I am writing this email with great concern about the article titled From Shining India to India was Shining that was published in the Magazine on May 03, 2009. See the article here.
I clearly understand that the whole article is basically against the BJP manifesto and is politically motivated. However, the last point of the article which describes Hindus as non-secular is indeed a matter of great concern.
The notion of the secular was not known to the Hindus, as the secular requires giving priority to the human being irrespective of his/her beliefs. Hindus were concerned with establishing caste and sect.
I believe that such baseless statements about a religion is without any proper understanding of the religion. By making such statements your newspaper has dared to question the principles of a religion that has existed for many centuries. I would like to know if you could provide the source of information like “there were no schools or colleges as we know them today in ancient India”. Of course no religion had schools or colleges like we know today but the gurukul way of education was present in India since time immemorial.
I hope The Hindu will live up to its name by taking necessary action and not inject poison into the minds of the citizens by targeting a particular religion by publishing such articles.
PS: I sent a copy of this to the email id that was mentioned in their contact page but unfortunately the mail bounced.
PPS: Strangely, this article does not have any author and the sub heading says it is the opinion of eminent historians whose names are not mentioned.
The Hindu article is blasphemous in the true sense of the word!
I might be wrong, but as per my belief, is THE most secular religion in the world! Only hinduism accepts other philosophies and preaches peaceful coexistance (swakriti), respecting the beliefs of others. On the contrary, other religions blatantly profess the superiority of their religion and condemn others! I strongly recommend any reader of this article to read ‘The Argumentative Indian’ by Amartya Sen, to know more…
“there were no schools or colleges as we know them today in ancient India”
That is indeed the limit! I’m seriously thinking of revoking my Hindu subscription! The New Indian Express, with all its crappy content won’t do such blatantly incorrigible stuff!
Thanks for putting this issue up. You have my full support in this! 
Anyone who’s read Sen’s ‘The Argumentative Indian’ or Tharoor’s ‘India from midnight to millennium’ will know about the goodness of Hinduism as a religion. It was the only religion that allowed for co-existence of other religions. Also Hinduism as such isn’t fundamentalist in anyway like the RSS or other Sena’s point out these days. Hinduism is amongst the most tolerant religions and has always allowed the followers to have maximum freedom with their way of living.
Good work Prasanth. I will certainly do the same as well. Some points:
- First of all regarding the laughable notion that the Hindus are intolerant. There are numerous examples from the past of Hindu kings giving refuge to persecuted religious minorities like the Parsees, Jews etc who where driven out of their homeland by the “tolerant” Arabs, Persians and Christians
- While tyrants like Aurangzeb and Babur imposed taxes on Hindus [read kafirs], Hindu kings like Shivaji, the Vijayanagara emperors who were sworn enemies of the Islamic invaders, never even once destroyed a mosque, impose restrictive taxes or oppressed their own muslim populace.
- Buddhists were never “ousted” by the Hindus in India. These eminent historians seem to make up silly facts just to advance their marxist ideology. K
- The article talks about the Iron Pillar rusting from the top.Hmm …. I wonder how does he know? Has the ASI found out about this “rust”?? [Maybe the "rust" started when the UPA came to power? ]. If not, the author should inform them about this magnificent “discovery”. The point is that even if there is a little rust, it is nevertheless a massive achievement of scientific & technical understanding to create such a structure that has lasted this long. And it show how low and childish could these eminent historians get when it comes to bashing our own culture and heritage. Next thing you know, they will start saying that the zero wasn’t invented in India!
- Another even more blatantly childish is the argument that India had no knowledge of plastic surgery till modern times. Have these “eminent” historians even heard of the great Sushruta and the Sushruta Samhita? In fact the Indian system of plastic surgery eventually became the basis for western medicine’s efforts as well. The historians might have referred to “The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine” by Lock & Stephen published by OUP. Oh wait, I wonder whether these eminent historians would stoop from their high pedestals to actually “read” a book?, since this article seriously merits us to consider their academic credentials.
- I can bet on my life that these “eminent” historians are of the same bunch as that of Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib et al. They, the infamous “marxist” historians have done much damage to the way that the children of India viewed their motherland. Their intellectual crimes & our tacit approval of it will be our doom.
So, my dear brothers and sisters, don’t hesitate. speak up! Write to The Hindu condemning this idiotic article! It doesn’t matter what your political leaning is. If we don’t stand for own culture and heritage, who else will?
And once again bravo Prasanth!
To question or not to question, that is the question. Perosnally both sides are over-exaggerating and lying.
For everyone this is the link to a more eye-shocking experience http://escapefromindia.wordpress.com
First of all the concept of Hinduism evolved under the British Raj, before that the caste system had made everybody into different secions of people equivalent to religions.
Shaivates didn’t worship Vishnu, while Vaishnavites hated Shiva, and vice versa.
The whole science and literature of India being superior to Europe isn’t bogus though, the references are too many for that.
Let’s just say, the author hates BJP as much as I do, and so was basically burning their manifesto.
I like conspiracies and India was always a land of conspiracy.
Fuck the kafirs. Stupid Muslims brought us nothing but hell.
Jai Bharat Mata.
@Unnikrishnan: Shivaji wasn’t fighting for Hnduism, he was fighting for the Marathas.
Buddhists were persecuted by the followers of Hinduism (ya, the collective religion) always. Wonder why it just vanished from North India?
@ Abhi: Macha engane ondu?
The problem isn’t in the religion. The problem is the people who follow it. They are a bunch of assholes.
To potray HInduism as a secular religion is ok, Hinduism isn’t a religion. It’s a way of life with different paths and directions. It’s too huge and too vast. But the junta who follow it are basically numb-nuts.
Britishers found it cool, because they were seeing something totally different from their culture, also because many things were new to them.
Western Science is definitely more open. Indian philosophy is unquestionable regarding it’s magnificence.
I just want to end by quoting Marx (I think it was him)
“Religion is the opium of the masses>”
@Hari : Don’t you dare unsubscribe The Hindu
@ Arun TP
just trying to answer ur question on Buddhism and to underline the fact that Hinduism is the most tolerant of all religions(even with all the different caste systems..). Buddhism appears to have vanished from India,its birthplace and this was not due to the persecution by followers of Hinduism.rather Buddhism was assimilated into the Hindu culture largely thanks to the work of great men like Adi Sankaracharya..there might have been a few cases of forcible conversions,but none of em were state sponsored as in the times of Muslim rulers who followed..
Wow …. this just got really interesting thanks to the entrée of Arun T P & his eye-shockingly infantile blog and his comments:
“@Unnikrishnan: Shivaji wasn’t fighting for Hnduism, he was fighting for the Marathas.
Buddhists were persecuted by the followers of Hinduism (ya, the collective religion) always. Wonder why it just vanished from North India?”
Dude, Arun TP ….. really? I am starting to wonder whether you were one of those eminent historians who wrote these articles. Please analyze my quote :
“While tyrants like Aurangzeb and Babur imposed taxes on Hindus [read kafirs], Hindu kings like Shivaji, the Vijayanagara emperors who were sworn enemies of the Islamic invaders, never even once destroyed a mosque, impose restrictive taxes or oppressed their own muslim populace.”
Uhhh ……. Mr Arun TP, where did I mention that Shivaji was fighting for Hinduism?? I said that Shivaji was a HINDU king and his enemies were the ISLAMIC kingdoms like the deccan sultanates and the mughals. Of course he fought for the Maratha empire. But after the decline of Vijayanagara, he proved to be a major bulwark against oppressive Islamic rule and protected Hinduism in south-western India.
Oh, and regarding the “alleged” persecution of Buddhists by Hindus, I don’t need to “wonder”, because I have spent some time looking for these answers [unlike certain eminent historians and bloggers ]. It is true that the resurgence of Hinduism under the Advaita and Bhakti movements along with the losing of patronage from various kingdoms hastened the decline of Buddhism, but the single most important reason was the Islamic invasions that saw the wiping out of traditional centers of Buddhism from Gandhara to Nalanda.
And of course you have quoted Karl Marx. Which is to say that you quoted a man, whose philosophy[marxism] inspired mass murderers like Stalin and Mao Zedong who surpassed even Hitler in state sponsored cruelty. The very same guy who inspires one of India’s most major existential threats : naxalism. And of course Marxism has become a religion in its own way, with it’s own idols, holy books and symbols.
And Arun T P, my point here is that it is very easy and intellectually comfortable to criticize and dismiss people who advocate nationalism like the BJP. It is however very very difficult to form a coherent and rational argument against these “Hindutva” folk, as comments like yours and those of the eminent historians. Instead what they/you do is provide vague, unsubstantiated statements that are a just a form of intellectual nihilism [like the Hindu article with quotes like "This was probably the treatment given to sick monks in monasteries." regarding ancient India's healthcare system] and end up doing a lot of damage to the average Indian’s view of his/her own culture.
Remember : Unlike the abrahamical religions, ours is the culture and civilization that advocated peace and tolerance to all living beings, compared to other cultures that advocated peace and redemption only for the “believers” and not for the “kafirs/unbelievers”.
सर्वेषां स्वस्ति भवतु । सर्वेषां शान्तिर्भवतु ।
सर्वेषां पूर्नं भवतु । सर्वेषां मड्गलं भवतु ॥
May good befall all,
May there be peace for all
May all be fit for perfection,
May all experience that which is auspicious.
Arun TP, I hope you understand the import of the above universal mantra. THIS is what the world needs right now. And not hate-spewing Taliban or condom hating Popes. And certainly not muddle-headed leftist intellectuals and media.
PS : Regarding your comments on Hinduism being evolved during the British Raj, well dude I recommend your read about your own religion a bit. And I don’t want to comment more on this since philosophers and historians from times immemorial have already talked about it, people better aware than me and certainly you.
Ciao,
Unni
wow…this is called standing up and taking action… nice go dear
hmm i actually wanted to comment on the nalanda university. looks like someone beat me to iit