Indian/Hindu Identity

[ramana]

x-posted from BRF


Original by RamaY

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A free translation of a great article from one of the Telugu news papers. Any/all mistakes are mine...


Quote:
As per the History written by Bharatiyaas (Indians) Lord Krishna lived during the end days of Dwapara eon. He passed away 5109 years before present day. Before that Krishna lived for 120 years. The Mahabharata war happened in 3138BC. In this background the historical facts about Sri Krishna and Balarama become more meaningful.

Krishna is India’s first statesman. He inspired entire India with his nationalistic vigor. But neither became a king or monarch nor he ruled the populace.

Before Krishna’s birth, the ‘Bruhadradha’ clan has been ruling the Bharata varsha for almost 1000 years with ‘Girivraja’ as the capital. Girivraja was todays Magadha area. ‘Jarasandha’m, ruler of Girivraja, was that days monarch for India.

Naraka from ‘Pragjyotisha’ (present day North East) has been plundering eastern India. Attacking Indian culture and border states.

South-indian kingdoms didn’t recognize Jarasandha’s hegomany. Kamsa was ruling the Mathura kingdom, which is located west of Magadha. Gonanda clan of Kashmir were followers of Jarasandha. Between Mathura and Kashmir was Kuru kingdom. Eventhough Bhishma was a great leader, he denounced the kingdom and was busy with family affairs, thus becoming ineffective in addressing national issues. Videha and Vidharbha kings were totally useless. The Kiraata clan kings of Nepal stayed as mere spectators to Narakaa’s south-western moves. To west of Kashmir was Gandhara and further south was Madra. Both these kingdoms started drifting away from hindu national culture and being influenced by external tribal cultures.

Magadha, irrespective of being the centre of the Bharata-varsha and cultural leader, became ineffective in fulfilling its role as protector of the culture and Bharata varsha. More over Magadha’s social order became a mess with so many unnatural tendencies. Cannibalism became a fashion among few cults. New interpretations of Vedas and Upanishads have come up.

In such a background Krishna and Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa entered Indian social and political scene. Due to their enmity with Kamsa, Krishna and Balarama spent most of their childhood away from Mathura. Krishna killed Kamsa when he was 12 years old. Kamsa’s father Ugrasena became king to Mathura. Jarasandtha was Kamsa’s father-in-law. Thus Jarasamtha, the emperor , has become lifelong enemy of Krishna and tried to get back at him. In the process Jarasamtha gave up his responsibility towards Bharata Varsha.

Krishna felt the necessity of removing Jarasantha as he is going away from Bharatiyata or sanatana-dharma. But to protect the cultural and national integrity, removal of Magatha king requires another able power center.

Per Krishna’s strategy, Jarasantha’s death is the first step in achieving Indian cultural and national integrity. Setting up the alternate power center is second step. Establishing the literary foundation for thus re-united national culture is third step. Krishna is the only leader who achieve all these three objectives of his strategy.

The decision about who should be the new emperors had been made after Draupadi swayamvaram. He propped-up the Pandavas after this incident. Killing of Hidimba and Bakasura by Bhima and Destroying the Matsya Yantra during the swayamvara became symbols of Pandavas’ capabilities. Thus Krishna showed his statesmanship in electing the righteous and sanatana-dharma-worshipping Pandavas as future emperors of India.

The household issue of Kuru and Pandavas is a small issue. If resolving this issue is the objective, Krishna would have killed Duryodhana after Subadhra and Arjuna’s marriage and made Pandava’s new kings of Hastinapura.

But Krishna’s enemity is with Jarasantha and his inability in protecting the national and cultural integrity of Bharata varsha. That is why he encouraged Yudhistara (Dharmaraja) to conduct ‘Rajasuya yaga’ so he can introduce all the kings and kingdoms in Bharata varsha to Pandavaas.

Conducting rajasuya while there is an emperor (Jarasandha) in the land means questioning the authority of Jarasandha. That is why Bhima killed Jarasantha. This is all part of Krishna’s strategy. Entire Bharata varsha believed in the capabilities of Pandavas with the killing of Jarasantha.

In addition to building an alternate power center, rejuvenating the veda based national-cultural identity is also highly important. Vedas are the foundation of our national culture. With the help of Krishna Dwaipayana (Veda Vyasa) he revived the sanatana dharma. Vyasa organized the Vedas as per contemporary needs. Naimisaranya and Badarikaranya became the new scientific and literary centers.

Even after achieving these epic tasks, Krishna didn’t became the ruler or king. A true statesman is not limited just to the political aspect of nation building. In the national-cultural leadership, politics is just one part. This is the outlook of Indians. This is India’s culture. And Krishna is the epitome of this culture. If this Son-of-India’s creation lived and survived for 5000 years in spite of numerous military, cultural and religious onslaughts, <b>what is wrong in calling Krishna god’s avataar?</b>

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If one goes through Hindu hisotry there always was a duo to restore the sanathan dharma- a teacher and a implementer.

Iravati Karve also argues in Yuganta that Lord Krishna is an avatar even if you consider only his actions and the reasons for his actions.