Free India from Left-Liberals sneering at its ancient history

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With Sri Narendra Modi at the helm, there is a renewed interest in our rich past; his observations in election rallies, scientific forums, and speeches invite discussions and the initial heckling of seculars and communists die down after more valid data comes into public domain. A few excepts from a blog post by Sengupta, which takes the cue from Manjul Bhargava, to lay bare a few facts.

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A man of Indian origin recently won the Fields Medal. This is considered the Nobel, or the highest prize, for excellence in mathematics. Manjul Bhargava has path-breaking contributions as a researcher in mathematics, one of the biggest of these achievements is to have solved a 200-year-old mathematical problem.

"How did he do this? Bhargava says he was able to do this by reading old Sanskrit manuscripts stored by his grandfather Purshottam Lal Bhargava who was the head of the Sanskrit department at the University of Rajasthan.

"There he found out about the work of the 7th century Indian mathematician Brahmagupta, and he realised, using Brahamagupta’s work that he could solve a problem unresolved for two centuries.

[FONT=&quot]"The point relates to the endless tittering about ‘loony Hindutvadis’and suggestions that to make any such claim, indeed about anything from ancientIndian science which might be relevant to today’s world is ridiculous, indeedcommunal. These disparaging remarks are — and usually always have been — madeby ‘progressives’ who believe that that all that Indian tradition largely isdated, moribund, and full of ONLY venal rituals, like sati, and is best leftabandoned, better still, buried.
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[FONT=&quot]"Why is it that modern Indians are so reluctant to believe thatthe country that they live  in— and sometimes prosper — and whose benefits theyenjoy, come from civilisational values that go back thousands of years? Whyshould that be embarrassing since this much is accepted by pretty much everyIndologist who has ever researched this country? Why is it that when asuggestion comes that we must try and locate the lost river Saraswati, there isimmediate bad-mouthing whereas for several years now ISRO has been on the sameabsolutely scientifically valid task?
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[FONT=&quot]Unfortunately, the riches of ancient India have got trapped inthis country’s bitter communal debate — and it really does not need to. It istime to set our traditional knowledge free, perhaps, dare I say, even takepride in it. It won’t make you communal. It might, though, make you moreconfident.
[/FONT]http://indiafacts.co.in/free-india-from-left-liberals-sneering-at-its-ancient-history/[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

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India's intellectuals: Koenraad Elst

An apt and vibrant article on India's intellectuals; too incisive and relevant in today's environment. Hindus and hindutva will expose the pseudo liberals and humanists. Bold type is mine.

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From a lecture by former JNU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Kapil Kapoor before the Indore-based India Inspires Foundation, I have to relate a particularly relevant part, viz. about our Indian "intellectuals". Any mistakes in my rendering are of course mine.

These intellectuals are to be distinguished from Hinduism's traditional men of knowledge, or Rishi-s. The Rishi-s were devoted to the welfare of society, and they encouraged responsibility, self-reliance and cheerfulness. By contrast, our present "intellectuals" are only Buddhi-Jivi-s, those who "use their intellect to make a living".

They have certain typical characteristics:

* They are worried, with a perennially worried look on their carefully careless-looking faces. They think that everything is bad, particularly all that really or allegedly stems from Hindu religion: caste, sati (eventhough the Sati after whom the custom was named, set herself on fire while her husband Shiva was alive, and even though all Hindu scriptures from the Rg-Veda on down condemn this rare Rajput practice), superstition etc. They worry about minorities and gender, and about the environment: whatever Hindus do, is polluting. Thus, while their consumerist lifestyles are above criticism, Hindus throwing around coloured powder on Holi are harming the ecosystem. Nowadays they worry about the farmers, even though they can't tell a hoe from a plough.

* They have a sense of bad luck. Thus, why did they have to be born in a poor "developing country" rather than in America? (Well, at least the status of "developing country" is useful in so far as it keeps the donations coming, which money is then funneled towards the established intellectuals so that their children can get Ph.D.s in America.) They bemoan everything. They are like Rudali-s, professional mourners; except that Rudali-s only mourn at a occurrence of a real loss, a king's death or so, whereas these intellectuals mourn all the time. Shiites flagellate themselves on Muharram to mourn Hussain's defeat; these intellectuals have a Muharram every day.

* They suffer from a Hanuman complex. Hanuman was so strong that the gods were afraid of him and cursed him to forget his strength until someone would remind him. So, they forget about the past glories of their own civilization. The first European travelers wondered why the Indians had no maps; well, because maps are for people who have to go elsewhere because they need something from there, but Indians had everything in their own country. Our intellectuals see only the poverty that Islamic and British colonization and Nehruvian socialism have wrought (which they falsely attribute to Hindu influence, terming Nehruvian economic failure the "Hindu rate of growth"). They are always appealing for state intervention, like today’s middle class, who always ring up for help; or like the Devata-s (gods) in the Puranic myths, helpless before their Asura (demon) enemies. It is always the Asuras who are self-reliant, while the Devata-s are only there to shower flowers.

* They have a Tittiri complex. The Tittiri is a Indian bird that sleeps on its back with its feet skywards, as if supporting the heavens so that they don't fall. Likewise, the intellectuals think that their enduring concern is needed to save India.


And a little extra to cap it all: intellectuals are good at talking about a book without having read it. This they call "meta-study". (Or as their hero Ayatollah Khomeini said about Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses: "You don't need to jump into a dungheap to know that it stinks.")

Koenraad Elst: India's intellectuals

 

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It is time to speak up against the Hinduphobia of foreign writers: Vamsee Juluri

It is indeed gratifying that more and more people are asserting their hindu background and the need to assert hindutva or hinduness. Despite the collective vengeful attack by the media, so called secular-communal parties and unabashed support from the west missionaries, Modi has manged to group hindu nationalists and put in a plan for collective non appeasement governance. Good days are ahead for all including hindus.

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"Vamsee Juluri, professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco, speaks up for the anonymous Hindu who, he says, was silent all those years of colonial rule only to be criticized as an ‘oppressor’ post-Independence. His new book ‘Rearming Hinduism’ seeks to restore to the millennia-old faith its intellectual heritage by reintroducing Hinduism to Hindus. Juluri tells Narayani Ganesh that foreign ‘experts’ have only contributed to the misconceptions‘Rearming Hinduism’ sounds militant.

Do you want Hindus to turn aggressive to uphold the faith?

Oh no, the title actually followed the cover image of the Narasimha statue in Hampi. You will notice one hand is missing but he is trying to write something. This is like the predicament the Hindu community faces right now: we wish to write our history but don’t have a hand; it’s symbolic. All I mean is we need to “re-arm” ourselves to be able to write our own history instead of passively receiving Eurocentric histories of Hinduism that often lack sensitivity and cultural understanding.

For instance, 10-15 years ago in America, history books written by white settlers said that Columbus discovered America and the people living there were savages. Now, academics are saying we should recognize the other point of view. Hindus were not a dominant group during British rule. Now, suddenly Hindus were presented as a dominant militant group. Wendy Doniger in her book even compares Hindus with Nazis who committed genocide in Europe. My book is really a critique of how we tell our history.

In America, one lesson is taught on Ancient India in sixth grade focusing just on two things: caste system and oppressing women. This is nonsense. There was a big controversy in California in 2006. All communities got school history lessons changed — that Islam is a peaceful religion etc, and when Hindus realized there was a problem, the board of education agreed but a bunch of so-called professors of Hinduism in America cracked down and said this is Hindutva!
Why do we need a Hindu national identity?

Personally, I am still not in tune with the idea of a Hindu national identity. That is why my book is not about Hindu nationalism but a strong argument for Hinduism. After Independence, for 50-60 years people in India lived as Hindus without knowing what it meant — almost embarrassed. The younger generation today is moving towards more civilizational issues. My hope is that people focus on the intellectual part of Hinduism. We are living right now in a moment of vast civilizational hunger. It is not fundamentalism, nor fascism.

It is an exceptional historical moment in which an entire generation of young, modern Hindus in India and the diaspora is growing up and asking only one pressing question: Who are we, really?
How will perceptions about Hinduism change?


I have been urging my readers in America to encourage at least one child in the family to pursue the study of humanities. Only then will the discourse change. Of course, it becomes ridiculous when you talk of flying machines etc, but one must look at the philosophy. We need massive investment in humanities to bring out the intellectual perspective. The past is always telling stories but who is telling those stories? The only books by Hindu authors you may see in American bookstores are those by Yogananda or Vivekananda. The rest are dominated by white non-Hindu academics not sensitive to the cultural nuances of Hinduism.

But what about incidents like the recent attacks on churches?

When it is explicitly religious in nature and a mob attacks places of worship, it could be construed as a religious attack. But some guy throws a stone… you know some identities are being protected and others are being blamed, it is so brazen. The lynch mob in the northeast was a Christian one and attacked an alleged Muslim rapist and beat him to death. That news item is circulating in American discourse as a law and order problem; it is so devious. They don’t refer to the religion. In the name of secularism and social justice, which are good causes, people are doing a lot of hypocritical things.

The other big thing was the BBC’s Nirbhaya documentary. It was silly of the government to ban it. But the Hinduphobic mood globally is so deep that people immediately think that ‘Oh, if something bad is happening in India, it is because of Hinduism’ and not a law and order problem. Richard Dawkins tweeted that the film shows the culture of misogyny in India. Even his fans hit back and asked ‘why are you blaming India for this’. Then he slowly backtracked.

That is why it is so important for Hindus to have the right Hindu identity; the future of the world depends on it. For a very long time Hinduism did the right thing by being self-effacing. Other communities were driven by the canonical need to dominate. But today we live in a world of distortions and misunderstanding. Every community is representing themselves; why should the Hindu community be the one that is disallowed from speaking for itself ? This is where the whole Left secular argument has collapsed.

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/treasurehunt/it-is-time-to-speak-up-against-the-hinduphobia-of-foreign-writers-vamsee-juluri/