Book Review [153] : Awakening Bharat Mata - The Political Beliefs Of The Indian Right

After reading 'Aavarana' by S. L. Bhyrappa last month, i stopped at 'Awakening Bharat Mata' by Swapan Dasgupta did not rest without finishing this book. This book is first of its kind, not seen any comprehensive book on the ideology of Indian Right from a benign perspective. Before this book i have only read Left intellectuals polemic on Hindutva and Hindu Right Wing.

This book is a collection of articles/speeches of eminent Indian Intellectuals like Sister Nivedita, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Adwani, Gurumurthy, Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, Shri Aurobindo, R C Majumdar, Jadunath Sarkar, M G Ranade, R G Bhandarkar etc.

This book raises few important points and i would like to iterate few of those:

1. Why is there no Arab guilt about Black Africa? The Arabs were importing slaves all along. Many such slaves were castrated and employed as eunuchs to guard harems etc etc.

2. The Christian theocratic universe considers Oriental religions as Pagans and according to it religious tenets these religions needed to be converted to Christianity and pagan practices required to be exterminated.

3. The Islamic view point is also not very different. The people who are not mentioned in the Book are Kafirs and are required to be converted to Islam.

4. Native Indian religions accepted all other religions as acceptable paths to the supreme goal of salvation.That's why these religions did not need any organization or Church. Since every other view point found place in Indian philosophy no bloodshed was required. Native Indian religions had and have no response to religions which negated the very concept of Native Indian religions. Its almost an impossible ask to reconcile two different ideologies when one ideology states its goal as complete extermination of other. Europe was 'harmonized' by wiping out all 'Pagan' religions. Arab was 'harmonized' by exterminating all 'Kaafir' practices. India has been a target for over thousand years, it has been truncating for over thousand years.

This book needs to be read. Some will mock this book but mockery will not dilute the important points raised by this book. I end this by copying few lines from this book:

"Emperor Jahangir cut the Akshay Bat tree of Allahabad down to its roots and hammered a red hot iron cauldron on to its stump. He flattered himself that he had killed it. But lo! within a year the tree began to grow again and pushed the heavy obstruction to its growth aside!

Shivaji has shown that the tree of Hinduism is not really dead, that it can rise from beneath the seemingly crushing load of centuries of political bondage, exclusion from administration, and legal repression; it can put forth new leaves and branches; it can again lift its head up to the skies."

Highly Recommended Book (10/10)