By Dr Pravin Togadia
In no developed nation is there any system that degrades the majority to care for minority or destroys majority’s businesses, land or monuments for making some fancy fly-overs, IT parks, vast roads and shining malls. It is a must to protect the interests of majority in a democracy as the candidates are declared ‘won’ or ‘lost’ on the basis of more or less votes.
When we were in school and when children would not spend most playtime on computer games, there used to be a very popular game. It was called sangeet kursi (musical chair). There used to be many chairs at the beginning and as the time passed one by one a chair and a player were eliminated. At the end of the game there used to remain one chair and two contenders. No, I am not trying to be nostalgic (as many political netas keep on becoming these days on TV channels, and in books and articles) about my childhood games. But watching the daily increasing number of the contenders for Prime Minister’s post, anyone would recall the game of musical chair. It does not matter whether that contender is self-proclaimed or artificially projected by media or a vested-interest group or sponsored or officially announced or a sheer day-dreamer. The fun of this daily increasing number of PM contenders is that even the serious contenders are no more being taken seriously by the general public.
On a serious note, it is immaterial who becomes the PM of Hindustan. It is more important to explore what his/her ideology is. Individual does not and should not matter when it comes to the vast nation and the largest democracy like Hindustan. Having said that what must be the pointers Hindustanis should look for in their PM?
1.The kursi of Hindustan’s PM henceforth must belong to the ideology that cares for and protects Hindus. There is a fashion these days (even among those who grew because of the above ideology) to simplify and label such statements as communal or orthodox or anti-development. In no developed nation is there any system that degrades the majority to care for minority or destroys majority’s businesses, land or monuments for making some fancy fly-overs, IT parks, vast roads and shining malls. It is a must to protect the interests of majority in a democracy as the candidates are declared ‘won’ or ‘lost’ on the basis of more or less votes. In Hindustan, Hindus are a majority (whether those so-called pseudo-secular netas and those who showcase themselves as Hindu face but keep in mind ‘hate Hindu ideology’ like it or not). Therefore, the PM’s kursi in Hindustan has to belong to the political party that truly believes in the above ideology and it shows in the behaviour of each of its members.
2.There is a serious risk of betrayal if the Hindustanis do not keep a permanent watch over the party they choose based on the above ideology. The risk of misleading Hindus while taking votes on promises of things which Hindus have been waiting for a long time but when in power, ignore those for some fuzzy excuses. Such parties take Hindu votes for granted and try to add Muslim and Christian votes at the cost of hurting Hindu lives in the worst ways. Hindu voters must follow the ideology test strictly and should not be just trusting anyone based on their high pitch or fluent Hindi/English speeches or TV/newspaper advertisements or sponsored TV interviews or flashy websites. Hindus have a bigger responsibility in all elections of not repeating mistakes as they may not get more time to protect themselves considering the jehadi plans of many neighbouring and far-away nations, considering the Obama types who are daily threatening to throw out Indians in US and affecting Indian businesses even in India (do not forget that in the past eight months 18 Hindu students/executives have been murdered in the US but no Hindustani political party said a word on it or did anything to get US government to act). Time is running out for Hindus. This is a ‘now or never’ situation. The 26/11 attack, destruction of over 300 temples in a state in Hindustan, the Sachar Committee, media trials of Hindus in Kandhamal, Malegaon, Gujarat, West Bengal, etc, are the wake-up calls. Therefore, Hindus have a responsibility to choose a political party with the Hindu-caring ideology and not to get misguided by false, glittering attitude and daily press conferences that shout loudly but are hollow: OK, you gave us votes, now you need development only at the cost of your Hindutva. It is high time Hindus stood up to such selfish logical fallacies. Hindutva and development must go hand in hand and not either/or.
3.How would a Hindu voter know that he/she is not being cheated again? Look for a Hindu score card. If your candidate or PM contender scores minimum 75 per cent of it then he/she is the candidate for you. Here are the pointers:
1.When he/his party came to power has he anytime kept the commitment given to you about any work related to Hindu care? (Availability of education, jobs and work for Hindus, loans to Hindus, agriculture facilities for Hindus, protection of Hindu monuments, temples, cows and land). So also, has he ensured that he protects Hindu traditional businesses like diamond, textiles, agriculture, etc or in the name of development, has he neglected/destroyed them?
2.Is he consistent with what he said and did about the things that matter to Hindus? (Safety and security from jehadi threat, from forced conversions, correct implementation of human rights protection even for Hindus, etc).
3.Has he specifically selected efficient, deserving and capable Hindu officers for the senior jobs in army, CISF, CRPF, police and other forces so that Hindu majority can be protected or to show himself secular he has ignored Hindus and got others for such jobs ignoring such people’s Hindu-hurting track record?
4.Does his behaviour show true respect to Hindu sentiments or does he use Hindu emotions for his political purposes conveniently? (Filing of affidavits in various courts in the matters of Hindu interest like Rameshwaram Ram Sethu, Amarnath, officers who gave their lives to protect Hindus from jehadis, unrests among Hindus stemming out of attacks triggered by Muslims where many Hindus die—Has he ensured justice to Hindus in such cases or has he put Hindus behind the bars instead of punishing the real attackers?)
5.Finally, ask your own mind and heart: Can you really trust him to be Hindustan’s Prime Minister either based on his past track record or on his party’s track record?
Each question above has 20 marks. Total is 100. You give the marks of your choice based on your true experience and not based on media stories or party pressure or advertisements or big hoardings or flashy websites. If your score crosses 75 per cent, then only he/she is the right candidate to be Hindustan’s PM any time. Otherwise, No.
Hindustan’s voter is not a herd to be herded by fuzzy figures, survey gimmicks or fancy make-overs. Today’s Hindustani voter knows that he cannot trust those who have ‘kursi fever’. The world now may have swine fever or H1N1 virus. In Hindustan, we are watching many netas have got kursi fever. Remember, such netas are dangerous to the nation’s health. What are the verbal symptoms of kursi fever? Beware of such sentences and behaviour:
1. “On this nation’s resources, the first right is of Muslims.”
2. “I have not done anything for the majority and I will never do anything for the majority.”
3. “Anybody speaking against 17 per cent of Muslim bhais, I will run roller on his chest.”
4. “We could have done many things for Hindus as we promised but what to do? We did not get full majority.”
5. “So what if he is a convict of killing Hindus, he is a messiah.”
6. “To form a government, we are ready to tie up with anybody. Even a party with one MP is OK, we will go with them.”
7. “So what if he did kill lakhs of Hindus in 1947-48, he was secular.”
8. “Banks should reserve 15 per cent loans for the Muslims because they are 15 per cent of the population.”
These are only a few sentences. Alert Hindus know many more such sentences and meanings of the same. What are the behavioural symptoms of kursi fever? Anybody, including media even casually asks such people whether they would be the PM in 2009 or 2014 or 2019. These people may deny by their tongue but one can make out the joy and glitter in their eyes (in Hindi, one can say, jaise unke muh me laddu fut rahe ho!) Beware of such kursi fever patients! All these are the enemies of ideology and Hindus.
Anyone who thinks, says or/and behaves that proves ‘all are equals but some are more equal than others’ surely has kursi fever and this virus is spreading fast in Hindustan in all political parties.
The PM’s kursi in Hindustan has four legs. Those who overtly or subtly show their love for ¼th of the population and ignore ¾th Hindu majority would be trying to sit on a one-legged broken chair with three legs unstable. Hindustan needs a stable, Hindu-majority, caring PM—truly caring, not just a facade. Hindustani PM’s kursi must belong to such a party/organisation and its true, honest and sincere representative.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Terrorists Attack ISKCON Temple in Chittagong, Bangladesh
On May 18, ISKCON News Weekly received a distraught message from an obviously emotional monk at ISKCON’s Nandankanan Sri Sri Gour Nitai Ashram in Chittagong, the main seaport of Bangladesh.
On May 14 at 3pm, the devotee said, he and his peers were busy preparing for a weekend festival when fifty to sixty terrorists burst into the temple, brandishing knives and iron bars. They first destroyed the kitchens, devotee accommodation, and Gaura Nitai deities. Then, as the devotees ran into the temple courtyard in a panic, the attackers poured boiling water on them from the balcony, badly burning many.
The terrorists also stole ten to twelve thousand taka (Bangladesh’s monetary unit) from the temple donation box, as well as a further ten thousand from individual residents. Devotees phoned the nearby police station again and again, but to no avail.
“Their negligence of duty came at a terrible cost,” Chinmoydham Dasa said in his message to ISKCON News. “Many devotees were injured and had to be brought to the hospital’s emergency room.”
By the time the police finally arrived, the terrorists had caused 80,000 taka worth of damage. Neither did they seem remotely intimidated by the presence of law enforcement. And it was soon clear why. When the terrorists threatened the devotees, “You must all leave now and hand the temple over to us!” the police remained silent, not voicing any defense.
“For this crime of the police, thousands of devotees took to the streets to protest,” Chinmoydham said. He explains that after this, the police eventually took out a case against the attackers.
Chinmoydham’s report was in broken English, and it is unsure what group the terrorists belonged to, or what exactly happened when the police arrived, although it appears that the temple remains unsafe for the devotees. More detailed news on the attack and current situation will be reported as it comes in.
On May 14 at 3pm, the devotee said, he and his peers were busy preparing for a weekend festival when fifty to sixty terrorists burst into the temple, brandishing knives and iron bars. They first destroyed the kitchens, devotee accommodation, and Gaura Nitai deities. Then, as the devotees ran into the temple courtyard in a panic, the attackers poured boiling water on them from the balcony, badly burning many.
The terrorists also stole ten to twelve thousand taka (Bangladesh’s monetary unit) from the temple donation box, as well as a further ten thousand from individual residents. Devotees phoned the nearby police station again and again, but to no avail.
“Their negligence of duty came at a terrible cost,” Chinmoydham Dasa said in his message to ISKCON News. “Many devotees were injured and had to be brought to the hospital’s emergency room.”
By the time the police finally arrived, the terrorists had caused 80,000 taka worth of damage. Neither did they seem remotely intimidated by the presence of law enforcement. And it was soon clear why. When the terrorists threatened the devotees, “You must all leave now and hand the temple over to us!” the police remained silent, not voicing any defense.
“For this crime of the police, thousands of devotees took to the streets to protest,” Chinmoydham said. He explains that after this, the police eventually took out a case against the attackers.
Chinmoydham’s report was in broken English, and it is unsure what group the terrorists belonged to, or what exactly happened when the police arrived, although it appears that the temple remains unsafe for the devotees. More detailed news on the attack and current situation will be reported as it comes in.
Helpless Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh
By JG Arora
It is tragic that though Sanatan Dharma, commonly known as Hinduism, proclaims universal brotherhood and oneness of humanity, and addresses entire humanity as divine children (Shrunvantu vishve amrutasya putraha - Rig Veda: 10-13-1), most of the Hindus have either been killed or converted or driven out from Pakistan and Bangladesh which used to be Hindu lands. And those Hindus who are still left in Pakistan and Bangladesh are being treated with disdain and discrimination; and are being denied even the basic human rights.
Genocide and persecution
Only a few centuries ago, Hindu religion and culture used to reverberate from Afghanistan to Indonesia. Indian sub-continent including the present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan and even Zabol in Iran was Hindu land, and had no Muslim presence till Muhammad bin Qasim’s Arab army attacked Sindh in 711. After repeated invasions, Hindus lost the present day Afghanistan to Muslims in 987. And the areas now known as Pakistan and Bangladesh were lost to Muslims in 1947.
Pakistan comprised of two segments: East Pakistan and West Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan became Bangladesh, a separate country. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh have been declared as Islamic republics.
Hindus have always been threatened and discriminated against in Pakistan and Bangladesh on religious grounds. Though in 1947, Hindus accounted for 24 per cent of the present day Pakistan’s population, now the numbers less than two per cent. Situation is equally grave in Bangladesh where Hindus numbered 31 per cent in 1947, but now number nine per cent. Most of the Hindus / Sikhs have either been driven out, or have been killed or forcibly converted in Pakistan and Bangladesh. However, in India, the present percentage of Muslim population is much higher than that was in 1947.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have never explained what they have done to their Hindu population.
Hindus suffer constant threats to their lives, security and property in Pak-Bangla lands. Many Hindu temples have been desecrated and destroyed in Pakistan and Bangladesh. There are regular reports of illegal encroachments on Hindu temples and lands, looting of Hindu property, discrimination, persecution, molestation and abduction of Hindu girls both in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
During 1970 and 1971, Hindus in East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) underwent massive massacres by the Pakistani army and its collaborators. Over two million Hindus are reported to have been killed in East Pakistan during 1970 and 1971 leading to Indo-Pak war in 1971. Besides, countless Hindu women were dishonoured and kidnapped during this period.
As per Dr. Sabyasachi Ghosh-Dastidar’s book, Empire’s last casualty: Indian subcontinent’s vanishing Hindu and other minorities, over three million Hindus have been killed in the process of Islamisation in the area now known as Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) since India was Partitioned in 1947. This loss of three million lives remain suppressed from the world.
Even now, Hindus are facing genocide, terror, persecution, dishonour and atrocities in Bangladesh every day. And there is selective killing of Hindu judges, professionals, teachers, lawyers and civil servants in Bangladesh to smash Hindu resistance.
Human rights organisations like Amnesty International are silent spectators of this blatant ethnic cleansing of millions of Hindus.
Forcible conversions and marriages
The alarming trend of Muslims kidnapping young Hindu girls and forcibly marrying them to Muslims is tormenting Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Though Pak-Bangla media may occasionally report such atrocities, main stream media in India remains silent in this regard. To illustrate the dismal situation, just one such example is given here. It was reported in Pakistan’s premier English daily ‘The Dawn’ dated November 3, 2005 that 19 Hindu girls mostly from Punjab Colony, Karachi were missing from their homes. Relatives of these girls believed that they had been kidnapped and were being forced to change their religion, the press release added.
Columnist Irfan Husain’s write up entitled “Conversion Losses” published in The Dawn dated December 3, 2005 relates the tragedy of Hindu parents in Karachi whose three young daughters Reena, Usha and Rima of marriageable age vanished in October, 2005. In a few days, the shocked parents received a courier package containing three identical affidavits from their daughters stating that they had converted to Islam and, therefore, could not live with their Hindu parents. And father of the girls just wailed, “We just sit and stare at each other. For us, life is over.”
And this hopeless situation can be the fate of any Hindu parent in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Kidnappings and killings
Even during the last few months, thousands of Hindus have been forced to flee Pakistan, and take shelter in India.
Increasing incidents of kidnappings, robberies and forcible conversion have rattled Hindu community in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Those unable to pay the ransom are just killed. Hindu film maker Satish Anand’s kidnapping in Karachi and recent release after payment of a huge ransom is just one of such countless examples.
In April, 2009 Sikhs in Karzai in Pakistan were targeted to pay fifty million rupees as Jazia, the tax levied on non-Muslims. As the victims could not pay the said Jazia, their houses were looted and destroyed.
Discrimination and dispossession
Discrimination against Hindus is a fact of life as also a fact of law in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
As per Constitution of Pakistan, only a Muslim can be the President or Prime Minister of Pakistan. As per Bangladeshi Constitution too, only a Muslim can be the head of the state.
The Vested Property Act was passed in 1965 as “Enemy Property Act” in Pakistan. This law legitimised confiscation of Hindu property. After emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, this Act was renamed as the Vested Property Act in Bangladesh, and the state was made the owner of the Hindus’ property. This Act has legitimised the forfeiture of millions of acres of ancestral Hindu lands. And Hindu lands and properties are being taken over by the government (under the Vested Property Act) to be distributed among Muslims.
Way out
In 1950, Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan signed an agreement called the Nehru Liaqat Pact under which both the governments undertook to protect life, liberty, religion and safety of the minorities in each other’s country.
But the government in India is doing nothing in the ongoing genocide and deprivation of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
It is the Indian government’s legal and moral duty to ensure that as per the Nehru-Liaqat Pact of 1950, and as per the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Pakistan and Bangladesh treat their minorities in a human manner. India must also ask Bangladesh to repeal the Vested Properties Act, and restore the lands and properties of Hindus to Hindus.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights must also be approached to redeem the situation. Denial of human rights to Hindus violates UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.
In Pakistan and Bangladesh, Hindus have only the right to suffer and right to silence. Shockingly, the tragedy of Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh remains untold by Indian main stream media.
India’s callous inaction regarding the pathetic plight of Pak-Bangla Hindus is disgusting. Killing of Hindus in Pakistan, in Bangladesh or even in India is not taken seriously by main stream media, by government or by various political parties or by human rights industry in India.
Is it because for some sections in India, only the terrorists, anti-nationals and Pak-Bangla infiltrators are entitled to fundamental and human rights?
Will India ever act to save Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh?
It is tragic that though Sanatan Dharma, commonly known as Hinduism, proclaims universal brotherhood and oneness of humanity, and addresses entire humanity as divine children (Shrunvantu vishve amrutasya putraha - Rig Veda: 10-13-1), most of the Hindus have either been killed or converted or driven out from Pakistan and Bangladesh which used to be Hindu lands. And those Hindus who are still left in Pakistan and Bangladesh are being treated with disdain and discrimination; and are being denied even the basic human rights.
Genocide and persecution
Only a few centuries ago, Hindu religion and culture used to reverberate from Afghanistan to Indonesia. Indian sub-continent including the present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan and even Zabol in Iran was Hindu land, and had no Muslim presence till Muhammad bin Qasim’s Arab army attacked Sindh in 711. After repeated invasions, Hindus lost the present day Afghanistan to Muslims in 987. And the areas now known as Pakistan and Bangladesh were lost to Muslims in 1947.
Pakistan comprised of two segments: East Pakistan and West Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan became Bangladesh, a separate country. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh have been declared as Islamic republics.
Hindus have always been threatened and discriminated against in Pakistan and Bangladesh on religious grounds. Though in 1947, Hindus accounted for 24 per cent of the present day Pakistan’s population, now the numbers less than two per cent. Situation is equally grave in Bangladesh where Hindus numbered 31 per cent in 1947, but now number nine per cent. Most of the Hindus / Sikhs have either been driven out, or have been killed or forcibly converted in Pakistan and Bangladesh. However, in India, the present percentage of Muslim population is much higher than that was in 1947.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have never explained what they have done to their Hindu population.
Hindus suffer constant threats to their lives, security and property in Pak-Bangla lands. Many Hindu temples have been desecrated and destroyed in Pakistan and Bangladesh. There are regular reports of illegal encroachments on Hindu temples and lands, looting of Hindu property, discrimination, persecution, molestation and abduction of Hindu girls both in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
During 1970 and 1971, Hindus in East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) underwent massive massacres by the Pakistani army and its collaborators. Over two million Hindus are reported to have been killed in East Pakistan during 1970 and 1971 leading to Indo-Pak war in 1971. Besides, countless Hindu women were dishonoured and kidnapped during this period.
As per Dr. Sabyasachi Ghosh-Dastidar’s book, Empire’s last casualty: Indian subcontinent’s vanishing Hindu and other minorities, over three million Hindus have been killed in the process of Islamisation in the area now known as Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) since India was Partitioned in 1947. This loss of three million lives remain suppressed from the world.
Even now, Hindus are facing genocide, terror, persecution, dishonour and atrocities in Bangladesh every day. And there is selective killing of Hindu judges, professionals, teachers, lawyers and civil servants in Bangladesh to smash Hindu resistance.
Human rights organisations like Amnesty International are silent spectators of this blatant ethnic cleansing of millions of Hindus.
Forcible conversions and marriages
The alarming trend of Muslims kidnapping young Hindu girls and forcibly marrying them to Muslims is tormenting Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Though Pak-Bangla media may occasionally report such atrocities, main stream media in India remains silent in this regard. To illustrate the dismal situation, just one such example is given here. It was reported in Pakistan’s premier English daily ‘The Dawn’ dated November 3, 2005 that 19 Hindu girls mostly from Punjab Colony, Karachi were missing from their homes. Relatives of these girls believed that they had been kidnapped and were being forced to change their religion, the press release added.
Columnist Irfan Husain’s write up entitled “Conversion Losses” published in The Dawn dated December 3, 2005 relates the tragedy of Hindu parents in Karachi whose three young daughters Reena, Usha and Rima of marriageable age vanished in October, 2005. In a few days, the shocked parents received a courier package containing three identical affidavits from their daughters stating that they had converted to Islam and, therefore, could not live with their Hindu parents. And father of the girls just wailed, “We just sit and stare at each other. For us, life is over.”
And this hopeless situation can be the fate of any Hindu parent in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Kidnappings and killings
Even during the last few months, thousands of Hindus have been forced to flee Pakistan, and take shelter in India.
Increasing incidents of kidnappings, robberies and forcible conversion have rattled Hindu community in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Those unable to pay the ransom are just killed. Hindu film maker Satish Anand’s kidnapping in Karachi and recent release after payment of a huge ransom is just one of such countless examples.
In April, 2009 Sikhs in Karzai in Pakistan were targeted to pay fifty million rupees as Jazia, the tax levied on non-Muslims. As the victims could not pay the said Jazia, their houses were looted and destroyed.
Discrimination and dispossession
Discrimination against Hindus is a fact of life as also a fact of law in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
As per Constitution of Pakistan, only a Muslim can be the President or Prime Minister of Pakistan. As per Bangladeshi Constitution too, only a Muslim can be the head of the state.
The Vested Property Act was passed in 1965 as “Enemy Property Act” in Pakistan. This law legitimised confiscation of Hindu property. After emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, this Act was renamed as the Vested Property Act in Bangladesh, and the state was made the owner of the Hindus’ property. This Act has legitimised the forfeiture of millions of acres of ancestral Hindu lands. And Hindu lands and properties are being taken over by the government (under the Vested Property Act) to be distributed among Muslims.
Way out
In 1950, Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan signed an agreement called the Nehru Liaqat Pact under which both the governments undertook to protect life, liberty, religion and safety of the minorities in each other’s country.
But the government in India is doing nothing in the ongoing genocide and deprivation of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
It is the Indian government’s legal and moral duty to ensure that as per the Nehru-Liaqat Pact of 1950, and as per the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Pakistan and Bangladesh treat their minorities in a human manner. India must also ask Bangladesh to repeal the Vested Properties Act, and restore the lands and properties of Hindus to Hindus.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights must also be approached to redeem the situation. Denial of human rights to Hindus violates UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.
In Pakistan and Bangladesh, Hindus have only the right to suffer and right to silence. Shockingly, the tragedy of Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh remains untold by Indian main stream media.
India’s callous inaction regarding the pathetic plight of Pak-Bangla Hindus is disgusting. Killing of Hindus in Pakistan, in Bangladesh or even in India is not taken seriously by main stream media, by government or by various political parties or by human rights industry in India.
Is it because for some sections in India, only the terrorists, anti-nationals and Pak-Bangla infiltrators are entitled to fundamental and human rights?
Will India ever act to save Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh?
Bangladesh: Hindu Boys Targeted for Indoctrination with Jihad
by William Gomes
15 May, 2009
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a Hindu organization, fear attacks by Islamic militants after helping rescued minor Hindu boy from madrasa.
Bangladesh government has failed to protect and promote human rights of the minorities of Bangladesh over the years. Rape, gang-rape, kidnap and forceful conversion of members of the ethnic and religious minorities has turned Bangladesh into a land of human rights violation, opposed to the demand of UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The rising Islamic militancy threatens the existence of the minorities in Bangladesh. Many Hindus were forced to leave the country because of communal violence.
The Story of Poresh Chandra Sarker: Background Information
Recently, a minor Hindu boy, 13-year-old Poresh Chandra Sarkar, was traced out of his long disappearance. The boy from poor family took up job as child labour in a restaurant in the capital. Dhaka. Far from his village, there a Muslim man, named Hamdu Mia, came to know about the boy's helpless condition, and with the help of some Maolanas (Muslim clerics) of a madrasa, they illegally converted this immature boy to a Islam from Hinduism and confined him in madrasa, away from all contact with his parents.
After lots of frantic searching for the boy, a clue came from a letter with $58 sent by Poresh to his father on 25.04.2008 through Genera Post Office (GPO) in Dhaka. Based on the clue, the boy's father Krishna Chandra Sarker contacted a Muslim officer at the GPO. The officer informed Krishna Sarker that he knew of his son's whereabouts and that he might get back his son if his family converted to Islam.
Failing to make contact with his beloved son, Mr. Sarker filed a police report (GD # 1498) with the Paltan Police Station, Dhaka.
The police then called in Hamdu Mia along with the Maulans to the Police Station. The parents, along with the relatives, beg to the police to hand over their son to them until late at night, but they were forced out of the Police Station with getting custody of the boy.
It appears that the police were connected to the extremists. The lawyers, representing the boy's father, suspect that the innocent boy might have undergone terror-training in a camp somewhere like Bagmara, as the boy shout to his father over a cell-phone that, “I have sacrifice my life to establish the law of Allah in the world, and don’t try to find out me…..” (Allahar Ain Prothistha Korar Jonno ejibon utshorga koriachi Amar Khoj Korio na). He has been trained to keep shut himself under any circumstances.
Later on, the father and the son was brought before a court in Dhaka, chaired by magistrate Ms. Shamima Parvin on 07 April 2009. Unfortunately, ignoring the age of the victim and submission of Mr. Sarker's lawyer, the magistrate ordered that the boy be sent to the Madrasa, instead of handing him over to his parents. But, faced with objection of the lawyers, she sent the boy to Jail Hajat (Safe Custody).
Later on, when the boy was produced before court again on May 5, he was handed over to his parents: the boy was rescued, thanks to his parents frantic efforts.
Poresh is slowly getting better decaling the extremist indoctrination and JIHAD mentality. But the parents, the boy, and ISKCON (who gave the family temporary shelter) are in fear of persecution by the Islamic extremists.
Many national and international organization has demanded to the government to take proper steps to secure the boy and his family and highly condemn the forceful conversion.
Jasada Nandan Acharjee, Sebait and Executor of Swai Bag Ashram said to Asia News that “I do believe in the religious freedom of all people but I highly condemn what was happened with the poor Hindu boy Poresh, the Islamic fascist has brain washed the boy with message of hearted and Jihad and that is also violating the Human Rights”.
He said that many often the children of minority communities, targeted by the Islamic fascists, are indoctrinated with the message of Jihad.
Rupauga Goar Das Bramachary of ISKCON said to Asia News that Poresh was initially saying that he would sacrifice his life for Allah, he was indoctrinated with the idea of JIHAD as the JMB (Jammatul Mujahedin, Bangladesh) people do; now after hearing the religious teaching of Hinduism, he is shedding the extremist teachings received at the madrasa.
He said we do believe in the religious freedom of every soul; when he becomes mature, he can entitled him with any religion, but no one should misguide a minor child with the Islamic JIHAD idea to destroy the boy's life and endanger life of other people through him.
ISKCON's food for life has gave shelter to this boy and to his parents. But the organization said: we have fear about the security; we have responsibility for the whole Hindu society related with us; for Poresh, the whole temple and other Hindu believers living nearby can face communal violence.
A small local Human Rights Organization, Sonatan International Foundation, is helping the family to get the legal aid.
The joint-secretary Pinaki said to Asia News that "we have observed that some of the Islamic fascist are guarding outside of ISCKON temple, we are not sure how they came to know about the presence of the family in this temple, only we know about the presence of the Poresh and his family’s presence in this ISCKON temple”.
Prof. Nikhil Chandra Pal said to Asia News that "The situation is very fearful. At any time, anything bad can happen to us and to the boy and his parents; we are all targeted by the Islamic extremists”.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a US Congressional panel, has recently dropped Bangladesh from its Watch List of countries that violate rights of minorities to religious freedom. Bangladesh was in the list from 2005 to 2008.
USCRIF removed Bangladesh from the Watch List in its May 1, 2009 report, urging the new Awami League administration to strengthen protections for all Bangladeshis to enjoy the right to freedom of religion or belief, and undertake efforts to improve conditions for minority religious communities.
The commission hoped that the government of Bangladesh would investigate and prosecute, to the fullest extent of the law, the perpetrators of violent acts against members of the minority religious communities, women, and non-governmental organizations, committed in the past.
The fate of minorities, nonetheless, remains unchanged and their religious freedom is far from adequate.
15 May, 2009
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a Hindu organization, fear attacks by Islamic militants after helping rescued minor Hindu boy from madrasa.
Bangladesh government has failed to protect and promote human rights of the minorities of Bangladesh over the years. Rape, gang-rape, kidnap and forceful conversion of members of the ethnic and religious minorities has turned Bangladesh into a land of human rights violation, opposed to the demand of UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The rising Islamic militancy threatens the existence of the minorities in Bangladesh. Many Hindus were forced to leave the country because of communal violence.
The Story of Poresh Chandra Sarker: Background Information
Recently, a minor Hindu boy, 13-year-old Poresh Chandra Sarkar, was traced out of his long disappearance. The boy from poor family took up job as child labour in a restaurant in the capital. Dhaka. Far from his village, there a Muslim man, named Hamdu Mia, came to know about the boy's helpless condition, and with the help of some Maolanas (Muslim clerics) of a madrasa, they illegally converted this immature boy to a Islam from Hinduism and confined him in madrasa, away from all contact with his parents.
After lots of frantic searching for the boy, a clue came from a letter with $58 sent by Poresh to his father on 25.04.2008 through Genera Post Office (GPO) in Dhaka. Based on the clue, the boy's father Krishna Chandra Sarker contacted a Muslim officer at the GPO. The officer informed Krishna Sarker that he knew of his son's whereabouts and that he might get back his son if his family converted to Islam.
Failing to make contact with his beloved son, Mr. Sarker filed a police report (GD # 1498) with the Paltan Police Station, Dhaka.
The police then called in Hamdu Mia along with the Maulans to the Police Station. The parents, along with the relatives, beg to the police to hand over their son to them until late at night, but they were forced out of the Police Station with getting custody of the boy.
It appears that the police were connected to the extremists. The lawyers, representing the boy's father, suspect that the innocent boy might have undergone terror-training in a camp somewhere like Bagmara, as the boy shout to his father over a cell-phone that, “I have sacrifice my life to establish the law of Allah in the world, and don’t try to find out me…..” (Allahar Ain Prothistha Korar Jonno ejibon utshorga koriachi Amar Khoj Korio na). He has been trained to keep shut himself under any circumstances.
Later on, the father and the son was brought before a court in Dhaka, chaired by magistrate Ms. Shamima Parvin on 07 April 2009. Unfortunately, ignoring the age of the victim and submission of Mr. Sarker's lawyer, the magistrate ordered that the boy be sent to the Madrasa, instead of handing him over to his parents. But, faced with objection of the lawyers, she sent the boy to Jail Hajat (Safe Custody).
Later on, when the boy was produced before court again on May 5, he was handed over to his parents: the boy was rescued, thanks to his parents frantic efforts.
Poresh is slowly getting better decaling the extremist indoctrination and JIHAD mentality. But the parents, the boy, and ISKCON (who gave the family temporary shelter) are in fear of persecution by the Islamic extremists.
Many national and international organization has demanded to the government to take proper steps to secure the boy and his family and highly condemn the forceful conversion.
Jasada Nandan Acharjee, Sebait and Executor of Swai Bag Ashram said to Asia News that “I do believe in the religious freedom of all people but I highly condemn what was happened with the poor Hindu boy Poresh, the Islamic fascist has brain washed the boy with message of hearted and Jihad and that is also violating the Human Rights”.
He said that many often the children of minority communities, targeted by the Islamic fascists, are indoctrinated with the message of Jihad.
Rupauga Goar Das Bramachary of ISKCON said to Asia News that Poresh was initially saying that he would sacrifice his life for Allah, he was indoctrinated with the idea of JIHAD as the JMB (Jammatul Mujahedin, Bangladesh) people do; now after hearing the religious teaching of Hinduism, he is shedding the extremist teachings received at the madrasa.
He said we do believe in the religious freedom of every soul; when he becomes mature, he can entitled him with any religion, but no one should misguide a minor child with the Islamic JIHAD idea to destroy the boy's life and endanger life of other people through him.
ISKCON's food for life has gave shelter to this boy and to his parents. But the organization said: we have fear about the security; we have responsibility for the whole Hindu society related with us; for Poresh, the whole temple and other Hindu believers living nearby can face communal violence.
A small local Human Rights Organization, Sonatan International Foundation, is helping the family to get the legal aid.
The joint-secretary Pinaki said to Asia News that "we have observed that some of the Islamic fascist are guarding outside of ISCKON temple, we are not sure how they came to know about the presence of the family in this temple, only we know about the presence of the Poresh and his family’s presence in this ISCKON temple”.
Prof. Nikhil Chandra Pal said to Asia News that "The situation is very fearful. At any time, anything bad can happen to us and to the boy and his parents; we are all targeted by the Islamic extremists”.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a US Congressional panel, has recently dropped Bangladesh from its Watch List of countries that violate rights of minorities to religious freedom. Bangladesh was in the list from 2005 to 2008.
USCRIF removed Bangladesh from the Watch List in its May 1, 2009 report, urging the new Awami League administration to strengthen protections for all Bangladeshis to enjoy the right to freedom of religion or belief, and undertake efforts to improve conditions for minority religious communities.
The commission hoped that the government of Bangladesh would investigate and prosecute, to the fullest extent of the law, the perpetrators of violent acts against members of the minority religious communities, women, and non-governmental organizations, committed in the past.
The fate of minorities, nonetheless, remains unchanged and their religious freedom is far from adequate.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sanskrit: A global language to be proud of
By Achyut Railkar
There are many mottos in Sanskrit which have been readily adopted, like: Republic of India, Satyameva Jayate “Truth alone triumphs”; LIC of India, Yogakshemam Vahâmyaham “I shall take care of welfare”; Indian Navy, Shanno Varuna “May the ocean be peaceful to us”; Mumbai Police, Sadrakshanaaya Khlaha Nigrahanayah “For protection of the good and control of the wicked”; All India Radio, Bahujan Hitay Bahujan Sukhay “For the benefit of all, for the comfort of all”; Indonesian Navy, Jalesvava Jayamahe “On the sea, we are glorious”.
Sanskrit is the oldest and the living language on our planet. We see its wonderful history passing through many millennia. It is the language of the most ancient Indian scriptures belonging to various faiths and it is the language of divinity.
Sanskrit was introduced on the earth, by the eternal sages along with Vedas, Upanishads, Yogashastras and Puranas. A plethora of such ancient texts mostly in verses represent highly civilised life, creativity of the Indian mind and spiritual tradition which is unique in its scope, depth and vitality. It has provided the basis of India’s civilisation unity.
About 2,600 years ago, the sage Panini had re-established the science of Sanskrit grammar in his Ashtadhayi and even today it is considered as the standard authority. Westerners describe Sanskrit as one of the greatest productions of the human mind. The philologists term it as an ideal scientific work; the grammarians have identified it to be the mother of most Indo-European languages, and also of Persian, Kurdish or Armenian.
Research scholars have identified around 90 languages of the world, especially English, Greek, Latin and Arabic to have either directly or indirectly derived words from Sanskrit; it has been noticed by Dr Varhadpande that about 25 per cent of the words in English have emerged from Sanskrit.
Sanskrit and related languages have influenced Sino-Tibetan-speaking neighbours through the spread of translated Buddhist texts. Buddhism has also spread to China and thereafter to Japan and Korea by the missionaries mostly through translations of Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit and classical Sanskrit texts and was directly added to the Chinese vocabulary. The Thai language contains many loan words from Sanskrit. Many such loan words are also found in traditional Malay, modern Indonesian, numerous Philippine languages, Javanese language (nearly half) and to a lesser extent, Vietnamese, through hybrid Sanskrit.
It has abundant literature of poetry, drama and philosophy and has produced outstanding personalities such as Kalidasa, Banabhatt, Bharavi, Bhaskaracharya, Chanakya, and Adishankaracharya etc, equivalent to great lives in the world. It is a misconception that Sanskrit is concerned only with spiritual wisdom. Its texts cover the entire gamut of human activity including fine arts, branches of science, and literature. Hence it is a foundation for a global language of consciousness, any modern science and spiritual science.
The two great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were originally written in Sanskrit have influenced many people for a long time. The famous German poet Goethe was very much impressed about them. Regarding the play Mrichchakatikam enacted in New York with English rendering in 1924, the dramatic critic JW Crutch says, “Such a play could be produced only by a civilisation which has reached stability.” The famous Indologist Max Muller said, “Sanskrit is the greatest language of the world. Many world personalities love Bhagawat Gita for its teachings on liberation through renunciation.”
There are many mottos in Sanskrit which have been readily adopted, like: Republic of India, Satyameva Jayate “Truth alone triumphs”; LIC of India Yogakshemam Vahâmyaham “I shall take care of welfare”; Indian Navy Shanno Varuna “May the ocean be peaceful to us”; Mumbai Police Sadrakshanaaya Khlaha Nigrahanayah “For protection of the good and control of the wicked”; All India Radio Bahujan Hitay Bahujan Sukhay “For the benefit of all, for the comfort of all”; Indonesian Navy Jalesvava Jayamahe “On the sea, we are glorious”. The first two stanzas of our national song Vande Mataram are in Sanskrit.
The Vedanta philosophy enshrined in our Constitution, needs to be fully understood, a process in which Sanskrit has a crucial role to play. Today there is tremendous international interest in the science of yoga, meditation, eastern philosophy, stress management and holistic medicine. All of them have roots in Sanskrit literature. The language has many koshas (lexicons). Amarsinh’s Amarkosha (600 AD) has around 3,000 thesaurus shlokas (entries); later on many more koshas were added like Ekakshar (single letter words), Dwarthkosha (double meaning words), etc.
Sanskrit is the only language available that has the letters and sounds to make up the powerful mantra. No other language can meet the power and energy of the true divine sound. Chanting mantras means that you and others around will always be protected. Other languages may have rhythm, harmony and poetic sounds but Sanskrit has all of that plus more.
Sanskrit has direct link between sound and signs; it has sandhi (coalescence) and samas (compound word) that will facilitate flow of the language. It has unique pronunciation of its alphabets. The chanting of Sanskrit text makes anybody achieve clear-cut voice. Its sentence structure is flexible as order of the words does not matter. It is systematised and perfect and its alphabets are impeccably arranged. It has written rules of grammar, phonetics, etymology and epistemology; it has power of forming infinite number of words and many are used in computers; in the language both, brevity and elaboration are possible. Because of its relatively high regular structure, it is claimed to be applicable in the modern computers for the machine translation and other areas of natural language processing.
Aligarh Muslim University, Kashmir University and madarsas of Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal have Sanskrit teaching section. Our past leaders Lokmanya Tilak, Swatantryavir Savarkar and famous economist CD Deshmukh used to correspond in Sanskrit among their colleagues.
There have been numerous attempts at reviving Sanskrit in terms of preservation of its literature and making it popular. Since 1981 Sanskrit Bharati, have been conducting Sanskrit camps and their efforts met with huge success. It claims that now there are over four million people around the world who can speak the language.
Even in the last two centuries, due to the rapid advances in technology and science, Sanskrit abundant with new and improvised vocabulary has come into existence. Furthermore, there are at least a dozen periodicals published in Sanskrit, all-India news broadcast in Sanskrit. Television shows and feature movies are produced in Sanskrit. A village Ziri of 3,000 inhabitants in Madhya Pradesh and Mattur village in central Karnataka communicate through Sanskrit alone. There are countless smaller intellectual communities and many schools and universities where Sanskrit is fostered throughout India. “Contemporary Sanskrit” is hence alive.
The former President Dr Abdul Kalam was greeted in Sanskrit when he had been to Athens (Greece) in 2007. 2,300 students of MIT in US received their degrees amid chants of Sanskrit prayers in 2005. A British school in the heart of London has made Sanskrit a compulsory subject for its junior division because it helps students grasp mathematics, science and other languages better. The Indian guided missile programme commenced in 1983 by DRDO has named the five missiles as Prithvi, Agni, Akash, Nag and Trishul. India’s first modern fighter aircraft is named Hal Tejas (spirited instrument) and the first satellite over the moon as Chandrayan I. Recently, Sanskrit also made a brief appearance in western pop music especially for devotion to a higher power and a wish for peace on earth.
Sanskrit lovers from various countries met and agreed to form the International Association of Sanskrit Studies (IASS). They have Vedanta guided motto Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam meaning the whole planet is one family. They held the first world Sanskrit conference at New Delhi in March 1972. Fourteenth world conference is proposed to be held this year during 1st to 5th September, 2009 at Kyoto (Japan).
Sanskrit is the heart of India and mind for the globe. It is a ‘world language’ in the real sense of the term. But for the access to India’s pristine glory, rich tradition and a vast literature of science and philosophy, one has to learn Sanskrit with dedication. It has inspired many Indian and global personalities. What needs to be done is to promote Sanskrit education at elementary level and link it to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. There are enough universities for Sanskrit but root is needed to be strengthened.
There are many mottos in Sanskrit which have been readily adopted, like: Republic of India, Satyameva Jayate “Truth alone triumphs”; LIC of India, Yogakshemam Vahâmyaham “I shall take care of welfare”; Indian Navy, Shanno Varuna “May the ocean be peaceful to us”; Mumbai Police, Sadrakshanaaya Khlaha Nigrahanayah “For protection of the good and control of the wicked”; All India Radio, Bahujan Hitay Bahujan Sukhay “For the benefit of all, for the comfort of all”; Indonesian Navy, Jalesvava Jayamahe “On the sea, we are glorious”.
Sanskrit is the oldest and the living language on our planet. We see its wonderful history passing through many millennia. It is the language of the most ancient Indian scriptures belonging to various faiths and it is the language of divinity.
Sanskrit was introduced on the earth, by the eternal sages along with Vedas, Upanishads, Yogashastras and Puranas. A plethora of such ancient texts mostly in verses represent highly civilised life, creativity of the Indian mind and spiritual tradition which is unique in its scope, depth and vitality. It has provided the basis of India’s civilisation unity.
About 2,600 years ago, the sage Panini had re-established the science of Sanskrit grammar in his Ashtadhayi and even today it is considered as the standard authority. Westerners describe Sanskrit as one of the greatest productions of the human mind. The philologists term it as an ideal scientific work; the grammarians have identified it to be the mother of most Indo-European languages, and also of Persian, Kurdish or Armenian.
Research scholars have identified around 90 languages of the world, especially English, Greek, Latin and Arabic to have either directly or indirectly derived words from Sanskrit; it has been noticed by Dr Varhadpande that about 25 per cent of the words in English have emerged from Sanskrit.
Sanskrit and related languages have influenced Sino-Tibetan-speaking neighbours through the spread of translated Buddhist texts. Buddhism has also spread to China and thereafter to Japan and Korea by the missionaries mostly through translations of Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit and classical Sanskrit texts and was directly added to the Chinese vocabulary. The Thai language contains many loan words from Sanskrit. Many such loan words are also found in traditional Malay, modern Indonesian, numerous Philippine languages, Javanese language (nearly half) and to a lesser extent, Vietnamese, through hybrid Sanskrit.
It has abundant literature of poetry, drama and philosophy and has produced outstanding personalities such as Kalidasa, Banabhatt, Bharavi, Bhaskaracharya, Chanakya, and Adishankaracharya etc, equivalent to great lives in the world. It is a misconception that Sanskrit is concerned only with spiritual wisdom. Its texts cover the entire gamut of human activity including fine arts, branches of science, and literature. Hence it is a foundation for a global language of consciousness, any modern science and spiritual science.
The two great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were originally written in Sanskrit have influenced many people for a long time. The famous German poet Goethe was very much impressed about them. Regarding the play Mrichchakatikam enacted in New York with English rendering in 1924, the dramatic critic JW Crutch says, “Such a play could be produced only by a civilisation which has reached stability.” The famous Indologist Max Muller said, “Sanskrit is the greatest language of the world. Many world personalities love Bhagawat Gita for its teachings on liberation through renunciation.”
There are many mottos in Sanskrit which have been readily adopted, like: Republic of India, Satyameva Jayate “Truth alone triumphs”; LIC of India Yogakshemam Vahâmyaham “I shall take care of welfare”; Indian Navy Shanno Varuna “May the ocean be peaceful to us”; Mumbai Police Sadrakshanaaya Khlaha Nigrahanayah “For protection of the good and control of the wicked”; All India Radio Bahujan Hitay Bahujan Sukhay “For the benefit of all, for the comfort of all”; Indonesian Navy Jalesvava Jayamahe “On the sea, we are glorious”. The first two stanzas of our national song Vande Mataram are in Sanskrit.
The Vedanta philosophy enshrined in our Constitution, needs to be fully understood, a process in which Sanskrit has a crucial role to play. Today there is tremendous international interest in the science of yoga, meditation, eastern philosophy, stress management and holistic medicine. All of them have roots in Sanskrit literature. The language has many koshas (lexicons). Amarsinh’s Amarkosha (600 AD) has around 3,000 thesaurus shlokas (entries); later on many more koshas were added like Ekakshar (single letter words), Dwarthkosha (double meaning words), etc.
Sanskrit is the only language available that has the letters and sounds to make up the powerful mantra. No other language can meet the power and energy of the true divine sound. Chanting mantras means that you and others around will always be protected. Other languages may have rhythm, harmony and poetic sounds but Sanskrit has all of that plus more.
Sanskrit has direct link between sound and signs; it has sandhi (coalescence) and samas (compound word) that will facilitate flow of the language. It has unique pronunciation of its alphabets. The chanting of Sanskrit text makes anybody achieve clear-cut voice. Its sentence structure is flexible as order of the words does not matter. It is systematised and perfect and its alphabets are impeccably arranged. It has written rules of grammar, phonetics, etymology and epistemology; it has power of forming infinite number of words and many are used in computers; in the language both, brevity and elaboration are possible. Because of its relatively high regular structure, it is claimed to be applicable in the modern computers for the machine translation and other areas of natural language processing.
Aligarh Muslim University, Kashmir University and madarsas of Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal have Sanskrit teaching section. Our past leaders Lokmanya Tilak, Swatantryavir Savarkar and famous economist CD Deshmukh used to correspond in Sanskrit among their colleagues.
There have been numerous attempts at reviving Sanskrit in terms of preservation of its literature and making it popular. Since 1981 Sanskrit Bharati, have been conducting Sanskrit camps and their efforts met with huge success. It claims that now there are over four million people around the world who can speak the language.
Even in the last two centuries, due to the rapid advances in technology and science, Sanskrit abundant with new and improvised vocabulary has come into existence. Furthermore, there are at least a dozen periodicals published in Sanskrit, all-India news broadcast in Sanskrit. Television shows and feature movies are produced in Sanskrit. A village Ziri of 3,000 inhabitants in Madhya Pradesh and Mattur village in central Karnataka communicate through Sanskrit alone. There are countless smaller intellectual communities and many schools and universities where Sanskrit is fostered throughout India. “Contemporary Sanskrit” is hence alive.
The former President Dr Abdul Kalam was greeted in Sanskrit when he had been to Athens (Greece) in 2007. 2,300 students of MIT in US received their degrees amid chants of Sanskrit prayers in 2005. A British school in the heart of London has made Sanskrit a compulsory subject for its junior division because it helps students grasp mathematics, science and other languages better. The Indian guided missile programme commenced in 1983 by DRDO has named the five missiles as Prithvi, Agni, Akash, Nag and Trishul. India’s first modern fighter aircraft is named Hal Tejas (spirited instrument) and the first satellite over the moon as Chandrayan I. Recently, Sanskrit also made a brief appearance in western pop music especially for devotion to a higher power and a wish for peace on earth.
Sanskrit lovers from various countries met and agreed to form the International Association of Sanskrit Studies (IASS). They have Vedanta guided motto Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam meaning the whole planet is one family. They held the first world Sanskrit conference at New Delhi in March 1972. Fourteenth world conference is proposed to be held this year during 1st to 5th September, 2009 at Kyoto (Japan).
Sanskrit is the heart of India and mind for the globe. It is a ‘world language’ in the real sense of the term. But for the access to India’s pristine glory, rich tradition and a vast literature of science and philosophy, one has to learn Sanskrit with dedication. It has inspired many Indian and global personalities. What needs to be done is to promote Sanskrit education at elementary level and link it to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. There are enough universities for Sanskrit but root is needed to be strengthened.
Democracy has failed displaced Kashmiri Hindus
By Ajay Bharti
Deletion of names from the voter's list of Kashmir is a serious issue with wider implications.
Displaced community has a reason to believe that the entire process is organised under a planned conspiracy. It is not difficult to understand the fact that presence of Hindu voters drastically reduces the blackmailing potential of Kashmiri Muslim politicians. Separatists fear rigid enforcement of boycott call will lead to a situation whereby India can constitutionally plug the loopholes in State’s relationship with the Centre.
Strange, but true. The Election Commission on one hand has involved a number of celebrities and NGOs to persuade voters to participate in the festival of democracy (remember pappu doesn’t vote ha ha ads), on the other hand the same Commission is denying the right to franchisee to the lakhs of voters of Kashmir, displaced from the land of their ancestors. Nation was witness to unusual protests by the displaced community of Kashmiri Hindus asking to be enrolled as voters. J&K Police lathi charged one such protest sit-in at Muthi, Jammu and arrested several youngsters for daring to ask for the right to vote.
The so called democratic government in J&K, from the very beginning, has in fact been the government of the Muslim majority of Kashmir Valley. The neo-elite that emerged after the State’s accession to India in 1947 have ensured—thanks to biased patrionage of Pt. Nehru—that democracy is tailored to suit the Valley Muslims and is helpful in ensuring their hold on the State apparatus. Deletion of minority Hindu votes from electoral rolls is a part of that scheme.
Records show that in the 1996 Assembly elections, out of 147,000 registered displaced voters, 97,000 voted, whereas in 2002 the number came down to 117,000 There are nearly 76 to 77 thousand Kashmiri Pandit voters registered with the Sate Election Department but out of them hardly 11,000 voted in the recently concluded Assembly elections. This was because of the cumbersome procedure of filling up the M-form. A displaced voter has to make 3-4 visits to electoral office before he is allowed to vote. And this exercise has to be repeated every time when there is an election. This futile exercise is not only cumbersome but has tremendous scope for manipulation by the authorities.
Around 40,000 voters for example applied for voting right by essentially filling up the dreaded M-form the during election to the State Legislature. But authorities released the names of only 26,000 voters terming them eligible for voting. 11,000 voted. Another humiliating aspect is that a voter after filling the despicable M-form does not know whether his/her application has been time-honoured or not. Voter has to come to the polling booth on voting day to see if his/her name figures or not. In other words the voter is completely dependent on the mercy of the officials.
Displaced community has a reason to believe that the entire process is organised under a planned conspiracy. It is not difficult to understand the fact that presence of Hindu voters drastically reduces the blackmailing potential of Kashmiri Muslim politicians. Separatists fear rigid enforcement of boycott call will lead to a situation whereby India can constitutionally plug the loopholes in State’s relationship with the Centre. The so-called mainstream politicians realise that they will not be able to bargain hard for their share on the plea of containing separatists. Hence, only 10 per cent of the eligible voters have been enumerated in voter’s lists while the 90 per cent of them have been denied voting rights.
Representation of community, the single largest minority of Kashmir Valley, in the State Legislature has constantly dwindled from 4 in 1956 to zero, yes I repeat none in 2008.
People of India have to appreciate that the issue raised is not a simple one. It is also not a narrow, selfish and constricted matter. It has wider implications and concerns the larger struggle going on across the globe. The issue therefore is as important for all those who believe in egalitarianism, pluralism, secularism and democratic setup. Denial of right to vote in secular democratic India shall be taken as a part of the treacherous policy of the jihadi mind-set engaged in advancing the frontiers of their “civilisational war”. And any resistance against them is the cause of every Indian.
If you still have some doubts consider following. Revision of electoral undertaken between November-December 2008 Assembly elections and April 2009 Parliamentary polls, the total number of electorates across the State has crossed 65 lakh figure and stood at 65,58,957. Number of voters in the State during 2008 Assembly polls was 64.96 lakh.
You may ask what is unusual about that. Hold on. According to official figures released by the State Election Department, the number of voters across Kashmir region has gone up from 32.60 lakh to 33.21 lakh. However, the position is reverse in Jammu region where the voters have come down from 30.84 lakh to 30.83 lakh. The decrease is despite the fact that about 35,000 West Pakistan refugees are entitled to vote in Lok Sabha polls but their names are deleted during Assembly elections.
I must hasten to add that rubbing this issue under carpet by branding it as yet another gambit of BJP-RSS will be suicidal for not only secular fundamentalists but also for the religious Muslims. Believing Muslims will have to decide which brand of Islam do they accept as true Islam? Is it the Islam enforced by Talibanis in Af-Pak or the Islam propagated by Sufis and Fakirs.
Casualness demonstrated till now by the local civil society with respect to the problems faced by the displaced Hindu community of Kashmir will prove fatal. Media also has a lot to introspect. Mere reporting of news will certainly not suffice. Question that needs to be asked and analysed is how long institutions will fail the displaced community. Situation in Pakistan is an eye opener. Uncaring silence will haunt all those who avoid confronting the truth at present.
Just for the sake of information let me write that the displaced community has been forced to come out on streets. It was only after all other options ran out of steam that community decided to fight it out in open. The community has been approaching Election Commission constantly from 1996 onwards, the year elections were first held in the State after the forced displacement. Election Commission even after agreeing to their concerns and promising to reform the process has practically done nothing to that effect.
Their community is a resource poor community. They don’t have representatives in elected fora. Political parties find their issue as burden since they don’t fetch votes in the same measure as is the case with issues related to other communities. National interest is best confined to books and discussions in market driven TV studios.
Elimination of Hindu minority physically from the territory and erasing them completely out of the civilisational memory and ethos of Kashmir is the beginning of a larger scheme.
Shivalai ab jo rotey hai
Himalay kab ke roaiey hai
Community, as a result of persistent efforts by the team led by Dr. KN Pandita, has not only succeeded in registering the subject with the concerned authorities but in the process has actually realised the importance of registered voters in the electoral rolls of the place of their origin. And that is the first critical step towards achieving the desired objective.
Not long ago the scene was totally different. It was very difficult to talk about participation in the democratic process. Any person daring to do so was ridiculed. The method was blemished as surrender of community interests. Only courageous few continued to impress upon the community members to understand the long term folly of ignoring democratic setup of the country. It is welcome to see the changed response of the community, both from the point of view of the individuals as well as organisations.
But let us understand the real challenge lies in future. There is no doubt about the fact that Election Commission will arrange their enrollment sooner than they think. Will that solve the problem?
Difficulty is that the Commission will register only those who ask for the same. Registration will require certain steps on their behalf. EC will have to step in later. So how many of them are willing to register and how many will actually take the required trouble?
Dr KN Pandita Chairman JKNM, “has appealed to all the parties, organisations, nationalists and civil society to support the displaced community in its struggle for their constitutional rights. It also urged the Kashmiri Pandits to support the struggle launched by JKNM.”
How can we support JKNM? Are we actually helping JKNM or our own selves?
The best way I comprehend to do so is enrolling as many voters as are eligible. Let no one remain unregistered. Just have a look on the voter’s lines in polling booths of Kashmir. Children of 13-14 years age are casting votes. Their faces are clear indicators of their age. Yet they are registered as voters. It is one of the ways in which Kashmiri Muslims have ensured that number of voters in Valley to get pushed ahead of Jammu region.
Following revision undertaken between November-December 2008 Assembly elections and April 2009 Parliamentary polls, it must be remembered, the total number of electorates across the State has crossed 65 lakh figure and stood at 65,58,957. Number of voters in the State during 2008 Assembly polls was 64.96 lakh.
The number moved up from 32.60 lakh voters in Kashmir region, to 33.21 lakh. However, in Jammu region the number of voters came down from 30.84 lakh in Assembly elections to 30.83 lakh. The decrease is despite the fact that about 35,000 West Pakistan refugees are entitled to vote in Lok Sabha polls but their names are deleted during Assembly elections.
Vitality of the issue is noticeable. Democracy and the institutions of democratic polity have become weaponry to achieve the monolithic objectives of Islamic forces. We have somehow ignored their importance in a mistaken belief of the justness of our cause. The change, therefore, is refreshing.
So let us be prepared to do some ground work. Let us in first step ensure registration of our own families. Subsequently resolve to persuade one family a month to re-register their names in Kashmir voter list.
By 2011, the year most analysts believe to witness another general election, let there be 3 lakh KP voters in Kashmir Valley constituencies. I am taking conservative estimates of only 50 per cent of 7 lakh population we believe we are.
The ratio of voters to population in our State is more than 65%. The 50 per cent target is achievable. Registration is going to be a continuous process.
Let all of us try our best to achieve the goal.
Deletion of names from the voter's list of Kashmir is a serious issue with wider implications.
Displaced community has a reason to believe that the entire process is organised under a planned conspiracy. It is not difficult to understand the fact that presence of Hindu voters drastically reduces the blackmailing potential of Kashmiri Muslim politicians. Separatists fear rigid enforcement of boycott call will lead to a situation whereby India can constitutionally plug the loopholes in State’s relationship with the Centre.
Strange, but true. The Election Commission on one hand has involved a number of celebrities and NGOs to persuade voters to participate in the festival of democracy (remember pappu doesn’t vote ha ha ads), on the other hand the same Commission is denying the right to franchisee to the lakhs of voters of Kashmir, displaced from the land of their ancestors. Nation was witness to unusual protests by the displaced community of Kashmiri Hindus asking to be enrolled as voters. J&K Police lathi charged one such protest sit-in at Muthi, Jammu and arrested several youngsters for daring to ask for the right to vote.
The so called democratic government in J&K, from the very beginning, has in fact been the government of the Muslim majority of Kashmir Valley. The neo-elite that emerged after the State’s accession to India in 1947 have ensured—thanks to biased patrionage of Pt. Nehru—that democracy is tailored to suit the Valley Muslims and is helpful in ensuring their hold on the State apparatus. Deletion of minority Hindu votes from electoral rolls is a part of that scheme.
Records show that in the 1996 Assembly elections, out of 147,000 registered displaced voters, 97,000 voted, whereas in 2002 the number came down to 117,000 There are nearly 76 to 77 thousand Kashmiri Pandit voters registered with the Sate Election Department but out of them hardly 11,000 voted in the recently concluded Assembly elections. This was because of the cumbersome procedure of filling up the M-form. A displaced voter has to make 3-4 visits to electoral office before he is allowed to vote. And this exercise has to be repeated every time when there is an election. This futile exercise is not only cumbersome but has tremendous scope for manipulation by the authorities.
Around 40,000 voters for example applied for voting right by essentially filling up the dreaded M-form the during election to the State Legislature. But authorities released the names of only 26,000 voters terming them eligible for voting. 11,000 voted. Another humiliating aspect is that a voter after filling the despicable M-form does not know whether his/her application has been time-honoured or not. Voter has to come to the polling booth on voting day to see if his/her name figures or not. In other words the voter is completely dependent on the mercy of the officials.
Displaced community has a reason to believe that the entire process is organised under a planned conspiracy. It is not difficult to understand the fact that presence of Hindu voters drastically reduces the blackmailing potential of Kashmiri Muslim politicians. Separatists fear rigid enforcement of boycott call will lead to a situation whereby India can constitutionally plug the loopholes in State’s relationship with the Centre. The so-called mainstream politicians realise that they will not be able to bargain hard for their share on the plea of containing separatists. Hence, only 10 per cent of the eligible voters have been enumerated in voter’s lists while the 90 per cent of them have been denied voting rights.
Representation of community, the single largest minority of Kashmir Valley, in the State Legislature has constantly dwindled from 4 in 1956 to zero, yes I repeat none in 2008.
People of India have to appreciate that the issue raised is not a simple one. It is also not a narrow, selfish and constricted matter. It has wider implications and concerns the larger struggle going on across the globe. The issue therefore is as important for all those who believe in egalitarianism, pluralism, secularism and democratic setup. Denial of right to vote in secular democratic India shall be taken as a part of the treacherous policy of the jihadi mind-set engaged in advancing the frontiers of their “civilisational war”. And any resistance against them is the cause of every Indian.
If you still have some doubts consider following. Revision of electoral undertaken between November-December 2008 Assembly elections and April 2009 Parliamentary polls, the total number of electorates across the State has crossed 65 lakh figure and stood at 65,58,957. Number of voters in the State during 2008 Assembly polls was 64.96 lakh.
You may ask what is unusual about that. Hold on. According to official figures released by the State Election Department, the number of voters across Kashmir region has gone up from 32.60 lakh to 33.21 lakh. However, the position is reverse in Jammu region where the voters have come down from 30.84 lakh to 30.83 lakh. The decrease is despite the fact that about 35,000 West Pakistan refugees are entitled to vote in Lok Sabha polls but their names are deleted during Assembly elections.
I must hasten to add that rubbing this issue under carpet by branding it as yet another gambit of BJP-RSS will be suicidal for not only secular fundamentalists but also for the religious Muslims. Believing Muslims will have to decide which brand of Islam do they accept as true Islam? Is it the Islam enforced by Talibanis in Af-Pak or the Islam propagated by Sufis and Fakirs.
Casualness demonstrated till now by the local civil society with respect to the problems faced by the displaced Hindu community of Kashmir will prove fatal. Media also has a lot to introspect. Mere reporting of news will certainly not suffice. Question that needs to be asked and analysed is how long institutions will fail the displaced community. Situation in Pakistan is an eye opener. Uncaring silence will haunt all those who avoid confronting the truth at present.
Just for the sake of information let me write that the displaced community has been forced to come out on streets. It was only after all other options ran out of steam that community decided to fight it out in open. The community has been approaching Election Commission constantly from 1996 onwards, the year elections were first held in the State after the forced displacement. Election Commission even after agreeing to their concerns and promising to reform the process has practically done nothing to that effect.
Their community is a resource poor community. They don’t have representatives in elected fora. Political parties find their issue as burden since they don’t fetch votes in the same measure as is the case with issues related to other communities. National interest is best confined to books and discussions in market driven TV studios.
Elimination of Hindu minority physically from the territory and erasing them completely out of the civilisational memory and ethos of Kashmir is the beginning of a larger scheme.
Shivalai ab jo rotey hai
Himalay kab ke roaiey hai
Community, as a result of persistent efforts by the team led by Dr. KN Pandita, has not only succeeded in registering the subject with the concerned authorities but in the process has actually realised the importance of registered voters in the electoral rolls of the place of their origin. And that is the first critical step towards achieving the desired objective.
Not long ago the scene was totally different. It was very difficult to talk about participation in the democratic process. Any person daring to do so was ridiculed. The method was blemished as surrender of community interests. Only courageous few continued to impress upon the community members to understand the long term folly of ignoring democratic setup of the country. It is welcome to see the changed response of the community, both from the point of view of the individuals as well as organisations.
But let us understand the real challenge lies in future. There is no doubt about the fact that Election Commission will arrange their enrollment sooner than they think. Will that solve the problem?
Difficulty is that the Commission will register only those who ask for the same. Registration will require certain steps on their behalf. EC will have to step in later. So how many of them are willing to register and how many will actually take the required trouble?
Dr KN Pandita Chairman JKNM, “has appealed to all the parties, organisations, nationalists and civil society to support the displaced community in its struggle for their constitutional rights. It also urged the Kashmiri Pandits to support the struggle launched by JKNM.”
How can we support JKNM? Are we actually helping JKNM or our own selves?
The best way I comprehend to do so is enrolling as many voters as are eligible. Let no one remain unregistered. Just have a look on the voter’s lines in polling booths of Kashmir. Children of 13-14 years age are casting votes. Their faces are clear indicators of their age. Yet they are registered as voters. It is one of the ways in which Kashmiri Muslims have ensured that number of voters in Valley to get pushed ahead of Jammu region.
Following revision undertaken between November-December 2008 Assembly elections and April 2009 Parliamentary polls, it must be remembered, the total number of electorates across the State has crossed 65 lakh figure and stood at 65,58,957. Number of voters in the State during 2008 Assembly polls was 64.96 lakh.
The number moved up from 32.60 lakh voters in Kashmir region, to 33.21 lakh. However, in Jammu region the number of voters came down from 30.84 lakh in Assembly elections to 30.83 lakh. The decrease is despite the fact that about 35,000 West Pakistan refugees are entitled to vote in Lok Sabha polls but their names are deleted during Assembly elections.
Vitality of the issue is noticeable. Democracy and the institutions of democratic polity have become weaponry to achieve the monolithic objectives of Islamic forces. We have somehow ignored their importance in a mistaken belief of the justness of our cause. The change, therefore, is refreshing.
So let us be prepared to do some ground work. Let us in first step ensure registration of our own families. Subsequently resolve to persuade one family a month to re-register their names in Kashmir voter list.
By 2011, the year most analysts believe to witness another general election, let there be 3 lakh KP voters in Kashmir Valley constituencies. I am taking conservative estimates of only 50 per cent of 7 lakh population we believe we are.
The ratio of voters to population in our State is more than 65%. The 50 per cent target is achievable. Registration is going to be a continuous process.
Let all of us try our best to achieve the goal.
Stop bullying India, Mr Obama
By MV Kamath
India was not responsible for starting the war in Vietnam. The US dropped more bombs on that small poverty-ridden state than were dropped by all the nations involved in the Second World war on each other—and no questions were ever raised. Even on the Iraq issue, it was the US which first supported Saddam Hussain to fight Iran. For the rise of Saddam Hussain it is only the US that is responsible.
If Mr Robert Blackwill, former US Ambassador to India (2000-2003) is to be believed, India may encounter eventual US pressure on Kashmir issue because of Barack Obama’s focus on Pakistan. Furthermore, according to him “there are preliminary indications that the Obama administration has a different policy orientation towards India, especially vis-à-vis China. It is time Obama is told that India has had enough of bullying by the US and if he wants to make it hard for India, he is free to do so. India has survived bullying by John Foster Dulles and his gang and it can stand bullying by Obama. But first he must be told of India’s stand in as clear words as possible.
India has been more sinned against than sinning. India did not take Jammu & Kashmir by force. The state became part of India legally, strictly according to prevailing rules of the right of the Maharaja to accede to India. And this further had the support of the people, then led by Sheikh Abdullah. It was Pakistan that attacked Jammu & Kashmir and not India. It is true that India foolishly, it now turns out, took the Kashmir issue to the Security Council for justice. But from that day onwards, the US has proved to be unfriendly towards Delhi. Apart from the legality of the issue, India as a secular state had every right to assert itself following Kashmir’s accession. India has never believed in the two-nation theory and it never will. That the two-nation theory was bogus to begin with has subsequently proved to be correct when the Bangladeshis separated themselves from Pakistan to form their own state.
For the rampant communalism and propagation of Pakistani hatred towards India, it is the US which is squarely responsible. Barack Obama has better understand that. The US for its own Cold War purposes recklessly armed Pakistan which, in turn used those arms against India in three wars all of which it lost. India did not start the wars. It was Pakistan, with discreet US help, which did. When President Eisenhower said that arms supplied to Pakistan will not be used against India, it was to provoke V K Krishna Menon, then leader of the Indian delegation to the United Nations to reply that the world had yet to manufacture guns that could shoot in only one direction.
When India was forced by sheer necessity to help the Bengali rebels in 1962, it was US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who sought to persuade China to attack India, India has not forgotten that. Who is presently pushing jehadis into Jammu & Kashmir? It is Pakistan and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) which for years has been patronised by the US that never took the trouble to stop its sinister activities. And who are the jehadis, the Taliban and the al-Qaedists? They are the very ones who were recklessly financed and trained at US cost by the Pakistan Army.
India has every reason to be angry and frustrated with the US. It has suffered enough at the hands of Washington and if it wants to continue this exercise, so be it. President Obama can’t be any worse than President Ronald Reagan who treated India like a beggar nation and humiliated it by agreeing to provide food aid on a ship-to-mouth basis. And certainly he can’t be worse than Richard Nixon who abused Indira Gandhi. India does not want to be hyphenated with Pakistan, a terrorist country that has constantly sought with US patronage to knife India in the back. India has withstood it for sixty years and can withstand it for another sixty, presuming that Pakistan will survive till then, which is doubtful. India has no reason to be apologetic. It has consistently refused to play second fiddle to US interests and it will continue to do so. But now we have Rose Gottemoeller, US Assistant Secretary of State who has been quoted as saying that India must sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. India has never been guilty of proliferation as Pakistan has been and which has gone unpunished.
India does not consider itself to be in any way inferior to Britain and France and wants to be treated on an equal basis. India has not used any nuclear weapons against any nation, as the US has. India should demand equality with the Big Five. Since when has Barack Obama become racist? India cannot suffer being treated as a second class nation. The US is now looking up to China because it has become indebted to it. China had made good use of duty free supply of cheap goods to the US to earn its trillions. No wonder Obama now wants to change his approach towards China. It is bad politics, but that has been the feature of US foreign policy for years, which has brought it to its present stage of desperation.
India was not responsible for starting the war in Vietnam. The US dropped more bombs on that small poverty-ridden state than were dropped by all the nations involved in the Second World War on each other—and no questions were ever raised. Even on the Iraq issue, it was the US which first supported Saddam Hussain to fight Iran. For the rise of Saddam Hussain it is only the US that is responsible. For the rise of terrorism in Pakistan it is again, only the US which is responsible. For Pakistan to say that it can’t shift its troops from the Indian border, out of fear of an Indian attack is nonsense. It has been Pakistan and the US supported jehadis who have provoked India. India has no intention to wage a war against Pakistan. It has better things to do. And who is responsible for Pakistan’s accumulation of nuclear weapons? Is it India?
For years, the US turned a blind eye while A Q Khan merrily went about building the nuclear infrastructure for all to see. Washington refused to see it since it didn’t serve US interests to do so. Mr Obama should be warned, to keep his hands off India whether on the Jammu & Kashmir or NPT issue. It was the US which helped build up al Qaeda and the Taliban. It was the US which deserted Afghanistan after the Russians quit the scene. It was the US which has been responsible for creating, training and financing terrorism. India was never involved in all these sinister activities. Pakistan was and so remains to this day. If Pakistan claims that its tension is due to Kashmir, it is time the US told its chamcha that its claims are untenable and are best forgotten.
The days of Eisenhower-Dulles, Nixon-Kissinger are over. If we now have to face another anti-India Obama-Clinton duo, India can face it. But let Obama remember that India is not a nation to be trifled with. Involved is India’s self-respect –a point that the Blackwills and the Gottemoellers will do well to remember. Signing the NPT would be tantamount to India giving up its nuclear weapons. India’s hands are clean and they will remain clean. And under no circumstances should it be bracketed with Pakistan and Israel.
India was not responsible for starting the war in Vietnam. The US dropped more bombs on that small poverty-ridden state than were dropped by all the nations involved in the Second World war on each other—and no questions were ever raised. Even on the Iraq issue, it was the US which first supported Saddam Hussain to fight Iran. For the rise of Saddam Hussain it is only the US that is responsible.
If Mr Robert Blackwill, former US Ambassador to India (2000-2003) is to be believed, India may encounter eventual US pressure on Kashmir issue because of Barack Obama’s focus on Pakistan. Furthermore, according to him “there are preliminary indications that the Obama administration has a different policy orientation towards India, especially vis-à-vis China. It is time Obama is told that India has had enough of bullying by the US and if he wants to make it hard for India, he is free to do so. India has survived bullying by John Foster Dulles and his gang and it can stand bullying by Obama. But first he must be told of India’s stand in as clear words as possible.
India has been more sinned against than sinning. India did not take Jammu & Kashmir by force. The state became part of India legally, strictly according to prevailing rules of the right of the Maharaja to accede to India. And this further had the support of the people, then led by Sheikh Abdullah. It was Pakistan that attacked Jammu & Kashmir and not India. It is true that India foolishly, it now turns out, took the Kashmir issue to the Security Council for justice. But from that day onwards, the US has proved to be unfriendly towards Delhi. Apart from the legality of the issue, India as a secular state had every right to assert itself following Kashmir’s accession. India has never believed in the two-nation theory and it never will. That the two-nation theory was bogus to begin with has subsequently proved to be correct when the Bangladeshis separated themselves from Pakistan to form their own state.
For the rampant communalism and propagation of Pakistani hatred towards India, it is the US which is squarely responsible. Barack Obama has better understand that. The US for its own Cold War purposes recklessly armed Pakistan which, in turn used those arms against India in three wars all of which it lost. India did not start the wars. It was Pakistan, with discreet US help, which did. When President Eisenhower said that arms supplied to Pakistan will not be used against India, it was to provoke V K Krishna Menon, then leader of the Indian delegation to the United Nations to reply that the world had yet to manufacture guns that could shoot in only one direction.
When India was forced by sheer necessity to help the Bengali rebels in 1962, it was US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who sought to persuade China to attack India, India has not forgotten that. Who is presently pushing jehadis into Jammu & Kashmir? It is Pakistan and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) which for years has been patronised by the US that never took the trouble to stop its sinister activities. And who are the jehadis, the Taliban and the al-Qaedists? They are the very ones who were recklessly financed and trained at US cost by the Pakistan Army.
India has every reason to be angry and frustrated with the US. It has suffered enough at the hands of Washington and if it wants to continue this exercise, so be it. President Obama can’t be any worse than President Ronald Reagan who treated India like a beggar nation and humiliated it by agreeing to provide food aid on a ship-to-mouth basis. And certainly he can’t be worse than Richard Nixon who abused Indira Gandhi. India does not want to be hyphenated with Pakistan, a terrorist country that has constantly sought with US patronage to knife India in the back. India has withstood it for sixty years and can withstand it for another sixty, presuming that Pakistan will survive till then, which is doubtful. India has no reason to be apologetic. It has consistently refused to play second fiddle to US interests and it will continue to do so. But now we have Rose Gottemoeller, US Assistant Secretary of State who has been quoted as saying that India must sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. India has never been guilty of proliferation as Pakistan has been and which has gone unpunished.
India does not consider itself to be in any way inferior to Britain and France and wants to be treated on an equal basis. India has not used any nuclear weapons against any nation, as the US has. India should demand equality with the Big Five. Since when has Barack Obama become racist? India cannot suffer being treated as a second class nation. The US is now looking up to China because it has become indebted to it. China had made good use of duty free supply of cheap goods to the US to earn its trillions. No wonder Obama now wants to change his approach towards China. It is bad politics, but that has been the feature of US foreign policy for years, which has brought it to its present stage of desperation.
India was not responsible for starting the war in Vietnam. The US dropped more bombs on that small poverty-ridden state than were dropped by all the nations involved in the Second World War on each other—and no questions were ever raised. Even on the Iraq issue, it was the US which first supported Saddam Hussain to fight Iran. For the rise of Saddam Hussain it is only the US that is responsible. For the rise of terrorism in Pakistan it is again, only the US which is responsible. For Pakistan to say that it can’t shift its troops from the Indian border, out of fear of an Indian attack is nonsense. It has been Pakistan and the US supported jehadis who have provoked India. India has no intention to wage a war against Pakistan. It has better things to do. And who is responsible for Pakistan’s accumulation of nuclear weapons? Is it India?
For years, the US turned a blind eye while A Q Khan merrily went about building the nuclear infrastructure for all to see. Washington refused to see it since it didn’t serve US interests to do so. Mr Obama should be warned, to keep his hands off India whether on the Jammu & Kashmir or NPT issue. It was the US which helped build up al Qaeda and the Taliban. It was the US which deserted Afghanistan after the Russians quit the scene. It was the US which has been responsible for creating, training and financing terrorism. India was never involved in all these sinister activities. Pakistan was and so remains to this day. If Pakistan claims that its tension is due to Kashmir, it is time the US told its chamcha that its claims are untenable and are best forgotten.
The days of Eisenhower-Dulles, Nixon-Kissinger are over. If we now have to face another anti-India Obama-Clinton duo, India can face it. But let Obama remember that India is not a nation to be trifled with. Involved is India’s self-respect –a point that the Blackwills and the Gottemoellers will do well to remember. Signing the NPT would be tantamount to India giving up its nuclear weapons. India’s hands are clean and they will remain clean. And under no circumstances should it be bracketed with Pakistan and Israel.
The grandeur of Harshacharita
By Ratnadeep Banerji
There is no sentence, no phrase in Harshacharita or Kadambari that doesn't resound of poetic expression. It reflects the social history prevalent then.
The pithy Banocchistam Jagat Sarvam lauds that there is nothing on this earth that has not felt the touch of Bana’s facile pen. He remains unrivalled for his prolific imagination and extensive experience leaving aside none untouched by the effulgence of his genius. There is no sentence, no phrase in his Harshacharita or Kadambari that doesn’t resound of poetic expression. Poetic expressions constitute the riti or saili that is the style, alankars (embellishments) and dhvani (suggestion), all tending to promote sthayi-bhava that is a dominant sentiment yielding aesthetic pleasure called rasa. The narrations in Harshacharita appeal to literary and aesthetic taste buds with the ‘rasas’ holding out a delectable mélange of the heroic, the furious, the pathetic and the wonderful. This necessitated varied sources of his knowledge to reckon him a veritable polymath.
Harshacharita
The protagonist is his contemporary benefactor-monarch. Bana as an epic bard performs adept akhyayika splicing history and hard facts with poetic fervour. The stilted language is exalted without an iota of comical tinge as his depiction of high life runs dry. Also, certain historical facts stand groggy of being literary platitude, customary of court poets. Bana does not fit as a modern-historian. He sloshes figment of mythopoeic imagination to be proven an epic panegyrist. The career of Harsha at every stage has been equated with some legendary exploit of gods, prevalent in our mythology. Harsha stands an insignia of all the ancient gods. This bardic tradition of eulogising the king was followed in the repertory of court bards that later got apellated as the Bhargava tradition. Bana uses hyperboles profusely to cast this effect—“Beyond the ken of the omniscient, beyond the reach of the Goddess of speech, beyond the strength of the Goddess of eloquence, is Harsha.” The historical veracity has often to be skimmed from epigraphs. At times Bana plays down to evade a hard fact to praise his benefactor, Harsha.
In the projection and development of the various rasas, Bana remains astounding. His depiction of the sentiment of sringara (love) and portrayal of vira (heroism) and karuna (pathos) is potent. An analytic picture immerges out to enthuse its readers.
Raining affection on the land
With many a mate benign,
Season like do kings arise
As a people’s fortune sign.
Who isn’t eager to assist the good
Or to meet the wealth Goddess?
Or to fly in the sky’s vastness,
Or to listen to a hero’s deeds?
Prabhakaravardhana was King Harsha’s father. His tragic death is described by Bana in the most poignant way that, “In the whole range of Sanskrit literature, such tender and delicate description of death is perhaps not to be found” says K Krishnamoorthy. It was not customary for poets and playwrights to dwell upon death straightaway. Bana goes on further to describe the sati of Yashomati, in keeping up the tradition of virapatni. K Krishnamoorthy says, “Bana has broken new ground in the depiction of these tender and touching scenes. His diction too sheds its usual flamboyance here and runs like a murmuring brook with simple, but sweet rhythms. It is in such passages that the masterly genius of Bana captivates even the modern reader. Grief stricken, Harsha pleads her mother to refrain from committing sati. But in vain. Yashomati explicates to her son the sanctity of performing sati to uphold her own chastity and legacy. Again at this point Bana exudes his rhetorical prowess to acclaim this particular concourse as one of the finest one in classical Sanskrit. However, Bana himself repudiates sati in Kadambari calling the urge to attain the heaven to be dubious. However in Harshacharita, for the sake of history he relates sati in a glorifying way.
In one of the chapters Bana corroborates instances of twenty-eight kings who befell on account of treachery meted out by devious enemies. In the annals of Indian literature nowhere does such a comprehensive account is found berating the indiscretion and treason of enemies. Chapter four of the book carries an elaborate description of a wedding ceremony. This picture of a royal wedding bears a close semblance with the existent wedding in present India. Certain portion of Harshacharita remains identical with Subandhu’s Vasavadatta perhaps hinting at plagiarism by Subandhu.
Harshacharita reflects the social history prevalent then. The bedrock of his epic effusion grew upon a contemporary society whose tapestry is resplendent throughout Harshacharita. A candid descript of people like their profession, habits and customs, dresses and ornaments, beliefs, ideals and superstitions, emotions and amusements emerge out. Courtly life in the city, the trooping in the army camp, the serene and placid life in the riparian hamlet and as well as hermitage all have a clairvoyant depiction in the Bana’s epic. The women took up education in music, dancing and several other arts and were accorded a commendable berth in the society. The people were virtuous, God-fearing and pious observing all religious festivals. There was peace and prosperity en core the society. The people were content with their simple vocations. Every trade and profession were given their due cognisance without any disparity. All the provinces of India remained in perfect entente proclaiming a single nation that beget from a common culture. The arts and sciences excelled with medicine and astronomy daunted upon its triumphs. A veritable Golden Age prevailed upon.
Bana set a precedence of raconteurs writing on historical patrons in the epic mode. In sync, Vakpatiraja and Bilhana eulogised their patron kings, Yashoverma and Vikramaditya the sixth. Later, authors like Varahamihira and Vishakhadatta took the cue from this Indian bardic tradition to herald the process. All critics are equivocal to maintain, “the great merit of Harshacharita consists in the fact that it is a very early attempt at a historical romance.”
“To the vowed hero the earth is a courtyard pedestal, the ocean a dyke,
Hell is dry land and mount Meru an ant-hill!”
There is no sentence, no phrase in Harshacharita or Kadambari that doesn't resound of poetic expression. It reflects the social history prevalent then.
The pithy Banocchistam Jagat Sarvam lauds that there is nothing on this earth that has not felt the touch of Bana’s facile pen. He remains unrivalled for his prolific imagination and extensive experience leaving aside none untouched by the effulgence of his genius. There is no sentence, no phrase in his Harshacharita or Kadambari that doesn’t resound of poetic expression. Poetic expressions constitute the riti or saili that is the style, alankars (embellishments) and dhvani (suggestion), all tending to promote sthayi-bhava that is a dominant sentiment yielding aesthetic pleasure called rasa. The narrations in Harshacharita appeal to literary and aesthetic taste buds with the ‘rasas’ holding out a delectable mélange of the heroic, the furious, the pathetic and the wonderful. This necessitated varied sources of his knowledge to reckon him a veritable polymath.
Harshacharita
The protagonist is his contemporary benefactor-monarch. Bana as an epic bard performs adept akhyayika splicing history and hard facts with poetic fervour. The stilted language is exalted without an iota of comical tinge as his depiction of high life runs dry. Also, certain historical facts stand groggy of being literary platitude, customary of court poets. Bana does not fit as a modern-historian. He sloshes figment of mythopoeic imagination to be proven an epic panegyrist. The career of Harsha at every stage has been equated with some legendary exploit of gods, prevalent in our mythology. Harsha stands an insignia of all the ancient gods. This bardic tradition of eulogising the king was followed in the repertory of court bards that later got apellated as the Bhargava tradition. Bana uses hyperboles profusely to cast this effect—“Beyond the ken of the omniscient, beyond the reach of the Goddess of speech, beyond the strength of the Goddess of eloquence, is Harsha.” The historical veracity has often to be skimmed from epigraphs. At times Bana plays down to evade a hard fact to praise his benefactor, Harsha.
In the projection and development of the various rasas, Bana remains astounding. His depiction of the sentiment of sringara (love) and portrayal of vira (heroism) and karuna (pathos) is potent. An analytic picture immerges out to enthuse its readers.
Raining affection on the land
With many a mate benign,
Season like do kings arise
As a people’s fortune sign.
Who isn’t eager to assist the good
Or to meet the wealth Goddess?
Or to fly in the sky’s vastness,
Or to listen to a hero’s deeds?
Prabhakaravardhana was King Harsha’s father. His tragic death is described by Bana in the most poignant way that, “In the whole range of Sanskrit literature, such tender and delicate description of death is perhaps not to be found” says K Krishnamoorthy. It was not customary for poets and playwrights to dwell upon death straightaway. Bana goes on further to describe the sati of Yashomati, in keeping up the tradition of virapatni. K Krishnamoorthy says, “Bana has broken new ground in the depiction of these tender and touching scenes. His diction too sheds its usual flamboyance here and runs like a murmuring brook with simple, but sweet rhythms. It is in such passages that the masterly genius of Bana captivates even the modern reader. Grief stricken, Harsha pleads her mother to refrain from committing sati. But in vain. Yashomati explicates to her son the sanctity of performing sati to uphold her own chastity and legacy. Again at this point Bana exudes his rhetorical prowess to acclaim this particular concourse as one of the finest one in classical Sanskrit. However, Bana himself repudiates sati in Kadambari calling the urge to attain the heaven to be dubious. However in Harshacharita, for the sake of history he relates sati in a glorifying way.
In one of the chapters Bana corroborates instances of twenty-eight kings who befell on account of treachery meted out by devious enemies. In the annals of Indian literature nowhere does such a comprehensive account is found berating the indiscretion and treason of enemies. Chapter four of the book carries an elaborate description of a wedding ceremony. This picture of a royal wedding bears a close semblance with the existent wedding in present India. Certain portion of Harshacharita remains identical with Subandhu’s Vasavadatta perhaps hinting at plagiarism by Subandhu.
Harshacharita reflects the social history prevalent then. The bedrock of his epic effusion grew upon a contemporary society whose tapestry is resplendent throughout Harshacharita. A candid descript of people like their profession, habits and customs, dresses and ornaments, beliefs, ideals and superstitions, emotions and amusements emerge out. Courtly life in the city, the trooping in the army camp, the serene and placid life in the riparian hamlet and as well as hermitage all have a clairvoyant depiction in the Bana’s epic. The women took up education in music, dancing and several other arts and were accorded a commendable berth in the society. The people were virtuous, God-fearing and pious observing all religious festivals. There was peace and prosperity en core the society. The people were content with their simple vocations. Every trade and profession were given their due cognisance without any disparity. All the provinces of India remained in perfect entente proclaiming a single nation that beget from a common culture. The arts and sciences excelled with medicine and astronomy daunted upon its triumphs. A veritable Golden Age prevailed upon.
Bana set a precedence of raconteurs writing on historical patrons in the epic mode. In sync, Vakpatiraja and Bilhana eulogised their patron kings, Yashoverma and Vikramaditya the sixth. Later, authors like Varahamihira and Vishakhadatta took the cue from this Indian bardic tradition to herald the process. All critics are equivocal to maintain, “the great merit of Harshacharita consists in the fact that it is a very early attempt at a historical romance.”
“To the vowed hero the earth is a courtyard pedestal, the ocean a dyke,
Hell is dry land and mount Meru an ant-hill!”
Sunday, May 17, 2009
broken dreams
it's quite horrible when your nightmare comes true. The Congress clean sweep made more predictable that Indians (natives)are still so tolerant like our ancestors or maybe just too selfish. They forget the serial bomb blasts in our cities which still are unanswered, they forgot the 26 november mumbai carnage. I know you would think of me as war mongerer but this is reality. It took more than 500 people to die in the bomb blasts during Congress reign for them to realise stricter laws against terrorists.
Well I hope that things would be better now because of strict laws against terrorism, I still believe that NDA was a better alternative but Hindus are too selfish, we don't see others pain.
Fair enough but only great silver lining coming out of these elections is that the Left (communists) are shattered but not fully dismantled, although they're quite down. I wonder how the Chinese will feel about this issue.
Well I hope that things would be better now because of strict laws against terrorism, I still believe that NDA was a better alternative but Hindus are too selfish, we don't see others pain.
Fair enough but only great silver lining coming out of these elections is that the Left (communists) are shattered but not fully dismantled, although they're quite down. I wonder how the Chinese will feel about this issue.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Tiananmen survivor recalls Communist terror
By Audra Ang
The demonstrations at Tiananmen Square began when students put-up posters praising deposed chief Hu Yaobang and indirectly criticising the hardliners who forced his resignation. Thousands marched in Beijing and Shanghai shouting, “Long live Hu Yaobang! Long live democracy!”
Within days, tens of thousands of students surged past police lines and filled Tiananmen Square. The protests soon spread to other cities.
In mid-May of 1989 students began a hunger strike at Tiananmen, forcing the Government to move a welcoming ceremony for visiting Soviet President Mikhail S Gorbachev to the airport.
On the afternoon of 3-6-89, Qi Zhiyong saw two male students carrying an injured female student, who screamed in pain. People on bicycles delivered messages to the demonstrators about tanks and armoured carriers moving toward the square.
Around 11 pm, Qi says, he followed his co-workers back to Tiananmen to see the 33-foot-tall ‘Goddess of Democracy,’ a Statue of Liberty lookalike unveiled days before by the protesters.
“I realised there were soldiers all around, with rifles, helmets and dark glasses,” Qi says. “I was frightened because I had seen such scenes only on TV, in movies about German fascists.”
The tanks were moving down the Avenue of Eternal Peace, Beijing’s main thoroughfare, flattening guard rails “like they were noodles,” he says. Qi ran through a warren of alleyways near the square, trying to find somewhere to hide. Riot police wearing helmets and boots and carrying shields as tall as a man marched in groups.
Near the Zhongnanhai compound, where China’s leaders live and work, he saw squads of soldiers standing guard. In a macabre dance, the unarmed men in the front row crouched, the ones in the back fired their rifles and the front row popped back up.
A truck covered with canvas came into view. Soldiers, their sweat-soaked uniforms a deep green, jumped off the truck and advanced three in a row. People fled in terror down an alleyway.
“The next thing I saw was people falling one after another. Then I fell,” Qi says, grimacing as he recalled the dizziness and pain of being shot. “Help me!” he shouted.
A passer-by bound Qi’s wound with his white shirt while a woman broke the wooden door off her home for use as a stretcher.
Qi finally was put onto a small bus going to the Xuanwu hospital, which he reached five hours after he was shot.
The demonstrations at Tiananmen Square began when students put-up posters praising deposed chief Hu Yaobang and indirectly criticising the hardliners who forced his resignation. Thousands marched in Beijing and Shanghai shouting, “Long live Hu Yaobang! Long live democracy!”
Within days, tens of thousands of students surged past police lines and filled Tiananmen Square. The protests soon spread to other cities.
In mid-May of 1989 students began a hunger strike at Tiananmen, forcing the Government to move a welcoming ceremony for visiting Soviet President Mikhail S Gorbachev to the airport.
On the afternoon of 3-6-89, Qi Zhiyong saw two male students carrying an injured female student, who screamed in pain. People on bicycles delivered messages to the demonstrators about tanks and armoured carriers moving toward the square.
Around 11 pm, Qi says, he followed his co-workers back to Tiananmen to see the 33-foot-tall ‘Goddess of Democracy,’ a Statue of Liberty lookalike unveiled days before by the protesters.
“I realised there were soldiers all around, with rifles, helmets and dark glasses,” Qi says. “I was frightened because I had seen such scenes only on TV, in movies about German fascists.”
The tanks were moving down the Avenue of Eternal Peace, Beijing’s main thoroughfare, flattening guard rails “like they were noodles,” he says. Qi ran through a warren of alleyways near the square, trying to find somewhere to hide. Riot police wearing helmets and boots and carrying shields as tall as a man marched in groups.
Near the Zhongnanhai compound, where China’s leaders live and work, he saw squads of soldiers standing guard. In a macabre dance, the unarmed men in the front row crouched, the ones in the back fired their rifles and the front row popped back up.
A truck covered with canvas came into view. Soldiers, their sweat-soaked uniforms a deep green, jumped off the truck and advanced three in a row. People fled in terror down an alleyway.
“The next thing I saw was people falling one after another. Then I fell,” Qi says, grimacing as he recalled the dizziness and pain of being shot. “Help me!” he shouted.
A passer-by bound Qi’s wound with his white shirt while a woman broke the wooden door off her home for use as a stretcher.
Qi finally was put onto a small bus going to the Xuanwu hospital, which he reached five hours after he was shot.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The birth of Kauravas
By Manju Gupta
Gandhari, daughter of King Subala of Gandhara, was a kind and generous woman. The king decided to get his daughter married to Dhritarashtra, the king of Hastinapur.
After their marriage, when Gandhari discovered that her husband was blind, she decided to blindfold her eyes for the rest of her life as she no longer wanted to see the world that her husband could not see. One day, in the middle of the night, Gandhari woke up with a start after seeing a horrific dream in which she saw herself giving birth to a son who destroys the entire human race. The dream troubled her for a number of days.
Weeks later, Sage Vyasa visited King Dhritarashtra’s palace. Gandhari held the sage in high esteem and attended to all his needs. The sage was so pleased with her hospitality and devotion that he said to her, “You have overwhelmed me with your attention and devotion. I would like to give you something; ask and it will be yours.”
Gandhari replied that she did not want anything. But when the sage persisted, she replied, “Bless me with hundred sons!”
The sage blessed her duly and departed towards his hermitage.
Days passed and when Gandhari became pregnant, there was rejoicing all over the kingdom. In her ninth month of pregnancy when no child was born, not only Gandhari, even the others became greatly worried. This way two years passed till the day came when Gandhari gave birth to a lump of flesh. On seeing it, she cried out, “What wrong had I done to give birth to this piece of flesh?”
Sage Vyasa came to visit Dhritarashtra to congratulate him but when he came to know of what had happened, he took the lump of flesh from Gandhari’s hand and divided it into 101 pieces before placing them in a jar each. Time passed and when it was nine months, the flesh became a baby boy. That night the wind blew fiercely, the jackals howled and the dogs barked with fear. People began to say, “The birth of this boy is a bad omen. He should be left in the forest to die.”
Dhritarasthra, however, did not agree and brought his son home before naming him Duryodhana. Strange as it may seem, a month later, 99 other sons were born in the jars. Only one piece was left which became a girl child. She was named Dushala and was Gandhari’s only daughter among her 100 sons. Sage Vyasa held the belief that all women should give birth to one daughter at least.
It was these 100 sons of Duryodhana who grew up to become the famous or ill-famed Kauravas of the Mahabharata.
Gandhari, daughter of King Subala of Gandhara, was a kind and generous woman. The king decided to get his daughter married to Dhritarashtra, the king of Hastinapur.
After their marriage, when Gandhari discovered that her husband was blind, she decided to blindfold her eyes for the rest of her life as she no longer wanted to see the world that her husband could not see. One day, in the middle of the night, Gandhari woke up with a start after seeing a horrific dream in which she saw herself giving birth to a son who destroys the entire human race. The dream troubled her for a number of days.
Weeks later, Sage Vyasa visited King Dhritarashtra’s palace. Gandhari held the sage in high esteem and attended to all his needs. The sage was so pleased with her hospitality and devotion that he said to her, “You have overwhelmed me with your attention and devotion. I would like to give you something; ask and it will be yours.”
Gandhari replied that she did not want anything. But when the sage persisted, she replied, “Bless me with hundred sons!”
The sage blessed her duly and departed towards his hermitage.
Days passed and when Gandhari became pregnant, there was rejoicing all over the kingdom. In her ninth month of pregnancy when no child was born, not only Gandhari, even the others became greatly worried. This way two years passed till the day came when Gandhari gave birth to a lump of flesh. On seeing it, she cried out, “What wrong had I done to give birth to this piece of flesh?”
Sage Vyasa came to visit Dhritarashtra to congratulate him but when he came to know of what had happened, he took the lump of flesh from Gandhari’s hand and divided it into 101 pieces before placing them in a jar each. Time passed and when it was nine months, the flesh became a baby boy. That night the wind blew fiercely, the jackals howled and the dogs barked with fear. People began to say, “The birth of this boy is a bad omen. He should be left in the forest to die.”
Dhritarasthra, however, did not agree and brought his son home before naming him Duryodhana. Strange as it may seem, a month later, 99 other sons were born in the jars. Only one piece was left which became a girl child. She was named Dushala and was Gandhari’s only daughter among her 100 sons. Sage Vyasa held the belief that all women should give birth to one daughter at least.
It was these 100 sons of Duryodhana who grew up to become the famous or ill-famed Kauravas of the Mahabharata.
The reconstruction of Nalanda
By MSN Menon
Give me Light! Give me Enlightenment! Such has been and is the daily prayer of the Hindus from Vedic times. The fire of knowledge, assures Krishna in the Gita, “turns all karma into ashes.”
From the chanting of the Gayatri to the creation of Gurukulas (Krishna had his education in a Gurukul), from Gurukulas to the universities to Taxila and Nalanda, it has been a glorious march (Jnana Marga) of the Hindus in search of salvation.
Men are of two kinds: the active (Europeans) and the contemplative(Hindus). The former took to karma yoga and the latter to Janna yoga. Which explains why the Hindu civilisation is the richest and greatest of all. The Hindus were naturally known for their Sattwa guna and the Europeans for their rajo guna. Jnana marga and jnana dana came to be closely associated with the Hindus alone.
This explains how the Nalanda university came by its name, for “Nalam” means knowledge “da” means to give dana, Nalanda was the greatest giver of knowledge for either longer centuries till it was destroyed by the Muslim invaders. Jnana dana was considered greater than Anna dana by Hindus. This tradition of the Hindus is reflected in every aspect of Hindus civilisation.
Takshashila (Taxila) was perhaps the first university to be built in India. It was mainly devoted to Sanskrit studies. Alexander, the Great, is reported to have met with some of the teachers to Taxila. (They were called Gymnosophistes by the Greeks) And there was Kanchi in the South and Kashi in the North as major centres of learning.
Nalanda was built around 427 AD. It began as a Buddhist University, but came to be an international university. The Guptas made a major contribution to its expansion. And emperor Harsha added many faculties to the university. With 10,000 students, 2000 teachers and many thousands of Buddhist monks in the viharas, Nalanda attracted students and teachers from all over the world and from India.
The university was indeed an architectural wonder with temples, open spaces for recreation, meditation halls, class rooms, lakes, parks, a multi-story library with tens of thousands of manuscripts in Sanskrit and Pali, dormitories for students, etc. Apart from Buddhist studies, Nalanda taught comparative religions, astronomy, fine arts, mathematics, medicine and art of war.
By the 9th century, Buddhism was in decline. Nalanda came under attack by Muslim invaders. In 1197 AD, the Khilji commander Bhaktiyar destroyed the Nalanda University.
Learning was suspect in both Christianity and Islam. For a thousand years Europe lived in mental darkness. And Islam is still living in darkness. While the Christians destroyed the best library of Europe, the Muslims destroyed the Library and Museum of Alexandria. Like the Alexandrian Library, Nalanda burnt for months.
For 800 years, the Hindus were not allowed to pursue the jnana marga. Nehru laments in Discovery of India: in 800 years of Muslim rule, they did not build even one college! And had it not been for the law passed by Lord Curzon to protect the great Indian monuments, Nalanda would have been a mere name in Indian history.
Independent India restored the Somnath Temple. Thanks to Dr K M Munshi, a Gujarati. But no Bihari came up with the idea of restoring the Nalanda! Perhaps the idea came first from George Fernandes. In any case, he was the one to approach UNESCO in 1990 for financial assistance. In the event, it is largely financed by Japan.
India needs a world class university like Oxford of Harvard. More so, because the world expects India to provide moral leadership to the world. Nalanda can be the conscience of India, the symbol of our commitment to freedom of thought.
The fear is: Nalanda will end up like Viswabharathi unless it is in the hands of committed men. We are not restoring Nalanda to produce MBAs. Unfortunately, the Mentor Group which is looking after the restoration fails to carry conviction. A Amartya Sen, one of the Group, is not Tagore!
The Mentor Group was right in one thing: they declared that the restoration of Nalanda is part of the Asian renaissance. That is exactly what it is. An Asian renaissance—to be precise, an Asian awakening—is necessary to prepare Asia for a leadership role in the world.
Give me Light! Give me Enlightenment! Such has been and is the daily prayer of the Hindus from Vedic times. The fire of knowledge, assures Krishna in the Gita, “turns all karma into ashes.”
From the chanting of the Gayatri to the creation of Gurukulas (Krishna had his education in a Gurukul), from Gurukulas to the universities to Taxila and Nalanda, it has been a glorious march (Jnana Marga) of the Hindus in search of salvation.
Men are of two kinds: the active (Europeans) and the contemplative(Hindus). The former took to karma yoga and the latter to Janna yoga. Which explains why the Hindu civilisation is the richest and greatest of all. The Hindus were naturally known for their Sattwa guna and the Europeans for their rajo guna. Jnana marga and jnana dana came to be closely associated with the Hindus alone.
This explains how the Nalanda university came by its name, for “Nalam” means knowledge “da” means to give dana, Nalanda was the greatest giver of knowledge for either longer centuries till it was destroyed by the Muslim invaders. Jnana dana was considered greater than Anna dana by Hindus. This tradition of the Hindus is reflected in every aspect of Hindus civilisation.
Takshashila (Taxila) was perhaps the first university to be built in India. It was mainly devoted to Sanskrit studies. Alexander, the Great, is reported to have met with some of the teachers to Taxila. (They were called Gymnosophistes by the Greeks) And there was Kanchi in the South and Kashi in the North as major centres of learning.
Nalanda was built around 427 AD. It began as a Buddhist University, but came to be an international university. The Guptas made a major contribution to its expansion. And emperor Harsha added many faculties to the university. With 10,000 students, 2000 teachers and many thousands of Buddhist monks in the viharas, Nalanda attracted students and teachers from all over the world and from India.
The university was indeed an architectural wonder with temples, open spaces for recreation, meditation halls, class rooms, lakes, parks, a multi-story library with tens of thousands of manuscripts in Sanskrit and Pali, dormitories for students, etc. Apart from Buddhist studies, Nalanda taught comparative religions, astronomy, fine arts, mathematics, medicine and art of war.
By the 9th century, Buddhism was in decline. Nalanda came under attack by Muslim invaders. In 1197 AD, the Khilji commander Bhaktiyar destroyed the Nalanda University.
Learning was suspect in both Christianity and Islam. For a thousand years Europe lived in mental darkness. And Islam is still living in darkness. While the Christians destroyed the best library of Europe, the Muslims destroyed the Library and Museum of Alexandria. Like the Alexandrian Library, Nalanda burnt for months.
For 800 years, the Hindus were not allowed to pursue the jnana marga. Nehru laments in Discovery of India: in 800 years of Muslim rule, they did not build even one college! And had it not been for the law passed by Lord Curzon to protect the great Indian monuments, Nalanda would have been a mere name in Indian history.
Independent India restored the Somnath Temple. Thanks to Dr K M Munshi, a Gujarati. But no Bihari came up with the idea of restoring the Nalanda! Perhaps the idea came first from George Fernandes. In any case, he was the one to approach UNESCO in 1990 for financial assistance. In the event, it is largely financed by Japan.
India needs a world class university like Oxford of Harvard. More so, because the world expects India to provide moral leadership to the world. Nalanda can be the conscience of India, the symbol of our commitment to freedom of thought.
The fear is: Nalanda will end up like Viswabharathi unless it is in the hands of committed men. We are not restoring Nalanda to produce MBAs. Unfortunately, the Mentor Group which is looking after the restoration fails to carry conviction. A Amartya Sen, one of the Group, is not Tagore!
The Mentor Group was right in one thing: they declared that the restoration of Nalanda is part of the Asian renaissance. That is exactly what it is. An Asian renaissance—to be precise, an Asian awakening—is necessary to prepare Asia for a leadership role in the world.
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