The Union Carbide tragedy and the Congress conspiracy
We reproduce without comment some revealing reports that appeared in The Times of India and The Pioneer because of their significance in the wake of local court verdict on Bhopal gas tragedy.
Members of GoM on Bhopal pleaded Dow case in UPA-I
TNN, Jun 11, 2010, 03.25am IST
NEW DELHI: The uproar over the Bhopal gas-leak judgment has put the role of several UPA ministers and functionaries, including those in the newly reconstituted group of ministers (GoM), under scrutiny yet again.
While the UPA might have decided to set up the GoM as a facesaver in the midst of public outcry, making Home Minister P Chidambaram the head of the group and including Minister of Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath as member, could lead to controversy since both have drawn flak for advocating along with others that Dow Chemicals, the American giant that bought Union Carbide in 2001, be spared the task of cleaning up the 1984 gas-leak site and the contaminated ground water.
In June 2007, TOI had reported how key officials and ministers in the first term of UPA pushed for absolving Dow Chemicals of any legal and compensation liabilities after the multinational showed reluctance to invest in India unless the Rs 100 crore notice slapped by the fertilizers and chemicals ministry for clean up of the industrial site against it was withdrawn.
Those who supported the US company included then Finance Minister P Chidambaram, then Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, then cabinet secretary, B K Chaturvedi and India’s then envoy to US Ronen Sen. Prime Minister’s principal secretary T K A Nair was also involved in the discussions.
All these Congress luminaries and senior officials recommended that Dow’s liability be resolved outside the courts after business tycoon Ratan Tata suggested that instead of asking Dow to cough up the money to clean the site, the private sector in India, led by Tatas, could set up a fund to do the same.
Tata had pointed out in a letter to Ahluwalia and Chidambaram that Dow would not invest in India unless Rs 100-crore notice slapped on it by chemicals and fertilizers ministry was withdrawn. Chidambaram and Ahluwalia concurred with Tata and recommended to PMO that the Tata offer be accepted. This would have ensured an out-of-court settlement, paving the way for Dow’s investments in a petrochemical hub in India.
But an obstacle was put in their path after activists, citing the TOI report, resorted to protests, saying that the move would absolve Dow of any responsibility to compensate those who were affected by the contamination of groundwater in the aftermath of the gas leak.
Pursuing its case, Dow also got in touch with the principal secretary to the PM, T K A Nair. Significantly, the correspondence between Dow and Nair also suggests that the US company discussed its plan to engage Congress spokesman, senior SC lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Singhvi’s advice tracked the position taken by ministers, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and the cabinet secretary that Dow could not be held responsible for the disaster or was liable for any contamination and consequent cleaning up of the Bhopal site. This advice found its way into the PMO file on the issue later.
Under renewed attack from activists, Singhvi on June 10 reacted claiming his advice had "nothing to do either with Warren Anderson’s criminal conviction or with Bhopal gas tragedy".
(Courtesy: ToI)
Arjun Singh let honcho flee Bhopal
IN the midst of countrywide outrage against the Bhopal gas tragedy verdict, the Madhya Pradesh Government has decided to appeal against the judgement even as the then Bhopal Collector, Moti Singh, has revealed that he was told by the then State Chief Secretary to bail out Union Carbide Corporation chairman Warren Anderson, who was arrested in Bhopal four days after the tragedy.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the way the CBI handled the case, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told mediapersons that his Government would challenge the Bhopal court verdict in the high court. A committee of legal experts has been constituted to go into the issue, he said.
Chouhan wondered why the CBI did not file a review petition in the Supreme Court when it diluted the charges from 304-II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) to Section 304-A (causing death by negligence). The Chief Minister accused the CBI of being not serious in pursuing the case of Anderson’s extradition. Senior advocate Shantilal Lodha, who is also one of the members of the legal team formed to review the case, told The Pioneer that the State Government being the representative of the people, it can file an appeal against any judgement. He clarified that even an individual can appeal in the higher court. He stated that almost all the aspects of the tragedy and what were the mistakes made earlier would be reviewed.
But the story of the day was the revelation by Moti Singh who made a sensational disclosure that he was asked by the Chief Secretary to release Anderson and help him leave Bhopal.
Singh admitted that the Arjun Singh Government had actively helped Anderson to escape law. He said, "I was summoned by Chief Minister Arjun Singh to his residence at 8 am that day. The CM told me that Warren Anderson would be arriving shortly at the airport; however, the airport officials have been instructed not to let his plane land till the District Collector is present. On this, I immediately rushed to the airport, but by the time I arrived the plane had already landed but its door was yet to be opened. I was told that Anderson was being accompanied by the Union Carbide’s chief of India operations Keshub Mahindra and managing director Vijay Gokhale."
Singh said that they were arrested as soon as they set foot in Bhopal. All the three were then taken to the Shyamala Hills guest house of Union Carbide; Anderson was wearing a mask, Singh remembered adding, subsequently the Bhopal police filed a criminal case against him under Section 304 of the IPC at Hanumangunj police station.
"Then at 2 pm, the then Chief Secretary Brahmswaroop called me and SP Swaraj Puri to his office. He told us to release Anderson and put him in the same plane waiting at the airport to go to Delhi. Accordingly, we went to the place where he was lodged. We completed the formalities of granting him bail. "We quickly arranged for a Union Carbide employee to secure his bail for a surety of Rs 25,000. Later, we put him on the same plane at the airport," he added.
Singh said Anderson was not willing to leave Bhopal. Instead, he wanted to visit the affected areas. "I told him repeatedly, you are not welcome, you have to leave Bhopal." The former Collector said during his short stay, Anderson seemed casual and showed ‘symptoms of arrogance’ but toned down when he was told that he was being released.
(The Pioneer)
Anderson blame game begins: It’s Cong vs Cong
TNN, Jun 11, 2010, 01.34am IST
THE dramatic release of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson just hours after his arrest has roiled Congress, sparking a bitter factional war which threatens to claim former PM Rajiv Gandhi as its collateral victim.
AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on June 10, stunned party circles by virtually holding the Centre responsible for the controversial decision to let off Anderson, soon after he was arrested for the death of thousands from the poisonous gas leak from Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant.
"The whole case was dealt with by the Government of India and the Supreme Court. State government hardly had any role to play in this case," Singh said in a text message he sent to reporters here from the US. In another text message to reporters, he desisted from fixing the blame. Singh wrote, "I was campaigning during that period therefore I don’t know. But I am sure it must have been under US pressure."
However, read along with his other message, even the second message appeared to point the finger towards the Centre. More so, because with a strong PM like Rajiv Gandhi around, Americans could not have dealt directly with the state government.
Singh’s remarks were seen as rebutting the statement of CWC member Satyavrat Chaturvedi on June 9, that Arjun Singh, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh at the time of the leak, needed to explain Anderson’s abrupt release. Rajiv Gandhi was the PM at the time of the Bhopal tragedy.
A gleeful BJP pounced on the fratricidal slugfest, demanding an apology from Congress for giving "safe passage" to Anderson.
The unrolling episode also dragged Arjun Singh into the spotlight after a long spell on the sidelines. The ailing leader, who was passed over by the leadership for important positions, met Sonia Gandhi on June 10, evening. This was his second meeting with the Congress chief since a court verdict handed paltry punishments to those held guilty for the gas leak.
The bickering has factional dyanmics. Like Arjun and Digvijay, Chaturvedi is also from Madhya Pradesh and has a long history of strained equations with the two Thakurs. Unlike Digvijay and Arjun, whose ties have ebbed and flowed, Chaturvedi has been consistent about his feelings.
(ToI)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Maoist and Islamist tie - up
Interrogation of a senior Maoist reveals startling facts
Maoist plan to take mayhem to South India and tie-up with Islamists
By Arun Lakshman /Thiruvananthapuram
The Maoists were using the sea network of LTTE for shipment of arms and ammunitions and some foreign countries, including the erstwhile Soviet block countries were involved in providing the much required arms and ammunitions to the outfit. However with the LTTE crushed, the Maoists are now getting in touch with the LeT for their arms needs which, according to intelligence sources is being gleefully accepted by the LeT.
THE Maoists which is facing some man power crunch in the Northern Indian states is now in the process of increasing and consolidating their presence in the South India. The Andhra police has recently arrested a top operative of the Maoist movement , Nandakumar alias Ranganna alias Pramod from Kannur district in Kerala and on interrogation he has told that he was a top leader in the movement and was deputed to increase his organisational presence in South India with special emphasis on Kerala , Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. He was arrested by the Hyderabad police while he was meeting top Maoist leaders there. Police sources told Organiser that he is a tough nut to crack and that he is giving information only in tits and bits and that he has mastered the art of diverting the interrogation process.
The Maoist leader said that as there is a basic presence in Andhra at the moment, the outfit is planning to increase its presence felt in the other South Indian states to broaden and widen its red corridor.
It may be recalled that the state police had arrested another top leader of the movement Malla Raja Reddy was arrested from Angamaly in Kerala in December 2007. He was also a top functionary of the organisation and was in charge of the South Indian states while operating from Kerala.
A former leader of the Naxalite movement Ramprakash (name changed) while speaking to Organiser said that the Maoist movement in Kerala is gaining momentum as more and more highly educated youths are loosing their trust in the democratic process in the country and at the massive corruption of senior leaders of political parties of all hue and cry. He further said that the Maoist movement will also be not able to solve the issues faced by the country but added that except for the killing and dacoitary conducted by the Maoist’s, he is in support of the rest of the operations of the organisation.
Sources in the central intelligence agencies while speaking to Organiser also said that the Maoist movement is getting physical training from even foreigners in the dense forest lands of Kerala in Idukki and Palakkad districts. He also said that the Maoist movement is also trying to employ extortion tactics in the state to fund its operations.
There are also indications of the involvement of certain Islamic groups with the Maoists for the supply of arms and ammunition to both the fragments and according to reports from the state special branch police and central intelligence agencies, there is a mutual arrangement taking place between the two outfits .
Sources in the RAW indicated that the Lashkar movement in Pakistan has given a green signal to the Indian operatives to have a strategic tie up with the Maoists in India. The idea behind this move is to destabilise India from within as according to another report Lashkar feels that if there is an attack by a foreigner there are all chances of the spirit of India rising and for this they have evolved the scheme of home grown terrorists. However with the Intelligence net work in the country getting some stupendous success in recent times by breaking the terror or jihadi network based in the middle east and in some parts of India, the Lashkar is trying to piggy ride on the infrastructure created by other organisations who are in a fight with the state of India. Here, according to central agencies fits in the Maoist who has a good infrastructure and with the romance of equality being their motto, the Maoists can engage in more youths for their struggle.
There are also reports that the Maoists were using the sea network of LTTE for shipment of arms and ammunitions and some foreign countries, including the erstwhile Soviet block countries were involved in providing the much required arms and ammunitions to the outfit. However with the LTTE crushed, the Maoists are now getting in touch with the LeT for their arms needs which, according to intelligence sources is being gleefully accepted by the LeT.
Sources in the Central intelligence agencies also revealed that the Maoists had in the past year tried to evolve a major network of intelligentsia in the state with the senior Maoist leader Kobad Ghandi being in charge of the operations. However sources told Organiser that this strategy did not work out to the expected levels of the organisation mainly owing to the reluctance of the intelligentsia to quit their comfort zones and to enter into a purely uncertain fight with the government machinery. Sources in the intelligence indicated that even though the game plan of the Maoists and their intelligentsia head, Khobad Ghandi could not rope in the intelligentsia as expected, they had got some highly motivated youngsters with good professional qualifications into the organisational fold.
Sources in the central agencies also told Organiser that the Maoists had conducted a highly confidential meeting in Palakkad district during December 2009 in which representatives of SIMI and groups like Porattam and Ayyankali Pada took part. There were also some sympathisers of the LTTE movement drawn from the border district of Idukki. A former leader of the Naxalite movement from Kerala was instrumental in organising this meeting which had made a blue print of increasing the presence of the Maoists in all districts of the state.
According to information available, the Maoists and the SIMI leadership had chalked out a game plan by which these organisations would jointly support each other in mass movements and had decided to interfere in all issues which would attract the attention of the common man with special emphasis on the middle class and the landless.
The Maoist’s are also trying to increase their influence among the unorganised workers in the state who are mostly from other states and working in Brick Kilns and in the construction industry. Highly placed sources told Organiser that there are several Maoist workers from different parts of the country who are camping in the state as ordinary workers in the construction industry. Their role is to try and educate other workers and to make them aware of their rights and slowly inject the Maoist ideology in these people. The attempt by Khobad Ghandi to rope in the intelligentsia was to educate these transformed youths on the finer points of Maoism and the fight against the Indian state.
The presence of Malla Raja Reddy in Angamaly near Aluva, which is a hot bed of Islamic terrorism and the arrest of a Maoist leader from Kannur district, which is the home district of Islamist terrorist Thadiyantavida Naseer has ,according to central agencies ,some direct links on the modus operandi of the Maoist groups and Islamic terrorists.
Maoist plan to take mayhem to South India and tie-up with Islamists
By Arun Lakshman /Thiruvananthapuram
The Maoists were using the sea network of LTTE for shipment of arms and ammunitions and some foreign countries, including the erstwhile Soviet block countries were involved in providing the much required arms and ammunitions to the outfit. However with the LTTE crushed, the Maoists are now getting in touch with the LeT for their arms needs which, according to intelligence sources is being gleefully accepted by the LeT.
THE Maoists which is facing some man power crunch in the Northern Indian states is now in the process of increasing and consolidating their presence in the South India. The Andhra police has recently arrested a top operative of the Maoist movement , Nandakumar alias Ranganna alias Pramod from Kannur district in Kerala and on interrogation he has told that he was a top leader in the movement and was deputed to increase his organisational presence in South India with special emphasis on Kerala , Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. He was arrested by the Hyderabad police while he was meeting top Maoist leaders there. Police sources told Organiser that he is a tough nut to crack and that he is giving information only in tits and bits and that he has mastered the art of diverting the interrogation process.
The Maoist leader said that as there is a basic presence in Andhra at the moment, the outfit is planning to increase its presence felt in the other South Indian states to broaden and widen its red corridor.
It may be recalled that the state police had arrested another top leader of the movement Malla Raja Reddy was arrested from Angamaly in Kerala in December 2007. He was also a top functionary of the organisation and was in charge of the South Indian states while operating from Kerala.
A former leader of the Naxalite movement Ramprakash (name changed) while speaking to Organiser said that the Maoist movement in Kerala is gaining momentum as more and more highly educated youths are loosing their trust in the democratic process in the country and at the massive corruption of senior leaders of political parties of all hue and cry. He further said that the Maoist movement will also be not able to solve the issues faced by the country but added that except for the killing and dacoitary conducted by the Maoist’s, he is in support of the rest of the operations of the organisation.
Sources in the central intelligence agencies while speaking to Organiser also said that the Maoist movement is getting physical training from even foreigners in the dense forest lands of Kerala in Idukki and Palakkad districts. He also said that the Maoist movement is also trying to employ extortion tactics in the state to fund its operations.
There are also indications of the involvement of certain Islamic groups with the Maoists for the supply of arms and ammunition to both the fragments and according to reports from the state special branch police and central intelligence agencies, there is a mutual arrangement taking place between the two outfits .
Sources in the RAW indicated that the Lashkar movement in Pakistan has given a green signal to the Indian operatives to have a strategic tie up with the Maoists in India. The idea behind this move is to destabilise India from within as according to another report Lashkar feels that if there is an attack by a foreigner there are all chances of the spirit of India rising and for this they have evolved the scheme of home grown terrorists. However with the Intelligence net work in the country getting some stupendous success in recent times by breaking the terror or jihadi network based in the middle east and in some parts of India, the Lashkar is trying to piggy ride on the infrastructure created by other organisations who are in a fight with the state of India. Here, according to central agencies fits in the Maoist who has a good infrastructure and with the romance of equality being their motto, the Maoists can engage in more youths for their struggle.
There are also reports that the Maoists were using the sea network of LTTE for shipment of arms and ammunitions and some foreign countries, including the erstwhile Soviet block countries were involved in providing the much required arms and ammunitions to the outfit. However with the LTTE crushed, the Maoists are now getting in touch with the LeT for their arms needs which, according to intelligence sources is being gleefully accepted by the LeT.
Sources in the Central intelligence agencies also revealed that the Maoists had in the past year tried to evolve a major network of intelligentsia in the state with the senior Maoist leader Kobad Ghandi being in charge of the operations. However sources told Organiser that this strategy did not work out to the expected levels of the organisation mainly owing to the reluctance of the intelligentsia to quit their comfort zones and to enter into a purely uncertain fight with the government machinery. Sources in the intelligence indicated that even though the game plan of the Maoists and their intelligentsia head, Khobad Ghandi could not rope in the intelligentsia as expected, they had got some highly motivated youngsters with good professional qualifications into the organisational fold.
Sources in the central agencies also told Organiser that the Maoists had conducted a highly confidential meeting in Palakkad district during December 2009 in which representatives of SIMI and groups like Porattam and Ayyankali Pada took part. There were also some sympathisers of the LTTE movement drawn from the border district of Idukki. A former leader of the Naxalite movement from Kerala was instrumental in organising this meeting which had made a blue print of increasing the presence of the Maoists in all districts of the state.
According to information available, the Maoists and the SIMI leadership had chalked out a game plan by which these organisations would jointly support each other in mass movements and had decided to interfere in all issues which would attract the attention of the common man with special emphasis on the middle class and the landless.
The Maoist’s are also trying to increase their influence among the unorganised workers in the state who are mostly from other states and working in Brick Kilns and in the construction industry. Highly placed sources told Organiser that there are several Maoist workers from different parts of the country who are camping in the state as ordinary workers in the construction industry. Their role is to try and educate other workers and to make them aware of their rights and slowly inject the Maoist ideology in these people. The attempt by Khobad Ghandi to rope in the intelligentsia was to educate these transformed youths on the finer points of Maoism and the fight against the Indian state.
The presence of Malla Raja Reddy in Angamaly near Aluva, which is a hot bed of Islamic terrorism and the arrest of a Maoist leader from Kannur district, which is the home district of Islamist terrorist Thadiyantavida Naseer has ,according to central agencies ,some direct links on the modus operandi of the Maoist groups and Islamic terrorists.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Mystery of our origins
India has one of the largest human biodiversity pools
By Dr Lalji Singh
India represents one of the largest human biodiversity pool in the world. There are 532 tribes, 72 primitive tribes and 36 hunters and gatherers. Although the genome sequences of any two unrelated people differ by just 0.1 per cent, that tiny slice of genetic material is a rich source of information. It provides clues that can help reconstruct the historical origins of modern populations.
The kings of South India, like the Chola and the Pandya dynasties, relate their lineages back to Manu. The Matsya Purana moreover makes Manu, the progenitor of all the Aryans, originally a south Indian king, Satyavrata. Hence these are not only traditions that make the Dravidian descendants of Vedic rishis and kings, but those that make the Aryans of North India descendants of Dravidian kings.
Dr Lalji Singh, former Director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, delivered the seventeenth Bhaorao Deoras Memorial Lecture in Lucknow on May 12. This article is based on that lecture.
SINCE the dawn of civilisation, man has been asking questions such as ‘who are we?’ and ‘where have we come from?’ Until 1858 it was universal belief that man is special creation of God. In 1858, based on phenotypic transition of various organisms including plant and animal species, Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution and wrote a book The Origin of Species. Eight years later in 1871, he wrote a book The Descent of Man. Based on the anatomical similarities, he declared that the chimpanzee and the gorilla are our closest living relatives and predicted that the earliest ancestors of humans would turn up in Africa, where our ape kins live today. Now it is widely accepted view that modern human diverged from a common ancestor of chimpanzee and human nearly 6-7 million years ago. Based on fossil records found in Africa, it is now believed that modern human originated from a single mother about 160,000 years ago in East Africa. East-African mega-droughts between 135 and 75 thousand years ago, when the water volume of the lake Malawi was reduced by at least 95 per cent, could have caused their migration out of Africa. The obvious question to ask is which route did they take? Our study of the tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands using complete mitochondrial DNA sequences, and its comparison with the mitochondrial DNA sequences of the world populations available in the database, led to the theory of southern coastal route of migration through India, against the prevailing view of northern route of migration via Middle East, Europe, south-east Asia, Australia and then to India. Our earlier study revealed that Negrito tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, such as Onge, Jarawa, Great Andamanese and Sentinelese, are probably the descendants of the first man who moved out of Africa.
This raised many questions such as: (i) what is the origin of mainland tribal and caste populations?; (ii) are there any population(s) in mainland India, which are close to Andamanese?; (iii) how much affinities the Indian populations have with Andamanese?; (iv) did the Indians contribute to the early human spread?
In order to answer these questions and to explore the ancient history of India we have harnessed genomic technology.
Ancient roots for India’s rich diversity
India represents one of the largest human biodiversity pool in the world. There are 532 tribes, 72 primitive tribes and 36 hunters and gatherers. Although the genome sequences of any two unrelated people differ by just 0.1 per cent, that tiny slice of genetic material is a rich source of information. It provides clues that can help reconstruct the historical origins of modern populations. It also points to genetic variations that heighten the risk of certain diseases. In recent years, maps of human genetic variation have opened a window onto the diversity of populations across the world, yet India has been largely unrepresented until now.
To shed light on the genetic variability across the Indian subcontinent, we analysed 132 Indian samples from 25 groups on an Affymetrix 6.0 array, yielding data for 587,753 SNPs after restricting to markers with good completeness. To span the widest range of ancestry in India, we sampled tribal groups from 13 states and 6 language families (Indo-European, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burman, Great Andamanese and Jarawa-Onge). We also sampled caste groups mostly from Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh to permit comparison of traditionally "upper" and "lower" caste groups after controlling for geography. With tens of thousands of independent loci, we could estimate Fst (F-statistics) - accurately with just 2-9 samples per groups (with average standard error of + 0.0011). We also merged our data with 155 European (CEU), Chinese (CHB), and West African (YRI) samples from HapMap, and 938 samples from the Human Genome Diversity Panel (HGDP).
We analysed these data to address five questions about Indian genetics and history. Does the Indian subcontinent harbour more structure than Europe? Has strong endogamy been a long-standing feature of Indian groups? Do nearly all Indians descend from a mixture of populations, one of which was related to Central Asians, Middle Easterners and Europeans and probably lived in north India? Are tribal groups systematically different from castes, and do some tribal groups provide a good approximation for the ancestral populations of India? What is the origin of the indigenous Andaman Islanders?
All mainland Indian groups have inherited a mixture of ancestries
We provide strong evidence for two ancient and genetically divergent populations that are ancestral to most Indian groups today. One, the "Ancestral North Indians" (ANI), is genetically close to Middle Easterners, Central Asians, and Europeans, while the other, the "Ancestral South Indians" (ASI), is not close to any group outside the subcontinent. By introducing methods that can estimate ancestry without accurate ancestral populations, we show that ANI ancestry ranges from 39-71 per cent, and is higher in traditionally upper caste groups and Indo-European speakers. Groups with only ASI ancestry may no longer exist in mainland India.
The finding that nearly all Indian groups descend from mixtures of two ancestral populations applies to traditional "tribes" as well as "castes". It is impossible to distinguish castes from tribes using the data. The genetics prove that they are not systematically different. This supports the view that castes grew directly out of tribal-like organisations during the formation of Indian society. The one exception to the finding, that all Indian groups are mixed, is the indigenous people of the Andaman Islands, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean with a census of only a few hundred today. The Andamanese appear to be related exclusively to the Ancestral South Indian lineage and therefore lack Ancestral North Indian ancestry. In this sense, they are unique. Understanding their origins provides a window to look into the history of the Ancestral South Indians, and the period of tens of thousands years ago when they diverged from other Eurasians. Our project to sample the disappearing tribes of the Andaman Islands has been more successful than we hoped, as the Andamanese are the only surviving remnant of the ancient colonisers of South Asia.
Medical Implications
Our findings revealed that many groups in modern India descend from a small number of founding individuals, and have since been genetically isolated from other groups. In scientific parlance, this is called a "founder event". It has medical implications for Indian populations. Recessive hereditary diseases - single gene disorders that occur only when an individual carries two malfunctioning copies of the relevant gene - are likely to be common in populations descended from so few ‘founder’ individuals. Mapping the causal genes will help to address this problem. The widespread history of founder events in Indian populations helps to explain why the incidence of genetic diseases among Indians is different from the rest of the world. For example, an ancient deletion of 25 bp in the cardiac myosin-binding proteins-C gene (MYBPC3) is associated with heritable cardiomyopathies as well as with an increased risk of heart failure. Its prevalence is high (~4 per cent) in the general populations from the Indian subcontinent. However, this mutation is completely absent among the people from the rest of the world.
The finding that a large proportion of modern Indians descended from founder events means that India is genetically not a single large population; instead it is best described as many smaller isolated populations. Founder events in other groups, such as Finns and Ashkenazi Jews, are well-known to increase the incidence of recessive genetic diseases; and our study predicts that the same will be true for many groups in India. It is important to carry out a systematic survey of Indian groups to identify which ones descend from the strongest founder events. Further studies of these groups should lead to the rapid discovery of genes that cause devastating diseases, and thus will help in the clinical care of individuals and their families who are at risk.
Indo-European family of language and the concept of Aryan and Dravidian
The story of Indo-European family of languages was proposed by Sir William Jones before the Asiatic Society at Calcutta in 1786 (Jones, 1786). The Indo-European concept was a real breakthrough of scientific linguistics, linking languages widely separated in space, forming two blocks - an eastern one of Persian and Indic languages and a western European block, separated from one another by Semitic and Turkic languages. The Indo-European concept was anything but obvious - the idea, that is, that the two blocks of languages, so distant from one another, are nevertheless related to one another. Its discovery by Jones and others not only created a new science of language but it radically recorded existing ideas about the relations among different natives or races of people. Jones (1746-1794) was an employee of the East India Company who developed the Indo-European concept. He also made important identifications of words in the Romanic or Gypsy languages with Sanskrit (Jones, 1786). Marsdens’ (William Marsdens 1754-1836) early paper, comparing the Gypsy language with Hindustani, makes him one of the co-discoverers of its Indian origins.
Max Muller, who was one of the first to apply the Aryan name to the Indo-European concept identified the racial-linguistic entity as racially white and was instrumental in the formation of the racial theory of Indian civilisation.
The kings of South India, like the Chola and the Pandya dynasties, relate their lineages back to Manu. The Matsya Purana moreover makes Manu, the progenitor of all the Aryans, originally a south Indian king, Satyavrata. Hence these are not only traditions that make the Dravidian descendants of Vedic rishis and kings, but those that make the Aryans of North India descendants of Dravidian kings. The two cultures are so intimately related that it is difficult to say which came first.
The present research findings are consistent with the view of one school of thoughts that the Aryans and Dravidians are part of the same culture and we need not speak of them as separate. However, it contradicts the second school of historians such as Max Muller who for the first time applied the Aryan name to the Indo-European concept. It strongly suggests that dividing them and placing them at odds with each other serves the interest of neither but only serves to damage their common culture.
Our study is important in highlighting important questions still open for future research. One priority is to estimate a date for the ANI-ASI mixture; this may be possible by studying the length of stretches of ANI ancestry in modern Indian samples. Inferring a date is important, as we expect that it would shed light on the historical process leading to the present day structure of Indian groups. A second priority would be to follow up on the observation that many Indian descended from a small number of founders. The groups with the strongest founder effects can then be analysed to identify genetic variants that we predict will account for substantial rates of recessive disease in these groups. Have Eurasians descended from the Ancestral North Indians? This is the question we would like to address in our future research activities.
By Dr Lalji Singh
India represents one of the largest human biodiversity pool in the world. There are 532 tribes, 72 primitive tribes and 36 hunters and gatherers. Although the genome sequences of any two unrelated people differ by just 0.1 per cent, that tiny slice of genetic material is a rich source of information. It provides clues that can help reconstruct the historical origins of modern populations.
The kings of South India, like the Chola and the Pandya dynasties, relate their lineages back to Manu. The Matsya Purana moreover makes Manu, the progenitor of all the Aryans, originally a south Indian king, Satyavrata. Hence these are not only traditions that make the Dravidian descendants of Vedic rishis and kings, but those that make the Aryans of North India descendants of Dravidian kings.
Dr Lalji Singh, former Director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, delivered the seventeenth Bhaorao Deoras Memorial Lecture in Lucknow on May 12. This article is based on that lecture.
SINCE the dawn of civilisation, man has been asking questions such as ‘who are we?’ and ‘where have we come from?’ Until 1858 it was universal belief that man is special creation of God. In 1858, based on phenotypic transition of various organisms including plant and animal species, Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution and wrote a book The Origin of Species. Eight years later in 1871, he wrote a book The Descent of Man. Based on the anatomical similarities, he declared that the chimpanzee and the gorilla are our closest living relatives and predicted that the earliest ancestors of humans would turn up in Africa, where our ape kins live today. Now it is widely accepted view that modern human diverged from a common ancestor of chimpanzee and human nearly 6-7 million years ago. Based on fossil records found in Africa, it is now believed that modern human originated from a single mother about 160,000 years ago in East Africa. East-African mega-droughts between 135 and 75 thousand years ago, when the water volume of the lake Malawi was reduced by at least 95 per cent, could have caused their migration out of Africa. The obvious question to ask is which route did they take? Our study of the tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands using complete mitochondrial DNA sequences, and its comparison with the mitochondrial DNA sequences of the world populations available in the database, led to the theory of southern coastal route of migration through India, against the prevailing view of northern route of migration via Middle East, Europe, south-east Asia, Australia and then to India. Our earlier study revealed that Negrito tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, such as Onge, Jarawa, Great Andamanese and Sentinelese, are probably the descendants of the first man who moved out of Africa.
This raised many questions such as: (i) what is the origin of mainland tribal and caste populations?; (ii) are there any population(s) in mainland India, which are close to Andamanese?; (iii) how much affinities the Indian populations have with Andamanese?; (iv) did the Indians contribute to the early human spread?
In order to answer these questions and to explore the ancient history of India we have harnessed genomic technology.
Ancient roots for India’s rich diversity
India represents one of the largest human biodiversity pool in the world. There are 532 tribes, 72 primitive tribes and 36 hunters and gatherers. Although the genome sequences of any two unrelated people differ by just 0.1 per cent, that tiny slice of genetic material is a rich source of information. It provides clues that can help reconstruct the historical origins of modern populations. It also points to genetic variations that heighten the risk of certain diseases. In recent years, maps of human genetic variation have opened a window onto the diversity of populations across the world, yet India has been largely unrepresented until now.
To shed light on the genetic variability across the Indian subcontinent, we analysed 132 Indian samples from 25 groups on an Affymetrix 6.0 array, yielding data for 587,753 SNPs after restricting to markers with good completeness. To span the widest range of ancestry in India, we sampled tribal groups from 13 states and 6 language families (Indo-European, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burman, Great Andamanese and Jarawa-Onge). We also sampled caste groups mostly from Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh to permit comparison of traditionally "upper" and "lower" caste groups after controlling for geography. With tens of thousands of independent loci, we could estimate Fst (F-statistics) - accurately with just 2-9 samples per groups (with average standard error of + 0.0011). We also merged our data with 155 European (CEU), Chinese (CHB), and West African (YRI) samples from HapMap, and 938 samples from the Human Genome Diversity Panel (HGDP).
We analysed these data to address five questions about Indian genetics and history. Does the Indian subcontinent harbour more structure than Europe? Has strong endogamy been a long-standing feature of Indian groups? Do nearly all Indians descend from a mixture of populations, one of which was related to Central Asians, Middle Easterners and Europeans and probably lived in north India? Are tribal groups systematically different from castes, and do some tribal groups provide a good approximation for the ancestral populations of India? What is the origin of the indigenous Andaman Islanders?
All mainland Indian groups have inherited a mixture of ancestries
We provide strong evidence for two ancient and genetically divergent populations that are ancestral to most Indian groups today. One, the "Ancestral North Indians" (ANI), is genetically close to Middle Easterners, Central Asians, and Europeans, while the other, the "Ancestral South Indians" (ASI), is not close to any group outside the subcontinent. By introducing methods that can estimate ancestry without accurate ancestral populations, we show that ANI ancestry ranges from 39-71 per cent, and is higher in traditionally upper caste groups and Indo-European speakers. Groups with only ASI ancestry may no longer exist in mainland India.
The finding that nearly all Indian groups descend from mixtures of two ancestral populations applies to traditional "tribes" as well as "castes". It is impossible to distinguish castes from tribes using the data. The genetics prove that they are not systematically different. This supports the view that castes grew directly out of tribal-like organisations during the formation of Indian society. The one exception to the finding, that all Indian groups are mixed, is the indigenous people of the Andaman Islands, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean with a census of only a few hundred today. The Andamanese appear to be related exclusively to the Ancestral South Indian lineage and therefore lack Ancestral North Indian ancestry. In this sense, they are unique. Understanding their origins provides a window to look into the history of the Ancestral South Indians, and the period of tens of thousands years ago when they diverged from other Eurasians. Our project to sample the disappearing tribes of the Andaman Islands has been more successful than we hoped, as the Andamanese are the only surviving remnant of the ancient colonisers of South Asia.
Medical Implications
Our findings revealed that many groups in modern India descend from a small number of founding individuals, and have since been genetically isolated from other groups. In scientific parlance, this is called a "founder event". It has medical implications for Indian populations. Recessive hereditary diseases - single gene disorders that occur only when an individual carries two malfunctioning copies of the relevant gene - are likely to be common in populations descended from so few ‘founder’ individuals. Mapping the causal genes will help to address this problem. The widespread history of founder events in Indian populations helps to explain why the incidence of genetic diseases among Indians is different from the rest of the world. For example, an ancient deletion of 25 bp in the cardiac myosin-binding proteins-C gene (MYBPC3) is associated with heritable cardiomyopathies as well as with an increased risk of heart failure. Its prevalence is high (~4 per cent) in the general populations from the Indian subcontinent. However, this mutation is completely absent among the people from the rest of the world.
The finding that a large proportion of modern Indians descended from founder events means that India is genetically not a single large population; instead it is best described as many smaller isolated populations. Founder events in other groups, such as Finns and Ashkenazi Jews, are well-known to increase the incidence of recessive genetic diseases; and our study predicts that the same will be true for many groups in India. It is important to carry out a systematic survey of Indian groups to identify which ones descend from the strongest founder events. Further studies of these groups should lead to the rapid discovery of genes that cause devastating diseases, and thus will help in the clinical care of individuals and their families who are at risk.
Indo-European family of language and the concept of Aryan and Dravidian
The story of Indo-European family of languages was proposed by Sir William Jones before the Asiatic Society at Calcutta in 1786 (Jones, 1786). The Indo-European concept was a real breakthrough of scientific linguistics, linking languages widely separated in space, forming two blocks - an eastern one of Persian and Indic languages and a western European block, separated from one another by Semitic and Turkic languages. The Indo-European concept was anything but obvious - the idea, that is, that the two blocks of languages, so distant from one another, are nevertheless related to one another. Its discovery by Jones and others not only created a new science of language but it radically recorded existing ideas about the relations among different natives or races of people. Jones (1746-1794) was an employee of the East India Company who developed the Indo-European concept. He also made important identifications of words in the Romanic or Gypsy languages with Sanskrit (Jones, 1786). Marsdens’ (William Marsdens 1754-1836) early paper, comparing the Gypsy language with Hindustani, makes him one of the co-discoverers of its Indian origins.
Max Muller, who was one of the first to apply the Aryan name to the Indo-European concept identified the racial-linguistic entity as racially white and was instrumental in the formation of the racial theory of Indian civilisation.
The kings of South India, like the Chola and the Pandya dynasties, relate their lineages back to Manu. The Matsya Purana moreover makes Manu, the progenitor of all the Aryans, originally a south Indian king, Satyavrata. Hence these are not only traditions that make the Dravidian descendants of Vedic rishis and kings, but those that make the Aryans of North India descendants of Dravidian kings. The two cultures are so intimately related that it is difficult to say which came first.
The present research findings are consistent with the view of one school of thoughts that the Aryans and Dravidians are part of the same culture and we need not speak of them as separate. However, it contradicts the second school of historians such as Max Muller who for the first time applied the Aryan name to the Indo-European concept. It strongly suggests that dividing them and placing them at odds with each other serves the interest of neither but only serves to damage their common culture.
Our study is important in highlighting important questions still open for future research. One priority is to estimate a date for the ANI-ASI mixture; this may be possible by studying the length of stretches of ANI ancestry in modern Indian samples. Inferring a date is important, as we expect that it would shed light on the historical process leading to the present day structure of Indian groups. A second priority would be to follow up on the observation that many Indian descended from a small number of founders. The groups with the strongest founder effects can then be analysed to identify genetic variants that we predict will account for substantial rates of recessive disease in these groups. Have Eurasians descended from the Ancestral North Indians? This is the question we would like to address in our future research activities.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Despite internet and breaking news reader is still deprived of information
WAY back in the 1930s and on to the middle of the 20th century, the United States and Britain had some brilliant weeklies. One remembers magazines like The Atlantic, Saturday Review, The New Statesman and Nation and a few others whose editors were held in the highest esteem. One, of course, cannot forget the Henry Luce productions like Life, Time and Fortune. It was Life, more than any other journal, that made photo journalism truly popular. Life became an institution in itself. India, then, had hardly any magazine of note. In the twenties, Kamakshi Natarajan brought forth The Indian Social Reformer. After his passing away, his son, J Natarajan tried to continue it, but it had gone out of fashion. Mahatma Gandhi was doing in real life what K Natarajan was doing through the media, which is not to belittle that great leader.
From Calcutta came Ramanand Chatterjee’s Modern Review. This was for intellectuals and liberals and had occasional contributors from the elite like Jawaharlal Nehru. But that too, had its life-time. From Madras, we had My Magazine and Merry Magazine, awfully produced but provide opportunities for budding writers to exhibit their talent. Mysindia, a weekly edited by an Englishman was published from Mysore. Among the most popular Sunday weeklies was one from old Madras, Sunday Times edited by one MS Kamath who Made Ramana Maharshi widely known. In Bombay, while the daily Bombay Chronicle was edited by Syed Abdulla Brelvi, the more popular Sunday Chronicle was edited by RK Prabhu. The Sunday edition was famous for its Last Page written by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, a 100 per cent nationalist who was later to pay his attention to film production.
There were a few other journals which blossomed in the post-independence period like R K Karanjia’s Blitz, but they belong to a different category. They naturally served a purpose for the times before they went out of circulation like-to provide another example, Baburao Patel’s delightful Filmindia. Baburao was literally the father of Cinematic Journalism in India. Of course, one cannot forget the Illustrated Weekly of India which by any reckoning was the best of the lot and had a national circulation envious of the Gods. In the early eighties it celebrated its centenary anniversary. All this is to remind one that while most of them are no longer there, we today have journals of great excellence like Frontline, Outlook, India Today, each excelling the other in one or other department. The Economic & Political Weekly had hardly any competition from any publisher let alone in India, but in the world at large.
One of the newest entrants into the field of journalistic excellence is Eternal India now hardly two years old but, I would like to submit, should be must reading to anyone who wants to know what is happening in the country in depth. The latest issue (May 10) is especially to be recommended for four article: Aspects of Internals Security by Lt Gen (Retd) AS Alkat, Development of Telangana by T H Chowdary, who is Director of Centre for Telecom Management Studies, Religion and Job Reservation by Arif Mohammad Khan, a former Union Cabinet Minister, but the most fascinating of all is a study of Dharampal’s Indiginous Indian Education by AL Prajapati. And this, for a special reason. One will remember the growth of the anti-Brahmin Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, on the ground that the brahmins, during the British period all but monopolised government jobs, in its time, the most coveted. Was it always like that? It wasn’t. In earlier days, in most areas, especially in Madras Presidency, the Brahmin scholars formed "a very small proportion of those studying at schools" except in disciplines of Theology, Metaphysics, Ethics and the Law". But the disciplines of Astronomy and Medical Science seem to have been studied by scholars from a variety of backgrounds and castes, as the author notes. In Malabar, for instance (the period of time is not mentioned) out of 808 students studying Astronomy, only 78 were brahmins and out of the 194 studying medicine, only 31 were Brahmins. Incidentally, in Rajahmundary five of the scholars in the Institute of Higher Learning were shudras.
According to other Madras Presidency surveys, the best students studying surgery were from the caste of barbers. Brahmins were nowhere in the picture. The figures quoted in a variety of job offerings etc suggest that the role of the Brahmins was minimum in almost all of them. Government jobs formed only a small part of all the jobs available in the country, a point mostly forgotten by anti-brahmins, no doubt purposely. One suspects the caste system precluded brahmins from many highly paid professional jobs like temple building, carving out canals etc, even studying surgery since it was unacceptable for brahmins to touch dead bodies.
But to come back to the present times. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh gives his first press conference in one year which was attended, one is told, by over six hundred reporters, which one finds unbelievable. This columnist does not profess to have read all the newspapers in India, but going by regional papers, the press conference was well reported but instead of summarising the answers given by the Prime Minister, the media could have reported the proceedings verbatim, presenting both questions and answers as they were asked and replied. One would also like to know who asked which question. So many of our dailies are devoted to presenting social events that political reporting has been reduced to a joke. Time was when newspapers like The Hindu would give two full pages of parliamentary proceedings. In Bombay, The Times of India also gave detailed coverage not only of Parliament but of the Bombay Legislative Assembly and even the Bombay Municipal Corporation. In the era of ‘breaking news’ and ‘Instant news’ those wise ways are no longer fashionable. It is the reader who is deprived of information and the totality of information to arrive at major judgements. That is the best way to destroy democracy.
From Calcutta came Ramanand Chatterjee’s Modern Review. This was for intellectuals and liberals and had occasional contributors from the elite like Jawaharlal Nehru. But that too, had its life-time. From Madras, we had My Magazine and Merry Magazine, awfully produced but provide opportunities for budding writers to exhibit their talent. Mysindia, a weekly edited by an Englishman was published from Mysore. Among the most popular Sunday weeklies was one from old Madras, Sunday Times edited by one MS Kamath who Made Ramana Maharshi widely known. In Bombay, while the daily Bombay Chronicle was edited by Syed Abdulla Brelvi, the more popular Sunday Chronicle was edited by RK Prabhu. The Sunday edition was famous for its Last Page written by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, a 100 per cent nationalist who was later to pay his attention to film production.
There were a few other journals which blossomed in the post-independence period like R K Karanjia’s Blitz, but they belong to a different category. They naturally served a purpose for the times before they went out of circulation like-to provide another example, Baburao Patel’s delightful Filmindia. Baburao was literally the father of Cinematic Journalism in India. Of course, one cannot forget the Illustrated Weekly of India which by any reckoning was the best of the lot and had a national circulation envious of the Gods. In the early eighties it celebrated its centenary anniversary. All this is to remind one that while most of them are no longer there, we today have journals of great excellence like Frontline, Outlook, India Today, each excelling the other in one or other department. The Economic & Political Weekly had hardly any competition from any publisher let alone in India, but in the world at large.
One of the newest entrants into the field of journalistic excellence is Eternal India now hardly two years old but, I would like to submit, should be must reading to anyone who wants to know what is happening in the country in depth. The latest issue (May 10) is especially to be recommended for four article: Aspects of Internals Security by Lt Gen (Retd) AS Alkat, Development of Telangana by T H Chowdary, who is Director of Centre for Telecom Management Studies, Religion and Job Reservation by Arif Mohammad Khan, a former Union Cabinet Minister, but the most fascinating of all is a study of Dharampal’s Indiginous Indian Education by AL Prajapati. And this, for a special reason. One will remember the growth of the anti-Brahmin Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, on the ground that the brahmins, during the British period all but monopolised government jobs, in its time, the most coveted. Was it always like that? It wasn’t. In earlier days, in most areas, especially in Madras Presidency, the Brahmin scholars formed "a very small proportion of those studying at schools" except in disciplines of Theology, Metaphysics, Ethics and the Law". But the disciplines of Astronomy and Medical Science seem to have been studied by scholars from a variety of backgrounds and castes, as the author notes. In Malabar, for instance (the period of time is not mentioned) out of 808 students studying Astronomy, only 78 were brahmins and out of the 194 studying medicine, only 31 were Brahmins. Incidentally, in Rajahmundary five of the scholars in the Institute of Higher Learning were shudras.
According to other Madras Presidency surveys, the best students studying surgery were from the caste of barbers. Brahmins were nowhere in the picture. The figures quoted in a variety of job offerings etc suggest that the role of the Brahmins was minimum in almost all of them. Government jobs formed only a small part of all the jobs available in the country, a point mostly forgotten by anti-brahmins, no doubt purposely. One suspects the caste system precluded brahmins from many highly paid professional jobs like temple building, carving out canals etc, even studying surgery since it was unacceptable for brahmins to touch dead bodies.
But to come back to the present times. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh gives his first press conference in one year which was attended, one is told, by over six hundred reporters, which one finds unbelievable. This columnist does not profess to have read all the newspapers in India, but going by regional papers, the press conference was well reported but instead of summarising the answers given by the Prime Minister, the media could have reported the proceedings verbatim, presenting both questions and answers as they were asked and replied. One would also like to know who asked which question. So many of our dailies are devoted to presenting social events that political reporting has been reduced to a joke. Time was when newspapers like The Hindu would give two full pages of parliamentary proceedings. In Bombay, The Times of India also gave detailed coverage not only of Parliament but of the Bombay Legislative Assembly and even the Bombay Municipal Corporation. In the era of ‘breaking news’ and ‘Instant news’ those wise ways are no longer fashionable. It is the reader who is deprived of information and the totality of information to arrive at major judgements. That is the best way to destroy democracy.
Attack on Dr Pravin Togadia in Hyderabad
ABOUT 200 jehadis armed with sticks, stones and swords laid siege to a house under SR Nagar Police Station in Hyderabad at 10.15 p.m. on May 28 to launch a pre-planned attack on VHP general secretary Dr Pravin Togadia who was at the house of a VHP sympathiser for dinner. He came to the city only in the evening after attending an organisational camp far away from the city.
VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal sounded the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Chief Minister and Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh about the incident drawing their attention to the fact that this jehadi posture has very serious implications. "After the Godhra incident, this is the first time that jehadi elements tried to repeat their terrorist act of this nature," Shri Singhal reminded them. He informed that the Hyderabad police was very lethargic in taking action. It came after 45 minutes and quelled the jehadis.
"The VHP and all its Chapters have taken this threat very seriously. VHP has requested the Central and the State Governments to bring to book the anti-national jehadis and take stern action against them, so that such incidents do not reoccur anywhere in the country," Shri Singhal said.
VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal sounded the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Chief Minister and Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh about the incident drawing their attention to the fact that this jehadi posture has very serious implications. "After the Godhra incident, this is the first time that jehadi elements tried to repeat their terrorist act of this nature," Shri Singhal reminded them. He informed that the Hyderabad police was very lethargic in taking action. It came after 45 minutes and quelled the jehadis.
"The VHP and all its Chapters have taken this threat very seriously. VHP has requested the Central and the State Governments to bring to book the anti-national jehadis and take stern action against them, so that such incidents do not reoccur anywhere in the country," Shri Singhal said.
Western countries must return Indian antiquities.
Western countries must return Indian antiquities. They are India's wealth
THE Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India Dr Gautam Sengupta recently said that India will launch a "diplomatic and legal campaign" to retrieve India’s stolen and looted antiquities that adorn western museums now. Top in the list are the Koh-I-Noor diamond, the Sultanganj Buddha (over 1500 years old), the idol of goddess Saraswati from Raja Bhoj’s temple, and Amravati railings, he said. Sengupta rightly said that the list of items looted, stolen and forced out of the country is too long to handle. And yet, India must make a beginning. The efforts made till now have not borne fruit. Now India has decided to seek the help of UNESCO and the support of other nations like Mexico, Egypt, Greece and China who are also victims of colonial loot.
Routinely Indian artefacts come up for sale in international markets both open and underground. These are mostly precious items taken from India by the colonisers as and when they found it. Any number of idols, made of metals, alloys, stones and crystal have been snatched out of temples and shipped out. There was the classic case of the idol of Nataraja, installed at the Puttur temple in Tamil Nadu, which was traced at London. It was returned to India and restored to the temple after a long drawn legal battle.
One of the rarest of rare Atharva Veda manuscript in Sharda script (dated 900 BC) is now located in the Tubingen University Library, Germany. The library presented a digitised version of this manuscript to India a few years ago. Visitors and scholars to various museums in western countries speak with wonder about the precious manuscripts of India being preserved there. No price can be calculated for these lost antiquities. That they belong to India is not in doubt. That they were taken out of their places of origin by plunder, pillage and theft is also true. Hence these museums cannot claim ownership over these items.
While this issue is undisputable that the precious artefacts should be returned to the countries of origin, it is equally important to ponder over our own track record in caring for the remnants of our great cultural past. Smuggling antiquities is a multi billion business. Almost once a week the police stop idols from being transported out of the country. These are only the cases caught and stopped. There is a law that says that any article of more than 75 years old cannot be taken out of the borders of India. The ASI has the responsibility to give approval for any antiquity to be taken out. The law is never applied in spirit.
Dr Subramanian Swamy had filed a case in the Supreme Court against antiquity smuggling with the collusion of senior politicians. He had sought to expose how the nexus worked. The ASI had a few years ago buried the case of serious allegations against a very senior archaeologist, who was excavating a site. He was accused of giving free access to smugglers into the site even before the excavated objects were registered. More recently Ms Maneka Gandhi, as Culture Minister discovered to everybody’s horror that the master catalogue of the National Museum had not been updated for over a decade and during her visit to the museum found hundreds of non-catalogued art objects lying in the corridors of the museum. It meant that if anybody walked away with any object, the museum would not be even able to complain.
The state of our museums is pitiable. Except the few national museums, the state museums are all badly maintained. The recent theft of Tagore memorabilia and his Nobel Prize medal only highlight the plight of the museums. Again, it had come to light recently that some of Raja Ravi Verma’s paintings were missing from the Trivandrum museum. It was later, explained away as ‘mistakes’ while cataloguing. The truth is not known.
India must make a strong case for the return of the smuggled art objects. No other country suffered such loot as India did, also because no other nation had this treasure of precious things. From Babur to Nadir Shah to Gazni to Khilji to Robert Clive to Dalhousie, it has been one raid after another. That we have withstood them all and continue to flourish is in itself a miracle. And hence our case becomes stronger. The western countries should have the conscience and the grace to return all the material in their possession that once belonged to India. Let them not look at it as assets. They had been the caretakers till now and we are grateful for that. But now, it is time they returned home.
THE Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India Dr Gautam Sengupta recently said that India will launch a "diplomatic and legal campaign" to retrieve India’s stolen and looted antiquities that adorn western museums now. Top in the list are the Koh-I-Noor diamond, the Sultanganj Buddha (over 1500 years old), the idol of goddess Saraswati from Raja Bhoj’s temple, and Amravati railings, he said. Sengupta rightly said that the list of items looted, stolen and forced out of the country is too long to handle. And yet, India must make a beginning. The efforts made till now have not borne fruit. Now India has decided to seek the help of UNESCO and the support of other nations like Mexico, Egypt, Greece and China who are also victims of colonial loot.
Routinely Indian artefacts come up for sale in international markets both open and underground. These are mostly precious items taken from India by the colonisers as and when they found it. Any number of idols, made of metals, alloys, stones and crystal have been snatched out of temples and shipped out. There was the classic case of the idol of Nataraja, installed at the Puttur temple in Tamil Nadu, which was traced at London. It was returned to India and restored to the temple after a long drawn legal battle.
One of the rarest of rare Atharva Veda manuscript in Sharda script (dated 900 BC) is now located in the Tubingen University Library, Germany. The library presented a digitised version of this manuscript to India a few years ago. Visitors and scholars to various museums in western countries speak with wonder about the precious manuscripts of India being preserved there. No price can be calculated for these lost antiquities. That they belong to India is not in doubt. That they were taken out of their places of origin by plunder, pillage and theft is also true. Hence these museums cannot claim ownership over these items.
While this issue is undisputable that the precious artefacts should be returned to the countries of origin, it is equally important to ponder over our own track record in caring for the remnants of our great cultural past. Smuggling antiquities is a multi billion business. Almost once a week the police stop idols from being transported out of the country. These are only the cases caught and stopped. There is a law that says that any article of more than 75 years old cannot be taken out of the borders of India. The ASI has the responsibility to give approval for any antiquity to be taken out. The law is never applied in spirit.
Dr Subramanian Swamy had filed a case in the Supreme Court against antiquity smuggling with the collusion of senior politicians. He had sought to expose how the nexus worked. The ASI had a few years ago buried the case of serious allegations against a very senior archaeologist, who was excavating a site. He was accused of giving free access to smugglers into the site even before the excavated objects were registered. More recently Ms Maneka Gandhi, as Culture Minister discovered to everybody’s horror that the master catalogue of the National Museum had not been updated for over a decade and during her visit to the museum found hundreds of non-catalogued art objects lying in the corridors of the museum. It meant that if anybody walked away with any object, the museum would not be even able to complain.
The state of our museums is pitiable. Except the few national museums, the state museums are all badly maintained. The recent theft of Tagore memorabilia and his Nobel Prize medal only highlight the plight of the museums. Again, it had come to light recently that some of Raja Ravi Verma’s paintings were missing from the Trivandrum museum. It was later, explained away as ‘mistakes’ while cataloguing. The truth is not known.
India must make a strong case for the return of the smuggled art objects. No other country suffered such loot as India did, also because no other nation had this treasure of precious things. From Babur to Nadir Shah to Gazni to Khilji to Robert Clive to Dalhousie, it has been one raid after another. That we have withstood them all and continue to flourish is in itself a miracle. And hence our case becomes stronger. The western countries should have the conscience and the grace to return all the material in their possession that once belonged to India. Let them not look at it as assets. They had been the caretakers till now and we are grateful for that. But now, it is time they returned home.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Conversion of Aristocratic Hindu Princes
Kidnapping and Forced Conversion of Aristocratic Hindu Princes during Muslim Rule in India
Sunday, 28 March 2010 01:07 Dr. Radhasyam Brahmachari
It is well-known that Muslim invaders and rulers enslaved Hindus en masse and converted them to Islam to swell the Muslim population in India. There was another mode. Muslim rulers, given their large harems, used to have too many princesses, and found difficulty of getting suitable grooms from amongst Muslims to marry them off. So, they kidnapped and forcibly converted talented Hindu princes or aristocratic Hindu youngmen to marry off their daughters...
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A Muslim lady, called Nusrat Jahan Ayesha Siddiqa, has written a book in Bengali, titled “Islamic Peace and Massacring the Infidels”. She has given a nice description of the events, in the preface of her book, about how the Muslim kings and nobles used to hijack best Hindu young men, convert them to Islam and give their daughters in marriage to them. The book has been published by another Muslim lady, named Laila Anjumand Ara Banu. The paragraphs below present a translation of the Preface of the book by the authoress (as quoted by R N Datta in his book “The Silent Terror”):
“Many Hindus of Bengal are aware of the Hindu kingdom and the Hindu kings of Ektakia, in the district of Rajshahi, now in Bangladesh. Saptadurga or Satgarah was their capital. When Syed Hussain Shah was the Badshah (king) of Bengal, having capital at Gaur, now situated in the district of Maldah in West Bengal, Raja Madan Narayan, a Brahmin, was the king of Ektakia. These Hindu kingdoms like Ektakia were not independent but tributaries to the Badshah of Bengal and had to pay annual tax or revenue to the Badshah of Gaur. In one occasion, King Madan Narayan took his two sons Kandarpa Narayan and Kamdeb Narayan with him during his annual visit to Gaur for paying his tribute.
Syed Hussain Shah had many daughters out of his four wives. Being a Sayed, the Badshah used to look down upon ordinary Muslims, converts to Islam from Hinduism or Buddhism. So, several of his daughters, though grown up, had remained unwed for lack of suitable grooms. But the two charming, educated, intelligent, young and chaste sons of Madan Narayan instantly attracted the attention of Hussain Shah, who decided to marry his two eldest daughters to them.
When the Badshah disclosed his mind to Madan Narayan, he told the Badshah with folded hands: “O King! You are my Lord and hence you should not play a tyrant to me as it does not look nice and befitting for you.”
But the Badshah very cleverly replied: “O dear King, you should not misunderstand me. I personally have much respect and love for the kings of Ektakia. I, being a Syed, is the guru of the Muslims, as you, a Brahmin, is to the Hindus. As your daughters cannot marry anyone except he is a Brahmin, similarly my daughters cannot marry ordinary Muslims. I want to give the hands of my daughters to your sons in marriage, not as a tyrant, but as respect and deep regards for your illustrious family. I do not say that, your sons will have to embrace Islam. It is a natural and common social rule that the wife must follow the religion of her husband and hence you are at liberty to convert my daughters to Hinduism before marriage. If you do not agree, then I should say that your sons have to be converted to Islam. And we shall be glad to include them into our community. Out of these two proposals, I shall follow which you will consider best, but I shall never apply force in any circumstances.”
King Madan Narayan could smell that, the Badshah would show his real face if he disagreed both the proposal. Secondly, being a devout Brahmin, it would not be possible for him to bring a girl from a Muslim family, though after a possible conversion to Hinduism. So, he gave up the hope of his sons and consequently they were converted to Islam and married to the daughters of Hussain Shah. Later on, he kidnapped 11 more young men of the family of Madan Narayan, including his sons and nephews, converted them to Islam and married them with 11 princesses of his family. Only one boy, Ratikanta, the fourth son of Madan Narayan was spared because of his poor eye sight. “Let the fellow with bad eye sight remain a Hindu and for the others with good eye sight, it has been better for them to convert to Islam”, said the Badshah ironically to Madan Narayan on one occasion. In this way, 20 Hindu princes were hijacked from the Royal family of Ektakia.
This process of hijacking Hindu young men and giving them Muslim princesses in marriage, of course after converting to Islam, was not confined to the Badshah of Bengal only. Even Mughal Emperors, in several occasions, adopted this policy to find suitable grooms for their princesses. Emperor Akbar married two of her daughters using this policy: one to the Music maestro, named Tansen, after converting him to Islam, and the other daughter to Chandra Narayan, a Prince of the Royal family of Ektakia. Aurangzeb married his eldest daughter to a Kashmiri Pundit, named Krishna Narayan, after kidnapping and converting him to Islam. When Sayesta Khan was the subedar of Bengal, Aurangzeb wrote him a letter asking him to kidnap suitable princes of the Royal family of Ektakia and convert them to Islam, and send them to Delhi under strong protection of the security staff. The order also carried a strict instruction that said: no such converted Hindu prince should be sent to Delhi until he turns into a devout Muslim, because the Emperor disliked meeting a converted Muslim, who still possessed the hateful habits of the Hindu kafirs.
We used to listen to these stories from my grandmother. She also told us that we were the descendants of Prince Kandarpa Narayan. Though Prince Kamdeb could have been able to accept his conversion to Islam as his destiny, but Kandarpa Narayan could not. He could never become a Muslim by his heart. As there was no other alternative but to accept it as his fate, he ordered his descendants to carry the remembrance of their Hindu root from generation after generation. I belong to the 23rd generation of Prince Kandarpa Narayan and my blood begins to boil when I remember the Humiliation, coercion and torture that compelled my forefathers to convert to Islam.”
Sunday, 28 March 2010 01:07 Dr. Radhasyam Brahmachari
It is well-known that Muslim invaders and rulers enslaved Hindus en masse and converted them to Islam to swell the Muslim population in India. There was another mode. Muslim rulers, given their large harems, used to have too many princesses, and found difficulty of getting suitable grooms from amongst Muslims to marry them off. So, they kidnapped and forcibly converted talented Hindu princes or aristocratic Hindu youngmen to marry off their daughters...
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A Muslim lady, called Nusrat Jahan Ayesha Siddiqa, has written a book in Bengali, titled “Islamic Peace and Massacring the Infidels”. She has given a nice description of the events, in the preface of her book, about how the Muslim kings and nobles used to hijack best Hindu young men, convert them to Islam and give their daughters in marriage to them. The book has been published by another Muslim lady, named Laila Anjumand Ara Banu. The paragraphs below present a translation of the Preface of the book by the authoress (as quoted by R N Datta in his book “The Silent Terror”):
“Many Hindus of Bengal are aware of the Hindu kingdom and the Hindu kings of Ektakia, in the district of Rajshahi, now in Bangladesh. Saptadurga or Satgarah was their capital. When Syed Hussain Shah was the Badshah (king) of Bengal, having capital at Gaur, now situated in the district of Maldah in West Bengal, Raja Madan Narayan, a Brahmin, was the king of Ektakia. These Hindu kingdoms like Ektakia were not independent but tributaries to the Badshah of Bengal and had to pay annual tax or revenue to the Badshah of Gaur. In one occasion, King Madan Narayan took his two sons Kandarpa Narayan and Kamdeb Narayan with him during his annual visit to Gaur for paying his tribute.
Syed Hussain Shah had many daughters out of his four wives. Being a Sayed, the Badshah used to look down upon ordinary Muslims, converts to Islam from Hinduism or Buddhism. So, several of his daughters, though grown up, had remained unwed for lack of suitable grooms. But the two charming, educated, intelligent, young and chaste sons of Madan Narayan instantly attracted the attention of Hussain Shah, who decided to marry his two eldest daughters to them.
When the Badshah disclosed his mind to Madan Narayan, he told the Badshah with folded hands: “O King! You are my Lord and hence you should not play a tyrant to me as it does not look nice and befitting for you.”
But the Badshah very cleverly replied: “O dear King, you should not misunderstand me. I personally have much respect and love for the kings of Ektakia. I, being a Syed, is the guru of the Muslims, as you, a Brahmin, is to the Hindus. As your daughters cannot marry anyone except he is a Brahmin, similarly my daughters cannot marry ordinary Muslims. I want to give the hands of my daughters to your sons in marriage, not as a tyrant, but as respect and deep regards for your illustrious family. I do not say that, your sons will have to embrace Islam. It is a natural and common social rule that the wife must follow the religion of her husband and hence you are at liberty to convert my daughters to Hinduism before marriage. If you do not agree, then I should say that your sons have to be converted to Islam. And we shall be glad to include them into our community. Out of these two proposals, I shall follow which you will consider best, but I shall never apply force in any circumstances.”
King Madan Narayan could smell that, the Badshah would show his real face if he disagreed both the proposal. Secondly, being a devout Brahmin, it would not be possible for him to bring a girl from a Muslim family, though after a possible conversion to Hinduism. So, he gave up the hope of his sons and consequently they were converted to Islam and married to the daughters of Hussain Shah. Later on, he kidnapped 11 more young men of the family of Madan Narayan, including his sons and nephews, converted them to Islam and married them with 11 princesses of his family. Only one boy, Ratikanta, the fourth son of Madan Narayan was spared because of his poor eye sight. “Let the fellow with bad eye sight remain a Hindu and for the others with good eye sight, it has been better for them to convert to Islam”, said the Badshah ironically to Madan Narayan on one occasion. In this way, 20 Hindu princes were hijacked from the Royal family of Ektakia.
This process of hijacking Hindu young men and giving them Muslim princesses in marriage, of course after converting to Islam, was not confined to the Badshah of Bengal only. Even Mughal Emperors, in several occasions, adopted this policy to find suitable grooms for their princesses. Emperor Akbar married two of her daughters using this policy: one to the Music maestro, named Tansen, after converting him to Islam, and the other daughter to Chandra Narayan, a Prince of the Royal family of Ektakia. Aurangzeb married his eldest daughter to a Kashmiri Pundit, named Krishna Narayan, after kidnapping and converting him to Islam. When Sayesta Khan was the subedar of Bengal, Aurangzeb wrote him a letter asking him to kidnap suitable princes of the Royal family of Ektakia and convert them to Islam, and send them to Delhi under strong protection of the security staff. The order also carried a strict instruction that said: no such converted Hindu prince should be sent to Delhi until he turns into a devout Muslim, because the Emperor disliked meeting a converted Muslim, who still possessed the hateful habits of the Hindu kafirs.
We used to listen to these stories from my grandmother. She also told us that we were the descendants of Prince Kandarpa Narayan. Though Prince Kamdeb could have been able to accept his conversion to Islam as his destiny, but Kandarpa Narayan could not. He could never become a Muslim by his heart. As there was no other alternative but to accept it as his fate, he ordered his descendants to carry the remembrance of their Hindu root from generation after generation. I belong to the 23rd generation of Prince Kandarpa Narayan and my blood begins to boil when I remember the Humiliation, coercion and torture that compelled my forefathers to convert to Islam.”
Sikh Sangat service touches the heart of devotees in Mahakumbh
IN order to promote the feeling of social harmony and apprise the devotees of the rich traditions of Sikh Gurus, the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat organised various camps in Haridwar Mahakumbh from March 21 to April 18. The langar and boarding arrangements were made at the huge premises of 12 bighas at Nirmal Virakta Kutia near Prem Nagar Ashram Chowk. Around 5000 people in normal days and over 10,000 on the days of Shahi snan had prasad at the langar.
In the medical camp organised under the banner of Bhai Kanhaiyaji, from 3000 to 4000 patients were treated every day. A huge exhibition displaying the rich sacrificial traditions of Sikh Gurus was also organised at this premises. More than five lakh people including the devotees from Bangladesh, Nepal, America, Canada, France, Italy, Sri Lanka, Japan, Hong Kong etc. not only had langar but also visited the exhibition. The Sikh Sangat workers from 28 Prants also visited the camps.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh and many of his cabinet colleagues, former Union Law Minister Dr Subramanian Swamy, National Executive Member of RSS Shri Madhubhai Kulkarni, VHP general secretary (organisation) Shri Dinesh Chandra, VHP vice president Shri Balkrishna Naik, founder of Sikh Sangat Sardar Chiranjiv Singh, Sikh Sangat national president Sardar Gurucharan Singh Gill and many others were also present at the inaugural ceremony.
A Kavi Darbar was organised at Neeldhara Pandal in which many leading poets including Shri Nirala from Punjab, Shri Sajan, Shri Mohan Singh Mohani, Shri Divana, Dr Dayashankar Vidyalankar, Dr Buddhadev Sharma, etc. recited their poems.
National president of Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad Mahant Gyandas Maharaj was the chief guest at the concluding ceremony. He lauded the activities of the Sikh Sangat. Shrimahant of Nirmal Akhara Sant Shri Gyandev, representative of Sri Sri Ravi Shanakar Guruji Shri Bhanuji Maharaj, Mahamandaleshwar Shri Hansdevacharya Maharaj also blessed the devotees.
In the medical camp organised under the banner of Bhai Kanhaiyaji, from 3000 to 4000 patients were treated every day. A huge exhibition displaying the rich sacrificial traditions of Sikh Gurus was also organised at this premises. More than five lakh people including the devotees from Bangladesh, Nepal, America, Canada, France, Italy, Sri Lanka, Japan, Hong Kong etc. not only had langar but also visited the exhibition. The Sikh Sangat workers from 28 Prants also visited the camps.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh and many of his cabinet colleagues, former Union Law Minister Dr Subramanian Swamy, National Executive Member of RSS Shri Madhubhai Kulkarni, VHP general secretary (organisation) Shri Dinesh Chandra, VHP vice president Shri Balkrishna Naik, founder of Sikh Sangat Sardar Chiranjiv Singh, Sikh Sangat national president Sardar Gurucharan Singh Gill and many others were also present at the inaugural ceremony.
A Kavi Darbar was organised at Neeldhara Pandal in which many leading poets including Shri Nirala from Punjab, Shri Sajan, Shri Mohan Singh Mohani, Shri Divana, Dr Dayashankar Vidyalankar, Dr Buddhadev Sharma, etc. recited their poems.
National president of Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad Mahant Gyandas Maharaj was the chief guest at the concluding ceremony. He lauded the activities of the Sikh Sangat. Shrimahant of Nirmal Akhara Sant Shri Gyandev, representative of Sri Sri Ravi Shanakar Guruji Shri Bhanuji Maharaj, Mahamandaleshwar Shri Hansdevacharya Maharaj also blessed the devotees.
Catholic clergy want all Christians under Congress tent
By Arun Lakshman from Thiruvananthapuram
Catholic clergy forces Kerala Congress (Joseph) to merge with Kerala Congress (Mani) and join Congress led UDF
However the Congress camp led by Oomen Chandy is not happy at the merger between the Kerala Congress groups as the party knows that there would be bargain for more seats to the Assembly and impossible demands for plum postings for the cadres and second rung leaders will create new fissures.
THE Catholic clergy is again getting active in Kerala .The Catholic clergy which was instrumental in ousting the first communist government in the State in 1957 and has always been a major bargaining power in the political landscape of the State is now in the process of unifying the Kerala Congress splinter groups to enter into a major bargaining position in the run-up to the 2011 Assembly elections and in the new government to be formed.
The Kerala Congress (Joseph) group which has been an old ally with the LDF is now in the process of merging the party with the Kerala Congress (Mani) led by the veteran leader KM Mani. Sources in both the parties told Organiser that it was at the behest of the Catholic church that both the leaders, who were bitter opponents, buried their differences of opinion and decided to merge into the Kerala Congress. The former Arch Bishop of Changanachery and one of the most respected voices in the Catholic community Mar Joseph Powathil has initiated the discussion between the two groups on behalf of the Catholic church .
The Kerala Congress(Joseph) group chairman PJ Joseph is now a minister in the CPI-M led LDF government and sources said that he would put in his papers in a day or two .The Chief Minister is also, according to CPI-M sources, calling for the resignation of Joseph after reports have started appearing in local media about the merger of the two Kerala Congress entities .
The Kerala Congress (Mani) has now eight MLAs in the State Assembly while the Kerala Congress (Joseph) has four MLAs. After the merger, the Kerala Congress party would be the biggest block in the UDF after the Congress pushing Indian Union Muslim League to the third spot. The IUML has seven MLAs.
The Kothamangalam Arch Bishop and the Pala Arch Bishop were also instrumental in the discussions to bring both the Kerala Congress groups together and sources told this correspondent that these discussions were first held at the Divine Retreat Centre at Muringoor at the behest of Mar Joseph Powathil.
However the Congress camp led by Oomen Chandy is not all that happy at the merger between the Kerala Congress groups as the party knows that there would be bargain for more seats to the Assembly and demands would throng for plum postings for the cadres and second rung leaders. They have to be accommodated into several corporations and boards.
Sources also indicated that the Congress party has already communicated with both Mani and Joseph that they would have to share the total number of seats allocated and that there should not be a fresh demand for more seats showing the collective bargain power. However the Congress leaders in private do admit that they may have to make some compromises as there could be a huge demand from the unified Kerala Congress party for more seats. With the Catholic church supporting the unity move there could be a landslide victory for the UDF in the 2011 Assembly elections and this idea of a major victory for the UDF would be one reason for the Congress to soft pedal in the issue .
However the estranged Kerala Congress (Joseph) leader PC Thomas has announced that a section of the party would continue with the LDF and that there would be Kerala Congress representation in the present LDF government even if PJ Joseph walks out of the LDF. This has given rise to speculation that the lone non Christian Kerala Congress MLA V Surendran Pillai may continue in the LDF and become a minister in place of PJ Joseph.
Catholic clergy forces Kerala Congress (Joseph) to merge with Kerala Congress (Mani) and join Congress led UDF
However the Congress camp led by Oomen Chandy is not happy at the merger between the Kerala Congress groups as the party knows that there would be bargain for more seats to the Assembly and impossible demands for plum postings for the cadres and second rung leaders will create new fissures.
THE Catholic clergy is again getting active in Kerala .The Catholic clergy which was instrumental in ousting the first communist government in the State in 1957 and has always been a major bargaining power in the political landscape of the State is now in the process of unifying the Kerala Congress splinter groups to enter into a major bargaining position in the run-up to the 2011 Assembly elections and in the new government to be formed.
The Kerala Congress (Joseph) group which has been an old ally with the LDF is now in the process of merging the party with the Kerala Congress (Mani) led by the veteran leader KM Mani. Sources in both the parties told Organiser that it was at the behest of the Catholic church that both the leaders, who were bitter opponents, buried their differences of opinion and decided to merge into the Kerala Congress. The former Arch Bishop of Changanachery and one of the most respected voices in the Catholic community Mar Joseph Powathil has initiated the discussion between the two groups on behalf of the Catholic church .
The Kerala Congress(Joseph) group chairman PJ Joseph is now a minister in the CPI-M led LDF government and sources said that he would put in his papers in a day or two .The Chief Minister is also, according to CPI-M sources, calling for the resignation of Joseph after reports have started appearing in local media about the merger of the two Kerala Congress entities .
The Kerala Congress (Mani) has now eight MLAs in the State Assembly while the Kerala Congress (Joseph) has four MLAs. After the merger, the Kerala Congress party would be the biggest block in the UDF after the Congress pushing Indian Union Muslim League to the third spot. The IUML has seven MLAs.
The Kothamangalam Arch Bishop and the Pala Arch Bishop were also instrumental in the discussions to bring both the Kerala Congress groups together and sources told this correspondent that these discussions were first held at the Divine Retreat Centre at Muringoor at the behest of Mar Joseph Powathil.
However the Congress camp led by Oomen Chandy is not all that happy at the merger between the Kerala Congress groups as the party knows that there would be bargain for more seats to the Assembly and demands would throng for plum postings for the cadres and second rung leaders. They have to be accommodated into several corporations and boards.
Sources also indicated that the Congress party has already communicated with both Mani and Joseph that they would have to share the total number of seats allocated and that there should not be a fresh demand for more seats showing the collective bargain power. However the Congress leaders in private do admit that they may have to make some compromises as there could be a huge demand from the unified Kerala Congress party for more seats. With the Catholic church supporting the unity move there could be a landslide victory for the UDF in the 2011 Assembly elections and this idea of a major victory for the UDF would be one reason for the Congress to soft pedal in the issue .
However the estranged Kerala Congress (Joseph) leader PC Thomas has announced that a section of the party would continue with the LDF and that there would be Kerala Congress representation in the present LDF government even if PJ Joseph walks out of the LDF. This has given rise to speculation that the lone non Christian Kerala Congress MLA V Surendran Pillai may continue in the LDF and become a minister in place of PJ Joseph.
Hindu villagers attacked by Muslim mafia in Birbhum
Hindu villagers attacked by Muslim mafia in Birbhum, West Bengal
SURI: One person was killed and several others were injured in a clash at several Hindu tribal-dominated villages in Birbhum’s Mohammad Bazaar, the heart of the stone mining belt on April 29, 2010.
A mob, reportedly backed by the local stone crushers and mine owners (all Muslims), launched an attack on the Hindu villages early in the morning. The attack was reportedly in retaliation to the killing of a corrupt Muslim stone crusher supervisor on April 26, 2010.
The Hindu villages have seen simmering tension for the past couple of months, with villagers alleging that poor tribals were exploited and their land snatched away by the Muslims in the stone-crushing industry. They had also been complaining that villagers were often injured during blasting in stone mines. Also, there has been rampant complaints of Hindu women being attacked and assaulted by Muslim activists along the whole mining belt in West Bengal and Jharkhand.
On April 26, night, a supervisor of a stone crushing unit, Basirul Seikh (50, a Muslim and known Hindu baiter), was killed by a group of villagers at Talbandi. Though Basirul worked in a stone product company, he recently procured a plot of land to set up a stone mine in the area. His brother, Jamirul, alleged that his elder brother was summoned to resolve a dispute over the plot with some locals. He reached the house of one Debu Hansda, with whom he was acquainted. Suddenly, a group of armed villagers attacked Basirul and hacked him to death. Both the brothers were involved in various anti-social activities and often conspired with Muslims in the area to torture and molest local Hindu tribal women.
Early on April 26, morning, thousands of people-labourers and villagers backed by stone crushing unit owners-gathered at a place near Sagarbandi village, said police. The heavily armed mob rushed to Talbandi and Sagarbandi, which is dominated by Santhal tribals. More than 100 thatched houses were set on fire, people were dragged out of their homes and beaten up mercilessly and bombs hurled indiscriminately. Women were molested and raped, children were not spared.
Though it took some time for the initial shock to go away, the tribal Hindu victims-numbering thousands-regrouped and started attacking the nearby stone crusher units, many of them owned by Muslim mining mafia bosses. A weighbridge and some crushers were set ablaze. The situation was so tense that police could not enter the trouble zone initially. It was only after six hours that senior officers - District Magistrate Saumitra Mohan, DIG, Burdwan range, Jagmohan, SP Rabindranath Mukherjee and ASP Farhat Abbas - managed to get in with force backup.
The angry tribals surrounded them for some time. Two injured Hindu men-Mangala Murdi and Kabiraj Murmu, who received serious bomb injuries-were taken to Suri hospital in serious condition. A large team- including combat force and EFR jawans-was deployed in the area, but stray clashes continued to occur in some areas. The forces discovered the body of a Hindu villager, Motilal Tudu, from Sagarbandhi.
The media, too, was not allowed into the villages. A cameraperson who tried to enter was chased out. The District Magistrate said: "We are discussing the situation with villagers. The villagers are cooperating with us." When asked whether they were encircled by the villagers, he denied it.
The District Magistrate said that they would distribute relief materials and the district administration would help the villagers to reconstruct the destroyed homes.
Najir Hossain Mallik (a known Islamist), the president of Panchami Stone Mines and Owners Association, said: "We, the owners, were not at all involved in the attack. We have requested the administration to bring back peace at any cost." Mallik is known as ‘Mr Terror’ in the area and the non-Muslim crowd in the area has expressed serious concerns about this man and his unholy Islamic nexus.
SURI: One person was killed and several others were injured in a clash at several Hindu tribal-dominated villages in Birbhum’s Mohammad Bazaar, the heart of the stone mining belt on April 29, 2010.
A mob, reportedly backed by the local stone crushers and mine owners (all Muslims), launched an attack on the Hindu villages early in the morning. The attack was reportedly in retaliation to the killing of a corrupt Muslim stone crusher supervisor on April 26, 2010.
The Hindu villages have seen simmering tension for the past couple of months, with villagers alleging that poor tribals were exploited and their land snatched away by the Muslims in the stone-crushing industry. They had also been complaining that villagers were often injured during blasting in stone mines. Also, there has been rampant complaints of Hindu women being attacked and assaulted by Muslim activists along the whole mining belt in West Bengal and Jharkhand.
On April 26, night, a supervisor of a stone crushing unit, Basirul Seikh (50, a Muslim and known Hindu baiter), was killed by a group of villagers at Talbandi. Though Basirul worked in a stone product company, he recently procured a plot of land to set up a stone mine in the area. His brother, Jamirul, alleged that his elder brother was summoned to resolve a dispute over the plot with some locals. He reached the house of one Debu Hansda, with whom he was acquainted. Suddenly, a group of armed villagers attacked Basirul and hacked him to death. Both the brothers were involved in various anti-social activities and often conspired with Muslims in the area to torture and molest local Hindu tribal women.
Early on April 26, morning, thousands of people-labourers and villagers backed by stone crushing unit owners-gathered at a place near Sagarbandi village, said police. The heavily armed mob rushed to Talbandi and Sagarbandi, which is dominated by Santhal tribals. More than 100 thatched houses were set on fire, people were dragged out of their homes and beaten up mercilessly and bombs hurled indiscriminately. Women were molested and raped, children were not spared.
Though it took some time for the initial shock to go away, the tribal Hindu victims-numbering thousands-regrouped and started attacking the nearby stone crusher units, many of them owned by Muslim mining mafia bosses. A weighbridge and some crushers were set ablaze. The situation was so tense that police could not enter the trouble zone initially. It was only after six hours that senior officers - District Magistrate Saumitra Mohan, DIG, Burdwan range, Jagmohan, SP Rabindranath Mukherjee and ASP Farhat Abbas - managed to get in with force backup.
The angry tribals surrounded them for some time. Two injured Hindu men-Mangala Murdi and Kabiraj Murmu, who received serious bomb injuries-were taken to Suri hospital in serious condition. A large team- including combat force and EFR jawans-was deployed in the area, but stray clashes continued to occur in some areas. The forces discovered the body of a Hindu villager, Motilal Tudu, from Sagarbandhi.
The media, too, was not allowed into the villages. A cameraperson who tried to enter was chased out. The District Magistrate said: "We are discussing the situation with villagers. The villagers are cooperating with us." When asked whether they were encircled by the villagers, he denied it.
The District Magistrate said that they would distribute relief materials and the district administration would help the villagers to reconstruct the destroyed homes.
Najir Hossain Mallik (a known Islamist), the president of Panchami Stone Mines and Owners Association, said: "We, the owners, were not at all involved in the attack. We have requested the administration to bring back peace at any cost." Mallik is known as ‘Mr Terror’ in the area and the non-Muslim crowd in the area has expressed serious concerns about this man and his unholy Islamic nexus.
Children fathered by Holy Fathers to sue Church!
By John Folain and Bojan Pancevski
The Church, already reeling under a series of scandals, faces a new battle over the children of priests. Many former lovers and their offspring are preparing to mount lawsuits.
ROME/VIENNA: When Pat Bond told her lover Henry Willenborg, a Franciscan priest, she was pregnant, he urged her to have an abortion. Bond, who was 28, had a miscarriage, then became pregnant again. This time Willenborg’s superiors urged her to give up the child for adoption. Bond kept the child but agreed to a vow of silence. In a signed contract with the Catholic Church, she undertook to keep the priest’s identity secret in exchange for financial support for her son, Nathan.
In America, Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy and Austria, women made pregnant by priests have signed such pledges in exchange for hush money from the Church.
The Church, already reeling under a series of scandals, faces a new battle over the children of priests. Many former lovers and their offspring are preparing to mount lawsuits.
Bond was 25 when she started a five-year relationship with Willenborg in 1983, after going to him for marriage counselling. He kissed her passionately as she left his parlour, she left her husband. After Bond became pregnant for the second time in 1986, Willenborg’s order, the Order of Friars Minor, offered her $50,000 and a confidentiality contract. "They said: ‘Take this money, sign this contract and you’ll have support for your child’. I signed," said Bond. She broke her vow last year after the Franciscans refused to meet part of the cost of treatment for Nathan, then 22, who died in November from a brain tumour.
When Willenborg’s liaisons with Bond, now 53, and another woman became public, the priest was suspended from his parish in Ashland, Wisconsin.
He was treated for sex addiction, then returned to his pastoral duties. Catherine Schroeder, a St Louis lawyer for the Order of Friars Minor, declined to comment. Willenborg and the order failed to return calls and emails.
Other cases are reaching the American courts. In Maryland, two children of the late Father Francis Ryan are filing a lawsuit against their local archdiocese and a religious order for $10 million after discovering through DNA tests that he was their father.
Carla Latty, 58, and Adrian Senna, 65, say Ryan never admitted he was their father or made any payments to their late mother. Senna was sent to an orphanage, while Latty was put up for adoption.
Cait Finnegan, of the Good Tidings association, an American charity for priests and their lovers, has been contacted by nearly 2,000 women who had relationships with priests. She said one pregnant friend had been told by a bishop to "get rid of the child" - a comment she took to mean she should have an abortion.
The woman kept the baby.
Thousands of priests in German-speaking countries are believed to have fathered children. Paul Zuhlener, an Austrian theologian, has estimated that up to 22 per cent of Austrian priests have sexual relationships.
In Britain, Adrianna Alsworth, who has two children by a priest and runs the Sonflowers helpline for those who have had relationships with priests, said she knew of several women who had been offered confidentiality contracts in return for child support. "The children aren’t given an opportunity to have a normal family life, and they suffer," she said.
(Courtesy: Sunday Times, London April 19, 2010)
The Church, already reeling under a series of scandals, faces a new battle over the children of priests. Many former lovers and their offspring are preparing to mount lawsuits.
ROME/VIENNA: When Pat Bond told her lover Henry Willenborg, a Franciscan priest, she was pregnant, he urged her to have an abortion. Bond, who was 28, had a miscarriage, then became pregnant again. This time Willenborg’s superiors urged her to give up the child for adoption. Bond kept the child but agreed to a vow of silence. In a signed contract with the Catholic Church, she undertook to keep the priest’s identity secret in exchange for financial support for her son, Nathan.
In America, Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy and Austria, women made pregnant by priests have signed such pledges in exchange for hush money from the Church.
The Church, already reeling under a series of scandals, faces a new battle over the children of priests. Many former lovers and their offspring are preparing to mount lawsuits.
Bond was 25 when she started a five-year relationship with Willenborg in 1983, after going to him for marriage counselling. He kissed her passionately as she left his parlour, she left her husband. After Bond became pregnant for the second time in 1986, Willenborg’s order, the Order of Friars Minor, offered her $50,000 and a confidentiality contract. "They said: ‘Take this money, sign this contract and you’ll have support for your child’. I signed," said Bond. She broke her vow last year after the Franciscans refused to meet part of the cost of treatment for Nathan, then 22, who died in November from a brain tumour.
When Willenborg’s liaisons with Bond, now 53, and another woman became public, the priest was suspended from his parish in Ashland, Wisconsin.
He was treated for sex addiction, then returned to his pastoral duties. Catherine Schroeder, a St Louis lawyer for the Order of Friars Minor, declined to comment. Willenborg and the order failed to return calls and emails.
Other cases are reaching the American courts. In Maryland, two children of the late Father Francis Ryan are filing a lawsuit against their local archdiocese and a religious order for $10 million after discovering through DNA tests that he was their father.
Carla Latty, 58, and Adrian Senna, 65, say Ryan never admitted he was their father or made any payments to their late mother. Senna was sent to an orphanage, while Latty was put up for adoption.
Cait Finnegan, of the Good Tidings association, an American charity for priests and their lovers, has been contacted by nearly 2,000 women who had relationships with priests. She said one pregnant friend had been told by a bishop to "get rid of the child" - a comment she took to mean she should have an abortion.
The woman kept the baby.
Thousands of priests in German-speaking countries are believed to have fathered children. Paul Zuhlener, an Austrian theologian, has estimated that up to 22 per cent of Austrian priests have sexual relationships.
In Britain, Adrianna Alsworth, who has two children by a priest and runs the Sonflowers helpline for those who have had relationships with priests, said she knew of several women who had been offered confidentiality contracts in return for child support. "The children aren’t given an opportunity to have a normal family life, and they suffer," she said.
(Courtesy: Sunday Times, London April 19, 2010)
The annual ritual of greeting on the new year
How many new years do we have?
By Ram Gopal Ratnam
Most of our festivals are lunar based and are located in lunar calendar. The earth’s movement around the Sun is not cognizable for a common man. We can infer the same by observing the climatic changes. We can merely know it is winter or summer or rainy season. All these are solar phenomenons. It is a matter for the scientists or the Astro mathematicians who computes the Panchang. The solar calendar can be called a scientist’s calendar. Festivals are common man’s domain.
There was one GU Pope in Tamil Nadu in the 15th century. He was a European Christian pastor. He learnt Tamil and interpreted, rather misinterpreted the Tamil literature and sowed the seeds of separatism. Karunanidhi and other Tamil ‘scholars’ quote him for all their separatist ideologies. The British, under the chairmanship of Macaulay, layed the trap (and it is a well laid trap) and all our leaders, administrators, teachers and other ‘intellectuals’ have innocently, ignorantly, foolishly or wilfully fallen in the trap.
EVERY year we witness a ritual of the political leaders right from the Prime Minister down to city Mayor wishing the people for a happy new year. The Tamils for a Tamil new year, the Bengalis for a Bengali new year, the Malayalies for a Malayali new year, the Assamese for an Assami new year. and believe me, all fall on the same day. Simple logic tells me that if it is new year for so many regions, it has to be a single, common new year and not different new years. Yet, thanks to Goebbels, this falsehood has percolated down and now newspapers, teachers, temples and social organisations have joined senseless chorus. The effect? A common Tamilian has started to believe that it is Tamil’s new year. Now, it has gone beyond mere belief. He firmly knows that it is Tamil’s new year. Is it so? Is it Tamil new year or a Bengali new year or an Assami new year or would you call January 1st as American new year, British new year, French new year, Australian new year? No. It is just Christian new year and is the new year wherever the Christians live.
What is a new year day? It is the first day of a calendar. There are many calendars, the Christian or Gregorian calendar, the Muslim calendar, the Chinese calendar, etc. Basically, there are two types of calendars, the solar and the lunar. The solar one is based on the Earth’s rotation around the Sun and the lunar is based on the Moon’s rotation around the Earth. These two calendars are different as these have different basis for calculation. The Christian calendar is solar and the Muslim one is lunar and we, the Hindus have both. This so-called ‘Tamil’ new year is a Hindu solar calendar and the other one, which is ignorantly called Telugu new year by all the ‘great’ leaders in Tamil Nadu and a Marathi new year by the same catagory of leaders in the North, is actually Hindu lunar calendar.
Let me elaborate. Why do you need a calendar? To know your festivals. When is the Christmas? December 25th. Where did you find it? In the Christian calendar of course. You can not find it in the Muslim calendar. This year it is on the 13th of the month called Moharram. Next year, it will fall in the month of Julhej. It will be a different month every year. Can you locate the Deepavali day in the Christian calendar? You can not? It may fall in October or November. It was in October last year and this year it will be in November. You have to refer to the lunar calendar to know the Deepavali date. It falls on Ashwin Amavasya day.
Which are the festivals celebrated in Tamil Nadu? The same as those celebrated in other parts of our nation. The Deepavali, Vijayadashami, Navaratri, Ramnavami, Skanda Sasti, Gokulashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Maha Shivaratri, Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Shravan Poornima, etc. etc. I challange you to locate any of these festival days in the so-called ‘Tamil’ calendar. You can not, because this calendar is solar based and all these festivals fall on lunar days like Sashti, Ashtami, Navami, Amavasya, Poornima. How sad that a community has a calendar of its own, but all its major festivals have to be located from the calendar of a different community, the Telugu calendar in this instance?
It is not Tamil calendar or Telugu calendar. It is a Hindu solar calendar and a Hindu lunar calendar. Most of our festivals are lunar based and are located in lunar calendar. The Earth’s movement around the Sun is not cognizable for a common man. We can infer the same by observing the climatic changes. We can merely know it is winter or summer or rainy season. All these are solar phenomenons. It is a matter for the scientist or the Astro mathematician who computes the Panchang. The solar calendar can be called a scientist’s calendar. Festivals are common man’s domain. You need a more ‘user-friendly’ calendar. The lunar movement is visible. Even a lay man can observe and understand the lunar movement. You have to just observe the sky and do some simple calculations and you can arrive at the festival days. So, you can call this common man’s calendar.
Both are Hindu calendars. Both are referred to and used in all parts of our nation. All the major festivals are to be found in the lunar calendar, except Makara Sankranti. This is an important festival for all Hindus and is found in the solar calendar. The ‘Kumbh’, Uttarayana and Dakshinayana Punya Kala, and monthly Pitru Tarpanam on every Sankranti day (Sankranti is the 1st of a solar month and makara sankranti is the 1st of the month called Makara.) are the other special days in the solar calendar. These are special not only to the Tamils, but to all the Hindus, throughout the length and breadth of Bharat. Is not Makara Sankranti an important festival for the Marathis? How is it that they do not have it in their calendar and have to reach out to the ‘Tamil calendar’ for finding it? It is neither Marathi calendar nor Tamil calendar, but just lunar and solar calendars.
Our formal education system does not teach these subjects which help us to know who we are. Long after Independance in 1947, we continue to churn out Mc’Caulay-putras from our schools. In my school days, Avani Avittam fell in the month of Aadi. Aavani Avittam is Shravan Poornima and Aavani and Aadi are names of fourth and fifth solar months. How can Aavani Avittam fall in the month of Aadi? It is like celebrating October revolution in November or Good Friday falling on a Thursday. This simple question arose in my childish mind and I used to ask many of my teachers, the social leaders in Tamil community. Unfortunately, none were able to give me a convincing answer. I had three options before me. I could have concluded that our ancestors were ignorant. I could have ignored and forgotten the question and concentrated on more practical things like career building, money making, etc. I could have pondered over the question spending restless moments till I found an answer. I chose the third option and was awestruck by the genius of our ancestors. The western mind wants to standardise everything. Uni-sex clothing, Uniform (American) breakfasts, uniform way of worship, uniform structures. It can not comprehend variety. It is not mature enough to appreciate more complex things. It wants to simplify everything. Many of our own English-educated are in the same mind frame. Nature is full of variety and is very complex. It requires a more mature mind and higher intelligence to understand, even appreciate complexities.
Our nation has nourished variety in every walk of life. We have so many ways of wearing our Dhoti and saree. (I’ve found 28 ways of wearing a saree in Tamil Nadu.) We have so many languages and dialects. Recipes? We do not have an Indian food. These words south Indian food and north Indian food are misnomers. There is no Tamil food either. The food system varies from community to community and region to region within Tamil Nadu and is very different from food in Andhra or Kerala or Karnataka. The same is the case in Maharashtra. The Warhadi is different from Konkani, which is again different from Khandeshi. That which is known as south Indian food is more a Tamil Brahmin food type. This vast variety flourishing in Bharat was exploited by the British, to drive a wedge, sorry, drive many wedges in the Hindu community. There was one GU Pope in Tamil Nadu in the 15th century. He was a European Christian Pastor. He learnt Tamil and interpreted, rather misinterpreted the Tamil literature and sowed the seeds of separatism. Karunanidhi and other Tamil ‘scholars’ quote him for all their separatist ideologies. The British, under the chairmanship of Macaulay, layed the trap (and it is a well laid trap) and all our leaders, administrators, teachers and other ‘intellectuals’ have innocently, ignorantly, foolishly or wilfully fallen in the trap. There is a Panchtantra story of a monkey fooling a crocodile wanting to kill and devour it, by saying that it has removed its heart and left the same in the tree. Now, it seems, all our intellectuals have removed and thrown their brains and thinking capacity and have decided never to use it again.
Let me conclude by narrating an encounter with a school principal. Shri Narayanan is MGR’s brother-in-law and runs many schools and colleges in and around Chennai. His daughter, Smt Latha Rajendran was the principal of Janaki Ramachandran School in Chennai in the eighties. She is double MA, MPhil, and PhD. I used to go to these schools once a week to teach ‘patriotism’, as they called it. On one occassion, I was invited to be the chief guest in their annual social gathering. There was the usual tamasha of filmy dances and filmy dialogues. There was one group dance with Bharat Mata, holding the tricolour, in the centre and girls and boys in pairs dancing around Bharat Mata. The Principal turned to me and proudly said, “We also instill patriotism through such programmes”. “Who are these pairs dancing around Bharat Mata?” I asked her. “You don’t know. I can’t believe it. The third pair is a Marathi pair. That one is a Bengali pair. This a Manipuri, the next a Punjabi. These are all pairs from various parts of Bharat and the message is “We are One”. said the principal. “The last pair on this side and the last one on that side. Which state do they belong to?” I asked her innocently. “That is a Muslim pair and this a Christian pair”, she replied. One was dressed in lungi and purdah and the other in coat-suit and skirt. “So you are teaching the Muslim and Christian students in your school that they are not Tamils, but Muslims or Christians. Are you teaching patriotism or separatism?”, I asked her. You should have been there to see her face and know the intensity of shock she got. She was so much disturbed that she came out of the pandal. She was dumb-struck for a few moments and then she said, “I have gone to so many institutions and got so many degrees. I have been the Principal here since last eighteen years. I have always heard the same thing everywhere and have been talking the same thing to students all these years. Now, this was the first time I have heard something different. I feel I have done injustice to thousands of my students all these years.” She was so much disturbed that she went on talking, no, blabbering for the next half an hour.
The incident is not connected to calendar issue, but reveals the trapped mind set. So, what do you intend to do when someone accosts you with ‘Happy Tamil New Year’ wish next time?
How many new years do we have?
By Ram Gopal Ratnam
Most of our festivals are lunar based and are located in lunar calendar. The earth’s movement around the Sun is not cognizable for a common man. We can infer the same by observing the climatic changes. We can merely know it is winter or summer or rainy season. All these are solar phenomenons. It is a matter for the scientists or the Astro mathematicians who computes the Panchang. The solar calendar can be called a scientist’s calendar. Festivals are common man’s domain.
There was one GU Pope in Tamil Nadu in the 15th century. He was a European Christian pastor. He learnt Tamil and interpreted, rather misinterpreted the Tamil literature and sowed the seeds of separatism. Karunanidhi and other Tamil ‘scholars’ quote him for all their separatist ideologies. The British, under the chairmanship of Macaulay, layed the trap (and it is a well laid trap) and all our leaders, administrators, teachers and other ‘intellectuals’ have innocently, ignorantly, foolishly or wilfully fallen in the trap.
EVERY year we witness a ritual of the political leaders right from the Prime Minister down to city Mayor wishing the people for a happy new year. The Tamils for a Tamil new year, the Bengalis for a Bengali new year, the Malayalies for a Malayali new year, the Assamese for an Assami new year. and believe me, all fall on the same day. Simple logic tells me that if it is new year for so many regions, it has to be a single, common new year and not different new years. Yet, thanks to Goebbels, this falsehood has percolated down and now newspapers, teachers, temples and social organisations have joined senseless chorus. The effect? A common Tamilian has started to believe that it is Tamil’s new year. Now, it has gone beyond mere belief. He firmly knows that it is Tamil’s new year. Is it so? Is it Tamil new year or a Bengali new year or an Assami new year or would you call January 1st as American new year, British new year, French new year, Australian new year? No. It is just Christian new year and is the new year wherever the Christians live.
What is a new year day? It is the first day of a calendar. There are many calendars, the Christian or Gregorian calendar, the Muslim calendar, the Chinese calendar, etc. Basically, there are two types of calendars, the solar and the lunar. The solar one is based on the Earth’s rotation around the Sun and the lunar is based on the Moon’s rotation around the Earth. These two calendars are different as these have different basis for calculation. The Christian calendar is solar and the Muslim one is lunar and we, the Hindus have both. This so-called ‘Tamil’ new year is a Hindu solar calendar and the other one, which is ignorantly called Telugu new year by all the ‘great’ leaders in Tamil Nadu and a Marathi new year by the same catagory of leaders in the North, is actually Hindu lunar calendar.
Let me elaborate. Why do you need a calendar? To know your festivals. When is the Christmas? December 25th. Where did you find it? In the Christian calendar of course. You can not find it in the Muslim calendar. This year it is on the 13th of the month called Moharram. Next year, it will fall in the month of Julhej. It will be a different month every year. Can you locate the Deepavali day in the Christian calendar? You can not? It may fall in October or November. It was in October last year and this year it will be in November. You have to refer to the lunar calendar to know the Deepavali date. It falls on Ashwin Amavasya day.
Which are the festivals celebrated in Tamil Nadu? The same as those celebrated in other parts of our nation. The Deepavali, Vijayadashami, Navaratri, Ramnavami, Skanda Sasti, Gokulashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Maha Shivaratri, Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Shravan Poornima, etc. etc. I challange you to locate any of these festival days in the so-called ‘Tamil’ calendar. You can not, because this calendar is solar based and all these festivals fall on lunar days like Sashti, Ashtami, Navami, Amavasya, Poornima. How sad that a community has a calendar of its own, but all its major festivals have to be located from the calendar of a different community, the Telugu calendar in this instance?
It is not Tamil calendar or Telugu calendar. It is a Hindu solar calendar and a Hindu lunar calendar. Most of our festivals are lunar based and are located in lunar calendar. The Earth’s movement around the Sun is not cognizable for a common man. We can infer the same by observing the climatic changes. We can merely know it is winter or summer or rainy season. All these are solar phenomenons. It is a matter for the scientist or the Astro mathematician who computes the Panchang. The solar calendar can be called a scientist’s calendar. Festivals are common man’s domain. You need a more ‘user-friendly’ calendar. The lunar movement is visible. Even a lay man can observe and understand the lunar movement. You have to just observe the sky and do some simple calculations and you can arrive at the festival days. So, you can call this common man’s calendar.
Both are Hindu calendars. Both are referred to and used in all parts of our nation. All the major festivals are to be found in the lunar calendar, except Makara Sankranti. This is an important festival for all Hindus and is found in the solar calendar. The ‘Kumbh’, Uttarayana and Dakshinayana Punya Kala, and monthly Pitru Tarpanam on every Sankranti day (Sankranti is the 1st of a solar month and makara sankranti is the 1st of the month called Makara.) are the other special days in the solar calendar. These are special not only to the Tamils, but to all the Hindus, throughout the length and breadth of Bharat. Is not Makara Sankranti an important festival for the Marathis? How is it that they do not have it in their calendar and have to reach out to the ‘Tamil calendar’ for finding it? It is neither Marathi calendar nor Tamil calendar, but just lunar and solar calendars.
Our formal education system does not teach these subjects which help us to know who we are. Long after Independance in 1947, we continue to churn out Mc’Caulay-putras from our schools. In my school days, Avani Avittam fell in the month of Aadi. Aavani Avittam is Shravan Poornima and Aavani and Aadi are names of fourth and fifth solar months. How can Aavani Avittam fall in the month of Aadi? It is like celebrating October revolution in November or Good Friday falling on a Thursday. This simple question arose in my childish mind and I used to ask many of my teachers, the social leaders in Tamil community. Unfortunately, none were able to give me a convincing answer. I had three options before me. I could have concluded that our ancestors were ignorant. I could have ignored and forgotten the question and concentrated on more practical things like career building, money making, etc. I could have pondered over the question spending restless moments till I found an answer. I chose the third option and was awestruck by the genius of our ancestors. The western mind wants to standardise everything. Uni-sex clothing, Uniform (American) breakfasts, uniform way of worship, uniform structures. It can not comprehend variety. It is not mature enough to appreciate more complex things. It wants to simplify everything. Many of our own English-educated are in the same mind frame. Nature is full of variety and is very complex. It requires a more mature mind and higher intelligence to understand, even appreciate complexities.
Our nation has nourished variety in every walk of life. We have so many ways of wearing our Dhoti and saree. (I’ve found 28 ways of wearing a saree in Tamil Nadu.) We have so many languages and dialects. Recipes? We do not have an Indian food. These words south Indian food and north Indian food are misnomers. There is no Tamil food either. The food system varies from community to community and region to region within Tamil Nadu and is very different from food in Andhra or Kerala or Karnataka. The same is the case in Maharashtra. The Warhadi is different from Konkani, which is again different from Khandeshi. That which is known as south Indian food is more a Tamil Brahmin food type. This vast variety flourishing in Bharat was exploited by the British, to drive a wedge, sorry, drive many wedges in the Hindu community. There was one GU Pope in Tamil Nadu in the 15th century. He was a European Christian Pastor. He learnt Tamil and interpreted, rather misinterpreted the Tamil literature and sowed the seeds of separatism. Karunanidhi and other Tamil ‘scholars’ quote him for all their separatist ideologies. The British, under the chairmanship of Macaulay, layed the trap (and it is a well laid trap) and all our leaders, administrators, teachers and other ‘intellectuals’ have innocently, ignorantly, foolishly or wilfully fallen in the trap. There is a Panchtantra story of a monkey fooling a crocodile wanting to kill and devour it, by saying that it has removed its heart and left the same in the tree. Now, it seems, all our intellectuals have removed and thrown their brains and thinking capacity and have decided never to use it again.
Let me conclude by narrating an encounter with a school principal. Shri Narayanan is MGR’s brother-in-law and runs many schools and colleges in and around Chennai. His daughter, Smt Latha Rajendran was the principal of Janaki Ramachandran School in Chennai in the eighties. She is double MA, MPhil, and PhD. I used to go to these schools once a week to teach ‘patriotism’, as they called it. On one occassion, I was invited to be the chief guest in their annual social gathering. There was the usual tamasha of filmy dances and filmy dialogues. There was one group dance with Bharat Mata, holding the tricolour, in the centre and girls and boys in pairs dancing around Bharat Mata. The Principal turned to me and proudly said, “We also instill patriotism through such programmes”. “Who are these pairs dancing around Bharat Mata?” I asked her. “You don’t know. I can’t believe it. The third pair is a Marathi pair. That one is a Bengali pair. This a Manipuri, the next a Punjabi. These are all pairs from various parts of Bharat and the message is “We are One”. said the principal. “The last pair on this side and the last one on that side. Which state do they belong to?” I asked her innocently. “That is a Muslim pair and this a Christian pair”, she replied. One was dressed in lungi and purdah and the other in coat-suit and skirt. “So you are teaching the Muslim and Christian students in your school that they are not Tamils, but Muslims or Christians. Are you teaching patriotism or separatism?”, I asked her. You should have been there to see her face and know the intensity of shock she got. She was so much disturbed that she came out of the pandal. She was dumb-struck for a few moments and then she said, “I have gone to so many institutions and got so many degrees. I have been the Principal here since last eighteen years. I have always heard the same thing everywhere and have been talking the same thing to students all these years. Now, this was the first time I have heard something different. I feel I have done injustice to thousands of my students all these years.” She was so much disturbed that she went on talking, no, blabbering for the next half an hour.
The incident is not connected to calendar issue, but reveals the trapped mind set. So, what do you intend to do when someone accosts you with ‘Happy Tamil New Year’ wish next time?
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