, editor-publisher of Mahasabha, a Hindu weekly, in
retaliation for Gandhi's concessions to Muslim demands and agreeing to
partition 27 percent of India to create the new Islamic nation of
Pakistan.

1949 Sri Lanka's Sage Yogaswami initiates Sivaya Subramuniyaswami as
his successor in Nandinatha Sampradaya's Kailasa Parampara.
Subramuniyaswami founds Saiva Siddhanta Church and Yoga Order the same
year.

1949 India's new Constitution, authored chiefly by B.R. Ambedkar,
declares there shall be no "discrimination" against any citizen on the
grounds of caste, jati, and that the practice of "untouchability" is
abolished.

1950 Wartime jobs in West, taking women out of home, have led to
weakened family, delinquency, cultural breakdown.

1950S-60S Tours of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan lead to worldwide
popularization of Indian music.

1950 India is declared a secular republic. Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru (1947-1964) is determined to abolish caste and industrialize the
nation. Constitution makes Hindi official national language; English
to continue for 15 years; 14 major state languages are recognized.

1951 India's Bharatiya Janata Sangh (BJP) party is founded.

1955 - 6 Indian government enacts social reforms on Hindu marriage,
inheritance, guardianship, adoption, etc

1955 Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), brilliant German physicist, author
of the Theory of Relativity theory, dies. He declared Lord Siva
Nataraja the best metaphor for the workings of the universe.

1956 India's government reorganizes states according to linguistic
principles and inaugurates second Five-Year Plan.

1956 Swami Satchidananda makes first visit to America.

1957 Sivaya Subramuniyaswami founds Himalayan Academy in San Francisco
opens there the United State's first Hindu temple.

1959 Dalai Lama flees Tibet and finds refuge in North India as China
invades his Buddhist nation.

1959 The transistor makes computers smaller and faster than prototypes
like the 51-foot-long, 8-foot high Mark I, containing I-million parts
and 500 miles of wire, invented for the US Navy in 1944 by IBM's
Howard Aiken. From the 1960s onward, integrated circuitry and
microprocessors will empower these descendants of the 5,000-year-old
abacus to revolutionize technology.

1960 Since 1930, 5 percent of immigrants to US have been Asians, while
European immigrants have constituted 58 percent.

1960 Border war with China shakes India's nonaligned policy.

1961 India forcibly reclaims Goa, Daman and Diu from the Portuguese.
Goa became a state of India in 1987.

1963 US President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

1963 Hallucinogenic drug culture arises in the US. Hindu gurus decry
the false promise and predict "a chemical chaos."

1964 India's Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu religious
nationalist movement, is founded to counter secularism.

1964 Rock group, the Beatles, practice Transcendental Meditation (TM),
bringing fame to Maharshi Mahesh Yogi.

1965 US immigration law cancels racial qualifications and restores
naturalization rights. Admits 170,000 Asians yearly.

1966 Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, becomes prime
minister of India, world's largest democracy, succeeding Lal Bahadur
Sastri who took office after Nehru's death in 1964.

1968 US civil rights leader Martin Luther King is assassinated.

1969 US astronaut Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon.

1970 Kauai Aadheenam, site of Kadavul Hindu Temple, Saiva Siddhanta
Church headquarters and San Marga Sanctuary, is founded February 5 on
Hawaii's Garden Island by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami.

1971 Rebellion in East Pakistan (formerly Bengal). Ten million
Bengalis, mainly Hindus, flee to India. Indo-Pak border clashes
escalate to war. India defeats West Pakistan. East Pakistan becomes
independent Bangladesh.

1972 A Historical Atlas of South Asia is produced by Joseph E.
Schwartzberg, Siva G. Bajpai, Raj B. Mathur, et al.

1972 Muslim dictator Idi Amin expels Indians from Uganda.

1973 Neem Karoli Baba, Hindu mystic and siddha, dies.

1974 India detonates a "nuclear device."

1974 Watergate scandal. US President Nixon resigns.

1975 Netherlands gives independence to Dutch Guyana, which becomes
Surinam; one third of Hindus (descendants of Indian plantation
workers) emigrate to Netherlands for better social and economic
conditions.

1977 One hundred thousand Tamil Hindu tea-pickers expatriated from Sri
Lanka are shipped to Chennai, South India.

1979 Sivaya Subramuniyaswami founds HINDUISM TODAY international
journal to promote Hindu solidarity.

1980 Two million attend grand South Indian counterpart to Kumbha Mela
of Prayag, the Mahamagham festival, held every 12 years in Kumbhakonam
on the river Kaveri.

1981 India is home to half the world's cattle: 8 cows for every 10
Indians.

1981 Deadly AIDS disease is conclusively identified.

1981 First Bharata natyam dance in a temple since 1947 Christian-
British ban on Devadasis is held at Chidambaram; 100,000 attend the
performance arranged by Sivaya Subramuniyaswami.

1983 Violence between Hindu Tamils and Buddhist Singhalese in Sri
Lanka marks beginning of Tamil rebellion by Tiger Freedom Fighters
demanding an independent nation called Eelam. Prolonged civil war
results.

1984 Balasarasvati, eminent classical Karnatic singer and Bharata
natyam dancer of worldwide acclaim, dies.

1984 Since 1980, Asians have made up 48 percent of immigrants to the
US, with the European portion shrinking to 12 percent.

1984 Indian soldiers under orders from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
storm Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar and crush rebellion. She is
assassinated this year by her Sikh bodyguards in retaliation. Her son
Rajiv takes office.

1986 Swami Satchidananda dedicates Light of Truth Universal Shrine
(LOTUS) at Yogaville in Virginia, USA.

1986 Jiddu Krishnamurti, anti-guru guru, quasi-existentialist
philosophical Indian lecturer and author, dies.

1986 Delhi's World Religious Parliament bestows title Jagadacharya,
"World Teacher," on five spiritual leaders for their efforts in
promoting Hinduism outside India: Swami Chinmayananda (Mumbai);
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (Hawaii); Yogiraj Amrit Desai
(Pennsylvania); Pandit Tej Ramji Sharma (Kathmandu); Swami Jagpurnadas
Maharaj (Mauritius).

1987 Coup by Col. S. Rabuka, a Methodist, deposes Fiji's Indian-
dominated government; 1990 constitution guarantees political majority
to ethnic (mostly Christian) Fijians.

1988 General Ershad declares Islam the state religion of Bangladesh,
outraging the 12-million (11 percent) Hindu population.

1988 US allows annual influx of 270,000 Asian immigrants.

1988 First Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on
Human Survival is held at Oxford University, England. Hindus discuss
international cooperation with 100 religious leaders and 100
parliamentarians.

1989 Christians spend US%165 million yearly to convert Hindus.

1989 The Berlin Wall is taken down November 9. Germany is reunited
October 3, 1990. Warsaw Pact is dissolved.

1990 Under its new democratic constitution, Nepal remains the world's
only country with Hinduism as the state religion.

1990 300,000 Hindus flee Muslim persecution in Kashmir Valley. Armed
militancy begins struggle to end Indian rule and merge with Pakistan
as a purely Islamic region. More than 25,000 people are killed over
the next 12 years.

1990 Foundation stones are laid in Ayodhya (near Babri Masjid) for new
temple at birthplace of Lord Rama, as Hindu nationalism rises.

1990 Vatican condemns Eastern mysticism as false doctrine in letter by
Cardinal Ratzinger approved by Pope John Paul II, to purge Catholic
monasteries, convents and clergy of involvement with Eastern
meditation, yoga and Zen.

1990 Co-sponsored by the Supreme Soviet, Second Global Forum of
Spiritual Leaders and Parliamentarians for Human Survival, in Moscow,
gives stage for Hindu thinking. Sringeri sannyasin Swami Paramananda
Bharati concludes Forum with Vedic peace prayer in Kremlin Hall,
leading 2,500 world leaders in chanting Aum three times.

1990 Communist leadership of USSR collapses, to be replaced by 12
independent democratic nations.

1991 Hindu Renaissance Award is established by HINDUISM TODAY and
awarded to Swami Paramananda Bharati of Sringeri Matha as "1990 Hindu
of the Year."

1991 Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated in May.

1991 Indian tribals, adivasis 45 million strong.

1991 In Bangalore, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami commissions
architect Sri V. Ganapati Sthapati to carve the Chola-style, white-
granite, Iraivan Temple, a project guided by Sri Sri Sri Trichy Swami
and Sri Sri Balagangadharanathaswami. When shipped to Kauai, Hawaii,
Iraivan will be the West's first all-stone Agamic temple.

1992 Swami Chidananda Saraswati, head of Parmarth Niketan Trust, is
named 1991 Hindu of the Year for his Encyclopedia of Hinduism project.

1992 World population reaches 5.2 billion; 17 percent, or 895 million,
live in India. Of these, 85 percent, or 760 million, are Hindu.

1992 Third Global Forum of Spiritual Leaders and Parliamentarians
meets in Rio de Janeiro in conjunction with Earth Summit (UNCED).
Hindu views of environment and values inform 70,000 delegates planning
global future.

1992 Hindu radicals demolish Babri Masjid built in 1548 on Rama's
birthplace in Ayodhya by Muslim conqueror Babur after he destroyed a
Hindu temple marking the site. The monument was a central icon of
Hindu grievances against Muslim destruction of 60,000 temples.

1993 Swami Chinmayananda is named 1992 Hindu of the Year, for lifetime
of dynamic service to Sanatana Dharma worldwide - attains mahasamadhi
July 26, at age 77.

1993 Swami Brahmananda Sarasvati, renowned yoga scholar, and Swami
Vishnu-devananda, author of world's most popular manual on hatha yoga,
reach parinirvana.

1993 Chicago's centenary Parliament of the World's Religions convenes
in September. Presidents' Assembly, 25 world-faith representatives,
forms to perpetuate the effort.

1994 Harvard University study identifies over 800 Hindu temples open
for worship in the United States.

1994 Mata Amritanandamayi (1953 - ) charismatic woman saint of Kerala,
is named 1993 Hindu of the Year.

1994 All India pays homage to Kanchi's beloved peripatetic tapasvin
sage, Srila Sri Sankaracharya Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, who passes
away January 7, during his 100th year.

1994 Hindu Heritage Endowment, first Hindu international trust, is
founded by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami.

1995 January 30: 45 million gather at Prayag festival, world's largest
gathering.

1995 Sri Swami Satchidananda named 1994 Hindu of the Year.

1995 August: National seminar of 43 Indian historians and
archeologists fixes "the date of Bharata War at 3139-38 bce to be the
true 'sheet anchor' of Indian chronology."

1995 September: India's Supreme Court declares that Ramakrishna
Mission is Hindu, overturning its 1980 petition for legal status as a
non-Hindu minority religion.

1995 September: the Milk Miracle: for 24 hours, Lord Ganesha icons,
first in India, then in nearly every country where Hindus reside, sip
milk, offered with a spoon by devotees. Tens of millions flock to
temples. Delhi's vast stocks of milk, a million liters, is sold out
within hours.

1995 October: World Hindu Conference convenes in South Africa.
President Nelson Mandela attends.

1996 Sri Pramukh Swami Maharaj is named Hindu of the Year for 1995,
when he founded massive temple in London.

1996 One-third (700,000) of Sri Lanka's Tamils have scattered globally
as 13-year-old civil war continues.

1997 Sri Satya Sai Baba is named 1996 Hindu of the Year.

1997 Sastri Pandurang Athavale, 76, wins the Uus$1.21-million
Templeton Prize for his movement of bringing nearness to God to
India's downtrodden.

1998 Sri Chinmoy is named 1997 Hindu of the Year.

1998 Fiji's new constitution helps abolish racial discrimination. In a
unifying move, after 28 years of infighting, all Fijians, including
Indians, Chinese and Europeans, will all now officially be known as
Fiji Islanders.

1998 December 20: B.V. Raman, whom fellow astrologer K.N. Rao called
the greatest teacher of astrology in 400 years, dies at 86. Editor of
Astrological Magazine since 1936, he challenged the trend of his
countrymen to blindly adopt foreign values and reject India's own
traditions, especially astrology.

1998 December 26: Sri Ram Swarup, born in 1920, renaissance seer,
founder of Voice of India, among 20th century's most influential Hindu
thinkers, makes his transition.

1998 Maneka Gandhi, writer and environmentalist, widow of Sanjay
Gandhi, who presents weekly TV shows in India, breaks ground for
animal rights in August, inaugurating the Mysore chapter of People for
Animals, boldly speaking against ritual sacrifice as barbaric and
uncivilized.

1998 Sri Swami Buaji Maharaj, at 109, is named 1998 Hindu of the Year.

1999 TERI, a think tank for sustainable development, warns of India's
massive environmental degradation since 1947. Activists seek to stop
hazardous dam projects and teach principles of eco-ethics, eco-culture
and eco-dharma through such programs as the Badrinatha reforestation
project.

1999 India's sacred art of painting is honored as senior masters like
B.G. Sharma and Sri Indra Sharma, publish color large-format books of
their life work.

1999 Christian campaigns gain force in India to convert the most
"unreached nucleus of people in the world." Hindu resentment erupts in
sporadic violence.

1999 In Kashmir, massacres of Hindus by Muslim insurgents are so
common that they attract attention only when large numbers die.

1999 With the waning of rationalism and of Christianity, Paganism
experiences a renaissance in Europe as people return to the old Gods,
reestablish pre-Christian holy sites and practice the faith openly.

1999 Hindu awareness and anti-defamation groups begin speaking out as
never before, against insults to Hindu traditions and sensibilities,
such as the use of Deity images by shoe manufacturers.

1999 Educators for nonviolent child-rearing, such as Kris Bhat, author
of Guide to Indo-American Parenting, are offering viable alternatives
to corporal punishment; while principalities gradually ban hitting
children in schools.

1999 Just outside Washington, D.C., in Lanham, Maryland, Hindus throng
to celebrate the consecration of large Murugan temple.

1999 India's ruling party is the BJP, the most prominent member of the
Sangh Pariwar, a network of organizations ideologically affiliated
with the large Hindu activist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS).

1999 August 28: the foundation is poured for the Iraivan Temple in
Hawaii, using a revolutionary "fly-ash" concrete mix designed to last
1,000 years.

1999 October 26: respected meditation guru, author and philosoper Sri
Eknath Eswaran, founder of Blue Mountain Center, passes away at age
88.

1999 Pope John Paul II visits India and unwittingly galvanizes
opposition to Christian conversion efforts by openly stating that the
Church's sole mission in India is the conversion of all Hindus.

1999 Ma Yoga Shakti, 73, one of the first global yoga teachers, is
named Hindu of the Year 1999, as a pioneer in bringing India's ancient
wisdom to the world.

2000 January 1: India's version of the Statue of Liberty - a majestic
133-foot-tall granite statue of Saint Tiruvalluvar, author of the
ethical masterpiece, Tirukural - is unveiled at the southernmost tip
of the continent.

2000 The traditional garb of Hindu men, once disdained and all but
abandoned, is making a splash in social circles through the efforts of
trendy designers.

2000 The well-prepared-for Y2K computer disaster, feared to wreak
havoc at midnight of the millennium, passes with virtually no
incident. Other millennium doomsday fears also fade into oblivion.

2000 Dozens of South Asian women's organizations are now established
across America to help victims of the global problem of domestic
violence.

2000 Devotees of charismatic Indira Bettiji Goswami (Jiji) flock to
Baroda to celebrate opening of palatial Sri Nathji temple, Manjalpur
Mandir, in June.

2000 August 25: Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami receives the U Thant
Peace Award from The Peace Meditation at the United Nations and
addresses 1,200 spiritual leaders gathered for the UN Millennium Peace
Summit with the message, "For peace in the world, stop the war in the
home."

2000 October 29: massive cyclone rips through Orissa, leaving 20
million homeless, killing 20,000 people and 700,000 cattle.
Swaminarayan Fellowship sadhus are instrumental in relief efforts in
the devastated Indian state.

2000 Youth Symposium in Mauritius highlights typical concerns that
Hindu youth are everywhere gathering to discuss: rituals, marriage,
Hindu identity, Western influence, parental pressure and community
service.

2000 Sri Lanka's Hindu diaspora has established strong, practicing
religious communities around the globe, particularly in Europe and
Canada. Thousands worship in dozens of temples and publicly celebrate
grand festival processions in municipal streets.

2000 Kenya-born Mansukh Patel of the Netherlands, with a following
across Europe, exemplifies a new breed of teachers of Dharma, reaching
out with a message of compassion, courage and self-dependence rooted
in tradition.

2000 Indian archeologists agree to help Vietnam restore the famous
seventh-century Hindu Cham temples damaged and neglected during years
of war. UNESCO declares them a World Heritage Site.

2000 Since 1900, 75 percent of Earth's crop plant varieties have been
lost; thousands of species of birds, mammals, fish and invertebrates
face extinction due to the ravaging of Earth by man. "Most biological
systems, which have sustained life on the planet for millions of
years, will collapse some time during the next century," warns the
Union of Concerned Scientists.

2000 Best-selling author and TV celebrity Deepak Chopra, probably the
most famous Indian living in the West, has made the ancient sciences
of ayurveda, yoga and meditation user-friendly to the American
mainstream.

2000 Sri Swami Chidananda Saraswati, venerated, sagely elder President
of the Divine Life Society, is named Hindu of the Year 2000.

2000 Ten million Bangladesh Hindus have fled to India over the last 50
years to escape sustained persecution and periodic riots. Percentage
of Hindus has fallen from 53% in 1872, to 32% in 1900, to 22% in 1947,
to 10% in 2000.

2000 The first crematorium in North America designed to serve the
needs of Sikhs and Hindus is established in Delta, British Columbia,
featuring windows through which up to 2,000 people can watch the body
burn to ashes.

2000 Russia, dominated by the Orthodox Russian Church, bans quasi-
Hindu groups and other minorities as "destructive cults." Black-listed
groups include ISKCON, Ananda Marga and Brahma Kumaris.

2000 Hindu themes, especially karma and reincarnation, are more and
more evident in major motion pictures - like Sixth Sense and
Unbreakable by Indian director M. Night Shyamalan.

2000 Ayurveda, India's holistic healing system, is gaining global
respect, as allopathic medicine fails to fulfill the quest for good
health and relief from illness. Centers are popular all through the
West, and medical pilgrims flock to clinic/resorts in India,
particularly Kerala, for treatment.

2000 December: Delhi's High Court strikes down a provision for
corporal punishment in the Delhi School Education Act, saying it
"violates the constitutional right guaranteeing equality and
protection of life and personal liberty."

2001 January: 70 million, history's largest human gathering, worship
at Kumbha Mela 2001, Allahabad, at the confluence of the Ganga and
Yamuna.

2001 January 22: massive earthquake in Gujarat near Ahmedabad kills
20,000 and damages 7,000 villages. Huge relief and rehabilitation
effort ensues.

2001 At Harvard University, Professor Arvind Sharma launches a
vanguard course, "Common Misconceptions in the Study of Indic
Civilization," to explore misrepresentations held by Western
historians and archeologists.

2001 Popular, dynamic Pontiff Sri Bharati Tirthaswami continues the
resurgence of Sringeri Math, first and foremost of the four cardinal
spiritual centers founded by Adi Sankara in the ninth century.

2001 Among 100,000 Hindu university students in the US, many are
studying, practicing and sharing their faith with others through
chapters of the Hindu Students Council, now established at 56 colleges
and five high schools. Summer-camp intensives are another way students
of the Hindu diaspora learn about their religion and share their
experiences with others.

2001 Sri Sambamurthy Sivachariar is named Hindu of the Year 2001 for a
lifetime of service and leadership as a Saiva temple priest and for
his efforts to overcome problems that lead many Hindu priests
worldwide to leave the priesthood: lack of respect, poor working
conditions and low pay.

2001 April: an unprecedented conference of US ayurvedic schools,
practioners and enthusiasts convened by the California Association of
Ayurvedic Medicine, founded in 1998, is lauded as "the real birth of
ayurveda in the West."

2001 June 2: His Majesty King Birendra and most of Nepal's royal
family are murdered, gunned down in the royal palace by the king's
oldest son, Crown Prince Dipendra. The king's brother, Prince
Gyanendra, is crowned king.

2001 July 22: The VHP's Hindu Sangam Cultural Festival in Milpitas,
California, draws 15,000, the largest Hindu gathering ever held on the
West Coast.

2001 Hindu websites proliferate on the Internet for ashrams, schools,
resources and temples, where you can even sponsor and attend pujas
online. This and CD technology also boosts accessibility and
popularity of Indian music. Hindu leaders and devotees worldwide now
communicate easily via e-mail.

2001 Vastuvidya, Vedic architecture, is in renaissance, with interest
and support on many fronts, including Kerala's Vastuvidya Gurukulam at
Aranmula.

2001 August: Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, six assisting monks and 65
students board the MS Amsterdam for "2001 Northern European and
Russian Innersearch," Gurudeva's 19th travel-study program since 1967.

2001 HINDUISM TODAY magazine inaugurates Hindu Press International
(HPI), providing daily news on Hindu events freely by e-mail and on
the Internet.

2001 Studies at Dholavira help to further dispel the "Aryan Invasion"
theory, even among diehard believers. The latest Indus Valley site
discovered, this well-planned city of 250 acres near the Indo-Pakistan
border reveals no evidence of such an invasion.

2001 Hindu religious television channels are established in India,
broadcasting presentations by gifted preachers like Morari Bapu all
over the nation. Newspapers and magazines are running regular articles
on Hindu concepts.

2001 The first Hindu prime minister of Trinidad, Paras Ramoutar, is
sworn into his second term, holding his hand not on the Bible, but the
Bhagavad Gita.

2001 September 11: Two jetliners, hijacked by Muslim terrorists,
destroy the World Trade Center, killing nearly 3,000 in a devastating
blow to US economy and morale. A third plane cripples the Pentagon.
The US and allies pulverize the Taliban/Al Qaeda network in
Afghanistan. Hindus and other East Asians in the US are victimized in
sporadic anti-Muslim backlash.

2001 November 12: beloved Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyswami, author of
this book, passes away, leaving a half-century legacy of work that
sparked a Hindu renaissance and a global fellowship led by a monastic
order from six nations to continue his vision. His appointed
successor, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, ascends the Pitham in
Hawaii.

2001 Newsweek reports on a new scientific field, neuro-theology, which
theorizes that the area of the brain governing self-identity quiets
down during meditation, leaving the perception of being "one with all
of creation."

2002 February 27: 54 Hindus in Godhra, mostly women and children, are
massacred by armed Muslims. Vicious riots across Gujarat leave 1,000
dead and 100,000 Muslims in refugee camps. The Hindu ideal of
nonviolence faces the acid test as leaders divide on condemning or
condoning the carnage.

2002 Efforts by Hindus to build new Rama Temple at Ayodhya are
increased, exacerbating tensions with Muslims who also revere the
site.

2002 Dada J. P. Vaswani, spiritual head of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission
in Pune, is named 2002 Hindu of the Year for an exemplary lifetime of
spreading the dharma through eloquent oratory, soul-stirring
publications and a loving, saintly presence that transcends race,
creed, politics and nationality.

2002 Hinduism continues to get stronger in most countries of the old
diaspora: Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad, Mauritius and Malaysia; and migrant
communities from these lands - like the Suriname Hindus to Holland and
Guyanese to New York - are maintaining their faith and identity.

2002 Sanskrit studies gain popularity in the West, and in India at
institutions like the Sanskrit Sansthan of Uttar Pradesh, which offers
Vedic courses on yajna, samskaras, puja and jyotisha to young adults
in 60 centers .

2002 Millions of visitors to New York City are learning the ways of
Hindu worship in temple, home and village from Stephen Huyler's other-
worldly exhibit, "Meeting God," at the American Museum of Natural
History.

2002 June 12: Six Hindus participate in the World Council of Religious
Leaders in Bangkok, forming a charter emphasizing their role in
working with the UN to mitigate global conflicts and working locally
to ease poverty, preserve the environment and break down religious
barriers.

2002 June 13: Prabhushri Swami Amar Jyoti, 73, founder of four Jyoti
Ashrams in the US and India, attains mahasamadhi.

2002 Gallop Poll: 25 percent of all Americans believe in
reincarnation.

2002 August 21: Swami Satchidananda, founder of Integral Yoga
Institute and Light of Truth Universal Shrine in Virginia, attains
mahasamadhi at age 87.

2002 In a new trend, Christian activists in the West are opposing the
teaching of yoga and meditation in schools because of their basis in
Eastern religion.

2002 Survey of youth in Holland, home to 80,000 Hindus, reveals a poor
knowledge of Hinduism and a decided leaning away from old traditions,
though 90 percent did affirm that Hindus should be proud of their
religion.

2002 The VHP establishes the Veda Vidya Peetham in Panjal, Kerala, to
allow five elders, among the last living experts of the Jaiminiya Sama
Veda tradition, to teach this unique system of Sanskrit chanting to
young students.

2002 Following a global trend to bolster Hinduism's declining
priesthood by accepting non-brahmins, 57 non-brahmin men and boys
receive the sacred thread ceremony and commence training in
Nandipulam, Kerala.

2002 Havana, fire ritual, is popular in the diaspora, especially Shri
Maha Rudra Yajna, with communities gathering en masse to chant Shri
Rudram.

2002 HINDUISM TODAY publishes "Medical Ethics," an article presenting
for the first time a summary of Hindu ayurvedic perspectives on end-of-
life issues, birth issues and other medical concerns facing modern
man.

2002 The Malaysia Hindu Sangam seeks to inspire local temples to
conduct discourses, social service programs and religious classes,
echoing a global concern over the dearth of Hindu education for youth.
Christian evangelism, suicide, conversion to Islam, discrimination and
poverty are dire problems Hindus face in this Islamic nation.

2002 The Tamil Nadu state government begins Sunday spiritual classes
in 63 Hindu shrines to teach children sacred songs and scripture.

2002 The Comprehensive Oxford Dictionary, the most authoritative
dictionary of the English language, adds 600 new Indian entries to its
20-volume tenth edition, such as Hindutva, panchayat, puri and dosa.

2002 Hindu Megatrends 2002: Updating its 1989 analysis, HINDUISM TODAY
cites nine megatrends: 1) from Hindu meekness to Hindu pride; 2) from
village awareness to global awareness; 3) from East only to both East
and West; 4) from a spiritual leadership of men only , to men and
women; 5) from temple decline to renovation; 6) from introversion to
extroversion; 7) from limited tools to abundant resources; 8) from
colony to superpower; 9) from the agricultural to the technological
era; 10) from major blows to fewer setbacks.

2050 Arnold Toynbee (1889 - 1975) predicted that in 2000 the West will
still dominate Earth, but in the 21st century India will conquer her
conquerors. Religion worldwide will regain its earlier importance, and
world events will return to the East where civilization originated.

2094 Will Durant foretold in The Story of Civilization, "India will
teach us the tolerance and gentleness of mature mind, understanding
spirit and a unifying, pacifying love for all human beings."

http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/dws/dws_r6_timeline.html

Sid Harth

unread,

Feb 20, 2010, 4:10:10 PM2/20/10

By Sid Harth on Wednesday, December 15, 1999 - 03:15 pm:

Deccan Chronicle editorial called my good brother, the prime minister
of India, a saffron sovereign nation of gullible and gully bullies and
bulls like Lallu the criminal kallu, Lal Kishen Advani, the home
minister, a 'prevaricator,' in my language it spells as a goddamned
liar.

By the way for those who are Hindi/Sanskrit challenged NRI kids the
word "Yoddha," in Sanskrit means warrior. Is Atal the fascist fatal,
saffron petulant, pugilist petal putting his foot down on Lallu the
criminal kallu's activities? Hard to say.

The red face of Atal has nothing to do with the declared intent of the
saffron tenterhooks of the saffron simians crooks, cooks and cookie
monsters. It is not the case of some red powder liberally applied to
the saffron monkeys' foreheads, mostly empty and devoid of any higher
intellectual input as well as output being running down in the
political heat of India.

Poor Atal was forced to lay his Ayodhya Rama temple government policy
down where it belonged, in the future history books as fascist
nightmare, not a sweet dream as in foreseeable future, as long as
Chandra Babu Naidu is insisting that no saffron monkeys are to disturb
the peace and tranquility of the nation with their shenanigans, Rama
temple conspiracy shall remain so, in gutter.

RSS Mafia is so secretive that outside of few Zandewalan rascals the
central dogma of this heinous Hindu, Brahmin Mafia no one can tell
what goes on as far as future terroristic plans or the stated and
restated current terroristic projects such as Rama temple at Ayodhya.

The breaking news such as this is the only gauge to find out who in
that fascist outfit is winning or who is losing. The hard-liners and
headliners such as Lallu and Murli have been pronouncing the coming of
Hindu Ramarajya, an utopian Brahmin empire thru the messengers
spreading their prophecies. Shall these shallow and callow, maybe
callous cabal to be taken seriously?

Since when these saffron terrorists ever told the truth? These rascals
are out and about creating phony baloney discoveries, for instance
that idiot, Dr. David Frawley's Aryan Invasion Theory scandal sheet,
perhaps, •••• being pushed as the Rosetta stone of a discovery. No
wonder these idiot Hindus worship cow, bull, snake, rat, and such
creatures.

Atal has been denied the freedom to administer the country that he
loves and adores. As I keep on saying, Atal is merely a poster boy for
the fascists and real decisions come from Zandewalan Devil's
dormitory. Being the prime minister of a country does not make Atal
any different than a typical •••• shoveling Swayamsevak, down and
dirty common criminal. We see them hanging around the newsgroups
throwing their fascist fits, yeah, fists, them too.

The democracy of this kind where the title of the prime minister
becomes titular, mere token as the main man Rajendra "Rajju Bhaiya"
Singh, that Mafia chief monkey has all the keys to the safe boxes,
strong boxes, and bunch of feces fascist foxes run around doing his
bidding.

This crass display of helplessness shown by Atal is of any indication
for the future instances of red faces, red ••••• and anything in
between which turns red, as the bodies in Kannur, Kerala where these
RSS rascals, rogues and ruffians are hacking their commie brothers to
death coloring the verdant Kerala landscape into a "Moulin Rouge,"
more damaging confessions may become a daily grind.

Thanks to the BBC and Deccan Chronicle dated December 15, 1999.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_565000/565098.stm
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec15/lead.htm
http://www.deccan.com/covermain.html
http://www.deccan.com/editpg.html

Sid Harth..."Saffron simians are here to stay and their shenanigans,
antics, monkey business, organ grinder, Rajju and his monkey, Atal
kind of shows are the only entertainment allowed."
--
http://www.comebackkid.com/

http://hindustan.net/discus/messages/56/1537.html?974308665

and/or www.mantra.com/jai

unread,

Feb 20, 2010, 4:20:36 PM2/20/10

Forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman

Corrupted Indian media

Thursday, February 18, 2010

S. Kalyanaraman

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/18/stories/2010021852821000.h

Advertising, Bollywood, Corporate power

P. Sainath
Thursday, February 18, 2010

If what we've watched on critical issues these past weeks is
expression, we're through scraping the barrel. We're drilling holes
in its bottom.

End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

Since newsgroup posts are being removed
by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
this post may be reposted several times.

harmony

unread,

Feb 22, 2010, 4:16:20 PM2/22/10

perhaps it is time to acknowledge publicly with a sense of inevitability
that indians are and will remain corrupt for a long time to come.
such confession would help see thr' the media with a sense of realism and
comfortably.
so i urge all political parties to gather together at rajghat and say india
is corrupt, buyers beware.

<use...@mantra.com and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr. Jai Maharaj)> wrote in
message news:20100220Hs11e70QMFXwfag9UIUb6nf@NZ85b...

and/or www.mantra.com/jai

unread,

Feb 22, 2010, 9:10:04 PM2/22/10

The 2009 corruption rankings for 180 countries in the World Democracy Audit:

http://www.worldaudit.org/corruption.htm

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

In article <4b82f426$0$12421$bbae...@news.suddenlink.net>,
"harmony" <a...@hotmail.com> posted:

>
> perhaps it is time to acknowledge publicly with a sense of inevitability
> that indians are and will remain corrupt for a long time to come.
> such confession would help see thr' the media with a sense of realism and
> comfortably.
> so i urge all political parties to gather together at rajghat and say india
> is corrupt, buyers beware.

> Dr. Jai Maharaj posted:

bademiyansubhanallah

unread,

Feb 23, 2010, 3:15:36 AM2/23/10

We are alive to situation over Telangana : PM Manmohan

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said the government understood
the situation in Andhra Pradesh over the Telangana issue and would
deal with the problem appropriately.He conveyed this to a group of 11
Congress Lok Sabha members from Telangana who met him in Parliament
House and sought stopping of police repression on students on the
Osmania University campus, withdrawal of cases filed against them and
an early solution to the issue as the people were pressuring the
elected representatives to quit their posts.

The MPs expressed their disappointment over non-mention of the
Telangana issue in the President’s address to Parliament.According to
the Peddapalli MP, G. Vivekanand, Dr. Singh said: “I can understand
the situation in Telangana. We will deal with the situation.”Concern
over deaths.Madhu Yaski (Nizamabad) said Dr. Singh told them that the
government was working out a solution and also expressed concern over
the deaths of people during the agitation.

Earlier, during the President’s address, some Telangana MPs wore black
shirts and waved placards — which read “Jai Telangana, Jai Congress” —
demanding the creation of a separate State. They staged a protest near
the Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex and mourned student
Yadaiah, who immolated himself recently in Hyderabad pressing for a
separate State.The MPs claimed that after the President’s address they
observed a two-minute silence in the Central Hall in memory of those
who laid down their lives for the cause of Telangana.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said it was not
necessary for the President to comment on every issue. Non-mention of
an issue did not mean it had been left out of the policy of the
government and the Cabinet.He denied that the government was not
according priority to the Telangana issue. “It has got so much
priority that it has now gone on the process of a committee.”

http://www.teluguwave.net/news/india-news-political-news-regional-news-sports-news-internationalnews/we-are-alive-to-situation-over-telangana-pm-manmohan/

Christian group demands jobs, protection for riot victims

By IANS
February 23rd, 2010

BHUBANESWAR - A Christian group Tuesday demanded adequate jobs and
protection for riot victims in Orissa’s Kandhamal district where at
least 38 people were killed during communal violence in 2008.

“Hundreds of riot victims continue to live under fear as justice
eluded them,” Sajan K. George, president of Bangalore-based Global
Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), told reporters here.

Although the district officials denied the claims and said adequate
steps have been taken to rehabilitate the victims and to ensure their
security, George said he has come across a large number of cases and
found that no jobs were given to many of the victims.

Citing examples he alleged that people living in at least 14 villages
have no means of livelihood and their children are not able to go to
schools due to fear.

“The people living in 14 villages from Bakinga to Behragao Khari Sahi
have no means of livelihood. No jobs were given to them. Their
children are not able to go to school fearing safety,” George said.

“GCIC demands the government ensure employment to all the victims
under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and protection to
their families,” he said.

“Though the riot victims had filed 3,232 complaints in different
police stations in Kandhamal district, only 832 cases were registered;
while 89 people were convicted, 251 were acquitted due to lack of
evidence,” he said.

“A special investigation team under National Human Rights Commission
should investigate the role of the district officials including the
collector, block and tehsil officers,” he said.

“It is strange that officers in whose presence the violence took place
and thousands of houses were burnt are still in office and are
declaring that there is peace in the district,” he said.

Kandhamal, about 200 km from here, witnessed widespread violence after
the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda
Saraswati and four of his aides at his ashram Aug 23, 2008.

More than 25,000 Christians were forced to flee their homes after
their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs, which held Christians
responsible for Saraswati’s killing, although police blamed the
Maoists.

http://blog.taragana.com/law/2010/02/23/christian-group-demands-jobs-protection-for-riot-victims-20376/

LS, RS adjourned over price rise
TNN, Feb 23, 2010, 11.29am IST

Both houses of Parliament adjourned over price riseNEW DELHI: Both the
houses of the Parliament were adjourned on Tuesday, the second day of
the budget session, as the opposition parties cornered the ruling UPA
over price rise.

With opposition sticking to its demand, there was an uproar in Lok
Sabha with government insisting that the problem of price rise was
"more a failure" of the state governments than the Centre.

Meira Kumar adjourned the house till noon after opposition MPs
including those from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Rashtriya
Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) demanded that their
adjournment motion be accepted and all other businesses of the house
postponed to discuss the skyrocketing prices of essential
commodities.

The house witnessed noisy scenes soon after the speaker introduced
Sushma Swaraj of the BJP as the new Leader of Opposition welcoming
her.

"I extend warm welcome to her," she said.

Meira Kumar also thanked former leader of the opposition L.K. Advani
for his support in running the house.

Swaraj returned the compliment to the speaker but said she was
compelled to move an adjournment motion "because the government has
been sleeping over the price rise issue".

"I am sorry but the people are suffering. We want discussion on top
priority basis. All the businesses should be delayed. The price rise
is the most important issue," Swaraj said.

"Please accept my adjournment motion. We will allow the house to
function but price rise should be discussed first."

Other opposition members shouted slogans against the government
forcing the speaker to adjourn the house.

Earlier, BJP had insisted on bringing an adjournment motion in the Lok
Sabha to discuss the issue of price rise as previous debates have
yielded no results.

"We want to bring an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha on the
burning issue of price rise. Previous debates under Rule 193 (short
duration discussion) have yielded no results," party's Deputy Leader
in the Lower House Gopinath Munde told reporters here after the
Parliamentary Party's meeting this morning.

The BJP had already given a notice for adjournment motion and said the
government should not make it an ego issue.

A discussion under an adjournment motion entails voting. Similarly in
Rajya Sabha, BJP wanted a debate on price rise under Rule 167 which
allows voting.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/LS-RS-adjourned-till-noon-over-price-rise/articleshow/5606299.cms

BJP MLA & son face arrest in land-grabbing case
Nikunj Soni / DNA
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:30 IST

Ahmedabad: Babu Jamana Patel, a powerful MLA of the BJP, is likely to
face arrest in an alleged land grabbing case. In a recent hearing in
Gujarat high court, the state government has shown willingness to
arrest and interrogate Babu.

One Pravin Patel had earlier lodged a complaint against Babu Patel,
his son Ketan and their accomplices after Pravin and his family
members were beaten up in 2008 by men allegedly hired by the MLA.

The dispute was over a land owned by Pravin in Nidhrad village in
Sanand. Pravin has alleged that the MLA was threatening him in
connection with some inter-connected cases of land grabbing in Ambli
and Nidhrad village of Sanand.

He has also alleged that the MLA and his henchmen have tried to grab
lands in Ambli and Nidhrad using fake documents and creating legal
disputes. However, during the investigation, which was first carried
out by the Sanand police and then state CID, the charge-sheet did not
make a mention of the MLA and his son.

Pravin then moved an application for further investigation under
various charges, which was granted by the court. But when the MLA got
an anticipatory bail from the Ahmedabad rural court, he challenged it
in the high court.

During the hearing in the high court, Devang Vyas, assistant public
prosecutor appearing for the state, supported the petition moved by
Pravin.

Vyas submitted that the state supported the petition with the
submission that Babu and his son were indeed required to be arrested
and subjected to custodial interrogation, so as to bring out full
facts of the case and unearth the missing links in the case.

He further said that the state had not moved the court for
cancellation of anticipatory bail, but had proposed to make an
appropriate application for their police custody.

On the other hand, counsels on behalf of the MLA and his son said that
Pravin was unduly expanding the scope of investigation as an after-
thought to harass and malign Babu and his son. After the hearing,
justice DH Waghela upheld the order of the lower court for further
investigation as sought by the state.

It should be noted that Pravin has also moved a petition in the high
court seeking investigation by the CBI in the case

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_bjp-mla-and-son-face-arrest-in-land-grabbing-case_1351444

SC directs AP govt to furnish proof on involvement of Maoists
PTI
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 12:08 IST

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today directed the Andhra Pradesh
government to furnish "proof" of the reported intelligence inputs to
establish that Maoists have infiltrated the Osmania University, the
hotbed of the ongoing Telangana agitation.

"Where is the input of the infiltration inside the campus? What is the
proof available? We would like to have it," a bench of justice GS
Singhvi and justice Asok Kumar Ganguly observed while passing the
direction.

The apex court posted the matter for further hearing for February 25
after senior counsel Harish Salve said inputs would be furnished
before the bench either tomorrow or the day after.

The apex court passed the direction after Salve repeated the state's
arguments that deployment of paramilitary forces was indispensable as
the movement is instigated by the Maoists.

The bench also extended till February 25 the stay imposed on the AP
high court order directing withdrawal of the paramilitary forces from
the university campus.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sc-directs-ap-govt-to-furnish-proof-on-involvement-of-maoists_1351468

Maoists should not lay pre-conditions for talks: Chidambaram
PTI
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:14 IST
Last updated: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 12:04 IST

New Delhi: Responding to the ceasefire offer by Maoists, the
government today made it clear that it will not accept any pre-
conditions for talks with "ifs and buts" and asked the militants to
come out with a simple statement saying they will abjure violence.

"I would like no ifs, no buts and no conditions," home minister P
Chidambaram said in a statement, a day after the CPI(Maoists) made a
conditional ceasefire offer asking the government to halt the
offensive against them for 72 days and involve mediators for talks.

He said the government has seen many versions of a statement by the
leaders of the CPI (Maoist). "In the absence of an authentic
statement, Government is unable to respond to these versions," the
statement said.

Nevertheless, in order to clear the air, the home minister said, "I
would like a short, simple statement from the CPI (Maoist) saying 'We
will abjure violence and we are prepared for talks'".

Chidambaram said he would like the statement to be faxed to home
ministry number 011-23093155.

"Once I receive the statement, I shall consult the prime minister and
other colleagues and respond promptly," he said.

Yesterday night, top Maoist leader Kishenji told the media over the
phone from an undisclosed place that "State governments and the Centre
should not indulge in violence between February 25 and May 7 and
concentrate on development of tribal areas which will be reciprocated
by Maoists".

He was responding to Chidamabaram's statement last week that if the
Maoists halted violence for 72 hours, the government would be ready
for talks with them.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_maoists-should-not-lay-pre-conditions-for-talks-chidambaram_1351437

Hours after announcing ceasefire, Maoist attack security camp in West
Midnapore
PTI
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 9:33 IST

Midnapore: Hours after offering a conditional 72-day ceasefire to the
Centre and West Bengal government, Maoists attacked the Kantapahari
camp of the security forces in West Midnapore district, leaving one
person dead.

The attack took place late last night in the Naxalite stronghold of
Kantapahari.

Superintendent of police, Manoj Verma said Maoist-backed People's
Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) members assembled near the
Kantapahari camp of the forces and fired, prompting the jawans to
challenge them.

In the ensuing gunbattle, one person, believed to be a PCPA member,
was killed.

"The PCPA members, with a number of Maoists among them, obviously had
plans to attack the Kantapahari camp but the jawans were alert and
repulsed them," Verma said.

More forces have been despatched to the area.

Unconfirmed reports said the deceased has been identified as Lalmohan
Tudu, a PCPA activist.

The attack came hours after Maoists made a conditional ceasefire offer
asking the government to halt the offensive against them for 72 days
and involve mediators for talks.

"State governments and the Centre should not indulge in violence
between February 25 and May 7 and concentrate on development of tribal
areas which will be reciprocated by Maoists," top Maoist leader
Kishenji said over phone from an undisclosed place.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_hours-after-announcing-ceasefire-maoist-attack-security-camp-in-west-midnapore_1351416

Kobad Ghandy remanded in two-day police custody
PTI
Monday, February 22, 2010 20:45 IST

Patiala: A local court today remanded Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy to
two-day police custody.

Ghandy was brought here by Patiala police on production warrants from
Delhi today in connection with an FIR registered against him on
January 25 at the sadar police station here under Anti National
Prevention Act 2008.

Police has "sufficient details" to prove that the Maoist leader stayed
at Patiala university under a fake name Kishore, SSP RS Khatra said.

The police told the court that they wanted to investigate whether
Ghandy did anything to spread Naxalism in Punjab.

During his brief stay here, Ghandy may have established some hidden
and active links which the police are trying to ascertain, Khatra
said.

"Ghandy had managed to procure an identity card of Punjabi University
here. We are trying to locate his accomplice, Manoj alias Rajesh, who
may also be a member of the banned CPI-Maoist," he said, adding that
the police are investigating if the extremist leader has links with
any student leaders or other staff members of the university.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_kobad-ghandy-remanded-in-two-day-police-custody_1351282

Maoists will now be confronted, warns P Chidambaram
October 7, 2009

Strongly condemning the cold-blooded murder of a cop who was abducted
and killed by the Maoists, Indian Home minister P Chidambaram said the
state governments were geared up to give tit for tat to the Maoists.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_kobad-ghandy-remanded-in-two-day-police-custody_1351282

Villages score when it comes to sex
Ipsita Bhattacharya / DNA
Monday, February 22, 2010 11:32 IST

Bangalore: When it comes to premarital sex, India’s rural youth score
more than their urban counterparts. According to a study done by the
International Institute of Population Sciences, 17% of men in rural
areas engaged in pre-marital sex compared to 10% in cities while four
percent women in rural areas engaged in sex before marriage against
two per cent in cities.

The study, which was released by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and Union
health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday, was conducted in six
states—Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and
Tamil Nadu—between 2006 and 2008, involving over 58,000 youths in the
age group of 15-29 years.

But there also a cause for concern. “Almost all sexually active young
people in both cities and villages had unsafe sex with multiple
partners,” Azad said.

“Data shows more than 8 per cent people below 19 have experimented
with sex,” said Azad. There is also some disturbing statistics that
the study has thrown up. Almost 58% of women surveyed believe that
wife-beating is justified and a huge chunk of this number comes from
southern states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

In Tamil Nadu, 56% accepted wife-beating as a part of life and a
shocking 88% from Andhra Pradesh was okay with it.
The study also found that detailed awareness of contraceptive methods
was limited, particularly among sexually active young women.

“Awareness of HIV/AIDS was limited among sexually experienced youth
with majority of women unaware of it,” the study said.

With agency inputs

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_villages-score-when-it-comes-to-sex_1351016

Young India fails to mix sex and safety
Vineeta Pandey / DNA
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 1:56 IST

New Delhi: More and more Indians may be shedding their inhibitions
about sex and getting more ‘physical’ than generations gone by, but
they seem poor at managing libido and protection together.

Despite huge campaigns focusing on safe sex, a majority of Indians
engage in unprotected sex. Condom use in premarital sexual
relationships is almost non-existent.

According to a study, only 13% of men and 3% of women used condoms
during sex. Intriguingly, most of those who were surveyed were aware
of the benefits of contraception.

The recklessness could have a reason. The study reveals that a large
chunk of the youth surveyed felt uncomfortable buying contraceptives,
including condoms, from a healthcare provider or pharmacy.

The study, Youth In India: Situation And Need, by the Mumbai-based
International Institute of Population Sciences, says that not only
were a substantial number of youngsters getting involved in premarital
romance and sexual relationships, most also indulged in high-risk
sexual behaviour, including having multiple partners and using condoms
inconsistently.

The survey involved 50,848 married and unmarried young men and women.

Incidentally, 25% men had sex with two or more partners while 21%
young women reported multiple partners — all this without using
condoms. But urban young men were more likely than their rural
counterparts to report consistent condom use (21% versus 11%).

Only 43% young men and 59%young women who were sexually experienced
before marriage knew that a woman can get pregnant because of just one
unprotected sexual encounter. This reveals a pathetic level of
awareness about the reproductive system and human anatomy.

This casual and unsafe sex often took place in the shadow of fear as a
majority of young women feared pregnancy or infection at the time of
first or unprotected sex. As many as 62% of unmarried young women
reported fear of both pregnancy and infection, compared to 55% of men.
Condoms and contraceptives became part of the sexual encounters only
at a subsequent stage as the relationship progressed.

Similarly, in-depth awareness of contraceptive methods was limited
among youngsters as 15% men and 39% women did not know that one condom
can be used for only one sexual act. Awareness of HIV/Aids was also
limited among such sexually experienced youth.

The study was commissioned by the Union ministry of health and family
welfare. Its findings break the widespread perception that the youth
in India do not find opportunities to mix and form romantic
relationships and that the incidence of premarital sex is negligible.

It found that 23% of young men and 21% of young women had either been
approached by or had approached a person of the opposite sex for a
romantic liaison and it happened before marriage for many.

The study, for the first time, looked at key transitions experienced
by young people in six states — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu. These states were selected to
represent the different geographic and socio-cultural regions within
the country, and they together represent two-fifths of the country’s
population.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_young-india-fails-to-mix-sex-and-safety_1351405

NDFB militant killed in encounter in Assam
PTI
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:51 IST

GUWAHATI: A militant of the NDFB (Daimary) faction was killed in an
encounter with security forces in lower Assam's Kokrajhar district
today.

The extremist, belonging to the anti-peace talk Ranjan Daimary group,
along with two others exchanged fire with the security forces at
Howraguri Narayanpur, official sources said.

In the encounter, the militant was killed. An AK-56 assault rifle with
five bullets and two magazines were recovered from the slain ultra.
Two other NDFB insurgents fled from the spot.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ndfb-militant-killed-in-encounter-in-assam_1351453

Column
Performance is the watchword for Muslims
Firoz Bakht Ahmed
Monday, February 22, 2010 1:04 IST Email

It agonises people like me who follow the voice of reason and sanity
that the issue of quotas (a non-issue) for Muslims has turned into
such a major point of contention. What is clear however is that the
political establishment is not sincere about the community’s education
and social uplift. It is still treating the
Muslims as a vote bank.

The Congress, which has approached the Supreme Court regarding the
beleaguered minorities’ reservations after the Andhra Pradesh High
Court refused it, is only good at paying lip-service. The Muslims must
accept the fact that for the third consecutive time since 2004, the AP
government’s attempt to provide reservations to the Muslim community
failed judicial scrutiny. Earlier, the high court had quashed the
government order in 2004 and another Act in 2005. West Bengal is
making the same mistake. Salman Khursheed, the minorities affairs
minister ought to know that history has proved time and again that
reservations on communal lines are not in the interest of national
unity and integrity.

For the Congress, the lesson comes from India’s first prime minister
Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru had stated while addressing an important
session of the Constituent Assembly on May 26, 1949: “If you seek to
give safeguards to a minority, you isolate it. Maybe, you protect it
to a slight extent but at what cost — at the cost of isolating and
keeping it away from the main current.”

It would be worth examining also as to what the other founding fathers
say about reservations. While a vote was sought for the charter of
providing political safeguards to the minorities according to articles
292 and 294 of the 1949 draft Constitution, five leaders (all Muslims)
out of seven, namely Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Hifzur Rehman,
Begum Aizaz Rasul, Hussainbhoy Laljee and Tajammul Hussain had voted
against it. Interestingly, Sardar Patel had vehemently supported the
charter.

The problem with this kind of lop-sided reservation is that the real
beneficiaries of reservation may be the economically well-off among
the “backward community” members who generation after generation reap
the benefits at the expense of those who are poor and illiterate.

The minority tag must be shunned by the Muslims. A day after the
reservations bill was passed (August 28, 1947), Maulana Hasrat Mohani,
a member of the Constituent Assembly, had objected to the use of the
word “minority” for Muslims. “I refuse to accept Muslims to be a
minority. Now you say you have done away with this communalism. Are we
not calling a minority to refer only to Muslims? The Muslims refuse to
be called a minority if parties are formed on political line,” he had
stated. Maulana was not allowed to speak further on the subject as the
bill was already discussed and passed. As per this observation, the
Muslims were a minority decades ago but now they are not. In fact,
they are the second majority.However, two years later, Muslims were
removed from the list of reservation beneficiaries while the scheduled
castes have been receiving these benefits.

The process of reservation will hardly solve the community’s problems.
It is divided into umpteen castes and sub-castes, a system Muslims
have borrowed from the Hindus. Muslims have four major caste
divisions: Ashraf at the top (Syed, Sheikh, Mughal and Pathan), Atraj,
the second rung (Rajput, Tyagi, Thakur, Jaat), Azrab, the third rung
(Julahe, Kunjre, Darzi, Mirasi, Qasab, Naiee, Mahigir etc), and Azlab,
at the lowest rung (Halalkhor, Chamar and Lalbezi).

However, there is a way out of reservations. Let the Centre as well as
the states institute financial aids on the basis of performance
instead of seat reservations. If Muslims will compete, participate and
become go-getters, India is bound to prosper. The voices of reason
should demand that educational standards and qualifications should be
uniform, whatever the language, religion or region.

http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/column_performance-is-the-watchword-for-muslims_1350918

Editorial
Ticking off Tel Aviv
Friday, February 19, 2010 21:22 IST

The killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel
last month has been carried out by a team of 11 assassins carrying
stolen passport identities of those belonging to Britain, Ireland,
France and Germany. There is little doubt left that Israel’s spy
agency Mossad is behind this.

Hotheads in India and elsewhere will be tempted to applaud an apparent
act of daredevilry that brazenly violates laws of many countries — the
United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the killing took place; Britain,
Ireland, France and Germany where the passport identities were stolen.
Hawks would, in their irrational zeal, argue that this is the way to
defend national security — by going to every extreme to kill opponents
who are hostile to the country and win glory in the process. This
would be nothing but an advertisement for pigheadedness.

As a matter of fact, this killing in Dubai has made the lives of
Israelis less safe, not more. All of those stolen identities are those
of Israeli nationals with European passports. By carrying out the
killing in the UAE, Israel has turned the Gulf country into hostile
territory, which does not in any way strengthen the security of
Israel. And the Zionist state has shut the door on friendly relations
with Arab countries in the future.

The stealing of those passport identities has not only embarrassed
Israel-friendly countries in Europe, it has made it difficult for
those countries to support Israel and share intelligence as in the
case of Britain.

It is possible to psychoanalyse the Zionist zealots at the helm of the
Israeli state and find extenuating motives for their crimes. It is
possible to rationalise that Zionists carry the mind of the hunted and
in their desperate last stand they commit irrational crimes. But this
kind of indulgence is not a luxury that anyone can afford in the real
world. The world is not a couch.

Israel has for too long manipulated world sympathy for the sufferings
of Jews in Christian Europe and in Nazi Germany, culminating in the
unspeakable Holocaust. It expects the world to turn the other way when
it breaks the law and commits crimes with impunity.

Israel has today almost become like a rogue state, rivalling North
Korea and Pakistan. It is necessary for the international community,
especially Europe and the US, to tick off Tel Aviv.

This should be done to protect Israelis from the hubris of their
rulers. It is also necessary to rein in Israel to marginalise jihadi
terrorists and to maintain peace in West Asia. Zionism and jihadism
feed each other but the world cannot be drawn into the deathly duel.

http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/editorial_ticking-off-tel-aviv_1350098

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