I doubt if this piece will ever find its way to Hon. Thiru Karunanidhi but if it does, he will have good reasons to re-consider his earlier remarks (emphasis mine)
Who is this Ram?
From which engineering college he graduated? Is there any proof for this?
What follows is by far one of the best (and most extensive) piece of research I have yet come across on the historicity of Ramar Sethu and Lord Shri Rama.
It is a fairly long post (even though I have only taken excerpts) - but please do read when you have the time. The points made are compelling and have been put together cogently. Considered within the overall context, they make a strong case for the preservation of Ram-Setu or Sethubandha Rameshwaram (Thanks to Dr S Kalyanaraman-ji for alerting me to this; Pl note that there are several instances of the word “Aryan” in this essay - I would like readers’ views on this theory vis-a-vis AIT)
*** CAUTION: Long Post ***
Excerpts from Ramsetu – myth or fact by Dr. Nishit Sawal, M.D. (Medicine), April 2008 (emphasis mine). Dr. Sawal begins his essay with the following preface re. the historical basis of Ramayana:
“The recent Sethusamudram project controversy has again brought in limelight the Ramayana and the question of it being an historical fact or a plethora of myths and fables.
The UPA government filed an affidavit stating that ‘mythological texts such as the Ramayana cannot be said to be historical record to incontrovertibly prove the existence of characters or the occurrence of events depicted therein’. Since this affidavit has cast doubts about whether Lord Rama actually existed or was just a hero of various myths whose fame increased to such an degree with the passage of time so that he came to be worshipped as God by succeeding generations , let’s evaluate the evidence we have of existence of lord Rama.
The foremost question is whether Lord Rama actually ruled in India and if yes, at what period. This is not an easy task for around Lord Rama’s life has grown a tangle of pious legend , through which it is very difficult to penetrate to the flowers of historic truth.”
Dr Sawal then examines the lives of Lord Buddha and Lord Jesus Christ (and the evidence surrounding them) and states:
Keep Reading…
June 14th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Ancient Indian History, Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentation about Hinduism, Ram Janambhoomi, Ayodhya, Saraswati-Sindhu Civilization |
9 comments
A well-wisher alerted me to this statement made by senior advocate Shri K Parasaran in the Supreme Court last week:
“Government should avoid causing any damage to the “Ram Setu” as it might leave a permanent scar in the minds of people like the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya….“
I am amazed…
Notice the multiple levels of mixing up, confusion and juxtapositioning that is going on here…
The matter of of Rama Sethu has somehow been clubbed with Babri Masjid, juxtaposing the demolition of Babri Masjid that happended WITHOUT any government or official sanction with the destruction of Ram Sethu which is being forced with the full blessings of powers that be…
In the process, we have the extraordinary spectacle of Lord Shri Ram, a revered figure to millions being “bracketed” with Babar, a foreign invader.
What worries me most about this statement though is its implication(s) for the Janmabhoomi movement…
Any thoughts? I am keen to hear responses.
Finally, a question to get you thinking: regardless of whether the Rama Sethu is man-made or is a natural formation, can it really be equated with Babri Masjid which was a structure deliberately constructed to humiliate a population that had been subjugated?
As someone wrote to me in an email, “…with “friends” like Sh. Parasaran, who needs enemies?” !
P.S. In case any of you is tempted to ask: my position on the demolition of Babri Masjid is that it was wrong, unfortunate and should not have happened.
Related Posts:
Voices of caution on SethuSamudram
The search for a historical “Rama”
Summary of the Historical Question - Ram Janmabhoomi
A suggested stance on Kashi & Mathura
May 10th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Ancient Indian History, Current Affairs, Debates & Discussions, Impact of Islam on India, Islamic Rule in India, Medieval Indian History, Politics and Governance in India, Ram Janambhoomi, Ayodhya |
4 comments
As the Supreme Court asked the Narendra Modi government to set up a Special Investigiation Team to probe the major Godhra riot cases, I came across this article, “A Requiem for Godhra“ by U. Narayana Das. Below are some excerpts (emphasis mine):
Excerpts:
“….When the whole body is on fire, the victim is “beyond exhaustion, locked into a private world where all existence is a miasma” to use a popular novelist’s quaint description of pain and “the will to survive ceases”, to invert his expression. The body prays the good lord to end it all!
…This was what the fifty nine Karsevaks including women and children travelling in S6, Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002 underwent – bodies wholly on fire, they were beyond exhaustion, locked into a private world where all existence was a miasma of pain and with the will to survive ceasing, praying the good lord to end it all.
Our good prime minister did not seem to lose any sleep that night* – on February 27, 2002 - as he did on the night of the Glasgow bombings in 2007. For after all, only the minorities have first claim to our national resources and the prime ministerial sleep is a national resource. It does not come cheap – to the nation!
Keep Reading…
April 1st, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Godhra, Indian Media, Politics and Governance in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement, Ram Janambhoomi, Ayodhya |
20 comments
This thought was prompted by an exchange in the comments section of this post.
Courtesy of Acorn, please read and reflect on this extract from a speech by the Honourable Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on 25th November 1949:
“If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do?
The first thing in my judgement we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha.
When there was no way left for constitutional methods for achieving economic and social objectives, there was a great deal of justification for unconstitutional methods.
But where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods.
These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us.”
.
I look forward to your thoughts and views. I think this could be a very interesting discussion.
Related Posts:
There is a “???????” in “??????????”…
Reassessing Mahatma: Did Gandhi-giri really worked?
February 27th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Debates & Discussions, Godhra, Modern Indian History, Politics and Governance, Politics and Governance in India, Post Independence History, Ram Janambhoomi, Ayodhya, Terrorism in India |
one comment
A few days ago I came across this piece by Kishore Asthana which makes a number of important points that form the backdrop to Godhra.
I am reproducing some excerpts below but I would encourage you to read the article in full: Tehelka’s Gujarat Expose and the Deeper Truth
Excerpts (emphasis mine):
“……Look at the progression. Arguments with tea vendors and rumours of kidnapping lead a Muslim mob to burn 60 people alive. The burning of 60 Hindu pilgrims results in carnage all over the state. It is a case of a petty incident leading to gross over-reaction, leading to a grosser over-reaction. It does not need too much intelligence to fix the blame where it belongs.
Babulal Bajrangi was a mere symptom of the disease. The underlying causes are our lopsided politics of division along caste and religion and our skewed perception of the word “secular” since our independence.
…The lessons the mind draws from all this are chilling. They are at many levels:
The Resentments – Lesson no. 1 - It is obvious that there is deep resentment amongst Hindu s at their treatment by Muslims who are emboldened by India ’s secular nature and its liberal intelligentsia. Hindus view themselves as the subjugated people of India and are constantly reminded of this by the politicians and the media. I am talking of the “average” Hindu who eventually matter and not the urban Hindu intelligentsia who show remarkable unawareness of their own double standards.
Imagine a group of Muslims returning from the Haj, in Lahore . They are on a train and are chanting Allah O Akbar. The train stops at a station, some of the Hajis fight with a Hindu tea vendor, and a mob of 1,000 Hindus collects and stones and torches the train. Would such a scenario be feasible in Pakistan ? No. But, in India , the reverse is easily accepted and no one appears to question the mindset of the Muslim leaders who encourage this or the Muslim mob which acts in this manner with seeming impunity.
Hindu s are not even permitted to enter Mecca but Muslims lay a claim to Ayodhya, the Mecca of the Ram Bhakts. All this births dissonance in the Hindu mind and the pressure keeps building up.
The Consequences : Lesson no. 2 – When the cork is blown open by an incident like Godhra, people like Babu Bajrangi and his ilk emerge, monster-like, fattened on this resentment. Once the Djinn is out of the bottle, there is no saying what will happen. We must learn to identify and neutralise such Djinns before they emerge from the bottle or, better still, not even give them an opportunity to take birth.
The Deeper Truth: Lesson no. 3 -. The deeper truth is that such resentments are building up all over India. The pressures of modern living, the proliferation of the media and its populist feeding frenzy, the minority- appeasing manipulations of political parties, the subversion of the bureaucracy and other such factors ensure that the detonator is well primed, the fuel is available; the cynical facilitators are all in place and only the trigger is needed.
…
Emotional Integration: The need, today, is for a quest for Emotional Integration. For this to come about, it is essential to face some unpalatable truths and come to grips with some very important and difficult to implement matters:
a. Primacy to the Indian Constitution over religious laws:
b. Sensitivity towards the feelings of the Hindu faithful: …In 50 years of independence, should our leaders not have ensured this by peaceful, legal means? If they had paid half as much attention to Hindu concerns as they pay to the concerns of minorities, it would have been enough…Instead, Hindu s have been taken for granted and the minorities pampered, with catastrophic results as far as the average Hindu ’s mindset is concerned.
c. Ending the Politics of Appeasement: Special privileges – subsidies for pilgrimages, reservations in jobs, scholarships to minority students etc. need to be stopped. A secular state must only give special privileges only to citizens who are in financial need at this time.
d. A more responsible media: This needs no elaboration.
e. A quicker and more effective law enforcement and judicial system: When the citizens start thinking that mobs must do what the state is incapable or unwilling to do, then we have the Gujarat riots, the lynching of criminals in our towns and villages and even encounter deaths. This kind of disproportionate retaliation is a hallmark of frustration of the citizens with the legal machinery.
f. Imposition of minimum qualifications and law-abiding record for our legislators.
g. Improvement in our education system to promote self-esteem and regard for our nation-hood. Our education delivery system is pathetic and does not inculcate desirable values in our young. It does not encourage the feeling of emotional integration with others.
…Our education by rote and the politicised, Eurocentric curriculum is playing havoc with national self-esteem. Neglect of teaching as the most important profession in the country has made matters worse.
…In its vigilantism, Tehelka has focused on events, rather than deeper causes. However, all Indians must look deeper, into our own selves and at our politicians, media, judges and bureaucracy, if we have to avoid more bloodshed in the name of religion.
***
A slightly edited version also appeared here.
Comments, thoughts and suggestions welcome as always. I think this is too important a matter to be left for the media alone.
Related Posts:
Of Godhra and Gujarat
Join the discussion on Islam, Hindutva, Dr Zakir Naik, Godhra and
Perverse secularism and India’s future
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November 20th, 2007
Posted by
B Shantanu |
A Hindu Identity, An Indian Identity, Godhra, Impact of Islam on India, Indian Media, Modern Indian History, Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement, Post Independence History, Ram Janambhoomi, Ayodhya |
4 comments
