Book Review [113] : The Hindus - An Alternative Story

There was a wild outrage in India when this book was pulped in 2013 on grounds of offending the religious feeling of Hindus. That time i did scan some website on this book and read some excerpts and i did found those offensive. To cause selective offense is a sacred task of Indian intellectuals and for them it is a one way street, nevertheless i consider that all books contain some degree of divinity and truth and should be respected not pulped.

Rig Ved says "Let the noble ideas come from all directions" but Rig Ved is clueless about "not so noble ideas" and Rig Ved was composed about 3500 years back. Have we graduated from 'noble ideas' to 'ideas' in these 3500 years and if not then whats the point?

So i started reading this book last Monday with an open mind. Wendy Doniger starts this book with 'Egg' controversy (Some Hindu threw an egg on her during a lecture in London in 2003 chaired by William Dalrymple) and claims with self righteous arrogance that "Because of her efforts people who would otherwise go on thinking that Hinduism is nothing but a caste system that mistreats untouchables have come to learn about it and to admire the beauty, complexity and wisdom of the Hindu texts". Its like Hinduism is a handicapped religion or Hindus are an uneducated or an inarticulate lot.

There have been many materialistic interpretations of Indian history from D D Koshambi to Romila Thapar, adding to this glorious tradition of materialistic history this book introduces sexual interpretation of Hinduism through western eyes and lens.There is an over emphasis on sex/incest/rape in this book and she does not leave out even  Ram, Shiva, Sita, Parvati, Durga from her focus but this is understandable. She is a western writer with no emotional or religious attachment to Hinduism. For her its very easy to say that Aryans were like Nazis without any evidence. It is a Freudian slip or i don't know.

I will first mention the factual errors and twisted interpretations (definitely not an exhaustive list) that i caught with little effort:

She mentions (chapter 6) that in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.4.3-4) father God rapes his daughter. This is one of the many erroneous interpretations she would make in this book. Do your own research to find out the meaning of those hymns. 

She writes (chapter 10) that Mahabharat is a tale of grotesque, sanctioned violence. It is far from truth. Pandavas and Krishn tried almost every resort before participating in the war. She writes that Satyavati gave birth to only son, everybody knows that Chitrangada and Vichitravirya were her sons from Shantanu. 

She writes (chapter 16) that Khwaja Muinuddin Chisti settled in Pushkar, world knows that Ajmer was his place (bit far from Pushkar).

She writes (chapter 16) that in Vijaynagar temples were the least destroyed buildings by the confederacy of Muslim Kingdom after the gory battle of Talikota (1565). I myself have seen Hampi, almost all the temples are destroyed except one or two. It does not need super intelligent brain to see it. 

She writes (chapter 19) that Guru Gobind Singh was assassinated in 1708 while attending the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. It is a blatant untruth. Aurangzeb died in 1707. Muazzam (aka Bahadur Shah) was Mughal Emperor when Guru was assassinated. 

She writes (chapter 21) that Rani Laxmi Bai was shot to death, again gross untruth. She committed suicide after suffering serious wounds. 

I will not comment on her interpretations of Ramayan and Mahabharat (though i am qualified enough), neither i will comment on interpretations of Veds, Upanishads, Puranas etc (here i am not qualified enough).

She defends gory destruction of Hindu temples in a clever way by invoking the typical  argument of Romila Thapar (that dominant religion appropriates the religious places of defeated religion. Hindus had done the same with Jains and Buddhists according to Wendy and Thapar both though there is little material evidence to confirm this). As usual she blames Hindu Right for all the ills propagating the cult of Dalrymple and Thapar. 

Overall this book is a sexual overlay on the seminal work of Thapar on Ancient India. Almost all the concepts are same or similar and Wendy quotes Thapar very frequently. Its a kind of mutual admiration group (Wendy, Romila and Dalrymple). This book in totality is still a very good book. There are many alternative interpretations that people should read and give a serious thought but too much sex is indeed too much sex. I will still rate Thapar's book much higher than this sexual trash. But i again say that this book should not have been banned and i don't need Voltaire to defend my argument, my Veds and Upanishads are just fine.

Recommended (7/10)

Book Review [112] : Transcendence my Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji

Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam (15 Oct 1931 - 27 July 2015) was undoubtedly the greatest Indian of last few decades and one of the greatest of all time; he personified India itself with its numerous sects, religions, castes, languages, customs etc. He was and is respected by all Indians and in the current era of polarizing loyalties this is very unique. As far as i can see Sachin Tendulkar and Kalam Saheb are the only two Indians loved by all without any iota of controversy. Kalam saheb's life is full of lessons and inspirations for all of us. We often crib and carp about lack of infrastructure, lack of resource etc etc but this gentleman came from a poorly developed island and became a name to reckon with in his 84 years of life. He made every second counts and always believed in giving than taking. When he died he did not have any materialistic fortune but he had the love and respect of more than a billion people and he left us a very rich legacy.
 

'Transcendence my Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji' is the last work of Dr. Kalam. He talks about his experiences with Pramukh Swamiji of Swaminarayan Sampraday. He credits Swamiji for inspiring him to take sacred mission of rejuvenating India. This book is a collection of articles on various aspects of faith, science, enlightened citizenship, ethics, tolerance, mutual respect etc. Only enlightened citizens can make an enlightened world. Its almost impossible to mend a broken man while very easy to build strong children. Our focus should be on utilizing our energy and resources in building our children as enlightened citizens. This books takes inspiring examples from the lives of great people of different faiths and great scientists and exhorts us to seek truth as truth alone is the final summit, final end.
Its a great book and every Indian should read it. I am grateful to my wife's friend for gifting this great book. Thank you very much Kalam Saheb for writing this gem.
Highly Recommended (9/10)

Thoughts of a non beef eating Hindu

It will be a matter of great shame if the recent lynching of a man on beef eating rumors does not shake our spine. This cowardly and barbaric act of the villagers can never be justified on any grounds - Historic, Religious or Legal. This a national shame. This act has caused me tremendous pain and agony and in some way i find myself part of that lynching mob. May be i need some kind of punishment too I was so depressed that i even took a break from active life. I am writing this post mainly because of my dear friend Ashish Kumar Verma ji’s help in coming out of this ocean of depression. Last 3-4 days i have contemplated a lot on the issue of cow slaughter and beef eating and to be very honest its a very sensitive and controversial topic and has a very complicated and gory history. I must declare here that i am a pure vegetarian and a non-alcoholic person.

Its a well known fact that certain section of ancient Indian populace were beef eaters and there are numerous such incidents in ancient text books. Aryans were cattle herders and practiced little agriculture. They obviously ate beef but they also performed various Yajnas and animal sacrifices. There are many Hindus who eat beef even today and most of them justify this on the ground that it was an acknowledged dietary habit in ancient India but so was animal sacrifice and various Yajnas. So can we start performing various Yajnas and animal sacrifice because of the antiquity.

Cow became sacred and achieved motherly status in later Vedic period. We read a lot of stories associated with Bhagwan Krishn around cows and it was Lord Krishn who made cow an integral part of Hinduism and since then Cow has been enjoying a kind of motherly status in Hinduism. I do accept that certain section of Hindus have had always contested this norm. Many Hindus of cow belt region are vegetarian today because of Puranic Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Humanism. I personally believe that killing animals for eating purpose is a remnant of our barbaric past and i do believe that it will disappear just like the almost disappearance of human and animal sacrifices and future society will be a vegetarian society.

Coming back to the question of beef eating and cow slaughter, i personally believe that cow slaughter is as great a sin in my religion as killing one’s mother and beef eating is like eating flesh of one’s mother. I also know devout Hindus who sell their old or non milking cows to slaughter houses. I also know devout Hindus who leave their cows to roam on roads causing accidents or killing themselves after swallowing plastic bags. If cow is indeed a mother then why do we sell her to slaughter house or allow her to roam on roads or allow her to commit suicide. These are inconvenient questions and demand answers. Do we really care about cows or do we use cows to show our “hatred” towards Muslims?

Cow does not enjoy a prominent place in Islam as does Goat and mainly goats are sacrificed on Bakr Eid. I have also seen certain Muslims asserting their ‘right’ to sacrifice cow and eat beef. They could have chosen any other animal except cow. I also believe that if they want to slaughter cow and if the state law permits that then no power on earth can stop them but then it also does not promote communal harmony. Personally i wont be comfortable with a person who slaughter cows and eat beef but that does not mean that i will become an enemy of person but certainly my friendship/love towards that person will suffer.

I personally believe that in a free country every one should be free to eat whatsoever or whomsoever one’s likes but there are certain things we ought to respect to promote inter religious harmony and going soft on cow slaughter and beef eating is one such thing. It should come from both sides - Hindus should stop the use of force or coercion and Muslims & beef eating Hindus/others should consider this for a while. Cow has a huge significance in Hinduism and absolutely zero significance in Islam so this question is not a Hindu-Muslim question at all. The choice is ours. Inter religious harmony is the single most important thing for our country and it should be saved at any cost.

I have read Hind Swaraj multiple times and in this book Gandhi ji had given a very good solution to this issue. He writes that in cases where a Muslim is about to slaughter a cow the Hindu should offer himself as a sacrifice in place of that cow. The power of love and sacrifice will force that person not to slaughter that cow.

Coming back to that village in Dadri, i request those villagers to voluntarily surrender the culprits to Police, seek forgiveness of the victim family and adopt that family as their own.

P.S. I have written this after a lot of thought and contemplation.

Book Review [108] : Being Different - An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism

Diversity is the law of nature. It is manifested in dietary habits, languages, religions, festivals, naming convention, dances, music etc. Mother nature manifests herself in diverse beings and perhaps this makes mother nature beautiful and resilient. But a dominant Civilization destroys this diversity in the guise of Universalism. Since its inception the Western Civilization has eaten up major diverse civilizations of the world. The Aztecs, Incas, Canaan, Roman  etc do not exist any more; their cities are now World heritage sites and their art forms decorate museums and houses. As V S Naipaul has eloquently written "The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it", people who do not consider themselves worthy enough soon find themselves turning into worthless or worthy pages of some books.

'Being Different - An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism' is a wonderfully written book by Rajiv Malhotra in defense of Indian civilization. Every civilization is different from the other and this very difference needs to be celebrated rather being used to declare superiority or inferiority of one over the other. Indian civilization has been facing a planned onslaught of modern western civilization. We are turning ourselves into a copy of western civilization in almost every field of modern culture. We wear western clothes (jeans, t-shirts etc), watch western movies (Hollywood), watch western serials (Game of thrones), read western books (fifty shades of grey etc), play western games (Cricket, football), eat western foods (Pizza, burger etc) efc. We are losing our identity at a rapid pace. Agreed that identity is always fluid but we should not blindly follow anything be it religion or a way of life. 

The most intellectuals who are considered authority on Indian civilization and religions come from west eg Wendy Doniger. Western universities study foreign culture, religion and language but our universities don't do it. We do not have world class intellectuals or world class universities studying Indian religion and culture. Its a matter of shame.

In order to understand and study our civilization we use constructs (like Marxist interpretation of history) defined by Western intellectuals. One civilization should never be studied through the lens of another civilization. But such is life. Hollywood blockbusters like '300' shows Asians (Achaemenids) as barbarians while Spartans as the force of democracy and freedom. They conveniently forget that the Achaemenid empire was the first multicultural, multi lingual and multi-religious empire of the world. The Jewish temple of Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the civilized Romans in first century AD, was built with the help of Achaemenid Emperor in 6th century BC.The Spartans who are shown as the torch bearers of Democracy had enslaved a large number of people in their own country without any rights whatsoever. 

The West always divides the world in two zones - Civilized Western world and the other world of barbarians from the times of Aristotle (who called Persians, the Barbarians) to George Bush junior (who coined the term 'Axis of Evil'). Taking cue from Bible, the western intellectuals (like William Jones and others) called Indians the descendants of Ham (the condemned son of Noah). This Hamitic myth played a major role in justifying colonialism and slavery. Indian civilization  is said to be void of history and this was view was endorsed by Hegel, Karl Marx and others. Indians are called worshipers of "false" Gods and they need to be saved urgently. Whenever any tragedy occurs in India - it is "justified" as a curse on "devil" worshiping Indians (we are also called pagans). We do not defend or put forward our point of view intellectually and ferociously. Rajiv Malhotra is not apologetic about his religion, culture or his civilization. By using the ancient Indian technique of 'Purva Paksha' he puts focus on western civilization through Indian lens and exposes the utter hypocrisy and self righteousness of western intellectuals. We are taught to show tolerance to other religions but tolerant lacks full respect to other religions. It should be replaced by Mutual Respect in current dialogue among different civilizations. Without respecting other religions and culture we can not bridge the gaps that exists across this world.

I do not support the conversions by missionaries (or by anyone) by unethical means. I do not support the imperialism of one culture over others, one language over others and one set of people by others. Hindi (an example) should be given as much respect as Santhali (an example) language is given and vice-versa and one language/culture should not expand by use of force or unethical means. 

I request my friends to please give some time to study our religion and culture. Please try to learn Sanskrit and read our books in original instead of reading colored translations. It is upto us to decide whether we want to locate our golden age in mythical past or to build it in future, whether we want to remain relevant as members of Indian civilization or to change our civilization as a copy cat of the West.

Highly Recommended (10/10)

Book Review [88] : Abhyudaya

Ramayana has inspired and has been inspiring countless writers since time immemorial to write their take on this immortal epic of mankind and Narendra Kohli's Abhyudaya is no exception. Narendra Kohli has been a huge discovery for me and i thank my friend Sachin Bhadane for that. His take on Mahasamar inspired me to start reading Abhyudaya. It is a two volume work, about 1200 pages strong, on Ramayana with more practical take in context of modern values and issues. Its a great book and tough to review it in words, it can only be read. I totally believe that Narendra Kohli is modern age equivalent of Acharya Chatursen Shastri, if Chatursen Shastri had written books like Somnath, Vayam Rakshamaha, Vaishali ki Nagarvadhu etc then Narendra Kohli has Mahasamar, Abhyudaya etc at his disposal. His writing style is really heart touching and the use of historic incidents and characters in modern context is unparalleled. Must read book for all and if for nothing then please read it for the sake of our own Hindi.

Highly Recommended (10/10)

Book Review [76] : The Oath Of Vayuputras

I started hating Amish Tripathi after reading his dud 'The Secret of Nagas' but he vindicates himself by writing marvel of a book in his epic trilogy. The 'Oath of Vayuputras' is a great book and meets all the expectations created by first two books, The Immortals of Meluhha and The Secret of Nagas. To be honest i am not a fan of fiction based on actual Gods and their stories but i cant deny the lucidity and great plot of this book. Although the climax steals some sheen out of this book but still its a great book to read and cherish. I read first two books in March 2012 and immediately liked it but i classified them in the genre of cheap fiction but this third book destroys that classification and redeems Mr. Tripathi to a greater echelon.

Shiva creates a grand federation of Nagas, Brangas,  Ayodhyans etc and destroys the evil Somras with the help of Divine weapons from Persia. Like the sacrifice of Sati in real Indian mythology, in this book also Sati dies fighting the enemies of Shiva and in his vengeance Shiva destroys the Meluhhan Empire. Amish brings the Egyptian cult of Aten and various other elements of middle east History in the plot making the already spicy plot more spicy. In the end 'Shiva The Destroyer' destroys the evil and balances the equation.

May be this style of Amish will take the legacy of Amar Chitrakatha forward and will popularize the rich Indian mythology among the masses of India. If i will ever have time, then i will write historic fiction about the wars of Gupta Emplire against the Hunas and their eventual decline.

Highly Recommended (8/10)

Book Review [55] : A History of God

Karen Armstrong has a great name in 'theological works and history of religions', she has written good books on Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism and her treatment to all these religions appears very liberal and unbiased to a layman like me. Its a not a categorical denial that she is devoid of any prejudices or biases. 'A History Of God' is one of her classical works but being a Hindu i could not appreciate this work to a great extent because she did not write anything significant on oriental religions or Gods in this book so the comparison that i was looking for was not there in detail. 

A History of God is a well researched (with some embedded inaccuracy as well, like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was written as Pakistani in this book) work on the history of three great religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it also gives attention to a large number of theologians of these creeds, philosophers and scientists. The only problem with this work is that you need to know in advance the philosophies of Aristotle, Plato, Hegel, Pascal, Descartes, Nietzsche, Freud, Calvin, Luther, al-Ghazali, Voltaire, Kant, al-Kindi, ibn-Arabi, al-Wahab etc else you will not appreciate the essence of this book. I am deeply impressed by the Aristotle, ibn-Arabi, al-Ghazali, Voltaire and Freudian concept of God in western and semitic philosophy. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) says that Religion has already played its role in the development or evolution of mankind and now mankind has reached a stage of maturity its the time to kill the God and Religion. He further adds that every society has its own pace to reach to that mature stage and any attempt to accelerate that pace would be destructive. This can be seen in the case of Iran when Shah of Iran tried to impose western values the people revolted and became more conservative instead.

Overall its a good book and should be read to do an objective inquiry in the universe of religion.   

Recommended (7/10) 

Book Review [40] : God is not great

Christopher Hitchens was one of the extremist philosopher of the moder era,  and even the epitabh of an 'Atheist Fundamentalist' does not do any justice to his sharp "intellect". Unfortunately i started reading him after his death so could not question him directly for his critique of religion. 

'God is not great' is called his magnum opus and it indeed raises many questions and makes many observations but the questions and inferences that it raises are not new, the same questions were raised thousands of years back by the 'Shramanas' of India, Socrates of Athens etc etc. I was expecting some thing new and some thing more concrete from Hitchens but looks like he has left that work to the fledgling atheist movement of the 21st century. Every society needs laws for its organic evolution and every great civilization ever lived had its own set of laws and whoever revolted against those laws got a severe punishment, even Socrates had to drink poison. And even in today's world people like Assange have to fight cases to save themselves. Almost all religions that i know have great ideals in them the problem lies in the implementation of those ideals. And not all axioms of religion can be taken at the face value, each and every word of written book or revealed book should be subjected to a severe test of rationalism before accepting or considering it as truth. Everybook has a life span and it will be a real shame if the wisdom of a book be a given more weightage than the Genius of that era. Giving birth to 10 children or not using contraceptives may be a good "constraint" for a scantily populated region of MENA but certainly that can not be applied to the region of Bangladesh or Indonesia although both these regions are Islamic regions. Gotta go now, its 01:01 AM, good night guys.
Highly Recommended (8/10)

Book Reviews [38/39] : Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of the Nagas

Amish Tripathi has done a wonderful service to Indian culture and religion, and in particular to Uncle Pai who regenerated the interests of Indians through his Amar Chitra Katha. The Immortals of Meluha and The Secrets of the Nagas are like a fresh breeze in the sweltering land of modern times. 

'The Immortals of Meluha' starts with the 'Discovery' of Shiva in the region around the Mansarovar Lake and ends with the victory of Suryavanshi Meluhans over Chandravanshi Ayodhyans. Meluhan civilization was nothing but great Indus Valley Civilization and Chandravanshis were "degenerated Aryans". The awareness of Amish with old and odd places and legends, and creation of the characters of Nandi and Bhadra is legendary. Although its a fiction but sometimes it seems pretty real. The character of Sati and the gory details of the practice of Vikarma (i.e. untouchability) is absolutely relevant to the contemporary world. The role of Shiva is strikingly similar to the one played by Suniel Shetty in a Bollywood flick "Mohra". This book is a very good time pass but definitely not worth than 150 Indian Rupees. You can order this book on India Plaza and it comes in just 100 INR.
Highly Recommended (8/10)
 

'The Secret of Nagas' is not that spectacular than the previous book as it is slow and more like propagation of an Ideology. Some times it seems to be a grand failure but in the end Amish successfully regenerates the magic. Its very predictable book and it unfolds the story of Ganesh, Karthik, Kali and Parushram but certainly it lacks the magic of Immortals of Meluha. The character of Daksha, that was shown very weak and gullible becomes completely villainous in the book.  This book definitely does not worth more than 100 Indian Rupees but a nice time pass. I finished the book in less than 7 hours.

Overall these two books are decent books but at many places they become full of cliches and suffer from the consistency of predictability. 
Recommended (7/10)

Book Review [29] : Nine Lives - in Search of the Sacred in Modern India

                                   In last few weeks i finished yet another book by William Dalrymple. Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in modern India is the latest work by him.

He writes very emotively about various faiths and faithful spread across the breadth of India. I found this book a product of a confused mind. Its hard to believe that the author of From the Holy Mountain and The Last Mughal can write such a book. He started well with the story of Jain faithful who is going to have her last rites (known as Santhara, a slow peaceful death) , then he wrote about the Theyyam (religious rite of Kerala accompanied with vigorous dance and music). After that he lost his way and started to write the story and behavior of various faiths and cults. I don't know why he has missed Islam and Christianity in his book. I have no idea why he has included the story of Lal ShahBaz Qalandar in this book. That site is in Sind, Pakistan and its not even part of the disputed territory of India. May be William Dalrymple is still living in the fantasy of British India.

Time Pass (5/10)

Book Review [27] : Among the believers - An Islamic journey

2001 Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul is a master of English prose. His travelogues are awesome piece of English literature. They give a glimpse of daily life of the people as well the history of the events leading to current situation. His 'India: A million mutinies now' is socio-economico-political survey of Nehruvian India.  I read this book almost 18 months back. In last week i read his another  masterpiece but this time its a survey of the condition of Islam among the converted people of Pakistan, Iran, Malaysia and Indonesia. Among the believers: An Islamic journey is a thought provoking book as it was written in 1979-81 but it seems that its written in the current era. Naipaul starts his journey in Iran in 1979 (just after the revolution) and travels across Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia in a span of few months. His perceptions and experiences of these societies and the inherent struggle between the culture and religion is worth experiencing.

Islam was founded by Prophet Muhammad and so it has all the ingredients of Arabic culture. It was a phenomenal revolution in the desert life and for the people with no sense pf civilization. Prophet gave them a way out from the eternal darkness. He brought the idea of unity without any caste, money, language or region based distinction. It is an absolute concept in its pure form. The problem started  after the death of Prophet in 632 AD. Islam had to face its first great rival in the civilization of great Sassanian civilization. Islam overpowered that easily but in doing that it got a different version of its self. It is Shiite form of Islam that believes in the Shiite Imams. Almost all the Persians were converted to Islam (either willingly or by coercion).  But they were successful in giving Islam a great civilization in arts, music, science etc. Arabia gave religion while Persia gave Islam its true glory. Iran (aka Persia) even today has the same language that they used to speak when Alexander the great decimated them although they had to change the script because of Arab imperial master. But in all the last 1360 years Iran never accepted the Arab imperialism. 

Lets talk about Pakistan. Pakistan was a home to world's first great urban civilization 5000 years back. It was home to the great king Porus who was able to hold against the mighty Greeks. It was land where great Kushanas ruled, where great Buddhists monasteries and caves flourished. The ancient land of Hindus, Buddhists and Zoroastrians does not have any monument of that era and even if it has then its in great danger of extinction. The hordes of Mohammed Bin Qasim who decimated the power of Sindh is celebrated in that land. Pakistan has even named its missiles Ghori and Ghazni, the two notorious invaders who invaded Pakistan and destroyed and killed the people of Pakistan before then could get a foot hold into India. I can not understand how a country can glorify its invaders. This can only happen in subcontinent.   

People with no sense of history can not develop a civilization worth cherishing. Pakistan is suffering from that disease and if it really wants to cure itself then it has to learn from Persia. Islamization of a country does not mean destroying its old culture, art, monuments, music etc. But unfortunately its been happening in almost all the converted countries. Malaysia and Pakistan are prime examples. 

Every civilization is built on the ashes of others and this cycle is law of time. Be it Greek, Roman, Indian, Persian or Spanish but other ways are also possible. Civilizations can also co-exist and if this experiment was never done before then its worth doing now. The "Victory" of Islam should never mean the "defeat" of other religions. Amen.
Highly Recommended (9/10)