The Hindu vs Joshi

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On its 03-May-2009 dated Sunday edition The Hindu Newspaper has made a study of

the preamble of the Manifesto of the Bharathiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party –

BJP).

In the preamble of the manifesto drafted by Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, some claims have

been made about the greatness of India in pre-British period. The Hindu claims to haveemployed a team of eminent historians who have analyzed each of these claims and

have negated each of them as either false or as exaggerations.

Here we at www.tamiltalk.org a Tamil forum for the discussion of culture, society,

science, history etc. try to study the factual basis of the evaluation of the historians as

presented by The Hindu and also the veracity of the claims of Dr. Joshi. And we present

you with Dr. Joshi’s claims, The Hindu’s response to the claims and the facts as we

discovered them.

Yours in the interest of truth,

www.tamiltalk.org team.




I

“India is not…China is older”

Joshi: Indian civilisation is perhaps the most ancient and continuing civilisation of the world. India

has a long history and has been recognised by others as a land of great wealth and even greater

wisdom.

“The Hindu” response: India is not the most ancient civilisation. Civilisation is generally defined

as having city cultures and that would make Egypt, Mesopotamia and China older. Nor is it the

only continuous culture since China has a continuous culture that is older.

The facts: It is a well established fact that Harappan civilization or Saraswathi-Sindhu civilization

did not emerge in vacuum, but was the result of long

drawn socio-economic processes that included cultural

dimensions. French archeologist Jean-Francoise Jarrige

had traced the antecedents of Harappan culture to the

site in Mergarh north of Mohenjo-Daro and has

established an unbroken cultural continuity from thatearly date to Harappan civilization.

1Similarly Harappan

roots have been discovered from within the geographical

area of modern India as well. In an International seminar

on Indus Civilisation, director of Archaeological Survey

of India BR Mani revealed that there were pockets where

urbanisation would have started before the well-

developed urban civilisation of the Harappans.2

Even as we trace the evolution of Harappan

civilization which pushes the advent of Indian civilization further back in timeline, historians have

accepted the fact that Indian society today has many of its cultural roots in Harappan civilization.

Even Iravatham Mahadevan a scholar who holds on to the Aryan-Dravidian binary, has stated

that he “would not be surprised to find that the greater part of modern Hinduism has a Harappan

lineage.”3

Hence when Joshi says that Indian civilization is “perhaps the most ancient and continuing

civilization” he is definitely and technically right.

Though “The Hindu” has shown its Chinese loyalty by calling China as having a continuous

culture how can China today can be called the most ancient and continuous culture when the Red

Guards of the Communist China during the Cultural Revolution vandalized Buddhist statues

labeling them part of the four olds to be destroyed: old customs, old habits, old culture and old

thinking. The definite break with cultural continuity came for China when young Red Guards in

1966 smashed the Buddhist images at the Biyun Monastery, the Wofo Monastery, the Summer

Palace and the other shrines, temples and parks around Beijing and replaced them with portraitsof Mao Zedong.

4To call the present China a cultural continuity is a joke - absurd, sick and cruel.

1 Jarrige,J.F. and M.Santoni, The Antecedents of Civilization in the Indus Valley , Scientific American, 243.8 (1980),

pp.102-10 2 Grain of rice points to pre-Harappan culture , Time of India, 5-Jan-2006

3 http://www.harappa.com/script/mahadevantext.html

4 John Kieschnick, The impact of Buddhism on Chinese material culture , Princeton University Press, 2003 p.70

Harappan seal to the current calendar art in popular Hinduism the continuit is self-evident




II

Famines Pre-British vs. British

Joshi: According to foreigners visiting this country, Indians were regarded as the best

agriculturists in the world. Records of these travels from the 4th Century BC till early-19th Century

speak volumes about our agricultural abundance which dazzled the world. The Thanjavur (900-

1200 AD) inscriptions and Ramanathapuram (1325 AD) inscriptions record 15 to 20 tonnes per

hectare production of paddy.

“The Hindu” response: Famine was common and is mentioned in Indian texts. We do not have

to go looking for certificates of merit from foreign visitors. References are made to anavrishti and

ativrishti and locusts as the cause. Famine is referred to in the Ramayana [1.8.12 ff] and the

Mahabharata [12.139] and in the latter it led to people eating all kinds of unsavoury things. The

frequency of references to the 12-year famine is found in many texts. Manu in his Dharma-

shastra, states that in times of famine social codes can be dispensed with. [102 ff] The Jatakas

refer to famines. [1.75, etc;]

Facts: In his 1917 book “England's debt to India; a historical narrative of Britain's fiscal policy in India ”, the great Indian freedom fighter and martyr, Lala Lajpath Rai speaks of a paper titled

"Some Plain Facts about Famines in India " which was read before and then published by the

East India Association of London. In that paper, Hindu legends, and the great epics, the

Mahabharata and the Ramayana were requisitioned to prove that severe famines occurred in pre-

British India.5

Of course Lajpath Rai proceeds to prove the hollowness of the argument.

But it is déjà vu British colonial propaganda in “The Hindu” 2009.That a colonial British

propaganda line is being rehashed by the “eminent historians” of “The Hindu” makes one feel the

symbolic irony of it all.

Now let us see the facts. Dr. W.B.Rahudkar one of the eminent agricultural

scientists of India provides extensive documentary evidence for the general

state of Indian agriculture during the advent of colonial period. He provides the

testimony of Luke Scrafton (1770) a member of Clive's council, that of Dr.

Wallick (1832) the Superintendent of the Royal Botanical Gardens in India,

Augustus Voelcker report on the improvement of Indian Agriculture (1897) –

each testifying to the efficacy of Indian agriculture. (This is not seeking

certificates of merits from foreigners rather showcasing the

documentary evidence for the health state of Indian agriculture

as recorded by the observers of that time.) Dr. Rahudkar goes

on to analyze the reason for the downfall of Indian agriculture.

He states:

This excellent picture of Indian agriculture got radically changed after the British

started ruling the country through their imported system of ownership of land,

5 Lajpat Rai, England's Debt to India: A Historical Narrative of Britain's Fiscal Policy in India , Original 1917, re-published

by BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, p.264

Ironically nearly a century agoIndian freedom fighters faced thesame arguments from Britishpropaganda that The Hindu isrehashing today.




land tenure, land revenue, laws, education, imposition of western knowledge of

agriculture and establishment of the Department of Agriculture.6

This may seem a harsher indictment by a Gandhian agricultural scientist. However voluminous

evidence exists to show that the pre-British famines were highly localized; originated more due to

local natural causes and hence people often moved

over to other areas and thus were not drastically

affected. On the other hand the famines during the

British period were the result of mismanagement or

callous disregard for human suffering and extended

over vast areas. Thus the British famines were

literally holocausts.

Historian Kaushik Chakraborthy explains the

difference between pre-British and British famines.

The pre-British traditional resource management in

India allowed local control and this resulted in “food

security and virtual absence of all India famines.” As against this the British colonial rule led to“the gradual establishment of state control over resource use” which in turn “displaced and

marginalized indigenous population, indigenous knowledge and tried to over determine natural or

ecological balance leading directly to water and food scarcity, environmental degradation, and

famine, which took millions of lives.”7

Economic historians of the famine also point out that pre-

British traditional famine relief measures like “dignified relief and tax forgiveness” were effective in

ameliorating the terrible human tragedy that was created by famines.

Further the eminent historians of “The Hindu” while speaking about the famines

in Indic literature are silent about the rich tradition in India of feeding the hungry

people. From Vedic dictum to produce food and give it to others, Thirumoolar’s

injunction to feed everyone with no discrimination, Buddhist altruism – the Indic

tradition of food sharing has been a highly effective decentralized famine relief

mechanism. Given the fact that pre-British famines were often the result of

natural failures and mostly localized, the value system of food sharing was an

effective counter to such famines.

Of course “The Hindu” group of historians simply missed such little facts. After

all Thirumoolar is no Confucius and Manimekalai is no Maoist, for these

“eminent historians” employed by pro-Chinese newspaper to take notice of.

So what Joshi claims is factually correct. There was over all food security and

regional abundance and regional scarcity organically balanced each other,

which also prevented famines which became holocausts under British.

6 W.B.Rahudkar, Traditions, Beliefs and Supersitions in Agricultural Production, in Productivity Of Land And Water , (Ed. J.

H. Patil, M A Chitale, S B Varade, Shankar Raoji Chavan), Taylor & Francis, 1997, pp.285-67 Kaushik Chakraborthy , Economy Of Eastern India From Pre-Colonial To The British Empire : abstract, presented at

panel on the British Empire and Famines in South Asia, Fifth International Convention of Asia Scholars

Scholars opine that British disruption oftraditional Indian resource management was oneof the reasons for severe famines during Britishrule.

Saint Thirumoolarexhorted humanity tofeed everyone withno discrimination.Such cultural valueshelped Indiaovercome localizedfamines of pre-Britishperiod.




III

Was education universal in pre-British India?

Joshi: It has been established beyond doubt by the several reports on education at the end of the

18th Century and the writings of Indian scholars that not only did India have a functioning

indigenous educational system but that it actually compared more than favourably with the

system obtaining in England at the time in respect of the number of schools and colleges

proportionate to the population, the number of students in schools and colleges, the diligence as

well as the intelligence of the students, the quality of the teachers and the financial support

provided from private and public sources. Contrary to the then prevailing opinion, those attending

school and college included an impressive percentage of lower caste students, Muslims and girls.

“The Hindu” response: There were no schools or colleges as we know them today in ancient

India. Upper caste children were educated in mathas, agraharas and sometimes monasteries.

Children following a profession were apprentices in that profession. Lower castes and women

were not educated generally. In Sanskrit plays they are the ones who speak the vernacular

language Prakrit whilst the upper caste, educated persons speak Sanskrit.

The Facts: Of course there were no schools or colleges in ancient

India as we know them today. Nor were there universities and

libraries, as we know them today. But then why do we call the

University of Nalanda – a university and the Library of Alexandria a

library? It is because we are able to recognize their general nature

and purpose beyond the modern features of their present age

counterparts. In the same way the Thinnai schools of the yester-

centuries were schools. The British form of education destroyed

these de-centralized and cost-effective structures, rather than

improving and evolving upon them so that mass education could be

provided in a more egalitarian way.

It is understandable that an alien

colonial government destroyed and

demonized the Indian system. But what

is incomprehensible is the way newspapers like “The Hindu” are

perpetuating these colonial myths.

Gandhian historian Dharampal shows that the students from so-

called low caste studied in the pre-British traditional schools of 19th

century India. In the Malabar area the proportion of the so-called

twice born in the schools was below 19 percent that of Shudras and

other castes was 54 percent. In the Kannada speaking Bellarydistrict the twice-born was 33 percent while the Shudras and other

castes was 63 percent and in the Oriya speaking Ganjam the twice-

born was 35.6 percent while Shudras and other caste was 63.5 percent.8

In Burdwan region of

West Bengal it was found that though missionaries ran 13 mission schools, W.Adam's report on

8 Dharampal, A Beautiful Tree: Indigenous India Education in the Eighteenth Century , Biblia Impex, 1983. pp .22-23

Traditional mythology states

that Krishna and his brotherboth cowherds studied inancient Gurukul along withBrahmins with nodiscrimination.

Gandhian historian ofscience Dharampal bustedmany colonial myths about

traditional Indian educationthrough his well documentedbook “A beautiful tree” .




Sri Narayana Guru – Vedantin and socialreformer studiedSanskrit in traditionalsystem from a non-Brahmin teacher.

the state of education in Bengal 1835-38 revealed that, of the 760 scholars from 16 of the "lowest

castes" 674 scholars were from the native schools while only 86 were from mission schools.9

Let us compare this situation with England, which was not under any colonial drainage of its

wealth. Even then in 19th

century the education for laborers was severely opposed on religious

grounds. For example, in 1807 Davies Gilbert who was an eminent scientist and citizen spoke in

the Commons that “giving education to the laboring classes of the poor…would render them

factious and refractory …would enable them to read seditious pamphlets, vicious books and

publications against Christianity …render them insolent and indolent to their superiors…”10

Sanskrit was not an exclusive language of a particular caste or region in India. The Adi Kavi of

Sanskrit Valmiki was a tribal and the greatest Sanskrit dramatist Kalidasa

was a Sudra . In latter periods, even in Kerala which was considered as

“lunatic asylum” by Swami Vivekananda because of casteist degradation of

fellow human beings by so-called upper castes, Sri Narayana Guru was

able to study Sanskrit in the traditional school system. His Sanskrit teacher

was also a non-Brahmin.11

It is a historical fact that the caste system is an undemocratic system. The

evils of caste system should be undone. It is the duty of every educated

Indian to eliminate the demeaning imprints of caste system from the

society. But that need not blind us to the merits of our traditional institutions

which we lost during the colonial regime. These traditional institutions are

not the same as caste and they also provide us the way to mitigate the

evils of casteism. However while the British destroyed these traditional

egalitarian institutions, they also preserved the caste and transformed it into a frozen hierarchical

system.

So once again Joshi is right that we need to find our egalitarian traditional institutions and their

strengths. And it is typically cunning twist that “the eminent historians” are trying to give to this by

mapping it to casteism.

9 Dharampal:1983

10John Rule, The labouring classes in early industrial England 1750-1850, Longman 1986, p.235.

11 Nataraja Guru, The word of the Guru , Paico Publishers, 1968, p.256




IV

Technological advancements in ancient India: Fact or fiction

Joshi: Old British documents established that India was far advanced in the technical and

educational fields than Britain of 18th and early-19th Century. Its agriculture technically and

productively was far superior; it produced a much higher grade of iron and steel. The Iron Pillar at

Mehrauli in Delhi has withstood the ravages of time for 1,500 years or more without any sign of

rusting or decay.

“The Hindu” response: The iron-pillar at the Qutab has rusted but the rust cannot be seen as it

is in the socket at the top. Astronomy, mathematics and medicine were at a premium from the

Seventh century onwards when there was close interaction between scholars from Alexandria,

Baghdad, India and China.

The Facts: As far as the iron-pillar, “The Hindu” indulges in petty word

play. The point is that ancient India had a technology for producing

highly corrosion resistant iron. In fact the eminent metallurgist

Professor T.R.Anatharaman who brought the first book entirelydevoted to the technical and scientific aspects of the Delhi iron pillar

titled it "The Rustless Wonder - A study of the iron pillar at Delhi ". This

was published by Vigyan Prasar of New Delhi in

1996. Here the term rustless by the eminent

metallurgist is used to denote the high resistance

to atmospheric corrosion by the iron pillar which is

definitely a wonder of ancient technology of India.

It is unfortunate that a newspaper which once

prided itself as a “national newspaper” has fallen

so much in ethics that it is indulging in word

jugglery just to deny the due achievements of ancient India because of

ideological vested interests that have infiltrated this once respected

institution.

As far as the flow of knowledge is concerned, while it is true that in ancient

times synthesis of knowledge from various civilizations often happened at

knowledge centers of the world like Kanchi or Alexandria, the Euro-centric

history writing has often emphasized only West to East transmission of

knowledge. Hence it is necessary that Indo-centric writing of history is needed which should

document the flow of knowledge from East to West not only in spiritual philosophy but also

material sciences. For example historian of science, Donald F Lach says:

Certain of the algebraic conceptions of Pythagoras, such as irrational numbersand the theorem named for him may have been derived from Indian

mathematics. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Hindu-Arabic

numerical and computational system as well as elements of Indian astronomy

certainly passed through the Islamic world into Europe, possibly by means of

Spanish intermediaries...The sine of trigonometry, which had first appeared in

Pythagoras: WillIndic influence onhim, ever betaught to Indianstudents?




Indian astronomical works was introduced into Europe through the translations of

the Arabic works.12

Every student of history learns the unproved thesis that the Alexandrian invasions brought zodiac

to India but how many Indian students even know the facts about knowledge transfusion from

East to West in not just ancient world even during the early decades of colonization which along

with capital drainage from colonized societies helped in the building of the western institutions of

science which we marvel today as an exclusively western phenomenon?

V

Ancient Indians: Did they know or know not plastic surgery and vaccination?

Joshi: India knew plastic surgery, practised it for centuries and, in fact, it has become the basis

of modern plastic surgery. India also practised the system of inoculation against small pox

centuries before the vaccination was discovered by Dr. Edward Jenner.

“The Hindu” response: India had no practice of plastic surgery until modern times. Nor did India

know about vaccines.

The Facts: Perhaps here the “eminent historians” of the Maoist newspaper from Madras can join

issue equally with the Congress candidate from Trivandrum as they do with Joshi. Sashi Tharoor

writes:

Nor do scholars contest India's claim to have produced the first surgeon, Susruta,

whose methods (and tools) of surgery, including plastic surgery and prostheses

for amputees, pioneered the field.13

Let us go for more scholarly view on the subject. The authors of the

authoritative book, “Great Ideas in the History of Surgery” state thus with

regard to this question:

The most outstanding achievements of Indian surgery, however , are

recorded in the chapters of lithotomy, laparotomy and plastic

surgery...Although the question of reciprocal influence of Indian and

Western medicine in general has never been completely answered, it

is an established fact that Indian plastic surgery provided the basic

pattern for Western efforts in this direction.14

In the case of vaccination, we do know that ancient Indians practiced a form

of small pox inoculation. The practice of band of medical men moving along

the villages of India during the spring and inoculating persons diagnosedsusceptible to smallpox has been documented in the eighteenth century.

They are considered by modern medical researchers as “world’s first mobile

12 Donald F. Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe: A Century of Wonder : Book Three : The Scholarly Disciplines ,

University of Chicago Press, 1994, p.407 13

Shashi Tharoor, India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond , Arcade publishing, 2006 p.300 14

Leo M. Zimmerman, Ilza Veith, Great Ideas in the History of Surgery , Norman Publishing 1993, p.63

This Indian method ofnose reconstruction

illustrated in theGentleman Magazine1794, was responsiblefor renewed interest inplastic surgery inEurope.




inoculation teams.”15

It should also be stated that the British unexplainably banned the indigenous

inoculation against smallpox.16

So if anything here Joshi should be accused of understating the achievements and the

humanitarian nature of the institution of medicine in pre-British India.

VI

“There were no hospitals in ancient India”

Joshi: Fa-Hian, writing about Magadha in 400 AD, has mentioned that a well organised health

care system existed in India.

“The Hindu” response: The Chinese pilgrims visiting India — Fa Hien and Hsuan Tsang —

make a brief mention of sick persons being treated by having to fast for seven days and being

given some medicine. This was probably the treatment given to sick monks in monasteries. There

were no hospitals.

The Facts: The “eminent historians” as usual shove awaythe testimony of Chinese pilgrims and speculate that the

caring of sick by giving medicines were “probably

…treatment…in monasteries” and then authoritatively

declare that there were no hospitals.

First let us see the “brief mention” of one of these Chinese

pilgrims Fa-Hian who visited Indian during the Gupta

period and see for ourselves if there is anything that

makes one thing if the hospitals mentioned here were actually hospitals or “treatment given to

sick monks in monasteries” as claimed by the “eminent historians”:

People repair thither from all the provinces, and the delegates whom the chiefs ofthe kingdoms maintain in the town have each established there a Medicine-

house of happiness and virtue. The poor, the orphans, the lame, in short all the

sock of the provinces repair to these houses, where they receive all that is

necessary for their wants. Physicians examine their complaints; they are supplied

with meat and drink according to expedience, and medicines are administered to

them. Everything contributes to soothe them: those that are cured go away of

themselves.17

Clearly the “eminent historians” have trusted their readers not to verify the original passages.

Now let us look at the literary and Epigraphical evidence to see how the hospital services evolved

over a period of thousand years from before the Common Era. The second rock edict of Asoka(272-232 BCE) claims the establishment of two kinds of healings –one for humans and another

15 Donald R Hopkins, The greatest killer: smallpox in history, with a new introduction , University of Chicago Press, 2002

p.1716

Darshan Shankar & Ram Manohar, Ayurveda Today - Ayurveda at the Crossroads , in Oriental Medicine: An Illustrated Guide to the Asian Arts of Healing , (Ed. Jan Van Alphen, Jan Alphen, Anthony Aris, Mark De Fraeye, Fernand Meyer),Serindia Publications, Inc., 1995, p.10017

The Pilgrimage of Fa Hian , Published by Baptist Mission Press, 1848, p.255




for animals. Though many scholars interpret this to mean hospitals some dispute it.18

The Tamil

epic Chilapathikaram dated between 200-300 CE speaks of a Tamil society that honored Vedic

Deities and built separate houses for diseased persons called "Ilanchi Mantram" where the

afflicted stayed and got healed of their diseases.19

Supporting of health institutions evolved into a

great virtue in South Indian culture. Dr. Gurumurthy, archeologist from University of Madras

points out that Chola records as old as thousand years refer to the dispensary as Atulasalai or

vaidya salai, (Atula or Vaidya meaning medicine and salai meaning institution of charitable

nature). He further points out that large number of inscriptions speak of the establishment of such

dispensaries in villages.20

The Thirumukkudal inscription (1067 CE) gives details about a Chola hospital that had fifteen

beds for the treatment of patients. The inscription gives details about the staff which include chief

physician, surgeon, two persons looking after the fetching and preparation of medicinal herbs,

two nurses for attending the patients, a barber and a waterman and their salaries. Apart from

staff, provisions were also made for the hospital infrastructure which included supply of food for

in-house patients, burning of lamps at night and storing the prepared medicines.21

Kundavai – the

legendary sister of Rajaraja- I established a hospital (Sundara Chola Vinnagar Athula Salai) at

Thanjavur.22

According to Malkapuram inscription (Andhra Pradesh) dated 1261 CE a Kakatiyaking made land donation for a maternity hospital.

23

Yet in the face of such evidence the “eminent historians” asserted that there were no hospitals in

India prior to British.

18 Charles M. Leslie, Asian medical systems: a comparative study , Motilal Banarsidass, 1998, p.34

19 Chilapathikaram, Puhar kanTam: Description of how the city celebrated Indra festival, 1:5:121

20 S. Gurumurthy, Medical Science and Dispensaries in ancient South India as gleaned from epigraphy , Indian Journal of

History of Sciences, Vol.5, No.1, 1970, p.77 21

Epigraphica Indica, Vol. XXI, No.38, p.220 22

T. Sundaramurthi, Varalarril Maruthuvam(Tamil), Chennai, 1978, pp.9-1823

Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society, Vol. IV, pp. 147-64






century AD, where it was reinforced via India and Burma when in the fourteenth

century the Thai came to rule Thailand and Laos (from their capital Ayutthia,

named after Rama's capital, Ayodhya). A Shiva-and Buddha worshipping Hindu

dynasty was implanted in Champa (south Vietnam) in the late second century

AD. The Hindus colonized Borneo about AD 400 and dominated its society for

sometime. ...As late as the ninth century, East Indian merchant dynasties were

still ruling Java, Sumatra, Malaya and Cambodia. The cultural development

based on Gupta influence in Cambodia reached their height long after the Gupta

empire had ended. The island of Bali is still Hindu, a continuing tribute to the

strength of Indian commerce and cultural influence in this period.25

The reason this passage has been quoted at length here is because

one has to suspect ulterior motives in “The Hindu” minimizing the

historic cultural ties that India has with South East Asia.

As every one knows, “The Hindu” has darkly transformed itself into a

strong pro-Chinese magazine and stands for the interests of China,

even at the expense of the interests of India. Today China has anambitious plan to dominate the Indian Ocean region by forming

strategic tie up with South East Asian countries (including Thailand

and Indonesia) and also with Sri Lanka and Pakistan.26

For China to

get a firm an emotional foothold in these nations Indian cultural

influence has to be minimized. So it is no wonder that The Hindu is

serving the Chinese interests in India itself by minimizing or belittling

India’s historical ties with South East Asia.

Further the extent of Indian

influence on South East Asia

was not a one time

colonization or missionaryinfluence. Rather it was

continuous, organic and pan-

Indian. Amara Srisuchat,

director of Thailand’s national

museum points out the

following: the early image of

Vishnu from Chaiya, (5th

century CE) reflects influence

of South Indian tradition and

another 8th

century Vishnu

from Thailand shows SouthIndian influence of 7th

century.

A 10th

century four-faced

Brahma from Thailand reflects

the same tradition as the 9th

century Kashmiri Brahma sculpture from Avantipura. Nalanda served

25 Milo Kearney, T he Indian Ocean in World History, Routledge, 2004, p.50

26 Gurpreet S. Khurana, China's 'String of Pearls' in the Indian Ocean and Its Security Implications, Strategic Analysis,

Volume 32, Issue 1 January 2008 , pp 1-39

Shiva: Vietnam 11th

to 12th

century.

Chinese strategy to contain India in the Indian Ocean:Notice how this touches all South East Asian countriesthat have historic and cultural association with India.Both China and “The Hindu” want to minimize or belittlethese ties to facilitate China to have a stranglehold onthese nations and Indian Ocean.




as a model for Buddhist art in the 10-11th

century. The triple-flexion (tribanga) image of Buddha in

Nagapattinam serves as a model for Sukhothai artisans in Thailand. Another important pinnacle

of Indian cosmological vision –the Dance of Siva which gained strong prominence during the

Chola period in the 12th

century almost instantaneously has appeared in the sculptural scene of

Thailand.27

Yet the “eminent historians” of “The Hindu” claim that there was only “some knowledge of south-

east Asia”. It is “some knowledge” and lot of ignorance indeed…in the worldview of “The Hindu”

team that is.

VIII

The secular Humanism of Hindu civilization

Joshi: The belief in essential unity of mankind is a unique feature of Hindu thought. The Vedic

Rishi had also declared that Ekam Sad Viprah Bahudha Vadanti (truth or reality is one but wise

men describe it in different ways). This is essentially a secular thought in the real sense of the

term because it accepts that one can follow his own path to reach the ultimate. Hindus are well

known for their belief in harmony of religions.

“The Hindu” response: 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. Only the Buddhists expounded a view that might be called

secular since they emphasised social ethics irrespective of other links. And Buddhists were

ousted by Hindus.

The Facts: That Buddhists were expounded secular view while Hindus were concerned only with

establishing caste and sect is a

falsifiable myopic view of Indian history.

The studies by none other than

R.S.Sharma on the fourth caste

category (the Shudras) in ancient India

showed that the Buddhist philosophy of

Ahimsa and Buddha's injunction to

monks to refrain from cultivation

resulted in peasants being relegated to

the Shudra Varna or the lowest caste.28

Asoka pillar edicts also speak of

restrictions on hunters and fishermen

who were forced to give up their

professions by the state authority

because of the religious belief of the king. This could hardly be construed as secular.29

As againstsuch state sponsored religious restriction, Hindu savants embraced the Dalits and elevated them

27 Amara Srisuchat, Art Objects and Architectures reflecting Indo-Thai cultural linkages . In Mapping connections Indo-Thai

historical and cultural linkages , Ed. Sachchidanand Sahai and Neeru Misra, Mantra 2006, pp.42-328

Debjani Ganguly , Caste, colonialism and counter-modernity: notes on a postcolonial hermeneutics of caste ,

Routledge, 2005, p.94 29

Paul Williams, Buddhism: Buddhist origins and the early h istory of Buddhism in South and Southeast As ia , Taylor &

Francis, 2005,p.59

Two of the greatest Buddhist achievements in IndiaNalanda University and Ajanta cave paintings hadHindu patronage.




to the rank of Divine.30

The caste system and untouchability were the result of state-building and

socio-economic exploitation as well as ritual-power group formation. Hence they are universal

social phenomena, in resource-scarce societies with restricted mobility. But the earliest

opposition to marginalization of people in society based on their birth or profession has been

voiced consistently by Hindu savants – from Sankara to Swami Vivekananda to Sri Narayana

Guru and Mahatma Gandhi. Atheism is also recognized by Hinduism as a valid path in quest of

truth. Hence seeing Hinduism as a civilizational basis of India and its secular nature is not wrong.

Further it is historically wrong to

say that Hinduism ousted

Buddhism. In fact the greatest

civilizational achievements of

Buddhism in India were achieved

under the patronage of Hindu

kings. Nalanda was patronized by

Gupta kings. Jesuit Indologist

Heras in his famous paper on the

royal patrons of NalandaUniversity, while commenting on

Kumara Gupta a Vaishnava

patron of the Buddhist university,

informs his English audience that

“such respect and esteem for Buddhism is not a strange thing in a Hindu monarch.”31

And

the famous Ajanta paintings were created under the patronage of the Ministers of Hindu Vakataka

dynasty.32 Perhaps “the eminent historians” would do well to read Ambedkar to discover who

“ousted” Buddhism from India. Dr. Ambedkar said that there could be no doubt that the fall of

Buddhism was due to the Arab invasions.33

He also condemned Chinese aggression over Tibet.

There is no need to shy away from the word Hindu. And there is no need to give away secular-

humanist ideals as enshrined in our constitution either. In fact there is no conflict between these

two stands. This is brought out wonderfully by none other than Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam along with

the Jain seer Acharya Mahapragya:

The underlying tenets of Indian civilization, which is termed as a Hindu society

cannot be easily defined…The Vedas and Smritis speak highly of equality and

brotherhood – Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One World One Family). The entire

world is one family is the motto of Vedic civilization. …What is the unique feature

of Indian civilization? Perhaps an emotional open heart and a tolerant mindset!

…The essential pluralism of Indian ethos explains the existence of many faiths in

Hindu religion as well as multiple indigenous versions of other major religions.

Not that there have not been lapses, deviations and even refusals, both in earlierrimes and less forgivably, in recent times. But these are only aberrations. In the

30 Thirunavuckarasar Thevaram , 6.95.10

31 Fr. Heras, The Royal Patrons of the University of Nalanda, Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Vol. XIV

1928 pp. 1-23 32

K.D.Bajpai, Five phases of Indian art,Rajasthan-Vidya Prakashan , 1991 p.73 33

B.R. Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches , vol.3, p.229

Two of the greatest destructions against Buddhism in recenthistory were perpetrated by Maoism and pan-Islam: curiouslyboth the forces are supported by “The Hindu”




words of the sociologist Leela D’Souza the real enduring Indian is syncretic,

pluralistic and tolerant.34

Today the indigenous versions of all religions are threatened by virulent foreign versions

supported by alien funding and vote bank politics.

So wishing that every faith living in India the secular state, ancient civilization and pluralistic

society, must take a leaf out of the eternal spiritual ethos of India for a harmonious living, is not a

sectarian or supremacist wish as “The Hindu” tries to depict.

Far from that it is the need of the hour. An objective analysis of “The Hindu” and its team of

“eminent historians”, makes Joshi stand vindicated and the Maoist newspaper stands fully

exposed.

A Hope for “The Hindu”

We were once daily readers of The Hindu ; we grew with it. But today we have painfully eschewed

it. The reason is that we perceive in “The Hindu” a bias against India and a disregard for basichumanity. We see it tow a Marxist party-line towards China and we see it support genocidal

regimes.

Nevertheless we sincerely hope that this is a passing phase of perversion for the newspaper.

We also hope that “The Hindu” – an age old institution, would redeem itself from the abyss of the

ethics-less journalism and anti-national treason into which it has fallen. May “The Hindu” like the

phoenix once again rise from this present state of degeneracy and function again as a truly

national newspaper as envisioned by the original founders of the newspaper.

Jai Hind

34 Acharya Mahapragya and APJ Abdul Kalam, The Family and the Nation , Harper Collins India 2008, p.77 & pp.85-6

Documents

The Hindu vs Joshi