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A Glorious Hindu Legacy: Indic influence in Southeast Asia.

Hinduism in Cambodia

According to an ancient Sanskrit inscription, Cambodia was born from the water. Being the oldest Indianised state in Southeast Asia, its religion was Hinduism. Cambodia boasts the largest temple complex in the world, named Ankor, from the Sanskrit meaning "the capital city". 

It was built in the ninth century C. E. in honor of the Hindu god Lord Vishnu. The complex extends over an area more than twice the size of Manhattan and took thirty-seven years to complete.

Angkor Wat was dramatically rediscovered in 1860 by the French naturalist and explorer Henri Mouhot, 1826 -1861) a French naturalist and explorer, who exclaimed:

 “It is grander than anything left us by Greece or Rome.”

"At the sight of this temple, one feels one's spirit crushed, one's imagination surpassed. One looks, one admires, and, seized with respect, one is silent. For where are the words to praise a work of art that may not have its equal anywhere on the globe? ... What genius this Michalangelo of the East had, that he was capable of concaving such a work.'' 

(source: Le Tour du Monde 2-1863-299). 

He was staggered by his discovery. There was a city so vast and so sophisticated that it must have been built by people with an advanced knowledge of engineering, science, mathematics and art. The young Frenchman soon sent word back to Europe telling of the most beautiful lost city ever to be discovered. The monumental scale, grandeur and beauty of Angkor justifies its reputation as one of the world’s great creations.  

Mouhot wrote: What strikes the observer with not less admiration than the grandeur, regularity, and beauty of these majestic buildings, is the immense size and prodigious number of the blocks of stone of which they are constructed. In this temple alone are as many as 1532 columns. What means of transport, what a multitude of workmen, must this have required, seeing that the mountain out of which the stone was hewn is thirty miles distant!...."

(source: Angkor: Heart of an Asian Empire - By Bruno Dagens  p. 140 -141).

The Majestic Angkor Wat.

“No Sultan’, ‘no Mikado, No Viceroy of India could offer his guests a comparable spectacle.” 

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

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Lord Alfred Harmsworth Northcliffe (1865 - 1922) remarked when he went to Cambodia as a reporter for his newspaper, 

“No Sultan’, he cabled, ‘no Mikado, No Viceroy of India could offer his guests a comparable spectacle.” 

(source: The Road to Angkor - By Christopher Pym  p. 176 - 180).

Christopher Pym, author of Ancient Civilization of Angkor and The Road to Angkor has observed:

"Angkor is the ancient capital of the Khmer empire, a fabulous city of ruins buried deep in the jungles of Cambodia. The most striking of Angkor’s ruins are Angkor the Great, a walled cit with five enormous gateways, and Angkor Wat, a huge temple with five towers which soar majestically above the surrounding forest.  

The most astonishing thing about Angkor is the size of the ruined buildings, and the way in which many of them are still locked in the clasp of giant rain-trees with orchids trailing above the sculptures and monkeys swinging in the darkness into sunlight through the deserted galleries. For Angkor was once the ‘lost city’ par excellence, and some of its temples are still hard to reach and enter. 

Both Khmers and Chams were Hinduized peoples, and their cultures flowered as the result of the intermarriage between Hindu settlers from India and the indigenous tribes of the Indo-China peninsula." 

(source: The Road to Angkor - By Christopher Pym  p. 1 - 15).

Cambodia

Both Khmers and Chams were Hinduized peoples, and their cultures flowered as the result of the intermarriage between Hindu settlers from India and the indigenous tribes of the Indo-China peninsula." 

(image source: Angkor: Splendors of the Khmer Civilization - By Marilia Albanese p. 15).

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Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) poet, author, philosopher, Nobel prize laureate. Tagore was deeply critical of the British Raj in India.

He has remarked: 

“To know my country in truth (he writes) one has to travel to that age when he realized her soul and thus transcended her physical boundaries.” 

Benjamin Rowland (    - 1972) Curator of American Art and author of The Art and Architecture of India

"Perhaps it might be compared’, ‘to the impression that would be produced on a wanderer in another millennium coming suddenly upon the ruins of Manhattan rising silent and empty above the Hudson."

(source: The Art and Architecture of India - By Benjamin Rowland and The Road to Angkor - By Christopher Pym  p. 176 - 180).  

Angkor wat is the largest religious monument in the world. Built by Suryavarman II in the 12^th century to honor Lord Vishnu. Its bas-reliefs show episodes from the life of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, as related in the Indian epic, Ramayana; scenes from another Indian epic, The Mahabharata; and some ‘historical’ court scenes. Angkor wat is also an observatory, the sun rises directly over the temple on the day of the summer solstice, the beginning of the solar year in the Hindu calendar. Its dimensions reflect Hindu notions about time. Beautiful as it is, in its day Angkor wat was even more impressive, its towers gilded in gold and its exterior painted white.

(source: Southeast Asia – A Concise History  – By Mary Somers Heidues  p. 40 – 41).

Lord Shiva.

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Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell  (1892- 1969) 5th Baronet, in his book Escape with Me - an Oriental Sketch Book (1941) has rated Angkor as:

"chief wonder of the world today, one of the summits to which human genius has aspired in stone, infinitely more impressive, lovely, and, as well, romantic, than anything that can be seen in China.” 

(source: The Road to Angkor - By Christopher Pym  p. 176 - 180).

“The great edifice of Angkor Wat with its huge lotus-bud-shaped towers, the glory of Khmer architecture and of its founder Suryavarman II stands out above them all. It is a spectacle of beauty, wonder and magnificence. One is struck by its sheer enormity. It is 5,000 feet by 4,000 feet. What brilliant scenes in Khmer history had this causeway witnessed. Armies had marched, cavalry had galloped, priests had walked in procession with all the ceremonial of their office. “

The bas-reliefs are one of Angkor Wat’s greatest treasures and outstanding attractions. In the lower terrace they continue for over half a mile, which gives some idea of the vastness of the temple. Every stone is decorated. The bas-reliefs are about 8 feet high. The whole effect is that of an almost endless tapestry in stone. The subjects are principally religious, of legends and of war.   

Angkor Goddess in Venice Museum.

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The scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharat take up nearly half a mile, and the total number of figures of men, animals and birds has been calculated to be nearly 20,000. There are combats between opposing forces who are mounted on elephants. Hundreds of elephants have been sculptured on the walls, and illustrate some incidents from these two epics; warriors fighting from chariots, scenes from the lives of the God Rama and his wife Sita, who was kidnapped by the demon Ravana, armies of men and monkeys. Vast stretches depict Khmer victories on land and sea, naval pageants, victory marches with bands and banners. The God Vishnu is mounted on a garuda; there are invocations to the Hindu trinity, goddesses, and guardian deities.  

The sculptors were fortunate in being provided with a most sensitive, ideal and endless canvas upon which to exercise their talents. This was polished sandstone. They used about 4,000 feet of it. The bas-reliefs decorate eight panels, four of which are over 100 yards long.

Everything about Angkor Wat is on a massive and lavish scale, as if time, expense and labor were of little importance. The bas reliefs in the majority of cases are executed with exquisite beauty, and the most minute attention to detail, symmetry and proportion.

Apsara dancing in Cambodia today. 

In Hindu sacred stories, Apsaras are heavenly nymphs of great beauty and charm, often represented as dancers at the celestial court. In a number ofstories, the Gods sent Apsaras to earth to distract and seduce sages practicing austerities - especially those who are gaining alarming levels of yogic power through their concentrated meditation. Apsaras would also reward heroes who fell in combat, rushing to the battle site and carrying them  into heaven.

(source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

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

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Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) the great British historian. His massive research was published in 12 volumes between 1934 and 1961 as `A Study of History'. Author of several books, including Christianity: Among the Religions of the World and One World and India.

He wrote about Angkor in The Observer, he called it 'A Foretaste of Nirvana', saying that "one could spend the ret of one's life sitting there."

(source: The Road to Angkor - By Christopher Pym  p. 176 - 180). Refer to Cambodia's Cultural Arts.

Shiva linga - Preah Kan and Ganesha bronze, Angkorwat.

(image source: Angkor: Splendors of the Khmer Civilization - By Marilia Albanese p. 68).

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

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James Ferguson author of History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, wrote in 1876,

"To the historian of art the wonder is to find temples with such a singular combination of styles in such a locality  - Indian temples constructed with pillars almost purely classical in design, and ornamented with bas-relief so strangely Egyptian in character." 

(source: Angkor: Heart of an Asian Empire  p. 43).

S. Sarin has written: "The Cambodian country, with its own language, knows Sanskrit as well since the dawn of history and some learned scholars speak of Indo-Khmer culture, as the aspects of question are interconnected to one another. So viewed, the deep cause of the noble sense of gratefulness in Cambodian behavior is firstly due to the Ramayana, which had been well-known, for example through the bas-relief of Angkor Temples." In Cambodian language, Tin (three) Gun meaning "knowing, acknowledging what has been done, grateful." In Cambodian way of speaking, people have Tin, and Gun (guna), "quality."

(source: Indian Epic Values: Ramayana and Its Impact - By G. Pollet  p.222 -228).

Ram killing the golden deer in the Ramayana, Angkorwat.

(image source: Sacred Angkor: the Carved Reliefs of Angkor wat - By Vittorio Roveda p. 98).

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Cambodia's national flag, which features the imposing facade of Angkor Wat, the 12th century Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, is only one of the symbols of how deeply internalized India is in the collective consciousness of the Cambodian people.

(source: Cambodia embraces India's pride - By Shobori Ganguli - dailypioneer.com  4//11/02). 

Refer to Angkorwat image - World Heritage Tour. For more refer to chapters on Sacred Angkor and Glimpses XVI -  Glimpses XIX.

For a documentary on Hindu temples, refer to The Lost Temples of India.

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Follow up history of Cambodia
US Aggression in Cambodia

Mark Twain (1835-1910) also known as Samuel Clemens, one of the most widely loved and celebrated American writers since his first books were released in the late 1860s.

He was also quite vitriolic about missionaries who justified imperialism as an extension of the religious duty. 

"I bring you the stately matron named Christendom," he wrote angrily, "returning bedraggled, besmirched, and dishonored from pirate raids in Kiao-chou [Tsingtao, China], Manchuria, South Africa, and the Philippines, with her soul full of meanness, her pocket full of boodle, and her mouth full of pious hypocrisies." 

"Notwithstanding their passioned opposition, the anti-imperialists were fighting rearguard actions against faits accompli in the Philippines and elsewhere, leading Theodore Roosevelt, secretary of the Navy, virile expansionist, and later president, to deride them as "men of a by-gone age having to deal with the facts of the present."

(source: American Imperialism - vi.uh.edu).   Watch We are Warlike people - By George Carlin.

For U.S political and military intervention, refer to Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace – By Gore Vidal

Refer to World Conquering Creeds in chapter Glimpses XVI.

“The moneyed elite in the United States have long coveted their neighbors' land, resources, and cheap labor forces. Eager to invade, annex, and exploit, the plutocracy began to disseminate the warped notion of Manifest Destiny in the Nineteenth Century. Purporting to have the unwavering support of the Almighty, the "superior" Anglo-Saxons rationalized slavery, the Native American Genocide, the conquest of half of Mexico, the annexation of Hawaii, and their eradication of over 300,000 "savages" in conquering the Philippines.”

(source: Hell Awaits, America - rense.com).

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One might want to recall that American intervention in Cambodia was a disaster for the Cambodians. American and South Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia in April 1970, the North Vietnamese simply moved westwards, deeper into Cambodian territory. The chaos of post-invasion Cambodia, which led to the takeover of power by the murderous Khmer Rouge. 

The American role

The responsibility for the rising popularity of the Khmer Rouge rested with the successive US administrations which prosecuted a protracted and brutal imperialist war throughout Indochina in the 1960s and 1970s, destroying millions of lives and devastating industry and agriculture. Prince Sihanouk had sought to maintain his country's distance from the war in Vietnam through a policy of neutralism. He refused to act against Vietnamese supply lines along the Ho Chi Minh trail, which ran through eastern Cambodia. At the same time he kept silent about US military actions against Vietnamese forces operating on Cambodian soil.

The Nixon administration finally broke with Sihanouk in April 1970, backing a CIA-directed military coup that installed General Lon Nol and sent Sihanouk into exile in Beijing. One month later Nixon announced the invasion of Cambodia by 20,000 US and Vietnamese troops.

Cambodia was transformed into a battlefield with Lon Nol's troops fighting the Khmer Rouge and American and Saigon troops in combat with NLF and regular North Vietnamese forces. The country's population experienced the most intensive saturation bombing in world history. During nearly five years of bombing raids, from 1969 to 1973, some 532,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Cambodia, more than three times the tonnage dropped on Japan in all of World War II.

Under the impact of the bombing and widening warfare, Cambodian society disintegrated. By 1974, 95 percent of Cambodia's national income came from US aid, much of it siphoned off into the pockets of corrupt military officers. Two million out of the seven million people were homeless. Annual rice production had plunged from 3.8 million tons to only 655,000 tons. Much of Cambodia's farmland remains even today untillable because of bomb craters and unexploded ordnance.

The major responsibility for this social catastrophe lay with Nixon and his principal foreign policy aide, National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger. 

The bombing of Cambodia was carried out as a secret and illegal operation--secret, at least, from the American people, if not from the victims in Cambodia, or the thousands of American military personnel who participated in the attacks, or the American reporters in Vietnam who knew of the bombing raids but kept silent.

The Khmer Rouge in power

It was only after the American intervention in Cambodia that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge began to win wider support. 

From a badly organized and poorly equipped force of less than 5,000 men in 1970, it grew to be an army of around 70,000 when, in April 1975, the Lon Nol dictatorship finally collapsed. Out of a population of approximately 8 million people, Pol Pot's regime killed one-quarter. 

The Khmer Rouge targeted Buddhist monks, Western-educated intellectuals, people who appeared to be intelligent (for example, individuals with glasses), the crippled and lame, and ethnic minorities like ethnic Laotians and Vietnamese. They were thrown into the infamous S-21 camp for interrogation.

(source: US aggression in Cambodia - wsws.org and Pol Pot).  

Watch We are Warlike people - By George Carlin.  For U.S political and military intervention, refer to Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace – By Gore Vidal

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Large Symbols Like Peruvian Signs Found on Gujarat Hillside 

Vadodara, Gujarat, India. August 6, 2006: Geologists have discovered a striking archaeological feature on a hillock in the Kutch district of the western Indian state of Gujarat. This feature is shaped like the Roman numeral VI. Each arm of this feature is a trench that is about two meters wide, two meters deep and more than 100 meters long. The feature has evoked the curiosity of archaeologists because such signs have mostly been observed so far in Peru. The team, led by Dr RV Karanth, a former professor of geology at the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara, Gujarat, has been involved in a palaeoseismological study of the Kutch region for the past 11 years Palaeoseismology involves the study of sediments, landforms and other geological evidence of past earthquakes to unravel their history and determine the nature and occurrence of present-day earthquakes. This feature was discovered at a hillock 3km from the sleepy oasis township of Khavda, which is also known as the gateway to the Rann of Kutch, an extensive salt marsh of western India and southeast Pakistan between the Gulf of Kutch and the Indus river delta.

Dr. Karanth says such trenches have not been noticed elsewhere in the region. Archaeologists, he says, can now pursue further research. Geometric lines and animal shapes etched into the desert plain by people of the Nazca civilisation (AD 1-700) of Peru are well known. "But such signs on hill-slopes have not been reported from Peru," says Dr. Karanth. He says that one of the prominent explanations given for the Peruvian features is that they may have been constructed to make astronomical observations and calculations. "The Tropic of Cancer passes through Kutch. So if this structure is man-made, it is likely that the slope of the hillock was utilized for making certain astronomical calculations in the past," explains the geologist. Interestingly, there are numerous indications to suggest that Harappans were well-versed in astronomy. The straight streets of that time were oriented in the cardinal directions - east, west, north and south. Linkages between ancient Harappan scripts and latter Vedic texts also suggest that Harappan priest-astronomers tracked the progress of various planets and mapped the sky. Dr. Karanth has also discovered ruins of a fort-wall, houses, storage tank and a temple on the hilltop.

(source: Large Symbols Like Peruvian Signs Found on Gujarat Hillside - bbcnews.co.uk). For more refer to chapter on India on Pacific Waves and Vimanas.

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Vedic India and the Primordial Tradition

Vishnunabhi is the navel of Lord Vishnu, the emanation point of the cosmos.

According to John Major Jenkins, a leading independent researcher of ancient cosmology:

"Our understanding of the true age of the ancient Vedic civilization has undergone a well-documented revolution. Feuerstein, Frawley, and Kak have shown conclusively (In Search of the Cradle of Civilization) that the long-accepted age of the Vedic culture—erroneously dated by scholars parading a series of assumptions and unscientific arguments to roughly 1500 BC—is much too recent. Evidence comes from geological, archaeological, and literary sources as well as the astronomical references within Vedic literature. The corrected dating to eras far prior to 1500 BC was made possible by recognizing that precessional eras are encoded in Vedic mythology, and were recorded by ancient Vedic astronomers. As a result, the Indus Valley civilization appears to be a possible cradle of civilization, dated conservatively to  7000 BC. Western India may thus be a true source of the civilizing impulse that fed Anatolia in Turkey, with its complex Goddess-worshipping city-states of Çatal Hüyük and Hacilar. However, there are layers upon layers of even older astronomical references, and legends persist that the true “cradle” might be found further to the north, in Tibet or nearby Central Asia.  

The work of these three writers shows that biases and assumptions within scholarly discourse can prevent an accurate modeling of history and an underestimation of the accomplishments of ancient cultures. The analogous situation in modern Egyptology and Mesoamerican studies also requires that well-documented new theories — often exhaustively argued, interdisciplinary, and oriented toward a progressive synthesis of new data — should be appraised fairly and without bias. 

Next to the Australian aborigines, the Vedic civilization is perhaps the oldest continuous living tradition in the world. Its extremely ancient doctrines and insights into human spirituality are unsurpassed. We might expect that its cosmology and science of time has been as misunderstood as its true antiquity. In looking closely at Vedic doctrines of time, spiritual growth, calendars, and astronomy, we will see that a central core idea is that of our periodic alignment to the Galactic Center. And, according to these ancient Vedic beliefs, the galactic alignment we are currently experiencing heralds our shift from a millennia-long descent of deepening spiritual darkness to a new era of light and ascending consciousness. "

Lord Vishnu is the infinite ocean from which the world emerges - Lord is shown lying down on a thousand-headed snake (named Shesha or Ananta Nag - Timeless or Ageless snake).

According to ancient Vedic beliefs, the galactic alignment we are currently experiencing heralds our shift from a millennia-long descent of deepening spiritual darkness to a new era of light and ascending consciousness. "

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Vishnunabhi: Yugas and Galactic Center

One of the oldest writings in Vedic literature comes from a pseudo-historical god-man called Manu. René Guénon pointed out that Manu belongs to a family of related archetypal figures, which include Melchezidek, Metatron, St Michael, Gabriel, and Enoch. As an angelic inspiration for the rebirth of humanity at the dawn of a new era, or Manvantara, Manu is the primal law-giver, and his laws were recorded in the extremely ancient Vedic text called the Laws of Manu. Much of its contents describe moral and ethical codes of right behavior, but there is a section that deals with the ancient Vedic doctrine of World Ages - the Yugas. Manu indicates that a period of 24,000 years — clearly a reference to precession — consists of a series of four yugas or ages, each shorter and spiritually darker than the last.  In one story this process of increasing limitation is envisioned as a cosmic cow standing with each leg in one quarter of the world; with each age that passes a leg is lost, resulting in the absurd and unstable world we live in today—a cow balancing on one leg.   

According to the information in the Laws of Manu, the morning and twilight periods between the dawn of each new era equals one-tenth of its associated yuga, as shown in the following table: 

Dawn  Era   Dusk   Total          Name 

400 + 4000 + 400 = 4800 years. Satya Yuga (Golden Age)
300 + 3000 + 300 = 3600 years. Treta Yuga (Silver Age)
200 + 2000 + 200 = 2400 years. Dwapara Yuga (Bronze Age)
100 + 1000 + 100 = 1200 years. Kali Yuga (Iron Age) 
                            12,000 years 

In Vedic mythology, a fabled dawn time existed in the distant past, when human beings had direct contact with the divine intelligence emanating from Brahma—the seat of creative power and intelligence in the cosmos. This archaic Golden Age (the Satya Yuga) lasted some 4800 years. After the Golden Age ended, humanity entered a denser era, that of the Silver Age, lasting only 3600 years. In this age, humanity’s connection with the source was dimmed, and sacrifices and spiritual practices became necessary to preserve it.  The Bronze Age followed, and humanity forgot its divine nature. Empty dogmas arose, along with indulgence in materialism. Next we entered the Kali Yuga—in which we remain today—where the human spirit suffers under gross materialism, ignorance, warfare, stupidity, arrogance, and everything contrary to our divine spiritual potential.  

As the teachings tell, Kali, the creator-destroyer Goddess, will appear at the end of Kali Yuga to sweep away the wasted detritus of a spirit-dead humanity, making way for a new cycle of light and peace. Notice that the Manu text takes us from a pinnacle of light to the ultimate end-point of the process—the darkness of Kali Yuga. And notice that the four ages, when the overlap period is added, amounts to only half of the 24,000-year period of the Vedic Yuga cycle.

(source: Galactic Alignment - By John Major Jenkins).

Lord Vishnu - 5th century.

The Indian astronomers went even further, giving a physical reason for how the dual star or binary motion might allow the rise and fall of human consciousness to occur. They said that the Sun (with the Earth and other planets) traveled along its set orbital path with its companion start, it would cyclically move close to, then away from, a point in space referred to as Vishnunabhi, a supposed magnetic center or "grand center". 

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The Indian astronomers went even further, giving a physical reason for how the dual star or binary motion might allow the rise and fall of human consciousness to occur. They said that the Sun (with the Earth and other planets) traveled along its set orbital path with its companion start, it would cyclically move close to, then away from, a point in space referred to as Vishnunabhi, a supposed magnetic center or "grand center". They implied that being close to this region caused subtle changes in human consciousness that brought about the Golden Age, and conversely, our separation from it resulted in an age of great darkness, the Kali Yuga or Dark Age. "When the Sun in its revolution around its dual comes to the place nearest to this grand center, ... (an event which takes place when the autumnal equinox comes to the first point of Aries), dharma, the mental virtue, becomes so much developed that man can easily comprehend all, even the mysteries of the Spirit." 

(source: Lost Star of Myth and Time - By Walter Cruttenden). Also refer to Hamlet's Mill - By Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend.  

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Ram Sethu - The Earliest and largest carbon-fiber reinforced civil engineering structure known to man
Floating stones found in Rameshwaram

Do stones float in water? The answer would be a certain no. But in the island of Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu, stones, it seems, do float in water. Difficult to believe-but it's a reality.

Floating stones of Rameshwaram have a mythological twist to it. According to the Hindu mythological epic Ramayana, which was supposed to have taken place over 17 million years ago, Lord Rama and his army of monkeys used stones to build a bridge across the Palk Strait to link Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka. Legend as well as archaeological findings indicate the first signs of human inhabitation in Sri Lanka date back to the primitive age and it is assumed that the bridge's age is also almost equivalent.

Sign Petition - Save Ramar Sethu.  Refer to Save Ram Sethu and The Bridge of Ram and Dharmagraha

That is the memory so beautifully adopted by the Geological Survey of India in its logo, which describes India in this line etched at the bottom of its insignia -- Aasetu Himachal, meaning India is spread between the Bridge and the Himalayas. That is the Ram Setu Bridge on the southern tip of our motherland, an identity of the nation, under destruction now.

For more on Ramayana, refer to chapters Vimanas, Hindu Scriptures, Dwaraka, War in Ancient India,  Survarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor.

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G. Mohan Das, a local historian and caretaker of the stones in the temple, said that these stones could have been the kind used to build the mythological bridge.

"The history of these floating stones is that when Lord Rama made a bridge to trek to Lanka to bring back his consort Sita, these are the same stones used. But today's educated people do not agree to it. They believe it is a coral which is in Australia, Chennai, in small islands. We believe there is no difference in these stones. Both the stones do not have air in them. The composition is the same and it has 40 kinds of chemicals," he said.

Space images taken by NASA reveal a series of rock outcrops in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. Some historians say these could be the part of the mythological bridge linking Indian peninsula with Sri Lanka island.

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NASA Photos Reveal Bridge to Lanka

NASA’s statement accompanying the above photograph says:

“The bridge's unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it is man-made. Legend as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge's age is also almost equivalent.”

According to the Ramayana, Lord Rama built a bridge to Lanka in ancient times, and the new photos greatly intrigue Hindus.

Space images taken by NASA reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. The recently discovered bridge currently named as Adam´s Bridge is made of chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long.

The bridge´s unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it is man made. The legends as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the a primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge´s age is also almost equivalent.

This information is a crucial aspect for an insight into the mysterious legend called Ramayana, which was supposed to have taken place in tredha yuga (more than 1,700,000 years ago).

In this epic, there is a mentioning about a bridge, which was built between Rameshwaram (India) and Srilankan coast under the supervision of a dynamic and invincible figure called Rama who is supposed to be the incarnation of the supreme.

This information may not be of much importance to the archeologists who are interested in exploring the origins of man, but it is sure to open the spiritual gates of the people of the world to have come to know an ancient history linked to the Indian mythology.

According to encyclopedia.com (rä´me) or Rama's Bridge, chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long, in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. At high tide it is covered by c.4 ft (1.2 m) of water. A steamer ferry links Rameswaram, India, with Mannar, Sri Lanka. According to Hindu legend, the bridge was built to transport Rama, hero of the Ramayana, to the island to rescue his wife from the demon king Ravanna.

(source: http://www.indolink.com/Religion/r091702-130924.php and Floating stones found in Rameshwaram).

15 kg Rameshwaram rock that stays afloat

Weighing 15 kg, the rock does not sink in water. The devotees believe it is a fragment of the "rocks huge as autumn clouds'', as described in Valmiki Ramayan, used to built the Ram Setu by Nala, the son of Vishwakarma. 

Mahavir Mandir Trust secretary Acharya Kishore Kunal said he brought this "floating'' stone from Hanuman Temple at Rameshwaram. "I was told that during the devastating cyclone of 1964 many such floating pieces from the Ram Setu were found scattered near Rameshwaram,'' he said.

"The availability of these floating stones gives evidence to the account of Valmiki on the construction of Ram Setu which is described the Yudha Kand of the Ramayana,'' he said. 

Sage (Rishi) Valmiki writing the Grand epic of The Ramayana. 

"Divine poem, ocean of milk!"

"Whoever has done or willed too much let him drink from this deep cup a long draught of life and youth........Everything is narrow in the West - Greece is small and I stifle; Judea is dry and I pant. Let me look toward lofty Asia, and the profound East for a little while. There lies my great poem, as vast as the Indian ocean, blessed, gilded with the sun, the book of divine harmony wherein is no dissonance. A serene peace reigns there, and in the midst of conflict an infinite sweetness, a boundless fraternity, which spreads over all living things, an ocean (without bottom or bound) of love, of pity, of clemency." 

Such was the first and enduring impression made on Jules Michelet (1798 -1874) French writer and historian by the Ramayana.

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Sage Valmiki wrote: 

"Now let a wondrous task be done, By Nala, Vishwakarma's son, Who, born of one of Vanar race, Inherits by his father's grace, a share of his celestial art, Call Nala to perform his part, And he, divinely taught and skilled, A bridge athwart the sea shall build... Then the great bridge of wondrous strength was built... Rocks huge as autumn clouds bound fast, with cordage from the shore were cast...''

(source: 15 kg Rameshwaram rock that stays afloat - The Times of India Date: October 3, 2007),

The Rama Sethu is a man-made formation. 

S Badrinarayanan, former director of Geological Survey of India and a member of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) says the Adam's Bridge was not a natural formation.

He has opined that:  

"Coral reefs are formed only on hard surfaces. But during the study we found that the formation at Adam's Bridge is nothing but boulders of coral reefs. When we drilled for investigation, we found that there was loose sand two to three meters below the reefs. Hard rocks were found several meters below the sand. Such a natural formation is impossible. Unless somebody has transported them and dumped them there, those reefs could not have come there. Some boulders were so light that they could float on water. Apparently, whoever has done it, has identified light (but strong) boulders to make it easy for transportation. Since they are strong, they can withstand a lot of weight. It should be preserved as a national monument."

Such a natural formation is impossible. Unless somebody has transported them and dumped them there, those reefs could not have come there. Some boulders were so light that they could float on water. Apparently, whoever has done it, has identified light (but strong) boulders to make it easy for transportation. Since they are strong, they can withstand a lot of weight. It should be preserved as a national monument,” he opined.

He also cautioned that once the channel connected the turbulent Bay of Bengal and the calm Gulf of Mannar, it could spell doom for the southern Tamil Nadu coastline. During the tsunamis, it was Adam’s Bridge and Sri Lanka that saved the southern coastline when Nagapattinam and other northern shores were ravaged.

“Such comforts would not be there in future if this man-made barrier is cut open,” he added.

(source: Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project: A Good Thing Done Badly! - By Sundara Krishnaswami indiacause.com and Dummy’s guide to Ramar Bridge - mumbaimirror.com).

Hindu Baiting and a Cowardly Deed?

A Non-Hindu Christian Congress Party Union Cabinet Minister for Culture Mrs. Ambika Soni spoke like an Occidental Christian Despot of the Middle Ages when she recently informed the Lok Sabha: 

''There is no archeological or historical evidence regarding the existence or otherwise of the Rama Sethu Bridge or Adam's Bridge in Rameswaram'' 

Ram Sethu aerial photo.

"rocks huge as autumn clouds'', as described in Valmiki Ramayan, used to built the Ram Setu by Nala, the son of Vishwakarma. 

(photo source: Contributed by a visitor this website).

From the original Ramayana of Maharishi Valmiki down to Kamba's great work in Tamil and Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas, the story of Lord Ram has been told and retold in almost every language of the world. The Ramayana's story was by no means confined to India and, "its fragrance has traveled across the whole of South and Southeast Asia ."

Hindu Baiting and a Cowardly deed? - The unsavoury saga of the UPA Government first denying the existence of Lord Ram through an affidavit in the Supreme Court, thus unleashing outrage across the nation, and then hastening to deny its earlier denial through a fresh affidavit.

***

The Union Minister for Shipping T.R.Balu and the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi are committed to the supreme Dravidian cause of destruction of the Rama Sethu Bridge just in order to deal a death blow to the sacred feelings and susceptibilities of millions and millions of Hindus in India and the world. Karunanidhi and T.R.Balu, deathly enemies of Eternal Hinduism, have shown again and again that they are no less ignorant than Mrs.Ambika Soni in their Himalyaan ignorance of historically established facts about the Rama Sethu Bridge or Adam's Bridge .  

Historical Records of Rama Bridge

To silence if not to outwit the arrogant, irresponsible Cabinet Ministers in high office in New Delhi and Madras today, I would like to cite a few references from printed books and documents where there are textual references to Rama's Bridge or Adam's Bridge or Sethu Bandhana.

Marco Polo (1254 -1324) was a Venetian trader and explorer who gained fame for his worldwide travels, recorded in his book IL MILIONE (''The Million'' or The Travels of Marco Polo). He visited several ports in India. A book ''On The travels of Marco Polo'' translated by Marsden into English was published in England in 1854. In this book Rama's Bridge has been described as SETABUND-RAMESWARA which only means Setu-Bandha (page-380).  

The Rameswaram temple

Lord Ram worshiped Lord Shiva at Rameswaram with Lakshmana and Hanuman at his side.

(source: British Library).

***

A Catalogue of the Mammals in the Museum of the Hon. East-India Company, East India Company Museum written by Thomas Horsfield (1773-1859), was published in England in 1851. In this Catalogue, Rama's Bridge was used as a reference point to define the expanse of Bharatam. We can see from this Catalogue, adequate pointers to the rich biodiversity of the flora and fauna of Rameshwaram and its environs.

Sir William Jones (1746-1794) in his ''Discourses delivered before the Asiatic society'' published in 1801 (p. 29) has observed as follows:

“The characters, in which the languages of India were originally written, are called Nagarai, from Nagara, a city with the word Deva sometimes prefixed, because they are believed to have been taught by the Divinity himself, who prescribed the aritificial order of them in a voice from heaven. These letters, with no greater variation in their form by the change of straight lines to curves, or conversely, than the Cusick alphabet has received in its way to India, are still adopted in more then twenty kingdoms and flates, from the borders of Cashgar and Khoten, to Rama’s Bridge, and from the “Sindhu to the river of Siam. Nor can I help believing”

Arnold Hermann (1835) in his ''Historical researches into the politics, intercourse, and trade of the principal nations of antiquity'' translated from the German into English, Oxford University Press (p.89) wrote:

“Six years before Christ. The particular object of this inscription is to record the liberality of a certain renowned conqueror named Deb Pal Deb, who overran all India, from the sources of the Ganges to Rama’s bridge at Ceylon, which “is celebrated in the Ramayana.”  

William Yates, 1846, A dictionary of Sanscrit and English, designed for the use of private students and of Indian colleges and schools, Baptist Mission Press, (p.821)

"Samudra m. A Shark, a whale; Rama’s bridge, marine mari"         

The entry, samudraaru or samudraarah is given the meaning: Rama's bridge.

Vanara Sena Rama Setu Sculpture at
The Prambanan Temple in Indonesia.

The Ramayana has massively influenced the entire Asian landmass, there are probably as many versions and interpretations of the Ramayana as there are Rama-bhaktas. All variants are legitimate, like myriad paths in quest of the Ultimate Truth. From Sangam poetics to the bhakti of the Alwar saints, the classical rendition of Kamban, the grand philosophy of Ramanuja, the soulful depths of Thiagaraja, and the sheer energy of Therukuttu (street theatre), 'what was built forever is forever being built.'

For more refer to chapters on Suvarnabhumi, Sacred Angkor and Glimpses XII to Glimpses XIX. 

***

Charlotte Speir Manning, George Scharf, 1856, ''Life in Ancient India '', Oxford University Press (p. 117).

“Rama and all the allied forces marched down to the Coromandel coast , and making a bridge by casting rocks into the sea passed quickly into Lanka. Vestiges of Rama’s bridge may still be seen, occasionally much inconvenience to navigators, who are obliged to lighten heavy burdened vessels before they can pass the rocks and sandbanks of “the Straits of Manaar. After fighting a few battles, the…”      

Lodovico de Varthema, George Percy Badger, John Winter Jones, 1863, The travels of Ludovico di Varthema in Egypt , Syria , Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia , India ..., Published for the Hakluyt Society, London (Translated into English from the original Italian edition), (p.185)

''...The expedition of Ram to Ceylon, and his victory over Rhavan or Rhaban, King of that island, is one of the fables of Hindu mythology, but he passed into the island at the strait, since called, by the Mohamedans, Adam's Bridge. The whole country round, in consequence of this, preserves the memorial of his conquest. There is a Ramanad-buram on the continent close to the Bridge; a Rami-Ceram, or country of Ram, the island close to the continent; [Rameswaram, called Rammanana Kojel by Baldaeus, and Ramonan Coil by D'Anville;] and a Point Rama on the continent.

The Bridge itself, formed by the shoals between Rami-ceram and Mannar, is Rama's Bridge; and in Rami-ceram is Ramar-Koil, the temple of Ram . This Koil or temple (Koil means temple in Malayalim) is undoubtedly the origin of Koru; and the repetition of it three times in Ptolemy is in perfect correspondence with the allusion to Ram at the present''

(source: Rama Sethu: Historic facts vs political fiction - IV – By V Sundaram - newstodaynet.com)

Lord John Sinclair Pentland (1860 – 1925) was Governor of Madras from 1912 to 1919. He visited Rameshwaram in 1914 when Sir Alexander Tottenham (1873-1946) was the District Collector of Ramanathapuram. Lord Pentland was so overwhelmed by what he saw in Rameshwaram that he wrote as follows to Lord Hardinge, the then Viceroy of India:

"'For me Rameshwaram, very much like India as a whole is the real world. We English men live in a mad house of abstractions. Vital life in Rameshwaram has not yet withdrawn into the capsule of the head. It is the whole body that lives. No wonder the English man feels dreamlike: the complete life of Rameshwaram is something of which he merely dreams.... I did not see an English man in India who really lived there. They are all living in England , that is, in a sort of bottle filled with English air.... History can be events or memory of events.... along the Bay of Bengal the Madras Presidency runs, with the well-governed city of Madras at its centre and the sublime and glorious temples of Tanjore, Tiruchi, Madurai and Rameshwaram adorning its Southern boundaries. And then Adam's Bridge- a reef of sunken islands' beckons us across the Palk Straits to Ceylon , where civilisation flourished more than 2000 years ago....Linga stones may be seen in many places on the highways in my Presidency. Hindus break upon them the coconuts which they are about to offer in sacrifice. Usually the phallic ritual is simple and becoming; it consists in anointing the stone with consecrated water or oil, and decorating it with leaves. At the Rameshwaram temple, the Linga stone is daily washed with Ganga water, which is afterwards sold to the pious, as holy water or mesmerized water has been sold in Europe . All these are a little part of my beloved Presidency - indeed my favourite India . Right from the dawn of history, India is extraordinarily continuous in time. In space, on the other hand, it is extraordinarily discontinuous....from early times in India , it is ethnology, philology, and archaeology that give and will give us some notions of the truth. From archaeology much can be expected. I would earnestly request you to direct the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to undertake an extensive and intensive survey of Rameshwaram and its beautiful environs, particularly with reference to the historic and primordial Adam's Bridge'. 

This very request of Lord Pentland has been made again by Dr Subramanian Swamy in his letter to Mrs Ambika Soni last month.

(source: Rama Sethu: Historic facts vs political fiction - I - By V Sundaram - newstodaynet.com). Watch video on Save Ramsetu and Watch History of Ayodhya - videogoogle.com.

Hugh Joseph writes:

 

"I read the story headlined above with great interest. This is a story of major significance, as understanding its implications will turn the entire world of Science and History on its head. This bridge, according to accounts in the Ramayana and the  Srimad-Bhagavatam, was constructed in the age know as Treta, over 2 million years ago.

 

How did the writers without super space-ranging satellites know about the existence of this bridge? In these ancient accounts, written over 5,000 years ago, we find discussions of, among other things, space travel, inter planetary travel, what we call UFOs and what we mistakenly call ETs. This is not only the History of the planet Earth, but also of this Universe, (a mediocre universe among many millions of universes).

 

Here one can also learn the real undisguised and uncontaminated truth about God. Our man-made religions are of little or no value when compared to the stunning and breathtaking revelations found in the pages of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Ramayan, Bhagavad-gita, etc."  

(source: rense.com. For more refer to chapter on Vimanas).

***

A unilateral war  to wipe out Hinduism and Hindu heritage 

"In the contemporary world, there is an intensification of the on going war against Hindus whether by the jehadi pornographer Artist M F Husain trashing the most sacred Hindu objects of veneration, abetted by their own obscene elites, or the brazen denunciation of their ancient epic, the Ramayana by some ASI low-life."

                                                      - Dr. Gautam Sen, Director of Gandhi-Einstein Foundation and Professor (retd) politics of the world economy, London School of Economics and Political Science.

***

Apart from being the ancient-most sacred symbol of Hindu faith and heritage, Ram Sethu symbolises Bharat. 

Religion is a matter of faith. And for Hindus, Ram Sethu is the ancient-most and sacred symbol of their faith, heritage and history. To save Ram Sethu is to save Bharat. Though as per Arnold Toynbee, "Civilizations die from suicide, not murder", a unilateral war is being waged by anti-Hindu forces to wipe out Hinduism and Hindu heritage from earth the way other native cultures and religions have been erased all over the globe. The proposed demolition of Ram Sethu by the Congress-led UPA government is a similar assault on symbols of Hindu religion and Hindu heritage. To save Ram Sethu is to save vast thorium deposits which can meet Bharat's long term energy needs. Saving it also saves vast areas of Bharat from future tsunamis.

Why this undue haste?

The undue haste with which the government is proceeding with Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) shows that it is bent upon demolishing this holy monument. Surprisingly, while five other better and cheaper routes which do not destroy this shrine are available, the route that destroys Ram Sethu has been selected.

Former Supreme Court Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer has cautioned that this project would undermine India 's security concerns with American presence in Sethusamudram waters. Besides, he has mentioned that "The callousness with which such a big project is conceptualized and implemented is an unpardonable act." Moreover, he has termed the project as "an open challenge to age old Hindu beliefs", and has called upon "every Indian to see that this historic and holy monument is protected." 

Remember Ram's message

Sakand Puraan has a touching request from Bhagwan Ram to the future rulers to save Ram Sethu in these words: "Bhooyo bhooyo bhavino bhoomipaala natva natva yaachte Ramchandrah / Samanyo ayam DharmaSethur naranaam kaale kaale paalniyo bhaviddhih" which means, " Ramchandra humbly and repeatedly requests the future rulers to protect this Dharma Sethu at all times."  Since instead of protecting Ram Sethu, the present rulers of Bharat are determined to demolish it, the masses have to protect Ram Sethu and force the government to halt its outrageous move. As this world allows only the fittest to survive, only a pro-active mass movement can force anti-Hindu forces to respect Hindu sentiments, and save Ram Sethu. We must remember that as per Rig Veda (4.33.11), "Na ruteh shrantasya sakhayay devaha" (Gods do not help inactive people). 

(source: Save Ram Sethu to save Bharat – By J.G. Arora). Refer to Stop political abuse of history – interview with Dr S R Rao

Is it a conspiracy to destroy Hindu heritage?
In India we have been callous towards our heritage and legacy.

But when PM Manmohan Singh launched this project, it had under gone changes, which included destruction of Setu-Samudram. 

The destruction of setubandh Rameshwaram is being carried out by foreign contractors. The Ramayana depicts this bandh vividly. It is a great center of Hindu pilgrimage since it was constructed by Shri Ram. Hindus are agitated over its ongoing destruction. 

Setubandh might have been dismissed as mythology. But a few years back NASA based report released by PTI stated, 

"The NASA Shuttle has imaged a mysterious bridge between India and Sri Lanka , as mentioned in the Ramayana. The evidence, say experts matter of fact, is in the Digital Image Collection. The recently discovered bridge, currently named as Adam's Bridge and made of a chain of shoals, 30 km long, in the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka , reveals mystery behind it. The Bridge's unique curvature and composition reveals that it is man-made. Legend as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to about 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge's age is also almost equivalent." 

However, the fact is that Hindu cosmogony contains descriptions of jal plavan or pralaya followed by total destruction. A small number of survivors had to perform the task of recreation unto them. The tectonic movements of plates also changed geography of the earth and impacted the history of human civilisation. After the great revelation of NASA, the Setubandh Rameshwaram has to be preserved as one of the greatest human heritage. The UN bodies care for such heritage. There are a number of international laws to preserve it. In Australia, the aboriginals as per their faith believe in some mountains to be as sacred as god. The Australian Government had to recognise their faith in mountain gods and the construction of national high way passing over these mountains was shifted.   

The Bridge's unique curvature and composition reveals that it is man-made. Legend as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to about 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge's age is also almost equivalent."   

Had such discovery been related to any developed country, it would have opened floodgates of research. 

As per Hindu cosmogony it was during Treta yuga when the Ram setu was constructed. NASA has assessed the time frame as 17,50,000 years old.   The Ram Sethu is a living miracle, and therefore the Government of India ought to approach UNESCO to get it declared as the 28th World Heritage Site. The Tourism Ministry should also develop the area to vest it with the essential infrastructure so that pilgrims can come from far and wide.

For more on Ramayana, refer to chapters Vimanas, Hindu Scriptures, Dwaraka, War in Ancient India,  Survarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor.

***

Even before NASA's discovery, the existence of the setubandh was known. But NASA's revelations enthralled Indian heart and soul with a sense of pride in its history and civilisational development, including science, technology and architecture of ancient India. Had such discovery been related to any developed country, it would have opened floodgates of research. As per Hindu cosmogony it was during Treta yuga when the Ram setu was constructed. NASA has assessed the time frame as 17,50,000 years old. 

In India we have been callous towards our heritage and legacy. The destruction of setubandh has already started. International companies have been engaged. One should not be surprised if Ram setu is totally destroyed in the name of building Tuticorin sea-port and a sea-canal between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal . There can be ways to save the setubandh as well as go ahead with the development. 

But who cares for preservation of Hindu - heritage and sensitivities. About a month back, a person called Krishna Swarup Pandey came to me and showed me some documents. I was amazed, as the way the Government did every thing in a hurry. After Shankaracharyas and other saints started speaking on it, 140 Tamil Nadu organisations launched an agitation to save it. They are now approaching the Supreme Court with a PIL to save this great Indian heritage.

(source: Is it a conspiracy to destroy Hindu heritage? - By Dina Nath Mishra - dailypioneer.com). Refer to Vedic Roots of Early Tamil Culture - By Michel Danino.

As justice K. T. Thomas, retired supreme court justice, says, “India has a tradition of respecting peoples’ sentiments”.

Swami Paramatmananda Saraswati, secretary of the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, points out that for millions of Hindus,

“Rama is deeply personal”. As a non-Hindu or as a non-believer in God, you may not recognize or acknowledge Rama. That is fine. However, whether one acknowledges it or not, there is a personal aspect of Rama in everyone’s life. Because the word “Rama” denotes “the attractive power” (“ramyathe ithi ramaha”). Sans this “attractive pull”, we will not be able to orbit around the sun, will not be able to walk on the earth, will not be loving our children, will not be attracted to a flower, a delectable sweet on the table, position of power, wealth, scholarship or to a word of praise. There is an “attractive power” prevalent all around, alright! The Hindus believe this “attractive power” took the human form named Rama, lived a life illustrating the ideal human and societal conducts and in the process built the sethu to cross the sea to reach Lanka from India.

This is described in detail in the Indian history books – not the version distorted and doctrine by the British and taught in our schools today - but the history books, called ithihasas (“ithi ha asah” – “this is the way it was”) written by our advanced human ancestors. The belief or the non-belief in the ithihasa is not the issue. It is enough to understand and appreciate that there are some believers, and that Rama is deeply personal to them. The courtesy of respecting the belief of fellow human beings and the aptitude to harmonize the differences of opinions and beliefs are what give to rise to a peaceful and civilized society." 

Retired Supreme Court of India justice V.R.Krishna Iyer has stated in his letter to the Prime Minister of India that:

“If the enclosed paper states the facts with scientific objectivity and national anxiety, my appeal to you to stop building bridge or any other construction , an action hostile to the nation and its swaraj.” Another retired Supreme Court justice Mr. K.T.Thomas states, “ After listening to the opinions of various experts, I now feel that the expected seriousness has not been pondered over (by GOI).... We have always been at peace in this area and no war has been waged in these waters...this requires a national debate... the project must be stopped” Justice K.T.Thomas goes on to urge the formation of a multi-disciplinary panel of experts to consider this issue from the strategic, oceanic and religious aspects and determine a proper re-alignment.

(source: Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project : A Good Thing Done Badly! - By Sundara Krishnaswami indiacause.com).

***

Save Ram Setu  - History, ecology are at stake  

When the Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan statues, the world reacted with shocked horror at this act of barbarism. What the UPA Government proposes to do to Ram Setu, also known as Adam's Bridge , is no less horrifying. 

As may be recalled, the Setusamudram Ship Channel Project aims to create a navigable sea route, between the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay , by slicing the Ram Setu in order to reduce the sailing distance between India 's coasts. Consequently, the Ram Setu, of known spiritual significance to Hindus, will be destroyed through extensive dredging. In fact, there are sound reasons for rejecting the project, as conceived at present, other than the important one of protecting the site for its cultural and religious worth. Among them, what are weighty are the objections that pertain to its wide-ranging environmental impact. For instance, experts have claimed shifts in the flows of currents would adversely affect sensitive ecosystems, as would the increasing possibility of damaging oil spills. It is estimated that fragile marine life, such as delicate corals, would be destroyed through the various processes unleashed. Life on the mainland would not remain unaffected as changes in seawater flows and temperature would impact climate and affect rainfall in coastal areas even as erosion could increase. Most importantly, experts inform us, the Ram Setu forms a barrier that blocks tsunamis, in the absence of which the entire coasts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu could be endangered. Were this not reason enough, Thorium deposits in Kerala and Tamil Nadu may be affected, upsetting India 's indigenous nuclear programme. It is significant that the Sir Mudaliar Committee Report of 1956 had recommended the abandonment of the idea of such a project, finding the channel alignment unsuitable. 

The argument about the spiritual significance of the site is no less compelling. It is neither here nor there to argue that there is little scientific evidence to prove that Adam's Bridge is manmade. For, within each spiritual tradition are matters purely of belief for which no rational explanations or scientific proofs are available. Thus Christians believe in the immaculate conception, the Jews that the Red Sea parted for Moses, and Muslims that Islam was revealed to the Prophet through the divine agency of Angel Gabriel. The Hindu belief that Hanuman's vanar sena built a bridge to Lanka that allowed Ram to cross over, fell Ravana and rescue Sita is in a similar vein and should hardly be scoffed at. The historicity of the event has little relevance to the debate, though it is possible that, as Indians were prone to oral narratives rather than written records, facts are likely to be the basis of the Ramayan. As the sentiments of hundreds of millions of people are involved, these cannot be trumped by the views of an individual Minister in a democracy. Nothing explains the unholy hurry in going ahead with the project except the need to pander to the crassest financial interests.

(source: Save Ram Setu - dailypioneer.com - The Pioneer Edit Desk – June 12 2007).

***

UPA Government destroying India's Ancient Heritage?

Sir Monier Williams (1860-1888) an Indologist and head of the Oxford's Boden Chair has identified Nalasetu as the present day's Adam's Bridge (or what we call Ramar-Setu). Here is the description of the term as found in the Monnier Williams Sanskrit-English dictionary.

Nalasetu - setu m. 'Nala bridge', the causeway constructed by the monkey Nala for Rāma from the continent to Lankā (the modern Adam's Bridge).

Sign Petition - Save Ramar Sethu. Refer to Save Ram Sethu and The Bridge of Ram and Dharmagraha

***

The Ram Sethu (Adam's bridge) causeway must have been a major engineering feat for its thin trace is still so clearly visible on the present day satellite images (Joseph 2004). It has resisted the relentless erosion of the sea for almost 2 million years and it attests to the great engineering skills of the ancient Indian people. It is the earliest and largest carbon-fibre reinforced civil engineering structure known to man and should be protected as a world heritage site. 

Ram Sethu - A great engineering skill of ancient Indian people.

Construction of such a long bridge is a marvel in itself. Even the longest bridges of today, dwarf against the Rama’s bridge which is 30Kms. It should be regarded as an eight wonder, much significant than the Pyramids and all others, due to the bridge’s age as well as it’s longevity which stays to this day.

(image source: madhoo.com).

Sign Petition - Save Ramar Sethu.  Refer to Save Ram Sethu and The Bridge of Ram and Dharmagraha

***

A shallow seismic survey could be used to detect the strong reflection acoustic signal of lignite formed from decayed wood in the framework of the causeway and this will guide later drilling programs where the actual structure of the causeway could be investigated. 

(source: Correlations between Hindu Cosmology, Sea Level Curves and African -Asian Hominid Dating - By Malcolm P. R. Light).

***

Don't Touch Rama's Bridge  
Historical facts  

Map showing Ram Setu 

No self-respecting Hindu must permit this vandalism of the Ram Sethu.

Sign Petition - Save Ramar Sethu. Refer to Save Ram Sethu and The Bridge of Ram and Dharmagraha

For more on Ramayana, refer to chapters Vimanas, Hindu Scriptures, Dwaraka, War in Ancient India,  Survarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor.

***

This structure of close to 48 kilometers which is 3 to 30 feet deep through its course and was well above the sea level till the 15th century. The oldest recorded map that mentions of Rama’s Bridge is the Malabar Bowen Map of Netherlands which is supposed to have been made in 1747, where the map mentions no name to the bridge but has mention about a place Ramencoil. Further, the same place is mentioned again in a 1788 Map of Hindoostan available in the Sarasvathi Mahal Library, Thanjavur.  

This bridge has also been mentioned by James Rennel (1742-1830), was the First Surveyor General of the East India Company, in his earliest maps of India 1788 as Rama’s Bridge. However, Rennel carefully and tactfully renamed the bridge as Adam’s Bridge in his 1804 version of the map.

Ram Sethu bridge.

On the basis of Hindu scriptures, it is a widely held opinion that Rama Setu is the formation to facilitate Vishnu Avatara Maryada Purushottama Sri Rama and his army to cross the Palk Strait, as described in detail in Valmiki Ramayana and other scriptures.

This bridge has also been mentioned by James Rennel in his earliest maps of India 1788 as Rama’s Bridge. However, Rennel carefully and tactfully renamed the bridge as Adam’s Bridge in his 1804 version of the map.

For more on Ramayana, refer to chapters Vimanas, Hindu Scriptures, Dwaraka, War in Ancient India,  Survarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor.

Watch Video on Save Ramsetu. Refer to Save Ram Sethu and The Bridge of Ram and Dharmagraha

***

Lying dormant under the waters, the bridge again came into light after the NASA’s satellite pictures released in the early 1990s created curiosity among historians and excitement among Dharmics. Tales started going around on the date of Rama’s Bridge starting from 1.75 million years to 3500 years. NASA though accepted the authenticity of the pictures, however refused to comment on the dating.  

Few dating attempts have been made after that. While the Sri Lankan Archeological Department dates the bridge to close to 2 million years old, Centre For Remote Sensing, Bharathidasan University dated it close to 3500 years old.  

Few questions need to be asked:  

1)     First and foremost question is that whether the said bridge is man-made or a geological phenomenon.

2) If it were a geological phenomenon it would assume a great importance for geologists and scientists, making it very important for us to preserve it. It would probably become the oldest natural rock formation in India and the biggest and oldest natural rock formation of the world and the only one under the sea.

3) If it were man-made but not built by Rama, still it is of extreme importance as an archeological site. Probably it would classify as one of the man-made wonders of the world and the oldest ever man-made bridge to exist.

4) If archeologists and theologists can prove it to be anywhere closer related to Shri Rama, the importance would be the greatest, since it has a religious connotation and probably the biggest find relating the religion (especially Dharmic) and also of archeological importance attached with religion.  

Answers to these questions would certainly direct us to only one conclusion – the Rama’s Bridge should not be touched for demolition. It might/might not be a religious site, but it is certainly beyond even what we call as “precious”. It is a natural phenomenon which has surprised scientists and geologists by its sheer existence.

If Indian government tries demolishing Rama’s bridge for enabling a shipping canal project, I might probably even think that the government might take Qutab Minar off the place because it disrupts traffic. I do not think the UPA (United Progressive ? Alliance) government would want themselves to be equated with the Taliban who destroyed Bamiyan Budhas while the whole world witnessed.

In both cases of Taliban and UPA government the action is the same, destroying of world heritage, while only the motive is different.

(source: Don't Touch Rama's Bridge - By Ashwin Kumar Iyer - haindavakeralam.org).  Refer to chapter on Suvarnabhumi, Sacred Angkor and Glimpses XII to Glimpses XIX. Prosecute these atheist bullies (The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) – By A Surya Prakash.

It is sadly evident that Ms Sonia Gandhi is manipulating the UPA to subordinate India to the US-dominated world order. The nuclear deal strips India of nuclear autonomy and makes it a pawn in Washington 's contests with China and Iran . It targets India 's right to procure enriched uranium; reprocess fuel in fast-breeder reactors; and, eventually switch to thorium as fissile material. The first two stages of our nuclear cycle are visibly under attack; informed sources say Ram Setu is intended to destroy our thorium sources.

Scientists like former President APJ Abdul Kalam believe thorium is the route to energy independence.

(source: Deal dilutes autonomy – By Sandhya Jain – August 21, 2007 Edit page dailypioneer.com).

Mahatma Gandhi dreamt of Ram Raj

"If Sonia Gandhi and her children do not have faith in Mahatma Gandhi, his belief and in Lord Ram, then they should not use his name along with their names." Ram Raj was Mahatma Gandhi's "political vision while his spiritual vision was Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram" and his ultimate belief and the last words were Hey Ram. "Will the Congress-led UPA, which dared to question the existence of Lord Ram, do the same for Prophet Mohammad revered by Muslims or, for that matter, the religious icon of other faiths." "Neither British rulers nor Mughal emperors questioned the existence of Lord Ram. But this Government is doing it. They are doing what even Aurangazeb and Clive had not done."

Logic of Stones and Bones?

Sri Rama, who existed in the hearts of millions and millions of faithfuls for thousands of years, ceased to exist, and became a myth for the UPA government. On Thursday, the secular government quickly turned round and admitted that Rama was real after all. See the sequence to this somersault. On 9/11, the UPA Government told the Supreme Court on oath that Sri Rama was just a myth and the Ramayana, no more than fable.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) told us so, swore the government. Left historians welcomed the government stand as objective. What is the logic that made Rama a myth? That was the logic of stones and bones. The ASI needs stones to read history and historians need, in addition, bones to understand it. Neither does any stone left by Rama, nor does any bone of Rama, exist. So, they ask, how could Rama have existed ever without the bone-stone testimony. Humans do not matter to ASI. And historians cannot accept that humans are as objective as bones and stones are. So oral traditions of humans are no evidence to either of them.

On this bone-stone objective test, Valmiki and Tulsidas, the government told the Supreme Court, are all like Joanne K Rowling. And Rama, just another Harry Potter, the character Rowling has created. Reports say that the government had filed over 400 pages of records to assert this. But why did the government try to make a Harry Potter out of Rama who resides in the heart of crores and crores?  If Sri Rama was a myth, Rama Setu was too would be as much a myth. That is why, on Tuesday, the government declared Sri Rama as non-est.

This forced the government to began the disowning game. The Prime Minister told LK Advani that he was not aware of anything about the affidavit. This should be taken as true as he is unaware of most things in the government. The Home Minister repeated the same thing. And so did even the Law Minister! In hours, the affidavit saying Rama was a myth stood orphaned. But then how calm down the tsunami of public reaction? There entered Sonia Gandhi - an expert on Rama and Ramayana and also archaeology and history ? - who, the story goes, directly called the Additional Solicitor General, Gopal Subramaniam and disapproved the affidavit declaring Rama as never having existed. Gopal Subramaniam reported it to the Law Minister. The Law Minister then held a press conference and announced "Rama is Rama; he exists like Ganga and Himalaya ".

When the government does unpopular things, whether it is petrol price hike or affidavit on Rama, poor Manmohan Singh and Company will take the hit. But whenever it does anything popular, like petrol price cut or employment guarantee announcement, or the withdrawal of the affidavit on Rama, Sonia Gandhi will take the credit. Now she gets the credit for restoring Rama to history from mythology.

(source: Rama as Harry Potter, Valmiki as JK Rowling – By S. Gurumurthy).

Blasphemous affidavit on Ram Setu
What is ASI's (Archaeological Survey of India) record?

Consider a Greek analogy. For centuries, the Illiad and the saga of the Trojan War were dismissed as Homer's imagination. The Greeks, under foreign rule, were told the cherished epics they raised their children on were nonsense; to borrow from the ASI's affidavit, they "cannot be said to be historical record to incontrovertibly prove the existence of the characters or the occurrence of the events depicted therein". 

It took Heinrich Schliemann (1822 - 1890) a classical history buff and amateur archaeologist, 20 years of excavation in the 1870s and 1880s to establish that Achilles and Hector did actually fight to the death outside the gates of Troy. Where are India 's Schliemanns? 

Not in the ASI.

Professional integrity demands archaeologists and historians attempt to authenticate popular legends. From the life of Jesus to the times of David and Moses, the Bible has lent itself to such endeavour in the Christian and Judaic worlds. In Britain , identifying the real King Arthur and mapping his kingdom has been an honest intellectual pursuit.  

What is the ASI's record? 

A serious, rigorous archaeological expedition that attempts to cross-verify the story as told in the Ramayan will take years, perhaps decades. The ASI has not even begun the task. Nevertheless it is happy to announce Ram is a fabrication. The case of India 's other great folk hero, Krishna , is illuminating. Even after evidence is available of a city submerged off the coast of Gujarat -- roughly corresponding to scriptural accounts of the destruction of Dwaraka by a tsunami-like wave -- attempts are made to undermine the findings. There is cussed insistence that the "underwater city" is not, in fact, Krishna 's capital. It may not be; but how do the Culture Ministry's bureaucrats know?

Many Hindus remember the Saraswati in their daily prayers. Even so, the search for the river is as much a secular imperative as a faith-based one. The Saraswati and the societies and cultures that grew and fell by its side are a part of our legacy; a forensic examination of these, if possible, would tell us how our ancestors lived and worked, ate and entertained. This should be a national enterprise, with ample resources and time dedicated to it; it should not be a political football.

(source: Faith, fact and fiction - By Ashok Malik - dailypioneer.com September 15 2007). Refer to chapters on Dwaraka and Aryan Invasion Theory.

Mocking Hindu Sensibilities?

Lord Ram's influence, beyond the narrow confines of religion, is best explained by Jawaharlal Nehru, (1889-1964) first prime minister of free India, who describes the two great epics -- Ramayan and Mahabharat -- as the "living force" which have become "a part of the texture of a people's life". In The Discovery of India, he says he does not know of any books, anywhere "which have exercised such a continuous and pervasive influence" on the mass mind as these two epics. Further, apart from the influence that these epics have on the national psyche, they are critical to the integrative process. In Nehru's opinion, "They (the epics) make us understand somewhat the secret of the old Indians in holding together a variegated society divided up in many ways and graded in castes, in harmonising their discords, and giving them a common background of heroic tradition and ethical living. Deliberately they tried to build up a unity of outlook among the people, which was to survive and over-shadow all diversity".  

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was among India's most fervent nationalists, fighting for Indian independence from British rule. He had said that he found "the greatest consolation" from Bhagavad Gita and Tulsidas's Ram Charit Manas. 

"I frankly confess that Quran, Bible and the other scriptures of the world, in spite of my great regard for them, do not move me as do Gita of Krishna and Ramayan of Tulsidas."

Guru Nanak visited Rameswaram in 1511. Lord Rama of Ayodhya.

The legend of Ram and Ramayana has primal resonances in the civilization, culture and multiple identities, not only of India and among Hindus, but among the people of the entire South and South-East Asian region.

Sri Rama, who existed in the hearts of millions and millions of faithful for thousands of years, ceased to exist, and became a myth for the UPA government.

Above all we need to remember: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Refer to The first Hindu temple in Communist China

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Sri Guru Nanak (1469 - 1539) visited Rameswaram in 1511 (according to the Sri Gurunanak Sat Sangh Sabha and Educational Society, which maintains the Gurdwara) and stayed for 19 days on his return journey from Sri Lanka, where he had preached the message of universal love, brotherhood and compassion. 

During his stay in Rameswaram, Gurunanak found the water in the island to be saline. But Lo and Behold! The spring that Gurunanak created by digging the soil produced sweet water. The Sikhs have preserved till today the small 'Mandapam,' where Sri Gurunanak stayed along with the fresh water well dug by him.

(source: A lion from Punjab to protect Rama Sethu – By V Sundaram - newstodaynet.com).

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Unabridged edition of secular extremism
From no Ram to Jai Shri Ram, the Government does a u-turn and tries to control the political damage caused by the ASI affidavit on the Ram Setu.

The secular-modernist perception is that it was perfectly legitimate for the ASI to question the historicity of Lord Ram and that the BJP's protests were governed entirely by electoral considerations. The Government, they believe, must steadfastly oppose every attempt to inject issues of faith into economic policy calculations. India's path into the global economic powerhouse, or so the argument goes, must not be cluttered with cultural and religious baggage. The Hindus, they say, have every right to worship elephant and monkey Gods and believe in the Ramayan, but covertly and behind closed doors. After all, they tell us, that Wall Street should not get to know that Hindus regard Hanuman as their answer to Isambard Brunel.

I found an example of this mindless cosmopolitanism in the Style pages of a business newspaper. According to a woman CEO, the publication projected as the personification of corporate power: "People see you as their daughter not as someone who's in charge, if you're wearing a salwar kameez" (or, presumably, a saree). Consequently, "her work wardrobe is filled with jackets, pencil skirts, formal shirts and few shirt dresses." The philosophy behind this advocacy of a sartorial makeover for aspiring Indians is quite startling: Deny your inheritance and nationality. It is underpinned on a profound sense of inferiority. Equally reprehensible are the protestations of ignorance: "We didn't realise this would offend people." 

Yet, we should be grateful to the ASI affidavit for bringing into the open the average Indian's exasperation with such misplaced manifestations of secular fundamentalism. For months on end, a small group of people has been agitating against the demolition of the Ram Setu on the ground that it is a monument to Lord Ram. Others have objected to the route of the Sethusamudram project on ecological and environmental reasons. Neither of these objections received a hearing in the court of secular modernisers for the simple reason that they were not couched in the warped idiom of secularism.

The furore over the ASI affidavit has forced the secularists to take note of Hindu outrage.  For too long, rootless secularism has been allowed to run riot and trample over popular sensitivities. In short, it is time to realise that mocking Hindus involves paying a political price.

(source: Unabridged edition of secular extremism - By Swapan Dasgupta - daily pioneer.com September 16 2007 Top Stories).  

Time for Regime Change?
Destroying India's Spiritual Base?

A great deal of harm is done to mankind when a regime loses its commitment to basic spiritual values in the name of rationalism. The Marxists' game is the same as that of Karunanidhi, and his DMK to destroy India 's spiritual base. But the greatest danger is the ethnic divide the DMK, with Communist support, is importing into the Ram Sethu controversy.

But the greatest danger is the ethnic divide the DMK, with Communist support, is importing into the Ram Sethu controversy. The Tamil Nadu CM is giving the whole Ram Sethu controversy the twist of a Dravidian "war" against an "Aryan imposition." Apart from being absurd in his interpretation of the Ramayana (great Tamil poet Kamba, composer Tyagraja were Lord Ram's devotees), he is thus threatening national unity. The Marxists are with the DMK in this dangerous game. It is a sure warning to the nation that the age old Marxist dogma of India not being a nation but a federation of nationalities, is returning like a demon resurrected. Ravan has rightly been portrayed by the poet as the ten headed demon whose heads could regenerate.

(source: Godless Left is a threat to unity - By Balbir Punj Deccan Chronicle; September 28, 2007).

Ram Sethu affidavit is Cong's gravest mistake: BJP

Foreign historians have written in Arabic and other languages that Babar destroyed the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and built the Babri Masjid at the site." "But it is under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh that someone has dared to question the existence of Ram. The greatest leader of Congress Mahatma Gandhi talked about Ram and Ram rajya.

(source: Ram Sethu affidavit is Cong's gravest mistake: BJP - rediff.com).

Hindu Dharma humiliated

This moral dimension (Lakshman rekha) was shaken when a Union Government-approved affidavit claimed before the Supreme Court that there is no 'historic' or 'scientific' evidence of the existence of the maryada purushottam. 

This contemptuous attitude towards Hindu civilisation's greatest moral exemplar has caused shock all over the Hindu universe, from Jammu & Kashmir to Kanyakumari, to Trinidad & Tobago, Fiji, Guyana, Mauritius, Myanmar, Kampuchea, Indonesia, Bali, Malaysia, Nepal, Java, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand; regions whose national culture has been shaped by the benign presence of Lord Ram.  

Refer to chapter on Suvarnabhumi, Sacred Angkor and Glimpses XII to Glimpses XIX.

Originally a dispute over a sand and coral formation uniting the Indian mainland with its island neighbour, Ram Setu has catapulted into a bridge of India's Hindu identity and nationhood, straddling centuries of collective sloth and amnesia. The Tamil Kings of Jaffna (13th to 16th centuries AD) once called themselves "Sethu Kavalar", protectors of Rameshwaram and the surrounding seas; south India principally reveres Lord Ram as Kodanda-Rama, deity with the bow.

The military career of this armed god, born to defeat the forces of darkness and tyranny and uphold dharma, was a saga of successive triumphs. He was invincible before the Rakshas and Asurs who were inimical to Vedic dharma. Even prior to the first century BC, Lord Krishna identified Lord Ram as the highest example of a warrior (Bhagavad Gita, X 31).This is precisely what is sought to be demeaned by the Archaeological Survey of India's audacious affidavit, duly vetted by the Union Law Ministry, declaring Lord Ram a non-historic figure.  

The backlash over the Ram Setu affidavit may yet teach modern India 's foreign-born and native-secular rulers that in the Hindu civilisational ethos, rajdharma (duty of the king) means embracing and upholding the dharma of the people.

Tukaram extolled Shivaji's reign as Ram rajya in which ruler and subjects were all equal and there was all-round welfare. 

Interestingly, the first tsunami of 2004 came soon after the arrest of the Kanchi Shankaracharya on specious grounds of conspiracy to murder. The second warning, when the ocean literally growled and tremors measured eight on the Richter scale, came within hours of the Centre declaring there was no historic evidence of Lord Ram and the Setu was a mere sandbank. 

Earth, water, fire, air, ether, and all creatures within. Contrary to the Western world-view, man alone is not the measure of all things, and we have no right to desecrate nature. The ASI affidavit was a shameful attempt to humiliate Hindu dharma by belittling a defining feature of Hindu tradition. Unsurprisingly, this flagrant violation of the Lakshman rekha roused the languorous Hindu elephant to protest. Let it now trumpet the regime's fall.

(source: Hindu dharma humiliated - By Sandhya Jain - dailypioneer.com). Refer to chapter on Suvarnabhumi, Sacred Angkor and Glimpses XII to Glimpses XIX.  Refer to Vedic Roots of Early Tamil Culture - By Michel Danino.

Why the Ram Setu must not be destroyed

Professor Tad Murthy is currently associated with the University of Manitoba, Canada, is one of the world's most respected tsunami experts. Till recently, he advised the Canadian government on tsunamis and played an important role in the development of the 'Baird' simulation model of the 26 December, 2004 tsunami.

He is a world renowned tsunami expert, who advised the Government of India on the tsunami warning system and edited the Tsunami Journal for over 20 years, has also warned that the present Setu Samudram route may result in tsunami waves hitting Kerala more fiercely. 

In a reply to a query regarding the Sethusanmudram's impact, he wrote:

"During the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004, the southern part of Kerala was generally spared from a major tsunami, mainly because the tsunami waves from Sumatra region travelling south of the Sri Lankan island, partially diffracted northward and affected the central part of the Kerala coast. Since the tsunami is a long gravity wave (similar to tides and storm surges) during the diffraction process, the rather wide turn it has to take spared the south Kerala coast. On the other hand, deepening the Sethu Canal might provide a more direct route for the tsunami and this could impact south Kerala."

(source: Why the Ram Setu must not be destroyed - by Tarun Vijay - rediff.com). Refer to SSCP - A Monument of Fraud and Infamy - By V Sundaram - boloji.com.

Save Shri Ram Setu 
Jamal Ansari makes a passionate case for preserving India's cultural heritage  

In 1860, Edi Tailor, a Britisher, was sailing between India and Ceylon but was forced to change his ship's course due to Shri Ram Setu, the legendary bridge built by Shri Ram Chandra Ji. Edi Tailor had placed a proposal before Queen Victoria for destroying the bridge but the Britishers did not touch it. In 1955, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru appointed Ramaswami Mudaliar Committee to work out the shortest route to Sri Lanka . The Mudaliar Committee recommended that Sri Ram Setu should be broken but Nehru's Government could not gather enough courage to do so. 

NASA on October 10, 2002 released satellite photographs which show that a bridge built of stone and mortar lies under the sea. Its length is 31 km and it is seventeen-and-a-half lakh years old. Shri Ram Chandra Ji was born at Ayodhya in Tretayug which dates back to the same time. It is common belief among Hindus that this bridge was erected for Shri Ramchandra Ji to attack Lanka to rescue Sita from the clutches of Ravan. Based upon this belief, the bridge was named Shri Ram Setu, Shri Ram Pul or Setubandh. One may agree or disagree with the thesis, but one point is clear - the bridge is a heritage and pride of India . 

The opening ceremony of the Setu Samudram Project was conducted jointly by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi on July 2, 2005. On the eve of the opening ceremony, a mass movement was launched by fishermen of Rameshwaram to oppose the project. Thirty-five lakh people signed a memorandum against the project on the initiative of the founder of Hindu Munnani, Ramgopalan. On September 27, 2006, Ramgopalan met President APJ Abdul Kalam and submitted the "People's Memorandum". 

If we leave religious sentiments attached to the bridge aside, then also the bridge should be preserved on environmental considerations. The 2004 tsunami played havoc on this coastal belt. After that several NGOs and environmentalists conducted a study on the region. Based on their findings, they have expressed fears that if the existing Shri Ram Setu is destroyed, then the dangers of tsunami will increase manifold in this region.  Between India and Sri Lanka , at least 3,300 plants, a large number of fish and 450 species of animals may be found under the sea. Their existence will also be in danger. 

We must not forget that China is spending a large amount on preserving the 2,700-year-old ' Great Wall of China '. Egypt is proud of its 4,500-year-old pyramids. In a happy development, 30 manuscripts of the Rig Veda, dating back to 1800-1500 BC, have been added to the UN's heritage list.  

Likewise, India should feel proud of its marvellous engineering and architectural achievement buried under the sea. Shri Ram Setu should also be included in the heritage list of UNESCO - this can be done with a little effort. Development should take place but not at the cost of religious sentiments and destruction of culture and heritage.

(source: Save Shri Ram Setu - By Jamal Ansari - dailypioneer.com Op-ed – June 27 2007).

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Ramar Sethu, A World Heritage Centre
"Do you want to be like the Taliban who destroyed the Buddha statues in Bamiyan by calling it mere pieces of stone? 

Dr S Kalayanaraman, eminent research scholar who has earlier done signal work in locating the mythical river Saraswathi, has been associated with the move to prevent the dredging of Ramar Sethu. He has been researching Indian civilisation and Indian languages for quite some time, and is a former employee of the Asian Development Bank.

He says the project should not progress as it is and argues his point citing archaeological, scientific, textual and cartographic evidence to show that Adam's Bridge is actually Ramar Sethu and it is several centuries old. He says it is indeed a world heritage site and should be declared as one at the earliest.

But what Kalyanaraman wants to clarify is that the Sethu, or bridge, is centuries old. "Sethu in Tamil means "manmade bund" and this bund is called Sethuband. Asiatic Society, 1799, refers to the bridge that is broken at three places. It also says "people call it a bridge; or otherwise it appears to have wood growing on it, and to be inhabited."

"The Sethupatis of Ramanathapuram are called so because they were expected to protect the Sethu."

He further adds two other evidences, "The Madras Presidency Administration Report 1903 refers to the bridge as a glossary entry: 'Adam's Bridge is called the bridge of Rama . It really joined Ceylon to India until 1480, when a breach was made through rocks during a storm. A subsequent storm enlarged this and foot traffic then ceased.'

"The next is a book written by Alexander Hamilton in 1744, A New Account of the East Indies which describes his visit to 'Zeloan' by walking on the bridge." "In the Aganaanooru Sangam literature text also, there is a reference to Sethu and there are hundreds of references to Rama," Kalyanaraman added.

All these were put together by Schwartzberg and the University of Chicago as Schwartzberg Atlas that have around 100 maps showing Sethu (in bracket, it is written Adam's Bridge) clearly and the maps are dated back to the seventh and the twelfth centuries. In 1788, Joseph Parks, a Botanical explorer from Australia marks the structure as Rama's Bridge. But it is renamed as Adam's Bridge in the 1804 Survey of India map.

Kalyanaraman also speaks about thousands of copper, gold and silver coins with the word Sethu on them that have been recovered in Jaffna . They were issued circa the twelfth to fifteenth century. Paranthaka Chola of the tenth century copper plates and the copper plates indicate that Aparajitavarman went to Sethutirtha.

"Krishnadevaraya's epigraph mentions that his territory extended from Sethu to Vijayanagaram."

Another important reason cited by Kalyanaraman why a canal should not be built in the region is because Sankha or Turbinella pyrum is found in the region and not found anywhere else in the world. "In a place called Keezhakarai, a surviving industry which is 8500 years old is that of sankha. Divers go into the shallow depths of water and pick up sankha. No Bengali or Oriya marriage is complete without the Sankha bangle. The heritage of this place is linked to the Saraswathi civilisation."

When the Survey of India was first set up in 1767, the logo said "From Sethu to Himalayas ."

"So, Sethu was looked upon as a boundary of India even then," said Kalyanaraman.

Kalyanaraman asks, "Do you want to be like the Taliban who destroyed the Buddha statues in Bamiyan by calling it mere pieces of stone? Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code says sentiments of the people about sacredness should be respected. If anybody hurts the sentiments of people, it is a cognisable offence. But here, the state says a monument does not exist and is trying to destroy it instead of protecting it. With all these evidences to back my point, I say that Ramar Sethu should be declared a world heritage site."

(source: Ramar Sethu, a world heritage centre - rediff.com). Refer to chapter on Suvarnabhumi, Sacred Angkor and Glimpses XII to Glimpses XIX.  Refer to Rameswaram fishermen oppose Sethusamudram project - yahoonews.com and Prosecute these atheist bullies (The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) – By A Surya Prakash  

Has Democratic India outgrown the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty? - Refer to 'No Gandhi will lead the country' - says astrologer Guruswamy Nagendra Rao

State-sponsored Hindu Cultural Genocide
Communal UPA Government's savage attack on Lord Rama & Ramayana
Political Marginalization of Hindus in India

The UPA Government in New Delhi has under the stranglehold of a Catholic Lady from Italy as Islam-embracing, Christianity-coveting and Hindu-hating. Her main agenda, owing her allegiance to the Pope in Rome and not to the Indian Constitution, is to destroy Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma in India and the world. The UPA Government born as an illegitimate political baby conceived without any national passion out of the unscrupulous marriage of political convenience between the Sonia Congress party and the Communist Parties and a host of other Parties (of course, including the anti-North, anti-Hindu and atheistic DMK Party from Tamilnadu) is totally committed to the political marginalisation of Hindus, social debasement of Hindus, cultural devaluation of Hindus, religious decimation of Hindus and above all to the national de-recognition of Hindus as the main pith and core of our nation.

A Catholic Christian lady from Italy - Sonia Gandhi, Minister for Shipping and Transport, T R Baalu, Christian Congress Party Union Cabinet Minister for Culture Mrs. Ambika Soni denied the existence of Ram Sethu and the bizarre antics by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi whose son was named M K Stalin, all Committed to Political Marginalization of Hindus in India.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of British Raj was put to political shame on 14 September, 2007 when the Central Government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court to the effect that Lord Rama is a myth. Tulsi Das's Ramcharitmanas is only a mythological text, etc. etc. Thus the Central Government gave a death blow to the cherished feelings, emotions and sentiments of millions of Hindus in India and abroad for whom Lord Rama is an incomparable God and a timeless Hero.

Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi have written about their outrage at the abuse heaped on Hindu beliefs by European missionaries. Like Karunanidhi, the offensive Christian evangelists often relied on literal readings of religious texts to belittle other faiths.  

Refer to The first Hindu temple in Communist China

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This Government of India, consisting of political toadies and touts randomly drawn from a conglomeration of political parties without any public ideology, is letting loose some of the worst and most soul-destroying forms of Hindu discrimination and blatant violation of Hindu Human Rights in an organised manner. Their only aim is to destroy Hindu Religion, Hindu Culture and Hindu Society in the next decade and thus 'convert' all the living Hindu Gods of India like Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma, Goddess Durga, Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess Saraswati and several other Hindu Gods into dead artefacts of history like the dead Gods of Greece and Rome.

The most glaring and dramatic example of this catastrophe of State-sponsored Hindu cultural genocide is the affidavit that was filed by The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the Supreme Court stating that there is no historical and scientific evidence to establish the existence of Lord Rama or the other characters of the Ramayana. Denying that the Ram Setu or Adams Bridge is a man-made structure, the ASI said Ramcharitmanas by Tulsidas cannot be taken as a historical record to 'prove the existence of the characters or occurrence of events' depicted in it. C Dorjee, Director ASI (Monuments), fully brain-washed by the anti-Hindu and non-Hindu Christian Minister for Culture, Ambika Soni, atheistic and anti-Hindu Minister for Shipping and Transport, T R Baalu and ably assisted and abetted by the Union Minister for Law(-lessness?). Finally on 14 September, 2007 (Friday) Dr Subramaniam Swamy had the last laugh. The Central Government prostrated itself before the Supreme Court and withdrew its two affidavits including the controversial one filed by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on the Sethu Samudram Ship Canal Project issue.

All the Hindus of India and the world have become fully aware of the proven fact that the greatest threat to the survival of Hindus, Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma today comes from no other quarter than the Government of India which is nothing but the Government of Sonia, by Sonia, and for Sonia and her family. 

To quote the brilliant words of B R Haran:

'If Lord Rama is a myth, then Lord Venkateswara must also be a myth! That being the case, why did this Italian woman Sonia visit Tirupati on her Sixtieth Birth Day? When a government can fight for the inclusion of Taj Mahal in the list of wonders of the world, why can't it do the same for the inclusion of Rama Sethu in the list of World Heritage Sites?' 

If Sonia has absolute faith in the Pope in Rome, if Karunanidhi and T R Baalu have absolute faith in the perversity of Periyarana, if Congressmen have faith in the cosmic greatness of Sonia Gandhi, then the Hindus have their own historic and inalienable right to put their total invincible faith in the grace of Lord Rama and the Rama-Setu Bridge created by him. The Hindus of India have their total, indivisible and invincible faith in their epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

(source: Communal govt's savage attack on Lord Rama & Ramayana - By V Sundaram -Newstoday September 17, 2007 and Butchers of Lord Rama and Jallianwala Bagh - By V Sundaram - Newstoday).

A Warped Secularism in India

"I am not afraid to say that a devout and God-fearing man is superior as a human specimen to a restless mocker who is glad to style himself an 'intellectual,' proud of his cleverness in using ideas which he claims as his own though he acquired them in a pawnshop in exchange for simplicity of heart . . . . The sacred exists and is stronger than all our rebellions."

                         - Czeslaw Milosz (1911 - 2004), a Polish poet, writer, academic, and winner of Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980 (a staunch Catholic) had to say about Religious Faith.  

Refer to In Rome , Goddess Durga is not welcome - By Kanchan Gupta

***

During the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, the BJP was accused of communalism because the movement was about Lord Ram. The 'secularists' charged the party for mixing religion with politics and using Lord Ram's name to garner votes. That artificial label, 'communal', is conveniently used by the 'secularists' to forge and break political alliances and is also the UPA's raison d'etre.

For 'secularists', mentioning Lord Ram's name is 'communal' but abusing him for political ends is not. A movement for the reconstruction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya is considered a threat to the 'secular' fabric of the country. But they happily extend their covert and overt support to a state-funded project to demolish Ram Setu.

The 'secularists' selectively apply a perverse logic of 'rationality'. The mere theft of an Islamic relic from the Hazratbal shrine in the 1960s had led to countrywide riots till the relic was restored. Lal Bahadur Shastri was sent in haste to Srinagar to pacify the community. Nobody at that point in time spoke about rationality. The pseudo-secularists believe that Hindus can be easily pacified no matter how much they are offended. The same thinking enables the Government to ignore the protests against a famous painter portraying Hindu goddesses naked, while it hastens to ban books, portrayals and representations of what Muslims consider blasphemy.

Saint Thyagaraja (1767 - 1847)

The great Chola dynasty (Chola is the Tamil form of Sanskrit 'Surya') claimed kinship with the Suryavanshi kings of Ayodhya. Rajaraja I's inscriptions (tenth-early eleventh century) trace the family tree from Vijayalaya whose son Aditya was famous as Kodanda Rama. Their early ancestors were Surya, Manu, Ikshvaku, Kakutstha, Mandhata, Sagar, Bhagiratha, Dilipa and Rama.

Saint Thyagaraja is at the heart of Tamil culture and almost all his thousands of kritis (compositions) of devotional songs are sung in honor of his beloved deity, Lord Ram.

Our 'secularists' are adept at denouncing their own culture: Forget Kalidas and Kautilya and study Marx and Gorky or Shakespeare and Burke. The establishment of independent India, moulded in the mindset of the British, has shown little interest in finding evidence to substantiate Indian traditions.

***

The secular mascot of southern India, Mr Karunanidhi, spearheading the Ram Setu demolition squad, has forgotten one important thing. Carnatic music is dominated by saint composer Thyagaraja. Almost all his thousands of kritis (compositions) of devotional songs are sung in honour of his beloved deity, Thyagaraja or Lord Ram. The Lord is named as the king of sacrifices because he readily agreed to give up his claims to the throne as the eldest son to honour a promise that his father had made to one of his three queens. Saint Thyagaraja is at the heart of Tamil culture that Mr Karunanidhi praises so much. So by opposing Lord Ram, Mr Karunandhi has contradicted himself.

Compare this to the interest Western archaeologists showed in finding out whether the Biblical reference to a flood and Noah building an arc in anticipation of it and stocking it with birds and beasts, one pair of each species as directed by god, was true or not. Lots of money was spent and ultimately some evidence was dug out that showed that there indeed was a flood and that a huge boat was really built whose remnants were found. The Western scholars did not dismiss the Noah story as mere 'faith' because they were completely absorbed in the Biblical tradition. They respected their tradition and sought to enrich it. Our 'secularists' are adept at denouncing their own culture: Forget Kalidas and Kautilya and study Marx and Gorky or Shakespeare and Burke.

Mr Karunanidhi and several other dyed-in-the-wool secularists of his ilk frequently ask for evidence supporting Hindu beliefs and the events mentioned in Mahabharat and Ramayan. How will the evidence surface? Over 1,000 years of Muslim rule witnessed massive destruction of countless symbols of Hindu culture and traditions. The British did some archaeological studies but they were usually subordinated to their imperial interests. 

The establishment of independent India , moulded in the mindset of the British, has shown little interest in finding evidence to substantiate Indian traditions.

(source:  Kalaignar has lost the plot – By Balbir K Punj The Pioneer; September 21, 2007).

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M Karunanidhi's controversial remark which questioned the very existence of Lord Rama and his ridiculous and offensive observation "from where Rama acquired his engineering degree" has started creating ripples of protest in the South.

More outrageous is the insults he is heaping on Ram who is revered by countless Hindus around the world. His obnoxious comments—“Who was Ram? In which engineering college did he get the degree to build a bridge”—need to be condemned by all right thinking persons. He needs to be told that though the Hindu society is tolerant, it would not take these insults lying down. His comment that Ramayana was a “fiction” that allegorically represented the conflict between Aryan and Dravidians is ridiculous. The man claims to be a “rationalist” but conveniently ignores the scientific research that proves on the basis of DNA tests that there is no Aryan-Dravidian divide in Indian society. Is this anti-God and anti-Brahmin leader so ignorant or arrogant that he doesn’t know that Ravana was a Shaivite Brahamin who had deviated from the path of Dharma?

Dr Karan Singh (1931 - ) who was denied the Congress party’s nomination for the high office of the Head of the State not because he was not eminently qualified for the job but because of his association with certain Hindu causes, hit the nail on the head by saying that the ASI by making “sweeping obiter dicta” that questioned the very existence of Ram as a historical figure had shocked the nation. 

He has written that the ASI affidavit was unfortunate, unfair and downright derogatory not only to Hindus in India and around the world but to all those who treasure our unique pluralistic cultural heritage.

"It is remarkable that the Ramayana story is by no means confined to India . Its fragrance has travelled across the whole of south and south-east Asia . The magnificent temple of Angkor Vat in Cambodia, the world's largest place of religious worship, displays on its walls magnificent sculptures telling the whole Ramayana and Mahabharata stories. In Indonesia , the Ramlila is performed with a grace and sensitivity far superior to our somewhat rowdy Ramlilas and, significantly, almost entirely by Muslim artists. The ruling dynasty in Thailand is known as the Ram Dynasty, and there is a shrine named Ayodhya in that country. Such examples can be multiplied. For the indentured labourers who were sent by the British to the ends of the earth and whose descendents now flourish in Fiji and Mauritius , Guyana and Surinam , their only source of cultural and spiritual sustenance was Tulsidas's classic Ramcharitamanas, perhaps the most popular retelling of the Ramayana epic in the world. Hindus in those and other countries around the globe look upon Ram as an incarnation of God, as the Maryada Purshotam, the ideal man. When Gandhiji envisaged his ideal society, he went back to invoking Ram Rajya."

(source: The Ram I know - By Karan Singh Indian Express September 14, 2007).

To doubt the existence of Rama is to doubt all literature. There is no archaeological or epigraphic evidence for either Jesus Christ or Prophet Mohammed, who are known only from the Bible and Koran respectively. Does it mean they did not exist? If Rama performs miracles such as liberating Ahalya, the Biblical story of Jesus walking on water or the Koranic tale of Mohammed flying to heaven on a horse are equally miraculous. Such stories reinforce divinity, not fact.

The Ramayana is geographically very correct. Every site on Rama's route is still identifiable and has continuing traditions or temples to commemorate Rama's visit.

Rama's memory lives on because of his extraordinary life and his reign, which was obviously a period of great peace and prosperity, making Ramarajya a reference point. People only remember the very good or the very bad. Leftist historians have chosen to rubbish archaeology, literature and local tradition. So how do we prove that Rama did exist?

(source: Did Rama exist? – By Nanditha Krishna - newindpress.com).  

In the corridor of royalty
'Sethupatis', the royal family who guarded the Rama Sethu

Today when the description of Rama and creation of the Rama Sethu as a myth is creating a furore, it is interesting to note that for thousands of years, there was a royal family in South India with its headquarters at Ramanathapuram near Rameshwaram, known as the Sethupati Rajas or the guardians of the Sethu. Like the Maharajas of Kashi in North India , the specific task of these kings was to guard the sanctity of Rameshwaram temple and protect the Sethu - now so much under the limelight.  

Chola King Raja raja.

In in the 11th century AD, Chola king Rajaraja made the head of Marava community as Sethupati to protect the pilgrims to Rameshwaram temple and the Rama Sethu.

***

Detailed information about the Sethupathis is available in the 'Ramnad Manual' maintained by Tamil Nadu archives. It states that, "The Sethupatis built several chattrams (dharmsalas) along the main roads of the pilgrimage to Rameshwaram. In in the 11th century AD, Chola king Rajaraja made the head of Marava community as Sethupati to protect the pilgrims to Rameshwaram temple and the Rama Sethu.

The temple complex itself was built by Sethupati rulers in the 12th century, with Sethupathy Maravar beginning the construction of the grand Ramanathaswamy temple. Then again reference is made in A D1434 to the repair of the temple walls by the head of the Sethupati clan, known as Udayan Sethupati. Geologists state that till AD1480, when a tsunami damaged the present Rama Sethu, one could walk from India to Sri Lanka on the Sethu! The most important of these monarchs was the Raghunatha Sethupati II alias Kilavan Sethupati (1671 AD to 1710 AD), who ensured that Sethupatis with their fiefdom over the area known as Ramnad, remained all powerful. It was during his time, that the magnificent still existing palace of Ramlingavilasam was created as the residence of the Sethupatis.

But in the18th century, the British entered the politics of South India and as a measure to reduce the importance of the Sethupatis, they were demoted as mere zamindars under the British in1803. Of all the services, this royal family has done to India , the most important was that of financing the visit of Swami Vivekananda in 1893 to Chicago , to address the World Religions Conference. Swami Vivekananda reached Ramnathapuram in 1892 and met the then scion, Bhaskara Sethupati at his palace, and stayed there as the official guest for eight days.

(source: In the corridor of royalty - By Dhananjaya Bhat Deccan Herald September 30, 2007).

Destroying bridges of faith

Did Jesus Christ walk on water? Did he convert water into wine with his touch? Did the Red Sea part allowing Moses to lead his followers to the Promised Land? Is the relic preserved and worshipped at Srinagar 's Hazratbal mosque genuinely a strand of the Prophet's hair? Is the tooth on display at the Anuradhapura temple in Sri Lanka indeed that of Lord Buddha? Did Mother Teresa or her many predecessors actually perform the miracles associated with them? So-called rationalists would scoff at each of these "myths". But religion is not mere philosophy; it is also a body of beliefs passed on from generation to generation.

(source: Destroying bridges of faith - By Chandan Mitra - dailypioneer.com).

Selective Atheism and Karunanidhi's Dravidian politics?
His vitriolic remarks against Lord Ram

Anti-God and anti-Brahmin Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi whose son was named M K Stalin after the Soviet dictator, and mathematician, computer scientist and linguist and historian of science Dr N S Rajaram.

The DMK's rant against Lord Ram is inspired by commerce, its ideology of atheism and political expediency. Right from the days of EV Ramaswami Naicker, the DMK cadre have been fed on an anti-Hindu diet.

Mr Karunanidhi is caught in a time warp and believes he is still living in the 1950s when Ram-bashing was a rage among 'rationalists' in that State. 

The Dravidian Kazhagam, a British imperialist stooge organisation, has recently threatened to burn the Ramyana in a public protest against "Aryan Supremacy" for opposing the destruction of the Ram Sethu in the implementation of the Sethusamudram Canal Project. The Dravida Movement which includes DMK, MDMK, PMK, and DK parties, is a movement of atheists, which has turned its ire on Bhagwan Sri Ram, the King of Ayodhya, and wants the Ram Sethu to be demolished because it is a symbol of "North Indian" domination. This shows the bias and malice behind the determination to destruct the Ram Sethu "The theory of Rama as an Aryan God pitted against Dravidians, has been discredited. However, Dravidian parties still have to go back to it because that's the founding doctrine of the Dravidian movement".

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi claims to be a “rationalist” but conveniently ignores the scientific research that proves on the basis of DNA tests that there is no Aryan-Dravidian divide in Indian society. Is this anti-God and anti-Brahmin leader so ignorant or arrogant that he doesn’t know that Ravana was a Shaivite Brahamin who had deviated from the path of Dharma? His admirers, among them our Marxists who revel in denouncing all things Hindu, are no doubt thrilled by Mr Karunanidhi's unrestrained diatribe.

Money induced pride, power induced madness, political-fame induced arrogance - when all these come together in a person, his mouth will speak like this. This speaker of Rama's engineering qualification, on what qualifications, hold the office of the Chief Minister? By the votes of the people; the very same three fourths who worship Rama as the Divine manifestation.

Refer to Vedic Roots of Early Tamil Culture - By Michel Danino. Refer to chapter on Aryan Invasion Theory.

***

An ulterior political-economic agenda was driving the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi, to deny the existence of Rama. 

Dr. N S Rajaram (1943 - ) is a mathematician, computer scientist and linguist and historian of science. He has taught in several universities in the United States. Since 1984 he has been an advisor to the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA). Has observed: 

"The theory of Rama as an Aryan God pitted against Dravidians, has been discredited. However, Dravidian parties still have to go back to it because that's the founding doctrine of the Dravidian movement".

(source: Secularism as insulting Hindus - By Shyam Khosla and Sethusamudram controversy - centralchronicle.com). Refer to Ram Sethu is our heritage, We shall protect it – By Dr. Subramanian Swamy .

Refer to chapter on Aryan Invasion Theory.  

The Archaeological Survey of India - ASI and the DMK are both adherents of the Aryan Invasion Theory. DMK's whole philosophy is based on this theory and therefore the hatred of the Dravidian against the north. And for the ASI this theory is an article of faith because it was propounded by the British. ASI's science does not ask for proof of this theory. But the scientific Science requires proof before accepting the Aryan Invasion Theory which really has no proof archaeological, epigraphic or literary. In fact the literary proof negates this theory and provides proof of migration in the opposite direction. 

(source: Historicity of Ram – By Dr. Murlidhar H. Pahoja).

Lord Ram installing Shivalinga at Rameswaram with Lakshmana and Hanuman at his side.

There is nothing more ridiculous than calling Ravan a Dravidian hero. Ravan is in fact a top-of-the drawer Brahmin. He is the great grandson of Brahma himself, the grandson of Pulastya Maharishi and the son of Visravas, another rishi. 

The beautiful temple at Rameswaram is dedicated to Shiva. According to the Sthalapurana the Shivalinga in the temple is supposed to have been installed by Ram himself for worship. Why did he want to worship Shiva? It was to expiate the sin of Brahmahatya (killing a Brahmin).

***

Mr Karunanidhi would have been wiser to respect the faith of the millions who have prayed in the temple at Rameshwaram, the offshore island also called the Kashi of the South: no prizes for guessing that Rameshwaram is named after Lord Ram. It is interesting that a Sri Lankan, King Parakrama Bahu, built the sanctum sanctorum of the Ramanathswamy temple. Incidentally, "mythology" has an answer to Mr Karunanidhi's question about whether Lord Ram was an engineer: the bridge between the mainland and Sri Lanka was constructed by Nala, the son of Vishwakarma.

I cannot 'prove' that Allah exists; a Jew cannot 'prove' that Jehovah exists; a Christian cannot prove that 'God' exists. This may be, for all I know, less a reflection on divinity, and more an indication of human limitations. It is arrogance to believe that truth is merely the little that the human brain comprehends.

(source: Amoral Code – By M.J. Akbar - Deccan Chronicle).  

Anti-Brahmanism as a credo… like Anti-Semitism in Europe

The lynching of Captain Alfred Dreyfuss  (1859 - 1935) in Paris was said to be an indication of simmering anti-Semitism in Europe , which led David Ben Gurion to seriously contemplate the need for a separate Jewish state. 

Captain Alfred Dreyfuss and Anti-Semitism in Europe. 

Bishop Caldwell, (1814 -1891) the Bishop of Tirunelveli, had a strong anti-Brahmin bias, Brahmins from South India and E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker ("Periyar") (1879 - 1973) the doyen of Dravidian politics and iconoclast. Founder of the Dravidian movement.

Christian missionaries and the British were responsible for the Anti Brahminism and the myth of Aryan Invasion Theory.

Anti-Hinduism has become the world's new anti-Semitism.

While most of the timid secular media remained a mute spectator, The Statesman of Kolkota was the one newspaper, which exhibited courage, objectivity and balance in questioning the arrest of Jayendra Saraswati.

For more refer to chapters on European Imperialism, First Indologists, Aryan Invasion Theory and Glimpses XI

***

The roots of anti-Brahmanism in Tamil Nadu are not clear but may have something to do with Christian missionary work. In any case it gave Ramaswami Naicker a handle to beat Brahmins with holding them responsible for all ills of the society although they have, if at all, only exceptionally wielded political power.

The Dravidian movement made persecution of Brahmins its ideological plank to seize political power. The tufts that they wore as a religious symbol were pulled causing acute pain, the holy tilak they wore was licked or forcibly erased, their customs ridiculed and their women molested. The situation of Brahmins during most of the twentieth century in the state was similar to that of the Kashmiri Pundits in J & K during the last decades of the century. The cream of them emigrated to other states or nations. Those who remain have to struggle for their existence in a state in which they are overtly not wanted. The reservation policy, an instrument of positive discrimination that gave a handicap to the downtrodden in other states, is an oxymoron in Tamil Nadu, as at 69%, it is designed to only exclude Brahmins from jobs, educational institutions and parliamentary democracy. There was a time when political persecution was extended to institutions owned by Brahmins as well and The Hindu, it was said, contemplated moving to Bangalore . Indira Gandhi’s infamous emergency was a godsend for Tamil Nadu and more for the paper as she dismissed the Karunanidhi government based on charges of possible secession and corruption.

As the Hindu religion and rituals are considered a part of Brahminical culture it was portrayed as a north Indian import and the myth of the Aryan north and the Dravidian south was fuelled as a continuous tool to achieve political ends. Although later archaeological and other scientific evidence negated the ‘Aryan-as-an-alien’ theory, originally propounded by Christian missionaries to drive a wedge in the Hindu society, it suits the Dravidian parties to continue with its perpetuation. The recent remarks of Karunanidhi, the secular chief minister of Tamil Nadu, posing an existential dilemma about Sri Rama whom millions of Indians worship fits into the general scheme of Dravidian politics, exhibiting if not ignorance of advances in scientific knowledge, low animal cunning, pandering to a constituency that may be slowly slipping away as the imaginary enemy, the emasculated Brahmin is no longer a perceptible threat.

An apology will only enhance Karunanidhi’s stature…

When his predecessor, for personal or political reasons resorted to having the Shankaracharya of Kanchi arrested, there were no violent protests in the state, mostly because the Hindu pontiff was perceived as an icon of the Brahmin community, known for its stoic forbearance of hardships and not given to violent expressions of anger. 

While most of the secular media remained a mute spectator, The Statesman of Kolkota was the one newspaper, which exhibited courage, objectivity and balance in questioning it. In an editorial entitled “God, man, law - Is India principled, secular enough?” the paper asked, “Jayendra Saraswati is acknowledged as a pontiff of India ’s majority community, and that hasn’t stopped his arrest. But it could be asked, could the law go as far with religious leaders of the minority community - that, too, is a test of secularism.”

Could one ask whether Karunanidhi who wanted to know which engineering college Sri Rama attended for constructing the Sethu, would be bold enough to ask people of other faiths to proffer proofs of their messiahs and their credentials? And by the same token could one ask an atheist to obtain a postgraduate degree in genetics and prove the legitimacy of his birth? According to the scripture, Sri Rama respected the word of a lowly citizen as more venerable than familial ties. Would the erudite Karunanidhi be gracious enough to respect the sentiments of millions of his own citizens and apologise for hurting their sentiments? It will only enhance his stature as a great leader. 

(source: Sri Rama Sethu’ and Karunanidhi’s existential dilemma! - By U. Narayana Das - india-forum.com).

Rant against Ram

EV Ramaswami Naicker, who made a fetish of his claimed atheism but never quite had the guts to attack any other religion apart from Hinduism, took out a procession in 1956 with Lord Ram's picture garlanded with slippers before making an elaborate show of destroying the portrait in public. Mr Karunanidhi and others of his ilk may remember 'Periyar' for so boldly denouncing Hindu faith (without uttering so much as a squeak on either Islam or Christianity), many others remember 'EVR' as the author of The Ramayana: A True Reading, a particularly vicious and scurrilous attack on the Ramayan tradition that was published in 1959. In a sense, Mr Karunanidhi's uncalled for denigration of Lord Ram and Ramayan is an extension of his idol's vituperative denunciation of the man whom millions of Hindus, including in Tamil Nadu, consider to be Maryada Purushottam and who inspires nothing but the noblest of thoughts. 

(source: Karunanidhi is inflaming passion - Editorial The Pioneer September 22, 2007).

Karunanidhi wrong, Ram an ancient Tamil icon

So called historian said Ram had never been a popular god in Tamil Nadu and he was more a literary figure than a religious one. The Ramayan finds a mention in at least two places in the Sangam corpus, which is traditionally dated between 200 BC and 200 AD. In one reference, Ram orders chirping birds to silence. In another, the monkeys wear, in a monkey-like manner, the jewels discarded by Sita while she was being abducted by Ravan. It is worthwhile to note here that both these incidents find no mention in the Valmiki Ramayan. The ease with which these incidents have been woven into the poems indicates that the Ramayan story was well known in the Tamil country during the Sangam period.

Lord Ram - Maryada Purushottam

Some of the greatest Chola bronzes are of Lord Ram - a few of them are on display at the National Museum in Delhi.

Kavi Kamban born in 9th Century in Therazhundur. His Ramayan is correctly considered the acme of Tamil literary achievement. 

It bears mention that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist-majority country. Still they have left the sites associated with Ram untouched. In fact, the Ramayan trail is being rediscovered in areas where 90 per cent of the residents are Sinhalese Buddhists. "Ramayan is a special feature of the bond that we have with India . This circuit aims to offer opportunities to our friends in India to visit, explore, absorb and enjoy places of epic significance. We at Sri Lanka Tourism believe that Ramayan has brought us together through the exploration of its backdrop, which begins with Ayodhya in India and climaxes at Lankapura or Sri Lanka . We want Indians to participate in the Lankan leg of the epic. A massive restoration and maintenance drive is on at these religious sites," said S Kalaiselvam , director-general of Sri Lanka Tourism.

***

The Saiva saints, the Nayanmars, most of whom are contemporaries of the Alwars, also stud their verses with episodes from the Ramayan. 

Then we have the greatest Tamil poet of them all, Kamban. 

His Ramayana is correctly considered the acme of Tamil literary achievement. In about 10,000 verses Kamban, who, again, is not a Brahmin and is a grand scholar of Sanskrit and an unabashed admirer of Valmiki, establishes that, for his bhakta s, Rama is the One who is the origin of all. This, it must be remembered, is a sure departure from Valmiki, for whom Rama was only a Maryada Purushottam. Thus, it is clear that the Tamil country has an uninterrupted tradition of worshipping Ram at least right from the Second Century AD.

There is nothing more ridiculous than calling Ravan a Dravidian hero. Ravan is in fact a top-of-the drawer Brahmin. He is the great grandson of Brahma himself, the grandson of Pulastya Maharishi and the son of Visravas, another rishi. There is another point to be made here. The beautiful temple at Rameswaram is dedicated to Shiva. According to the Sthalapurana the Shivalinga in the temple is supposed to have been installed by Ram himself for worship. Why did he want to worship Shiva? It was to expiate the sin of Brahmahatya (killing a Brahmin).

(source: Karunanidhi wrong, Ram an ancient Tamil icon - By P. Ananthakrishnan).  

Blabbering Chief minister of Tamil Nadu
Arrogance, Thy name is Karunanidhi!

It is not new for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to hate-speak and hurt religious Hindus.

In his outrage, the CM has spewed venom using the Tamil singular phrases indicative of disrespect, "Who is this Raman? In which engineering college did he study to become an Engineer? When did he build that bridge? Is there any evidence?" Hatred filled, he has, in reality, blabbered, thinking that he is talking smart. Common sense will infer that "Rama built the bridge" does not mean that Rama actually put stones one over the other and built it with his own hands. When we say, "An emperor built a temple" or "created sculptures", does that mean he actually chiseled the stones with his hands? All it means is that on his command, or at his desire, craftsmen completed those works. But, those works are not known by the names of the sculptors involved, but are renowned only by the names of the kings. 

It was the king of the oceans, Samudra Raja, who guided Rama in making the bridge. It is he who also suggested the name of the expert Nala. "Nala is the expert son of divine craftsman Vishwakarma; bestowed with divine powers and knowledge of the profession from his father; He came forward and requested Sugriva, 'O great among Vanaras, let the materials be collected for the construction of the bridge'. "In which Engineering college did Nala study?" If thus asked, our answer would be "Nala learnt it from his father and he was renowned as an expert in his field".

Vanaras spread out to collect the materials requested by Nala. ("Vanaras" do not mean what the English word "monkey" means; they are not monkeys. As per Valmiki Ramayana, they are great warriors; learned men; built palaces and lived in the city). "With the help of Vanaras, boulders are made, trees were uprooted and brought. Trees, boulders and other such material were all brought to the seashore. To keep the boulders upright during the construction of the bridge, strong ropes were used. As per Nala's command, Vanaras worked swiftly, pushing the boulders into the ocean and placing the wood over them. The constructed bridge resembled that of the galaxy of stars on the celestial sky. From the sky the bridge looked like the parting that splits a lady's longhair into two parts, on which the Vanaras and others climbed and crossed the ocean".

The CM wrote commentary for the ancient Tamil grammar treatise Tholkappiyam. Will he ask, "In which college did Tholkappiyar study grammar? Who taught grammar to the one considered as the very originator of Tamil grammar?". We won't question it, because we understand that there lived great sages in ancient times, endowed with wisdom and expertise that might not be comprehensible to our limited knowledge. 

"It is said that Thiruvalluvar authored the Thirukkural. Where did he learn the methods of composing poetry? Where did he learn Tamil? Where did he learn the philosophical querying known as philosophy?" will the CM ask such questions? We won't question, because we know that Thiruvalluvar is a divine blessed saint.

Has the CM spoken anything about the much revered hair of Prophet Mohammed that is claimed to be present in the Hazratbal Mosque of Kashmir ? Will he ask, "How do you know it is the hair of Mohammed? What is the evidence?" We won't question it, because we have learnt to respect the beliefs of other religions; and we believe that speaking insolently about sages revered by people of other religions is a crass and mean act. "It is said that Jesus Christ died at the cross and then came alive. In which laboratory did he learn that art?

Money induced pride, power induced madness, political-fame induced arrogance - when all these come together in a person, his mouth will speak like this. This speaker of Rama's engineering qualification, on what qualifications, hold the office of the Chief Minister? By the votes of the people; the very same three fourths who worship Rama as the Divine manifestation.

(source: Arrogance, Thy name is Karunanidhi! - By Cho Ramaswamy Tamil Weekly Tughlak September 20, 2007).

Conspiracy to Belittle Hinduism by the UPA Government?
No evidence to prove existence of Ram, Centre to SC

Frank Fernandes a journalist from Mumbai, opined that the controversy of Ram Sethu has more a political connotation than religious one in as much as a group of politicians would like them to be seen hammering majority Hindus so that they can easily class themselves as champions of minority.

Nand Kapoor, National Vice President of the Association of Indians in America lambasted the politicians reigning in New Delhi as incompetent and unqualified to hold the good offices they are presently holding. "Leaders, who are insensitive and blind to the age-old noble traditions of the majority of the people should be debarred from holding the office by an act of Parliament."

Feroz Bhakt Ahmed, Great-Nephew of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, he said that he was in total agreement with Feroz Bhakt when he said, "Historical evidence of most of the religious figures would be difficult to find. In fact applications of their life and principles are universal. Rama's reality cannot be doubted as numerous places in India and Lanka are closely linked to his life including Ayodhya, Janakpuri, Dhanushkodi and Rameshwaram.

He added that Ram is entrenched deeply in the minds of a vast majority of people of all faiths including Muslims of Indonesia. Prof. Dr. Ghanashyam Pandey of the University of Chicago, Illinois Campus said that "It is inconceivable to believe that people claiming all kinds of educational background including P.M. Man Mohan Singh, Chidambaram and others who have known history at least understand the spiritual and literary traditions of India can even think of the stupidity they fell into by doubting the historicity and his relevant to the Hindu Social and cultural firmament. It is grievously wrong."

(source: Ram Sethu - A controversy uncalled for - Surendra Ullal & Ramesh Soparawala India Post October 7, 2007).

Perversity as secularism

The individuals concerned at every level of the drafting and approval of this pernicious affidavit need to be clearly and publicly identified and penalised for causing unnecessary offence to Hindus - the majority community in this country, and one that is evidently not regarded as a vote-bank by the so-called 'secular' parties - and, indeed, to many non-Hindus who share in the vibrant collective and cultural consciousness of India's variegated civilisation. 

The legend of Ram and Ramayan - archaeological evidence or no archaeological evidence - has primal resonances in the civilisation, culture and multiple identities, not only of India and among Hindus, but among the people of the entire South and South-East Asian region, and occasionally well beyond. I recall watching films and theatrical performances - Ram Lilas - based on Ramayan from earliest childhood, and one of the most exciting scenes was the vaanar sena building the bridge to Lanka with rocks inscribed with the name of their Lord. These are images embedded in the consciousness of millions across India and beyond, and to trivialise this is to misunderstand the very nature of governance.

(source: Perversity as secularism – By KPS Gill  dailypioneer.com - Edit page September 15^th 2007). Refer to chapter on Suvarnabhumi, Sacred Angkor and Glimpses XII to Glimpses XIX. 

Refer to The first Hindu temple in Communist China

In the midst of a political controversy over the Sethusamudram project, the Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court of India that there was no historical evidence to establish the existence of Lord Ram or the other characters in Ramayana.

Visitor's comment on rediff:

"Contrast this brazen insult to the Hindu majority to the deferential treatment accorded to adherents of predatory Semitic cults. After all, would any Babu dare to question the "Virgin birth" of the Mythical Jesus or the crucifiction story. If Christ was not born, then why the conversion in the North east and rest of India?"

(source: No evidence to prove existence of Ram, Centre to SC - rediff.com). Refer to  Nationwide protests over Sethusamudram project.

Sign Petition - Save Ramar Sethu and Refer to Save Ram Sethu and The Bridge of Ram and Dharmagraha

Refer to UPA planned destruction of Rama Sethu bridge - By V Sundaram - newstodaynet.com. Refer to SSCP - A monument of fraud and infamy-III - By V Sundaram - newstodaynet.com. Watch Video on Save Ramsetu and refer to Massive conversions under R. Reddy in Andhra. Watch History of Ayodhya - videogoogle.com. Refer to chapter on Glilmpses IV  and source: http://www.indolink.com/Religion/r091702-130924.php and Floating stones found in Rameshwaram).  Ram sethu - http://www.mithilaonline.com/nasa.html  

I have found Hindu scriptural stories far more fascinating than that of any other religion, including Christianity and Islam. The drama, the intensity, the conflict and the denouement that are integral to any Hindu myth are missing in Biblical stories. Turning water into wine, curing a leprosy patient, giving life to the dead or restoring the sight of a blind man that Jesus is believed to have done comes nowhere near the feats accomplished by a Hindu god who drank all the waters of all the oceans or who brought a whole mountain on His palm, instead of the medicinal plant He had gone to pluck. Of course, the Old Testament has stories like Moses turning a stick into a snake or dividing the ocean into two to give passage to his people but they come nowhere near what Krishna or Hanuman did routinely. Small wonder that the Mahabharata and the Ramayana are considered epics in the true sense.

(source: Bridge of love – By A.J. Philip - The Tribune September 22, 2007).

Refer to US Professor fired for saying Adam & Eve is Myth - fox news.com - An Iowa college professor claims he was fired over the phone after he called the story of Adam and Eve a "fairy tale." Steve Bitterman, 60, a Southwestern Community College instructor who told his students that the biblical story should not be literally interpreted, says school officials sided with students who threatened legal action over the remarks. The students claim the lesson was "denigrating their religion."

Subramanian Swamy for dismantling of Sethusamudram experts panel  

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking dismantling of the 10-member experts committee on the Sethusamudram canal project alleging "anti-Hindu" and "anti-Ram Setu bias" among some of the panel's members, including its chairman S Ramachandran.

Swamy also sought junking of the panel on the grounds that it did not have any reputed archaeologist or scientists from reputed bodies like the National Institute of Ocean Technology or the Geological Survey of India.

(source: Subramanian Swamy for dismantling of Sethusamudram experts panel   - hindustantimes.com).

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Trace Ram's footsteps on Lanka's Ramayan trail 

We couldn't have had a better justification for keeping the Ram Setu intact at a better time. Sri Lanka Tourism is now aggressively selling the Ramayan trail, worked mostly around events of the Lankakand in the epic, to attract thousands of pilgrims and believers from India .  

It bears mention that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist-majority country and neither the political nor the religious elite there has any interest in perpetuating the historicity or cultural legacy of Ram. Still they have left the sites associated with Ram untouched. In fact, the Ramayan trail is being rediscovered in areas where 90 per cent of the residents are Sinhalese Buddhists. "Ramayan is a special feature of the bond that we have with India. This circuit aims to offer opportunities to our friends in India to visit, explore, absorb and enjoy places of epic significance. We at Sri Lanka Tourism believe that Ramayan has brought us together through the exploration of its backdrop, which begins with Ayodhya in India and climaxes at Lankapura or Sri Lanka . We want Indians to participate in the Lankan leg of the epic. A massive restoration and maintenance drive is on at these religious sites," said S Kalaiselvam , director-general of Sri Lanka Tourism.  

"There are still many caves like Katirgama and the black mountain that have to be identified. This requires good researchers and spiritual scholars but we will not stop our journey of rediscovering the Ramayana," he added."People living in and around the historical areas are the most reliable sources of information about the Ramayan in Sri Lanka . They have heard and believed in these stories through generations," said Kalaiselvam.   

Map of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a Buddhist-majority country and neither the political nor the religious elite there has any interest in perpetuating the historicity or cultural legacy of Ram. Still they have left the sites associated with Ram untouched. In fact, the Ramayan trail is being rediscovered in areas where 90 per cent of the residents are Sinhalese Buddhists. 

"Ramayan is a special feature of the bond that we have with India".

***

According to Ramayan, Ravana brought Sita to Sri Lanka by a vehicle called Pushpaka Vimanam by the Hindus and Dandu Monara Yanthraya by the Sinhalese Buddhists. This vehicle is said to have landed at Werangatota, about 10 km from Mahiyangana, east of the hill station of Nuwara Eliya, in central Sri Lanka . In the north-central region of Sri Lanka are Ramboda, Pussellawa, Kondakale and Mankkettather -- towns over which Ravana's air chariot flew with Sita. Interestingly, a clear path runs through the densely forested areas there even today, marking Ravana's trail. There is even a small pond, in the shape of an eye, where the tears of Sita fell. Surprisingly, this pond never dries though others around it do. 

Sita was taken to Goorulupota, now known as Sitakotuwa, where Ravana's wife, Mandodari, lived. Sitakotuwa is about 10 km from Mahiyangana on the road to Kandy . Sita was housed in a cave at Sita Eliya, on the Colombo-Nuwara Eliya road. There is a temple for her there. She is believed to have bathed in the mountain stream flowing beside the temple. Ashok Vatika, where Sita was kept captive and which was later destroyed by Hanumana, is now in ruins but there is a temple with ancient statues that seem to depict images from the epic. Hakgala is the exotic pleasure garden where Ravana insisted Sita should marry him. It was here that Hanumana brought her Rama's ring. Part of the garden still exits. In Colombo stands Kotte, one of the many places to which Ravana took Sita to confuse Rama. Located in the suburb of Colombo is the Anjaneyar temple dedicated to Hanumana. 

The ancient airports - Ussangoda, Wariyapola and Kurunegala - are where the magical flying chariots landed and took off. North of Nuwara Eliya, in Matale district, is Yudhaganapitiya, where the Rama-Ravana battle took place. The destination is now a wildlife sanctuary but not cultivable. Locals believe it's the curse of the soldiers who fell there during the war. A tunnel network leading to palaces and battle fields was created by Ravana, who was an expert in underground transport system. Locals claim some of these tunnels still exist in parts of Sri Lanka .  

According to a Sinhalese legend, Dunuwila is the place from where Rama shot the Bramhashira arrow that killed Ravana. The Sri Lankan king was chalking out his battle plans in a place called Lakgala when the killer arrow struck him. Lakgala is a rock from the top of which Ravana could see north Sri Lanka clearly. It served as a watch tower following the expectation that Rama would invade the island to rescue his consort. Since Ravana was a Brahmin, it was considered a sin to kill him, even in battle. To wash off the sin, Rama performed puja at the Munneswaram temple at Chilaw, 80 km north of Colombo . Legend has it that the Koneswaram temple, in the eastern district of Trincomalee, was gifted by Lord Shiva to Ravana, as he was an ardent devotee. Yahangala, meaning rock bed, is believed to be the site where Ravana's body was laid to rest for his country men to pay their last respect. According to another legend from the southern part of Sri Lanka , Sita was actually detained in the mountainous forest area of Rumassala near Galle . When she fell ill, Hanumana wanted to bring some medicinal plants from the Himalayas to cure her. Since he could not find the plants, he brought the whole mountain and dropped it at Unawatuna, which is near the present Galle harbour. Unawatuna means "here it fell." Indeed, the area is known for its medicinal plants. In the famous Buddha Vihara at Kelani, near Colombo , there is a representation of Rama handing over captured Sri Lanka to Ravana's brother, Vibheeshana, who sided with him in his conflict with Ravana. Diwaurumpola is the place where Sita performed her Agni Pariksha (fire test) to return to Rama. Continuing the practice, the villagers there still pledge their fidelity by walking over burning coals.

(source: Trace Ram's footsteps on Lanka's Ramayan trail - By Ekatmata Sharma Jan 18 2007 top stories dailypioneer.com).  

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Are Brahmins the Dalits of today?

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) He was among India's most fervent nationalists, fighting for Indian independence from British rule. He said that the caste system or varnashrama is "inherent in human nature, and Hinduism has simply made a science of it." 

He defended the "much-maligned Brahman" and entertains " not a shadow of doubt" that "if Brahmanism does not revive, Hinduism will perish".

“I have not a shadow of doubts,” he declared, “that Hinduism owes its all to the great traditions that the Brahmins have left for Hinduism. They have left a legacy for India, for which every nation, no matter to what varna he may belong owes a deep gratitude. Having studied the history of almost every religion in the world it is my settled conviction that there is no class in the world that has accepted poverty and self-effacement as its lot. " 

(source: Hindu Dharma - M. K. Gandhi p. 7-374 and  Harijan 28-3-1936 and The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi volume 19  p. 546).  Watch An Invasion through Conversion - videoyahoo.com. Watch the Bloody History of Communism - videogoogle.com.

Watch video - Brahmins in India have become a minority

***

At a time when the Congress government wants to raise the quota for Other Backward Classes to 49.5 per cent in private and public sectors, nobody talks about the plight of the upper castes. The public image of the Brahmins, for instance, is that of an affluent, pampered class. But is it so today?

There are 50 Sulabh Shauchalayas (public toilets) in Delhi; all of them are cleaned and looked after by Brahmins (this very welcome public institution was started by a Brahmin). A far cry from the elitist image that Brahmins have!

Did you know that you also stumble upon a number of Brahmins working as coolies at Delhi's railway stations? One of them, Kripa Shankar Sharma, says while his daughter is doing her Bachelors in Science he is not sure if she will secure a job.

"Dalits often have five to six kids, but they are confident of placing them easily and well," he says. As a result, the Dalit population is increasing in villages. He adds: "Dalits are provided with housing, even their pigs have spaces; whereas there is no provision for gaushalas (cowsheds) for the cows of the Brahmins."

You also find Brahmin rickshaw pullers in Delhi. 50 per cent of Patel Nagar's rickshaw pullers are Brahmins who like their brethren have moved to the city looking for jobs for lack of employment opportunities and poor education in their villages.

Did you also know that most rickshaw pullers in Banaras are Brahmins? 

This reverse discrimination is also found in bureaucracy and politics. Most of the intellectual Brahmin Tamil class has emigrated outside Tamil Nadu.

Only 5 seats out of 600 in the combined UP and Bihar assembly are held by Brahmins -- the rest are in the hands of the Yadavs.

400,000 Brahmins of the Kashmir valley, the once respected Kashmiri Pandits, now live as refugees in their own country, sometimes in refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi in appalling conditions. But who gives a damn about them? Their vote bank is negligible.

And this is not limited to the North alone. 75 per cent of domestic help and cooks in Andhra Pradesh are Brahmins. A study of the Brahmin community in a district in Andhra Pradesh (Brahmins of India by J Radhakrishna, published by Chugh Publications) reveals that today all purohits live below the poverty line.

Anti-Brahminism originated in, and still prospers in anti-Hindu circles. It is particularly welcome among Marxists, missionaries, Muslims, separatists and Christian-backed Dalit movements of different hues. When they attack Brahmins, their target is unmistakably Hinduism.

So the question has to be asked: are the Brahmins (and other upper castes) of yesterday becoming the Dalits of today?

(source: Are Brahmins the Dalits of today? - By Francois Gautier - rediff.com). Watch the Bloody History of Communism - videogoogle.com.

Watch video - Brahmins in India have become a minority

***

Poverty and Brahmins in India

Poverty knows no caste. Many Brahmins eke out a living cleaning toilets, pulling rickshaws.

Forty of Sulabh's toilet cleaners are Brahmins, most of them from Bihar . Says Kashinath Jha, a maintenance engineer at Sulabh: "This is largely because of the abject poverty in Bihar ." The Brahmin sanitation staff are from what is believed to be a large Brahmin migrant labour population in Delhi consisting of rickshaw-pullers, coolies and vegetable vendors.

Kamlesh Chaudhary, one of the Brahmin sanitation workers at Sulabh's toilet complex inside Azadpur vegetable market in Delhi , says: "Our income from farming is meagre as the region where we come from is prone to floods and drought. Most people like us leave in search of jobs and come to the cities." Jha left home in Samastipur and joined Sulabh six years ago after he heard of it from one of his relatives, another Brahmin, who also works for the NGO. Kamlesh and others like him earn Rs 2,500 per month. Since they are provided food and lodging, they save enough money to send back home. This, they say, is more than what they can earn working as casual labourers.

Ramesh Jha, a Brahmin from Darbhanga in Bihar , is also an employee at Sulabh. He came to Delhi seven years ago but had to struggle. "I worked at a factory in Wazirpur for two months. I was paid Rs 1,200 a month and I found it very difficult to survive." Ramesh then switched to Sulabh after a chance meeting with one of its employees and is currently employed at the second toilet complex inside the Azadpur mandi. Doesn't the nature of his work upset him? "I have never had second thoughts about working at Sulabh. Why should I? I am not stealing or committing any crime. I have to earn my living and I am doing that here with my hard work," he says.

Not just in Delhi . In Benares, Mumbai, Chennai and Jammu the plight of the poor Brahmin is the same. Poverty obviously knows no caste.

(source: For Work Is Worship - By Anuradha Raman & Debarshi Dasgupta Outlook  June 4, 2007). 

***

Affirmative action in India flips caste roles

Years of affirmative action have upended India's caste system to the point where some upper-caste Brahmins are reduced to working as porters and pedaling rickshaws, while almost half the places in universities will soon be reserved for lower castes and tribal people. 

Ramesh Jha, a Brahmin, came to New Delhi because he could not find work in his village in eastern Bihar state, where farming jobs have disappeared and almost all the government jobs are reserved for lower castes. He now cleans toilets, performing a job once done by only the lowest of castes -- "untouchable" scavengers who cleaned excreta with their bare hands.

Now the government, using data from a caste census taken in 1931, is on its way to increasing the number of university admissions reserved for lower castes and tribal people to 49.5 percent from 22.5 percent.

This year, large groups of medical and engineering students went on hunger strikes, faced tear gas and left hospitals unmanned for days to participate in protests. The demonstrators say the quota system will squelch merit in India's most respected universities and further fracture Indian society. 

Since caste cannot always be determined by looks, corrupt government officials are known to create fake lower-caste certificates for anyone who pays. Recently, the Indian Express newspaper obtained a backward-caste certificate for Atal Behari Vajpayee -- a Brahmin and former prime minister -- simply by paying a bribe of less than $10. Meanwhile, the status of Brahmins in many states is abysmal. In Andhra Pradesh, 44 percent of Brahmins in the 5 to 18 age group dropped out of school at the primary level, according to a book by J. Radhakrishna. And hundreds of thousands of Brahmins who were forced to leave insurgency-hit Kashmir now live as refugees in other parts of India.

(source: Affirmative action in India flips caste roles - By Erica Lee Nelson - The Washington Times).

Refer to Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing of Kashmiri Hindu Pandits - And the World Remained Silent - Movie http://www.jaia-bharati.org/films/and-the-world.mpg.

Reversal of Fortune Isolates India 's Brahmins

Brahmins, as Hinduism's priestly and scholarly caste, have traditionally occupied a place of privilege in India . Brahmins have been advisers to Maharajas, Mughals and military rulers. Under British rule, they served as administrators, a position they kept after Indian independence in 1947. But in today's India , high-caste privileges are dwindling, and with the government giving extensive preferences to the lower-caste majority, many Brahmins are feeling left out of the economy's rapid expansion.

The reverse discrimination is rooted in Indian history and politics. For decades, Brahmins were resented for their dominance of the government, economy and culture. Indeed, political parties in Tamil Nadu sprang from anti-Brahmin feelings. "If you see a Brahmin and a snake, kill the Brahmin first" was an old slogan. In Tamil Nadu, nearly 70% of government jobs and public-college slots are reserved for people from lower castes and other historically disadvantaged groups. A national constitution adopted in 1950 reserved more than 20% of government jobs for lower castes. In 1990, an additional 27% were set aside for what were called "other backward castes." Some states set higher quotas, including Tamil Nadu, which reserves 69% of government jobs for lower castes and other needy groups. The ugliest Brahmin bashing in India ended years ago, but Mr. Parameswaran says that in college in the late 1990s, he still faced ridicule as a Brahmin. He says one student tried to break his sacred thread, a simple circle of twine Brahmins wear under their clothes.

The percentage of Brahmin households in India that earned less than $100 a month was about 50% in 2007 and 65% in 2004, according to the Center for the Study of Developing Societies. This article fails to note that the study mentioned in the article was from 2007, while the statistics in the accompanying chart were from 2004.

(source: Reversal of Fortune Isolates India 's Brahmins - Eric Bellman - The Wall Street Journal
December 29, 2007).

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Tsunami reveals ancient temple sites

Archaeologists say they have discovered the site of an ancient temple in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

It is the latest in a series of archaeological discoveries in the area struck by December's tsunami, which desilted large areas of the coastline.

The brick temple dates back more than 2,000 years to the late Tamil Sangam period and was discovered on the beachfront near Saluvankuppam, just north of a famous World Heritage site at Mahabalipuram.

The discovery lends more weight to growing evidence that a huge tsunami hit the east coast of India during this period, obliterating large habitations along the coastline.

***

The discovery of a late Tamil Sangam age temple 50 km from Chennai strengthens the view that a string of Seven Pagodas existed along the Mamallapuram coast. 

THE remains of an ancient brick temple, possibly 2,000 years old, have been discovered on the beach near Tiger Cave in Mamallapuram, 50 km from Chennai. According to archaeologists involved in the excavation, the temple; dedicated to Muruga, also known as Karthikeya, may date back to the late Tamil Sangam age, between 1st century B.C. and 2nd century A.D. An inscription in Tamil on a rock near the excavated site led to the discovery of the temple. The rock, lodged in sand, was exposed fully by the tsunami that struck Mammalapuram on December 26, 2004.

The original temple was damaged severely by what archaeologists think was a tsunami or a massive tidal wave action. Subsequently, the Pallava kings converted it into a granite temple in the 8th and 9th century A.D., which too fell to tidal waves or a tsunami. 

(source:  Tsunami reveals ancient temple sites - BBC news.com).

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A search for our lost cities
Letter to Indian Prime Minister

Dear Dr Manmohan Singh-ji,

This pertains to a special project, which I had conceived when I was working as Culture and Tourism Minister. The project, I thought, would have enlarged the dimensions of tourism, provided new insight into the origin of our civilisation, and attracted a number of scholars and archaeologists to study the unexplored layers of our past. Unfortunately, it has since been given up.

Through this letter, I am approaching you with the request to intervene and ensure that the project is viewed in the right perspective and revived. I give below a brief backdrop of the project and the course that it intended to follow. From the point of view of culture, the project was named as “A search For Lost Cities, A Lost Civilisation and A Lost River”, and from the tourism point of view it was titled, “Travels Around Lost Cities, A Lost Civilisation and a Lost River”. The river was Sarasvati and the civilisation was the one known as Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati.

Was there an Aryan invasion?

It has been propagated by Western scholars and their Indian disciples that between 1,500 to 1,000 BC, there was an invasion of India by light-skinned nomadic tribes, the Aryans, which gave birth to the Vedic civilisation of India. But this hypothesis has no legs to stand upon. The study of Colin Renfrew, a noted archaeologist at Cambridge University, not only debunks the theory propounded by Mortimer Wheeler but also points at the similarities between the Aryan Vedic civilisation and the Harappan one. Nor can the theory of invasion/migration provide answers to pertinent questions like: How come the ‘Aryans’, who showed strong attachment to lands, did not carry with them the memories of their previous homeland and nurse no nostalgia about their past? Is it not clear that the Rig-Vedic expressions like ‘sabha’, ‘samiti’, ‘samrat’, ‘ranjan’, ‘rajaka’, which indicate the existence of organised assemblies and rulers of different ranks, are relevant not to the nomadic invaders, but to the advanced urban society of the Vedic Aryans who were indigenous inhabitants of Harappan settlements? Was not the evolution of chariot more likely in the flat lands of North India rather than in the uneven terrain of the Central Asia?  

It has been propagated by Western scholars and their Indian disciples that between 1,500 to 1,000 BC, there was an invasion of India by light-skinned nomadic tribes, the Aryans, which gave birth to the Vedic civilisation of India.

***

The last nail in the coffin of the invasion/migration theory has been hammered in by the recent genetic studies, conducted by scientists in Calcutta with foreign scientists. They analysed the Y-Chromosomes of 936 men and 77 castes, and referred to the work of the international research teams that found that the earliest modern human arrived in India from Africa, trudging along the Indian Ocean coast about 60,000 years ago. They concluded: “Our findings suggest that most modern Indians have genetic affinities to the earlier settlers and subsequent migrants and not to central Asians or ‘Aryans’, as they are called”.

Nature of Civilisation

When, in 1922, the Harappan civilisation was discovered, only two major settlements — Mohenjo-daro and Harappa — had been excavated and that too partially. On this basis, views were formulated about the origin of these advanced urban civilisations. It was given out that its roots lay in Mesopotamia. Subsequent excavations of more Harappan sites have shown that these views and assertions were made without adequate evidence. John Reader, a noted scholar of anthropology and geography, has pointed out that emergence of cities and civilisations in six widely separated places around the world — Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, China, Central America and Peru — was spontaneous and none resulted from contact with one another.

Excavations carried out by a French team, headed by Jean-Francois Jarrige, during the last 15 years, at Mehrgarh, Pakistan, have pin-pointed the beginnings of civilisation in India and shown that Indus-Sarasvati civilisation had no moorings in Mesopotamia or any civilisation outside India. It has been rightly observed: “The people in Mehrgarh tradition are the people of India today”. There are similarities between the social and religious practices of the Harappan people and the people of present-day India. For example, the spiralled bangles of the type found around the figurine of the Harappan dancing girl can still be seen on the arms of women in Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, etc. Again, as was the case with Harappan women, ‘sindoor’ is applied by married women of Hindu families. Some other common features of the two periods are: the practice of worshipping trees, putting of Svastika symbol at the entrance of the houses etc.

Did Sarasvati exist?

There is ample evidence that supports the view that river Sarasvati once existed.

Literary: The Rig Veda mentions the Sarasvati about 50 times, describing it as “the best mother, the best river, the best goddess”. The famous Nadi-stuti hymn mentions a set of rivers, including Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati and Sutudori (Sutlej) and places Sarasvati between Yamuna and Sutlej. Its origin is indicated in the hymn that says:

 “Purest among all rivers and vibrant, the Sarasvati moves on from the mountains to the ocean, manifesting immense riches of the world…” 

She is also called the seventh “Indus Mother”. Ancient literature also talks of when Sarasvati began to decline. The Mahabharata, the Aitareya and the Satapatha Brahamana refer to its disappearance in the desert.

Archaeological: In 1872, C. F. Oldham and R.D. Oldham undertook a detailed survey of the area where the Sarasvati and its tributaries were said to be flowing in earlier times. They concluded that it was once fed by the Sutlej and the Yamuna, and that it disappeared after the westward movement of the former and eastward movement of the latter.

Geological: A group of scientists led by V. M. K. Puri and B.C. Verma, made a detailed study of the areas from which Sarasvati could have originated. They observed: “This river was in existence during the upper Pleistocene period as it was fed by glaciers that had descended to much lower limits in Garhwal Himalaya than the present day level due to the influence of Pleistocene Ice Age.”

Hydrological: After the Pokhran nuclear explosion on May 11, 1998, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre conducted tests to assess the impact of the explosions on the quality of water in the area around. These tests, interalia, revealed that the water in the area was potable, about 8,000 to 14,000 years old, came from the Himalayan glaciers and was being slowly recharged through acquifers from somewhere in the north. Separately, the Central Ground Water Commission dug a number of wells on and along the dry bed. Out of 24 wells dug, 23 yielded potable water.  

“Purest among all rivers and vibrant, the Sarasvati moves on from the mountains to the ocean, manifesting immense riches of the world…” 

***

If all that I have said is viewed in entirety, this is the picture that will emerge: the period 6,500-3,100 BC saw the growth of pre-Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati civilisation, corresponding broadly to the times when the Rig Veda was composed; that during the period 3,100 to 1,900 BC, the Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati civilisation prevailed and these were the times when the hymns of four Vedas were composed; and that 1,900 to 1,000 BC was the time of the late Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati civilisation which saw the decline and ultimate disappearance of the surface water of the Sarasvati, forcing the people to move eastward towards the Gangetic plain.

While the puzzles of archaeology and ancient Indian history cannot be resolved with certainty, particularly with regard to Harappa where the script has not so far been deciphered, it could be stated with a fair degree of accuracy that the Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati civilisation was born and brought up on the soil of India and its people and Vedic people were one and the same. A lot of additional work needs to be done to unravel a number of features of one of the most significant civilisations of the ancient world. Hundreds of sites in the basin of now the submerged Sarasvati need to be excavated. It was this need that the special project intended to meet.

(source: A search for our lost cities - By Jagmohan - hindustantimes.com  May 7 2006). For more refer to chapter on Aryan Invasion Theory.

Refer to Panel finds fault with Saraswati project - However, the project had fallen foul of some historians, perceived to be pro-Left. They had dubbed the project as a “waste of time and money”. They had asserted that the project was part of an agenda of the RSS to prove that the Harappan civilisation was a Hindu civilisation.

Now, in its recent report, the Parliamentary Committee, which is headed by Mr Sitaram Yechury of the CPM, has observed that no academic body or university had recommended the project. 
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Christian Fundamentalism? Intolerance in America ?
Hindu Society of Minnesota Temple in USA Vandalized

On the night of April 5, 2006, the new temple being constructed in Maple Grove by the Hindu Society of Minnesota was vandalized. Vandals broke in to the 43,000 square feet facility and damaged the religious deities and several other areas of the temple, including the auditorium, dining hall and classrooms. The temple, in its final stage of construction, was scheduled to open to the public in June 2006. In light of the recent vandalism, however, this date is being reevaluated by the leadership team of the Hindu Society of Minnesota. 

Numerous architects have been working for over two years on the traditional Hindu design of the temple. Many pieces of the temple have been handcrafted in India and shipped to Minnesota for use. 

The Hindu Deities in the religious altar, located on the sec ond floor of the facility, were constructed in India and were destroyed as a result of the vandalism. 

Severed head of a deity desecrated in the attack. One example of the devastating damage done to the deities that shocked the entire Minneapolis Hindu community.

(source: Hindu American Foundation).

***

The Deities in the religious altar, located on the second floor of the facility, were constructed in India and were destroyed as a result of the vandalism. These uniquely crafted pieces will be difficult to replace. The City of Maple Grove has been enthusiastically involved in the planning and construction of the new temple and is extremely distressed about the acts of vandalism. The City is actively working with authorities on the investigation of the vandalism. While the Hindu community of Minnesota is deeply saddened at the destruction of their place of worship and the center of their community, they are confident that they will be able to repair the damage done to the building. "We remain positive that our temple will be restored and that this case of vandalism will not affect the healthy and established relationship between the Hindu Society of Minnesota and the greater community," states Dr. Shashikant Sane, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Hindu Society of Minnesota.

(source: Hindu Society of Minnesota Temple Vandalized - hpi.list@hindu.org)

For The Rise of Christian Nationalism in USA - Refer to Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism - By Michelle Goldberg and Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth - By Lauren Sandler and God And Country: How Evangelicals Have Become America's New Mainstream - By Monique El-Faizy and The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right's Plans for the Rest of Us - By James Rudin and Divine Destruction: Dominion Theology and American Environmental Policy - By Stephenie Hendricks. Refer to Rapture or Rupture? and Rapture Ready and Christian Fundamentalism Agenda in USA and watch Jesus Camp movie and Book: Bush told reporter Jews are 'all going to hell' - rawstory.com. Refer to The multi-million dollar business called evangelism - By David Barnett. Refer to Vindicated by Time: The Niyogi Committee Report  On Christian Missionary Activities Introduction - By Sita Ram Goel - voi.org.

Watch the movie - Indoctrination in Jesus Camp.

Bible Burning Row Ignites Israeli Jews - Orthodox Jews have burned hundreds of New Testaments in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in Israel . Proselytizing is frowned upon in Israel . New Testament seeks to convert all non-Christians, not just Jews. Proselytizing is illegal, trying to change Jews into being Christians is illegal, to hand out bibles is illegal. This theft of Jewish souls by Christian missionaries can lead to genocide, loss of Judaic culture and religion or the extinction of a race.

Hindu Americans Protest Call to Convert to Christianity By Republican Candidate in Minnesota

Harry Sinclair Lewis (1885 - 1951) was an American novelist and playwright. In 1930 he became the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His works are known for their insightful and critical views of American society and capitalist values. He has observed that:

"When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the Flag, carrying a Cross."

Christian Nationalism – For more watch Silhouette city - a new documentary by Michael Wilson that investigates apocalyptic Christian nationalism. The film tracks the rise of this religious fervor over the last three decades, from fringe Christian survivalist groups of the 1970's to today's mainstream movement. As you can see from this clip, the current leaders of apocalyptic Christian nationalism include Rev. Rod Parsley and Rev. John Hagee.

(source: Apocalyptic Christian Nationalism at Its Scariest - alternet.org).

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Hindu Americans, still reeling from an election season that saw high profile Republican Party candidates scorn adherents of minority faiths in the United States, were treated to another attack on pluralism from a state senate candidate in Minnesota. Republican Rae Hart Anderson, who was defeated by a margin of nearly 40% in her bid to unseat Sen. Satveer Chaudhary of District 50, wrote a rambling concession email over a week after the election in which she called on the senator to convert to her Christian faith as she said he needed to be “forgiven.” 

Sen. Chaudhary is a practicing Hindu.

“The race of your life is more important than this one--and it is my sincere wish that you'll get to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,” wrote Anderson in her email. “Jesus is the way, the truth and offers His life to you and each human being. Pay attention...this is very important, Satveer. Have you noticed Jesus for yourself...at some moment in time, yet???”

Republican Rae Hart Anderson and Sen. Satveer Chaudhary.

The first-ever Hindu Senator of the Minnesota State legislature has been told by his defeated opponent that he needs to find his soul by getting to know Jesus. Sen. Chaudhary was stunned when he received an email from his Republican opponent Rae Hart Anderson that sounded like a bid to convert his religious beliefs.

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Anderson continued on the same message for another five paragraphs beseeching Sen. Chaudhary to convert without discussing the electoral race they had just completed. Local print and broadcast media picked up the story of the conversion call and the email was roundly derided in the blogosphere. In response to an inquiry from the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis, Anderson’s campaign manager said, “Chaudhary is not Christian. He needs to find his soul.”

“But at HAF, we are distressed by the intolerance and disrespect for Hinduism and other minority faiths displayed by a few prominent Republican candidates this year in pandering to the right wing Christian conservative vote—a clear and present danger to the pluralistic ethos our founding fathers valued so much.” Anderson’s insinuations of her religion’s superiority took on new meaning in light of events earlier this year in the Minneapolis suburbs. 

The main Hindu temple, situated on nearly 30 acres, was heavily vandalized in the spring by a group of rampaging youths. HAF members expressed concern that when politicians demean and dismiss their faith and heritage without reaching out to understand its precepts, Hindus and their institutions become easy targets when the prevailing mood is of intolerance.

(source: Hindu Americans Protest Call to Convert to Christianity By Republican Candidate in Minnesota - HAF and Hindu Senator told to find soul in Jesus - Deccan Herald.com. Refer to Christian Preacher claims Hinduism and Buddhism is Satanic - mediamatters.org.  Also refer to Christian Evangelists Denying Scientific Evidence - youtube.com and Evangelical Right. Refer to I Am Macaca - By S.R. Sidarth and Fairfax Native Says Allen's Words Stung

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Return of the Goddess

Mother Goddess has been prominent in cultures throughout history. But during the past two millennia, the female aspect of the Creator has been excluded by a world that has focused exclusively on the male dominated religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But lately the Goddess is reasserting Herself. She is telling humanity it is time to clean up our act. The survival of life as we know it depends upon our willingness to listen to Her and honor Her. 

To worship the Goddess is to honor the Earth and all the creatures.

In India, too, there is renewed enthusiasm in worshipping the Divine Mother. Hindus believe that the energy that created the universe stems from the female energy of God. Divine Mother here is known and worshiped in Her many forms or aspects. Adhi Parashakti: Devi Mahatmya tells the story of how shaktis (energies) emerged from each of the devas to aid the Supreme Goddess in fighting the asuras. Each possessed the form, ornament, and mount of the particular deva. Adhi Parashakti is one who rules this world, performs the tasks (creation, preservation and destruction) of the Tri-Murti—Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.  

Goddess Laxshmi and Bhudevi 13th century bronze. 

To worship the Goddess is to honor the Earth and all the creatures.

The female aspect of the Creator has been excluded by a world that has focused exclusively on the male dominated religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

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Shakti: Tantras say the female principle antedates and includes the male principle, and is the Supreme Divinity. Its doctrine says mortal women are life itself, and goddess-like, because they embody the Shakti principle.

Durga: Warrior Goddess, rode a tiger into battle defending Her children, the devas.

Kali: Black Earth Mother, Goddess of fertility, death and regeneration. Her mantras brought into being the very things whose names She spoke for the first time, Also known as Jagdamba.

Lakshmi: Goddess of fortune, wealth and abundance as well as beauty. Golden skinned and sitting or standing on a lotus, aka Padma, Lady Lotus.

Saraswati: Goddess of poetry, music, science and learning. As Savitri, deity of the Gayatri mantra.

(source: Return of the Goddess - By SS Sundaram - dnaindia.com).

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A German tourist cremated as per Hindu rituals in Varanasi

Since time immemorial the Hindu culture has captivated a lot of foreigners who have been influenced with its rich history and significance in human life. While commencing his world tour, Scader Hanee Pulric, a German tourist may have hardly anticipated that it's going to be his ultimate journey. While touring India he felt so drawn that he wished to be cremated according to Hindu rites.

Pulric died on Thursday night due to blood cancer. But before dying he repeated his last wish about cremation as per Hindu rituals. His friends fulfilled his wish. They cremated him as per Hindu rituals in Varanasi, the holy city, on Friday (November 17) at Harishchandra Ghat. (Note: In Hindu sacred stories it is believed that if a person is cremated at the Harish Chandra Ghat, that person gets salvation or "moksha"). 

In Hindu sacred stories it is believed that if a person is cremated at the Harish Chandra Ghat, that person gets salvation or "moksha". 

There are over 100 ghats in Varanasi that line the western bank of the River Ganges.

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It was sometime back that Pulric learnt from his doctors that he would not live beyond three months as he had blood cancer. Thereafter Pulric came to Varanasi to die on the pious land." His last wish was to be cremated in Varanasi and so we did this" were the only words Joies one of Pulric friends said. 

As a part of Pulric's last wish, his ash will be immersed in the River Ganga as a part Hindu death ritual.

(source: A German tourist cremated as per Hindu rituals in Varanasi - dailyindia.com).

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Lessons for Hindus - Extinction of Native Hawaiian Culture
Christian Missionary modus operandi - Destroy ancient world religions and put their cultural artifacts in museums and amusement parks for profit?

"Christianity’s ruthless evangelization efforts that resulted in the destruction of countless religious traditions has caused a spiritual erosion of sorts around the world."                          

                             - By Tim Mitchell - Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Destiny. 

Christianity's Holy Crusade to Homogenize Humanity and destroy ancient cultures?  

Geert (Gerard Hendrik) Hofstede (1928 -  ) the management expert considers in his very well known book "Cultures and Organizations" 

"that the culture of both South Asia and East Asia are authoritarian and closed whereas the Western culture is democratic and open."

Perhaps Mr Hofsted should ponder if so why is the Pope trying to kill all non-Christian religions and spiritual democracy? 

Is that being open and democratic? 

If Western cultures were democratic and open why were they colonizing and terrorizing the non-white countries of Asia, Africa and the Americas?

Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday that the Roman Catholic Church has the indisputable right and duty to convert anyone to Christianity. Jesus Christ, as recorded in the Gospels, called on the conversion of “all nations,” Benedict said,” and this commission remains “an obligatory mandate for the entire Church and for every believer in Christ.”

(source: East versus West: a false Western idea - By Dipak Basu and Pope Affirms Right to Convert Non-Believers to Christianity - crusadewatch.org).  Refer to chapters on European Imperialism and Conversion.

By the 1860s,

"in Hawai'i the Reverend Rufus Anderson (1796 - 1880) surveyed the carnage that by then had reduced those islands' native population by 90 percent or more, and he declined to see it as tragedy; the expected total die-off of the Hawaiian population was only natural, this missionary said, somewhat equivalent to 'the amputation of diseased members of the body'."  

- author D. Stannard in American Holocaust.  

Historical Information
How the United States Stole the Legacy of the Hawaiian Nation 

“I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.” 

                                       – Mark Twain quoted in A Pen Warmed Up in Hell.

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Bible and the Land of Hawaii
Fair Exchange?

"When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible." 

- Jomo Kenyatta  (1897?-1978), first prime minister (1963-1964) and then first president (1964-1978) of Kenya. 

Comparative Dates