tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75131771029008059912024-03-13T13:30:19.278-07:00Manthratalk: The First Word India in History
This blog discusses history and current events of India. India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-92161159321221301512023-09-15T12:04:00.002-07:002023-09-15T12:04:23.137-07:00What is pushing SB403 : Blame Game and Propaganda<p><b> What is pushing SB 403?</b></p><p><b> <span> </span></b>Shifting-Blame game and propaganda are at the center of efforts pushing the SB403. The California bill known as SB 403 was put forth by California state representative Ayesha Wahab, an Afghani-American. The fact that this bill passed the state legislature even though with a small majority shows the lingering colonialist vestiges of social theories defining Indian society, in addition to propaganda. They have defined hard-working Hindus as discriminating folks under this Bill, SB403. </p><p><span> The colonialist and divisive understanding of Indian Americans became glaringly obvious in the cartoon published in some media articles when Parag Agarwal became the CEO of Twitter. He was represented in the cartoon as sitting on a sedan being carried by many people. This is a common image used to depict colonialist exploitation of the British Queen. Cartoons representing colonialist exploitation of the British empire frequently depicted the Queen sitting on a sedan being carried by her colonial subjects. Since when did hardworking Indians become oppressors from oppressed? It was an unfair blame game imposed on India by the colonialists. This is a vestige of the colonialist theory of Aryan invasions, which depicts higher caste populations of India as not belonging to India, but as initial invader-colonizers of India. This theory has been disproven due to a lack of evidence but continues to dominate popular propaganda on India and Indians. Depicting Indian Americans as similar to a colonizer rather than the oppressed people of India, which they were since historically large sections of Indians lived under colonial regimes. Almost all Indians, especially those in Silicon Valley who worked hard to accomplish something in their lives have come to America as graduate students. they worked hard despite the lack of any support structures to achieve something in life. Most of the Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs credit their success to grit and hard work. The case of hit and run accident case in Seattle that came to light recently is emblematic of the life of Indian students and indicates the precariousness of their life. Their belonging to a caste did not matter; bringing up caste in this atmosphere only shows the colonialist shifting of blame seen in Wilkerson's book, Caste. This shows a modern American's search for shifting the blame elsewhere for the social evils of American society. Stereotypes and parallels have been used to equate the American social system to that of Indian social practices, which is not based on evidence. Indian social system of complex, diverse, and completely different from the American experience. </span><br /></p><p><span><span> </span>Another reason that is pushing the SB 403 is the AntiIndia geo-political strategy of some South Asian groups. The AntiIndia activities frequently take the shape of AntiHindu activities outside of India pushed by groups that oppose rising India. These can be broadly categorized as Deep-state Pakistani elements and groups that are aligned with it covertly such as Khalistani groups, and the Marxist-Left-leaning political activists that oppose the rise of BJP in India and support its Opposition in India. These groups have been working covertly for a number of years opposing Indians, especially Hindus in America. At this juncture we can recollect a few examples such as the California textbook controversy, and more recently opposition to the celebration of Hindu festivals on American university campuses. Anti-India and anti-Hindu purposes of this legislation are clear due to lack of evidence. </span></p><p><span><span> The lack of ground evidence for the bill SB 403 within the Indian American community also demonstrates the false pretext with which this bill was brought forward. What is the point of passing this bill aiming at regulating Hindus with a law when there is no evidence of any discrimination reported from this community? The only legal case that was frequently shown as evidence warranting this bill in California was the now-dismissed CISCO case brought forward by CRD, which makes it inconsequential as the CISCO case was dismissed by CRD for lack of evidence. This case was brought by Equality Labs which was known to spread propaganda against Hindus. Another case that was shown was a case brought about by a left-leaning group about BAPS workers. This case was also dismissed as it was shown that these contract workers were tricked with promising benefits such as providing them immigration to America to complain about their employers. This leaves the tiny minority of Indians as the peace-loving, law-abiding, hardworking community in America. </span><br /></span></p><p><span><span><span> Another source that was frequently cited in support of this legislation was a survey conducted by Equality Labs. Their methodology for the survey was not transparent and has been criticized for its methodological issues. However, there is another and much more comprehensive survey conducted by Carnegie Mellon University, which used a strong methodological and theoretical basis for its survey. The Carnegie survey is much more representative of the common attitudes and practices among Indians and showed the absence of discrimination as proposed by the previous Equality Labs survey. This leaves the proposal for SB403 with no factual evidence for its proposal and passage firmly places it in the category of discriminatory laws unfairly targeting a small minority of the population with the goal of hounding Indian Americans, especially Hindus for their lifestyle and practices. </span><br /></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span> The passage of SB403 unfairly targets Hindus. This will isolate Hindus through profiling. If passed this bill will subject Indians/Hindus to extra checks and make it difficult for them to obtain employment or founding a business for lack of raising funds. This will close all opportunities available to Hindus in any field for fear of being dragged to courts under SB 403. It is time for anyone who supports equality under the law to oppose this bill. Isolating and subjecting a small community of the population with a special law directed at them has historically proven to be counterproductive to any progressive society. </span><br /></span></span></span></p><p><span><span> </span><br /></span></p>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-24408762707238412952023-09-03T11:18:00.000-07:002023-09-03T11:18:42.592-07:00Anti-Hindu Comments of Minister Stoke Hinduphobia/Genocide<p> <b>Anti-Hindu Comments of Minister U. Stalin Stoke Hinduphobia/Genocide</b></p><p><br /></p><p>The incendiary statement made by Minister Udayanidhi Stalin, Minister of Tamil Nadu State Sports and Youth Affairs at a public meeting of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Forum is highly concerning for the Hindu community in India in particular and the global Hindu community in general. In the speech delivered on Saturday, the Minister was seen using highly derogatory terms to describe Hinduism, also known as, Sanatana dharma calling for its eradication. He said, "Sanatana Dharma is like mosquitoes, malaria, dengue, and corona, it should be eradicated like a disease." This statement coming from a minister holding a responsible public position in the government of Tamil Nadu after taking oath on the Constitution of India is highly irresponsible. For his part, the minister remains unapologetic supposing that his calls for the 'eradication of Sanatana like a disease' do not incite genocide. However, genocides begin with blaming a group of people for their practices before finally isolating them for assaults. His direct calls to eradicate the religion bring the practitioners of that religion under attack, which is akin to calling for the genocide of Hindus/Sanatanis.</p><p>The minister remains nonchalant and hasn't made any efforts to release an official statement of apology. As minister of the Tamil Nadu government, he remains liable for conspiracy against Hindus/Sanatanis which is a punishable crime under the Constitution of India, which provides Freedom of Religion to all its citizens and gives equal rights to all its citizens to practice their religion without fear of attacks. The minister's answer supporting his statement was not satisfactory. As an explanation Mr. U Stalin said, he only called for the "eradication of the religion of Sanatana like a disease... and not the people." This is even more dangerous and cannot be condoned. Calling any religion as evil is prohibited under the Constitution of India. Calling a religion a disease will spread misconceptions and subject the practitioners of that religion to direct and indirect attacks. This has been proven by history. </p><p>It is especially concerning that there is a fearful atmosphere for Hindus due to activities of anti-India elements attacking Hindus through name-calling and more across the world. AntiHIndu violence and attacks are rising across the world. In this atmosphere, it is highly objectionable for a minister of a state to speak such derogatory terms in his statements at a public forum. </p><p>I conduct research on Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu elements in the academia and public sphere. The nature of Hinduphobia, which is spread as an undercurrent of public discussions is derived from colonialist theoretical constructions. Its recent spread is alarming. Theoretical constructions such as Aryan invasion/migration and caste constructions are weaponized to implicate Hinduism and Hindus as innately evil. Minister U. Stalin's statement should be understood in this context. Please check the article on Global Hinduphobia to gain an understanding of the threat his statement poses to the practitioners of Hinduism: here: https://www.academia.edu/90219272/GLOBAL_HINDUPHOBIA_CONSTRUED_CONSTRUCTED_AND_UNLEASHED_FROM_THE_WEST</p><p>It's an anomaly that Hindus are asked to justify their faith in official and unofficial attacks like this one. Genocides always begin with identifying one group of people by blaming their practices, for example, faith, food, and clothing, as evil. The progressive attacks and isolation of a group of people are notable in the context of Tamil Nadu's history. In the not-too-remote past, a small group of Hindus has been attacked for their faith, food, and clothing. Goeblesian propaganda discusses this type of tactic (Vemsani 2022: 19-20) to isolate and attack a group of people which was successfully used during World War II subjecting 6 million Jews and 500 Roma to isolation and genocide. </p><p>Anti-Hindu statements and activities do not remain limited to one region or group of people. Statements made by well-known personalities and people of high positions remain entrenched in public memory and are carried forward and spread widely. The impact of the statement given by Minister U. Stalin to the audience at a meeting of the Progressive Writer's Forum cannot be underestimated. </p><p>The minister's statement certainly represents an alarming trend and the criminal intent of this statement cannot be ignored. This is a direct call for genocide of Hindus. Minister U. Stalin must be asked to resign immediately and stand trial for riling up his followers to go against another religion and its followers. </p><p><br /></p>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-34331748897538855232023-05-05T20:22:00.017-07:002023-05-05T20:34:19.502-07:00King Charles Must Apologize<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglwLzpNYgX0aLpO-oM2ctwU5eUh9JSUdSdLyOJi6Cvt8DVieyooKpqUcCBSOuiuUQWGebJryCSP3k_bC3yl_ODxp7GV7cPZiwf7KsebH4GrfytIhfeSC9WstswrxFpX31gcGMgQiNY6ehRtBbJWzLEz0RnebhctAZVEN4vosuEYQj3FXnDY9oVwA7s" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglwLzpNYgX0aLpO-oM2ctwU5eUh9JSUdSdLyOJi6Cvt8DVieyooKpqUcCBSOuiuUQWGebJryCSP3k_bC3yl_ODxp7GV7cPZiwf7KsebH4GrfytIhfeSC9WstswrxFpX31gcGMgQiNY6ehRtBbJWzLEz0RnebhctAZVEN4vosuEYQj3FXnDY9oVwA7s=s16000" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-58226186273732356932022-04-09T08:42:00.003-07:002022-04-09T08:42:44.364-07:00The Kashmir Files Stirs Nation into Recognizing Pattern of Genocidal Violence<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Notes of my lecture at
the symposium: <b>The Kashmir Files, Moment of Reckoning,</b> April 9, 2022, at 7 PM
IST/ 9:30 AM EST<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In today’s lecture I will
focus on two of the important aspect brought out by the Kashmir files.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Kashmir Files Represents
Historical Human Rights Violations Amounting to Genocide<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Unfortunately, contemporary
discussion surrounding the recently released film The Kashmir Files represents
what is wrong with our collective conscious; it went astray: The discussion is
not about historical facts or historical issues, that everyone agrees, but aside
from the issue all they want to discuss is either polarization, or politicization,
which is traditionally used to distort facts in the past; moreover, it ignores
the issues that perpetrated violence and punishes the victims with silence. Instead,
If the historical event is discussed focusing on the brutal violence, the
perpetrators, and the victims, it would lead to truth and reconciliation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There are two issues with
the way the public is misled in the current discussion in some media and
academic sections:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Misguiding the Historical issue<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Distorting the Human rights and Humanitarian
concerns<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What does it mean for
contemporary history and for the future?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We must be ready to
condemn violence, any elements perpetrating violence, and support the victims.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-left: 47.25pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">History is constituted by: Facts, more facts,
and all facts! For history nothing else matters.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was surprised to
read some articles about the Kashmir files hurting certain groups of people
etc. How is recording historical facts hurting to somebody? If we go by that
route, we cannot record any history, because no matter what its bound to hurt
someone. Hurting or not hurting sentiments should not matter for history: the
discipline of History is not the handmaiden of some activists or political
theorists. History works independent of all these ancillary ideas. History
should provide truth based on facts, that’s all it matters for history. In the
case of Kashmir, as far as history is concerned the truth is hidden, facts of
killings, maiming, and other atrocities committed in Kashmir did not see the
light of the day or form part of the public discussion until now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What happened on the ground
is important for history, it should not be erased. hence as the Hindus of
Kashmir has been requesting for a long time, a white paper should be released
on the violence of Kashmir. The Kashmir files brings forward this moment of urgency.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kashmir files stirred
the soul of India by touching the Inner conscience of many across the country who
have seen or heard of similar violence in the past not far from their home. There
is an unmistakable pattern of violence of this nature seen across India.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-left: 47.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For many in India the Kashmir Files stirred
emotions hidden inside the inner layers of conscious. Coming from Southern
India the events of the Kashmir files had brought to life the stories of
inhuman atrocities Razakars in Hyderabad state, that I heard from near and
dear. It is the same: terrible atrocities killing innocent civilians including
children, raping women, public terrorization of a group of people by chopping
their limbs, gorging their eyes etc, for simply being different and practicing
their faith; there is clearly a pattern---<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-left: 47.25pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How long will these genocidal massacred be
ignored? How long will these atrocities remain suppressed? For what purpose?
What is humanitarian response for these atrocities?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-left: 47.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Through its inaction not even condemning such
acts, the Humanity’s soul is dead.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Human rights abuses even though partially depicted in the film form
a large part of the film due to the nature of the issue on hand; these events are
also imprinted on the inner conscious of Indian public, which stirred horrifying
memories of previous events like these. It is important to understand the gravity
of the issue, hence these events do not repeat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Within all these discussions and debates, the Kashmir Hindus
still await the recognition for their pain and suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Hindus of Kashmir face a dual curse in addition to their
long struggles to get recognition for their trauma- first, they are victims of
brutal violence, second, their victimization is being denied, which is worse
than the abuse perpetrated 30 years ago. A film depicting their troubles is
being termed Islamophobic- this is the irony. Hinduphobia within the Kashmir
genocide is ignored and victim’s voices are suppressed by outrageous claims of Islamophobia.
Silencing victim’s voices, suppressing history is the biggest crisis of our
time! </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">It’s not merely in the past, but
continues in the present, and the future of this pattern of violence is
embedded in it. This pattern of violence amounts to serious humanitarian
crisis.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-9963783272080647742022-02-25T18:49:00.003-08:002022-02-25T18:49:41.670-08:00Why India Should Support Ukraine<p> <b>Why India Should Support Ukraine</b></p><p><br /></p><p>One who stands with none stands alone. Standing alone has no merit as friends and enemies are part of geopolitics as is the case with life. India has already missed its opportunity to participate in geopolitical relations in a meaningful manner by being limited by the Nehruvian lack of future vision. It is time for India to end this NAM (Non-Alignment) mindset and enter the world with new vigour and mindful of its geopolitical role. How long is India going to plan its geopolitical participation based on the role of Russia and China, its powerful, but imperialist neighbours? If India remains quiet and fuels its growth further, it would be a threat to India’s sovereignty rather than help India in any manner. </p><p>India never had an opportunity to shape its international relations independently. Some relations are based on the colonial background like participating in the Commonwealth. Some are shaped by threats from neighbours leading to NAM, which is a mistake. Therefore, it is important to disband these farmer organizations and move forward boldly with India-centric policy. An India centric policy must guide the future of Indian foreign policy and geopolitical strategy. I wrote an article about India’s foreign policy debacles previously. Check here: https://www.globalorder.live/post/india-s-foreign-policy-needs-to-escape-the-legacy-of-colonial-entanglements</p><p>I have long argued for establishing a new model of international relations for India based on its sovereignty and history. Arthasastra highlights the fact that the immediate neighbours cannot be trusted and would never be friends, but that a state should establish friendly relations that must be cultivated with farther neighbours. I do not say that we must follow this book written about 2,500 years ago, but what I am saying is that the state of India must take a closer look at its geopolitical strategy and shape it with guidance from tried and tested methods. As an important step in this direction India’s joining the Quad is impactful, but this role must also expand into other areas of India’s foreign relations rather than simply being symbolic. I wrote an academic article about it previously published in the Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs. Please check it here: https://www.academia.edu/72480031/Connectivity_and_the_Quad_Powers_Revisiting_History_and_Thought</p><p>The Ukrainian crisis is one such situation, which demands India to go beyond its previous foreign policy debacles and vote in support of UN Security Council measures along with other world nations. It is important to stay strong and support the measures to end the war rather than stay quiet. India should support international measures to sanction Russia to end the war and support Ukraine, so as to help rebuild, the same way it is helping Afghanistan. This is India’s opportunity to show its stand on the international stage. </p><div><br /></div>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-67649517868890351032021-09-09T12:47:00.001-07:002021-09-10T07:41:16.932-07:00Who decldes What is Hinduism in the West? A Handful of Academics or Practitioners?<p> <b>Who decides the Life of Hindus in the West? A Handful of Academics or Practitioners?</b></p><p><br /></p><p><span> </span>There are two issues noted in the subject area of Hindu studies in the West. The academic study of Hinduism wields uncontrollable power and destructive behavior in its practices. Practitioner perspectives are somehow discounted as not valuable to understand true Hinduism even though a religion thrives on the practitioner’s belief. Some academic work focuses exclusively on disproving the practitioner's perspectives as well as denouncing their practices. Thus, denouncing the subject that they study closely. Silencing the subject peoples while creating theories of understanding about Hinduism, the academia displays destructive behavior if not entrenched superiority complex. This manifests in two ways affecting the academia and outside perceptions of Hinduism. Primarily this also leads to Hindu academics and Hindus to be held to a standard in which they are expected to deny their Hindu practices or become non-Hindus, which is not the case with practitioners of other religions. The practitioner’s perspective is somehow seen as jaded not conducive to research. </p><p><span> </span>Religious practice is generally governed by long-held notions and received traditional wisdom. In this context, academic research matters little for a practitioner. However, in the case of Hinduism academic research and academic perspective impose themselves on the practitioners and try to silence their voices. Practitioner perspectives are actively discouraged as theoretical understanding developed in academia dominates the public and policy discourse. However, since the academic perspectives are developed without clear consideration of practitioner perspectives, this could often lead to problems in public perceptions of Hinduism. </p><p><span> </span>While a religion thrives on the practice of its followers in the case of Hinduism it is being altered as academic theoreticians interject themselves within the tradition declaring what is right or wrong practice discounting the voices of practitioners at every step. The issue of Hinduphobia stems from this exceptional pressure placed on Hindus not from inside the practice, but from outside the practice through imposing the academic perspectives. Under these imposed perspectives simple practicing Hindus are depicted as fanatics and outliers by using less than respectable terms such as ‘Hindutva’. The problem with Hinduphobia in the West is that it stems from misrepresentations and half-truths concerning Hinduism. </p><p><span> </span>Hindu history and culture are wrought with generalizations and simplifications in addition to misnomers and misinformation. However, its presentation outside of India had been very problematic, since out of context generalizations and public activism targeting a micro-minority has led to unforeseen consequences leading to vilification and persecution of these minorities outside of India. For example, how many in the general public know the infamous Nazi symbol has nothing to do with the Hindu symbol Swastika or that the Nazi symbol had never been called Swastika.</p><p><span> </span>Colonial beginnings of Hindu studies implanted suspicion of practitioners within the subject. The epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana are reinterpreted to reflect the ‘invader vs. indigenous’ dichotomy. Even though the ‘invader vs. Indigenous’ paradigm based on the fictional theory of Aryans is disproven these narratives still continue to dominate Hindu studies. Symbolic representations of evil, the demons, are identified as Dalits even though internal evidence of the epics does not support such identifications. These narratives are then used to spread suspicions of the established practice and religion of Hinduism. Misunderstandings of Hinduism come from these misplaced identity constructs, which effectively disconnect the authentic practices from public perceptions. Scholars disproving this dichotomy of ‘invader vs. indigenous’ perspective through disproving the Aryan invasion theory are name-called. </p><p><span> </span>Sacred texts of Hinduism, the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana are reinterpreted with racial overtones. What is happening now is the ‘othering’ of Hindus using such misinterpreted tales of festivals, gods, and goddesses. Symbolic representations of evil or demons are identified with groups of modern society even though no such connections are seen in original texts or practices. For example, the festival of Holi is reinterpreted this way on college campuses in the recent past. Anyone opposing these misinterpretations or out-of-context generalizations is name-called or termed Hindutva. The issue is not with academic research but how it is weaponized out of context to discount practitioners.</p><p><span> </span>Appallingly, misrepresentations still continue to dominate public perceptions of Hinduism. Calling Hinduism ‘casteist' or Hindu festivals as ‘oppressive’ lacks ground reality as well as context. Therefore, the larger issue with the academia in the West is two-fold: first, denial of Hinduphobia and second, continually propping up the narrative based on ‘invader vs. indigenous’ perspective while denying the native practitioner voices, thus ignoring pluralism of practices within Hinduism. Unfortunately, some academics play a larger-than-life role in shaping this public representation of Hinduism in the West. For a micro-minority, the Hindus, in the West, this could lead to confusion, isolation, and subsequently targeted attacks. It is important that public discourse understands the religious beliefs of practitioners than interpretations of a few academics. </p><p><span> </span>Vilifying Hindu practices, festivals, and lifestyles, sometimes with false equivalencies have become common across all spheres of academia. This trend is really concerning, since, this could lead to grave consequences for the practitioners due to misinformation put forward on numerous occasions across America. It is unfortunate that the very places of higher learning that are believed to foster knowledge, and pluralism of thought are becoming venues of hate incidents against Hindus. The number of hate crimes and violence against Hindus has gradually increased in the past two decades. Silencing practitioner’s perspectives is also a common practice. </p><p><span> </span>The strange thing is universities had a number of hate incidents recorded against Hindus. It leads one to surmise that such misinformation can have disastrous consequences. The misinformation may have isolated and traumatized the Hindu students exposing them to targeted attacks. The trend is alarming. Hate incidents on college campuses are well documented, but similar reports outside college campuses may be meager. This might not mean the absence of hate crimes against Hindus but may indicate fear of Hindus in general for reporting such incidents. Therefore, we believe there might be underreporting also.</p><p><span> </span>It is important to counter such types of misinformation to integrate Hindus into American society. It is also important to counter the suppression of news concerning attacks on Hindus. Awareness and balanced perceptions with concern for practitioners might help change the status quo of Hinduphobia and improve social harmony. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-48498202824831610742021-06-09T14:23:00.003-07:002021-06-11T08:14:57.484-07:00Imperialist Categories Entrenched in the Academia/Social Sciences&Humanities<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #660000;">True History For New India</span></span></h2><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">During the early nineteenth century, the imperialist governments began deploying an assortment of writers, called specialists to work in conjunction with imperial administrators to lay down frameworks for classifying, controlling, and administering their colonial territories. This left one of the lasting effects on the colonies by leaving the colonies forever bound by the colonial frameworks unable to free their mind/intellectual resource. Thus, the large imperialist machinery of false knowledge creation has spread its tentacles far and wide. Its effects are most egregious in the Indian academic study of society and culture. What is even more distressing is that these early imperialist theories still continue to dominate Indian academia still exerting immense influence. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">Assisted by the colonial administration and allowed to travel freely in the colonial domains, they used their intuition laying foundations for academic study in the areas of Social Sciences and Humanities, creating theories of races, languages. For the most part, their early work focused on discounting indigenous cultures and their traditions. They created terminology that labeled indigenous faiths (religions) as false faiths calling their repertoire of religious literature myths. The academic study of religions, Religious Studies, still uses this early terminology, which reeks of unbridled imperialist and racist tendencies of the origins of Social Sciences and Humanities. This tendency to discount indigenous peoples' understanding of themselves did not stop with falsifying their religion but spread into other subject areas such as sociology, anthropology, and history. Entire swaths of Peoples' languages and cultures were thus theorized to be alien through the creation of mythical theories such as Aryan invasion/migration. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">To bring out the clearer history of India, we should first clearly understand the stereotypical methodical process in which the Imperial history machinery created it. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">The following are some of the ways this imperial/colonial knowledge creation could be categorized and understood. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">The constructions are so outrageous that it almost needs no pointing out. One knows it when one sees it. Even though generations of scholars are aware of the many shortcomings of Indian history, many of these assumptions and constructions continued unchallenged even after the independence of India. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">There are a number of general patterns noticeable in the academic research on Indian history: </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">1.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Solving the Puzzle</b>: subjects of Indian history and religion are mostly treated as a puzzle. Indigenous knowledge and understanding were never accepted as authentic. For example, the whole hoax of the Aryan invasion is created this way. Even though no native memory or textual memory indicates any such thing, the researchers insisted that the invasion happened through assembling puzzle pieces. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">2.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Let’s make up a theory/ Apply A Theory</b>: Indian history was frequently twisted by applying unrelated theories. The linguistic theory was appropriated, stretched, and applied to create race and regional divisions of history. Language is not a race and not a marker of race, however, that did not stop these theories and their application. Languages spread for a variety of reasons, race is not one of them in the ancient world. Another theory that was taken out of context and applied to Indian society is the psychoanalytic theory.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">3.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Philosophy or the semantics of language</b>: even simple and clear terms are debated until they lose their real value. I recently came across a discussion- arguing the Pali sutta may have come from Sanskrit Sukta, instead of Sutra, which it was. Even though it was well established that Sutta comes from the Sanskrit word Sutra and it was also popularly known that another pali word suvutta is the equivalent of Sukta. Words are discussed and debated until they are completely embroiled in confusion and lose their original significance. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">4.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Let me tell you about my intuitions</b>: Most of the classical stories of the epics are interpreted this way. For example, the event of Bhishma’s defeat with the help of Shikhandin in the Mahabharata was interpreted by some academic works as Arjuna hiding behind his grandmother, even though it was completely imaginary and not mentioned in the text. This imagination springs from the past life story of Shikhandin, even though it had no connection to Arjuna as such. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">Another example of this is the speculative assumptions regarding the Jagannatha, Subhadra, and Balabhadra. Some scholars speculated that Subhadra in the Puri temple may have been Lakshmi, who had been later changed to Subhadra. Although there is no evidence that the Goddess in the Puri Jagannatha temple had been ever thought of as Lakshmi in classical texts or popular stories. The goddess of Puri temple is specifically known as Subhadra and worshipped as such always, which was established in historical research. Volumes are written arguing against widely held views in Indian society to judge Indian society as 'confused' about its own culture and civilization, while in fact, their agenda is clearly visible in the arguments/theories proposed, which are not based on fact, but only on intuition.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">5.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>This historical figure was right:</b> This type of historical research dominates Indian history, next only to theoretical constructions. Most frequently, works are written eulogizing this ruler or that ruler, for example, Ashoka, Akbar, and Aurangzeb, at the expense of other parallel historical events. This leads to twisted history as biographical sketches are presented as history rather than fact-based social and political analysis of historical India.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">6.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Tedious objection to an established view</b>: lengthy works are written to argue the epic personalities of India such as Rama, and Krishna or the goddesses are somehow not what they were meant to be. This becomes even more stranger in analyzing the goddesses- they are called spouse goddesses as if being unmarried makes them less respectable. Outrageous claims on the goddess Durga Mahishasura Mardini under the disguise of research might be familiar to most of you. Unimaginable constructions and semantic exercises are undertaken to judge commonly held notions as baseless. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">And finally, let me add the most prominent category of all the misconstructions in Indian history: </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">7.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>There is no evidence, yet I am sure it happened</b>! Aryan invasion or migration theory is the greatest example of this category. Even though the recent genetic research has disproved any invasions/migrations from the Steppes some still continue to argue in support of Aryan migration. In this category of research, the most popularly used common words are lost language, lost population, etc. However, they began using the ghost population recently to refer to such imaginary constructions, which lack factual support. I have previously discussed my views on the lack of genetic evidence for Aryan migration elsewhere in my publications and lecture. Hence, I would not dwell on too many details here. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></u></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">Alright, let’s begin, what do we have in place of history in India? Numerous constructed theories and a couple of biographical skulduggeries. History writing has a very complicated history in India. There is a peculiarity in the way Indian history was discovered, presented, and written from the beginning. Hence India’s history had been narrated from numerous perspectives other than its own perspective. It was always written by the outsiders for the benefit of outsiders. Hence, only represents a haphazard history according to the needs of the colonizer.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">It is strange, but History writing in India still remains under the control of western academia as it had always been an international affair. Even the smallest of the historical issue of India can make international news and controversy.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;">The result of all these above-listed exercises is a travesty of Indian history, which is merely mythical as it stands now and not representative of India and Indian culture. What we have as history currently is haphazard and lacks a holistic approach to India. Methodically it lacks sound approaches to history writing due to its beginning under colonialist/imperialist regimes. As India is crossing 75- years of independence nearing a century of independence soon, it is necessary to take a closer look at the history currently and work on finding authentic sources to rewrite the clearer and holistic history of India. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #0000ee;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>(Based on Prof. Lavanya Vemsani's Lecture, "True History for New India," Delivered at Interdisciplinary Conference on Beyond Imperialism Categories, Joint conference of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (Shimla) and Flame Univeresity, Pune, May 13-14, 2021.India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-609872770751081202021-02-24T20:45:00.004-08:002021-02-24T20:55:28.386-08:00International Relations on Indian Borders: On the Second Anniversary of Balakot Air Strike<p> International Relations on Indian Borders: On the Second Anniversary of Balakot Air Strike</p><p><span> </span>On the morning of February 26, 2019, I had just returned to the US from a series of conferences and seminars held in India. Actually, I was in India a few days before the Balakot Strike and traveled between New Delhi and Southern India, Hyderabad. I participated in <b>ARTH</b> Seminar-conference at Indira Gandhi Center for the Arts in Delhi. Here, Union Minister Smriti Irani, Actress Ravina Tandon, and I – discussed Feminism in India on a panel about the historical and modern understanding of women. I then traveled to Hyderabad to deliver my lecture on historical methods as the honorary guest and keynote speaker for the Valedictory session of the <b>South Indian History Congress </b>at Osmania university. Hence, recently returned from India at that time I have understood the magnitude of the Balakot airstrike within India and its bearing on International relations on the borders of India.</p><p><span> </span>The Balakot Air Strike in the early hours of February 26, 2019, was brisk and destroyed a terrorist camp near Balakot in Pakistan. There is are numerous efforts on the Pakistan side to deny the occurrence of the Indian Air Strike in its efforts to limit the enormity of Indian action. However, as a longtime Indo-Pacific policy analyst, I trust the statement of the Indian Military that an airstrike was launched that day, which attacked and destroyed a terrorist camp in Balakot, Pakistan. Soon after the Air Strike Indian administration briefed international diplomats sharing information about the Air Strike and its goal of destroying a terrorist camp of JeM (Jaish E Mohammad), which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack in Kashmir earlier that month. This is a major military operation launched to attack terrorists in Pakistan, since the last attack launched by the US military SEAL forces killing Osama in May 2011.</p><p><span> </span>In this type of military operation, it is difficult to know the exact number of casualties, discrepancies always exist. The death toll ranges between 250-450 people depending on who you are talking to at any time. However, it should range between 300-350 as a rough estimation based on the size of the camp. However, it could be said that no civilian casualties are reported from the nearby town of Balakot. The Air Strike targeted and destroyed a terror camp on the hills without affecting anything nearby. </p><p><span> </span>The Balakot Air Strikes leave India and the international community with many impacts. However, most importantly, India took control of highly strategic locations; shows India’s commitment to secure borders. To this day, the terrorists have not been able to launch another attack that demonstrates security on the Indian borders.</p><p><span> </span>And furthermore, this shows India’s commitment to open and honest warfare. India’s commitment to open and honest warfare is known for millennia. In the Arthasastra (Book VII chapter 13) Chanakya discusses how open and honest warfare is preferable to covert tactics. India’s open and honest sharing of data following the Air Strike is appreciable. India’s commitment to lasting peace also comes to the fore in this effort. </p><p><span> </span>The Balakot Air Strike also leaves a lasting impact on the Indian region as well as Indo-Pacific regional cooperation. India balances its western borders with Pakistan and eastern borders with China. Both of which have previously cooperated and shared Indian territory of occupied Kashmir. Hence, international relations in this high mountain region are complex. It is important to establish peace in this region by supporting the only strong and large democratic nation in this region. It is important for the international community to maintain peace in this region. </p><div><br /></div><p><br /></p>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-71832846498596751362020-08-28T19:59:00.005-07:002020-08-28T19:59:46.219-07:00Misinterpretation of Cultural Shifts as Invasions: Weaponizing Confusion and Ignorance through the Aryan Myth<p><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Misinterpretation of Cultural Shifts as Invasions: Weaponizing Confusion and Ignorance through the Aryan Myth</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span> </span>Cultural Shifts </b>are a natural phenomenon noticed in any longstanding civilization, since it is natural for a living civilization to undergo shifts based on environmentally, economically, and socially favorable conditions. It is a necessity for any society to adapt to move forward to continue to survive millennia. The Indian Subcontinent has seen many such cultural shifts during the early historic period. The paleolithic phase is mainly noticed in coastal and mountainous regions, while Mesolithic is noticed near plains. The <b>Cultural shifts</b> become even more obvious with the move to more settled civilization beginning with Bronze, Chalcolithic, and Neolithic phases. This phase of civilization is dated variously between 15000 Years Ago (YA) to 12000 YA. At some early archaeological locations, the Mesolithic phase co-exists with the Neolithic or Megalithic phase. Sometimes it is said that Megalithic followed the Neolithic phase, but Mesolithic tools are found in Megalithic tombs, which indicates continuation from the Mesolithic phase. <b>Cultural shifts</b> are noticed in moving one type of early culture to another culture in the same region or to a different, but more far off place are noticed sometimes.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Such peaceful movement of people from one end of the Subcontinent to another end of the Subcontinent is recorded in archaeological evidence as well as India’s oldest texts the Vedas. Later part of Vedas note one such cultural shift in which people have moved from Northwestern India (Saptasindhu region) toward the East. But it is not a violent takeover. In fact, no large amounts of weapons indicating violent take-overs during any phase of the early civilization of India are noticed in any region of the Subcontinent.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">There is also the movement of people from the Northern end of the Subcontinent to the Southern region. Tamil text Agattiyam records such arrival of sage Agastya and his pupils to the Southern tip of the Subcontinent. The history of Andhra Pradesh records the arrival of the Andhaka tribe from northern India. Numerous such movements and settlements are recorded in texts datable between 1500 BCE (about 1700 YA) to 1000 BCE. Lack of largescale weaponry in any historical location across the Subcontinent for the period between 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE only indicates that these movements could be classed as only as <b>Cultural Shifts</b> rather than invasions/migrations of some unknown/alien tribes. If in fact there was any invasion and migration that should have been noticed in archeological record with the presence of lots of weapons indicating war, and abrupt disruption to the existing culture, which should be replaced by a new culture. But no such weapons or abrupt disruptions or displacements are noticed anywhere in the Indian Subcontinent in the archeological record. Continuation of different phases of civilization together simultaneously indicates coexistence rather than a takeover. Many megalithic sites in Southern India also show cultural assemblages resembling Harappan culture. This leaves us the conclusion that Indian civilization is a continuous and longstanding civilization since the foundations 80000YA. It was only the Cultural Shifts and movements of populations across the Subcontinent that enriched India with immense multiplicity marked by pluralism unlike any other civilization in the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Colonial history misconstrued the evidence of internal Cultural Shifts as violent Invasions and takeover of native civilization by outside tribes. Colonial constructions of the early history of India verges on the mythical theories rather than utilizing ground facts and known from ancient classical texts and archeological data of India. Therefore, Indian history created between the 1880s to 1940s included in all the textbooks of India and taught to the colonial subjects of the British Empire perpetrate the single agenda of invasions by a superior race, occupation, and suppression followed by replacement. This constructed history of India had not been corrected but continued in textbooks under the successive governments of independent India.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">To take their agenda forward colonial historians, linguists, sociologists, and anthropologists set to work with support from East India Company initially followed by the then British Imperial governments. Linguists, especially Max Mueller, construed a theory in such a way that it might suit the purpose of colonial master in misreading and misinterpretation of the texts to twist and construct the mythical history of India. The colonial state employed immense mechanism to create and apply the Aryan invasion/migration theory to change Indian history and society beyond recognition.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">The Brahmins were doubly affected by this colonial agenda. In the constructed new social history of India Brahmins became high caste but branded as manipulative keepers of texts on the one hand, while on the other hand they were branded as enemies and oppressors of all other people identified as the descendants of invading mythical Aryans. Thus, the few members of the Indian society who are learned in the Vedas were silenced into submission for fear of facing repression from the state-power, while also simultaneously facing rejection from their neighbors as descendants of Aryans. As one section of Indian society was thus silenced, British Anthropologists are appointed as Census Directors began categorizing, re-organizing, and dividing Indian society into myriads of castes. The administration set out to declare anyone opposing or questioning their new ways of administration and classification as criminal caste.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">This is another way to silence powerful Kshatriyas and rebel groups and used as a framework to suppress opposition. A notable example of such categorization is notable in each region the British administration is extended. Some castes classed as criminal tribes lived in British territories lived as peaceful members of the Princely state in their neighborhood and they were never branded as such in the Princely state of India. Thus the British sociologists and anthropologists created a new universe of Hindu social system on an all-India scale instituting the British policy of ‘divide and rule’. British rule altered Indian society by recasting otherwise peaceful people as criminal tribes, marshal races, or a variety of castes divided and arranged hierarchically as upper and lower.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Close to three-quarters of a century later it is the duty of every member of Indian society to correct this British record of history and bring the true history of India forward.<o:p></o:p></p>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-29042741837840919912020-08-18T15:42:00.003-07:002020-08-18T15:46:47.489-07:00Part II. No Aryans: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers<p> #NoAryans </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>1.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>Does Archeological record or genetic record support Aryan invasion/migration?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">The archaeological record does not support it. The crux of the Aryan theory is that an outside group of people spuriously named as Aryans (no race of this name is ever known in India) came from the Central Asian Steppes and took over India to change it beyond recognition. “They came, they conquered, they changed,” is how it is presented in books. This robs India of civilizational continuity and superimposes a racial divide that did not exist prior to the arrival of the British.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">For this theory to work three points of evidence are necessary.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">A.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Weapons and destruction on the path of their supposed arrival: It is said that Aryan destroyed Indus valley cities and then proceeded to India. Indus valley cities merely declined due to ravages of the environment. No largescale destruction or weapons are found at any excavations of Indus valley cities.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">B.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>An equally complicated and sophisticated civilization to that of the Indus Valley Civilization on the Steppes is not found. For an outsider civilization to send a substantial amount of its population out to conquer there should be sufficient development and stability within its own civilization. No such strong civilization that could rival or conquer Indus Valley Civilization was in the Steppes, the supposed home of mythical Aryans.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">C.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>No genetic evidence of the arrival of largescale human groups is found in India datable to the supposed Aryan period (2000-1500BCE). The male and female genetic heritage of almost all Indians is derived from Founder genetic heritage (80,000 Years Ago) which evolved in India. Please check the answer for Question 3 for more information. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>2.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>What about Greeks and others who came from time to time to India and made India their home?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">That may be so. These are historically attested small migration and they haven’t destroyed the existing civilization or imposed themselves to bring changes to the living culture of India. What we are considering here is the supposed Aryan arrival (2000-1500 BCE), occupation, and replacement, which did not happen.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">There might have been small migrations of populations that came to India and finally became part of the cultural mosaic of India. The issue we are discussing here is about the invasion/migration of hoards of horse-riding outsiders, who conquered, destroyed, and altered India from the original culture and civilization. The problem is that this theory posits the indigenous culture of India, Hinduism, and original texts the Vedas as brought into India by these outside invaders/migrants. As discussed above in the answer to question 1 there was no evidence for such invasion/migration in genetic or archaeological records.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">India always welcomed people that lived peacefully and contributed to the cultural ethos of India. In addition, they did not migrate to such large groups to affect change in demography or culture. In fact, the Greeks being polytheists appreciated and received the Indian culture well. Greeks are the first people to record authentic tales of India and Indians. Some of the Greeks assimilated and absorbed the culture of India. In fact, one of the earliest Bhagavata inscriptions is issued by Bhagavata Antialkidas, Greek ambassador, as noted in the Vidisa/Bidisa inscriptions. Early Indians and Greeks also lived and traded together in the Mediterranean. The archeological record shows long-standing relations of mutual respect and admiration between India with Greece and Rome. It is probable that some of the westerners may have lived in India and similarly, some Indians may have lived in their territories.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>3.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>My friend told me there is genetic evidence for the arrival of Aryans.<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">No. Whatever your friend might have told you this view is only a vestige of the older theory of Aryan invasion/migration, which is not supported by any historical evidence but imposed on Indian history during the British rule using vague linguistic theories. Now that this theory is proved baseless some lingering ideas are being circulated. It is your job to learn about the lack of evidence for that British-imposed-colonial theory and enlighten him/her.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">This theory of a single race going around the world occupying, destroying, and completely replacing the native cultures is derived from theories of racial superiority. This has led to the Holocaust. In fact, the racist theory of Aryans is so fluid that any racist can adapt and use it in any way suitable for him to bring about utter destruction as it happened in the case of the Holocaust. That proves how dangerous this theory of Aryan migration/invasion is even though any evidence for it is completely lacking.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">For more information on genetic information, which disproved Aryan migration and invasion please read my previous blog post and research publication provided in the link below:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="https://manthratalk.blogspot.com/2020/08/noaryans-frequently-asked-questions-and.html">https://manthratalk.blogspot.com/2020/08/noaryans-frequently-asked-questions-and.html</a></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>4.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>There is a tribe called Aryans, what do you say about that.<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">We don’t really know who these tribes are, but it is a tourist phenomenon in recent years. It is a lucrative tourist attraction to label a tribe Aryan. These are found in nations spread between Central Asia to Indian Subcontinent. However, the issue being discussed here is about the supposed arrival of Aryan hoards that replaced the indigenous people and their culture on a large scale. I don’t think any of these tribes were responsible for any such destruction. Their tribal culture and folklore don’t indicate that.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>5.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>They told me there is a difference between Southern and Northern Indian genetic heritage.<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Whoever is telling you this theory is assuming your naivete and continuing the colonial legacy. Colonial administration through historians assumed their subjects as silent passive receptors. This is a continuation of that colonialist outlook. They are assuming that you are not going to check for facts or evidence and silently accept what they are telling. This had been the case of Indian history for the past century. Change the status quo and find more information to counter anyone telling you these spurious theories.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>6.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>Could we consider Indus Valley/Vedic civilization as part of Indian civilization or is it considered outside civilization?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Yes. Indus valley civilization is part of Indian civilization. Indus Valley cannot be considered outside since for Ancient India the Subcontinent of India is considered as the civilizational zone. Indus valley is also the geographical region where the Vedic texts through their revelations locate the sacred geography of Hindus and other Dharmics (Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs). Symbols and practices associated with Indus Valley Civilization are noticed across India.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Continuity of Indus symbols, practices still persist in Indian culture, so what was assumed about their destruction is completely wrong. The decline of Indus valley civilization only indicated a cultural shift rather than sudden destruction.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b>Cultural Shifts</b> are a natural part of history and do not decrease the continuity of a civilization. The long-standing Indian civilization is evolved from a mixture of practices and symbols derived from numerous such Cultural Shifts across the Subcontinent. Different geographical regions proved favorable for the evolution of Indian culture at different periods of time. The resulting Indian civilization is the long-standing multi-faceted, multi-linguistic, and pluralistic civilization, an amazing continuation from millennia ago.<o:p></o:p></p>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-89448013052692823482020-08-08T17:01:00.006-07:002020-08-08T17:11:40.761-07:00#NoAryans Frequently Asked Questions and Answers<p> <b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">#NOAryans: FACTS & MYTHS</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>1.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>What are Your Qualifications and Background on Early History of India Especially Prehistory and Early Settlements of India?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">My research and academic presentations almost a decade ago focused on how genetic evidence disproves the Aryan invasion/migration theory. I also wrote an academic paper almost a decade ago, which was published in an academic book on Sindhu Saraswati Civilization. You can read my paper on the link here: <a href="https://www.academia.edu/7893126/Genetic_Evidence_of_Early_Human_Migrations_in_the_Indian_Ocean_Region_Disproves_Aryan_Migration_Invasion_Theories"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.academia.edu/7893126/Genetic_Evidence_of_Early_Human_Migrations_in_the_Indian_Ocean_Region_Disproves_Aryan_Migration_Invasion_Theories</span></a>. Currently, my books on Indian History <i>India, A New History</i> and <i>Early Settlement Patterns in India</i> are under publication.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;"><b>My Brief Academic Background<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: times new roman, serif;">Lavanya Vemsani is Professor of History in the Department of Social Sciences at Shawnee State University. Prof. Vemsani is awarded BOT (Board of Trustees) Distinguished Teaching Award (2013) and Faculty Research Award (2020). She was awarded the South Asia Council of the Canadian Asian Studies Association's (CASA/ACÉA) Best Thesis Honorable Mention prize for her Ph.D. thesis at McMaster University. She holds two doctorates in the subjects of Religious Studies (McMaster University) and History (University of Hyderabad). Dr. Vemsani’s published books include Modern Hinduism in Text and Context, Krishna in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Lord of Many Names, and Hindu and Jain Mythology of Balarama in addition to numerous articles. India, A New History, and Feminine Journeys of the Mahabharata are her upcoming books. She serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Academic journals including the International Journal of Indic Religions, Associate Editor of Canadian Journal of History, and Editorial Board of Airforce Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs. Dr. Vemsani delivered Keynote addresses as Honorable Guest at International Academic Conferences such as South Indian History Congress and Deccan History Society Joint Seminar on India and Iranian History. Dr. Vemsani served as the President of the Ohio Academy of History (2019-20).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: times new roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: times new roman, serif;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>2.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>Prehistory and Early Peopling of India: A Collaboration of Sciences and Social Sciences<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">As historians, we work to understand the history and the human journey on earth. – we mostly work with written records though. However, for understanding prehistory, we look towards experts in other subjects- such as archaeology, anthropology, geology, linguistics, etc. In this case, though the time span is so far out into the past, we are taking help from geneticists to understand the beginning of the human journey on the earth.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>3.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>What do we know about First Humans?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">There are two <b>Founder Events</b> (Early Pleistocene Event and Late Pleistocene Event) in this world: the first is that of Homo Erectus (also called Homo Sapiens) and the second is that of Anatomically Modern Humans, AMA, (also called Homo Sapiens Sapiens). The earliest evidence for both founder events is noticed in Africa.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b>African Origins of Humanity</b>:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>All non-Africans female lines have inherited a subset of the L3 ancestral line out of Africa. African female genetic lines are different from non-African genetic lines.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Similarly, male African genetic lines are different from non-African male genetic lines. Male African Lines belong to A and B. Most of the non-African male genetic lines trace back to M1, and the derivatives C, D, and F. Based on Phylogenetic geography, it has been postulated that YAP (Y-Alu Polymorphism) also known as M1 arose in Africa from M168 and later this M1/YAP departed from Africa in an early dispersal event.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>C & D- are Directly evolved from M1(YAP)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">See Question #6-#8 for more information on female and male genetic heritage of India.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Similarly, two <b>Founder Events</b> are noticed in the prehistory of India: Australopithecus and AMA. Paleolithic in its three stages of Lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, and Upper Paleolithic are found across India. This means that the initial founders Homo Erectus known by different names in India- as Siva Pithecus and Rama Pithecus- are spread across India. However, these first humans are replaced by the Anatomically Modern Humans by the Upper Paleolithic period. This second founder event of Anatomically Modern Humans is dated to 75,000-80,000 Years Ago roughly coeval with the Upper Paleolithic period noticed in archeological excavations across India. It is this AMA that is traced in the modern populations of all of India. We all derive our genetic heritage from these Late Pleistocene Founders.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Following this Upper Paleolithic foundational event in India, no Neolithic cultural disruption or displacement is found in either the Archeological record or genetic record to indicate the arrival of any new invaders or large scale migrations, which proves that there had been no new population in India since the foundational event 80 thousand years ago (KYA).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><ol start="4" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b>Does the late Pleistocene Founder's Genetic Heritage Continue in India?<o:p></o:p></b></li></ol><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Yes. The genetic heritage of these Late Pleistocene Founders is found in India. In addition, this is the earliest genetic heritage traced anywhere in this world. Hence, almost 95% of the Non-African world population trace their origins to these genetic lines.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">The first evidence of AMA is found in Africa, but when they left Africa or what happened to them after they left Africa is not clearly known. Whatever may have happened once they left Africa, only a single genetic source is left, which is traced to India. Therefore, the consensus is that India is the first (Sub)Continent for the Non-African Foundational Event.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Some Geographers have offered the explanation that the Toba volcano eruption (75-73 KYA) may have caused the complete destruction of human species leaving only a few human survivors. Whatever may have been the explanation, it is true that India plays a central role in the Foundational Event.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>5.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>How does Archaeological Data Correlate With Peopling of India?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Paleolithic Culture is dated from 7 Million Years Ago. However, the Lower Paleolithic phase is widespread across India with disruptions noted in the Middle Paleolithic phase, while Upper Paleolithic is widespread and the emergence of more sophisticated stone tools across India. Archeologists and historians working on the Early Settlement Patterns postulate that the population replacement might have been complete by Upper Paleolithic Period. AMA is genetically traced to 74,000 years ago. Hence, this also coincides with the Upper Paleolithic period in India. Therefore, it can be said that the Australopithecine may have been the people of Lower Paleolithic and part of the Middle Paleolithic phase, but they may be replaced during this phase gradually to completely replace them by Upper Paleolithic Period, which is characteristically associated with AMA.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>6.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>What are the Origins of AMA and Their Genetic Heritage in India?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">The earliest genetic evidence of the oldest AMA is traced to India indicates that India is the most important region in the Foundational Event.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b>Genetic Evidence</b>:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">The human genome holds genetic information encoded in the coiled DNA of the chromosomes, which is an immense document written in four letters. G, C, A, T (guanine, cytosine, adenine, and thymine). Both X and Y-chromosomes are sex-specific chromosomes, and haploid (that has only one combination of X or Y, with 23 chromosomes), while all the other cells have 46 chromosomes. The human Y-chromosome consists of a Non-Recombining Region (NRY), making up 95 percent of its length, flanked by autosomal regions, which is passed intact without a change in the male line except for mutations. Binary polymorphisms of the non-recombining region of the human Y chromosome preserves the paternal genetic legacy of humans that has persisted up to the present. While mtDNA is a female-specific gene passed through the female line from mother to daughter without change except for mutations, therefore permits tracking female heritage.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Genetic research shows that Anatomically Modern Humans (AMA) settled in India during late Pleistocene migrations marking a <b>Foundational Event</b> and continued to settle India and then migrate on to Australia and Eastern Asia and then on to West.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>India shows very old female/mitochondrial DNA (female) with M, N, and R lines. These three founder lines originated in India itself.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>India also shows very old Y DNA (male) heritage, which is also diverse in India<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>The female DNA Macro Haplogroup M dates to 80,000-73,000 Years Ago, while N and R date between 70,000-50,000 years ago.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>The male genetic lines: M130 date to 70,000 Years Ago; CDF date to 50,000 years ago while R (from which arise a number of clades of R1a, Ra1a, Ra1a1a, etc.) dates to 43,000 KYA.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">7.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b>What is the Female Genetic Heritage of India</b>?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Scholars debated whether M originated in India or outside of India. However, oldest M lines and a large variety of M lines are found in India, hence many scholars favor placing the origin of M in India<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>There is a very young M1 clade in Ethiopia, but it was considered to have been a result of back migration<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>N and later R originated in India itself from M<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>The Haplogroups M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M18, and M25 are exclusive to India as well as M*, C, D, G, E, and Z are observed in Asia- Almost 23 lineages arising out of M trunk are found in India. About 60% Indians have M (58%caste, 42%tribe) genetic heritage<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>The N Haplogroup W is represented by 5% of the population, and the R Haplogroup is represented by its subclade U by its Indian specific branches of U2 (U2i: U2a, U2b, U2c) throughout India at 15% among caste and 8% among tribal population (Kaldma et al. 1999). U7 is noted in Punjab. The recently examined Rakhigarhi skeleton reveals U2b, which is specific to India.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Andaman and Nicobar Islanders also show similar genetic heritage although they were classed differently- They show M2 and M4 The British classified them into 19 ethnolinguistic groups upon colonization of these islands. All the people belong to a single genetic source of M from India (Oppenheimer 2004; Tangaraj 2005)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>8.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>What is the Male Genetic Heritage of India?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>M130 date to about 70000 Year Ago<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>C & D- are Directly evolved from M1(YAP)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>C&D along with O is commonly found in East Asia along with Oceania and Australia<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>24 Onge and 4 Jorawa of Andaman Islands showed M174 defined D Haplogroup also noticed in Tibet, Nepal, and Burmese population- as well as East Asia.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>F probably originated (45,000 Years Ago) in India, gives rise to later mutations leading to K, O, P, Q, R.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>R lineages derive from P1, which is a derivative of K (K2b2a): M45/P1 (k2b2a): R1 (M173), R1a (M17), and R2b (M269) originated in larger Indian Subcontinent<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Overall the clades C, D, F contribute to about 95% of the genetic heritage of the Non-African World.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Y Chromosomal groups of initial settlement C/M130, D/M174, F/M89, and K, as well as several subclades of H, L, R2, and F, are commonly found in India.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Subclades of F (FGHIJK, LMN, O (O1-3), and P, Q, R also occur in India<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>The Haplogroups, C, D, F, are found in India and Oceania and places India in the Founder Event<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>No new gene pool datable to 12,000-4,000 years ago is noticed in India. Continuity of these ancient ancestor lineages across India places India in an important position in the founder event of the population of the world continuing from Late Pleistocene arrivals<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: "courier new";">o<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Almost all the Indian population is derived from these male founder lines<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>9.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>Ancient Skeleton from Rakhigarhi and What Does That Tell About the Population History of India?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">It only establishes the continuity of Late Pleistocene genetic heritage definitively. The Rakhigarhi skeletal evidence provided definitive evidence for continuity of Indians in India from the foundation event 80000 Years Ago (KYA). Shows with evidence that India was the first (Sub)Continent founded after Africa and her place in the origin of all Non-African human populations are at the foundation.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">The Rakhigarhi skeleton is a female skeleton that revealed U2b2 which originated in India and specific to India. This shows that Indians from Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) shared the same ancestry with the rest of Indians who have all derived from original founders 80,000 Year Ago (see Question # 6 and #7 above to read about the female genetic heritage of India). This genetic evidence is significant considering the fact that it also matched several other ancient skeletons identified as IVC and found across Turkmenistan.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in;">You can read more about it here on the link below:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(19)30967-5.pdf#secsectitle0010"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(19)30967-5.pdf#secsectitle0010</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">In addition no Neolithic migrations or cultural replacements are noticed in archeological excavations. Archeologica evidence shows the continuity and origin of agriculture separately in India 12000 Years Ago. No new Neolithic arrivals, but only continuity is noticed in settlements since 80000 Year Ago.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>10.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>What Can We Say With Certainty Now About Peopling and Cultural Development of India?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Indians are Indians. There are no Aryan migrations/invasions whatever colonial theories might have said. Genetic evidence definitely disproves any migration or invasion by new human groups anytime. The modern Indians carry the original Founder genetic heritage through genetic clades that evolved from them in India. Therefore, Indians can say with confidence I am Indian and my ancestors lived here since 80000 Years Ago. No occupation or replacement during prehistory.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>11.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>What About Linguistics?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Other linguists have to study this closely. But here is what I have to say about it.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">India spoke a number of related Prakrit dialects, which gradually evolved into modern languages with the help of Sanskrit syntax and grammar. Tamil is one of the earliest languages to evolve as such, while Malayalam and Punjabi are some of the recent languages to evolve. All Indian languages are closely related to 80-95% similarity with Sanskrit through verbal roots. Another spurious fact popularized by colonial linguists is that languages such as Greek and Latin and a number European languages are close to Sanskrit even though these languages have less than 50% similarity with Sanskrit. It is also appalling that these same colonial linguists classified southern Indian languages as different to promote the racial divide in India although the southern Indian languages are closely affiliated with Sanskrit and have 80-95% similarity. Therefore, I encourage linguists of India to examine Indian languages closely and come up with a theoretical framework to explain the underlying affinity of Indian languages.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">12.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b>What Do You Say About R1a? They Say It Is Evidence of Aryans</b>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">No. That is a myth. Here is why: R or R1a or any clades of R doesn't represent Aryans. It is found across the world and it is oldest and more diverse in India. The basal R originated in India itself (see Question # 8 for more details on the male genetic heritage of India).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>R1/M 17 (later named M420) is one of the lines frequently found in India and Pakistan, but also across the Caucasus and Europe<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>R1a is also found in north Africa and Subsaharan Africa- including Cameroon. This is considered to be a result of back migration<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>M17 is found in high frequencies including caste and tribal groups across India<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Since R1a/M17 and its subsequent lineages are found frequently in India as well as Eurasia, it was considered to support the Aryan invasion/migration 3-4000 years ago into India. M17/R1a was initially thought of a marker of “male Aryan invasion”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>However, R1a is the oldest in India. R1a in India datable to 36000 Years Ago/Its occurrence in Europe could only be dated to 23,000 Years Ago<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>So its deep-rooting and diversity in India proves the contrary<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Therefore, R originated in India and R1a is oldest and diverse in India, which shows India is at the base.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>R: Origin and frequent<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>All R clades originate in India are more diverse<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>- R1/M173<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>-R1a/M420/M17<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>-R1a1a/M459<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>-R1b1a1/M269<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>-R1b1/L278<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Presence of M17 widely across India and its long continuity in India disproves Aryan invasion/migration theories<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Continuity of Human groups from Paleolithic period onwards is established by the presence of this Genome: 80-30% of Indian possess this gene spread across the nation regardless of caste, tribe or geographical location<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>The genome research supports the spread of R1a from India<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>In addition to this ancient gene flow the R1a is also noticed in the Roma populations in Europe<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>The European M17 is less diverse and dated to only 23,000 Years Ago<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">The Indian M17 is dated to 36,000 Years ago and hence deep-rooted and diverse in India<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>13.<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>Final Facts About India and Indians. Historic Origins<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">Genetic Heritage of India shows only continuity and not a replacement. Aryan migration/invasion is a myth.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Female and male genetic lines examined in this lecture show continuity of Late Pleistocene founder human groups that first settled the Indian Subcontinent about 80,000 years ago. 80,000 Years Ago marks the adjusted average time of when they may have reached India. Actual dates for Female lines date from 74,000 Years Ago and Male lines from 70,000 Years Ago.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Similarly, Male genetic lines related to R examined in this lecture also show continuity from 50,000 Years ago.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>No population replacement is noticed- certainly, no Neolithic population replacement or discontinuity is noticed<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>No genetic differences between caste, tribe, or language groups is noticed- either in male or in female genetic heritage<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>This disproves any Aryan invasion/migration, let alone population replacement. Not even largescale population addition is noticed in the genetic heritage of India. The genetic lines continue unbroken since late Pleistocene<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b>Implications for World History:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Continuing Aryan race theories in books does immense injustice to the history of India. It teaches neighbors to hate neighbors, because of language and looks. There is no place for race theories in school textbooks and scholarly literature. Although Indian languages were categorized into Aryan, Dravidian, and Austronesian languages dividing India into different racial groups, based on languages, superimposing Aryan theory, it is disproven, as all language groups share a common genetic heritage.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>India struggled through millennia, but successfully preserved the longstanding continuous civilization in its people and culture<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>India is the Second region to be settled after Africa in the Foundation Event for Non-African Populations. Oldest population base- 73,000 Years Ago for females and 70,000 for male genetic lines is noticed in India.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Oldest Texts and Cultural sources- the oldest textual sources and oldest Paleolithic culture are noticed in India.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Oldest agricultural and settlement patterns- independent agriculture, domestication, and culture are also found in India.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">•<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>India is at the root of human civilization- My research shows that India is the storehouse of early settlements and culture of the world, one of the true cradles of civilizations waiting to be explored fully- The first step is getting rid of Aryan racial theories from Indian history.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-79501000270691958052020-08-07T14:02:00.001-07:002020-08-07T14:03:31.919-07:00Ayodhya Ram Mandir: After 500 Years the Dream Comes True<p> <b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Ayodhya Ram Mandir: After 500 Years the Dream Comes True</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">As the Prime Minister of India Modi laid the foundational stone for the reconstruction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, much misinformation is spread about it. However, examining the issue in historical context will clear much of the misunderstandings. Numerous sacred sites are revered around the world for millennia by people of indigenous faiths. The last millennium had been an era of forceful occupation and destruction of many monuments of indigenous faiths and monuments in India. However, the 21<sup>st</sup> century is bringing new awareness and relevance about restoring and continuing the sacred sites of indigenous faiths. Ayodhya is one such sacred place recognized and revered as the birthplace of Rama for millennia. This new temple being rebuilt in the place of the destroyed original temple represents the historical memory dating back to millennia.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">The birthplace of Rama, Ayodhya, is the epicenter of Ramayanam (Journey of Rama), A tale of love and sacrifice, which still resonates with more than a billion Hindus in India as well as across the world. Located on the banks of Sarayu river Ayodhya remained the civilizational center of India for thousands of years. Rebuilding the Ram temple in his birthplace begins a revival of this sacred center after a gap of about five centuries. Rebuilding Ram the Mandir is evidence that truth triumphs. There were many efforts to dismiss the existence of a temple at the site by vested groups when that was not possible due to the availability of massive archaeological evidence, these groups began offering alternatives such as building schools, colleges, or hospitals. Humongous efforts were launched by numerous media houses and vested groups to keep the place that is deeply revered by Hindus as the birthplace of Rama away from his devotees. The case dragged on in the courts of law for almost 50 years before finally drawing to a peaceful conclusion.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Rama’s story (Rama Katha) is embedded in the collective memory of India ever since the composition of Valmiki was sung by Lav and Kush, the twin sons of Rama. It is impossible for anyone growing up in India to say precisely when they first heard the name of Rama or Ramayana, for it is so deeply embedded within the invisible fabric of India that ties the populace of this vast land of India together. Spirituality is neither defined nor even forms part of popular conversation, but it is felt at every level each time the name of Rama is uttered or Ramlila is played. Ramnavami, the annual celebration of the birth of Rama marks a sense of this bond shared by all Indians. That deeper internal bond that one cannot name is Rama. The story of Rama has also traveled beyond the borders of India with strong storytelling traditions noticed in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Therefore, the foundation of Rama temple marks the revival of the community not merely in India, but across South and Southeast Asia. Every brick that is worshipped, wrapped and carried to Ram Janmabhumi in Ayodhya decades ago represents the hopes and aspirations of Hindus across the world. The wait had been too long.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Rama’s journey is the story of love and sacrifice. Rama lived the true spirit of ‘nishkamakarma'. Rama only considered wishes and happiness of all others, but never considered his own desires under any circumstance. Treated poorly for no fault of his own, Rama accepted every impossible challenge strewn on his path and emerged triumphant. At the tender age of sixteen, he was requested to guard the yagna of Vishwamitra from the destructive demons. Upon successfully guarding the Yagna, Vishwamitra comes to hear about the Swayamvara of Sita at Mithila. Here again, Rama triumphed by raising Siva’s bow, an impossible task, although the bow broke before he could string it.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Selected to rule the empire Rama prepared for the coronation by keeping the ceremonial fast. However, on the day of the coronation, he was asked to leave as the coronation is canceled on the wishes of Kaikeyi, his step-mother. Leaving the empire to Bharata, his step-brother (son of Kaikeyi) for the term of his exile of fourteen years, Rama traverses throughout India reaching Sri Lanka. However, throughout all his travels across India Rama never left Ayodhya in spirit as his brother Bharata ensured Rama’s rule in Ayodhya through placing the footwear (paduka) of Rama on the throne. From Mithila in the Himalayas to Ramsethu which links India to Sri Lanka Rama connected the Subcontinent through his footsteps. Now that the foundation stone laying ceremony is taking place in Ayodhya on August 5, 2020, this thread of harmony Rama created reverberates with resounding energy. The pulse of India quickens with this modern triumph of Rama.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">The final year of exile was the toughest of Rama’s travels. Surpanakha arrives at their asram ultimately leading to the kidnapping of Sita. In search of his wife, Sita, Rama met new associates, the best of whom is Hanuman. Upon discovering the location of Sita through the assistance of Hanuman, Rama accomplished the impossible task of building a bridge, now called Ramasethu, to cross the Indian ocean reaching Sri Lanka. Rama emerged victorious with his monkey army over the well-prepared demon army of Ravana. Rama’s return to Ayodhya with Sita and Lakshmana and his just rule is legendary.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">The second part Rama’s story is recollected in Uttara Ramacharita. Heeding the suspicion expressed by a citizen washer-man Rama sent his wife to Valmiki’s asram, an unfortunate event, considering the fact that Sita was pregnant at that time. However, as far as Rama, who took the vow of ekapatnivrata (monogamy) his joy left him as Sita left him. However, he never let that waver him from his duty of taking care of his subjects; Rama brought joy to everyone except for himself and his wife.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Rama’s journey is unique demonstration of victory against all historical odds. Ram Janmabhumi temple is reminiscent of Ram’s life full of triumphs and tribulations. Another aspect of Rama’s triumph is seen in the way the construction of the temple is manifested on August 5, 2020, after overcoming numerous legal and political hurdles. Reconstruction of the temple is a welcome move for India, a long-suffering civilization, which is yoked to caring for its long civilizational past as much as forging the path ahead.<o:p></o:p></p>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-9412252364680694912020-07-29T16:15:00.002-07:002020-07-29T16:21:44.067-07:00India Passes Landmark Legislation on Education <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">India passed New Education Policy a landmark policy outlining the educational outlook for the new millennium. India rose to the challenge of educating a large chunk of its population which constitutes the largest chunk of its population (currently, 50% of the population is below the age of 25). This educational policy if implemented correctly will have a lasting and clear impact on the national education of India.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">New Educational policy includes 4 parts with 26 articles in 59 pages. The introduction is included as part 0 even though it discusses important aspects of the goals and objectives of New Education Policy. Part I outlines basic goals, resources, concerns regarding the school education of children ages 0-18. Part II discusses basic resources and prospectus for Higher education. Part III examines other key areas of concern and education including Indian languages, Arts, and Culture. Part IV Planning and implementation of the new national education policy such as the constitutions of the advisory body, financing, and implementation.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Part III even though included in the end is of utmost importance. A nation’s soul is reflected in her language, literature, and arts. The culture of a nation is an expression of the national spirit reflecting her aspirations and providing inspiration. It is utmost of importance to protecting Indian languages and arts and thereby culture.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Part I to III addresses aspects of education at all levels and propose suitable guidelines for implementing the new education policy. Multi-level and multi-disciplinary education with national-level planning is necessary. An important and necessary decision is the focus of ht is a document of pre-primary and primary education as well as the introduction of tri-language formula in secondary education. Welcoming international educational institutions to introduce higher education in India would also help make world-class education available to larger sections of the Indian population.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Part 0 takes pride in creating a landmark educational policy for the 21<sup>st</sup> century while simultaneously inculcates the education in India’s traditions and value system. The NEP included cultivation of those aspects of rounded personality for success and happiness termed ‘soft skills’ such as emotional intelligence in addition to the cultivation of 21-century job skills through education.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;">What is of utmost importance to me as well as a number of scholars involved with education come in <span style="font-size: 10pt;">Article.0.7.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> 0.7. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The rich heritage of ancient Indian Knowledge has been a guiding light for this Policy. The aim of education in ancient India was not just the acquisition of knowledge, as preparation for life in this world or life beyond schooling, but for complete realisation and liberation of the self. World-class institutions of ancient India, such as Takshashila, Nalanda, Vikramshila and Vallabhi set the highest standards of multidisciplinary teaching and research and hosted scholars and students from across backgrounds and countries. The Indian education system produced scholars like Charaka and Susruta, Aryabhata, Bhaskaracharya, Chanakya, Madhava, Patanjali, Panini and Thiruvalluvar, among numerous others. They made seminal contributions to world knowledge in diverse fields, such as mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy, medical science and surgery, civil engineering and architecture, shipbuilding and navigation, yoga, fine arts, chess, and more. Indian culture and philosophy has had a strong influence on the world. These rich legacies to world heritage must not only be nurtured and preserved for posterity but also researched, enhanced and put to new uses through our education system. For instance, they can be integrated into a holistic education to help develop the creativity and originality of students and to encourage them to innovate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.1in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.1in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.4in;">For a child to emerge as a thought leader, it is important that the basics are taught not just in necessary job skills but also the necessary background and balance rooted in one’s own culture. As an agriculture dominant nation, we can put this in other words as follows: New crops only grow on a perfected soil of farm with enriched environment. The efforts on perfecting the soil may not be visible in the end but form the most important part of the growth cycle. We have to begin with what we have and cultivate with the best effort and hope for the best output. If the groundwork is forgotten, the crop fails.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.1in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.1in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.4in;">Article 0.13 brings forward the essential aspects of the New Education Policy. Keywords are highlighted including, flexibility, multi-disciplinary, no hard separation between subjects, which is futuristic in its conception. The document also envisions continuous monitoring and policy guidance as necessary.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.1in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">As noted in Article 0.14 the policy touched all aspects of education in this document. If implemented correctly this policy will help India rediscover her soul and emerge renewed from under the colonized minds imprisoned for over 900 years. Very few nations have this opportunity that India has come to at this point in time. Entering the new millennium forging ahead with a new education policy rightly rooted in Indian culture, the leadership has made the right effort to direct the nation on the path of victory.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">0.14. This National Education Policy aims at building a global best education system rooted in Indian ethos, and aligned with the principles enunciated above, thereby transforming India into a global knowledge superpower.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.1in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> Highlights of NEP for Primary and Secondary Education</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><o:p><span>Healthy meals, the introduction of Health Counselors </span></o:p></li><li><o:p><span>Home language for primary education</span></o:p></li><li><o:p><span>introduction of the second language in grade 3 and 3 languages in Secondary school</span></o:p></li><li><o:p><span>co-curricular and extra-curricular activities</span></o:p></li><li><o:p><span>introduction of foreign languages- not just English but Asian as well as other European languages</span></o:p></li><li><o:p><span>importance for arts and languages</span></o:p> </li><li>peer-to-peer tutoring</li><li>Community volunteering to educate children & young adults</li><li>crafts and skills education including coding</li></ul><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> Higher Education</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><o:p>Focus on professional, teacher and quality education</o:p></li><li><o:p>focus on research </o:p></li><li><o:p>quality and equity</o:p></li></ul><div>This vision document brings forward futuristic education policy for India ensuring equitable and inclusive education for all. This is the most needed step for independent India. Even though India achieved independence in 1947 educational policy was only sketchy in the past. This new NEP fills lacunae left over by the previous policies while also addressing concerns and aspirations simultaneously. All Indians must welcome and join the implementation of this educational policy wholeheartedly. </div><p></p>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-70392050748666014182017-04-26T11:25:00.000-07:002017-04-26T11:25:10.458-07:00CNN's Faux Pas on Hinduism is not as Innocent as It Looks<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
CNN’s faux pas on its first segment based on Hinduism may not
be as innocent as it looks, it has the potential to evolve in to structured
discrimination of Hindus. CNN’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Believer’s</i>
first segment on Hinduism reminds one of a dangerous precedent from the past. This
is exactly the type of misrepresentation with partial and selective expositions
that could lead to misunderstandings, which can eventually lead to
discrimination and mistreatment of fellow human beings. In case of Hindus this
had already happened once with regards to Roma (<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8136812.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8136812.stm</a>)
who were considered heathens during the early modern period while subjecting
them to discrimination and mistreatment across Europe, this discrimination only
increased later pushing the Roma into gas chambers during Nazi era. The Roma
are still subjected to continued discrimination across Europe (<a href="http://romafacts.uni-graz.at/index.php/history/third-migration-emancipation-process/third-migration">http://romafacts.uni-graz.at/index.php/history/third-migration-emancipation-process/third-migration</a>).
Roma are the untouchables of Europe, tucked away from public gaze. Roma are not
allowed to live in decent neighborhoods, not hired for jobs, and their children
are constantly subjected to harassment and bullying in society and educational
institutions. Television series like the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Believer</i>
aired on CNN last night does nothing to further understanding of spirituality
in Hinduism, but can create and perpetrate similar discriminatory attitudes
towards Hindus across the world. The footage is filled mostly with disgusting
imagery, containing filth, disgusting images, comical drama, that appeared
distasteful, uncultured, and bizarre. Aslan’s explanations of caste, karma, and
sect are all misinformed, amateurish at best. Karma binds soul to the world of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maya</i>. How can one understand karma
without understanding <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maya</i>? This is
exactly the central issue with learning about Hinduism, which is subjected to selective
interpretations to push well-known categories and classification introduced by
colonial administration with a view to control the masses of India. It presents
only half of what the theory karma purports according to Hinduism. I am not
going to discuss caste, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maya</i>, and
karma here for lack of space, but part of the problem also rests with the current
system of knowledge, which only offers partial and misleading representations
of Hinduism. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The film is located in Banaras, focusing on understanding the
Aghori tradition from inside out. It involved the author mostly roaming through
Banaras, zooming in and out of shots taken on the banks of Ganges, interspersed
with snippets of interviews with whoever agreed to talk to Aslan. The theatrics
of Aslan’s conversion with Aghoris on the banks of Ganges is beyond
reprehensible. Although Aghori <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sampradaya</i>
(Saiva monks in Kapalika tradition) known as a tradition beginning five hundred
years ago, much of its history is shrouded in mystery; its media discovery and
fascination is only recent, dating to only the last two decades or so. Although
there were a number of other media expositions on Aghori tradition, none are as
amateurish as this one. Another film on the same subject, National Geographic’s
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taboo,</i> is much more carefully filmed
and contextualized philosophically. Although the series, Believer, is billed as
a documentary, its presentation on Aghoris, is sloppy at best and can be
described as a failed attempt to understand the current state of Hindu faith. As
much as it begins with the faulty assumption that any one can go on a short
trip and learn about any religion by immersing oneself in esoteric rituals for
a short time, its failure is apparent in its format of TV presentation. This
assumption is further exasperated, when such experience is filmed for worldwide
showing, which qualifies as reality TV rather than documentary. To top it off the
whole process is marred by immature presentation and explanations filled with
mistaken notions of Aslan that can lead to dangerous consequences. If there is
anything that came out of this bizarre theatrics on the banks of Ganges, it is
that Aslan emerged as a competent reality TV star. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Even though a first look at the film leaves one horrified, as
most of its footage contains shocking imagery to elicit sensation, even a bit
of disgust, a careful second look of the film confirms only mediocrity and lack
of authentic research on the part of its maker. With such sloppy sensationalist
approaches it is unlikely that it might have any perceptible benefits of
informing the public of religion. It is questionable if he had any goals for
this episode on Hinduism rather than indulge in his comical trip through the
most esoteric sects one could find. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
All that is accomplished by Aslan in this episode is confusing
class (varna) with caste (jati). The classification that he showed of the five
castes is a mistaken system of classes adopted from Western understanding of
Hinduism, long debunked by Historians (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">see</i>
Bernard Cohn, S.N. Balagangadhara, and Michael Wood). I don’t know if it demonstrates
the naiveté or utter lack of knowledge on the part of Aslan that asserts caste
is about purity and pollution, while in reality it is about professional
divisions. Also the pyramid Aslan showed in regard to castes is in fact classes
(varnas) and not castes (jati). Another important feature Aslan ignores is
that, caste is a cultural feature of India common to all religions of India,
and not specifically Hindu in its nature. FYI Aslan, Islam also has castes in
India, and Islamic lower castes are given reservations based on caste system by
the government of India. The current understanding of caste is brought on by colonial
systematization of caste in India while neatly arranging it in a tiered system
akin to that of the medieval social system found in Europe. Showing this tiered
diagram to explain caste is as faulty as explaining feudalism in the medieval
European society with a similar tiered diagram. Caste is dynamic and diverse
across India. Caste is neither uniform across India nor tiered as neatly as
demonstrated by Aslan on the show. I suggest Aslan read social scientists such
as Bernard Cohn (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">An Anthropologist Among
Historians</i>; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Structure and Change in
Indian Society</i>) and Sumit Guha (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beyond
Caste</i>) to understand the nuanced and diverse social structure of caste in India.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
More over India has moved away from caste 67 years ago when
it adopted its new constitution in 1950, which provides most sweeping and
generous social program of the world based on caste. The reservation system
mandated in the constitution provides, scheduled castes, tribes and backward
castes with a reserved 50% of seats in all educational institutions for all available
specializations, as well as in all government jobs, and public offices.
Students based on their status of belonging to schedules caste, tribes or
backward castes performing well below average are admitted and educated at no
cost to the families with generous scholarships and provided jobs, and job
related promotions. This is not limited to one generation or first generation
college students, but for all people belonging to the scheduled castes, tribes,
and backward castes. Nowhere in the world is such a generous program of social
benefits ever enacted in the history of mankind. It is one of the bedrocks of
Indian democracy even though it creates a system of privilege for reserved
categories in public office, employment and promotions. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The filth and dirt of the ghats and Ganga River may have been
cleaned by the temples if only they had the resources and wherewithal to do so.
Alas they are prevented from doing so by the government of India, which took
over their resources and management, taking away the donations of Hindu temples,
while at the same time all minority religions of India are allowed to
administer their religious and religiously affiliated institutions
independently with tax free status (https://www.amazon.com/Crimes-Against-India-Tradition-Hinduism/dp/1440111588).
What would be the uproar in the USA if such act were to be passed in the USA in
which government takes over all the Churches and their resources, freely using
their resources to support other minority religions such as Islam and Judaism?
This skewed system of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">religious
institutions act</i> of India 1951 unfairly treats Hinduism and Hindu temples, rendering
Hindu organizations helpless, fending for themselves on meager resources, while
Hindu temples and sacred spaces are not maintained and face utter negligence
under government administration. State governments monopolize the income from Hindu
temples using it for any purpose they may deem fit, even allocating funds to
other minority religions such as Islam. Endowment boards are corrupt, thus
further in the mismanagement of funds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Overarching remarks in opposition to Hinduism, such as the
one in which Aslan says,“more and more Hindus are attracted to ideals of
Aghoris,” making it seem like social service and caring for the fellow beings
are the ideals of only Aghoris and not part of Hinduism in general. The ideals
that Aslan so painstakingly characterizes as Aghori ideals are merely Hindu
ideals, which have always guided all Hindus for over 5 thousand years. Hindu
social service is not negated merely because Aslan refuses to acknowledge it in
this film. Does that mean all the social service activities undertaken by all of
the Hindu organizations for thousands of years suddenly come to naught as soon as
he discovered the Aghoris? And that too only one person, an Aghori, reformed (Bhagavan
Ram) at that remains to be the sole representative of Hindu ideals and inspires
others? What about the rest of the billion Hindus? What about Ramanandis,
Srivaishnavas, Chaitanya traditions? What about the present day sadhus, Sri Sri
(founder of Art of Living), Sadhguru (Isha Foundation), Chinna Jeeyaswami, and
many more Hindu sadhus known for their service?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
What this show is trying to accomplish, by presenting contradictory
aspects of Aghoris simultaneously, is to drive home unsubstantiated criticism
of Hinduism: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the one hand the show
accurately presented strange practices of Aghoris, depicting it as one of the
most bizarre sects of Hinduism, not commonly an acceptable practice among
Hindus. On the other hand, he inaccurately presented Hinduism as callous
towards the underclass. In addition, Aslan also tried to present Aghori as the
most moral sect of Hinduism, negating all other benevolent practices and ideals
of Hinduism, thus rendering mainstream Hinduism as heartless. Aslan at times took
drastic measures to present Aghori as the most benevolent practice of Hinduism,
while negating all other services and ideals held by Hinduism and numerous Hindu
practitioners and Sadhus with sweeping generalizations. Monastic traditions
across India accept followers and serve without placing any limitations on
caste; several groups also have female orders. His shortsighted presentation
only reveals his utter lack of knowledge and lethargy to consult current
research and subject experts. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Effectively what Aslan is doing in this film is incorrect. It
cannot be considered an inadvertent faux pas committed by Aslan, since he is
experienced with writing and media presentation. It seems that he intentionally
presented Aghori as the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>option of
Hinduism, successfully adding one more stereotype, in addition to the
stereotypes that already exist in connection with Hinduism. Hence, the blame
rests equally with Aslan as well as the CNN that chose to air the show. It
seems to suggest that as bizarre as it might seem Aghoris may be one of the
best options of Hinduism. He repeatedly and mistakenly characterized Hinduism
as based on caste and hence not caring for its fellow beings. With one sweeping
generalization he negates the 5 millennia of history of Hinduism to push his agenda
of presenting Aghoris as the only acceptable spiritual practice among Hindus.
What does this do for Hindus across the world? It presents them as insolent, apathetic,
given to callous tendency bound by karma. What is the consequence of such far-reaching
conclusion in presenting a strange sectarian group of monks as holding higher
ideals than the whole of Hinduism followed by approximately one billion Hindus?
This faulty presentation outlines mainstream Hindus to be subjected to ridicule
and discrimination.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
An immediate and short-term solution for this issue is that Hindus
and Hindu leaders must not shy away from asserting their own practice and
denouncing what is presented on this show. Even better, Hindus must banish CNN,
its falsehoods and misrepresentations. Hindus and friends of Hindus (may they
be Muslim, Christian, Zoroastrian, and Jewish Indians) must boycott CNN-IBN
channel as well as their annual awards as a symbol of their insincere coverage.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The only long term solution for such misrepresentations and
stereotyping is in offering more education on Hinduism. A good beginning would
be to start with reforming educational curriculum in primary and secondary
schools. Hinduism should be taught as the benevolent religion that it is,
rather than a callous faith with rigid caste boundaries.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<o:p>Previously published on MyInd.net </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<o:p> https://myind.net/Home/viewArticle/cnn-and-reza-aslans-faux-pas-on-hinduism-is-not-as-innocent-as-it-looks </o:p></div>
India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-55945715483962218052017-02-17T19:49:00.000-08:002020-06-22T13:17:37.453-07:00Is It Time For India to Spearhead the Indian Ocean Treaty Alliance<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Is
It Time For India to Spearhead the Indian Ocean Treaty Alliance<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Asia needs a powerful regional treaty alliance for defense
cooperation. Asian nations should cooperate not only in trade but also in
military and defense strategy, jointly developing techniques to counter-terrorism and regional military threats. Asian Treaty Alliance might be
the answer to a number of geopolitical issues of Asian nations especially the
South Asian and Southeast Asian countries. Fragile foreign relations also
affect economic relations thus hampering the growth and development of the
region. It is the only way like-minded nations with similar political structures
can come together to impact change in the region.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Asian nations are still locked in the political and economic
relations handed down to them in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
through their colonial rulers. Even though most of the nations obtained
independence in the twentieth century, they still fail to utilize
self-determination in their foreign relations. India should aim to correct its
course of history by re-aligning itself with long lost friends in the Indian
Ocean region. It is time for Asian nations to think beyond their geo-political
neighborhood and foster an Asian Treaty alliance aimed to preserve peace and
prosperity in the region. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
India if it plans to be a member of an association for economic
and defense cooperation it should look towards the Indian Ocean. India should
take lead in developing an association similar to the NATO (North Atlantic
Treaty Organization) by including other states on the Indian Ocean economic
zone. Indian Ocean Treaty alliance could include democratic nations such as
Japan, Thailand, Australia, Phillippines, Vietnam, and South Africa. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
China is landlocked on its northern borders and is limited in
its sea access by its close neighbors. In this close China is resorting to
techniques to force its neighbors to surrender to its expanding sphere of
influence. China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, and Brunei have competing
claims on the South China Sea. As its international arbitration bid failed
recently, China is coming back with a renewed vigor to establish superiority in
the region, which has recently faced a setback in the international court of
arbitration with the Philippines. With China militarizing heavily on its land and
water borders, it is more than ever necessary for Asian democratic nations to
not only come together in a temporary gesture of cooperation but a permanent
treaty alliance. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
India is in a geographical bind, surrounded by states that
are steeped either in political turmoil brought on by terrorism (Pakistan and
Bangladesh) or crushed under the weight of totalitarian regimes (China and
Iran). India’s immediate neighbors, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, although
considered democratic states suffer under the shadows of a military coup in
their recent past. Brexit has recently proved that a nation does not always
have to remain in alliance with its immediate neighbors, but could foster
relations with far off neighbors in order to optimize economic progress and
development. Any association dictated by geographical proximity rather than
political, social, and economic ideas is bound to fail in the face of crisis. Therefore,
India must look beyond its geographical border to foster stronger relations as
it embarks on its path of progress and development. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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India’s geographical fate is further complicated by the international
economic and political cooperation (SAARC- South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation) and NAM-Non Aligned Movement) groups it is part of, which also
includes some of these troubled countries in its neighborhood. SAARC (South
Asian Association for Cooperation) represents an acronym that could not be
easily understood. The acronym is a true representation of the hodge-podge of
states that it includes. Other than geographical proximity of its member states
(India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Srilanka, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and
Afghanistan) are completely different from each other in political, economic, and social structures. It is strange that Myanmar is still not a member of this
group. Similar is the case with NAM. India joined the Non-Aligned Movement with
Nehru's initiative with lofty goals, but due to the nature of states that
joined it, there is very little that it accomplished. It exists only in name,
while a number of its members are currently in conditions that are similar to
civil war, no diplomatic or military initiative is ever undertaken by this
group. Emerging crises have rendered the NAM become an association that holds
periodic meetings with no significant contributions. Half of the nations
that are members of this group, such as Algeria and Egypt are struggling with
internal terrorist organizations, while some states such as Zambia, Cuba, and
Iran is still struggling to establish democratic states. India is the only
stable, and established democracy in this group of nations. With the internal
and external terror threats and border disputes, it is impossible for NAM to
progress beyond the basic economic cooperation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Any association dictated by geographical proximity rather than political,
social, and economic ideas is bound to fail in the face of crisis. Half of the
nations that are members of this group are struggling with internal terrorist
organizations, and some are still struggling to establish democratic states.
India is the only stable, and established democracy in this group of nations. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Hence it is time for India to look beyond its geographical region to think
strategically and join a treaty alliance with a view to obtain military and
diplomatic cooperation in addition to economic development. India if it plans
to be a member of an association for economic and defense cooperation it should
look towards the Indian Ocean. India should take lead in developing an
association similar to the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) by
inviting democratic nations on the Indian Ocean economic zone such as Vietnam,
Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, and Japan. Asia needs a powerful regional
association of cooperation. These nations should cooperate not only in trade but also in military and defense strategy, jointly developing techniques to
counter terrorist and military threats. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p>Published Previously on MyInd Makers:</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<o:p><a href="https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/india-should-counter-china-and-spearhead-indian-ocean-treaty-alliance">https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/india-should-counter-china-and-spearhead-indian-ocean-treaty-alliance</a></o:p></div>
India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-56702813430014747922017-02-17T19:44:00.002-08:002017-04-26T11:27:54.872-07:00India Should Embrace Its Lost Children<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">India Should Embrace Its Lost Children<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Each
major historic event in India left a number of Indians displaced and lost to
History. The first waves of such lost children of India begins in the tenth
century with the beginning of Muslims raids into India under Mohammad Ghori and
Ghazni and only continue under British rule until the 20<sup>th</sup> century.
A thousand years of displacements and disenfranchisement left millions of
Indians across the globe. It is time for India to recognize and grant its lost
children some type of overseas citizenship. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Caribbean and African Diaspora Hindus of
the 19<sup>th</sup> and 20<sup>th</sup> Centuries<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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British
colonial government permitted numerous colonial enterprises to use exploitative
recruitment tactics to lure young men and women seeking work. They transported
them long distances across the oceans. Such workers were called indentured
laborers and were only provided minimal facilities. Wherever it is possible the
British companies or landlords posted the newly arrived indentured laborers at
barracks only then evacuated by the slaves on numerous plantations across the
world from Eastern African countries and South Africa to the West Indies. The
story is not much different from Fiji to Guyana. It is the same exploitation.
The indentured have no way of connecting with their families back in India, nor
did they have facilities to practice their religion or culture. Most of them
lost touch with their families and the place of their origin. They did not even
know that India achieved independence or that they had any opportunity to
return to India. They are the lost children of British colonial India. Colonial
governments forgot about them, while India had no accounts of their situation
and issues. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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People were
not given an opportunity to choose where they may live. British colonial regime
divided the country without conducting a ground survey. India is divided into
two countries by drawing a line on the map, without conducting ground survey,
which divided the country arbitrarily overnight. In Some places the border went
through houses, and sometimes through land belonging to a farmer, putting half of
his land on one side and the other half of his land on another side. In a
complete disregard for the lives of the common people British regime did not
provide security forces on the borders leading to chaos and murder spree, which
was equal to perpetrating genocide on the part of Britain. Numerous people
found themselves stranded in the country they did not seek to live. Whatever
Pakistan might say it is the responsibility of India to provide an opportunity
for its Hindus to return to their homeland. Pakistan was created for Muslims to
give a separate nation for Muslims. If Indian Muslims desire to go to Pakistan
they must be free to do so also.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pakistan
must accept Indian Muslims freely. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Bangladesh
(East Pakistan) is another case. Bangladesh is ethnically uniform even though
it is a Muslim majority country. Bangladeshi Muslims also spoke Bengali
(although they call it Bangla), practiced syncretic style of Islam and had
nothing in common with West Pakistan. However, that does not mean that Hindus
are treated any better in Bangladesh than Pakistan. Hindu population is
mistreated and declined gradually since 1950 (28%), currently at about 8%
according to the 2011 census. Being ethnically and linguistically homogeneous
has not prevented ethnic cleansing and mass killings of Hindus in Bangladesh. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is
heartening to note that India is considering steps to allow relocation the
mistreated minority groups from Pakistan and Bangladesh to resettle in India. Similar
facilities must be extended to Hindu diaspora across the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hindus in Malaysia and other Southeast
Asian Countries<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Hindus
entered and flourished in Southeast Asia since 3<sup>rd</sup> century C.E.
Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Philippines derive their early
empirical foundations from India and its early Hindu and Buddhist groups
arrived from India. More Hindus brought since the 16th century by successive
states of India join these ancient Hindus. British colonial regime brought more
Hindus to work in plantations across Southeast Asia. However, the current
status of Hindus in these countries is precarious. Although native to
Indonesia, indigenous Hinduism is not allowed to be practiced in Indonesia,
while Malaysia treats Hindus as unwanted citizens. India should recognize the
diaspora and grant overseas citizenship to all the Hindus of Southeast Asia. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Roma across European and Eurasian countries<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Another
forgotten long lost diaspora of India is the Roma living across Europe and
Eurasia. Roma were forcefully removed and taken away from Indian regions
conquered by the Muslim raids from 10<sup>th</sup> century onwards for fear of
rebellions in their conquered territories. Roma are the first diaspora of
India. Hence, India should embrace this group of people immediately. Roma
across Europe and Eurasia suffered discrimination lasting over a thousand
years. Recent removal and resettlement of Roma in Ukraine (An event similar to
the <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">Babyn Yar Tragedy of WWII)</span> drew
criticism from Israel and Holocaust Museum of USA
(http://www.jta.org/2016/08/31/news-opinion/world/u-s-holocaust-museum-condemns-attack-on-ukrainian-roma),
but no statement from India, which shows missing place of Roma from the
national conscious of India. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Being
treated as refugees in lands where they settled for close to a thousand years
haunts the Roma across Europe and the Eurasian region. Roma are largely missing
from public debates on human rights violations. Numerous Roma across Europe
were discriminated and killed during the Second World War alongside Jews, but
Roma massacres did not draw any attention from international community. Initiatives
to create and bring awareness to Roma issues in Europe are helping raise
awareness in the recent years (<a href="http://www.errc.org/about-us-overview">http://www.errc.org/about-us-overview</a>).
<o:p></o:p></div>
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India
could be forgiven for its lack of empathy towards its diaspora in the past
since it was also under colonial rule lasting for a thousand years until 1947.
However, as India enters a new phase of development and place of strategic
importance in the international sphere, attention should be paid to its lost
children. India must support and embrace its lost children from across the
globe. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<o:p>Published previously on MyInd Makers: </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<o:p><a href="https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/india-should-embrace-its-lost-children">https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/india-should-embrace-its-lost-children</a> </o:p></div>
India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-89488534476435676612017-02-17T19:39:00.004-08:002017-02-17T19:39:50.682-08:00British Construction of Race and Caste in India<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">One of the greatest and successful invasions as far as colonial regimes
are concerned is the invasion Azteca (Mexico) by the Spaniards, in which a few
hundred soldiers successfully crushed a large civilization, looted enormous
amounts of gold and silver, while inflicting huge loss of life on the Aztec,
and Mexican populations, wiping out an entire civilization. Loss of cultural
heritage is almost complete. With their emperor burned at stake, their books
destroyed, their languages, cultures and life styles vanish in a mere hundred
years. What is left of this forceful Spanish occupation is a mixed South
American people and culture, commonly referred to as Latino culture a
non-European Spanish civilization, with unique elements of Catholicism mixed
with native understanding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This fifteenth century historical incident
of invasion, occupation, and replacement of native culture on the continent of
America, has inspired colonial historians to apply this to any culture any
where in the world. Its mutations can be found in colonial dual race theories
perpetrated across the world on every continent from Africa to Australia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All of the invasion theories have some
common elements although they are customized to fit to each region. The
invaders always came from north, fair skinned (at least fairer than others),
tall, rode horses, brought the Neolithic package (seeds, wheel and steel). Even
though contrary evidence exists in the regional cultures, it was overruled to
establish that the migration theories explain the establishment of culture and
civilization in each region. Genocide of Rwanda is a direct result of these
invasion theories. Although sharing a language and culture, colonial theories
of invasion led the Tutsi and Hutu believe that they belong to distinct racial
groups. These groups that existed in peace for thousands of years earlier were
pitched against each other since the 1800s as conquerors and the conquered
finally culminating in ethnic cleansing leading to the worst genocide of the 20<sup>th</sup>
century. According to this theory of invasion, conquest and settlement, first
setttlers of Rwanda were Hutu, who were conqured by the pastoral Tutsi (cattle
keepers) from the north possibly of Cushite origin, and hence Caucasian and
superior to the Hutus. Hence the successive colonial regimes employed the Tutsi
for in administrative positions between 1880-1950. Therefore, it is a privilege
to be recognized as Tutsi under these colonial regimes, which separated the
Tutsi and from the majority of the population while using them as ramparts of
the colonial regime against the native populations. One can only imagine what
would happen once the colonial regime fell and Rwanda became independent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Similar system of invasion theories is
employed successfully in India to create fault lines within the native
populations of India. The first is the Aryan invasion theory- based on the
linguistic theories. This is the most imaginative application of invasion,
conquest, settlement model adopted by the West. In order to make this theory
seem real a number of corrections were needed, which were carried on very
deftly by the colonial history writers. First issue is that the Aryans were
never mentioned as a race in the Vedas. All that the Vedas talk about is Aryas,
an educated elite. Arya (its another form is ayya) is still used in India to
refer to elders and educated elite. It is changed to say Aryan a known race of
Iran. Then it gets more confusing. Aryans are considered to have conquered
Dravidians (Dravida-Dramizha-Tamila). But then who are these Aryans and
Dravidians. No such races exist by those names either in India or anywhere else.
Now wild theories are constructed on who the Aryans might have been and from
where they might have come from. Then there is also the second part of the
theory, who are the Dravidians, but for the theory to work they must be
indigenous, and also poor and uncivilized. The Dramila (so called Dravida) are
neither uncivilized tribes nor poor. Anotehr issue is that numerous elements of
South (Dramila) are prevalent in Vedic texts and Hindu practices and religion.
Therefore, some new scapegoat has to be found to fit this poor, uncivilized
tribe styreotype. As an offshoot of this necessary theoretical imbroglio, the
Dalits were fit into this mold. Some more theories were proposed which were
enthusiastically lapped up and embraced by modern day lower castes of India,
the Dalits. With one stroke of genius the colonial regime divided India
vertically into opposing sections without any regard for its history, culture,
or tradition. Professional castes of India including the leather workers
(chamars) were neither low nor poor in pre-colonial India. It was only after
the colonial regime introduced the mill-made goods for sale in India that the
professional castes of India became poor and disenfranchised from their
professions. Aryan and Dravidian languages are theoretically not that
different, but pronounced different by the colonial regime to facilitate its
program of cultural division, and racial segregation to fragment India. The
British regime did not rest easy with such broad fragmentation. It further
divided India in to various ethnic categories based on race characteristics,
calling them Martial races, etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The
question is does all the people speaking a single language belong to a single
race? The answer is no, when one examines language historically. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-81643677670930859552017-02-17T18:26:00.000-08:002017-02-17T18:26:03.907-08:00What the World’s Silence on Tibet is Costing the World?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Buddhist monks of Tibet cannot write letters to world leaders
or the UN unlike the Muslims clerics in Palestine and South Asia. The Tibetan
monks also cannot get the media attention that some of the Islamic terrorist
groups get, which perpetrate heinous crimes in Israel and India. However, the
suffering of Tibet is well established in the past, although the information
has declined drastically in the past few years. The UNHRC (United Nations Human
Rights Council) during its recent sessions in Geneva last week (September
21-22) leveled intense criticism against China regarding its human rights
violations in Tibet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to the
EU statement, the USA, Germany, France and UK also expressed concerns and
released independent statements on human rights violations in Tibet. Still the
media coverage of Tibet issue is meager when compared with other issues raised
at UNHRC. Even Dalai Lama’s speech at the Parliament of European Union (EU) in
France got scant media attention than the incendiary retaliatory statement
issued by Chinese administration in Tibet. The Tibetan administration expressed
anger at Dalai Lama merely for speaking up for the rights of Tibet, and said
that its “highest priority” in Tibet is to curb Dalai Lama’s influence. It is
clear that China is treating Tibet not only as its subsidiary territory, but
also exploiting it with its Han-centered administrative policies. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
It is also surprising that the concerned Human right groups focus
is India, Israel and to some extent on the West, but fail to raise their voice
against state supported atrocities or terror activities committed in other
parts of the world such as China (Tibet), West Asia, Middle East or Pakistan. The
mild mannered Buddhists do not want to appear rash, or blame anybody for their
misfortunes under totalitarian regime in current state of Tibet. But there is
no excuse for the rest of the world community to remain silent on Tibet. Tibet
hardly gets the attention it deserves. Hence, Tibet takes a back seat on the
world stage, even though it is on the verge of collapse, if not in human terms,
but in ecological terms, which when finally it happens would push the world in
to an emergency situation. Should the world stay silent to the environmental
and ecological cost of Tibet?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Tibet would have existed as a happy land akin to Bhutan if
India and Tibet had not committed the missteps that they had committed between
1950 and 1960. Especially, India’s Himalayan mistakes are noteworthy in this
instance. Under Nehruvian shortsighted foreign policy India surrendered all its
treaty rights and in a more shocking gesture accepted Tibet as part of China on
April 29<sup>th</sup> 1954. It is a mistake and more so since China has not
given any written commitments on borders with India either accepting the
McMohan line or western borders at the Aksai Chin. The shortsighted Nehruvian
policies of 1954 still haunt India in its relations with China and Pakistan. In
return for this generous gesture from India, China returned battles at Barahoti
(south of Niti pass) on 17<sup>th</sup> July 1954. Nehru also did not know
about the secret talks between China and Pakistan in 1954 and applauded China
at Bandung Afro-Asian conference. The result is that Pakistan surrendered its
occupied Akai Chin area to China and China continued incursions into Indian
territories on its borders, which also culminated in the war of 1961. All this
is part of China’s global expansion plan including its Northern Eurasia and
Africa extension plan. Tibet and Pakistan were mere pawns in this major plan of
China to reach its international markets. However, the most important question
is, should the world remain and and watch the ecological and human cost
inflicted on the world due to China’s expansionist plans? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Chinese hegemony in Tibet brings forward two very important
issues for the world: the first is geo-political and strategic balance of power
and the second is ecological and environmental damage that could result in
worst consequences in the form of climatic effect for the rest of the world. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
International strategy is evolving fast in the Tibetan
borderlands. China has formed a formidable alliance with Russia and Pakistan.
China is also moving ahead in collaboration with Russia in forging relations
with Iran and other Eurasian states as far as Turkey. Unless an equally
formidable alliance of nations is evolved in the South Asia and Northern
Eurasia that works to liberate Tibet and Mongolia from the tight control of
China, balance of power will shift in favor of China. Current conventions of
geopolitical strategy proposes evolution of multi-polar world in the next
decade, however, the current changes in Asian alliances seem to indicate the
global power balance shifting in favor of China and Russia emerging as strong
allies and also as counter balance to the EU (European Union) and US (United
State of America). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Although it may not seem as urgent the environmental damage
in Tibet is as important as the geo-political strategy. The ecological issue is
of immense importance. World had witnessed damaging floods across South Asian
in the last decade. With the warming climate, and incessant developmental
projects undertaken in Tibet mining, power sector, hydro-electric and
geo-thermal projects, in addition to the transportation projects (road, rail,
and flight network) may cause increased geological activity in the rest of the
lower Himalayan zone. The lower Himalayan region is densely populated than
Tibet and any geological change might cause immense damage, which will have a
direct bearing on the lower regions (India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Nepal and
Bangladesh). The world could not stand mute to the ecological and geological
damage being done to Tibet through the Chinese interventions, which will also
indirectly have an effect on the environment of the rest of the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Dalai Lama was precisely right in his recent comparison on the
immense ecological damage of Tibet akin to the raging fire on the roof of the
world. The comparison is very apt, since Tibet (3700 meters above the sea level)
is the highest plateau of earth, and numerous rivers have their origin in the
Himalayan zone. Melting glaciers on the Himalayas bring increasing water flow
into the Himalayan Rivers and lakes, resulting in damaging flash floods in
India, Nepal, China, Japan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Compounded with this
warming climatological issues are the geological fault lines of Himalayas, which
result in earthquakes that are constant and unpredictable. China has always
focused on road and train routes, and hydroelectric and water projects in the
Himalayan region with little regard for it neighbors. China works hard to
promote positive image of itself, calling Tibet ‘China’s Tibet’ and organizing
tourism, mostly for Han Chinese from the rest of China. Tourism in Tibet
increased hundred-fold between 1960 and 2010 which is reaching to about 15
million tourists generating about 18 billion Yuan ($3 billion) in 2015. Han
centered tourist development commercialized Tibetan culture and religion with a
view to providing an opportunity for Han Chinese to experience the minority
cultures in its borderlands. Tibet is slowly losing its identity and
individuality, while quickly becoming a romanticized spiritual tourist destination
for other Chinese to visit. There are immense limitations on foreign travel to
Tibet. Hence, very little news or information comes out of Tibet, if at all any
news leaked out, it is always about the happy camping stories in the mystic
land (Shangri-la) of Tibet. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Tibetans are held under tight control, and monks commit ‘self
immolation,’ to express their opposition to Chinese rule. But there is only a
limited role any protest can play in a peaceful Buddhist society to demonstrate
its woeful living conditions. Chinese propaganda films depicting Dalai Lama and
the Buddhist monks have failed to capture the loyalty of Tibetans. China is
using the plan of ‘waiting game’ on Tibet. It is only waiting for the current
Dalai Lama to leave this world. If the current conditions of Tibetans are woefully
difficult now, one can only imagine a ‘reign of terror’ to be unleashed once it
gets full command of Tibet, following Dalai Lama’s exit from this world. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Syria may be strategically important in the West Asia, but
Tibet is also equally important in the Eurasia and the broader Asian regional
co-operation, which may have significant consequences for the world. When Tibet
holds such important place in the world, any thing that happens there must be
of concern for the rest of the world. One must seek more information rather
than the simple official notes that trickles out of Chinese administration in
Tibet. It is important that the world must pay close attention to Tibet and
work for a permanent solution to the Tibet issue. It is time the world paid
special attention to Tibet. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p>Published Previously on MyInd Makers:</o:p></div>
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<o:p><a href="https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/what-world%E2%80%99s-silence-tibet-costing-world">https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/what-world’s-silence-tibet-costing-world</a> </o:p></div>
India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-31354153055668087162017-02-17T17:54:00.001-08:002017-02-17T17:56:50.478-08:00Sindhu Wins Olympic Medal- Indian Media Goes ReprobateRio 2016 Olympics marks the most significant historical event of the year 2016 for India. It is the symbolic representation of a number of aspirations of modern India. As P.V. Sindhu entered finals in Badminton, national sentiment in India ran high, and even the most high profiled leaders expressed hopes and wishes for gold, posted messaged on twitter and other media. Pressure was high on the young athlete as she won silver. India only won 4 such Olympic silver medals prior to Sindhu’s win, which is a first for Indian Badminton. But what happened in the Indian media after P.V. Sindhu’s win is a demonstration of cheapness.
What Sindhu has demonstrated is in fact a phenomenal triumph for India, as this single event embedded several firsts within it. This medal is significant for a number of reasons: Firstly, it is the only highest medal for India at Rio2016 Olympics and also that it saved India from the embarrassment of being one medal (Bronze medal: Sakshi Malik) wonder at the Olympics; secondly that Sindhu is the first ever Telugu person to win the Olympic medal; thirdly, that it emphatically showcased the arrival of Indian woman on world stage; and finally, that it is a recognition for Indian Badminton as it is the first such high medal for Indian Badminton marking India’s central place on world stage. Hopefully, Badminton repeats what Hockey had done for India in the past at Olympics and various other world events.
However, did this important international achievement get the attention it deserved in the Indian media? For some reason the national media went astray. Instead of presenting the information about the sport of Badminton and athletic achievements of P.V. Sindhu, the national media began broadcasting and printing articles of Google searches, as if what is happening on Google is more important for India than what is happening on world stage. What any random person (or persons) searched on Google is private, and does not reflect the conscious of any society.
What happened when Sindhu won Silver medal reflects appallingly low standards of journalistic ethics. Does it matter what some random person searched about any issue let alone P.V. Sindhu? No. So why did the national media focus their attention on google searches- and not on the issue at hand: Sindhu and the game of badminton? Are they not interested in badminton or may be one should say, they did not know much about badminton to write a compelling article on it. It also reflects the unique case of shortsighted news articles, a type that is not seen on any other sport or athlete in India. Sakshi Malik is case in point. Her Bronze medal attracted celebratory coverage, and Indian media ran articles discussing what her win meant for Haryana and how her win might help the skewered male-female ratio of population demographics in the state of Haryana. When Cricket is played on world stage no media ever carried any news articles on what was searched on Google about the Cricketers. It only carried stories about how great the game was and how each player played. Similarly, when Soccer world cup was played reporting was only concerned with the game and players achievements rather than their personal background.
What changed with Sindhu? Is Olympics less of an achievement than World Cup Cricket? Not only that all niceties were left out, but sheer absurdity is let loose in the media. P.V. Sindhu had to put up with absurd news coverage about her on the eve of her Olympic win. How sad is that. No athlete of international talent should have to go through such blatant news coverage.
What is the issue? Is it the women question or is it the collective rebound at India’s dismal performance at the Olympics, not just this year, but for the past 70 years since independence? Hope that such news cycle never repeats it in India, and Indian media will instead focus and support the futuristic vision for India. India’s dismal performance at Olympics is a symbol of lack of enthusiasm as well as lack of involvement from energetic youth. The year 2020 marks centenary of India’s participation in the Olympics. Sports development and achievements in these hundreds is meager. India should refocus and work on developing sports facilities and prepare to take the world by storm in 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Published previously on <b>My Ind Makers</b> <a href="http://https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/p-v-sindhu-wins-olympic-medal-indian-media-does-not-cover-itself-glory">https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/p-v-sindhu-wins-olympic-medal-indian-media-does-not-cover-itself-glory </a>India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-9837819225345088762016-06-25T10:15:00.001-07:002016-06-25T10:15:03.980-07:00In the Light of Brexit, It is Important for France to Consider the Exit Too<div style="text-align: justify;">
Brexit and the Status of French </div>
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For the immediate present Brexit might seem like a hasty misstep on the part of Britain, but it would do well in the long run with over 7% of growth rate when compared with 1% growth rate in Eurozone. This is even more apparent with an impending recession looming over the Eurozone in the next decade. Therefore, for now Britain has done well for itself rescuing itself from being dragged down by the rest of the Euro zone. </div>
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European Union (EU) is an illustrative case for how fragile a geo-economic union could be without political union. The EU is wrought with problem right from its inception. The mainstream media is treating it as a major calamity and a political fall out for the Eurozone and the rest of the world. In reality it is neither. The EU is neither a political entity nor a geographical entity. The EU is only an imaginary entity with basic economic union, bound by rules of economic cooperation. The EU is too expensive to run and its design runs the risk of not yielding satisfactory results for any individual country. The whole might look well, but each of its parts are dragging themselves. </div>
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As Britain leaves EU it is going to be more expensive for other members to stay in the union, especially for large countries on the continent such as France. As Eurozone is only growing at 1% annual growth rate, it is going to be more a baggage for economies of countries such as French than an advantage. </div>
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The EU is great for smaller and ailing economies like Greece, but expensive and unwieldy for healthy economies like France. Therefore it is time for each of the Euro countries to take a longer look at the union and take a decision on their staying or leaving the union.<br />
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<br />India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-58402756156812384822016-05-13T14:08:00.000-07:002016-05-13T14:08:49.023-07:00India is the Grandmother Country of North America, while Britain is the Mother Country of America! The British landed in North America in the sixteenth century, while Indians landed there sixteen thousand years ago. Sure, it was a mistaken identity that Columbus imposed, on the first Americans he met, as Indians, but it was recently established through genetic research that the native Americans were in fact genetically connected to Indians.<br />
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The male genetic lineage derived from haplotype R1 is commonly found in South Asia (absent in East Asia), but widely found in Europe also. The most ancient lineage of R1 haplotype are found in the eastern coastal states of India, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and the eastern Islands of India, the Andaman and Nicobar islands. The most recent genetic lineages of R1 haplotype are commonly found among the North American native groups including, Ojibwe, Seminole, Cherokee, and Dogrib etc.<br />
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The female genetic heritage of North American natives is derived from M and N lines. The most ancient M, and N lines were found in India. The North American genetic heritage places them about 24, 000 years ago. It an be said that similar lineages between India and the American continent makes the migration of Indian migration thousands of years ago.<br />
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It is difficult to imagine the trip across from India over Tibet, and Mongolia, and then on through Russia to Beringia to North America. It must have been excruciatingly hard and difficult, but shows the strength of human spirit to make it across harsh geography and climate.<br />
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<br />India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-91151084847293973582016-03-04T19:01:00.004-08:002016-03-04T19:01:54.704-08:00Gandhi is not the Private Property of Congress or Nehru family<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Rahul, Don't claim Gandhi, He is not yours, He is ours!</b></div>
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Gandhi belongs to everyone who follows his ideals. Gandhi does not belong to a family or a party, he belongs to humanity. He is the the inner conscious of humanity. Don't claim him for your political goals. Stop politicizing Gandhi and banking on his name!</div>
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When India attained its independence Gandhi suggested that the Congress of pre-independet India be disbanded, and a new political party should be created. But Nehru did not heed the advise, and continued to bank of the achievements of Gandhi and his sacrifices. It is time the Congress stop using Gandhi's name for their own marketing strategy at least after sixty-seven years. </div>
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One sentence that Rajiv Gandhi said in his speech sticks with me. He said, "Gandhi is ours...," implicating ruling party. But what he is forgetting that Gandhi is not his monopoly. Nehru family succeeded in making Gandhi a brand and used it successfully marketing themselves under that name. But Gandhi walked with congress in pre-independent India. Gandhi separated himself from politics after independence. Post independent India runs on the name of Gandhi, but not on his ideology and the Congress party has no right to claim Gandhi legacy. They have not stood by his values. </div>
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Please stop using Gandhi's name. Gandhi dissociated himself from Congress when India achieved independence. Gandhi doesn't belong to Congress, he said so himself. Gandhi does not belong to Congress or your family- which changed its last name from Ghandi to Gandhi to trick people of India into believing that you belong to Gandhi. </div>
India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-48741153916213835852016-02-22T15:38:00.002-08:002016-02-27T15:43:53.414-08:00Colonial Legacy Part 1<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>What the Colonial Regime Denied India!</b></div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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 <i>Vedas</i>, the <b>path of the Vedas</b> 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 <i>Indica </i>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.</div>
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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. </div>
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<br />India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-24226020761886008592016-02-15T10:55:00.004-08:002016-02-26T18:17:33.472-08:00Romila Thapar and the Politicization of Indian History<div style="text-align: justify;">
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. </div>
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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 <i>ad hominem</i> attacks rather than offering any legitimate arguments. </div>
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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.<br />
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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. </div>
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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.<br />
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Please also see my other related post on this issue of colonization and racialization of India's past:<br />
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http://manthratalk.blogspot.com/2015/01/hindutva-and-history.html<br />
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India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513177102900805991.post-67822162067947245082016-01-30T17:01:00.002-08:002016-01-30T17:01:51.822-08:00Hindu Temples are not Government PropertyHinduism Would be Better off if the Government of India Left it Alone<br />
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Hindu temples in India are run by the government through its Endowment Boards. The Endowment Boards are indirectly run by the government (both state and center) by nominating Chairman and members to the Endowment Boards. The temples are run akin to businesses selling all the services in the temple. I have not seen any religious institutions in the world run in this way. Devotees pay for entering the temple complex and continue to pay for every service in the temple. The donations and daily earnings (through fees charged for temple visits and other services) are used not to develop the temple, help Hinduism or at least provide services for the devotees, but diverted by the government according to its own needs.</div>
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If the government does not divert the temple funds, the temples would be able to establish Hindu educational institutions and serve the masses. Educational awareness of Hinduism among the masses is dismal for lack of educational and theological institutions dedicated to the study of Hinduism. </div>
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Another recurring problem for Hinduism is unique and uncommon to any other religion in the world. Since Government is managing Hindu temples, some people are always requesting government to manage Hindu life and practice one way or another. Somebody is always going to court to force temples to give up their traditions: Rallies at Sani temple in Sani Singanapur and Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala are but only a few examples. However no such demands are made on restrictions at places of worship belonging to other religions in India or any where else in the world. Enthusiasts are also going to courts to force temples in to surrendering their ancient practices. There is also demand for canceling traditional celebrations and festivals. Bull runs and Bull fights, are great cultural celebrations in Europe, but India is asked to ban them, as it is part of festival celebrations. And all Hindu festivals and celebrations always attract negative publicity and enthusiasts take to court. Why not leave the local tradition take its own course and let it evolve itself? Why must the government interfere and ban? Wasn't the state supposed to not interfere in the religious practices of any religious community in a democracy?</div>
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Hindu temples and sacred sites are spread across the world. There are especially numerous important temples in India's neighboring countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Java, Sumatra, Malaysia and Bangladesh. It is great that India announced roadway connecting India to East Asia with roadways going through Bangladesh, Mayanmar, Cambodia, Thailand to Vietnam. The land previously referred to as Indo-China is finally joining India through road and railway connectivity.</div>
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However, it is not useful in itself useful until government withdraws all involvement with Hindu temples and their management. If the government withdraws the Hindu temples would be able to manage themselves similar to the other religions in India (Christianity, Islam and others) and organize pilgrimages to their religious complexes. Any way what does a secular democratic government doing managing Hindu temples? Is not the state and religion separate in a democracy, especially, when it touts itself as secular as in the case of Indian government. </div>
India Debatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314474301152785581noreply@blogger.com0