Thursday, November 11, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Christianity's contributions mostly negative, Americans say
Christianity's contributions mostly negative, Americans sayOct 26, 2010 by Adelle M. Banks (RNS) When asked about Christianity's recent contributions to society, Americans cited more negatives than benefits, according to a new survey. |
Don't pity us, Arundhati Roy- not yet
Don't pity us, Arundhati – not yet
Anshul Chaturvedi 27 October 2010, 06:37 AM IST
Insofar as putting thoughts into words go, I guess I'm not really qualified to take up an issue with Arundhati Roy; she's a globally acknowledged, indeed, acclaimed writer, while I am no more than an inconsequential rarely-read salaried cog in the gigantic wheels of the print media. Having said that, I am very clear that I don't want my share of the accumulated pity that she thinks the nation collectively merits. So, here's my inadequate submission:
Arundhati has said that she "spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world; for Kashmiri Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of their homeland; for Dalit soldiers killed in Kashmir whose graves I visited on garbage heaps in their villages in Cuddalore; for the Indian poor who pay the price of this occupation in material ways and who are now learning to live in the terror of what is becoming a police state."
I disagree with the effortless branding of Kashmir as "one of the most brutal military occupations in the world" – it is not pleasant, today, I am sure, but from 1948 to say, at least 1988, a period of well over four decades, Kashmir was a part of what we consider India – merged, integrated, acceded, depends on whom you ask – and for those four decades it was not part of India on the strength of a "brutal military occupation". Unlike German soldiers marching into Poland or Chinese troops invading Tibet, India did not have to "invade" Kashmir and then hold it from Day One by administering martial law or its equivalent. I don't mean to sound cheesy, but for years and years Bollywood didn't churn out those scenes of a beautiful, peaceful, idyllic Kashmir on the strength of shooting crews backed by hundreds of 'brutal soldiers' trying to create a pretence of normal, peaceful life. That's just how it was. Someone worked to change it. The question is – who?
Punjab, too, faced a decade of insurgency, something which we forget all too easily today. But it wasn't 'occupied' prior to that, it isn't 'occupied' today. Kashmir has faced more than a decade of insurgency, agreed, but to portray it as if everyone in Kashmir for all time has been subject to "one of the most brutal military occupations" does no justice to the intellect which Arundhati obviously possesses – more so in the context of the fact that the other friendly democratic states that border Kashmir, namely Pakistan and China, have no noticeable tradition of tender loving care extended by their respective militaries to people who question whether they belong to those states.
Having lived and worked in J&K for many years, as an editor, I have carried stories about remote hilly villages where terrorists surrounded hamlets of Gujjars and slit the throats of two dozen villagers to indicate the price of 'cooperation' extended to security forces patrolling the hills. When Bill Clinton came to India, we saw the carnage of 36 Sikhs in Chatttisinghpora – something which Arundhati's comrade in arms, Syed Ali Shah Geeelani, incredibly enough, still reiterates was 'done by India to defame Kashmiris'. There is no dearth of such instances – I quote only a couple to remind us all that Kashmir's brutal occupation is not quite as much of an innocent-lambs-being-led-to-slaughter scenario as Ms Roy perhaps sees it as.
When Arundhati says that she speaks for justice "for Kashmiri Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of their homeland", it is too ridiculous to even merit comment, given that she wants that justice to come while she shares a dias with Geelani. They were 'driven out of their homeland', Arundhati, by the brutal military occupiers of Kashmir, or by someone else? Driven out by whom? Why leave it to delightful ambiguities here? I do not know if Kashmiri Pandits give any weightage to her speaking ostensibly on their behalf. And the statistical chances of Pandits returning to Kashmir if the brutal military occupation ends tomorrow are slimmer than of Arundhati joining the BJP.
Arundhati seeks justice, too, "for Dalit soldiers killed in Kashmir whose graves I visited on garbage heaps in their villages in Cuddalore." This is slick if you are writing a column for a foreign audience, the way Aussie 'experts' wrote on the caste composition of the Indian cricket team during the Bhajji-Symonds spat, but, hello, "Dalit soldiers" killed in Kashmir die in situations different from upper caste soldiers or Sikh soldiers or Muslim soldiers – or local, Kashmiri Muslim policemen? Don't insult our intelligence, and the Army's basic DNA, with this line of argument. You wish to be the defender of the rights of those oppressed in Kashmir, of the Pandits, and of the "Dalit soldiers" from among the troops who die there day in and day out? Sorry, this is just not real, it's just not genuine, even if it is possibly good homework for global awards coming your way as defender of the rights of all oppressed sections in this part of the world.
Arundhati's also looking for justice "for the Indian poor who pay the price of this occupation in material ways and who are now learning to live in the terror of what is becoming a police state", but I have little comment to offer on this because, frankly, it is a little too esoteric for me to understand the point. I understand that India is in selective ways and selective zones a police state of sorts, but how insensitive policing in interior Bihar is attributable to Kashmir's status – and how Azadi will address that – must have a subtle connect which my everyday, non literary mind has singularly failed to grasp. But then, we are all not blessed with equal talents.
Anyway, this is not one of Ms Roy's essays, so I daren't type away endlessly. I'll conclude.
You say, Arundhati, "pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds. Pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice, while communal killers, mass murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists, and those who prey on the poorest of the poor, roam free." I say, you are jumping the gun. Neither have you been silenced at any point for speaking your mind – distasteful as it may be to many when it veers towards applauding anyone willing to kill an Indian soldier, be it a Naxal in Chattisgarh or a terrorist in Kashmir – nor does the nation need to be pitied. Yet. Writers and dissidents are silenced, in friendlier and I suppose less 'brutal' societies such as Pakistan, China, Myanmar, but the very fact that you can issue statements and notes challenging the same to be done here is, perhaps, the strongest negation of those statements. Yes, many murderers, scamsters and rapists still roam free, and no, we aren't proud of that in the least, but no, you haven't been jailed for asking for justice. And I don't see that happening. Truth be told, I think you don't see it happening either.
So while one gives all credit to your intellectual prowess, I don't think this overdose of pity for the nation is quite deserved. It's a lot of hyperbole. As part of 'the nation', even if just one-billionth, I respectfully wish to return my proportion of pity offered by you, Ms Roy. Please accept it. And while you're at it, pass it on to Mr Geelani; I daresay he needs it more.
Regards
Pranav
gards__._,_.___
Monday, October 25, 2010
FW: {satyapravah} What the Islamic Invaders Did to India. by Rizwan Salim-assistant editor of American Sentinel.
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:00:19 +0530
Subject: {satyapravah} What the Islamic Invaders Did to India. by Rizwan Salim-assistant editor of American Sentinel.
From: rchaddha@gmail.com
To: satyapravah@googlegroups.com; media_watch@googlegroups.com; rbrahmachari1946@gmail.com; kalyan97@gmail.com; devendra_swarup@hotmail.com; shreegopalvyas@sansad.nic.in
From: <deep.agarwala@power.alstom.com>
| What the Islamic Invaders Did to India. by Rizwan Salim... What the Islamic Invaders Did to India by Rizwan Salim 12 Nov, 2007 On the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition (December 6, 1992), it is important for Hindus (and Muslims) to understand the importance of the event in the context of Hindustan's history, past and recent, present and the future. Savages at a very low level of civilisation and no culture worth the name, from Arabia and west Asia, began entering India from the early century onwards. Islamic invaders demolished countless Hindu temples, shattered uncountable sculpture and idols, plundered innumerable palaces and forts of Hindu kings, killed vast numbers of Hindu men and carried off Hindu women. This story, the educated-and a lot of even the illiterate Indians-know very well. History books tell it in remarkable detail. But many Indians do not seem to recognise that the alien Muslim marauders destroyed the historical evolution of the earth's most mentally advanced civilisation, the most richly imaginative culture, and the most vigorously creative society. It is clear that India at the time when Muslim invaders turned towards it (8 to 11th century) was the earth's richest region for its wealth in precious and semi-precious stones, gold and silver, religion and culture, and its fine arts and letters. Tenth century Hindustan was also too far advanced than its contemporaries in the East and the West for its achievements in the realms of speculative philosophy and scientific theorising, mathematics and knowledge of nature's workings. Hindus of the early medieval period were unquestionably superior in more things than the Chinese, the Persians (including the Sassanians), the Romans and the Byzantines of the immediate proceeding centuries. The followers of Siva and Vishnu on this subcontinent had created for themselves a society more mentally evolved-joyous and prosperous too-than had been realised by the Jews, Christians, and Muslim monotheists of the time. Medieval India, until the Islamic invaders destroyed it, was history's most richly imaginative culture and one of the five most advanced civilisations of all times. Look at the Hindu art that Muslim iconoclasts severely damaged or destroyed. Ancient Hindu sculpture is vigorous and sensual in the highest degree-more fascinating than human figural art created anywhere else on earth. (Only statues created by classical Greek artists are in the same class as Hindu temple sculpture). Ancient Hindu temple architecture is the most awe-inspiring, ornate and spell-binding architectural style found anywhere in the world. (The Gothic art of cathedrals in France is the only other religious architecture that is comparable with the intricate architecture of Hindu temples). No artist of any historical civilisation have ever revealed the same genius as ancient Hindustan's artists and artisans. Their minds filled with venom against the idol-worshippers of Hindustan, the Muslims destroyed a large number of ancient Hindu temples. This is a historical fact, mentioned by Muslim chroniclers and others of the time. A number of temples were merely damaged and remained standing. But a large number-not hundreds but many thousands-of the ancient temples were broken into shreds of cracked stone. In the ancient cities of Varanasi and Mathura, Ujjain and Maheshwar, Jwalamukhi and Dwarka, not one temple survives whole and intact from the ancient times. The wrecking of Hindu temples went on from the early years of the 8th century to well past 1700 AD a period of almost 1000 years. Every Muslim ruler in Delhi (or Governor of Provinces) spent most of his time warring against Hindu kings in the north and the south, the east and the west, and almost every Muslim Sultan and his army commanders indulged in largescale destructions of Hindu temples and idols. They also slaughtered a lot of Hindus. It is easy to conclude that virtually every Hindu temple built in the ancient times is a perfect work of art. The evidence of the ferocity with which the Muslim invaders must have struck at the sculptures of gods and goddesses, demons and apsaras, kings and queens, dancers and musicians is frightful. At so many ancient temples of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, for example, shattered portions of stone images still lie scattered in the temple courtyards. Considering the fury used on the idols and sculptures, the stone-breaking axe must have been applied to thousands upon thousands of images of hypnotic beauty. Giving proof of the resentment that men belonging to an inferior civilisation feel upon encountering a superior civilisation of individuals with a more refined culture, Islamic invaders from Arabia and western Asia broke and burned everything beautiful they came across in Hindustan. So morally degenerate were the Muslim Sultans that, rather than attract Hindu "infidels" to Islam through force of personal example and exhortation, they just built a number of mosques at the sites of torn down temples-and foolishly pretended they had triumphed over the minds and culture of the Hindus. I have seen stones and columns of Hindu temples incorportated into the architecture of several mosques, including the Jama Masjid and Ahmed Shah Masjid in Ahmedabad; the mosque in the Uparkot fort of Junagadh (Gujarat) and in Vidisha (near Bhopal); the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra right next to the famous dargah in Ajmer-and the currently controversial Bhojshala "mosque" in Dhar (near Indore). Hindu culture was at its imaginative best and vigorously creative when the severely-allergic- to-images Muslims entered Hindustan. Islamic invaders did not just destroy countless temples and constructions but also suppressed cultural and religious practices; damaged the pristine vigour of Hindu religion, prevented the intensification of Hindu culture, debilitating it permanently, stopped the development of Hindu arts ended the creative impulse in all realms of thought and action, damaged the people's cultural pride, disrupted the transmission of values and wisdom, cultural practices and tradition from one generation to the next; destroyed the proper historical evolution of Hindu kingdoms and society, affected severely the acquisition of knowledge, research and reflection and violated the moral basis of Hindu society. The Hindus suffered immense psychic damage. The Muslims also plundered the wealth of the Hindu kingdoms, impoverished the Hindu populace, and destroyed the prosperity of Hindustan. Gaze in wonder at the Kailas Mandir in the Ellora caves and remember that it is carved out of a solid stone hill, an effort that (inscriptions say) took nearly 200 years. This is art as devotion. The temple built by the Rashtrakuta kings (who also built the colossal sculpture in the Elenhanta caves off Mumbai harbour) gives proof of the ancient Hindus' religious fervor. But the Kailas temple also indicated a will power, a creative imagination, and an intellect eager to take on the greatest of artistic challenges. The descendants of those who built the magnificent temples of Bhojpur and Thanjavur, Konark and Kailas, invented mathematics and brain surgery, created mindbody disciplines (yoga) of astonishing power, and built mighty empires would almost certainly have attained technological superiority over Europe. It is not just for "political reasons" that Hindus want to build grand temples at the sites of the (wrecked) Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, and the Mathura idgah. The efforts of religion-intoxicate d and politically active Hindus to rebuild the Ram Mandir, the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir, and the Krishna Mandir are just three episodes m a one-thousand year long Hindu struggle to reclaim their culture and religion from alien invaders. The demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6 December 1992 was just one episode in the millennial struggle of the Hindus to repossess their religion-centered culture and nation. Meanwhile, hundreds of ancient Hindu temples forsaken all over Hindustan await the reawakening of Hindu cultural pride to be repaired or rebuilt and restored to their original, ancient glory. This article was published in Hindustan Times on December 28, 1997 ____________ _________ _________ __ Rizwan Salim is a reviewer of New York Tribune, Capitol Hill reporter, assistant editor of American Sentinel. |
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Rajendra Kumar Chadha
National Joint Convener
Prajna Pravah
A - 161 SURAJ MAL VIHAR
DELHI110092
011-22374518 M +919818603977
rchaddha@gmail.com
prajnapravah@gmail.com
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