h o m e

g l i m p s e s    x  x i

c o n t e n t s

A Glorious Hindu Legacy: Indic influence in Southeast Asia.

Hinduism in Nepal

India's immediate neighbors Nepal and Tibet, owe much of their cultural inheritance to contact with India. Originally the word Nepal implied the Valley, which, surrounded by the peaks of the Himalayas. The holy scriptures of the Hindu religion like the Vedas, Brahmangranthas and Upanishads are the common heritage of the Nepalese and Indians. 

The Pashupatinath Temple

Skanda Puran the ancient holy text of the Hindu religion, describes the fame of Nepal as -

"in the Himalayas there is a most auspicious blessed place, where Shanker (the giver of joy) in the form of Pashupatinath resides."

All ancient Hindu religious text has described Himalayas as the abode and activity of Lord Shiva in which Nepal remained the nucleus.

To the west coast of river Bagmati, which arises from a sprout in the Himalayas, is the revered seat of Lord Pashupatinath.

It is said that a holy bath in the Bagmati river at this spot, praying with hymns of 'Rudri Mantra', followed by worshipping Pashupatinath Lingum with Panchamrita - curd, ghee (purified butter) sugar, honey and milk, will render the person free from the cycle of births. So is the magnanimity of Lord Pashupatinath in the minds of Hindus the world over.

The rulers of Nepal, over centuries made contributions in enriching and beautifying this holy temple.  According to Gopalraj Vamsavali, the oldest ever chronicle in Nepal, this temple was built by Supus Padeva, a Linchchhavi King who according to the stone inscription erected by Jayadeva 11 in the courtyard of Pashupatinath in 753 AD happened to be the ruler 39 generation before Manadeva (464-505 AD).  Yet, there is another chronicle which states that this temple was in the form of Linga shaped Devalaya before Supus Padeva constructed a five storey temple of Pashupatinath in this place.  As the time passed, the need for reparing and renovating this temple arose.  It is learnt that this temple was reconsturcted by a mediaeval King named Shivadeva (1099-1126 AD).  It was renovated by Ananta Malla adding a roof to it.

(source: shripashupatinath.org). 

Refer to Constant and Changing Faces of the Goddess: Goddess Traditions of Asia - By Deepak Shimkhada and Phyllis K. Herman

Sleeping Narayana from Budha Nilakantha, Nepal, circa 8th century. stone more than life size.

Lord Vishnu reclining on the coils of a cosmic serpent on the infinite ocean from which the world emerges. The Lord is shown lying down on a thousand-headed snake named Shesha or Ananta Nag - Timeless or Ageless snake.

“This primal insight into the dreamlike nature of the world of appearances has an oddly contemporary resonance given the direction of modern scientific thought. Long before post-Newtonian physics “discovered” that matter is essentially energy in drag – E =MC2 – the sages had already intuited that the physical universe is an emanation of the omnipotent Force, which they call Shakti. 

photo courtesy: Dr. Deepak Shimkhada.

(image source: A Tribute to Hinduism: Thoughts and Wisdom spanning continents and time about India and her culture - By Sushama Londhe).

***

Ramayana In Nepal

The story of the Ramayana has played a great part in bringing about cultural unification. Among the Ramayanas in different Indian languages, we have in Nepali the Mero Rama and Nepali Adarsa Raghava Mahakavya. Thus we can understand how this sacred epic and the story of Ramachandra has affected the way of our thinking and life. We can understand and observe the development of Ramayana tradition in Nepali literature from the ancient period to the modern age. 

Being a sovereign Hindu Kingdom, Nepal has kept the Ramayana tradition.

  Sita is revered in Nepal because she is regarded a daughter of Nepal. Raja Janak, King of Mithila, had his captial near what is now Janakpur in Nepal. Therefore Janaki is worshipped annually during Dussera. Ramlila is also staged during Dussera, which is the most important Nepali festival held to celebrate Rama's victory.

Ravanaa abducting Sita and killing Jatayu in the Ramayana.

Sita is revered in Nepal because she is regarded a daughter of Nepal. Raja Janak, King of Mithila, had his captial near what is now Janakpur in Nepal. Therefore Janaki is worshipped annually during Dussera. 

The Nepalis are very attached to this great Epic. 

(image source: Paintings by Ravi Varma).

***

The Nepalis are very attached to this great epic. To a great extent, the society of modern Nepal follows the same tradition presented in the Ramayana. It is still held true that a son's duty is to obey his father unquestioningly and a brother's to honor his elder brother. The wife's duty is to her husband to whom she must be faithful. 

The character of Rama, Sita, and Laksmana and Bharata have a nobility and appeal that is universal. The Ramayana strengthens the faith in the omnipotence of God and serves as source of the ideals of even the simplest villager who has heard the tales of Ramayana from the lips of others.

(source The Ramayana Tradition in Asia - Written by Kamala Sankrityayan and Edited By V Raghavan p. 348 - 384).

It is a proven fact that Valmiki, the composer of renowned epic the Ramayana, saw the light of the world within Nepal at Balmikinagar in Bhisalotoan. 

Hindu Buddhist temple in Nepal

Nepal has never known religious conflict and persecutions, and even today Hinduism and Buddhism live together in complete harmony. 

Refer to Antiquity and Origin of the Term ‘Hindu’ - By Dr. Murlidhar H. Pahoja

***

Nepal has never known religious conflict and persecutions, and even today Hinduism and Buddhism live together in complete harmony. 

Nepalese sculpture and painting is in a style derived from the Pala art of Bihar and Bengal. Many of the laws of Nepal and its social organizations naturally reflect Hindu models, and the Nepalese language is very close to Sanskrit. But the Hindu civilization in Nepal has evolved a distinct character of its own, effected through a blending of its own traditions with those of Tibet.

Lord Gautam Buddha, the light of Asia, who was born in Lumbini in Nepal, trekked down to the plains in India in search of Enlightenment. 

(source: Chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi). 

Top of Page

Caves of Elephanta  - By Rev. John F Hurst

The first view of the vast cave-temples is a most pleasing surprise. The great portal bursts suddenly upon the eye. The vegetation, which is luxuriant as in Sri Lanka , crowds from the hills down to the edge of the temples. Shrubs and vines in great profusion hang over the entrance, and surround it on all sides with a rich and varied drapery. There is, first of all, the great façade to the main temple. It is supported by two immense pillars and two pilasters. These make three entrances to the temple. The great temple itself is one hundred and thirty feet long, and one hundred and twenty-eight feet broad. On either side there is a large chapel. The temple proper has immense supporting columns, twenty six in all, with sixteen pilasters. The temple, and even the columns and statues, are cut out of the solid native mass of porphyry.  

"Hindus build like Titans, and finish like jewelers.”  - wrote Bishop Reginald Heber.

***

A peculiarity of every part of the structure is the variety of the architecture. The columns vary in size, ornamentation, and separating distances. Even the height differs slightly, the distance from the ceiling to the roof ranging from 15 feet to 17 ½ feet. Some of pillars are fluted and others square, and many are surrounded by ornamental fillets. The capitals are overhung with graceful leaves. The pillars are connected by beams, which give unity to the whole interior.  

These immense spaces in the in the solid rock are the real wonder of the caves of Elephanta. The sculptures form remarkable reliefs upon the walls. All the figures are of colossal size. The day when they were hewn by many hands, in the remote times was one for great objects. Only the gigantic and preternatural were aimed at. The caves of Elephanta are tributes to the Hindu worship. The principle mural figure is of the three faced Trinity of the Hindu triad. It is only a bust and yet is nineteen feet high. The central face, with an exquisitely carved jewel on the breast, represents Vishnu as the creative principle.  

The caves at Karla  

The temple walls, and every part of their adorning sculpture, are hewn out of the stone mountain. Were there no pagan deities in stone, no reminders of any early worship, and were the country any other than India , one would take this wonderful structure for a superb cathedral. The only thing which is not of native rock is a wooden covering or ceiling. This has been the puzzle of all the toilers in Indian archaeology, and they seem today to be no nearer a solution of the difficulty than when they began. The entire immediate covering of the temple is of teak, a native wood, almost the only one which resists the white ant and every Indian insect. As you look up, and take in the whole nave, it reminds you at once of the inverted hull of a ship. 

Karla caves.

One thing is sure, that the idea of excavating the very mountains in order to erect beautiful temples is of very early origin, and that these cave-temples of India sprang into perfection at the very beginning of their history. 

***

The cross-timbers and the boards have that appearance, and yet the more one examines the whole of the wooden umbrella, and compares it with the rest of the temple, the more exact is its correspondence with the stone of which all the rest of the sacred building consists. The finishing of the wood-work is of the same style as that of the stone. As to the reason why the wood was put above this wonderful cave-temple, no one can answer. The ceiling was already of stone, and many a foot beneath the roots of the trees which waved on the mountain-top. Nothing could add to the massive and attractive character of the whole. It is not likely that this wooden carving was added later, long after the work was finished and the temple had been used. On the other hand, Thomas, Burgess, and Fergusson, the best researchers among the antiquities of India , began their interpretation of the Karla temple by supposing the wood to be a later addition. But after their examination, more closely conducted, they concluded it was put there at the time the temple was excavated from the mountainside.  

Karla caves.

"Few remains of antiquity have excited greater curiosity. The engineering skills involved in excavating the cave temples of western India suggested Egyptian involvement while their sculptural elegance was ascribed to Greek influence. Not till the 1830s was it acknowledged that they were in fact Indian.

(image source: India Discovered - By John Keay).

***

One thing is sure, that the idea of excavating the very mountains in order to erect beautiful temples is of very early origin, and that these cave-temples of India sprang into perfection at the very beginning of their history. In no part of the land is one to be found which betrays an apprenticeship.  

(source: Indika: The Country and the people of India and Ceylon - By Rev. John F Hurst  p. 153 - 168).

Top of Page

Indian Media's War on Hinduism

***

The Indian media: Its adverse role

There are many people in India who strongly feel that the so-called ‘secular’ print and electronic media, at least a dominant section among them, knowingly or unknowingly, is playing a very adverse and prejudiced role, when it comes to the reporting of the Hindu point of view. Suppressing or misrepresenting tactics are being liberally used along with admonitions and ridicules of the Hindus, ‘Hindutva’, and the Hindu Dharma. At the same time, this secular section appears to support the anti-Hindu forces in the country, which are active with their alien and subversive ideologies. In essence, it has come to mean that ‘secularism’ is nothing but opposition to Hindus, Hindustan , Hindutva and the Hindu Dharma. This is quite ridiculous in a country that is predominantly Hindu in its composition and character. This situation is agonizing to many and confusing to many more, since they would not get a true picture of what is going on in the country because of the prejudice of the media.

The reasons for the selective propaganda by Indian media could be: a) Many leading journalists and media barons are Christians or Christian sympathizers; b) They are educated and indoctrinated in Christian run institutes; c) The media companies in India are completely under control of western companies through cross holdings; d) The media is advertising driven and almost all leading ad companies in India are foreign subsidiaries of global ad companies. 

In the inimitable words of Sri V. Sundaram, IAS (Retd.), renowned columnist of Chennai, “all the mainline English Newspapers in India are deliberately Islam-embracing, Christianity-coveting, Hindu-hating and Hindu-baiting”. And, as revealed by Dr. Subramanian Swamy, “Academia, NGOs and mass media are the obvious instruments that are on the radar of anti-Hindu forces. Which and who are these forces that are shaping the anti-Hindu bias of the media? It is a coalition, not explicit but implicit, of Communist, Christian missionary, Islamic fanatics and other terrorist interests. Each of these interests has their own specific agenda. The anti-Hindu mentality of the English-dominated media in India is secured by the cozy nexus of media with academia and the English-speaking governing elite”.

“The Internet is full of anti-Hindu rubbish”, points out Swami Devananda Saraswati who is well known for his research on the ‘Myth of St. Thomas’.  "It is impossible to tackle head on and piece by piece by individuals. We must set up a legal association like the Jewish Defense League (DFL) in the United States , made up of Hindu lawyers. As soon as court cases start to be foisted on these missionaries, their conduct will change if not their attitude. But they have vast monetary resources behind them. Which Hindu moneybags would finance a Hindu legal team? Which Hindu lawyers (of which there are lakhs) would ever back a dedicated Hindu cause? At the root of our problem is the Hindu social and business elite class who could care less about their Dharma though they make huge donations to Balaji at Tirumala. We have to face this fact. We can do nothing until our own public intellectuals and rich socialites and industrialist class are behind us.”

Here is a case study wherein the ‘Sify.com’, a major online Indian media outlet is working with ‘World Vision’, an evangelical body openly indulging in unabashed proselytisation with huge funds at their disposal for this purpose [Rs 256 crores this year according to Home Ministry records]. Details about Sify.com’s partnership with the ‘World Vision’, patently a missionary agency, are online at: http://sify.com/news/antichildlabourday/  On this page, they are blatantly fundraising for them without informing the Indian public that they are missionaries. ‘World Vision’ also regularly advertises on Sify. It should be noted that the ‘World Vision’ has been implicated in induced conversions in Orissa and in Sri Lanka during the Tsunami. Look at a quote from the World Vision's website regarding their “noble” mission: “Wherever we work, our prayer is that our efforts will be used by God to heal and strengthen people's relationships with Him and with one another. We do this by demonstrating God's unconditional love for all people through our service to the poor — which includes providing for daily needs, working to build peace and promote justice, and partnering with churches and individuals to encourage spiritual transformation.”

Using Internet, ordinary individuals now have the same tools of potential exposure on a scale comparable to large media companies. Internet Media is the way to go.

Refer to The Great Joke that is Indian Media and Who controls the mainstream media in India ?

***

The Usurpation of Control of the Indian Media has been done by the Americans

India happens to be one of the very few major countries in the world whose dominant media is controlled directly or indirectly by foreigners. The usurpation of control has actually been by Americans, much of it through surrogates of evangelical organisations that are in fact quasi-government agencies. Paradoxically, Leftist Indian political parties supposedly hostile to a US presence in India have been subdued with alacrity by these quasi-state religious agencies, which have been operating effectively in other parts of the world as well.

In India, most English language media outlets, are, in effect, vying with each other to accelerate the fragmentation of India in consonance with Anglo-American goals.

Viceroys to India in the decade before independence, Linlithgow, Wavell and Mountbatten are destined to prove prescient about its innate fractiousness. The alleged oppression of minorities is the political bridgehead that modern evangelical organisations have entrenched in the public consciousness, relentlessly distorting its reality and using it ruthlessly to fuel discontent within India . By deliberately misrepresenting the Godhra communal riots as genocide, though both communities suffered, the media has gleefully incited Islamic terrorist attacks against Hindus and harsh international condemnation of India . As a corollary, the rise of the BJP inspired them to equate mundane nationalist aspirations with the oxymoron of Hindu extremism.

(source: Indian Media's War on Hinduism - By Swami Jyotirmayananda and The Usurpation of Control of the Indian Media has been done by the Americans - By Gautam Sen

Donate to worthy causes: California Textbook Case and IDRF

Top of Page

It is unfashionable to be a Hindu in India

Why is Hinduism the favorite whipping boy of liberals and seculars? 

***

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American Philosopher, Unitarian, social critic, transcendentalist and writer. It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who aroused in him a true enthusiasm for India. 

The Concord sage eloquently wrote:

"In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavat Geeta, since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial. " 

"I would say to the readers of the Scriptures, if they wish for a good book, read the Bhagvat-Geeta .... translated by Charles Wilkins. It deserves to be read with reverence even by Yankees...."Besides the Bhagvat-Geeta, our Shakespeare seems sometimes youthfully green..."

***

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German philosopher and writer. He was one of the greatest philosophers of the 19th century. He was the first Western philosopher to have access to translations of philosophical material from India, both Vedic and Buddhist, by which he was profoundly affected. Counted among his disciples are such thinkers as Nietzsche and Wittgenstein, as well as Sigmund Freud, who takes a large part of his psychological theory from the writings of Schopenhauer. 

"From every sentence (of the Upanishads) deep, original and sublime thoughts arise, and the whole is pervaded by a high and holy and earnest spirit...."In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. They are destined sooner or later to become the faith of the people." 

" It has been the solace of my life -- it will be the solace of my death."

***

The age-old value system of Indian consciousness revolves around the concepts of vasudhaiva kutumbakam (this world is one family) and ekama sat viprah bahudha vadanti (the universal reality is the same, but different people interpret it by different names). Why there are different yardsticks while dealing with religions? 

B R Ambedkar wrote:  

(source: Secular Politics Communal Agenda: A History of Politics in India from 1860 to 1953 - By Prof Makkhan Lal   p. 59).  Donate to worthy causes: California Textbook Case and IDRF.  Refer to The Indian Jews - By Jakob de Roover - outlookindia.com and Indian Realist

Inspired by The Mahabharata 

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (1940 -  ) French author and Nobel laureate for Literature says:

"The great Indian epic The Mahabharata has been a sustaining factor in my life — not so much philosophically but in seeking stories."

(source: Le Clézio inspired by The Mahabharata - tribuneindia.com).

Why is Hinduism the favorite whipping boy of liberals and seculars? 

For how long a nationalist is supposed to bend backwards to be considered liberal and tolerant?.

Media made me believe that Hindus, due to their majority status should be more tolerant of minorities. Any terrorist act is a handiwork of a few rotten apples, not the whole community and I agree with it wholeheartedly. Then there is a constant stream of intellectuals, liberals and self-important celebrities (Karan Thapar, Shabana Azmi, Arundhati Roy, Rajdeep Sardesai, Burkha Dutt, Sagrika Ghosh, Pranay Roy and others) who repeatedly bash Hinduism on points like casteism, lack of unity, superstition among others. I agree with them on these too. So called backward categories now enjoy almost 40 per cent reservations. It’s the sins of their forefathers that upper caste Hindus of current generation have to pay for now.  

Refer to The Most Loathsome people in India 2008

But why are there double standards when our intelligentsia talks about Muslims? In spite of so much violence based on Islam (in India only) how come they are always poor, under-represented, righteous minority who deserve to be protected from Hindu majority?

Let me explain here in case of Jammu and Kashmir:  

1) More than four lakh Kashmiri Pandits, living all over the Kashmir division, were driven out of their homeland of thousands of years after sustained violence that included rape, arson, killings and robberies at gun-point. A large number of them are still living in refugee camps in single room tin shacks or tents even after 20 years of their displacement.  

The Glory of Angkor Wat - Temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

'Secularism' is synonymous with 'anti-Hinduism' in India.

Cowards always Blame the Victims: Double Standards of Indian English Media - A constant stream of intellectuals, liberals and self-important celebrities (Karan Thapar, Shabana Azmi, Arundhati Roy, Rajdeep Sardesai, Burkha Dutt, Sagrika Ghosh, Pranay Roy and others) who repeatedly bash Hinduism but act cowardly when it comes to criticizing Islam and its holy Terror on innocent Indians. 

Will India minus the K-word" (Kashmir) or A-word (Arunachal Pradesh) or N-word (Nagaland) still be India ? No. India will not be India . India is much more than a mere geographical, sociological or philosophical idea in the minds of the English-speaking intelligentsia living in their gated communities. India is unlike any other nation, a nation so sharply divided and so diverse, culturally, racially and linguistically, that the only way the sufferings of millions of people can be mitigated, the only way natural and manmade disasters can be confronted and overcome is to keep India together ~ whatever it takes.

Watch video Hindus Under Siege and  India under attack and Congress : A Merchent of Death for Hindus in India / Delhi Blast  and  Secularism in India exposed

Refer to Deconstructing Arundhati Roy and her tribe - By Professor N D Batra - The Statesman 9/3/2008 and Secularism has degenerated as the backbone of terrorists & evangelists - By Dr Gautam Sen and The Indian Jews - By Jakob de Roover - outlookindia.com

Watch video - Intellectual Terrorism and Subversion in polity – By Radha Rajan and Indian Realist

Refer to What the Islamic Invaders Did to India – By  Rizwan Salim - islamwatch.org

***

Compare the news space that the sufferings of four lakh Hindu Pandits ges as compared to 3-4000 Muslims (more or less) of Gujarat.  

2) During the recent protests in J&K over the Amarnath land issue, dozens of Hindu pilgrims were attacked and beaten up by Muslim mobs in Kashmir. Three Sikh truck drivers from Jammu region were critically injured in different places there. Thirty buildings belonging to Hindus were burnt down in Poonch. There were grenade attacks on Hindu processions in Kishtwar. Hindus were attacked in Rajouri too.

3) How many Hindu temples are left in Kashmir now? Of a few temples buildings still intact, how many are still used as temples?  

4) Why Kashmiris are whining about azadi when J&K is one of the richest states in India, receives more aid than many of states combined, has a separate constitution, flag and article 370?  

Why don’t Kashmiris ask for Azadi of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) too?

5) Hindu extremists like VHP, Bajrang Dal etc are a nuisance at worst. All they do is raise annoying protests against imaginary insults to Hinduism like Valentine’s Day, some art etc. Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and related organisations on the other hand are accused of treason and terrorist acts all over India. Still there is a talk of lifting ban on SIMI and banning the VHP, Bajrang Dal.

I don’t have anything against any religious group. They are free to practice their religion, as long as they are reasonable, don’t force their ideology on others and respect sovereignty of the nation. Is it too much to ask for? For how long a nationalist who by chance happens to be a Hindu is supposed to bend backwards to be considered liberal and tolerant?

(source: It is unfashionable to be a Hindu - merinews.com).  Refer to Who are the British creationists?  - BBC

***

The  Self Loathing Leftists and Liberals of India

Modern India’s modern myths

The first of these myths is that India itself is a myth. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are myths that were written by men who lived in a place without geography or history. Sanskrit came from this same nebulous arena as did the Vedas and the mathematicians who invented the zero.

The idea of India did not exist until the British created it is the contention of India’s self-loathing ‘liberals’. In the words of a historian of recent celebrity, India is an ‘unnatural nation as well as an unlikely democracy’. He does not bother to explain what he means by ‘unnatural nation’ since the nation state itself did not exist till not very long ago. Long, long before that there was a country called Bharat whose borders were clearly defined and whose certainty continues to be perfectly understood by ordinary Indians across India.

When a pilgrim from Tamil Nadu or Karnataka sets off to attend the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, he does not think that he is travelling to a foreign country. When a family from Bengal travels to Banaras or Mathura to drop off some inconvenient widow in one of the ashrams, there they do not think they are travelling abroad either. The only people who have a problem defining India are liberal, English-speaking ‘secular intellectuals’ who usually don’t speak even a single Indian language. They understand no more about the idea of India than those intellectual refugees from the West who make India their home and become ‘experts’ on all things Indian. They belong to the same club because they all make a living out of writing books, histories and articles about this India that is so unnatural a nation, so accidental a country.

The second myth perpetrated by the self-loathers is that there is no such thing as Hindu India. 

There is a ‘composite’ culture that is Hindu and Muslim and that is that. Anyone who dares suggest that for many centuries before Islam came to our shores India was a Hindu country is instantly reviled as a rank ‘communalist’ of the Hindutva kind. It is important to note here that the self-loathing liberals have no problem describing a period of Indian history as Mughul and another period as British. The problem is ‘Hindu’ India because the premise that there was a country called Bharat that was entirely Hindu in ancient times is somehow offensive.

Modern India has given birth to modern myths. The most popular myth among ‘secular liberals’ in these times of Islamist terrorism is that the Indian state is so evil that the jihad is a valid response. You would not think that there could be an alliance between religious fanatics and those who believe they are intellectuals of liberal, left persuasion but in India there is. This bizarre alliance is so strong that Indian leftists have become the most ardent spokesmen (and women) of the Islamists. They find themselves in this extraordinary role because nothing motivates them more than their passionate loathing of India. May I suggest a cure. It is time for them to spend an extended holiday in Pakistan or Bangladesh to discover what countries in which history is myth are really like.

(source: Modern India’s modern myths - By Tavleen Singh - indianexpress.com).

Top of Page

The Hindu Rate Of Wrath

***

When the Mahatma's cowards erupt in fury, it hurts. It isn't terror.  

Is there such a thing as 'Hindu terrorism', as the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for the recent Malegaon blasts may tend to prove? Well, I guess I was asked to write this column because I am one of that rare breed of foreign correspondents-a lover of Hindus! 

A born Frenchman, Catholic-educated and non-Hindu, I do hope I'll be given some credit for my opinions, which are not the product of my parents' ideas, my education or my atavism, but garnered from 25 years of reporting in South Asia (for Le Journal de Geneve and Le Figaro). 

In the early 1980s, when I started freelancing in south India , doing photo features on Kalaripayattu, the Ayyappa festival, or the Ayyanars, I slowly realised that the genius of this country lies in its Hindu ethos, in the true spirituality behind Hinduism. 

The average Hindu you meet in a million villages possesses this simple, innate spirituality and accepts your diversity, whether you are Christian or Muslim, Jain or Arab, French or Chinese. It is this Hinduness that makes the Indian Christian different from, say, a French Christian, or the Indian Muslim unlike a Saudi Muslim. I also learnt that Hindus not only believed that the divine could manifest itself at different times, under different names, using different scriptures (not to mention the wonderful avatar concept, the perfect answer to 21st century religious strife) but that they had also given refuge to persecuted minorities from across the world-Syrian Christians, Parsis, Jews, Armenians, and today, Tibetans. 

In 3,500 years of existence, Hindus have never militarily invaded another country, never tried to impose their religion on others by force or induced conversions. You cannot find anybody less fundamentalist than a Hindu in the world and it saddens me when I see the Indian and western press equating terrorist groups like Islamist SIMI, which blow up innocent civilians, with ordinary, angry Hindus who burn churches without killing anybody. 

We know also that most of these communal incidents often involve persons from the same groups-often Dalits and tribals-some of who have converted to Christianity and others not. However reprehensible the destruction of Babri Masjid, no Muslim was killed in the process; compare this to the 'vengeance' bombings of 1993 in Bombay , which wiped out hundreds of innocents, mostly Hindus. Yet the Babri Masjid destruction is often described by journalists as the more horrible act of the two. We also remember how Sharad Pawar, when he was chief minister of Maharashtra in 1993, lied about a bomb that was supposed to have gone off in a Muslim locality of Bombay . 

I have never been politically correct, but have always written what I have discovered while reporting. Let me then be straightforward about this so-called Hindu terror. Hindus, since the first Arab invasions, have been at the receiving end of terrorism, whether it was by Timur, who killed 1,00,000 Hindus in a single day in 1399, or by the Portuguese Inquisition which crucified Brahmins in Goa . 

Today, Hindus are still being targeted: there were one million Hindus in the Kashmir valley in 1900; only a few hundred remain, the rest having fled in terror. 

Blasts after blasts have killed hundreds of innocent Hindus all over India in the last four years. 

Hindus, the overwhelming majority community of this country, are being made fun of, are despised, are deprived of the most basic facilities for one of their most sacred pilgrimages in Amarnath while their government heavily sponsors the Haj. 

They see their brothers and sisters converted to Christianity through inducements and financial traps, see a harmless 84-year-old swami and a sadhvi brutally murdered. Their gods are blasphemed. So sometimes, enough is enough.

At some point, after years or even centuries of submitting like sheep to slaughter, Hindus-whom the Mahatma Gandhi once gently called cowards - erupt in uncontrolled fury. And it hurts badly. 

It happened in Gujarat . It happened in Jammu , then in Kandhamal, Mangalore, and Malegaon . It may happen again elsewhere. What should be understood is that this is a spontaneous revolution on the ground, by ordinary Hindus, without any planning from the political leadership. 

Therefore, the BJP, instead of acting embarrassed, should not disown those who choose other means to let their anguished voices be heard. There are about a billion Hindus, one in every six persons on this planet. They form one of the most successful, law-abiding and integrated communities in the world today. 

Can you call them terrorists?

(source: The Hindu Rate Of Wrath – By Francois Gautier - outlookindia.com National/Opinion November 10 2008). Visit Francois Gautier  

Refer to Analysis of Saadhvi Pragyas Case as projected by Media – By Chanchal Malviya - indiacause.com and The invention of a Hindu terrorist, Hindu Terrorism - By Saurav Basu and After Haj, it is Christian pilgrimage - crusadewatch.org and The Indian Jews - By Jakob de Roover - outlookindia.com and  Are you scared of the Hindus, Comrade Brinda Karat? - By Bandyopadhyay Arindam

Also refer to Hindu terrorism’ – See the writing on the wall - By Radha Rajan - vigilonline.com. Refer to Islamic terrorism in India and What the Islamic Invaders Did to India - By Rizwan Salim and History of Jihad against the Hindus of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (638 -- Ongoing).  Donate to worthy causes: California Textbook Case and IDRF. Refer to Indian Realist

Refer to What the Islamic Invaders Did to India – By  Rizwan Salim - islamwatch.org  

Refer to  Christian Terrorists threaten to kill Puri Shankaracharya - odishatoday.com

The Jews like the Hindus are born into their religion; like Hindus they do not convert others to their faith and like Hindus again, possess a sense of homeland. Both Hindus and Jews realize now, after immense suffering and deprivation that Islam and White Christianity have caused them both, that neither they as peoples nor their religion can survive without territory that is theirs by right and by a sense of historical belonging.

Top of Page

The disadvantaged Hindus, pampered Minorities

Secularism is for idiot Hindus. Minorities get to destroy the Hindu faith thru jihad, self-determination, evangelizing and US State dept. Add UN to the list.

***

Anti-Brahminism and Anti-Semitism: Two strains of the same deadly virus

Anti-Brahminism and anti-Semitism are two forms of the same ethno-religious prejudice directed at an accomplished minority group who are perceived, wrongly, to be the cause of a nation's social and economic ills, or, otherwise, to be controlling a nation's religious, cultural, political, or economic destiny from behind the scenes in their own interest. Dr. Koenraad Elst, in Indigenous Indians: Agastya to Ambedkar, writes, "In fact, apart from anti-Judaism, the anti-Brahmin campaign started by [Christian] missionaries is the biggest vilification campaign in world history." 

Anti-Brahminism has become the dominant theme in the speeches and writings of Indian secularists of all sorts.

(source: Anti-Brahminism and Anti-Semitism: Two strains of the same deadly virus)  

***

"Muslims say they are proud to be Muslim, Christians say they are proud to be Christian, Sikhs say they are proud to be Sikh, and Hindus say they are proud to be ... secular."

***

India ’s putrid political dispensation, sham-secularist politicians take sadistic pleasure in heaping scorn and calumny on the religious icons of the majority community, namely the Hindus.

Articles 29 and 30 ostensibly incorporated for protecting the cultural and educational interests of minorities, fly in the face of the right to equality enshrined in the Constitution.

They have been the source of promoting divisiveness between the majority and the minority communities thereby delivering a body blow to the ideal of unity and integrity of the Indian nation.

This invidious constitutional provision has placed the Hindus at a serious disadvantage, not only vis a vis the minorities, but even in terms of the secular ideal professed by the Indian State . If we compare the theory and practice of democracy and secularism as practiced in India with the British parliamentary system, considered to be the role model for our country, we find that the two systems are poles apart. In the United Kingdom uniform civil and criminal laws are enacted and enforced for all citizens, irrespective of their religious beliefs, creed or gender.

Barely 6l years after Independence once again the Indian nation stands at the crossroads of history. The ideal of evolving a common nationality by assimilating different religious identities into a national identity, that is the Indian identity, has remained a pipedream. The reasons for this abject failure to weld all citizens into Indians first and Indians last are many and varied. The most important reason for this monumental failure is that the post-Independence political leadership of India has remained a prisoner of the same grievance centric minority politics which had led to Partition of the country in 1947.

For the last six decades the same divisive ideology, nurtured in the garb of secularism, has remained the dominant theme of Indian polity. The situation was further exacerbated by the insertion of secularism in 1976 as an essential feature of Indian Constitution during the Emergency which gave a cross-eyed slant to the Indian polity.

History is an eloquent witness to the fact that the Hindu civilization has always been exceptionally tolerant and peaceful, both by scriptural tradition and ethical training. But during the last few decades the belligerence of the largest minority, namely the Muslims, has begun to bedevil the Indian state much in the same manner as it did in the pre-Partition era. Unfortunately the old mindset of minority-appeasement continued to dominate the Indian leadership even after India attained Independence .

It was prominently reflected in the incorporation of Articles 29 and 30 in the Constitution which conferred certain extraordinary rights and privileges on minority communities thereby elevating them the status of some kind of ‘super citizens’ because no comparable rights were allowed to members of the majority community. These two discriminatory Articles, ostensibly incorporated for protecting the cultural and educational interests of minorities, fly in the face of the right to equality enshrined in the Constitution.

  Presently the Indian political system is choc-a-bloc with unprincipled busy bodies who consider minority-centric vote-bank politics, deceptively woven into the fabric of secularism, as passport to power. In no other country the word secularism is misused in such a devious manner as it is in our country. Interestingly most politicians wearing secularism on their sleeves are either casteist leaders or leftover leftists of yesteryears who have lost their secular moorings. Indian political theatre has an overwhelming presence of unprincipled politicians who consider minority-centric vote-bank politics the easiest passport to power.

They have no moral compunction in singing paeans to secularism while donning skull-caps for attending Iftar parties, or haranguing in caste-based congregations of Brahmins, Yadavs or Rajputs in a brazen bid to ride to political power. Surprise of surprises, most of them defend with great gusto the grant of religion specific dole called Haj subsidy, but oppose enactment of a common civil code as envisioned in Article 44 of the Constitution!

The Indian political system fails to fulfil the two most important prerequisites of a secular democratic nation. First, the Indian Constitution falls short of the basic postulate of uniform application of all laws to its citizens, irrespective of their caste creed, religion or gender. Absence of a common civil code is a glaring example of non-application of uniform laws in the matter of marriage and inheritance. It is well known that the Muslim women, constituting nearly 7.5 per cent of the country’s population, continue to be denied the right to equality because of strident opposition by the community’s clerics and community leaders. The second pre-condition for a country’s claim to be a democracy is the principle of equality before law. As mentioned above, Articles 29 and 30 of the Indian Constitution are a flagrant violation of the principle of equality before law. Even Article 370 conferring a special status on the state of Jammu & Kashmir is an aberration because it does not gel with the right to equality enshrined in the Constitution. For instance, under Article 370, no law enacted by the Indian Parliament is applicable to the state of Jammu & Kashmir, unless it is duly approved by the state legislature. Even the Governor of J&K state takes oath of his office under the separatist constitution of that state, while Governors of all other states take oath under the Indian Constitution. By allowing a federating state, and only one single state, to have a separate Constitution is a wanton violation of the principle of one nation, one country. 

It is antitheatical to the very idea of national unity. As highlighted by K. Subrahmanyam in a very perceptive article, (Forces of Fragmentation, Behind the Fig Leaf of Secularism, The Times of India , New Delhi , April 18, 2002)  “No country can call itself democratic or secular unless it has a common civil law.” Democracy implies that all citizens have equal rights and are to be treated equally under the rule of law. Allowing different personal laws is a negation of both secularism and democracy because it means that a person’s religion determines the laws by which he or she is to be governed.

For that reason India cannot be termed either as a secular state or a democracy. 

If we compare the theory and practice of democracy and secularism as practiced in India with the British parliamentary system, considered to be the role model for our country, we find that the two systems are poles apart. In the United Kingdom uniform civil and criminal laws are enacted and enforced for all citizens, irrespective of their religious beliefs, creed or gender, without making any exception. But not so in India . Unfortunately that ideal of uniform application of all laws to every citizens, the quintessential hallmark of secularism, is totally missing in the Indian system. The recent decision of Government of India to send a 15-member delegation led by its Labour Minister, Oscar Fernandes, to Va tican to participate in the canonization of Sister Alphonsa by Pope Benedict XVI, exposes the ugly face of Indian secularism. Not to be left behind in the race for vote-banks, the CPM-supported Kerala government also sent a delegation headed by a minister to Vatican. 

Interestingly the same politicians had no qualms in filing a derogatory affidavit in the Supreme Court denying the existence of Sri Ram in a bid to destroy the Ram Sethu.

Interestingly the British commitment to secular ideal has not deterred the UK government from declaring itself a Christian nation. Upon ascending the throne, the monarch invariably assumes the title “defender of the faith”, and all important state functions, including the coronation and inauguration of the Parliament session are accompanied by a Christian prayer, often led by the Archbishop of Canterbury himself.

In sharp contrast, in India ’s putrid political dispensation, sham-secularist politicians take sadistic pleasure in heaping scorn and calumny on the religious icons of the majority community, namely the Hindus. No wonder, the ideal of forging a common nationality has eluded the Indian nation. We have remained a nation divided against itself entirely due to serious flaws in our Constitution and weird machinations of self-serving politicians.

(source: The disadvantaged Hindus, pampered Minorities - By R K Ohri  IPS Retd). Refer to The Indian Jews - By Jakob de Roover - outlookindia.com and