Monday, February 22, 2016

Colonial Legacy Part 1

What the Colonial Regime Denied India!

The British, under their colonial regime, had perpetrated several things in India. The first thing they did was deprive India of its identity, bestowed on its people, by the fact of its geography and religion. Names associated with India such as its religion,  Hinduism or the identity of its citizens as Indians was not appealing to this colonial regime. Anything that provides India cultural identity and connection to its heritage is either squandered off or disputed. Imperialist government under the British worked hard to convince Indians that Hinduism is not religion, and that the people of India were not the only Indians, but that there were many other Indians across the world, because  of the colonial objective that disenfranchised from its identity and heritage, India will forever become bonded to Britain, and its people will be enslaved and forever remain loyal to Britain. 

Granted that Columbus made a mistake of calling the first people he met off the coast of America Indians, still I do not see any reason why Britain and other colonial regimes continued to refer to them as Indians, even after the mistake was clear right from the beginning itself. So now there are Indians (Canada refers to them as First Nations, but rest of North and South America still refer to the natives as Indians) in the United States. Hence there are several people in the world under the name Indian tribes across North and South America. These native tribes of North and South America have nothing to do with India, but still continue to be called Indians. With one stroke of genius the colonial regimes  (the British in particular) disenfranchised the Native Tribes of America from their identity and cultural heritage, while at the same time denied the Indians of India their own identity as they were forced to share their name with numerous tribes thousands of miles away from them.  Through the process of misnaming the native tribes of North and South America, the colonial regime had rendered them to be nameless, cultureless masses to be colonized. They tried a similar tactic in India with their efforts to deny Indians the name Indian as well as the name of their religion Hinduism.

In the case of India, the colonialist administrative technique is two pronged: On the one hand Indians are told that the names India and Hinduism are not their names and on the other hand they are told that their religion and culture are backward and stagnant. Both contradictory and confusing to Indians and still continues to cause problems to India. 


The first issue the name India (Hindustan in Hindi) as not being the original name of India did not have much currency as it is still referred to as India and as Hindustan in common usage, although the constitution names it as Bharath also. However the issue of the name of its religion, Hinduism attracted official attention, sponsorships, while it still continues to attract some attention from one section of scholars in the Western academia. Two issues should be addressed before we address the question of Hinduism in India. The first one is that ancient religions were not referred to as 'ism,' but as 'the path,' or 'the way'. Second issue is that the absence of the term Hinduism, does not mean the absence of a unified religious practice, but only that it was called by a different name. The Vedas, the path of the Vedas is followed as a religion since at least 2000 B.C.E. in India, and was known by the name of Hinduism since 300 B.C.E. The Greeks should be credited with calling indians Hindus and their religion Hinduism. Megasthenes's book the Indica provides early evidence of Hindu life in India. This was followed by Chinese pilgrims between 3-7 centuries C.E. Even if one does not want to trust the Vedas or the early classical sources of India, they must at least heed the advise of ancient Greeks and Chinese with regards to the religion of India.

 Religion of India is referred to as the way, in Sanskrit: the Dharma. It is called as the 'eternal path,' or 'ancient way,' under the Sanskrit term, Sanatana  Dharma. However, one encounters the name Hindu from the fifth century onwards. Rashtrakuta inscriptions followed by Chalukya inscriptions of Western India provide early records to the term between 534-1200 C.E. From 1200 C.E. onwards the term Hindu and Hinduism replaces the use of Sanatana Dharma. It is found used in the documents of Delhi Sutlanate as well as the Vijayanagara empire. The notion held by one section of colonial historians that Hinduism as a name of the religion was only coined and used by British administration is not true, but an invention intended to serve the interests of the colonial administration. 


Monday, February 15, 2016

Romila Thapar and the Politicization of Indian History

If there is anyone to be blamed for politicization and misuse of Indian history, it squarely rests with Romila Thapar. She is the last vestige of the colonial machine of history making disinheriting India from its own history. India is projected as something backward and caste dominated society, and Aryan-Dravidian divide is promoted through history texts. One would only need to look at other colonial regimes such as Rwanda where such racial divide is promoted through colonial history writing, not unlike the history of India. 

Today she comes out to accept that she is a Marxist and that her history is a result of it. All that the Marxists have ever done in the name of history was to mislead the people about their own history. They still support Aryan invasion theory and do everything to shut down the arguments from the other side through ad hominem attacks rather than offering any legitimate arguments. 

This is the last ditch effort by Marxist historians to reclaim their grip on Indian history, lest they may loose their grip on history making, which might eventually lead to their demise. Marxists never had popular support, never won popular elections to lead the government (except for outliers like Bengal and Kerala), all that they do is blame legitimately elected governments for doing their job. They do not just stop with maligning the government, their other full time job is to work as the bulwark of colonial regimes by continuing their legacy.

The Ramayana and the Mahabharatha are vilified by these Marxists, while praising Homer. All they have done is to be subservient to colonial historical lineage and sacrifice objectivity in Indian history. They accept Mahabhatha and Ramayana when it is convenient for them. Rama is pitted against Ravan (projected as Dalit). Why is it that Dalits always choose to identify with Demons in the epics and classical texts? Thanks to the Marxist historians, they were brain washed too long to believe in the two-race theory of colonial administration continued by historians like Romila Thapar. Aryanization and Aryan invasion theory are not just theories for them, they are realistic events. 

I am surprised Romila is still showing up in the media to offer her twisted historical views. She would make better use of her time, should she were to sit at home and revise her history books in the light of new evidence, instead of going on the media (TVs mainly- she likes to be in the limelight) to talk about useless political events.

Please also see my other related post on this issue of colonization and racialization of India's past:

http://manthratalk.blogspot.com/2015/01/hindutva-and-history.html