W’end Links: Nehru, Astrology, History and Obama

Start your weekend with this fascinating article on “Jawaharlal Nehru and Astrology” by K N Rao (Thanks to Sh Krishen Kak for alerting me to this):

…Nehru was a Kashmiri pandit, His uncle Bansidhar Nehru was a Sanskrit scholar and an astrologer. His father Motilal Nehru depended on the court astrologer of the state of Khetri for the horoscopes of his family. (see my book, the Nehru Dynasty) Those horoscopes were used for all those important occasions when Hindus take astrological approval for their decisions, mainly marriage. It was on this ground, astrological basis, that Kamla Nehru, the non-English knowing Kashmiri beauty from Sitaram Bazar, Delhi, was chosen for the European Jawaharlal Nehru who never went to an Indian school in India and had no Indian classmates.

…The myth of Jawaharlal Nehru being anti-astrology would have persisted if in a major paper on astrology, the following had not appeared. It was the year 1983 and an astrological conference at Bangalore where in a major paper of mine containing tabulated predictions, given in advance, the prefatory remarks were Letter No.74 From Jawaharlal Nehru Ahmadnagar Fort To Krishna Hutheesing-20 Carmichael Road, Bombay 29.8.1944 :

” In my letter to Indu I suggested to her to ask you to get a proper horoscope made by competent person. Such permanent record of the date and the time of birth are desirable. As for the time, I suppose the proper solar time should be mentioned and not the artificial time which is being used outside now. War time is at least an hour ahead of the normal time” (Nehru’s letters to his sister-edited with an introduction by Krishna Hutheesing-Faber and Faber,24 Russel Square, London).

I then added the following comment.”Surprisingly this portion has been omitted by the editor of the letters of Pandit Nehru published by the Publications Division
of Government of India, perhaps in his overanxiety to preserve the “secular” image of Pandit Nehru. The editor exercised his selective judgment in a way as will distort some facets of the personality of Nehru”

The battle had begun between the “progressive and secular” writers of Indian history and astrologers with this paper of mine. The salutary effect of this was that when Volume 13 of Nehru’s letters were published, the following letter to Indira Gandhi contained the following additional information.

“Betty no doubt will take necessary steps to have a ‘Janmapatri” ( Hindi) made. This should be done for that is our traditional way to record the exact date and time of birth, the date according to Samvat Calendar, as far as I can make it out is Bhadrapad 2-Samvat 2001, or put it differently second day of the bright half of the Moon in the month of Bhadra Samvat 2001. Betty writes time of birth was 8.11 a.m. But what time? The time observed now is war time which is at least one hour ahead of normal time, possibly more. It is thus the artificial time and not the real time, according to which Moon should be when Sun is highest in the heaven…… Letter No.77

S.Gopal, the editor of Nehru’s letters got a clear warning that if he suppressed relevant and authentic material from Nehru papers which showed that Kashmiri Brahmin’s belief in astrology, he would be dragged to court besides being exposed. So he came with another letter this time which Nehru wrote to his daughter Indira Gandhi after the birth of her first son, Rajiv Gandhi.It was thus, from December 1983 that the myth of Nehru’s anti astrology image of exploded.

Read more here.

Next, a brief excerpt from “Challenging Sex Taboos, With Help From the Koran”:

Wedad Lootah does not look like a sexual activist. A Muslim and a native Emirati, she wears a full-length black niqab — with only her brown eyes showing through narrow slits — and sprinkles her conversation with quotes from the Koran.

Yet she is also the author of what for the Middle East is an amazingly frank new book of erotic advice in which she celebrates the female orgasm, confronts taboo topics like homosexuality and urges Arabs to transcend the backward traditions that limit their sexual happiness.

The book, “Top Secret: Sexual Guidance for Married Couples,” is packed with vivid anecdotes from Ms. Lootah’s eight years as a marital counselor in Dubai’s main courthouse. It became an instant scandal after it was published in Arabic in the Emirates in January, drawing praise from some liberals and death threats from conservatives, who say she is guilty of blasphemy or worse.

Read it in full.

Move on to Varnam’s Op-Ed in Pragati: “Getting Objective about it”:

In January 2009, US network PBS telecast a documentary titled The Story of India. Hosted by Michael Wood,this six-part series narrated a compressed history of India from pre-historic times till Independence. The first episode—Beginnings—-discussed one of the most controversial topics in Indian history: the origin of the Aryans.

In this episode Mr Wood did three things. Standing at Khyber Pass, looking down at the valley of Kabul river, he quoted the translation of a verse from Baudhayana Srautasutra which reads, “some went east..but some stayed at home in the west”. This verse, Wood opined, suggests an Aryan migration from Afghanistan into India.

Second, he went to Turkmenistan to meet Viktor Sarianidi, the legendary Russian archaeologist, who besides unearthing the Bactrian gold in northern Afghanistan, found horses, wheeled vehicles and mud-brick fire altars in Gonur Tepe, Turkmenistan. According to Dr Sarianidi, the Aryans arrived there around 2000 BC and left in 1800 BC towards Afghanistan.

Third, Mr Wood mentioned a 1786 discovery by the polyglot Sir William Jones on the similarities between Sanskrit and various European languages, due to which if a Sanskrit speaker mentioned the word ashva, a Lithuanian farmer would know exactly what he meant. All these indicated that the ancestors of the Aryans were part of a language group which spread from the area between Caspian sea and Aral mountains 4000 years ago. As per this theory, these Sanskrit speaking newcomers subjugated the natives—Dravidians and tribals—and established themselves at the top of the caste hierarchy.

Sounds logical, but Mr Wood’s claims are controvertible. According to B B Lal, who was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, the correct translation of Baudhayana Srautasutra says that while some Aryan tribes went east and the others went west from some intermediary point. This intermediary point for Dr Lal is not the valley of the Kabul river, but that of the Indus.

Read all of it here.

And finally a thought-provoking article by Tavleen Singh titled, “Obama needs some more lessons in Islam”

The jihad did not appear one morning out of a clear blue sky. It happened because of a system of education in most Islamic countries that perpetuates the idea that Islam is the best thing that happened to mankind and that pluralism is wrong in Allah’s eyes. As for us happy idol-worshipping types, we are doomed to damnation. This idea is in direct conflict with the Indian idea of ‘sarva dharma samabhaava’. But, it is more than just religion that is the problem.

The Islamic sense of grievance is now so confused that the Americans are blamed for ‘abandoning’ Afghanistan after the Russians were defeated. Now that they are back, they are blamed for interfering in Islamic affairs. In the Middle East the stated objective of the jihad is to obliterate Israel but if Israel attempts to resist this fate it is charged with being brutal to Palestinians. It may not be politically correct to say this but the truth is that there could have been a solution in Palestine decades ago if Yasser Arafat had not been corrupt and amoral.

…What saddened me most about President Obama’s speech was that without actually apologising for America’s mistakes he made it sound as if all the mistakes were on one side. It would have been nice when he mentioned American mistakes if he had mentioned a few made by Islamic countries. Pakistan ran a black market in nuclear bombs. Saudi money builds madrasas in Indian villages that poison our happy heathen atmosphere. The war with the United States was started by Osama bin Laden. India is under constant threat from terrorist groups that continue to be nurtured by the Pakistani state. The release of Sayeed is proof. And, the reaction of President Obama’s government is to give Pakistan more aid than ever before.

Read it in full.

Related: All the past weekend links.

Enjoy the weekend. Stay healthy, keep smiling…and if you liked this post, don’t forget to “Tell a Friend” about it!