Sindhu Darshan to step out of Hindu definition
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story....t_id=48225
VRINDA GOPINATH
NEW DELHI, JUNE 2: <b>The eighth Sindhu Darshan festival, scheduled for next fortnight (June 17-18), will reinforce its charter and character â by making it less ``Hindu'' and stressing instead on the concept of ``national integration''.</b> <!--emo&:argue--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/argue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='argue.gif' /><!--endemo-->
The festival, which aims at projecting the Sindhu or Indus river as a symbol of multi-dimensional cultural identity, communal harmony and peaceful co-existence in India, had allegedly turned into a Hindutva theme park.
Minister of State for Tourism Renuka Choudhury said the festival will not be struck off the cultural calendar but will continue in its true form. ``We had some adverse reports on how this festival was conducted. <b>We will use this festival to promote Ladakh as a fabulous destination, showcase its unique culture and people and bring
in the concept of national integration.,'' she said</b>. <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
The festival, launched in 1997, and perhaps the BJP-led NDA government's first offering to the cultural festival calendar, was believed by most to be another attempt to boost the BJP's pet ``Hindutva project''.
And the state guests included Kanchi Shankaracharya and Uma Bharati, the latter even attempted to rouse the patriotic spirit of the gathering, raising slogans like,, ``vande mataram likhwa denge Jinnah ki mazaar per''.
Choudhury is keen to change all this and her focusis to bring the splendid Ladakhi culture to the rest of India. On the cards are cultural groups from various states, a line-up of personalities from various fields â youth icons to super stars and hoteliers and tour operators. ``The festival will become part of our `Incredible India' campaign, and it is time people discovered the uniqueness and majesty of this Himalayan state.''
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The eighth Sindhu Darshan festival, scheduled for next fortnight (June 17-18), will reinforce its charter and character â by making it less ``Hindu'' and stressing instead on the concept of ``national integration''<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
SOmething sinster here
Tangential post .
How many ppl here were taught in their schools "Purdah System is bad" at least I remember that.
Does it get mentioned now a days ?
I also remember NOBODY taught us "Burrkha System is bad"!
Recenty Shabana Azmi said its a "cultural issue".
I saw Indian Express of SHEKHAR GUPTA keeping a MIDDLE_EAST Media article on their WEB-Page for 4 DAYS. which said "BURRKHA SAVES FROM SKIN CANCER".
But is that only for MIDDLE EAST? Hmmm looks more like Penile Cancer Conspiracy Theory.
<b>NCERT panel replaces Joshiâs appointees with Arjun's team of four</b>
Friday June 18 2004 00:32 IST
NEW DELHI: The HRD Ministry has replaced Murli Manohar Joshi's appointees in NCERT's highest decision-making body, its executive committee. Ministry sources said the tenure of the four nominees chosen by Joshi was coming to an end.
The old team was relatively low-profile, giving outgoing NCERT director J.S. Rajput a lot of leeway to run the institution as he chose to.
In comparison, HRD Minister Arjun Singh has brought in people who are renowned for their work, though one or two them are known to have strong Left leanings. The list of four nominees to be part of the NCERT executive committee announced on Thursday includes renowned Hindi poet Chandrakant Deotale.
Next on the list is Professor Mridula Mukherjee of the department of history at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Mukherjee's views on ``communalisation of education'' are known and she has written quite a few articles on the subject.
Anita Rampal, another nominee, was one of the scholars who ran into trouble with the University Grants Commission in 2001. She was among research scholars recruited under a UGC scheme to promote research excellence in the country but their services were terminated just when their promotion was due. Rampal is currently a professor with the department of education, Delhi University. Her papers on primary education have been widely appreciated.
Probably, the most path breaking work in education has been done by the fourth nominee, Dr M.P.Parameswaran of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad. He helped spread a science movement throughout Kerala and has subsequently worked towards the Total Literacy Programme.
The four nominees will assume an important role because all other executive committee members - the minister, minister of state, education secretary of the Union Government apart from the director, joint director, financial advisor, secretary and three other faculty members of NCERT - are ex-officio members.
ICHR, NCERT members sacked
The Minister of Human Resource Development Arjun Singh is dropping all of Joshi's men like ninepins. The latest to figure on the hitlist are Kapil Kumar, member secretary of Indian Council for Historical Research and Anil Kapoor, secretary of National Centre for Education Research and Technology (NCERT).
<b>Did NCERT panel of experts exceed brief? </b>
Navin Upadhyay/ New Delhi
The three-member review committee which decided to recommend scrapping of NCERT books appears to have overstepped its brief and took the controversial decision without consulting the affected authors and identifying the so-called distortions.
<b>The decision has sparked a major controversy with writers like Makhan Lal and Meenakshi Jain, whose books could be dumped if the Government accepts the committee's recommendations. The two writers have attacked the committee for not giving them the chance to present their views and accused it of acting under political pressure</b>.
While constituting the three-member committee comprising S Settar, JS Grewal and Barun De, the Human Resources Ministry had clearly spelt out its mandate through an order dated June 12, 2004.
The order asked the committee to remove "distorted and communally biased" portions and include "short passages which will fill the gap which some of these books are supposed to be having or could develop after removal of the aforesaid mentioned passages."
More importantly, the order clearly stated that "these text books have been mostly printed for the current year and in a substantial number of schools, teaching has already started, based on these books. It is, therefore, impractical to withdraw these books at this stage and replace them with more appropriate books without causing dislocation in the studies of millions of students," the order stated.
Now the point is why the committee did what it was not asked to do. "We decided to recommend scrapping of the books from the current academic session itself because we realised there was an alternative in place. There were books available which could replace the existing ones without any delay," Mr Settar told The Pioneer.
No matter what the committee says, the two writers are all fire and brimstone. In a stinging criticism of the committee overstepping its brief, Ms Jain alleged that "the books have been scrapped to satisfy the Leftist cabal determined to retain its vice-like grip over the rendition of Indian history." Ms Jain is the author of Medieval India for Class XI.
But the committee sought to give its own explanations. On the question of the committee ignoring its second brief on specifically identifying the "communal" and "distorted" passages, Mr Settar said: "It was not necessary because the matter has been debated for over a decade and the facts are well known."
However, <b>Mr Makhan Lal said the committee kept silence on it because they could not locate any such passages. "I challenge them to point out any distortion or communal passage or inadequacy in my books which the committee has come across. If so, I would reply to them from my own writing and also from the writing of Mr Settar himself,"</b> he said.
Mr Lal said the debate on the so-called saffronisation of texts was settled conclusively after the publication of 'Fallacies in the IHC report' in response to the <b>'Index of Errors' brought out by the Left-dominated Indian History Congress</b>. The 'Fallacies in the IHC report' is a NCERT publication which is a point-wise rebuttal to the allegations of errors and distortions in the new NCERT books.
Said <b>Ms Jain: "Why are they shy of identifying those objectionable passages? </b>it is obvious that they could not lay their hands on even one such instance. In all fairness, as an author, whose books are under scrutiny, I should have been given a chance to explain my point of view."
Ms Jain described the committee's decision as an insidious attempt to fragment and erase India's civilisational memory, which has long been the agenda of the Marxist historiography.
Ms Jain was upset that despite her June 18 letter to Mr Settar, where she had promised to provide all cooperation and clarification to the committee, she was not given a chance to present her case. <b>"The whole process of trial and judgement without even a chargesheet and giving opportunity for defence surpasses the fraudulent trials that were the signature tune of the Leninist and Stalinist regimes," </b>she said.
Mr Lal is equally upset over being denied an opportunity to plead his case. "I spoke to Mr Settar on June 21 and said I would like to meet him to clarify if he thought there was any inadequacy in the books. But Mr Settar said he was not meeting anyone," he said.
Mr Lal also said he pleaded with Mr Settar to consider the quality and standard of the book before taking any decision. "I was shocked when Mr Settar said that it is not so much about the quality of books or anything else, but politics. It is obvious he was acting under political pressure," Mr Lal alleged.
When contacted, <b>Mr Settar denied he meant what is being implied by Mr Lal. "I was talking about the political philosophy of the books being scrutinised by us," </b>he said. However, Mr Lal insists that from what he could gather from his talks with Mr Settar, it seemed clear that the committee was determined to overlook the facts and come to a conclusion which suited the "powers that be".
<b>Big brother disapproves of NCERT books</b>-Pinoeer
Udayan Namboodiri
I am from Mallapuram district of Kerala and happen to know a thing or two about "secularism". <b>This is the district which EMS Namboodiripad gifted to the Moplahs or Malabar Muslims in 1969 by splitting up the old Calicut and Palghat districts so that they could have their own little Pakistan tucked deep inside south India</b>.
Search as much as you like, but in the entire annals of free India it would be impossible to find a parallel to such brazen implementation of the two-nation theory. And belated too, by 22 years, which should shock those under the illusion that the "secularism" which was enshrined in our Constitution rejects religion as a parameter in official delimitation exercises.
But a boy from Tirur learns to internalise such shocks. Particularly if he went on to read History in Calcutta's Presidency College in the early 1980s where the original "detoxification" exercise was carried out by the Marxist regime. Today, while reading Professor S Settar's sweeping indictment of the NCERT textbooks, <b>I can't help recall similar incidents of rape of history to which I was a close witness.</b>
In fact, by strange coincidence, I saw two separate cases of such abuse in the summer of 1984. Just before college closed for summer, some of our professors who were known to be card carriers let it be known that the works of redoubtable scholars like Jadunath Sarkar, DC Sarkar and Ramesh Chandra Majumdar were "undesirable". For the sake of marks in university exams, it would be advisable to avoid them for reference purposes as the University's examiners had already been served the requisite (unwritten) orders.
Mind you, this was before the notorious "<b>Shuddho-Ashuddho" circular which was issued at the end of that decade naming specific portions of school level texts which the communist masters deemed as "communal".</b> In my time, the Jyoti Basu regime was just into its second term and was beginning its attack on Bengal's academia to purge it of unsuitable intellectuals and unfavourable scholarly traditions.
I was visiting my home town Tirur that summer. Now Tirur is already famous as the birthplace of Thunjuath Ramanujan Ezhuthachan, the father of Malayalam literature. I saw there was a new tourist attraction added to the old place. It was an obscenity called the "Wagon Memorial".
This was a classic case of communist rewrite of the facts of history. In August 1921, the Moplahs had conducted an orgy of rape and murder in the entire British district of Malabar. Hundreds of innocent Hindus and Christians were massacred, women raped, children quartered and thousands of homes burnt down.
Mahatma Gandhi, who was then besotted by the Ali brothers and their Khilafat movement, tried to gloss it over initially, but later admitted that "<b>our moplah brethren have gone mad..</b> they have committed a sin against the Khilafar and their own country." Annie Besant condemned the killings and praised the resilience of many Hindus who refused to convert even under pain of death. The British sent a detachment of Gorkha soldiers to restore order. One group of rioters was caught near Nilambur, about 100 miles to the west of Tirur, and was in the process of being transported to the railhead, when, on the way, a few, already bleeding with bullet or lathi injuries, died either of their wounds or of suffocation.
By all accounts, these were hardened criminals who, in the popular perception, deserved their fate for the common good. In my own extended family, there was a great-uncle who was murdered when a Moplah mob raided their house near Perinthalmana. Perhaps some of those responsible for his death were in that railway wagon. <b>But, by 1984, the "official" history as prescribed by the government of Kerala, which had the Muslim League as an alliance partner, was in sharp variance with the collective memory of Malabar (now reinvented as Mallapuram)</b>.
<b>The Marxist historians had declared that it was a "glorious revolt" by the Moplahs against their Hindu landlords. Sure, there were murders, but "class annihilation" was justified under communism - or is it not</b> ? As "proof" they cited some "accounts books" <b>which were looted or burnt which proved that the blood-sucking Hindu landlords had driven them to desperation</b>. So, in extension of this barbaric assault on the popular consciousness, the government had rigged up a contraption resembling an old goods wagon and put it up on display outside the municipal headquarters. It stands there to this day as a symbol of humiliation for the minorities of Mallapuram.
Left scholarship's arrogation of what constitutes "secular" history is an age-old thing by now. Marxist dogma and "secularism" have had a hyphenated relationship since 1947. What Professors Settar and Barun De have just done with the NCERT texts is only the reconfirmation of a tradition which began with <b>Jawaharlal Nehru's efforts to thwart the first President, Rajendra Prasad's patronage to RC Majumdar's project to bring out the first ever history of the Indian freedom struggle which the great nationalist historian wanted to write from a uniquely Indian point of view.</b>
Nehru was anxious that a scholar possessing rare spine as Majumdar may be less than hagiographic in his description of the role played by him in the Partition. He forged a tactical alliance with the communist group which was apprehensive that its true character as the freedom struggle's fifth columnists would be exposed. The third factor deployed was "Muslim sensitivity".
Majumdar was unflinching in his conviction that India's history as a slave nation began seven centuries before the East India Company's troops won the Battle of Plassey - we only changed our masters in 1757 The Communists had no use for another redoubtable historian, KS Lal,who had proved in a monumental study quoting Arabic and Persian sources to be mostly the descendants of forced converts, Their suffering under the Turks, Persians, Afghans and Mughals was in no way less than that of their Hindu compatriots.
But the interests of "secularism" lies in preventing Hindus and Muslims from striking common historical ground. So, they were made to believe that they are the natural successors of Aurangzeb and Nadir Shah (<b>incidentally, a road in Lutyen's Delhi was named after Aurangzeb in pursuit of this logic</b>) and therefore a "Hindu" history would cause their image incalculable harm. If one has to look for the source of the mindset displayed by Professors Settar and Barun De, this is where it lies.
Without going into specifics, or caring to consult the authors who have more than reiterated the academic wholesomeness of their works by publishing a point-by-point rebuttal to the Indian History Congress' allegations, Arjun Singh's committee has behaved like a mob of hatchet men. <b>Avoiding an academic debate, which they knew would expose their own ignorance, they took recourse to sweeping generalisations - they say NCERT's books are "communal", "prejudiced" and what have you</b>. But have they cared to hold up even one line from them to prove their contention?
In this context let's recall what Majumdar wrote in his preface to History of Medieval Bengal (1973): "The tragedy of the whole thing is that no stones are left unturned by the government to propagate their views without caring to inquire whether there is any historical justification for them. History books which do not incorporate their views are not likely to be prescribed as textbooks and anybody who challenges the official view of Indian history is included in the black list of the government of India."
That was 31 years back and the Education Minister was S Nurul Hasan, the communist who Indira Gandhi invited to take over India's academic institutions. <b>Today, the past has returned with a vengeance under Arjun Singh, a Congressman goaded by loonie leftists. Somewhere in between lies wallowing in dust and disrepute, India's history scholarship.</b>
<b>Egg-throwing incident: Hindu outfits demand judicial probe</b>
Bhubaneswar: <b>Expressing strong resentment over the egg-throwing incident at Kashagumuda village in Nabarangpur district by two youths of a minor community during the Ratha Yatra,</b> the Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagaran Manch on Wednesday demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Briefing newsmen here on Wednesday, Bajrang Dal state coordinator Subash Chouhan and Hind Jagaran Manch unit president Ashok Sahu <b>said that it was a first such incident in the country that eggs were thrown at Lord Jagannath to create communal disharmony</b>.
Maintaining that the incident was a well-orchestrated move against the Hindus, the said that only a judicial probe could nab the culprits involved in the incident.
Coming down heavily on the gross apathy and inaction of police in the incident, they said that the incident has hurt Hindus all over the state were shocked at the incident.
It was only due to the stiff protests by the Hindu community that forced the police to arrest two youth, they claimed.
<b>Moreover, the incident could not have happened without the instance of some top bureaucrats, they added.
There is enough material to suspect that there was pressure from the highest circle not to take any action against the two youths, they maintained.</b>
www.pragativadi.com/
That minority commnunity is "Civilised Christians" !! Has Islam Express of Lala Shekhar Gupta reported this. Did they cook upo some cock&bull story like , Hindu snatched their Hens etc ...
<!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
The purpose of these types of attacks is to put the suggestion in young minds. When Hindus counterprotest, the initial suggestion is given even wider currency. It's a win-win technique for the anti-Hindus.
'Insultâ to Lord Hanuman in NET paper raises ABVP hackles
THE ALLEGED insult to Lord Hanuman in a question for Life Science paper of National Eligibility Test (NET) held today raised the hackles of right-wing studentsâ bodies who demanded action against the paper-setter and resignation of Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh.
..
Using the name of âHanumanâ along with issues of infanticide and winning over a group of females, and in particular the word âHaremâ linked with Islamic culture, is an attack on Hindu beliefs and an effort to incite communal tension, the ABVP said. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists held a demonstration at the Model School Exam Centre and protested the âefforts to malignâ Lord Hanuman. The UPA Government is doing these things under pressure from Leftists, the Parishad alleged.
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Dear Admins,
I hope I posted this in the right thread. If not, please move it where you deem it appropriate.
Regards,
- Kumar
<b>Wrong Agenda & Secular Nerd Tendency!</b>
I have never come across another nation or religion, which has so many people espousing the ideology detrimental to their very existence, as you would see in India.
As a rational Indian, one cannot help but pull his hairs in frustration to see so many leaders, journalists and anyone who amounts to something speaking and writing views and ideas, which lack one vital element - the interest of India. When you start to hear them regularly, you can notice one obvious trend, their priorities are upside down.
I just had a brief conversation with a secularist with Hindu name on the Internet who was so proud of the fact that he was sending money to help Kashmiri Muslims instead of Kashmiri Hindus. He informed me that he purposely decided to help Muslims instead of Hindus to make a point. What point? Muslims are already helping Muslims. Secularists are helping Muslims. Question is who will help Hindus if not the fellow Hindus. As a secularist, why did not he just decide to send money to Kashmiris without getting into their religions. I was tempted to tell him that he was infected with a disease called âSecular Nerd Tendencyâ. But I realized that I must not get angry and do my best to guide the misguided. So, I did my best to give him some proper perspective. Hope one day Ishwar will give him knowledge and wisdom to realize that Kashmiri Hindus have no where to go and they could have used the precious pennies.
Lets get back to wrong agenda that so many influential Indians are busy in making. A Communist Indian told me once that I was doing great disservice to India because my views would anger so many good Muslims towards India. I posed him a question. When you hear a Muslim making derogatory remark towards a Hindu, do you blame entire Muslim population for this individualâs misdeeds? He said, ânoâ. I posed another question for him. Why canât you extend the same courtesy towards this bigot, me? He had no answer for me. Once again a typical case of an Indian with the wrong agenda!
I would like to set the record straight. I have nothing against Muslims. I consider anyone who gathers under the flag of Union of India as my brother regardless of his creed or language or color.
I am a proud Hindu. I draw inspirations from my Hindu roots. India was founded by Hindus. India is a nation with Hindu culture. India is a nation, which does not sanction any religion or beliefs. That is the India I know.
I have read many explanations by Indian journalists regarding Indiaâs failure to gather useful friends on international theatre, Soviet Union or Russia being an exception. Here is the explanation. A nation cannot build an effective alliance with another nations if it self neglects to define or correctly prioritize what is important for this nation. When we were faced with the question like Palestine or Israel? We chose Palestine. It took us decades to realize that our national interests dictated close alliance with Israel not Palestine and Arab crowds. It is the responsibility of Indian media to help us when average people are faced with such decisions. Instead, I must say they picked the âWrong Agendaâ. I had a brief conversation with an Indian journalist once. He informed me that it was not his job to help us reach such clarities. I asked him politely then why was he so busy espousing cause of Palestine? Was this his job? As I said earlier, it was a simple case of âWrong Agendaâ.
I strongly believe if we are to survive as a nation. We have to boldly honor those who fought and are fighting for India. We have to establish a clear distinction between Rana Pratap and Akabar. They are not one and the same. One fought for the freedom of India and another fought to subjugate India. We have to hail Guru Gobind Singh and Shiva Jee as heroes and recognize Aurang Zeb as oppressor. Will it hurt the feelings of Muslims? My answer is it should not. After all, the Muslims are Indians too. All I know is that I will always hail Guru Gobind Singh as respectable hero of India, simply, because he was a hero.
Am I to draw inspiration from Aurang Zeb or Shiva Jee? My answer as an Indian would be Shiva Jee. The case of âWrong Agendaâ or disease of âSecular Nerd Tendencyâ has blinded our elites to the point where they cannot see simple logic that a nation cannot emerge as a powerful entity without clarity in its purpose and pride in its being. Clarity of purpose is to take India to its rightful destiny. Those who are Indians, they will not hesitate a second and those who are not Indians will never gather under the tricolor.
- Arun K Pandey
<b>Visions and revisions </b>
NS Rajaram
There is now a heated outcry - it can't really be called a debate - by some "eminent historians" for desaffronising history textbooks written under the previous administration. Supposedly, the NCERT texts written when Dr Murli Manohar Joshi was the HRD Minister give an overtly Hindu perspective on history. This is what these eminent historians are calling "saffronisation", which they want eliminated.
Does this charge have any substance? I cannot speak for medieval or modern history, but as far as ancient Indian civilisation goes, <b>the term "saffronisation" is meaningless, because Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma (and its offshoots like Buddhism) is the only source we have to serve as framework for interpreting ancient texts and archaeology. To "desaffronise", are we to read the Vedas as Christian scripture or treat Harappan remains as Islamic monuments?</b>
This is the kind of absurdity that we land into when we substitute slogans for facts and reason. A more subtle example is the misrepresentation of the word Arya and the nature of the Aryan civilisation. These "<b>eminent historians, led by Irfan Habib, charge that suggesting an indigenous origin for the Aryan civilisation somehow constitutes "saffronisation</b>. So, according to this eminent historian, and others of his school, we should attribute the Aryan civilisation - which is more properly called the Vedic civilisation (including its offshoots) - to foreign migrants. <b>This is nothing but the revival of the discredited, divisive colonial model based on the infamous Aryan invasion theory. This colonial offspring is now the favoured child of the Secularist brigade</b>.
Hidden Motives: This gives a clue to the real motive behind the cry for "desaffronisation", which is to revive the discredited old model of the Aryan invasion, now being repackage as Aryan migration. <b>The goal is the same - to make the Vedic civilisation non-Indian in origin and keep it separated from Harappan archaeology. The "eminent historians" hide the fact that this division of attributing the Harappan civilisation to the Dravidians and the Vedic language and literature to the invading Aryans served British colonial interests.</b>
In fact, the British made no secret of their goal to present themselves as the later and "better" brothers of the Aryans who invaded India. Here is what Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of Great Britain, once said in the House of Commons (1929): <b>"Ages and ages ago, there sat, side by side, the ancestors of the English, Rajputs and Brahmins. 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 recognise 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."</b>
And here is what Max Muller, seen as a great lover of India, wrote in his Autobiography: "<b>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." </b>Needless to say, Muller was generously paid by the British for this contribution.
All this "scholarship" was part of the agenda to divide the people of India into antagonistic groups under labels like <b>Aryan and Dravidian to facilitate colonial rule and conversion to Christianity</b>. The most influential figure in this was probably 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 is influential till this day 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 vulgar conduct towards innocent people that were labelled as descendants of Aryan oppressors.
Needless to say, the Aryan civilisation of ancient India is not the same as the "Aryan civilisation" concocted by such characters, any more than the Nazis who also claimed to be Aryans. India's "eminent historians" who came to dominate the scene after Independence rarely took issue with this disgraceful chapter in Indian historiography. And now they are raising the cry of "saffronisation", as a new generation of scholars has gone on to rubbish this European fabrication still favoured by secularist worthies including the "eminent historians". Their recent conduct gives a clue to another motive: They want their own textbooks, based on such disreputable scholarship, to be brought back!
In this way they can continue to get royalties from sale their books, and save also their reputations. It is, after all, a matter of record that in the nearly 50 years of domination, these "eminent historians" have contributed next to nothing to ancient history. One look at the latest edition on Early India by one of the most eminent of these historians shows that it ignores the two most important developments of recent decades- the discovery of the Vedic Saraswati and the Vedic-Harappan identity. All it is, is a rehash of colonial authors like AL Basham and Vincent Smith. If we want to bring back obsolete texts, why not bring these originals back instead of their weak imitations? At least they are in better English.
Santayana on historical revision: One of the arguments offered is that we need to recognise India's composite culture<b>. Of course, we do, but in the proper historical context. Indian culture has always been composite in nature. Vedic texts, especially the Rigveda, represent an ideal meant for the elite</b>. There were always popular practices that found outlet in traditions like tantra and other heterodox systems. Even within the Vedic tradition, in the Atharvaveda and the Taittiriya Samhita, we have elements that did not strictly adhere to the Vedic orthodoxy. Dravidian rulers also never excluded themselves from the Vedic Aryan fold as terms like Aiyya, Iyer and many others clearly demonstrate.
Recent studies by David Frawley and this writer suggest that the proto-Vedic culture of the South, especially in the coastal regions, might be older, and the source of the Vedic culture that reached its culmination in the Saraswati valley. So the issue is not really the composite nature of the Indian culture, which no one denies, but attempts to remove the contribution of Indians by attributing the Vedas also to foreign origin like Christianity and Islam. This way, India would have no civilisation of its own, which is the Marxist dogma and obsession. This is unhistorical.
No reasonable person can be against review and revision. After all, all knowledge is transient and history is no exception. To quote philosopher George Santayana again: "History is always written wrong; it needs always to be re-written." But we cannot allow slogans to stifle debate and sneak in obsolete knowledge in discredited textbooks. If we were to follow such a practice in science, we would have physics texts that ignore Relativity and Quantum Physics and biology texts that reject Darwin's Theory of Evolution, which is what some Christian Fundamentalist outfits are trying to do in American schools in the name of Creationism. In science this is called obscurantism. The secularist call to bring back old theories, in books written mostly by themselves, is no different. It is obscurantism in the guise of "desaffronisation".
<b>Defying Govt dates, yatris head for Amarnath</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->About 85 people, including 77 sadhus, left in three vehicles from Ranbishwar Temple at Shalamar Chowk at around 9 am on Thursday morning.
They were given a warm send-off by over a thousand people amid slogans of Jai bhole baba nath.
....
"Such a move defeats the very objective of the demand of commencement of yatra on <b>Vyas Purnima falling tomorrow," Khajuria said adding if yatra could be advanced from July 29 to July 12 or 15, why it could not be advanced to July 2 to fulfil the religious aspirations of the Hindus</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Bravo, Kumar for a spirited defense of a tradition and a way of life and for many perceptive gems. I particularly like the following
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A nation cannot build an effective alliance with another nations if it self neglects to define or correctly prioritize what is important for this nation. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Starting with the refusal to accept a UNSC seat in the early 50's (nehru refused it saying Communist China deserved it more than India), and being more concerned with the fear of Korea being invaded by US than with Tibet being invaded by China, practically gifting away Aksai Chin to China (not a blade of grass grows there) and many other countless examples over the decades, we have practiced self abnegation much like sanyasi in international politics. But the end result of all this is not increased respect for being a sanyasin but ridicule and derision that we can be had for a song and a little flattery.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->We have to hail Guru Gobind Singh and Shiva Jee as heroes and recognize Aurang Zeb as oppressor. Will it hurt the feelings of Muslims? My answer is it should not. After all, the Muslims are Indians too.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is the lament of the secularists. That we should not proclaim that we are Hindus, we should not praise Hinduism, we should not praise Hindu heroes, all because we should not hurt the sentiments of our loyal Muslim brothers. But this begs the question why should such praise hurt anybody' sentiments at all and certainly why should it hurt the sentiments of loyal Indians , Muslim or otherwise.
It needs to be said loud and clear. Praising Hindus and Hindu heroes does not hurt the sentiments of anybody.Neither does denigrating Hindus advance the cause of true secularism. Hindus should be ashamed of themselves comparing their fellow Hindus to nazis. After all let it be remembered that it was the grand Mufti of jerusalem who supported Hitler in WW II and not the Sankaracharyas or Swami Vivekananda or Sri Aurobindo or Ramana Maharishi and certainly not any Indian leader
Just one comment: If praising Hindu Heroes hurts the feelings of a 'particluar community' then that particular community needs to do some introspection.........some real deep insight stuff. It cannot be a one way street.
Krishna > 'particluar community'
Which one ?
Kumar , in my opinion its the average Hindu who is NERD, the secular cult is very good at social-skills.
Abt media, wake bro, they are busy saving terrorist.
If still you expect anything from them , Boss alwida.. khoosh raho <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Kaushal > But this begs the question why should such praise hurt anybody' sentiments at all and certainly why should it hurt the sentiments of loyal Indians , Muslim or otherwise.
Or rather begs the question why should a Hindu bother abt other approval ? But the very stance we hand them a stick and expect not to be bitten!
Unless a Hindu learns to say what he means , things will proceed as they are.
Why cant we have the gumption to state "Muslim community" when we mean them and not hide under PC stmt like "particular community". The day this will happen you shall see things changed. Not earlier not later.
Many Hindu do a lot of "Israel israel" but learn nothing from them.
Simple example -- why do they keep quiet when a NGO woman in NDTV show says "Ram is a MCP", why none of those Secualr Hindu retort back by asking this woman , whether she wld concur if Mohammad was called incestual for *taking* his daughter-in-law ?
Abt Kashmiri Hindus .. they are paying price for their support for "Kashmiryat" , except rich once live in Farm House and poor once rot.
One of the starting point shld be talking "straight", work for/support for uniting Hindu Temples on the line of SGPC.
BTW Aurangzeb is a Hero of Indian Muslim ( source milligezzette.com [spl?].
PS : apologies for spellos , I know I make a lot <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Thank you Kaushal!
I think we can safely designate Nehru as a classic Secular Nerd. {Confession: I used to be a Kongressi once upon a time. Forgive me for my sin!}
I always enjoy your posts. You are always on the mark.
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Krishna,
Did you mean Muslims? <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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Bhootnath,
Indian media is the most dangerous component of âSecular Nerdsâ in question.
I wish Indian Muslims will see the light and avoid the hardships that would come by following Aurang Zebâs philosophy.
Kumar, Yep. It was a li'l sarcastic.
BhootNath, you took it literally. But I understand where ya coming from.
> But I understand where ya coming from.
Wow how did ya figure out I am Najafgarh type <!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> hey not far from Jpuri
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