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 have
employed 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.

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 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 that
early date to Harappan civilization.1 Similarly Harappan
roots have been discovered from within the geographical
area of modern India as well. In an International seminar
Harappan seal to the current
calendar art in popular Hinduism the on Indus Civilisation, director of Archaeological Survey
continuity is self-evident 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 portraits
of Mao Zedong.4 To 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

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 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
Ironically nearly a century ago documentary evidence for the health state of Indian agriculture
Indian freedom fighters faced the
same arguments from British as recorded by the observers of that time.) Dr. Rahudkar goes
propaganda that The Hindu is on to analyze the reason for the downfall of Indian agriculture.
rehashing today.
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

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 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

Scholars opine that British disruption of
difference between pre-British and British famines.
traditional Indian resource management was one
The pre-British traditional resource management in
of the reasons for severe famines during British
rule. 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. Saint Thirumoolar
exhorted humanity to
feed everyone with
Of course “The Hindu” group of historians simply missed such little facts. After no discrimination.
all Thirumoolar is no Confucius and Manimekalai is no Maoist, for these Such cultural values
“eminent historians” employed by pro-Chinese newspaper to take notice of. helped India
overcome localized
famines of pre-British
So what Joshi claims is factually correct. There was over all food security and period.

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.285-6
7
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

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 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
Traditional mythology states provided in a more egalitarian way.
that Krishna and his brother
both cowherds studied in
ancient Gurukul along with
It is understandable that an alien
Brahmins with no
discrimination. 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-

th
called low caste studied in the pre-British traditional schools of 19
century India. In the Malabar area the proportion of the so-called Gandhian historian of
science Dharampal busted
twice born in the schools was below 19 percent that of Shudras and many colonial myths about
other castes was 54 percent. In the Kannada speaking Bellary traditional Indian education
through his well documented
district the twice-born was 33 percent while the Shudras and other book “A beautiful tree”.
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

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the state of education in Bengal 1835-38 revealed that, of the 760 scholars from 16 of the "lowest
9
castes" 674 scholars were from the native schools while only 86 were from mission schools.

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
Sri Narayana Guru –
Indian to eliminate the demeaning imprints of caste system from the
Vedantin and social
society. But that need not blind us to the merits of our traditional institutions reformer studied
which we lost during the colonial regime. These traditional institutions are Sanskrit in traditional
system from a non-
not the same as caste and they also provide us the way to mitigate the Brahmin teacher.
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
10
John 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

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 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 entirely
devoted 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.
Pythagoras: Will
Indic influence on As far as the flow of knowledge is concerned, while it is true that in ancient
him, ever be
taught to Indian
times synthesis of knowledge from various civilizations often happened at
students? 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 numbers

and 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

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 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
13
for amputees, pioneered the field.

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
14
pattern for Western efforts in this direction.

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

This Indian method of
of small pox inoculation. The practice of band of medical men moving along nose reconstruction
the villages of India during the spring and inoculating persons diagnosed illustrated in the
Gentleman Magazine
susceptible to smallpox has been documented in the eighteenth century. 1794, was responsible
They are considered by modern medical researchers as “world’s first mobile for renewed interest in
plastic surgery in
Europe.
[www.sciencemuseum.
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

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inoculation teams.”15 It should also be stated that the British unexplainably banned the indigenous
16
inoculation against smallpox.

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 away

the 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 of
the 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.17
16
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.100
17
The Pilgrimage of Fa Hian, Published by Baptist Mission Press, 1848, p.255

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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
19
afflicted stayed and got healed of their diseases. 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 Kakatiya
king 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.9-18
23
Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society, Vol. IV, pp. 147-64

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 VII
Questioning the spread of Indian worldview to champion the cause of China?

Joshi: India’s worldview is known to have extended from Bamiyan/

Kandahar to Borobudur/ Indonesia on the one hand, and Sri Lanka
to Japan on the other. Imprints of Indian culture are found in some
other parts of the world as well.

“The Hindu” response: India’s world view did not extend from
Afghanistan to Indonesia. Hindus in south India knew nothing about
Bamiyan and those in north-western India knew nothing about
Borobudur. Nor was there any knowledge of Japan. There was some
knowledge of central Asia in the north-west of India, some
knowledge of south-east Asia in eastern and southern India and the
Cholas had contacts with Canton.
Worldview is not a term about
The Facts: One is astonished to find the way the “eminent geography. But the “eminent
historians” team of “The Hindu”
historians” of “The Hindu” have confused the term “worldview” with seems to have some problem
geographical knowledge. The American Heritage Dictionary of the in comprehending such terms.
English Language’s entry for Worldview (translation of German
Weltanschauung) defines the term thus:
The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world./A
collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.

In this issue the verbal diatribe of the “eminent historians” flows from this flawed understanding of
the term. (They could have at last consulted with their pet team of India-haters Witzel and
Farmer.)

Now let us take the case of Japan. Did the Indic world view reach
Japan? Zen the world famous Japanese Buddhism owes much to India
that in the authoritative volume “Complete Book of Zen” Wong Kiew Kit
dedicates a complete chapter to the title “The Spread of Zen from India”
where Wong lists 28 Buddhist patriarchs starting from Buddha to
24
Mahakasyapa through Nagarjuna to Bodhidharma. And as any pop-
spiritual Guru may say to you, Zen derives from Dhyan – very much an
Indian word.

Now let us see the validity of “some knowledge of south-east Asia” of the
Bodhidharma was “eminent historians” team of “The Hindu”. Scholar Milo Kearney in the
from Kanchi. book “The Indian Ocean in World History” gives an exhaustive extent of
Hindu influence in South East Asia:

The trading development had started in the pre-Gupta period, when Indian
merchants had crossed to South east Asia to obtain its gold. New cultural blends
resulted from mixture of Indian with indigenous influences. In the first century AD,
Kaundinya planted a Hindu settlement in Cambodia. His descendents were the
kings of the Khmer kingdom. Hindu civilization spread to Thailand in the second

24
Wong Kiew Kit, Complete Book of Zen, Tuttle Publishing, 2002, pp.63-75

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 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 an
ambitious 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
th th
Shiva: Vietnam 11 to 12 serving the Chinese interests in India itself by minimizing or belittling
century.
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 missionary
influence. 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 Chinese strategy to contain India in the Indian Ocean:
th Notice how this touches all South East Asian countries
another 8 century Vishnu
from Thailand shows South that have historic and cultural association with India.
th Both China and “The Hindu” want to minimize or belittle
Indian influence of 7 century.
th these ties to facilitate China to have a stranglehold on
A 10 century four-faced
these nations and Indian Ocean.
Brahma from Thailand reflects
the same tradition as the 9th century Kashmiri Brahma sculpture from Avantipura. Nalanda served

25
Milo Kearney, The 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

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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
th
Chola period in the 12 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
28
the Shudra Varna or the lowest caste.
Asoka pillar edicts also speak of Two of the greatest Buddhist achievements in India
restrictions on hunters and fishermen Nalanda University and Ajanta cave paintings had
who were forced to give up their Hindu patronage.
professions by the state authority
because of the religious belief of the king. This could hardly be construed as secular.29 As against
such 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.42-3
28
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 history of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia, Taylor &
Francis, 2005,p.59

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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 Nalanda
Two of the greatest destructions against Buddhism in recent University, while commenting on
history were perpetrated by Maoism and pan-Islam: curiously
Kumara Gupta a Vaishnava
both the forces are supported by “The Hindu”
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 earlier
rimes 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

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 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 basic
humanity. 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

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