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 [111] : The God Of Small Things

I generally do not read fiction and i generally dislike Arundhati Roy. The reasons for my dislike of Ms Arundhati Roy are manifold but the most important one is her jaundiced intellectualism. Yet i bought her 'The God Of Small Things' but only to read many years later. Its a story weaved in a peculiar social caste ridden structure of Syrian Christians in God's own country. The plot of the book is not that great but its a good tome to understand

the society, customs and caste structure of Syrian Christians. We have read this plot in many books, seen in many movies and experienced in various situations but to me the knowledge of "strict" adherence of caste system in this non-Hindu society came as a shock. The climax is not a climax at all and like numerous such stories the low caste guy had to pay for their carnal "sin" against the centuries old laws. The book starts at a snail pace (and you have to be show extreme patience) with some suspense in the middle but the climax is too mediocre.

To me the story meant nothing and is full of stereotypes; there are stereotypes of Hindu pilgrims, communist leader, communist workers, Syrian Christians etc but the description of Syrian Christians (if true) is indeed a learning for me.  The description of the natural beauty of Kerala is mesmerizing and the choice of words awe-inspiring. This book was awarded Booker Prize in 1997 and certainly the prize has made this book a 'best seller' just like The White Tiger of Aravind Adiga. Had this book been written in a predominantly Hindu society it would have come as full of cliches, the Syrian Christian household is its only savior. 

Recommended (7/10)

Book Review [110] : I Dare!

Autobiography/biography is a condensed form of life long learning of the person concerned. Every person should write one and read many so that reader and writer both can mutually benefit as well as the posterity. But this can also promote a kind of blind following so should be read with a pinch of salt. The hero worship is a peculiar problem that our country faces; we are not ready to accept any fault in our heroes, are immune to any criticism and readily add an aura of divinity to them. This is not good for our country and was strongly denounced by none other than great reformer Dr. Ambedkar in his seminal speech in constituent assembly.

'I Dare!' is a biography of the first ever and highly celebrated woman IPS Officer and a highly distinguished social activist Dr. Kiran Bedi. She (aka Crane Bedi) is a very inspiring icon of India and her life is a living record of many challenges that a woman (and a common man) in our country faces.  Dr. Kiran Bedi faced seemingly insurmountable challenges in her life, she passed in many and failed in few but in doing so she created a trail which many many Indians would like to follow. It is said that Kiran Bedi "ran" away from Mizoram assignment instead of taking the challenge head-on, she also "ran" away from Chandigarh and Goa assignments. Many critics and media personalities blame her and write with all the vituperation that they can muster for these "failures" but all these people fail to understand one basic thing that in our country its the woman (and specially the working woman) who has to make all the sacrifices. In Goa and Chandigarh assignments, she had to leave for Delhi because of the serious medical condition of her daughter and mother, though she had a husband and three more sisters but only she had to put her career at stake. In case of Mizoram i think she made a right decision but i would also say that her daughter should not have wasted the highly coveted medical seat and should have finished her medical studies. 

In this book she blames higher bureaucracy's antipathy towards her for not getting the prime post of Commissioner of Police, Delhi. She resigned within few months after her being overlooked for this post. I seriously believe that she should have been given the charge of Delhi Police, this would have sent an encouraging signal to Delhites specially the women. 

Her work in Tihar jail is the stuff of legends and she was duly awarded with Magsaysay award for it but even then she was not given any of the Padma awards. She could have been "utilized" in a better way by the Police establishment but Alas!

Change is the law. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.

Recommended (7/10)