Vol.

I / Issue 2 A Patriots' Forum Publication April - June 2008

 BHARAT SPEAKS

India, that is Bharat, has been the cradle of a unique civilization,

probably the oldest and the longest surviving repository of human
knowledge and wisdom. Having survived for thousands of years the
repeated onslaughts of foreign marauders and freebooters, a resurgent India
is once again marching forward to claim its rightful place in the comity of
nations.

Unfortunately in recent years India has again become the target of a

sustained and unrelenting attack by hostile forces. Demographic aggression,
terrorist attacks and subversion of Indian population by Islamic jihadis,
aggressive evangelists and Marxist insurgents are only some of the threats.
What is even more dangerous is the sinister campaign in the information and
entertainment media and the all pervasive influence of the “soft power” of
the west, seeking to reorient the thinking of our young generations away
from their traditional moorings. A vote bank besotted government has not
only been pursuing the politics of minority appeasement under the guise of
secularism but has gone so far as to tamper with the education system of the
country to ensure the teaching of distorted history to our young students. The
multi-pronged disinformation and misinformation offensive represents the
most lethal assault on our integrity, civilizational identity and core values.

BHARAT SPEAKS is the expression of the Patriots' Forum's resolve

to defend our civilization and culture and our small contribution to the
overall effort of all patriotic Indians to arouse consciousness and to dispel
ignorance and apathy among educated opinion makers. We would always
strive to inform and enlighten our readers and to instil among them a sense of
pride in our glorious heritage and a determination to win.
 Bharat Speaks
Issue 2 April - June, 2008
Contents
Sl. No. Topic Page

1. Towards Anarchy 1

2. Update on Patriots’ Forum’s PIL 2

3. Attack on Hindus at Ganga Sagar 3

4. Terrorism Diary 4

5. TTD goes for new mantra to protect flock 6

6. Acharya Sabha Resolution on Situation in Tibet 6

7. Appeal to save Ganga 7

8. Hindu convert a Spiritual Teacher 8

9. Extremist Indian Muslims force AP govt to

deny Ahmadiya meet in secular India 9

10. Why Kaveri wears Saffron 10

11. Our impotent fight against terrorism 12

12. An open letter to Sri Sashi Tharoor 14

13. Dalit Christians embrace Hinduism 15

14. Veer Savarkar on Hindu-Muslim relations 16

15. The Heliodorus Column 20

16. Dilip Chakrabarti's letter to Ambika Soni 22

17. Sarve Dharma Rajdharma Pradhanah 24

18. The Dark Side of Sufism 26

19. The Darul Uloom Anti-Terrorism Conference 29

20. The Hindu Mind 33

It is clarified that the views expressed by the authors of the articles published in the journal
are their own and may not reflect the views of the Members of the Editorial Board.
 Patriots' Forum
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Editorial

TOWARDS ANARCHY
The agitation by the Gujjars of Rajasthan has raised some disturbing questions which
our political leaders and their advisers, the intelligentsia, and the media managers
must answer.

Does the government of India have any obligation to ensure that the rule of law prevails
in the country; that the citizens feel assured that their life and liberty are safe, and they
can go about attending to their normal chores without let or hindrance; and that those
who violate the law are duly prosecuted and punished if found guilty?

Should not those who incite their followers to attack the symbols of state, to disrupt
movement of the masses, to destroy public and private property, to commit mayhem
and to court death not be tried for sedition, abetting murder and other crimes of which
they are obviously guilty? And, should not those who inflict losses amounting to billions
of rupees on the nation’s economy be made to compensate the victims for the damage
they cause?

If one group is permitted to trample on the law exposing the state’s unwillingness or
impotence in the face of an open challenge to its authority, does it not mean
encouraging other groups to use the same methods for getting their demands
accepted?

Is it the responsibility of the state to provide support to the disadvantaged to be able to

compete on equal terms or does it extend farther and if so to what extent?

Is birth in a community once regarded as disadvantaged or backward sufficient to

qualify for state support by affirmative action? After 60 years of a constitution
forbidding discrimination and extending the benefits of reservation to the deprived and
the backward which has brought about significant improvements in the life of the
underprivileged, is not a more equitable set of qualifying parameters taking into
account the present situation of those covered by reservations, required to be evolved
to correct the flaws in the existing dispensation?

Is national interest not gravely damaged by permanently dividing the country’s

population into mutually contending groups fighting for birth based reservations as a
means of securing easier entry into government jobs or in institutions of higher
learning?

Do the media, the intelligentsia and other opinion leaders not have the duty to educate
the general public about the destructive effects of the illegal means employed by
agitators on the peace, progress, economic and social well being and ultimately on the
very survival of the nation and to condemn severely the agitators and their abettors?

From a survey of the national scene at present it seems that the political parties
wielding power or sitting on opposition benches, the intelligentsia and the media
managers are all concentrating on furthering their own self interest without being
bothered about the impending disaster.

1
News
Update on Patriots’ Forum’s PIL
Against Implementation of Sachar Report
D K Mittal
The PIL, filed by the Patriots’ Forum in Delhi
High Court in the first week of January 2008
against the implementation of Sachar
Committee Report, was transferred on 27
March 2008 by the Hon’ble CJ to a Bench
comprising of Justices TS Thakur and
Siddhartha Mridul. The case came up for
hearing before this Bench on May 12, 2008.
Senior Advocate Shri P.N. Lekhi, appeared both
for Patriots’ Forum and Rashtriya Mukti Morcha
on whose behalf another PIL was filed by Shri
Ravindra Kumar. The Government was
represented by Additional Solicitor general
PP Malhotra.
Shri Lekhi argued that the Sachar Committee
Report was a blatant violation of the
Constitution. He dubbed it as an extension of the
Pakistan Resolution which had led to partition of
the country.
Addressing the Respondent, the Bench
commented "You are trying to please one
community. Poverty is the common enemy. You
should fight against poverty rather than saying
that you would fight against poverty for one
community only. This is where the rot lies."
"You are saying that more money to be spent for
one minority community. Should it not cut across
the caste and religion? Does the Sachar
Committee say that facilities are available to
other communities?" the Bench said, adding
"such issues should not be decided on the basis
of emotions".
Representing the Government, Additional
Solicitor General P P Malhotra denied that the
government was giving any special treatment to
any community. "If out of five children, one is
neglected then can it not be provided the
special treatment?" he contended.
The Bench, however, was not satisfied with the
contention and observed "does it mean that
drinking water facilities are available to the
majority community and no person from it live in
slums". "Under the Constitution, can a welfare
2
state say that that it would focus on a particular
area because the minority community reside
there? Can it say that it would spend more
money in that area?" the bench observed.
The government counsel contended that the PIL
was a politically-motivated one and the Court
should refrain from deciding these issues."This
is a political issue which cannot be decided in
the Court. It is to be decided by the people in
election. The High Court had earlier imposed a
cost of Rs 50,000 for filing frivolous petition". He
also said the Centre was not providing any
reservation to minority community in jobs and
educational institutions and it was only trying to
provide assistance to them for their uplift. He
also said the benefit would given not only to the
Muslim community but to other minority
communities also.
Senior advocate P N Lekhi, counsel for the
petitioners, objected to the government's
contention and said there was nothing called
minority community in the Constitution. "The
Constitution of India does not recognise any
minority or subordinate segment of Indian
society as identifiably separate or a sociological
group...They (Muslims) cannot be labelled as a
minority in the sense of a subordinate group".
After hearing the contention of both the parties,
the Bench was about to issue notice to the
Centre but the move was strongly opposed by
Malhotra. The Bench, however, objected to the
stand of the government saying "it is a serious
matter. The area is grey and needs a proper
debate".
The Court finally passed the following order;
“Post the writ Petition for admission on 21st
August 2008 along with the application for
intervention filed by Akhil Bharat Hindu
Mahasabha”.
Background
It may be recalled that the Sachar Committee
had proceeded to give its report to the
Government without giving a hearing to the
Patriots Forum inspite of repeated requests by
the Forum. The Report of the Sachar Committee
was criticized by several analysts as being
seriously flawed and the Committee was
accused of having reached unwarranted
conclusions by avoiding examination of
important but inconvenient issues relating to the
real causes of Muslim backwardness, shutting
out data which would have proved that in many
respects and in many areas the Muslims were
better off than Hindus and proceeding to
produce the kind of report the Government
wanted it to give. The report gave publicity to the
allegations made by champions of Muslim
community and put the blame for Muslim
backwardness on the Hindu community and the
Indian state.
Based on Sachar Committee's
recommendations the government has
identified 90 minorities dominated districts and
338 minorities-centric cities / towns for speedy
development overlooking the fact that there are
scores of majority dominated districts,cities and
towns far less developed than the minority
dominated ones. Also lakhs of scholarships are
to be given solely to the children of minority
communities whose parents have an annual
income less than 2.5 lakhs per annum (i.e.,
Rs.20,833/- per month). But no Hindu child,
even if his parents earn say 25,000/- per annum
(one-tench of 2.5 lakhs) is eligible for these
scholarships. Constitutional guarantees of
Equality, Justice and prohibition of religion
based discrimination present no obstacles to
the Government in its relentless pursuit of
Muslim votes.

Attack on Hindus at Ganga Sagar

Pioneer News Service, Kolkata, June 14, 1008

The police on Friday arrested 15 Hindu pilgrims
to Ganga Sagar but let go a Muslim mob, mostly
CPI(M) supporters, who on Thursday night
attacked and burnt down an inn at Ganga Sagar
Islands before assaulting local police men.
injured,” said a source and added finally RAF
had to be called in. “The police refused to lodge
FIRs against the attackers who burnt down
three rooms rented by the RSS for pilgrims,”
said sources.

The crowd armed with sharp-edged weapons “What was more agonising was instead of
attacked the inn — near Kapil Muni temple — booking the offenders the police arrested the
and beat up pilgrims at around 7 pm, said police
victims. At least 15 of them were arrested and
sources. A few policemen deployed were also booked under non-bailable sections, BJP State
manhandled when they tried to intervene. Tapan secretary Rahul Sinha said. Meanwhile,
Ghosh and Sunder Das, both workers of Hindu thousands of BJP workers led by Sinha on
Sanghati, were also beaten up. The four-hour Friday staged a blockade at Esplanade in
ordeal continued till a larger contingent of police
Kolkata. Later, 526 of them were arrested and
force headed by the Kakdwip BDO and SDPO released later. “The Left Front Government has
arrived. become weak,” Sinha said, adding that the
CPI(M) is trying to appease the minority
The mob was led by Sheikh Ismail, a CPI(M) community by playing a “partisan game.”
member and chairman of the local panchayat,
police sources conceded but refused to arrest Source: http://islamicterrorism.wordpress.com/
the culprits. “Such was the condition that the 2008/06/14/373
pilgrims were trembling and even the BDO was

3
News
TERRORISM DIARY
TK SINGH
I ATTACKS IN J&K
March 6 Three members of a VDC
member’s family, including his father and
two minor daughters, were killed while the
VDC member himself, Mushtaq Ahmed,
was injured along with four other family
members in a suspected grenade attack on
his house at remote Soni Top in the Handar
village of Reasi district
March 21
Two children, playing near their house ,were
killed in a grenade explosion in the Gawari
area of Doda district. Police suspected that
the militants lobbed the grenade to avenge
the killing of four LeT militants earlier in the
same area.
March 23
Three police personnel and a CRPF
constable died in an encounter with militants
on the outskirts of capital Srinagar in which
they succeeded in killing Abu Faisal of
Pakistan, a ‘divisional commander’ of the
LeT.
April 4
Dead bodies of two constables of Police
Station Sogam who had been abducted at
Surigam in the Kupwara district a day earlier
were, were recovered from Gujar Patti.
Police said that the Imran Group of Al-Badr
Mujahideen had kidnapped and later killed
the constables.
May 3
A group of three HM militants abducted two
civilians, and a surrendered militant, from
their houses at village Kuchaal in the
Kishtwar district and subsequently killed
them.
May 11
Four civilians including Ashok Sodhi, chief
photographer of Daily Excelsior two soldiers
4
and two LeT militants were killed and 16 SF
personnel and two women were injured in a
day long gun-battle in an encounter in the
Samba town of Jammu. Official sources
said that two militants wearing Army uniform
intruded into the house of Hoshiar Singh,
general secretary of Indian National
Democratic Party, in Samba town at 5.58am
(IST) by scaling the boundary wall. After
killing Hoshiar Singh and his wife on the
spot, the militants subsequently moved
towards the Kaili Mandi area and took
hostage three women and two children. At
about 5pm, the SFs stormed the house
where the militants were hiding and shot
dead both of them.
II ATTACKS AND THREATS IN REST
OF INDIA
April 3
At least three persons, including a woman,
were killed in a bomb blast inside a house in
the Siliguri district.
April 11
Three persons were injured when two
bombs exploded in quick succession near
the Alipurduar rail station in West Bengal.
May 10
An explosion at the district court in Hubli in
Karnataka caused extensive damage to the
premises although no casualties were
reported. The explosive was placed under
the witness box of the JMFC court hall and
was reportedly detonated by a mobile
phone. Investigators claimed to have
recovered the SIM card of the phone. The
Hubli-Dharwad Police Commissioner
Narayana Nadamani pointedout on the next
day (May 11) that as per preliminary
investigations, the May 10 explosion in the
district court in Hubli in Karnataka could be
the handiwork of the LeT and the SIMI
May 12
A truck driver was killed and three persons
were injured when a bomb kept in a plastic
container hanging from a bicycle exploded
near a tin shade alongside national highway
(NH) 31C in Barobisha of Alipurduar in West
Bengal. The tin roof of the shade was blown
off and a telephone pole against which the
bicycle carrying the bomb had been left was
badly damaged. Alipurduar Additional
Superintendent of Police S R Mishra said an
unidentified extremist group had planted the
bomb. "We suspect that a timer was used to
set it off", he said.
May 13
At least 80 persons were killed and over 150
others wounded when eight serial bomb
blasts were triggered at Johari Bazaar,
Hanuman temple, Hawa Mahal, Badi
Chaupad, Tripolia Bazaar and Chandpole in
Jaipur, capital city of Rajasthan. The first
blast took place at 7.20pm (IST) in the
crowded Johari Bazaar and within 15
minutes seven more blasts occurred in
adjoining areas in the walled city area - near
the Hanuman Mandir, which was reportedly
crowded with devotees, near Hawa Mahal,
at Badi Chaupad, Tripolia Bazaar and
Chandpole.
An e-mail by an outfit known as Indian
Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for
the serial bomb blasts in Jaipur. The e-mail,
which was sent on May 14-night to various
television channels, has given the frame
All that is necessary for evil to succeed
is for good men to do nothing
--- Edmund Burke
5
number (129489) of the bicycle which was
planted at Choti Chaupad near Kotwali in
Jaipur. The frame number of a bicycle
recovered by the Rajasthan Police from the
spot is same, official sources said, adding
the e-mail was written on May 14 from a
cyber cafe in Sahibabad in the outskirts of
the national capital New Delhi. The e-mail id
used was "guru_alhindi_jaipur@
yahoo.Co.Uk", the sources said. The e-mail
said India should stop supporting the US in
the international arena, "and if you do
continue then get ready to face more attacks
at other important tourist places".
The Special Investigation Team probing the
May 13 serial bomb blasts in Jaipur
detained a madrassa teacher and a
telephone booth owner in Bharatpur for their
alleged role in the bombings.The teacher,
identified as Hakimuddin, a resident of
Nagla Imam Khan village of Mathura district,
was living in Bharatpur for the past two
years. The telephone booth owner, Kamil,
had his shop at Khumer Gate in Idgah
Colony in Bharatpur. The name of both
persons had been disclosed by Mohammed
Ilyas, the imam of the Jama Masjid, who was
arrested on May 23.
June 4
An explosion in the parking lot of a drama
theatre in Thane injured seven persons. The
explosive was wrapped in a plastic bag and
was placed on a cycle. It exploded when
staff of the theatre tried to remove it.
News
TTD goes for new mantra to protect flock
Friday April 4 2008
D Sreenath
TIRUPATHI: The efforts of the Tirumala Tirupati
Devasthanams (TTD) to woo back sections of
society drifting away from the Hindu fold seem to
be having an impact, if the response of fisherfolk
to a recently-concluded programme was
anything to go by.
The TTD took the initiative to train fishermen in
temple rituals, including chanting of sacred
mantras both for daily and special occasions –
hitherto imparted only to the 'Brahmin'
community.
It appears that recent conversions of a good
many people to other faiths jolted the Andhra
Pradesh Mathsya Karula Samkshema
Sangham (APMSS) to approach the TTD to help
fisherfolk learn more about the religion and help
maintain village shrines.
A trainee recounted the memorable experience Sources: http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItem
of being joined by Brahmin priests, who are
ACHARYA SABHA RESOLUTION ON SITUATION IN TIBET
(April 15, 2008)
Members of the Acharya Sabha Trust Board
took note of the cultural and religious
implications of the unfortunate events taking
place in Tibet. After a discussion the following
Resolution was passed on behalf of the Hindu
Dharma Acharya Sabha:
" Members of the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha
noted with sorrow the violence which the
traditionally peace-loving people of Tibet and
their religious leaders are encountering while
asking for religious and cultural autonomy for
their native land.
6
undergoing training separately in the same
complex, in the rendition of Nagarsankirthana
and in visiting local temples.
In all, 42 fishermen from the coastal villages
were trained. Sri Venkateswara Employees
Training Academy (SVETA) director Bhuman,
the brains behind the novel programme, said the
training involved simplified forms of temple
rituals, including recitations of 'Dhyana slokas',
performance of Harthi and 89+ Archana, and
offering of Naivedyam. There were also visits to
local temples to study priests performing poojas
and bhajans before retiring for the night.
TTD executive Officer KV Ramanachary said
the fisherfolk were impressive, even surpassing
many Brahmins in clarity of rendition of the
slokas.
The Acharya Sabha expresses its dismay at the
religious and cultural deprivation that the
Tibetan people are facing. The Chinese heritage
and culture are themselves a symbol of human
achievement. Similarly the ancient culture and
heritage of Tibetan people are also precious for
humanity as a whole. The Acharya Sabha feels
that it should be possible for these two peoples
to find an amicable way to safeguard the self
esteem, heritage and culture of the Tibetan
people."
News

APPEAL TO SAVE THE GANGA

The Peoples' Science Institute Dehra Doon (http://www.peoplesscienceinstitute.com) has

circulated the following news, on May 14, 2008 :

Pained by the unrelenting destruction of the Ganga River, especially by a series of dams in
its upper reaches, Dr G.D. Agrawal, India's pre-eminent environmental quality scientist
and a legendary Professor (and HoD) of Civil & Environmental Engineering at IIT-Kanpur
has decided to go on a fast-unto-death to oppose its continuing desecration. His conviction
that we are staring at an unprecedented ecological and cultural catastrophe comes from his
powerfully logical mind. Prof Agrawal’s critique of the proposed dams on the Bhagirathi
Riveris placed below;-

THREAT TO HOLY GANGES FROM HYDRO-ELECTRIC PROJECTS BETWEEN

GANGOTRI-UTTARKASHI

The Ganges has been sacred to Indians since time

immemorial. This is no ordinary river. Most Indians revere
the Ganges as a mother. Its water is widely believed to
possess unique properties. Most Indian homes will have a
bottle of “Ganga Jal” as it is believed that this water will not
get stale. Use of Ganga Jal is common place as part of
almost every important puja / ritual performed by a Hindu.
Every Hindu craves for a few drops of “Ganga Jal” as
he/she dies for we believe it will help us achieve “Moksha.”
These are matters of faith. They are part of folklore and
wisdom handed down by our fore-fathers. They are at the
core of Indian ethos and culture.

Part of this folklore mandates that the Ganga be

allowed to flow unfettered. In 1916 when the British
planned to build a barrage blocking the flow near Haridwar a popular mass movement
spearheaded by Shri Madan Mohan Malviya forced the British to modify their plans and
enter into a written agreement committing that the flow of the Ganges will not be blocked
completely. The agreement finds mention in the Constitution of India.

Today the very existence of the Ganges is threatened by multiple barrages and Hydro-
electric projects planned along its Himalayan stretch - the Bhagirathi. First the Tehri Dam
and Maneri Bhali were built. Next a series of dams are being built between the Gangotri
glacier and Uttarkashi. At these sites water shall be stored, then released periodically
through tunnels, at suitable locations where power houses will be built, back into the stream
channel. The same is repeated again (and again) further downstream. The result will be
that in long stretches and over considerable period of time, there shall be no flow in the
channel. THE GANGA WOULD RUN DRY. Commonsense indicates that such an
extensive tampering of a natural eco-system is bound to adversely affect its ecology and
very nature. Yet a series of projects are being planned and actively pursued unmindful of
the serious damage they are bound to cause. If these projects are allowed to come up the
GANGES as Indians have known it for centuries will cease to exist and will be replaced by a
series of reservoirs upstream of respective Hydro-electric projects.

7
News

HINDU CONVERT A SPIRITUAL TEACHER

AT A TEMPLE IN OMAHA
By BOB REEVES
OMAHA — When Frank Morales was only years. They're older than the Bible. They're
10 years old, growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., considered the oldest collection of writings
he developed a strong interest in spirituality. known to humanity."

"I started reading the various scriptures of At age 14, he made his first visit to a Hindu
the world," he said. He read the Bible, the temple — in Queens, N.Y. The temple was
Quran, ancient Buddhist texts. Finally, he filled with beautiful artwork and statues
read the Bhagavad Gita, a short book that is representing many Hindu deities, each of
one of the most revered of Hindu scriptures. whom is considered a different expression
of God.
"I felt I'd found what I was looking for," he
said. "It was absolutely stunning; I was
overwhelmed," Morales said. "I felt I was
The Gita tells the story of Arjuna, a warrior in leaving the world behind, entering a spiritual
India, who is caught up in a battle between world. I finally sat down in front of a statue of
members of his own family. In a crisis of Krishna, and in my own mind I said, `I'm
conscience, he turns to Krishna, an home. This will be my religion for the rest of
incarnation of God, for advice. Krishna gives my life.'"
Arjuna instruction and answers his
questions, providing a clear and logical Morales went on to study philosophy and
explanation of the three paths of yoga, or theology, eventually receiving a doctoral
union with God. degree with an emphasis on Hinduism and
Asian culture from the University of
The three paths — karma yoga (action), Wisconsin in Madison. He made several
gyana-yoga (knowledge) and bhakti-yoga trips to India, and in 1986, after living as a
(devotion) — form the basis for the practice celibate monk for six years, he was initiated
of Hinduism. As a young boy discovering as a Hindu priest.
them for the first time, Morales felt that they
gave the most understandable explanation Back in the United States, he became an
of the human situation and human beings' acharya, or teacher of Hinduism, and
relationship with God. adopted the Sanskrit name Sri Dharma
Pravartaka Acharya. The word "dharma"
"I was searching for a truth that was means natural law; his name literally means
universal, not just sectarian," he said. "I "one who sets the dharma in motion."
wasn't looking for faith; I was looking for
philosophy. It had to be universally Morales has become a widely recognized
applicable." Hindu teacher, especially through his Web
site, www.dharmacentral.com. He is
He went on to study more Hindu scriptures president of the International Sanatana
and soon discovered that there are so many Dharma Society.
Hindu texts that probably no one person has
read them all. Last fall, he became the resident acharya
(spiritual teacher) at the Hindu Temple of
"They were written over many hundreds of Nebraska in Omaha. He teaches several

8
different classes, including introduction to
Hinduism, a study of the Bhagavad Gita and
a youth class. He gives a spiritual talk prior
to Sunday worship at the temple and also
leads satsang (meditation and religious
discourse) sessions weekly in Omaha, and
once each month in Lincoln.
Most of his students are people of Indian
background who want to learn more about
their religion. But a growing number are
people who come from other religious
traditions who want to learn about
Hinduism. A few of those have decided, like
Morales did, to become Hindus themselves.
"Hinduism does not look for converts,"
Morales said. "But we do like to teach.
Extremist Indian Muslims force AP govt to
deny Ahmadiya meet in secular India
The Andhra Pradesh government has
refused permission to the Ahmadiya
community to hold a meeting here June 15
following protests from some Muslim
groups.
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy
directed the police not to allow the
community to hold its meeting at any public
place as this could create law and order
problems in the city.
A delegation of Muslim groups led by
Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and
including prominent religious scholar
Moulana Hameeduddin Auqil Hussami,
imam of the Mecca Masjid , Moulana
Abdullah Qureshi Al-Azhari and
representatives of several groups including
Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiatul Ulema, Tableegi
Jamaat and the head of Jamia Nizamia, an
over 130-year-old Islamic university had
called on the chief minister Monday to
demand that the Ahmadiya, also called
Qadianis, should not be allowed to hold their
9
Anyone is welcome to come and learn."
On May 29, Morales will lead a ritual in
Council Bluffs for 20 or more people who are
becoming Hindus. He estimates that about
1.5 million Americans nationwide have
converted to Hinduism.
"Hinduism is a religion of tolerance,"
Morales said. His goal as a teacher, he said,
is not to preach but to explain the religion
and offer "a supportive environment" for
individual spiritual growth.
Source:
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2008/0
3/29
conference.
“They (Qadianis) don’t believe that Hazrat
Mohammed is the last prophet sent by Allah
and this is against the basic belief of
Muslims but they still carry on activities with
Muslim names thus misleading people,”
said Abdul Raheem Qureshi, assistant
secretary of the All India Muslim Personal
Law Board, the apex body of Indian
Muslims.He pointed out that the founder of
the sect had claimed that he was a prophet
and sometimes even said he was Jesus.
The chief minister said ministers would
neither attend the meet nor send any
greeting message. He also asked
authorities of state-owned Road Transport
Corporation (RTC) to remove the posters
about the event from all RTC buses.
Source:
http://www.andhracafe.com/index.php?m=
show&id=34459
Karnataka Elections
WHY KAVERI WEARS SAFFRON
Tarun Vijay
The saffron Karnataka wears is aglow with the
sacrifices of the anonymous workers who lived
with a reason, for a cause. Who sowed saffron in
Karnataka's soil – like Yadav Rao Joshi, H V
Seshadri, Suryanarain Rao, often going to sleep
on an empty stomach but worked day and night
to spread the message of a strong nationalism,
motherland first and foremost. Everything else
was secondary.
When Seshadri breathed his last, he was
listening to the Sangh prayer – namaste sada
vatsale matribhume (Salutations to thee, O
beloved motherland...) But Vidhan Saudha was
never on their radar of achievements. Their
mission was and remains a total transformation
of society into a proud, strong, self-reliant,
knowledge reservoir with character which would
lead Bharat, which is India, into the highest
ranks of the comity of nations. Political power is
just one small step in that direction.
The people who remember their past have a
future. The saffron we see blooming in the South
is powered with the ideas of a man whose birth
anniversary would largely go unnoticed today.
Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was the name
of the man who shook Hindus from their
lethargic and self-demeaning attitude and who
put the word Hindutva in vogue.
I remember Madhumangal Sharma who was
killed while reading a book by Pt Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya in his Imphal house. The day bullets
pierced his heart, through the book, happened to
be 11th February, 1995. It was also the martyrdom
day of the author he liked most, Pt. Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya, who was murdered mysteriously on
11th Feb 1968 on a moving train.
One could wonder in these times of extreme
parochialism why a Manipuri in Imphal would be
reading a book by a northerner? The same
Manipur has banned all books of Hindi writers,
Hindi movies, and finally the national anthem now.
The martyrdom of Pt Upadhyaya and
Madhumangal and many others for a cause
energised a collective will to bring change in
10
polity. That's what nationalism is all about.
Different parts, one body. There are youngsters
who still have the courage to stand for a broader,
Indian nationalism in Manipur facing foreign-
funded extremists who have otherwise
succeeded in silencing all other voices reflecting
Indianness. What makes them brave the
bullets? Love for motherland, and that's saffron
unquestioningly.
Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was born in Bengal
and became the youngest ever vice-chancellor
of Calcutta University at the age of 33. He was a
close friend of Kaji Nazrul Islam, helped him
when he needed most, was a part of the family of
Rabindranath Tagore, became a legendary
figure in his life time, inherited a legacy Bengal is
justifiably proud of, and he died for Kashmir. His
mysterious "death" in the jail of Sheikh Abdullah,
in Srinagar on 23rd June 1953 raised questions
that are still unanswered. The only reason for his
untimely death was his demand that Kashmir be
assimilated in India like any other state. And
there should not be two flags, two constitutional
provisions and two heads in relation to Kashmir.
He was arrested for entering the valley without a
permit, in his own country and jailed where he
met a sudden death.
Shyama Prasad's martyrdom too has added to
the saffron we see in Karnataka.
The Kothari brothers and others who died facing
brutal police repression in Ayodhya during their
satyagraha to demand a Ram Temple in 1990 is
a scar on India's body that would hardly be
forgotten. The other side of the secular
Talibanism creates ghettoes of Gulags and
Siberia-ism for votebank politics. Hasn't the
accumulated angst against these
discriminations fuelled a change in the Indian
political scene? Remember the best of Indian
soldiers, editors and actors like Gen Candeth,
Gen. Jacob, Girilal Jain and Victor Banerjee
joined the saffron side in the aftermath of
Ayodhya. And who were those who died
demanding a ban on cow slaughter? Were they
simply an expendable crowd of illiterate, empty-
headed buffoons, trampling on other's rights in
times when editors love to write about
restaurants serving the most tasty beef?
Those teachers and truck drivers and auto-
rickshaw owners who were killed in Kannur and
Palakad just for wearing saffron have also
contributed to the Karnataka victory.
And those hundreds of highly qualified selfless
workers who lived and died anonymously for
seeing saffron bloom, did help in paving the way
for the leaders who rule today with a broad smile
on their faces, though they never aspired to
work for a political fortune.
Who were those workers who dedicated their
lives for a cause that would never provide them
comfort or fame? What was that magic bond that
bound them in a solidarity that would not be
shaken under any circumstances. They first
fought the British, then the Communists and their
political mates in Congress and progressed
astoundingly well in spite of a collective media
assault and opposition that would surpass every
logic and sense of balance. Today the saffron
brotherhood is running the largest number of
successful schools, has the highest number of
service projects in slums and tribal areas across
the country from Port Blair to Leh and Naharlagun
to the Nilgiris, runs centres to train Scheduled
Caste youths as priests and computer engineers
and provides the nation the sinews it needs during
any crisis. None will see these elements of fire
and light but will only comment frivolously on the
electoral underpinnings and caste-religion
equations. The saffron we see blooming over the
Vidhan Saudha in Bangalore is the result of a
collective will engulfing the grand Indian picture
we worship as mother incarnate.
Those who occupy the plush chairs inside must
remember this and the responsibility that comes
along with wearing colour. The land of Hampi
and Basaveshwara and Kanak Dasa wants to
see that the polluted Kaveri (Cauvery) of public
administration, behavior and accountability be
cleaned and Sanskrit and Sanskriti (culture)
flowers unhindered. Always remember why
Hampi was razed and for whom. Should the
children of that past forget their ancestors and
get glued to elements that negate the fragrance
of the land? Karnataka results have defied the
pettiness of the polity we had been witnessing
over water sharing and language–regional
11
conflicts and have proved that merger with the
nationalist cause is worthier than asserting
parochial and smaller identities. It's also a
verdict against hate and ideological apartheid.
Media with seculars of the red variety have
turned saffron into a term of abuse and derided
its use as if belonging to saffron is a sin. Today
with Karnataka, saffron rules over seven states
on its own. The red smart seculars, self-
obsessed "upholders" of the peace marches
and candle-burning rituals for Afzals and
betrayers of faith, find themselves completely
marginalized and shrunk. Naturally so. As the
grand Indian vision expands, the myopic market
managers of Marx and Macs will have to
squeeze into a smaller space.
I have always maintained that the hate factor in
Indian politics is a contribution of the left and
alien thought processes. Swami Dayananda
fiercely attacked the practice of idol worship
among Hindus but he was accommodated and
respected, not turned into an outcaste and
fatwa-ed to death. Guru Nanak and Kabir
criticized ritualism and the blind faith prevalent
among influential Hindus. But they were revered
and adored. Hate and animosity on the basis of
beliefs is alien to Hindus and was introduced by
those who are inherently intolerant to the
different viewpoint.
There is no reason for the hate between various
political parties in India – after all they all swear
to work for the good of India and Indians. The
polity must play on the foundation of a pan-
Indian vision. Programmes may differ but the
fragmentisation must come to an end giving way
to fraternisation. Seculars have so far invested
their pride in being backward, most backward
and other backwards. Yet they call themselves
as most progressives. See what's happening in
Rajasthan. A matter of pride?
It's the dharma of all Indian political
organisations to see that India prospers and
doesn't fall prey to divisive and mutually hateful
policies to nurse vote banks. The nation must
stand taller than the South Blocked ambitions.
(The above piece is a slightly abridged version
of the article which appeared in the Times of
India 28th May, 2008--Editor)
Debate

Our impotent fight against terrorism

Vikram Sood
SOME weeks ago US President George decisions that bicycles can be purchased
Bush announced that there had been no only with ID cards are taken and we move on
successful terrorist attack on American soil till the next incident takes place. In a recent
since September 11, 2001 claiming that he commentary, Dr Ajai Sahni of Institute of
and his policies had made America safe for Conflict Management, has referred to
Americans. Maybe, but US nationals recommendations made by the Intelligence
continue to die in Iraq, Afghanistan and Task Force following the Kargil War. Two of
Pakistan. Of course, he forgot to mention these recommendations related, rather
that there were hardly any incidents before optimistically, to the establishment of a Multi
9/ 11. Also that neither Canada nor Mexico Agency Centre (MAC) for collecting and co-
harbour, train and equip terrorists who plan ordinating terrorism related information
to dismember the US. Soon after 9/11, apart from all over the country and a Joint Task
from bombing Afghanistan and Iraq out of Force on Intelligence (JTFI) responsible for
existence, the Bush administration armed passing on this information to state
itself with the most draconian anti- terror governments in real time. “Regrettably”, Dr.
laws and has not relented despite Sahni asserts, “both MAC and JTFI remain
objections from human rights organisations understaffed, under equipped and
and the liberal sections of American society. ineffective, with even basic issues relating to
The intelligence, security and counter- their administration unsettled. Their
terrorist organisations were strengthened principal objective, creation of a national
and reorganised. Hampered by inadequate terrorism data base, has made little
human intelligence, the Administration progress.” He also pointed out that the
concentrated on enhancing its electronic police force in our country averages only
capabilities. 126 per 100,000 apart from being
illequipped and ill- trained, whereas in the
Institutions Western countries this figure is double. In
the years ahead terrorists will select soft
Millions of dollars were spent on research targets for maximum effect and ease of
designed to increase intelligence operation.
surveillance capabilities. There is no cash
crunch and considerable intelligence They will also target the private sector, the
related activity is now outsourced to the economy and the more networked India
private sector. The British too plan to build gets, the more vulnerable we become to
amassive government data base of every cyber terror that could cripple government
phone call, e- mail and time spent on the networks and financial institutions. 23 per
internet by the public. This is in continuation cent of British business was attacked by
of asimilar EU directive in operation since malicious software in 2007.
last October. In India, every terrorist action
evokes the same national response. Internet
Important politicians visit the scene,
promise zero tolerance, suspend afew Even the character of the terrorist has
policemen, dole out compensation, the changed from the stereotyped version to the
media pronounces intelligence failure, boy or girl next door — well educated and
allegations and counter allegations fly, techno savvy. Terrorist organisations have
experts pontificate on TV, momentous been using the Internet as a discussion

12
forum, library, sounding board; it is also
used for spreading hate, planning attacks,
recruitment, messaging and training. Funds
are raised on the internet and e- mail
addresses, account numbers and names
changed frequently. Al Qaeda (which is
estimated to have 5,600 websites with 900
added each year), Hamas, Hezbollah,
Lashkar- e- Tayyaba and Jaish- e-
Mohammed have all used this technology.
B. Raman had warned in 2000 that the
Pakistanis had launched aproject to
systematically develop IT capability to
reduce the gap between the non- Islamic
and Islamic world. He wrote about a project
called Operation Badar designed to provide
high quality low cost web application
education. The founder of this project was
Ziaullah Khan, resident in the US, who
wanted to raise 313 “Java Mujahedeen
architects” spread all over the world and
10,000 developers. The battle of Badar was
the most important battle in the life of
Prophet Mohammed who had only 313
warriors to fight the battle and later 10,000
saint soldiers — Faran — (Muslim soldiers)
had assembled to join Him in the march to
Mecca. Whether this is just a Pakistani
obsession with religious symbolism or it
signifies battles of another kind, is difficult to
say but it is also difficult to ignore,
considering the contribution the Pakistani
state has made to terror in India and
globally. There is no magic solution for the
various kinds of problems we have in India.
We need to strengthen existing counter
terror bodies, including intelligence
agencies before creating new ones, if we
'The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness, to an
opponent tolerance, to a friend your heart, to your child a good,
to a father difference, to your mother conduct that will make her
proud of you, to yourself respect and to all men charity'
13
want to succeed. It has to be accepted that
beyond a point intelligence agencies find it
hard to share information about sources
with other agencies. This is a universal truth
and not India- specific. Inadequate
information leads to indiscriminate arrests
and creates more terrorists in almost the
same manner as a Predator attack does.
The citizen must be given the confidence
that the State is working for him and not at
him; only then will he share information with
the State. Governance has to improve —
vastly in some parts of the country, justice
has to be speedy and the writ of the state
must be visible. Our IT protocols have to be
tightened.
Publicity
Publicity is oxygen to the terrorist’s cause
and he has to be starved of this. All of us,
especially the media, have to ensure that in
our reporting, the terrorist or his act is not
lionised. The terrorist wins each time
gruesome pictures reach families in their
homes as they sit down to watch their
favourite programmes on the box or read
newspapers. The choice between what to
report and how is always going to be a
difficult one. Describing him as a militant
instead of a terrorist is to give him
respectability and calling him a fedayeen is
to glorify a killer. Battling terror is going to be
long, hard and frustrating because the
terrorist is often one of us and does not wear
a special badge.
Source; Mail Today 28 May 2008
Swami Vivekananda
Hussain's Paintings
AN OPEN LETTER TO SRI SASHI THAROOR
Dr. Indu Lata Das
Dear Mr. Tharoor,
This letter has reference to your article
written in support of the judgment passed in
favour of MF Hussain.
I am an unknown Indian whose heart's every
throb is meant for her mother-land and her
culture. I feel myself extremely fortunate
because I am born in India, the spiritual and
divine land where even gods aspire to be
born as human beings, our scriptures certify.
It is my earnest wish to be born in this land
birth after birth. I would rather prefer to be
born as a blade of grass in this country than
take birth in any other country as the most
affluent person of the land. My love for my
mother-land and my culture makes my heart
bleed whenever any disrespect is caused to
my country or my culture.
I had the misfortune of seeing the paintings
of M F Hussain in which he has painted Sita,
Saraswati, Durga, Ganga, Yamuna and
Bharata Mata etc. in awfully vulgar and
obscene poses. A person is pained when
the personalities he worships are
disregarded, disrespected or ridiculed that
too publicly. So I was pained and felt
humiliated when I saw the paintings.
Of course you might not have felt similar
pain to see the same and Hussain's
paintings might have amused you. That is
very natural. One feels the pain only when
he has respect for the personality who is
disrespected.
From your writing it never appeared to me
that you have any motherly regards for
Ganga, Yamuna, Durga, Sita or Bharat
Mata. Therefore you have no problem
whether they are worshipped or
dishonoured. Because, having respect for
14
some body and praising his or her public
humiliation do not go hand in hand.
Applauding the humiliation or dishonour of
somebody is possible only when you have
no regards for the person who is being
dishonoured. Can you tolerate if your
mother is painted in the nude in a vulgar
pose and the painting is auctioned publicly?
Certainly not- if you are a worthy son. But if
you join the offenders who offend your
mother you certainly do not deserve to be
called a 'son'. Because a son will prefer to
die than to see his mother offended that too
publicly. What to speak of praising the
offenders!
My statement may appear like a personal
attack. But I found no other way to convince
you. One should talk to a person in the
language he understands. And I think this is
the only language you might understand.
You may have no respect for Bharat Mata
and other goddesses and you may take
pleasure in seeing them offended, but how
do you qualify to ask us to tolerate the public
dishonour of our mothers? I do not
understand what kind of tolerance it is when
a mother is offended before a son and the
son, in stead of protecting the mother's
honour should applaud the offender ?
Now a few questions about your tolerance
and your advice for tolerance. Did you write
any article in support of Salaman Rushdie
when he was issued a death fatwa? Did you
write in favour of the Danish cartoonist? Did
you condemn the fundamentalism when
Taslima was hackled? To my knowledge
you did not. And I am sure you can never do
it. BECAUSE, YOU FEAR FOR YOUR
LIFE. You know what will happen to you if
you write such an article in favour of the
offenders of Islam and advise the offended
to tolerate the assault. But for you our case
is different. You can rub salt to our injuries.
Because we are Hindus. You can teach us to
tolerate the insults of our mothers because
you know no fatwa will be issued in your
name. Your behaviour, in plain words is
called "hypocrisy".
Time is the only witness to certify that
Hindus are the worst sufferers who have
suffered unthinkable tortures and
humiliations for centuries after centuries in
the hands of aliens. Now the same is being
repeated in newer forms in which our own
brethren are proud accomplices.

With every passing day we are inflicted with But remember there is a limit to every thing.
a newer insult, a newer assault, a newer
injury on our hearts. And people like you flay Yours truly
us if we make the smallest complaint and Indulata Das
wince a little out of pain. Will you and your
group please let us rest in peace?

News (continued from page 13)

Dalit Christians embrace Hinduism

Tuesday April 15 2008 10:42 IST
V Kritika
TIRUNELVELI: AS many as 296 Dalit Christians were willing to embrace Hinduism on their own
including 150 men, mostly farm labourers, volition, the priests sprinkled water brought from
converted to Hinduism at a ceremony arranged the Ganga and the perennial local river
by the Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) at Tamirabarani on the Dalits who were also given
Sangeetha Sabha in the city on Monday. new clothes on the occasion.

This is the first ever-mass conversion in the
State. The reason for the Dalits to take such an
action was the discrimination they continued to
suffer at the hands of upper caste Christians in
their respective parishes.
After the formal conversion ceremony, new
H i n d u n a m e s s u c h a s Va l l i n a y a g i ,
Mangayarkarasi, Arumuga Sundari, Abirama
Sundari, Vedhakani, and Sivaramalingam was
given to the converts.

While the police claimed that only 296 Dalits
converted to Hinduism, the HMK leader Arjun
Sampath said around 800 members from 185
families - 500 men, 220 women and 80 children
took the decision.
In addition to the naming ceremony, the
respective sect symbol depending on their past
allegiances - sacred ash for the Shaiviites and
the U-shaped tilak for the Vaishnavites were
given out.

The Dalit Christians, were originally Hindus
who had converted to Christianity five
generations back.The conversion ceremony
started at 6 am with Ganapathy and
Sundarshana homams. A group of priests -
Sengol Athinam, Sankarananda Swamy,
Sadasivanandha and Ragavendra Swamy -
performed the rituals for the mass conversion.
After the ceremony, the converts offered prayers
at the famous Swamy Nellaiappar -
Gandhimathy Ambal Temple in Tirunelveli Town.
It may be noted that the ceremony was originally
planned to be held at the Nellaiappar Temple but
the organisers had to change the venue after the
state government refused them the permission.

After the Dalit Christians confirmed that they Source: http://www.newindpress.com

15
Remembering Savarkar
Veer Savarkar on Hindu-Muslim relations
Dr. Shreerang Godbole
Veer Savarkar was among other things, an
outstanding exponent of Hindutva and
Hindu Nationalism. His views on Hindu-
Muslim relations are relevant even today.
Savarkar was among the rare Hindu
leaders who had studied Islam. While still
in the Andamans, Savarkar had read the
Quran first in its English and subsequently
Bengali and Marathi translations.
Responding to the opinion of his Muslim
friends that the real beauty of the Quran
lies in its original, Savarkar asked them to
read each page from the original and then
translate it for his benefit into Hindi. As
Savarkar describes, he heard them recite
the Quran with great concentration and
after keeping his mind clean and pure as a
devout Muslim. In later life, Savarkar read
several books written by Western
authorities on the Quran. Savarkar's deep
study of Islam is evident from his
numerous articles such as those on Kemal
Pasha, Khilafat movement and various
Islamic sects. Savarkar had learnt to read
and write Urdu. Thus, Savarkar's views on
Islam and Muslims are not those of an
ignorant bigot.
Savarkar believed in universal
brotherhood of man. In his letter dated 06
July 1920 he wrote to his brother from the
Cellular Jail, " We believe in an universal
state embracing all mankind and wherein
all men and women would be citizens
working for and enjoying equally the fruits
of this earth and this sun, this land and this
light, which constitute the real Motherland
and Fatherland of man. All other divisions
are artificial though indispensable." In his
book describing harsh prison life - My
Transportation for Life, Savarkar stated in
1923, "I have no hatred in my heart for
Muslim or Christian brothers or even for
16
those living in tribes in primitive state. I do
not even despise any of them. I oppose
only that section of it vehemently which is
oppressive and violent towards others."
Even as President of the Akhil Bharat
Hindu Mahasabha, Savarkar declared,
“Let the Indian State be purely Indian. Let it
not recognize any invidious distinctions
whatsoever as regards the franchise,
public services, offices, taxation on the
grounds of religion and race. Let no
cognizance be taken whatsoever of man's
being Hindu, Muhammedan, Christian or
Jew. Let all citizens of that Indian State be
treated according to their individual worth
irrespective of their religious or racial
percentage in the general population
(Presidential address to the 19th session
of the Hindu Mahasabha, Karnavati,
1937).
However, Savarkar was a hard-headed
realist. He observed, “ A Mohammedan is
often found to cherish an extra-territorial
allegiance, is moved more by events in
Palestine than what concerns India as a
Nation, worries himself more about the
well-being of Arabs than the well-being of
his Hindu neighbours and countrymen in
India...” (ibid, 1937) “No realist can be
blind to the probability that the extra-
territorial designs and the secret urge
goading on the Moslems to transform
India into a Moslem State may at any time
confront the Hindusthani State even under
self-government either with a Civil War or
treacherous overtures to alien invaders by
the Moslems. Then again there is every
likelihood that there will ever continue at
least for a century to come a danger of
fanatical riots, the scramble for services,
Legislative seats, weightages out of
proportion to their population on the part of
the Moslem minority and consequently a
constant danger threatening internal
peace.To checkmate this probability which
if we are wise we must always keep in view
even after Hindusthan attains the status of
a self-governing country, a powerful and
exclusive organization of Hindudom like
the Hindu Mahasabha will always prove a
sure and devoted source of strength, a
reserve force for the Hindus to fall back
upon to voice their grievances more
effectively than the joint Parliament can
do, to scent danger ahead, to warn the
Hindus in time against it and to fight out if
needs be any treacherous design to which
the joint State itself may unwittingly fall a
victim” (Presidential address to the 21st
session of the Hindu Mahasabha, Kolkata,
1939).
When Gandhi declared Hindu-Muslim
unity to be more important than Swaraj
itself and started granting ever-increasing
concessions to the Muslims, Savarkar
observed, “When will our unity-hankers
understand that the real question at the
root of this Moslem displeasure is not a
word here or a song there! We would have
sacrificed a dozen songs or a hundred
words of our own free will if thereby we
could really contribute to the unity and
solidarity of Hindusthan. But we know the
question is not so simple as that. It is the
strife of different cultures and races and
nations and these trifles are but the
passing and outward symptoms of this
malady deep seated in the Moslem mind.
They want to brand the forehead of
Hindudom and other non-Moslem
sections in Hindusthan with the stamp of
self-humiliation and Moslem domination
and we Hindus are not going to tolerate it
any longer not only in the interests of
Hindudom alone but even in the interest of
Indian nation as well...Let the Hindus Savarkar disagreed with the superstition
realize that the real cause of this mischief that the Muslim problem was a result of the
17
is nothing else but the hankering of the
Hindus after the Willow-the Wisp of a
Hindu-Moslem unity. The day we gave the
Mohammedans to understand that Swaraj
could not be won unless and until the
Mohammedans obliged the Hindus by
making a common cause with them, that
day we rendered an honourable unity
impossible. When an overwhelming
majority in a country goes on its knees
before a minority so antagonistic as the
Mohammedans, imploring them to lend a
helping hand and assures it that otherwise
the major community is doomed to death,
it would be a wonder if a minor community
does not sell their assistance to the
highest bidder possible, does not hasten
the doom of the major community and aim
to establish their own political suzerainty in
the land…Henceforth the Hindu formula
for Hindu-Moslem unity is only this - 'if you
come, with you; if you don't without you;
and if you oppose, in spite of you - the
Hindus will continue to fight for their
National Freedom as best as they can'!
”(ibid, Karnavati, 1937). Savarkar was at
his sarcastic best in exposing the cringing
attitude of the Provincial Congress
ministries in Central Provinces, Madras
etc. before the Muslim League. Savarkar
said that the circulars issued by these
Governments before “the Tribunal of the
Moslem League” in substance pleaded
that “Sir, we have deprived the Hindus
everywhere of what is due to them and
given Moslems overwhelmingly more than
was due, oppressed the Hindus as best as
we could wherever the Moslems were
pleased to demand it: So let the League be
pleased, therefore, Sir, to certify that the
Congress Ministries were truly impartial
and perfectly National!!!” (ibid, Kolkata,
1939)
so-called British policy of 'Divide and aggression of the Muslims to be more
Rule'. Savarkar said, “The Congress dangerous than an armed invasion.
always used to fancy that the Moslems, if Dwelling on this issue in his 'Six Glorious
left to themselves would never have Epochs of Indian History', Savarkar said
indulged in any anti-national, ulterior, anti- that Islamic theocracy had claimed twenty
Hindu designs. The Moslems -including to thirty million Hindus over a thousand
Messers. Jinnah, Huq and Hayat Khan- years. Since then, small and large
were very simple-minded folk incapable of “Islamic lands” arose in every village, town
any political subterfuges and as devotees and province in India. Thus the Partition of
of Islam -peace and goodwill, had no Hindusthan into a Hindu half and a Muslim
aggressive political aims of their own half had started covertly at that time.
against the Hindus. Nay, even the Savarkar dubbed these small and large
Frontier tribes, the 'brave brothers Muslim lands as time bombs planted in the
Moplas', the Moslem populations in body politic of Hindusthan. Savarkar rues
Bengal or Sindh who indulge in such that the Hindu rulers, common folk and
horrible outrages against Hindus have no historians of that day failed to realize the
taste for it at all, nursed within themselves significance of these developments.
- but were almost compelled to rise and Savarkar notes that the Marathas did not
revolt against the Hindus by 'the third launch a religious counter-assault
party' the Britishers. When the British did (meaning bring about widespread re-
not step in, we Hindus and Moslems lived conversion) despite having the
together in perfect amity and brotherly opportunity and strength.
concord and Hindu-Moslem riots was a
thing simply unheard of. Thousands ofSavarkar's following words are prophetic
Congressite Hindus are observed to have
and worthy of emulation by present-day
been duped in to this silliest of political
leaders. He said, “…We must watch (the
superstitions. As if Mahamed Kasim, Moslem minority) in all its actions with the
Gazanis, Ghoris, Allaudins, Aurangzebs
greatest distrust possible. Granting them
were all instigated by the British, by this
on the one hand every equitable treatment
third party, to invade and lay waste Hindu
which an Indian citizen can claim on an
India with a mad fanatical fury. As if the
equality of footing with another, we must
history of the last ten centuries of sternly refuse them any the least
perpetual war between the Hindus and preferential treatment in any sphere of life
Moslems was an interpolation and a myth.
- religious, cultural or political. Not only
As if the Alis or Mr. Jinnah or Sir Sikandar
while we are engaged in our struggle for
were mere school children to be spoiled
liberating India but even after India is free
with the offer of sugar pills by the British
we must look upon them as suspicious
vagabonds in the class and persuaded to
friends and take great care to see that the
throw stones at the house of their Northern Frontiers of India are well
neighbours. They say, 'before the British
guarded by staunch and powerful Hindu
came, Hindu-Moslem riots were a thingforces to avoid the possible danger of the
unheard of.' Yes, but because instead of
Indian Moslems going over to the alien
riots, Hindu-Muslim wars were the order of
Moslem nations across the Indus and
the day (ibid, Kolkata, 1939). betraying our Hindusthan to our non-
Hindu foes” (Presidential address to the
Savarkar characterized the religious 20th session of the Hindu Mahasabha,

18
Nagpur, 1938). And again, “But towards
those Moslem States and tribes which
border our North-Western frontier our
policy cannot but be a guarded one. Their
tendency for centuries in the past had
been fanatically inimical towards the
Hindus and is likely to continue to be so for
at least a century to come. The Hindu
Sanghatanist party must always see that
this Frontier is garrisoned with
overwhelming Hindu troops and is never
entrusted to Moslem ones. We will always
be ready to establish friendly contact with
those bordering States and shall give no
cause for unnecessary strife but should
keep our forces there always in a state of
war and vigilant to resist any sudden
aggressive eruption on the part of those
Moslem tribes or any threatened invasion
through the passes by any anti-Hindu
alien army.” (ibid, Kolkata, 1939)
Savarkar cautioned the non-Muslim
'minority' communities against joining the
Muslims in their dealings with the
Hindus.His earnest suggestion “to our
Christians, Jews, Parsees and such other
non-Moslem minorities would be that they
should openly and definitely disown the
Muslim League designs, protest against
being bracketed with the Moslems under
the misleading and mischievous common
term 'minorities', call upon the Moslem
League not to speak in general on their
behalf…the Moslems will (then) find
themselves singularly isolated and will be
forced to cease to speak in the name of
'the minority problem' but will have to
shoulder by themselves the responsibility
of their anti-National and fanatical claims.”
(ibid, Kolkata, 1939)
Savarkar was not one to state problems
19
without offering a solution. In the following
remarkable passages, Savarkar exhorts
the Hindus thus, “It is not want of
resources, Oh Hindus, which forces you to
be so helpless and hopeless but it is the
want of practical insight in political realities
to know your resources; and the tact to use
them. You have lost the political eye
altogether” (ibid, Kolkata, 1939)… “The
belief in absolute non-violence
condemning all armed resistance even to
aggression evinces no mahatmic
saintliness but a monomaniacal
senselessness!...I want all Hindus to get
themselves re-animated and re-born into
a martial race. Manu and Shri Krishna are
our law-givers and Shri Rama the
Commander of our forces. Let us re-learn
the manly lessons they taught us and our
Hindu Nation shall prove again as
unconquerable and conquering a race as
we proved once when they led us:
conquering those who dared to be
aggressive against us and refraining
ourselves, not out of weakness but out of
magnanimity, from any unjustifiable
designs of aggression against the
unoffending” (Presidential address to the
22nd session of the Hindu Mahasabha,
Madura, 1940).
Hindu society can disregard Savarkar's
views on Hindu-Muslim relations only at its
peril. In this, the year of his 125th birth
anniversary, the least the Hindus can do to
save themselves is to imbibe the words of
“the only Jew leader of the Hindus”.
(The writer is a Pune-based
endocrinologist, social activist and writer.
He has contributed to the making of
www.savarkar.org)
Heritage

The Heliodorus Column

An archaeological discovery proves that there were
western followers of Vedic principles twenty-two centuries ago
By Jack Hebner & Steven Rosen

Heliodorus was a Greek ambassador to Lake, described the

India in the second century B.C. Few details discovery in the Journal of
are known about the diplomatic relations the Royal Asiatic Society in
between the Greeks and the Indians in 1909. Cunningham, Marshall
those days, and still less is know about explained, had been
Heliodorus. But that the column he erected mistaken about the age of
at Besnagar in central India about 113 the column and "could little
B.C.(1). is considered one of the most have dreamt of the value of
important archaeological finds on the Indian the record which he just
subcontinent. missed discovering." A
glance at the few letters
It is known that Heliodorus was sent to the exposed was all that was
court of King Bhagabhadra by Antiakalidas, needed to show that the
the Greek king of Taxila. The kingdom of column was many centuries
Taxila was part of the Bactrian region in earlier than the Gupta era.
northwest India, conquered by Alexander This was, indeed, a surprise
the Great in 325 B.C. By the time of to me, but a far greater one
Antialkidas, the area under Greek rule was in store, when the
included what is today Afghanistan, opening lines of the
Pakistan and Punjab.(2) inscription came to be read."
(5)
The column erected by Heliodorus first
came to notice in 1877, during an A reproduction of the
archaeological survey by General inscription, along with the
Cunningham. The inscription, however, transliteration and
went unnoticed, because of the pillar's thick translation of the ancient
coating of red lead paste. It had been the Brahmi text, is given here as
custom of pilgrims who had worshipped it appeared in the Journal of
there to smear the column with vermillion the Royal Asiatic Society.
paste. The column, Cunningham deduced
from its shape, was from the period of the 1) Devadevasu
Imperial Guptas (3) (A.D. 300-550). Thirty- Va[sude]vasa Garudadhvajo
two years later, however, when the ayam
inscription was brought to light, it became
clear that the monument was several 2) Karito ia Heliodorena
centuries older. (4) bhaga

In January 1901, a Mr. Lake discerned what 3) Vatena Diyasa putrena

he thought was some lettering on the lower Takhasilakena
part of the column, and removal of some
vermillion paste proved him right. Dr. J.H. 4) Yonadatena agatena
Marshall, who was accompanied by Mr. maharajasa

20
5) Amtalikitasa upa[m]ta samkasam-rano converted to Vaisnava devotional practices -
- although he might have been the only one
6)Kasiput[r]asa [Bh]agabhadrasa tratarasa who erected a column, at least one that is
still extant. Certainly there must have been
7 ) Va s e n a [ c h a t u ] d a s e n a r a j e n a many others." (8)
vadhamanasa
It is also interesting to note that the
" This Garuda-column of Vasudeva (Visnu), Heliodorus column has other historical
the god of gods, was erected here by merits. Around the turn of the century, a
Heliodorus, a worshipper of Vishnu, the son number of Indologists (Weber, Macnicol,
of Dion, and an inhabitant of Taxila, who and others) had noted " points of similarity'
came as Greek ambassador from the Great between the Vaisnava philosophy of
King Antialkidas to King Kasiputra unalloyed devotion and Christian doctrine.
Bhagabhadra, the Savior, then reigning They had argued that Vaishnavism (worship
prosperously in the fourteenth year of his of Visnu and Krsna) must have been an
kingship." offshoot of Christianity, and cited the
1) Trini amutapadani-[su] anuthitani similarity between stories about Krsna and
about Christ to further support their claim.(9)
2) nayamti svaga damo chago apramado But the discovery of the inscription on the
Heliodorus column laid their speculations to
"Three immortal precepts (footsteps)..when rest. Here was conclusive archaeological
practiced lead to heaven-self restraint, proof that the Vaisnava tradition antedated
charity, conscientiousness." Christianity by at least two hundred years.

From the inscriptions it is seems clear
Heliodorus was influenced by Vedic
principles that he could be considered to be
a Vaisnava, a follower or worshipper of
Visnu. Professor Kunja Govinda Goswami
of Calcutta University concludes that
Heliodorus " was well acquainted with the
texts dealing with the Bhagavat [Vaisnava]
relgion." (6)
To our knowledge, Heliodorus is the earliest
Westerner on record to adopt Vedic
principles. But some scholars, most notably
A.L. Basham (7) and Thomas Hopkins, are
of the opinion that Heliodorus was not the
only Greek to adopt such principles.
Hopkins, chairman of the department of
religious studies at Franklin and Marshall
College, has said " Heliodorus was
presumably not the only foreigner who Source: www.archaeologyonline.net
The column also struck down another
popular notion. For centuries it was a
common belief among scholars that India's
orthodox tradition did not accept converts.
An Islamic historian, Abu Raihan Alberuni,
who went to India in A.D. 1017, tried to
explain in his book Indica why the Indian
orthodoxy did not admit foreigners. Alberuni
suggested that the practice developed only
after the Moslem incursion into India,
sometime after A.D. 674.(10) Antagonism
between the Moslems and Hindus seems to
be the main reason behind the non
conversion practice. For many centuries
prior to Moslem presence, however, there
had been no bar to conversion into the
orthodox fold, as attested by the Heliodorus
column.

21
Heritage

Dilip Chakrabarti's letter to Ambika Soni

To comes within the purview of your Ministry,

Mrs. Ambika Soni and has been listed as the Project Director
The Honourable Minister of Culture of the proposed centre, I would assume
Government of India that the proposal has passed through the
Shastri Bhavan Ministry of Culture under your care.
Delhi, India
The American members include, among
Sub: The proposed Indus Centre under others, Professor Mark Kenoyer of the
the aegis of the American Global Heritage Anthropology department of University of
Fund in Vadodara Michigan, Wisconsin, USA.

Dear Mrs Soni,
As one of the seniormost academic
archaeologists of the country, I would be
failing in my duty both as a professional
archaeologist and as an Indian citizen if I
do not draw your attention to the
implications of the proposal to establish a
centre for the study of the Indus
Civilization in Vadodara under the
auspicies of the Global Heritage Fund, an
American organization .
The Indian members of its Senior Advisory
Board comprise the following persons :
(1) Dr Kalpana Desai, Director of the
Chhatrapati Sivaji Maharaj Vastu
Samgrahalaya, Mumbai (also listed as the
Project Director); (2)Shri Hasmukh Shah,
a retired bureaucrat, (3) Shri Sunil Parekh,
a former chairman of the Gujarat
Confederation of Industries; (4) Dr Madhu
Mehta, an architect in the Nirma
University; (5) Dr Rumi Mistry, Technology
Promotion Board, Vadodara, (6)
Professor K K Bhan , an archaeology
professor of the M.S,University of
Baroda; and (7) Shri Nitin Desai of a
financial firm.
As Dr Kalpana Desai heads a museum of
national importance in Mumbai, which Thus the first major point I am making
The main point to note in this list is that the
Indian advisors have only one
archaeologist’s name, i.e. of K K Bhan,
and similarly, the American list has one
archaeologist in the form of M Kenoyer. I
further point out that Professor Kenoyer ,
who had Professor Bhan as his Indian
collaborator in his study of the beads of
Cambay, has excavated as a part of an
American team at Harappa in Pakistan
and is known in print to have declared
Pakistan a secular country and the
Koran as a text providing inspiration to
look for (archaeological) ‘mounds’(
“Archaeology”, March-June issue, 2002,
pp. 19-21). I have also argued in one of
my publications (“The Battle for Ancient
India, an Essay in the Socio-politics of
Indian Archaeology” , Delhi, 2008, Aryan
Books International, p. 96) that he has
tried to give a Pakistani angle to the study
of the Indus Civilization by repeatedly
calling it, wilfully and without any
justification, “ Indus Valley Civilization”.
The term implies that this civilization
was primarily limited to the Indus valley
which is in Pakistan and undermines the
role of the hundreds of sites of this
civilization that we have in our Panjab,
Haryana, Gujarat and western Uttar
Pradesh.

22
is that it would be impossible to argue that scholarly matter. It has always been
the proposed foreign-sponsored centre accompanied by political sub-texts of
for the study of the Indus Civilization in various kinds. For instance, the politics of
Vadodara has any substantive academic the study of the Indus Civilization has been
credential. discussed at length in my
aforementioned publication (pp. 51-102)..
The second point to be noted in this
connection is that this proposed ‘Centre’ is This civilization has had a very rich and
the first foreign-funded archaeological distinguished history of research in India,
institute in India, ostensibly to take care and in no way can a patriotic Indian like
of one of the most crucial dimensions of myself condone the idea of setting up a
our heritage. It has serious long-term foreign-funded institute for the purpose.
implications, and before the authorities
apparently decided to give it a green The Government of India followed, till
signal, the matter ought to have been recently, a fairly consistent attitude which
discussed openly and threadbare in the was commensurate with national interests
country’s professional bodies and regarding foreign participation in Indian
“Societies” of archaeology. Indian archaeology. The policy seems to have
archaeologists ought to have been given been abandoned in recent years, although
the opportunity of voicing their opinion even now, all applications for foreign
before the Government apparently collaborations should be subject to close
decided to ‘outsource’ as important a scrutiny by a separate review committee,
segment of the Indian past as the Indus taking into view a wide variety of
Civilization. professional issues, including the
background and history of research and
My third point in this connection is that publication of the applicants.
the study of the past is related to a range of
delicate issues, the most important of I do hope, Madam, that you will kindly look
which is the nation's sense of identity into the proposal of setting up this foreign-
based on that past. This sense of identity sponsored institute in Vadodara in detail,
is subject to manipulations of all kinds. The remembering all the time that the study of
way these manipulations take place, is, in the past is not as innocent as it appears on
fact, a matter of extensive enquiry as a the surface.
sub-branch of Archaeology - "socio- With best regards,
politics of the past". Yours sincerely,

On the basis of my research in this field I Dilip K Chakrabarti

can say that the study of India’s ancient Professor of South Asian Archaeology
past has never been an innocuous Cambridge University, UK

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

---Cicero

23
From our Scriptures

[Of all the numerous and sublime scriptures of Sanatana Dharma, the most popular are
the two epics –Ramayana and Mahabharata, classified as itihaas (history). From times
immemorial, the two epics have served to convey to millions of ordinary Hindus the
core values of our religion and culture. Beginning with the current issue we shall try to
present, for the benefit of our readers, some gems from these masterpieces of
literature and spirituality.----Ed.]

SARVE DHARMA RAJDHARMA PRADHANAH

Ram Gopal

It may be recalled that Shrimad Bhagvad- excerpts ;

gita is a dialogue between Arjun and Lord
Krishna, before commencement of the 1. O, King, just as the foot of an elephant
Mahabharata war. Contrary to it, Shanti- covers every other foot, so does
parva is a dialogue between Yudhishthir Rajdharma cover every aspect of Dharma,
on the one hand and his brothers, wife in all conditions, (chap.63/25).
Draupadi, Lord Krishna and Bhishma
pitamah on the other, after the war. Having 2. Among all Dharmas, Rajdharma is
won the great war, Yudhishthir was so full supreme, as it provides nourishment to
of remorse due to the unprecedented people of all Varnas (professions).
bloodshed that he decided to take Sanyas, Rajdharma encompasses all sacrifices.
instead of kingship. After prolonged The sages, since ancient period, praise
persuasion of his brothers, Draupadi, Shri sacrifice as the best form of Dharma,
Krishna and Mahrishi Ved Vyas, (63/27).
Yudhishthir accepted the coronation.
Even then, sensing that Yudhishthir could 3. The Sanatan Dharma got destroyed
still go astray, Shri Krishna prevailed upon hundreds of time, but (each time) it was
him to meet Bhishma Pitamah to learn redeemed and spread again by Kshatra-
lessons of good governance. dharma. In every age, Kshatra-dharma
has to be active. Therefore, Kshatra-
Bhishma Pitamah’s answers to dharma is the best in the world, (64/26).
Yudhishthir’s queries expound not only
the guidelines for a righteous ruler but also 4. Sages praise sacrifice or renunciation,
serve to establish that the duties of but the greatest sacrifice is that of the
kingship performed according to the rules kings who lay down their body in fulfillment
of Dharma are more meritorious than of their Raj-dharma, (65/3).
those (Yajnas and Tapas) performed by
any other member of the society. 5. O, Yudhishthir! Whatever fruits are
available to righteous persons after
Surprisingly, Bhishma Pitamah’s fulfilling obligations of all the four
discourse also mentions the duties and Ashramas, (Yajnas and Tapas), they are
r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s o f p e o p l e ’ s all available to those kings who perform
representatives in republics and the Rajdharma selflessly, following the
advice is as valid today as it was in the age prescribed code of crime and punishment,
when it was given. Below are some brief and who treat their subjects even-

24
handedly. Such kings get the highest 8. The heads, (ministers, officers), of the
position that may be available to a true Republic should work in unison in the best
sanyasin, (66/4-5). interest of the Republic as a whole. If they
are divided, they will form many
On Republics antagonistic groups (parties). The result
will be failure on every front and
6. Honourable (chosen) citizens lay down emergence of various evils. Well-wishers
righteous codes of conduct in the spirit of of the Republic should use their powers to
the Shastras. Providing suitable treatment crush leaders of separatist parties/groups,
to all and every one, they (Republics) (107/25-26).
make good progress, (107/17)
9. If the senior wise men ignore divisive
7. The distinguished (chosen) citizens elements, they result in disintegration and
punish even their sons and brothers if they ultimate death of the Republic, (107/27).
do any wrong. They provide them good
education and good training. After O n e w o n d e r s w h e n H i n d u
accomplishing their education and Dharmacharyas, Swamis and Priests will
training, they are suitably honoured and take note of the lessons of Rajdharma
given suitable postings. This way, the and make them also part of their sermons.
Republics make good progress, (107/18).

New Exam pattern in India (Revised):

1. General students - Answer ALL questions.

2. OBC - WRITE ANY one question

3. SC - ONLY READ questions

4. ST - THANKS FOR COMING!

AND....

5. Gujjars - THANKS FOR ALLOWING OTHERS TO ATTEND THE

EXAMINATION .. !!

CHEERS TO RESERVATION......

25
Debate
THE DARK SIDE OF SUFISM
A Reappraisal of the Role of Sufis
Working as Missionaries of Islam
R.K. Ohri, IPS (Retd)
For centuries the Sufi creed and Sufi music
have been tom tomed as great symbols of
spiritualism and promoters of peace and
harmony between the Hindus and the
Muslims. The cleverly marketed concept of
Sufi spiritualism has been unquestioningly
accepted as the hallmark of Hindu-Muslim
unity. It is time we studied the history of
Sufis, tried to track the narrative of their
coming to India and analysed their explicit
missionary role in promoting conversions to
Islam. More importantly, it needs to be
assessed how did the Sufis conduct
themselves during reckless killings and
plunders by the Muslim invaders ? Did they
object to the senseless mass killings and try
to prevent unremitting plunder of Hindu
temples and innocent masses? Did the
Sufis ever object to the capture of helpless
men and women as slaves and the use of
the latter as objects of carnal pleasure ?
These are some of the questions to which
answers have to be found by every genuine
student of Indian history.
Most Sufis came to India either
accompanying the invading armies of
Islamic marauders, or followed in the wake of
the sweeping conquests made by the soldiers
of Islam. At least the following four famous
Sufis accompanied the Muslim armies which
repetitively invaded India to attack the Hindu
rulers, seize their kingdoms and riches and
took recourse to extensive slaughtering of the
commoners. Almost all Sufi masters were
silent spectators to the murderous mayhem
and reckless plunder of temples ands cities
by the marauding hordes across the sub-
continent. Taking advantage of the fact that
the Hindu masses are deeply steeped in
spiritual tradition and mysticism, the Sufis
used their mystic paradigm for applying sort
of a healing balm on the defeated,
26
bedragralled and traumatized commoners
with a view to converting them to the religion
of the victors. The following well-known Sufi
masters came to India along with the invading
Muslim armies which repetitively invaded
India in wave after wave :
1. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer had
accompanied the army of Shihabuddin
Ghori and finally settled down at Ajmer in the
year 1233 A.D.
2. Khawaja Qutubuddin came to Delhi in the
year 1236 in the train of Shihabuddin Ghori
and stayed on to further the cause of Islam.
3. Sheikh Faridudin came to Pattan (now in
Pakistan) in the year 1265.
4. Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya of Dargah
Hazrat Nizamuddin came to Delhi in the
year 1335 accompanying a contingent of
the Muslim invaders.
Additionally, the famous Sufi Shihabuddin
Suhrawardy of Baghdad was brought to
India for carrying out the missionary work of
conversions by Bahauddin Zakariya of
Multan several decades after the Hindu
ruler had been defeated and the kingdom
laid waste after repetitive plunder and
manslaughter. Like all Sufi masters, his
main task was to apply the balm of spiritual
unity on the traumatized Hindu population
and then gradually persuade them to
convert to Islam. Not a single Sufi, the so-
called mystic saints, ever objected to the
ongoing senseless manslaughter and
reckless plunder, nor to the destruction of
temples, nor for that matter to the ghoulish
enslavement of the so-called infidel men
and women for sale in the bazaars of
Ghazni and Baghdad. Operating from the
sidelines of spiritualism they even
participated in the nitty-gritty of governance
to help the Muslim rulers consolidate their
authority in the strife torn country. And
significantly, their participation in the affairs
of the State was not conditional upon the
Muslim rulers acting in a just and even
handed manner. On the contrary, the Sufis
invariably tried to help the Sultans in
following the path shown by the Prophet and
the Shariah. Another important objective of
the spiritual and mystic preachings of the
Sufi masters was to blunt the edge of Hindu
resistance and prevent them from taking up
arms to defend their hearth and home, their
motherland and their faith, through the
façade of peace and religious harmony.
The Naqshbandi Sufis had very close
relations with Jahangir and Aurangzeb. The
well known Sufi Saint of Punjab, Ahmad
Sirhindi (Mujadid) of the Naqashbandi order
(1564-1634) held that the execution of the
Sikh leader Guru Arjun Dev by Jehangir
was a great Islamic victory. He believed and
openly proclaimed that Islam and Hinduism
were antithesis of each other and therefore
could not co-exist Even the Chishti Sufi,
Miyan Mir, who had been a friend of Guru
Arjun Dev, later on turned his back on the
Sikh Guru when the latter was arrested by
Jahangir and sent for execution.
It may be recalled that the great Sufi master
of the eleventh century, Al Qushairi
(A.D.1072) had unambiguously declared
that there was no discord between the aims
of the Sufi ‘haqiqa’ and the aims of the
Sharia. The definition given by Al Hujwiri
should be able to quell any doubt about the
commitment of Sufis in upholding the
supremacy of the Islamic faith over all other
religions. That dogma has been the key
component of the philosophy of Sufism not
only in India, but across the world - from
India to Hispania (i.e., the Spain). The great
Sufi master, Al Hujwiri, laid down the golden
rule that the words “there is no god save
Allah” are the ultimate Truth, and the words
“Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah” are the
27
indisputable Law for all Sufis. In other
words, the Sufism and the ulema represent
the same two aspects of the Islamic faith
which are universally accepted and obeyed
by all Muslims. By definition therefore Sufi
masters could be no exception. The
renowned ninth century Sufi master, Al
Junaid, also known as “the Sheikh of the
Way”, and widely revered as the spiritual
ancestor of Sufi faith, had categorically
proclaimed that for Sufis “All the mystic
paths are barred, except to him who
followeth in the footsteps of the Messenger
(i.e., Prophet Muhammad) [Source: Martin
Lings, What is Sufism, George Allen &
Unwin Ltd, London, 1975, p.101].
As pointed out by Reynold A. Nicholson in
the Preface to the famous tome, ‘Kashaf al
Mahjub’ (Taj & Co., Delhi, 1982). “no sufis,
not even those who have attained the
highest degree of holiness, are exempt
from the obligation of obeying the religious
law”. In fact, the famous to me, ‘Kashaf al
Mahjub’ written by Ali bin Al-Hujwiri, who
was also known as Data Ganj Baksh, was
widely regarded as the grammar of Sufi
thought and practice. Most Sufis have
invariably drawn on the contents of this
treatise for preaching the sufi thought (also
known as sufi silsilas). As already stated, on
page 140 of Kashaf al Mahjub Al Hujwiri
loudly proclaims that “the words there is no
God save Allah are Truth, and the words
Muhammed is the Apostle of Allah” are the
indisputable Law.
K.A. Nizami in his celebrated book, The Life
and Times of Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya
(Idarah-I Adabiyat-i-Delhi, Delhi) has stated
that the Auliya openly used to say that
“what the ulama seek to achieve through
speech, we achieve by our behaviour.” The
Auliya was a firm believer in the need for
unquestioned obedience of every Muslim,
every Sufi, to the dictates of the ulema.
According to K.A. Nizami, another Sufi saint
Jamal Qiwamu’d-din wrote that though he
had been associated with the Shaikh
Nizamuddin Auliya for years, “but never did philosophy and deeds, he emerges as a sufi
he find him missing a single sunnat …… ”. master who nursed a deep hatred against
The well known authority on Sufism, S.A.A. the infidel Hindus and showed utter
Rizvi has recorded in his book, ‘A History of contempt for their religious beliefs. As
Sufism in India’ that Nizamuddin Auliya elaborated by S.S.A. Rizvi in ‘A History of
used to unhesitatingly accept enormous Sufism in India, Vol. 1 (Munshiram
gifts given to him by Khusraw Barwar which Manoharlal, 1978, p. 117), there is a
implied that the Auliya was unconcerned reference in the book, Jawahar-i- Faridi, to
with the source of the gift, provided it was the fact that when Moinuddin Chishti
paid in cash. Yet the Auliya was a firm reached near the Annasagar Lake at Ajmer,
believer in the need for a Muslim’s where a number of holy shrines of Hindus
unquestioned loyalty and obedience to the were located, he slaughtered a cow and
ulema. As reiterated by K.A. Nizami, Auliya cooked a beef kebab at the sacred place
used to preach that the unbeliever is the surrounded by many temples. It is further
doomed denizen of Hell. In his khutba he claimed in Jawahar-i-Faridi that the Khwaja
would leave no one in doubt that Allah has had dried the 2 holy lakes of Annasagar and
created Paradise for the Believers and Hell Pansela by the magical heat of Islamic
for the infidels “in order to repay the wicked spiritual power. He is even stated to have
for what they have done”.It has been made the idol of the Hindu temple near
categorically stated on page 161 in the Annasagar recite the Kalma. The Khwaja
famous treatise, Fawaid al-Fuad, translated had a burning desire to destroy the rule of
by Bruce B. Lawrence (Paulist Press, New the brave Rajput king, Prithviraj Chauhan,
York, 1992) that the Auliya confirmed on the so much so that he ascribed the victory of
authority of the great Islamic jurist, Imam Muhammad Ghori in the battle of Tarain
Abu Hanifa, that the perdition of the entirely to his own spiritual prowess and
unbelievers is certain and that Hell is the declared that “We have seized Pithaura
only abode for them, even if they agreed to alive and handed him over to the army of
confess total loyalty to Allah on the Day of Islam”. [Source: Siyar’l Auliya, cited by Rizvi
Judgment. on page 116 of ‘A History of Sufism in
India’].
In the above mentioned treatise on Sufi
philosphy, Fuwaid al-Fuad, a very
Throughout the Muslim rule all Sufis
interesting instance of enslaving the kaffir enjoyed full confidence, royal favour and
Hindus for monetary gain has been cited patronage of the cruel Muslim rulers.
which shows how another Sufi, Shayakh Ali Though foolishly accepted as “secular” by
Sijzi, provided financial assistance to one of
most Hindus seeking spiritual solace after
his dervishes to participate in the lucrativebeing battered, bruised and marginalised,
slave trade. He had advised the dervish that almost all Sufi saints dogmatically followed
he should take “these slaves to Ghazni, the commandments contained in the Quran,
where the potential for profit is still greater”.
the Hadith and Sharia. Historians have
And it was confirmed by Nizamuddin Auliya recorded that many Sufi saints had
that “the Dervish obeyed”. Obviously accompanied armies of the Muslim invaders
therefore, neither spiritual ethics and nor to use their spiritual powers in furtherance of
justice to all, including the infidels, were the
Islam’s conquests. Not one of them raised
strong points of Sufi saints. even a little finger to forbid slaughter of the
innocents, nor did they question the
If the narrative of the preachings and acts imposition of jiziya by Muslim rulers. In fact,
of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer are most of them guided the Muslim rulers in
taken as indication of his religious carrying forward their mission of conquest

28
and conversion by furthering their
campaigns of plundering the wealth of
Hindus of which many Sufis willingly partook
share. It was almost a taboo for Sufis, the
so-called saints, to accept a Hindu
ascending the throne of any kingdom during
the heydays of the Muslim rule.. In an
example narrated by S.A.A. Rizvi on page
37 of his well researched book, The
Wonder That Was India (Vol.II, Rupa & Co,
1993, New Delhi) it is pointed out that when
the powerful Bengali warrior, king Ganesha,
captured power in Bengal in the year 1415
A.D., Ibrahim Shah Sharqi, attacked his
kingdom at the request of outraged ulema
and numerous Sufis of Bengal. In the
ensuing strife, the leading Sufi of Bengal,
Nur Qutb-i-Alam, interceded and secured a
political agreement to the benefit of the
Muslim community and satisfaction of Sufis.
Under dire threat King Ganesha was forced
to abdicate his throne in favour of his 12
years old son, Jadu, who was converted to
Islam and proclaimed as Sultan Jalaluddin -
to the satisfaction of the Sufi masters.
Similarly Sultan Ahmed Shah of Gujarat
(1411-42), though a practitioner of Sufi
philosophy, was a diehard iconoclast who
took delight in destroying temples, as stated
in the same tome, by S.A.A. Rizvi. The
Sultan also used to force the Rajput
Debate
THE DARUL ULOOM ANTI- TERRORISM CONFERENCE
THE ISLAMIST NEWSPEAK
J P Sharma
The most interesting part of the Anti-Terrorism
Declaration issued by the Conference hosted by
Darul Uloom, Deoband is the enunciation of the
virtues of Islam contained in the opening
paragraph of the Declaration. Those having some
knowledge of Islam’s scriptures and history could
easily be left wondering whether this part of the
declaration was a satirical interpolation by some
mischievous elements. However a visit to the
Darul Uloom website is enough to establish the
29
chieftains to marry their daughters to him so
that they would become outcastes in their
own community. And the endgame of the
Sultan could as well be that perhaps some
of the outcaste Rajputs might then opt to
become Muslims.
Unfortunately due to relentless colonization
of the Hindu mind during 1000 years long
oppressive Muslim rule, the Hindu masses
till date have failed to realize that the so-
called Sufi philosophy of religious harmony
is a one-way street. This trend of Hindus
praying at tombs and dargahs has been
nurtured by the strong undercurrent of belief
in spiritualism among Hindu masses, even
educated classes. That is the crux of the
matter. Deeply steeped in their traditional
belief in spirituality and mysticism, the
Hindus have developed the custom of
visiting dargahs and continue to pray at the
tombs of Sufis, no Muslim, nor any Sufi, has
ever agreed to worship in a Hindu temple,
nor make obeisance before the images of
Hindu Gods and Godesses. For them it
would be an act of grossest sacrilege and
unacceptable violation of the basic tenets of
Sufism. That is the truth about the Sufi saints
and their philosophy of inter-religious
harmony.
genuineness of the opening paragraph like the
rest of the Declaration.
SOME DIFFICULT QUESTIONS
Darul Uloom Deoband is unquestionably the
most prestigious institution of Islamic learning in
India, something like Cairo’s AL AZHAR.
However the sweeping claims that the
Declaration makes in favour of Islam happen to
be so blatantly contrary to well known facts that
they can not be passed over as just the clerics’
rhetorical flourishes. What are these known
facts forming such a serious challenge to the
credibility of this part of the Declaration? These
include (just to mention a few)—the actual
treatment of non-Muslims and minority Islamic
sects by the State as well as the non state
practitioners of Islam, the historical experience
of non- Muslims who were subjected to
invasions by Muslim conquerors, views
expressed by authoritative theoreticians of
Islam, the injunctions in the holy Quran, and
Sunnah etc. This is a vast field but for reasons of
space, the discussion here will be confined only
to the most significant points.
CLAIMS MADE IN THE DECLARATION
The Declaration claims that (i) Islam is the
religion of “mercy for all humanity”, the
“fountainhead of peace, tranquility, security
(ii) Islam makes no differentiation between
human beings on the grounds of caste and
creed, (iii) " Islam has taught its followers to treat
all mankind with equality, mercy tolerance,
justice”. (iv) Islam sternly condemns all kinds of
oppression, violence and terrorism”.(Emphasis
added)
ISLAM AS PRACTICED BY MUSLIMS
The first difficulty in accepting the Deoband
Declaration arises when one sees Islam in
actual operation. The leaders (Osama bin
Laden, Ayman Al Zawahiri, Khalid Sheikh
Mohammad etc.) and the constituents groups
(Al Qaida, Markaz Dawa Al Irshad , Lashkar-e-
Toiba, Jaish- e -Mohammad, Harkat ul
Mujahideen etc) of the International Islamic
Front for Jihad, and also smaller groups and
individual followers across the Islamic world, all
claiming to be the true representatives of Islam,
have long been using terrorism and violence as
the instruments of Jihad against the perceived
enemies of Islam including Jews, Christians,
Hindus, Buddhists etc. The laws and regulations
enacted and enforced by the Governments of
Muslim majority countries led by Saudi Arabia,
30
Iran, Pakistan, Sudan etc. do not even remotely
suggest “treatment of all mankind with equality,
mercy, tolerance, justice”. The notorious
blasphemy laws of the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan are a thorough rejection of the
commonly perceived notions of equality, justice
or mercy.
TESTIMONY OF DEMOGRAPHY
One incontrovertible piece of evidence against
the Deoband Maulanas’ proclamation of the
compassionate, egalitarian, and just nature of
Islam is provided by the steady decline in the
population of non- conformists in Muslim
majority countries. As is well known the
population of Hindus and Sikhs in what is now
known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
which was about 20% of the total in 1947 has
come down to about 1%. The continuing
slaughter of Hindus was again confirmed by the
murder of Jagdish Kumar, a factory worker in
Karachi, by a, crowd of Muslims in the presence
of policemen on 8 April 2008. The Christians
who had enthusiastically supported the demand
for creation of Pakistan have also been victims
of persecution by Islamic zealots. The Ahmadis
(Remember Zafrullah Khan the first Foreign
Minister of Pakistan?) have not only been
declared to be non –Muslims but are liable to be
imprisoned just for claiming to be Muslims. Even
the minority Islamic sect of Shias (who are in
power in adjacent Iran and whose leader
Khomeini heralded the Islamic revolution in
Iran) have been fighting a bloody but losing war
against the majority Sunnis, some of whom want
the Shias too to be declared non –Muslims. Nor
is the decimation of religious minorities confined
only to Pakistan. In what was earlier known as
East Pakistan and now known as the Islamic
Republic of Bangladesh the population of
Hindus has come down from about 30% to
about 9%. Even in the Muslim ruled state of
Jammu and Kashmir within the secular Republic
of India a systematic programme of religious
cleansing has resulted in the Kashmir valley
having been purged substantially of the Hindu
Pundits. The same pattern can be seen almost
all over the Islamic world.
I N D I A’ S E X P E R I E N C E O F I S L A M I C
CONQUERORS
Islam first came to India in the shape of Arab
invasions of Sind around the time of Caliph
Umar (634-644 AD). The first 500 years saw
invasions by Muhammad Bin Qasim, Mahmood
Ghazanavi, etc. culminating in the conquest of
Delhi by Shahabuddin Ghori in 1192. India
remained under Muslim rule till the deposition of
Bahadur Shah Zafar by the British in 1857.
Beginning with the defeat of Dahir’s forces at
Debal in 712 AD Muslim victories were usually
followed by slaughter of defeated troops and
Hindu civilians, rape of Hindu women,
enslavement and forcible conversion of Hindu
men, women and children, destruction of
temples, and imposition of religion based penal
taxes like the jaziya. A Muslim slayer of Hindus
was exalted as a Ghazi. Many Muslim victors
delighted in erecting towers made of skulls of
the vanquished Hindus. The “History of India as
told by Its Own Historians” by Eliot and Dawson
gives umpteen quotations from the writings of
the court historians of various Islamic rulers to
provide graphic details of the atrocities
perpetrated following each victory. According to
Will Durant "The Islamic conquest of India is
probably the bloodiest story in history”. The fact
that none of the famous Hindu temples has
survived Muslim rule in north India, the ruins of
the Martand Temple in Kashmir, the still standing
carved columns (taken from destroyed Hindu
and Jain temples) of the Quwwat-ul-Islam
mosque in the Qutub Minar complex , Mehrauli,
the ruins of the burnt down Nalanda university in
Bihar etc. etc. are not shining examples of the
peacefulness, mercifulness and universal
egalitarianism of Islam. The slaughters, the
towers of skulls, the caravans of slaves, the
harems full of captured women, have all
receded, away from public memory, into the
dark pages of history but the grand mosques
standing majestically over the sites where the
holiest Hindu shrines once stood at Mathura and
Varanasi, continue to proclaim loudly the utter
untruth of the Maulanas’ protestations.
The experience of the old Persian and Egyptian
civilizations and of European countries invaded
by Muslims was not much different either. In its
attempt to bring as much of the world as
possible under the domain of Islam, the sword
31
of Islam dealt with infidels in east and west with
equal ferocity. The poet philosopher Allama
Iqbal, who still continues to have many admirers
in India, extolled the role of Islam’s sword in
several of his poems;
“teghon ke sae men ham pal kar jawan huey hain
khanjar hilal ka hai qaumi nishan hamara”
(Tarana-I-Milli)
“par tere naam par talwaar uthaee kisne…
…………………………………………...
kaat kar rakh diye kuffaar ke lashkar kisne”
(Shikwa)
VIEWS OF AUTHORITATIVE ISLAMIC
SCHOLARS
The claims of the Deoband Maulanas are also in
contradiction of the writings of some of the most
highly regarded scholars of Islam. For example
the classical Muslim jurist al-Mawardi explains
the Islamic rules for infidels taken prisoner during
jihad campaigns: “As for the captives, the amir
[ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial
action of four possibilities: the first to put them to
death by cutting their necks; the second, to
enslave them and apply the laws of slavery
regarding their sale and manumission; the third,
to ransom them in exchange for goods or
prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and
pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says,
'When you encounter those [infidels] who deny
[the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks' (Qur'an
sura 47, verse 4)”....Abu’l-Hasan al-Mawardi, al-
Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah." [The Laws of Islamic
Governance, trans. by Dr. Asadullah Yate,
(London), Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 1996, p. 192.
EVIDENCE OF THE HOLY QUR’AN AND
SUNNAH
According to the Holy Qur’an, those who do not
believe in Allah, His Prophet and the Last Day
will go to Hell to be roasted there in Fire forever.
Allah has also commanded the believers to fight
the unbelievers till Allah’s religion prevails
everywhere. There are hundreds of Ayats in
Quran containing such injunctions. A few
samples are reproduced below;
2:161 "Those who reject Faith,
And die rejecting
 On them is Allah’s curse,
And the curse of angels,
And of all mankind;”
8:39 "And fight them on
Until there is no more
Persecution or oppression,
And religion becomes
Allah’s in its entirety ”
8:67 “It is not fitting
For a Prophet
That he should have
Prisoners of war until
He has thoroughly subdued
The land. ”
9:5 “But when the forbidden months
Are past, then fight and slay
The Pagans wherever you find them,
And seize them, beleaguer them,
And lie in wait for them
In every stratagem (of war)”
9:29 “Fight those who believe not
In Allah nor the Last Day,
Nor hold that forbidden
By Allah and His Messenger,
Of Truth, (even if they are)
Of the People of the Book,
Until they pay the jizyah
With willing submission,
And feel themselves subdued”
98;6 “Those who reject(Truth),
Among the People of the Book
And among the Polytheists,
Will be in hell-fire,
To dwell therein (forever),
They are the worst
Of creatures”
[The Holy Qur’an Translation by Abdullah
Yusuf Ali, Published by GOODWORD
BOOKS,1, Nizamuddin West Market, New
Delhi 110013]
The record of the sayings and the doings of
the Prophet, the Hadis (or Sunnah) is believed
to have authority equal to that of the Quran.”
The Prophet was the interpreter of the
Qura’an and its living example.” A study of the
Hadis reveals that the Prophet dealt with his
opponents not with compassion but with
ruthlessness. The killing, instigated by the
Prophet, of poetess Asma while suckling her
child in her bed, and of Abu Afak a poet more
32
than one hundred years of age, both for
having written seditious poetry, are not
examples of Islam’s mercy. The Prophet’s
dealing with Jewish tribes of Madina area was
not kind either. The beheading of the entire
male population of some 600-700 of Banu
Qurayza tribe after their unconditional
surrender is a prime example of Islam’s
brutality.
WHY THE FALSE CLAIMS?
It is not that the venerable Maulanas who
had assembled at Deoband and issued the
Declaration were unaware of the falsehood
of the claims they were making. Being
among the front rank leaders of the Faith,
and aware of the bad name that Islam was
getting due to the actions of the Jihadi
terrorists, they sought to serve the cause of
Islam by using the Qur’an sanctioned
practice of Taqiyya (dissimulation) used by
many Islamic scholars and clerics as a tactic
of outwitting opponents, avoiding
straightforward debate or deflecting
criticism by using obfuscation. The
Maulanas’ effort has apparently had some
success also.
THE ISLAMIST NEWSPEAK
Some readers may recall that among the
many devices that the totalitarian state
visualized in George Orwell’s novel “1984”,
used to control the thinking of the subject
population was the evolution and use of a
new language called newspeak in which old
words like peace, freedom or equality took
on totally different new meanings. The use
of the words mercy, peace, justice, security,
equality, tolerance, oppression, violence
etc. in the opening paragraph of the
Deoband Declaration appears to be the
Islamist version of newspeak.
(The above is the concluding part of a two
part article which appeared in 'Defence
Watch' April-May, 2008)
Book Review
“THE HINDU MIND", Fundamentals of
Hindu Religion and Philosophy for All Ages' by Bansi Pandit
published by New Age Books,New Delhi.
Reviewed by V Sundaram (Retd IAS)
Hinduism, the religion of Hindus (Originally
known as Sanatana Dharma) is the oldest
surviving religion in the world. The religious
and philosophical literature of Hinduism is
vast, diverse and covers thousands of years
of accumulated spiritual experiences of Hindu
Saints, Sages and Seers. This book explains
Hinduism in a nutshell. It presents the
fundamentals of Hindu Religious and
Philosophical thought in a logical and
straightforward manner. In his brilliant Primer,
Shri Bansi Pandit has more than succeeded in
creating a wonderful story book for further
study of Sanatana Dharma, Hinduism and
Hindu way of life. This handy volume provides
answers to a number of questions on wide-
ranging issues relating to the ceremonial,
ritualistic, religious, philosophical,
mythological and literary aspects and
dimensions of Hinduism.
. not the acceptance or otherwise of academic
At the outset, one is confronted by the difficulty
of defining what Hinduism is. To many it
seems to be a name without any content. Is it a
museum of beliefs, a medley of rites, or a
mere map, a geographical expression? Its
content, if it has any, has altered from age to
age, from community to community. It meant
one thing in the Vedic Period, another in the
Brahminical, and a third in the Buddhistic. It
means one thing to the Saivite, another to the
Vaishnavite, a third to the Sakta. The ease
with which Hinduism has steadily absorbed
the customs and ideas of peoples with whom it
has come into contact is as great as the
difficulty we feel in finding a common feature
binding together its different forms and
aspects. At the same time, no one can fail to
notice the obvious fact that the differences
among the Sects of the Hindus are more or
less on the surface only and the Hindus as
such remain a distinct cultural unit with a
common history, a common literature and a
common civilization. India beyond all doubt
possesses a deep underlying fundamental
33
unity, far more profound than that produced
either by geographical isolation or by political
superiority.
It is no more necessary to dissect Hinduism
than to open a tree to see whether the sap still
runs. Even a cursory perusal of Bansi Pandit's
book would graphically bring out this fact. The
world is now full of racial, cultural and religious
misunderstandings. We are groping
hopelessly in a timid and tentative way for
some device which would save us from our
suicidal conflicts. Perhaps the Hindu way of
approach to the problem of religious conflicts
may not be without its lessons for us. While
fixed intellectual beliefs mark off one religion
from another, Hinduism sets itself no such
limits. In Hinduism intellect is subordinated to
intuition, dogma to experience, outward
expression to inward realization. Religion is
abstractions or the celebration of ceremonies
but a kind of life or experience. It is insight into
the nature of reality (darshan) or experience of
reality (anubhava). This experience is not an
emotional thrill or a subjective fancy, but is the
response of the whole personality, the
integrated self to the central reality.
Bansi Pandit's book is divided into five parts.
Part I to IV discusses all essential aspects of
the Hindu Religious tradition. In Part I wide
ranging topics like Hindu scriptures, Hindu
view of God and Individual, Worship of God in
the Form of Mother, Different Schools of Hindu
Philosophy, Vedanta Philosophy, Yoga
Philosophy, Philosophy of Bhagavad Gita,
Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Karma and
Reincarnation,Deity Worship and Ritualism
and Hindu Ethics have been dealt with in an
arresting manner. Beautiful figures/drawings
of Lord Ganesha, Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu,
Lord Shiva, Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess
Saraswati, Sri Rama and Sri Krishna have
been presented in Part II under the heading
titled `Symbolism of Hindu Deities'. The
essence of Ramayana and the essence of
Mahabaratha — the two great Indian epics _
have been beautifully summarized in Part III.
Commonly asked questions with answers
pertaining to various aspects of Hindu
Religion have been included at the ends of
Part I through to Part IV. In order to broaden
the reader's understanding of the material
presented, in Part V of the book, the author of
this book has presented tables, appendices,
details about works cited together with
suggested readings for higher studies, a
glossary and an appendix.
In Chapter 14 of Part I titled `Deity Worship
and Ritualism', Bansi Pandit brilliantly sums
up the position: `A human being cannot
conceptualize anything without some sort of a
mental image. A Hindu associates his mental
image of the infinite attributes of the supreme
Lord with sacred images, called Deities, and
uses such images, as symbols to concentrate
his mind on the worship of the Lord. Just as we
associate the idea of infinity with the image of
the blue sky, or the idea of holiness with a
cross or a place of worship, a Hindu
associates the ideas of the attributes of the
SUPREME LORD, such as omniscience,
omnipotence and omnipresence, with various
sacred images and forms. Therefore, when a
Hindu worships an image, he does not
worship the inanimateness of the image, but
rather the holiness, sacredness, purity,
omnipresence, and omnipotence that are
symbolized by such a sacred image.'
Ritualism in Hindu religion has often been
criticized by non-Hindus and sometimes by
pseudo-secular Hindus themselves.
Regarding the purpose or the scope of
ritualism, it should not be forgotten that its
practice is meant as a tool for a beginner in his
(or her) religious life. In the predominant
34
Hindu view, ritualism creates a sacred
environment, generates devotion for
worship and thereby helps a beginner to
concentrate his mind on worship, prayer
and meditation. A ritual is completely
useless if performed mechanically without
understanding its meaning. For a ritual to
be an effective tool in worship and
meditation, one must concentrate on the
meaning of the ritual while performing it.
However, everyone may not need this tool
of ritualism. In the advanced stages of
one's religious life, there is absolutely no
need for religious rites or ceremonies. This
position is beautifully stated in the following
words of the `Bhagvad Gita': `To the
knower of truth, all Vedas are of as little use
as a small water-tank is during the time of a
flood, when water is everywhere.'This very
cardinal truth was also reiterated by
Swamy Vivekananda during the course of
a lecture in 1893 `It is good to be born in a
Church but not to die there'
What India badly requires today is the
reintegration of the ancient Hindu (Indian)
culture in the light of modern knowledge in
order to suit our present-day needs and the
resuscitation of its fundamental values in
their pristine vigour. Viewed in this light,
`The Hindu Mind' by Bansi Pandit is a
remarkable book which graphically brings
out into bold relief the fact that the Hindu
Mind is not just a temple, it is a power
station, a storage warehouse, a library, a
theatre, a museum, a hall of archives and
above all a seat of self-government. In my
view this Guide-Book ought to be
prescribed as a compulsory text book at
the graduate level in all the colleges of
India and the world. The world we feel, is
too much with us. Nothing would uplift or
inspire us so much as the beauty and
aspiration which such books can teach.
 THANK YOU READERS !
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