A Glorious Hindu Legacy: Indic influence in Southeast Asia.

Champa - Vietnam

Lord Shiva in Vietnam  

 

The Yang Mum Shiva: in high relief against an ogival stele was found in the early 1930's at Yang Mum. Lord Shiva with trishul in his hand, was regarded as the founder and protector of the Champa dynasties.

(Note: Recently an Ancient statue of Lord Vishnu has been found in Russian town of the Volga region

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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Champa, on the coast of Annam, was another Indianized state, about which more information is available. It constantly clashed with the nearby Chinese colonies established in Tonkin during the Han period, and hence Chinese historians frequently refer to Champa. The name Champa is clearly Indian whether it was named after the capital of the Anga country in the lower Ganges Valley, or after the Chola capital of the same name. Situated on the main sea routes from India and Java to China, and at the foot of spice-bearing mountains, Champa soon attracted the attention of Indian traders, and played a significant role in spreading Indian culture in eastern Asia. Sri Mara was the first Hindu king of Champa, and established his dynasty about 200 over an extensive area, including Tonkin and part of northern Annam.

 

Map of Ancient Champa, with Hindu names of Panduranga, Vijaya, Kauthara, Indrapura and Amravati.

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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The Kingdom of Champa in Vietnam, which flourished from the second to the 15th centuries, was strongly influenced by Hinduism. Hindu temples were constructed, Sanskrit was used as a sacred language, Indian art was idolized and Hindu Deities, especially Siva, were worshiped. In fact, Lord Siva was regarded as the founder and protector of the Champa dynasties. It first appeared around present-day Danang and later by 8th century spread south to what is now Nha Trang and Phan Rang. The Cham adopted Hinduism, employed Sanskrit as a sacred language and borrowed heavily from Indian art.  

One of the most stunning sights in Hoi An area is My Son, Vietnam's most important Cham site. During the centuries when Tra Kieu (then known as Simhapura) served as the political capital of Champa. Dong Dong (then known as Indrapura) served as the Cham's religious centre. Recent excavations in Tra-Kieu, the most ancient capital of Champa, have revealed ample evidence of Indian influence in the form of Sivaite and Vaisnavite shrines and bas-reliefs. 

The earliest inscriptions found in the region and possibly the whole of Southeast Asia, is the Vo-canh inscription written in a South Indian script and dating from the second or third century. Vo Canh inscription near Nha Trang, is the oldest evidence in the whole Indochina peninsula for the use of Sanskrit. It dates from the 3rd/4th centuries. All the evidence seems to point to a process of Indianization beginning on the southern shores and gradually spreading north-wards up to frontiers of the province near Chin. The most ancient bronze statue found in Champa is that of the Buddha of Dongduong which is one of the most beautiful specimens of Amaravati art; even a principality in that area was called Amaravati. Inscriptions of Kind Bhadravarman, both in Sanskrit and Cham, have been found; they belong to about 350 and are the earliest inscriptions found in Champa proper. 

 

Recumbent Lord Vishnu and the birth of Brahma.

Lord Vishnu reclines in meditation on the cosmic ocean, his eyelids closed, floating on the seven-headed serpent of Eternity.

(source: Hindu-Buddhist Art of Vietnam: Treasures from Champa - By Emmanuel Guillon).

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Champa was formed in AD 192, during the breakup of the Han dynasty of China. Although the territory was at first inhabited mainly by wild tribes involved in incessant struggles with the Chinese colonies in Tonkin, it gradually came under Indian cultural influence, evolving into a decentralized country composed of four small states, named after regions of India, Amaravati (Quang Nam), Vijaya (Binh Dinh), Kauthara (Nha Trang), and Panduranga (Phan Rang). The four states had a powerful fleet that was used for commerce and for piracy. The Cham people, of Malayo-Polynesian stock and Indianized culture, were finally united under the rule of King Bhadravarman around 400AD. He was noted commander and scholar. He dedicated a temple to Shiva at Mison which was called Bhadresvarasvami and became the centre of royal worship in later centuries. It is said that King Bhadravarman abdicated the throne to spend his last days on the banks of the Ganges

During this period, remarkable sculptures and original brick temples were created which are notable for their decoration and ornamentation. The doorways and pillars are adorned with an incredibly intricate stone foliation of leaves, buds and flowers, inset with medallions of anchorites and celestial dancers. These groups of temples, Mi-song, Po-nagar, and Dongduong, are very famous. In the days of their splendor the Chams were Shivaites, and Shiva, his Sakti, and his two sons, Ganesh and Skanda, were prominent amongst the gods worshipped. 

 

    

The Cham towers of Po Nagar, were built between the 7th and 12th centuries. The site was used for worship as early as 2nd century AD. 

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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The temple was built during the Hindu period of Champa, and the image of the goddess takes the form of Uma, wife of Shiva.

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Elaborate stonework and above the entrance to the North Tower, two musicians flak a dancing Shiva.

During this period, remarkable sculptures and original brick temples were created which are notable for their decoration and ornamentation. The doorways and pillars are adorned with an incredibly intricate stone foliation of leaves, buds and flowers, inset with medallions of anchorites and celestial dancers.  

 

  

Meditation pillars and intricately carved deities.

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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Myson was the site of the most important Cham intellectual and religious centre, and also may have served as a burial place for Cham monarchs. My Son is considered to be Champa's counterpart to the grand cities of south-east Asia's other Indian-influenced civilsations: Agkor (Cambodia), Bagan (Myanmar), Aythaya (Thailand) and Borobudur (Java). 

Myson was a centre for spirituality and worship during the reign of the Champa Kingdom. The My Son Sanctuary, which exemplifies the height of Cham architectural achievement, is a large complex of religious monuments originally comprised of more than 70 structures; the vestiges of 25 of these structures remain today. The builders of Myson were the nobility of the Champa Kingdom who derived their cultural and spiritual influences almost exclusively from India. The Cham people worshiped the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, although Shiva was the central figure of worship for most people. Shiva was usually portrayed in one of two forms: as the figure of a man, and very often in his symbolic manifestation, the lingam, which was usually a stone embellished with incisions placed on a stone slab. The lingam represented both Shivaism and the divine authority Shiva bestowed upon the king. The Cham people erected monumental towers - the main component of Cham architectural design - to house the lingam. My Son was once a veritable forest of towers, many of which were destroyed by the ravages of time and war.

All of the Cham towers at Myson were built on square or rectangular foundations and were comprised of three parts; the tower base representing the world of humans, the tower body representing the world of spirits, and the tower head - usually built in the shape of a lotus - representing the realm between the two worlds. The structures were usually built of baked bricks and sandstone.

Most experts consider the main tower at My Son, dubbed A1 by archaeologists and researchers, a masterpiece of Cham architecture. Originally it spanned three storeys and reached a height of 24 metres. Inside, the walls were covered with reliefs; across from the entrance were reliefs depicting a dancing Shiva, on the first storey images of dancing females, and on the upper storeys elephants and lions were depicted. The tower is surrounded by six smaller towers. Unfortunately, tower A1 was severely damaged by US bombs in 1969. Apart from the main tower devoted to Shiva, there are numerous smaller towers and temples dedicated to the worship of lesser gods. For more refer to the Vietnam war.

This unique site is now in a state of significant disrepair. The monuments are covered with vegetation, which has grown unimpeded for years. Relics that have not already been relocated or stolen are strewn about, and lie exposed to the elements. 

(source: India and World Civilization  By D. P. Singhal Pan Macmillan Limited. 1993. part II p. 120 - 130).  (Note: Recently an Ancient statue of Lord Vishnu has been found in Russian town of the Volga region. For more refer to chapter on Suvarnabhumi).

For more refer to chapter on Suvarnabhumi and Seafaring in Ancient India

Follow Up History

American and Vatican involvement in Vietnam

Rev. Billy Graham (1918 - ) who had criticized the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. for speaking out against the war during the horrific Vietnam conflict, (1959-75), had urged the then-President, Richard M. Nixon, to bomb North Vietnam . In a 13-page letter, that Rev. Graham had forwarded to the White House in April, 1969, it was stated: 

“There are tens of thousands of North Vietnamese defectors to bomb and invade the North. Why should all the fighting be in the South?...Especially let them bomb the dikes which could over night destroy the economy of North Vietnam .”

(source: The Prince of War: Billy Graham’s Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire -By Cecil Bothwell - baltimore.indymedia.org September 27, 2007). Refer to Nixon And Billy Graham Anti-Semitism Caught On Tape - rense.com

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When the French started to crumble under the relentless blows of the Communists of Indo-China, the Catholic Church welcomed the U.S. intervention, hopefully expecting that the American presence would help expedite the conquest of the entire province. The Church had already been in the field combating a retroactive campaign against Red expansionism.

In 1954 Vietnamese freedom fighters - the Viet Minh - had finally defeated the French colonial government in North Vietnam, which by then had been supported by U.S. funds amounting to more than $2 billion. Although the victorious assured religious freedom to all (most non Buddhist Vietnamese were Catholics), due to huge anticommunist propaganda campaigns many Catholics fled to the South. With the help of Catholic lobbies in Washington and Cardinal Spellman, the Vatican's spokesman in U.S. politics, who later on would call the U.S. forces in Vietnam "Soldiers of Christ", a scheme was concocted to prevent democratic elections which could have brought the communist Viet Minh to power in the South as well, and the fanatic Catholic Ngo Dinh Diem was made president of South Vietnam.

(source: The Vatican attempts to prevent peace and Victims of Christian Faith and Christianity's Criminal History - By Karlheinz Deschner.

Refer to The Shocking Story of the Catholic "Church's" Role in Starting the Vietnam War - By 
Avro Manhattan.

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South Korea
India's 2000 year-old connection with South Korea

India’s early contacts with Korea date back more than 2000 years. Two thousand years ago, a 16 year old princess from Ayodhya, accompanied by her brother, sailed from India for Korea. We only know her by her Korean name, Huh Wang-Ock. There she wed King Kim Suro, founder of the ancient Korean kingdom of Karack. The King himself received her upon her arrival, and later built a temple at the place where they had first met. She is said to have died at the grand old age of 189. Her story is narrated in the ancient Korean history books, "Samkuksaki" and "Samkukyusa".

Her tomb is located in Kimhae and there is a stone pagoda in front of the tomb. The pagoda is built with stones, which the princess is said to have brought with her from Ayodhya. They have engravings and red patterns. They are believed to have a mysterious power to calm stormy seas. The Kimhae kingdom's influence is still felt in modern-day South Korea. Kimhae Kims and Kimhae Huhs trace their origins to this ancient kingdom and Korea's current President Kim Dae Jung and Prime Minister Jong Pil Kim are Kimhae Kims. In February, 2000, Kimhae Mayor Song Eun-Bok led a delegation to Ayodhya. The delegation proposed to develop Ayodhya as a sister city of Kimhae and there are plans to set up a memorial for Queen Huh. Note: Ayodhya is in Uttar Pradesh. It was the capital of the kingdom of Lord Ram, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu. 

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Follow up History
Kristallnacht - Destruction of Native Culture in South Korea - Lessons for Hindus

"The US is one of the most extreme religious fundamentalist societies in the world. "

                                                                                          - Naom Chomksy is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author, and lecturer. He is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is author of several books including Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance - American Empire Project and Year 501: The Conquest Continues.

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Even though this region was once overwhelmingly Buddhist, aggressive American Christian evangelism after the Korean War converted South Korea into a region where politicians have to be Christian to get elected. This conversion was not without violence: during the 1990s, Buddhist temples were burned and Buddha statues were beheaded as the then-president, a Christian, openly equated Buddhist images with Satanism.

(source: Competing for Souls - crusadewatch.org). For more refer to chapter on Glimpses IV, Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor and Conversion.

Korean Buddhism under Siege

Christian groups in the West have always decried that they are persecuted in different parts of the world but now I am telling the Christian world to their face that their own extremist brethren are persecuting the Buddhists in Korea ! Buddhist groups have not fought back or taken revenge against these attacks by crazed extremists. 

I hope that Christian evangelists in Asia should set aside their pride and examine their conscience for what they are doing to the psyches and cultures of the peoples they wish to convert. They are creating seeds of deep and lasting unhappiness by inducing people to reject their own cultural roots and heritage.

(source: Korean Buddhism at the Crossroads - By Dr Frank M. Tedesco). Refer to Persecution of Buddhists in Korea

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Modern Yoga Migrates to China 

Google “Beijing Yoga” and, surprise – dozens of links to Yoga retreats and events in Beijing! Next, go to www.yogafinder.com, click on “Find Yoga classes” and city “Shanghai.” From the way the list reads you might think you were in California. What is compelling is not only the array of options but the degree of cross-national integration: Yoga teachers in California are holding programs in China in cooperation with Chinese yogis. China’s 1980’s policy to teach English in elementary schools, is paying off big time today. Political tensions still bristle between nations, but China’s youth are all open arms. 

While US-style holistic health jargon dominates the website blurbs, we were happy to note in one article from Beijing’s www.cityweekend.com.cn a “full disclosure” that the “Vedas of Hinduism are the source of other teachings, including Upanishads and Karma. Modern Yoga is based on the four Vedic texts, the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Arthava Veda.” 

(source: Hinduism Today - July/August/September 2005  p. 6).

Christian fundamentalists hostility to Yoga

(Note: Hostility to Yoga in the Church - Chanting Om can cause Moral Deviations? says The Vatican - The Vatican, in a letter approved by Pope John Paul II, warned Christians Thursday against spiritual dangers deriving from Eastern methods of contemplative meditation used in Yoga and Zen Buddhism.

It said the symbolism and body postures in such meditation ''can even become an idol and thus an obstacle to the raising up of the spirit of God.'' It warned that to give ''a symbolic significance typical of the mystical experience'' to sensations of well-being from meditation can lead to ''a kind of mental schizophrenia which could also lead to psychic disturbance and, at times, to moral deviations.''

(source: Pope in 1989 - Eastern Religions are Moral Deviations). For more refer to chapter on Yoga and Hindu Philosophy and Glimpses XV

Refer to Intolerance of Christians to Yoga in India - Don’t impose religious practices, Indian archbishop says of yoga measure - catholic.org).

Refer to Yoga Reaches the Great Wall - yogitimes.com and Yoga Revolutionaries - how yoga is making an impact in China - yogamagazine.co.uk).

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Euro centrism - By J M Blaut - excerpts  

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) first prime minister of free India, was more than a deeply moral human being. He yearned for spiritual light. He was particularly drawn to Swami Vivekananda and the Sri Ramakrishna Ashram. The Upanishads fascinated him.

Regarding Euro centrism, he wrote in his book The Discovery of India:  

"Till recently many European thinkers imagined that everything that was worthwhile had its origins in Greece or Rome."

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Euro centrism attributes historical superiority or priority to Europeans over all others. The fundamental assumption that progress is somehow permanent and natural in the European part of the world but not elsewhere, and progress elsewhere is mainly the result of the diffusion of innovative ideas and products from Europe and Europeans. 

Four kind of Eurocentric theory have been advanced to explain the fact that Europeans (or the West) grew richer and more powerful than all other societies. The are: 

  1. Religion: Europeans (Christians) worship the True God and He guides them forward through history.
  2. Race: White people have an inherited superiority over the people of other races.
  3. Environment: The natural environment of Europe is superior to all others.
  4. Culture: Europeans, long ago, invented a culture that is uniquely progressive and innovative.

These doctrines have been used in various combinations. Modern Euro centrism really began in 1492. When Columbus returned from his first voyage to America, he described a people who were heathens, and who, he believed, could be conquered easily. Moreover, the conquest of their land would provide gold and other wealth to Europeans. It seemed clear that Europeans were superior to these Americans and would profit from this superiority. Colonialism proved even more successful in later centuries, eventually reaching the level where Europeans were able to conquer and rule not only the Americas but also most of Asia and Africa. So Eurocentric beliefs seemed to be continually confirmed as both true and useful.  

Until recently, Western scholars believed that essentially all of the most important and progressive cultural advances since ancient times occurred somewhere in Greater Europe. In traditional European scholarship it was believed that Greater Europe naturally invents, innovates, progresses; the rest of the world remains stagnant and unchanging. Basically all of the history-making inventions and innovations were thought to have originated in Greater Europe, which supposedly invented agriculture, metallurgy, cities, states, social classes, democracy, science, most of the fine arts, and much more. 

Five historians – Eric Jones, Michael Mann, John A Hall, David S Landes, and Jared Diamond present entire, global, world-historical arguments, endeavoring to show that Europe had superiority over all other world regions throughout millennia of history. 

Max Webers history was tunnel history. The march toward ever rational society took place in Europe, among Europeans. Outside European tunnel of time, all societies were traditional and, in varying degrees, irrational. Like most European scholars of his time, Weber was a racist. Europe was genetically superior to non-Europeans. Europe’s superiority over everyone else is quite absolute. The matter stated baldly in the very beginning of Weber’s famous essay – The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. He believed that Africans were plainly inferior. The same hold true for Native Americans. Asians were unprogressive because their societies were “Oriental despotisms.”  

This theory has been woven into many modern arguments about the supposedly democratic character of European society throughout history – back to the Neolithic age – as against the supposedly undemocratic society of “Oriental despotisms.” 

(source: Eight Eurocentric Historians - By J M Blaut  p. 1 – 24). For more refer to chapter on First Indologists

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Watch the Bloody History of Communism - videogoogle.com.

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Eurocentrism of Hegel, Marx, Mueller, Monier Williams, Husserl - By Rajiv Malhotra

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) Few philosophers have had a more baleful influence on modern philosophy and politics than Hegel. He depicted the British colonialization of India as an inevitable stage in his process of "evolution".

He wrote: "The British, or rather the East India Company, are the masters of India because it is the fatal destiny of Asian empires to subject themselves to the Europeans."

Karl Marx (1818-1883) - The philosopher, social scientist, historian and revolutionary, Karl Marx, is without a doubt the most influential socialist thinker to emerge in the 19th century.

The false perception that India was a stagnant, ahistorical land was further perpetuated by Karl Marx. Marx described India as being caught in what he called the "Asiatic Mode of Production". He posited that India was trapped in a stagnant, unhistorical economic state in which "Oriental despots" wielding absolute power governed unchanging, stratified villages. His analysis was flawed by a serious ignorance of the actual economic history of India, and of the numerous underlying causes of decline. (This is why to this day, Marxists do not wish to encourage scholarship on India's Traditional Knowledge Systems, as the historical record clearly refutes the belief that there was no progress on the materialistic front from within the indigenous culture.) From a certain perspective, the greatest despots in India were not Oriental but Occidental, i.e., the British.

Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) was the principal founder of phenomenology — and thus one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. He has made important contributions to almost all areas of philosophy and anticipated central ideas of its neighboring disciplines such as linguistics, sociology and cognitive psychology.

He claimed: "Europe alone can provide other traditions with a universal framework of meaning and understanding. They will have to Europeanize themselves, whereas we, if we understand ourselves properly, will never, for example, Indianize ourselves. The Europeanization of all foreign parts of mankind is the destiny of the earth."

(source: Eurocentrism of Hegel, Marx, Mueller, Monier Williams, Husserl - By Rajiv Malhotra - infinityfoundation.com). For more refer to chapter on First Indologists

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Pinko (Communist) history is back, errors and all  

"You cannot be proud of a heritage you know nothing about, and in the name of secularism, we have spent 50 years in total denial of the Hindu roots of this civilisation. We have done nothing to change a colonial system of mass education founded on the principle that Indian civilisation had nothing to offer."

"As for me I would like to state clearly that I believe that the Indic religions have made much less trouble for the world than the Semitic ones and that Hindu civilisation is something I am very proud of."

                                                        - writes Indian columnist Tavleen Singh - The Indian Express June 13, 2004.

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"The history of all hitherto society is the history of class struggle," so said Karl Marx (1818-1883)  in his Communist Manifesto.

Watch the Bloody History of Communism - videogoogle.com.

Pinko (Communist) History is back, saffron is out - "detoxified" under HRD Minister Arjun Singh's orders. Last fortnight, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) brought back history books, which flourished in the CBSE system for 35 years before the NDA government banished them in 2002.  

Result: the revival of the old Left's catch-'em-young historiography.

In his zeal to please his communist backers, Mr Singh has ensured that the books by the eminent historians are reintroduced without even cosmetic changes in format and design. In fact the same typos, which were present in the last reprints are still there as are the pictures printed upside down. 

Also back is Brahmin baiting. The depiction of ancient India as a feudal nightmare. RS "beef" Sharma is at his incorrigible best at convincing youngsters that despite what their parents told them, there is no such thing as a sacred animal in Hinduism. The Sikhs are derided, the Rajputs belittled and the scourge of terrorism declared non-existent.

Bipin Chandra labours hard to convince that the Turks, Mughals and Persians who ruled India for nearly 800 years preceding the British were all Indians. 

Romila Thapar still holds that the Aryans were outsiders to India, calls Mahmud of Ghazni a great patron of Persian poetry.

The caste system of the Hindus is condemned at every opportunity. But there is careful concealment of the achievements of ancient India in the sciences. 

In her book for Class VI students, Ms Thapar makes only passing mention of Aryabhatta and Varamihira. There is not a line to inspire young India's realisation that their ancestors knew what Issac Newton and Galileo realised more than a millennium afterwards. "Books on medicine were also written," she says (page 81), but omits Shusruta, acknowledged as the father of surgery, Atreya and Charaka. Then, in her book for the next class, she simply says (under Education and Learning, page 27): 

"The discoveries of Aryabhatta in astronomy were not used in order to make further discoveries....Instead they were mixed up with ignorant and superstitious ideas about astrology." 

The genocide on Indians perpetrated by foreign invaders from West and Central Asia is given the miss. That, of course, is classical Nehruvianism.

The high priestess of secularist history, who shocked even her most committed cheerleaders last year with her apology of a book on Mahmud of Ghazni, not only glosses over Firoz's crimes but also calls the three centuries of Mughal domination as the "Age of Magnificence". 

She devotes 28 out of 120 pages with eulogies to the Mughals, but gives short shrift to Rana Pratap, Shivaji and the Sikh Gurus. She gives a gush-gush account of Jahangir, sympathises with all his difficulties, but forgets to mention the murder of Sikh Guru Arjan Dev ordered by him. 

Aurgangzeb's persecution of Hindus and Sikhs is also glossed over. There is no mention of the murder of Guru Govind Singh's sons and the brutal executions of Guru Teg Bahadur and Banda Bahadur.

It is clear that propaganda is passing off as school level history in India. Instead of uniting Indians of today with their past and leaving them with impressions of their history, which would linger throughout their lives as inspiration (after all, 99 per cent of students will not pick up a history book after Class X), the "eminent" historians have sought to confuse and mislead.

(source: Pinko history is back, errors and all - By Udayan Namboodiri New Delhi May 23 2005). Refer to chapters on Hindu Culture, Islamic Onslaught and European Imperialism and Aryan Invasion Theory).  Refer to Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud. Also refer to The Myth of Aryan Invasion - By David Frawley and refer to chapter on First Indologists. (Note: Recently an Ancient statue of Lord Vishnu has been found in Russian town of the Volga region. For more refer to chapter on Suvarnabhumi).

Watch the Bloody History of Communism - videogoogle.com.

Watch History of Ayodhya - videogoogle.com.

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Swami Vivekananda, (1863-1902) was the foremost disciple of Ramakrishna and a world spokesperson for Vedanta. India's first spiritual and cultural ambassador to the West, came to represent the religions of India at the World Parliament of Religions, held at Chicago in connection with the World's Fair (Columbian Exposition) of 1893. 

He himself a staunch believer in Vedantic socialism, exhorted on the other hand:

"Before flooding India with socialistic and political ideas first deluge the land with spiritual ideas."

A Diabolic Inversion?

Arun Shourie 1941- ) is a Rajya Sabha member and among India's best known commentators on current and political affairs. His writings are backed by rigorous analysis and meticulous research. Shourie has been an economist with the World Bank, a consultant in the planning commission and the editor of Indian Express. Among the many honors and awards, he has received the Magsaysay Award, the International Editor of the Year, the Dadabhai Naoroji and the Astor Award. Author of several books, including Secular Agenda, Religions in Politics and Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud.

He has observed in his book:

"Eminent Historians," the ironic title of his latest book comes from the self-description a group of Marxist historians, most of them academics, arrogated for themselves while signing a newspaper petition during the Ayodhya controversy. The Marxist party line is to project Hindus as exploitative feudalists and Muslims as liberators! 

Arun Shourie's major thesis: During the past fifty years, "this bunch of Marxist historians have been suppressing facts, inventing lies, perverting discourse, and derailing public policy" by seizing control of institutions such as the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), the National Council of Educational Research Training (NCERT), large parts of Indian academia, and nearly all of the English-media newspapers and publishing houses."

Included as principals in this group of Marxist historians are Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra, K.M. Shrimali, K.M.Pannikar, R.S. Sharma, D. N. Jha, Gyanendra Pandey, and Irfan Habib. This group has, Shourie charges, "worked a diabolic inversion: the inclusive religion [Hinduism], the pluralist spiritual search of our people and land, they have projected as intolerant, narrow-minded, obscurantist; and the exclusivist, totalitarian, revelatory religions and ideologies -- Islam, Christianity, Marxism-Leninism-- they have made out to be the epitome of tolerance, open-mindedness, democracy, secularism!" By promoting each other's publications and puffing up their reputations, this group has long been "determining what is politically correct."

(source: Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud - Arun Shourie - customer reviews - amazon.com). For more refer to Christianity's Criminal History - By  Karlheinz Deschner).

Watch the Bloody History of Communism - videogoogle.com.

So what, this is secular history
Modern India's greatest hero - Lenin?

NCERT's "secular" history text for Class VII students is called Modern India. It has dozens of photographs spread over its 273 pages. But there is only one famous personality who has deserved a full- page display. You may be entitled to think that only Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, or Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of modern India, or Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, modern India's greatest hero, deserves this respect.  

Surprise, surprise, it is none of the three. A giant picture of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924) frowns tyrannically at the 14 year-old beholder while Russians in greatcoats are shown running towards the (partially obscured by Lenin's head) "Winter Palace"

As if this was not enough, the text for Class IX students has devoted 11 pages to glorifying the so-called "Russian Revolution". Now, what is NCERT up to? What is the relevance of Lenin in a book for Indian children, and that too, in a book on "modern Indian history"? Of course, the authors, Indira and Arjun Dev, have strategically placed a discussion on "India and the modern world" in the opening chapter, ostensibly to give a global context and the larger backdrop shaping developments in India. But, what profound pedagogy justifies the inclusion of a character from Russian history, which the Russians themselves have discarded?

 

The Communist storming of the Winter Palace.

After making distortion and falsification a fine art, pinko history is set to enter the realm of "science" thanks to NCERT. To give their disingenuous strategy of turning schoolgoers into little commies, "secularism" has come in handy.

Watch the Bloody History of Communism - videogoogle.com.

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Romila Thapar, the most famous face of Marxist historiography, was reported by the CPI(M)'s mouthpiece, People's Democracy, in its December 9, 2001 issue as saying: "History has become a precise and analytical discipline and cannot be reduced to anybody's opinion".  

Now, that is something to turn E H (Edward Hallett) Carr (1892- 1982) the tallest of the Leftist school, in his grave. In his seminal work, What is History, Carr had (perhaps unwittingly) described what best describes the Thapar genre: "History is a subject that cannot be considered as a foolproof discipline because the writing of History is affected by the ideology and the political background (of the historian) as well as the purpose he is working for". After making distortion and falsification a fine art, pinko history is set to enter the realm of "science" thanks to NCERT. To give their disingenuous strategy of turning schoolgoers into little commies, "secularism" has come in handy.

Contrast this with the Curriculum Framework developed in the NDA period. It placed a thrust on "helping learners understand and appreciate India's cultural heritage and learn about India's contribution to world civilisation" (page 66 of NCFSE-2000 document). Why this was considered "saffronisation" we will never know. But now, to ensure that a new generation of Indians come up with absolutely no idea about its heritage, NCERT is about to dumb down History altogether so that the sceptre of "saffronisation" never re-emerges.

(source: So what, this is secular history - By Udayan Namboodiri - dailypioneer.com May 25 2005). Refer to UPA attack on former NCERT boss Rajput full of sound, fury and some farce as well - By Diptosh Majumdar - indianexpress.com Saturday May 28 2005).

Hindu society is consistently portrayed as regressive, superstitious or stagnant while Islamic and Christian inputs receive much praise ; in fact, Islamic rulers are depicted as generally well-intentioned, progressive, broad-minded and tolerant, while their millions of victims are denied even the right to be remembered (contrast this with the way other nations zealously preserve the memories of such holocausts) ; Guru Tegh Bahaur, one learned, was a bandit ; some of India's freedom fighters were "terrorists," while spiritual leaders such as Swami Vivekananda or Sri Aurobindo were "communal."

(source: Distortion of Indian History and School Textbooks - petitiononline).  Refer to Communismwatch and cpmterro.  

Watch the Bloody History of Communism - videogoogle.com.

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Demean Sri Ramakrishna to detoxify!

As he uttered “Sisters and Brothers of America” a thunderous applause hit the roof. This was Swami Vivekananda speaking to the ‘World Parliament of Religions’ at Chicago in 1893. In minutes the global audience turned his captive. Unstoppable thereafter, he spiritually conquered the colonial conquerors of India! The western media was in awe of the ‘silver-tongued’ monk.

    

Great freedom fighters — Gandhi and Tilak, Netaji and Rajaji, Nehru and the rest — acknowledged that Vivekananda sounded the bugle for freedom. 

Arrogance and elitism are the hallmarks of the India's leftist intellectuals.

Watch the Bloody History of Communism - videogoogle.com.

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Back at home, his message raised a storm as he travelled from place to place, addressing thousands and arousing high national spirit and patriotism. His matchless intellect and oratory drew thousands of youths into freedom struggle and nation-building tasks. Some even turned revolutionaries to free the motherland. Great freedom fighters — Gandhi and Tilak, Netaji and Rajaji, Nehru and the rest — acknowledged that Vivekananda sounded the bugle for freedom. But Vivekananda himself dedicated all his work to his Guru, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He proclaimed that Ramakrishna took an avatar ‘‘to re-establish Sanatana Dharma, to revitalise India.’’ Hundreds of educated youths inspired by Ramakrishna joined Vivekananda to form the Sri Ramakrishna Mission for man-making and nation-building work.

Yet see how a textbook for children officially produced by Arjun Singh’s HRD Ministry, through National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), introduce Sri Ramakrishna to Indian children? It tells them that Sri Ramakrishna was ‘‘an illiterate and mentally unbalanced’’ person. Yes, Sri Ramakrishna is ‘illiterate’, ‘mentally unbalanced’

This book, written by Comrade Satish Deshpande is part of the new efforts to detoxify the students afflicted by saffronisation! This is not an individual’s perversion but driven by a philosophy.

Driven by habits that die-hard Left historians claim that Rama, the pride of crores of Indians, was not born in India; certainly not in Ayodhya; but may be he was born in Afghanistan!

 

    

Lord Ram returning to Ayodhya.  Prithviraj Chauhan, last of Hindu rulers of Delhi. Known for his bravery, chivalry and kindness, he has been immortalised in Prithvirajaraso.

According to marxists Rama, the pride of crores of Indians, was not born in India; certainly not in Ayodhya; but may be he was born in Afghanistan!

Watch History of Ayodhya - videogoogle.com.

Watch the Bloody History of Communism - videogoogle.com.

***

So Rama was not even an Indian personality. Having banished Rama from India in the 1990s in their texts, they now write books to claim that there is no evidence of Krishna having existed in Mathura! More, Prithviraj Chauhan (last Hindu Ruler of Delhi at a crucial juncture of India’s history. Known for his bravery, chivalry and kindness, he has been immortalised in Prithvirajaraso) was no symbol of great courage and fight against foreign invaders but a coward! Still more, Jayachandra was no symbol of betrayal, but a brave fighter!

The detoxifying ‘truths’ are contained in textbooks to educate young India. Obviously, Secular India has accepted the Marxian view as its view of the timeless India. So the message is clear: deride revered symbols like Rama and Krishna, demean noble souls like Sri Ramakrishna and devalue great heroes like Prithviraj. So that young India does not look up to them, or to anyone within India, for inspiration and looks elsewhere.

Asked why a book in which Sri Ramakrishna is described in demeaning terms was permitted by NCERT, the HRD Minister Arjun Singh gave a lecture to the media on history writing. ‘‘History has to be written after carefully weighing all facts”. “Of course, I have not read the book in question. If it is so written we should look into it!” “Should look into it” — what a sober reply! He could afford to be sober as he knows that no mob will burn down government owned buses or buildings for vulgarising one of the greatest spiritualists of all time, Sri Ramakrishna. There will be no fatwas kill the writers, no bandh or violence. Thus goes on detoxification to save secularism. Notwithstanding that it corrupts, even destroys, the idea of India in the mind of young, unwary Indian.

(source: Demean Sri Ramakrishna to detoxify! - By S Gurumurthy - newindpress.co