This part begins from comments that were triggered following a post by Incognito (in which he referred to Nemo’c comment @ #51) on the earlier thread. Since it was in danger of getting overloaded (100+ comments already), I decided to move the recent comments here and start this new thread.
Please continue the discussion here…
I am reproducing excerpts from Nemo’s comment first (for context), followed by Incognito’s and others comments… Please read on:
*** COMMENTS BEGIN (CAUTION: Long Post) ***
Excerpts from Comment By Nemo (#51):
…
Hindus have had enough of the racist myth which …

Dear All: It is my pleasure to publish this very direct and blunt article by Dr Ajai Singh, M.D. and Editor of Mens Sana Monographs… Please do read and think about the points he has raised…Many of them make for uncomfortable reading…but these questions need to be asked and the ideas need to be discussed.
*** ”Straight Talk: The Challenge Before Modern Day Hinduism“  by Ajai Singh *** 
I wish to do some straight talk in this communication. No beating about the bush, no offering illusory solace.
I write this on the Oscar win for the film …

Some of you may have come across an article on Islam-watch recently that contained several derogatory references – supposedly from vedic texts – towards women and their position in ancient Hindu society. I was first alerted to it a few weeks ago by Jagmohan.
While I was still trying to compile references and source material to refute the claims made in the article, Parama Karuna-ji introduced me to Raju Maliger who forwarded me his rebuttal to Abul Kasem.
I would put this essay by Sh Maliger in the category of *Must read*. …

Many many years ago when my hair was still mostly black, I remember reading somewhere that parallel lines are those that never meet but are identical in terms of direction (slope) etc.
As I read about incidents of the past few days, I was reminded of this definition. But first a flashback…
Clad in all-enveloping burqas, the Dukhtaran-e-Millat, or Daughters of the Nation, have sought to impose their version of Islam on the city of Srinagar. They have closed restaurants where they found unmarried couples together, smashed alcohol bottles and ordered Internet cafes …

…or “The great joke that is Indian Media – Part IX“. Please read the following news-reports…(emphasis mine):
From NDTV:
Controversial writer Taslima Nasreen was attacked by an unruly crowd at the Hyderabad Press club on Thursday. Three MLAs of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen or MIM were among those who attacked her…The Bangladesh born writer was there for the release of the telugu version of her book Sokhe at the press club when some 30 activists first raised slogans against her for alleged anti-Muslim remarks and then got rough.
From DNA:
Controversial Bangladeshi author …

        Back in the good old days when Satyajit Ray often made the most sublime neo-realistic cinema, one Ms. Nargis Dutt caustically charged him with selling Indian poverty abroad. Yet, Satyajit Ray”s films did not feature Calcutta”s slums but the villages of Bengal. There was an undercurrent of poverty in his major films like Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Pratidwandhi but there was human irony. No romanticizing poverty yet ultimately a resounding affirmation of human dignity. Who can forget the immortal scene in Aparajito where a guilt ridden Apu, a poor …

Some excerpts below from an intensely thought-provoking article by Radha Rajan. Although I do not agree with everything in the article, I believe it will trigger a debate that we all need to have but are shying away from:
*** Excerpts from Mumbai terror probe – silence of the conspirators ***
There is a growing feeling among a small section of political commentators and the politically well-informed that there is a sinister silence in certain quarters of the media and the Indian intelligentsia about the core details of the Mumbai’s terror attack …

Thanks to Krishen-ji for alerting me to this article by Dr Arvind Sharma. The essay examines (in Krishen-ji’s words)
How authoritative really was Manu, and was his a contested text? Was the Manusmriti prescriptive of what he believed should be or descriptive of how society really was, or both?
In any case, what the article conclusively demonstrates is that “caste” as it is used in sociopolitical discourse today does not go back 3000 years as conventionally claimed, but is relatively recent.”  (emphasis mine)
Excerpts from “What Was Manu Up To?“
I should begin by clarifying that …

*** CAUTION: Long Post ***
About a month ago, I came across a “History” site meant for kids which had this “Ramayana Project for Kids“. Under “Some points for discussion”, it mentioned:
The Ramayana is …an Aryan story, and they show the people of southern India as bad monkeys – not even human.
How should we feel about this? Should we not perform the play? Should we try to show that Hanuman and the monkeys are people too?
In response, I wrote the following letter to Dr Carr who was managing this project and …

I am grateful to Sh Krishen Kak for allowing me to publish this essay by him (in full), first published as THE IDEA OF INDIA by India First Foundation, Nov 2008:127-138.  I would encourage everyone to please read it in full. It is superbly thought-provoking, richly referenced and well researched. Without further ado (CAUTION: Long Post),
*** THE IDEA OF INDIA ***
KRISHEN KAK
The idea of India is a conception often credited by our English-speaking “secular” elite to Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru or Sunil Khilnani, not necessarily in that order.
Our British colonizers …