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)

Book Review [152] : Aavaran - The Veil

In December 2007 i along with Saugata, Ravi Bhushan and Divya Alok made a trip to Hampi and stayed there for couple of days. The ruins were mesmerizing and were on gigantic scale. I am a keen history student but was never taught about this great Empire. The great Vijayanagar Empire that controlled the entire South Indian for more than 200 years (1336 - 1565) roughly the duration of Mughal Empire had very few para for it in any standard history book.

'Aavarana' written by S. L. Bhyrappa is a great but painful read. It slowly and gradually removes the veil of political correctness that engulfs our nation's academia and exposes the brutal nakedness of our medieval history. I have been to Kashi Vishwanath Temple (i studied in that city for four good years) and visited that great Temple only twice while studying. When i saw the Nandi Statue looking towards the Gyanvapi Mosque i cried and i was broken from inside. I did not get that shock when i visited Krishnajanmbhoomi Temple in Mathura. I have not been to Ayodhya even once. I remember my first trip to Mysore in Dec 2003. When i touched Srirangapatnam i took the soil of the land and kept it in my purse out of the respect for Tip Sultan. My entire family became a huge fan of Tipu Sultan after watching 'The Sword of Tipu Sultan' in early 90s. But as they say 'Truth is stranger than fiction' and it is indeed true most of the times.

Islamic Invasions of Sub-Continent starting from Sindh to the last of Durrani always brought massacres, rapes, slavery, temple destruction and large scale conversion in its wake. It was true in the time of Mohammad Bin Qasim and it was true in time of Ahmad Shah Durrani. The unfortunate part is that it did not stop even when the reign of invaders got firmly established. The brutality continued though with few notable interruption.  No one can defend them and no one should defend them. But yet our intellectuals have made excuses to justify their gory actions. This book is about this ugly politics. Its a must read book. Highly Recommended (10/10)

Book Review [151] : Al Beruni's India

Every student of Indian History must have heard the name of Persian Polymath Al Beruni (973 - 1048 AD), this person had done more serious work on India than perhaps any one else before the arrival of European orientalist. He was the scribe cum companion of Mahmud of Ghazni. He had written very serious works on India and Tarikh Al-Hind is his magnum opus. 

His work on India was translated by German orientalist Dr. Edward Sachau (1845-1930). In this book i.e. Al Beruni's India Dr. Sachau had covered almost all comments on India by Al Beruni. Al Beruni had written on almost every aspects on Indian civilization from religion to language, society to politics and from Maths to science. He had vicious hatred towards Hindus in general and at many places call them perverts, liars and cunning. At some places he did give credit to Indians and praises Hindu Shahi Kings of Kabul valley fully and regret their demise. Surprisingly he did not mention Buddhism much in his book though he writes that Buddhists and Hindus hate each other but they are one with respect to their attitude towards foreigners.

Insularity of Hindus

He writes that on the difference between Hinduism and Islam and general attitude of Hindus towards foreigners :

·   Hinduism is totally opposite to Islam. Among Hindus there is very little dispute about theological topics and even if the dispute arises they will utmost fight with words but they will never stake their soul or body or their property on religious controversy. Their entire fanaticism is directed against those who do not belong to them i.e. against all foreigners. They call them Mlechha or impure and forbid having any connection with them. They think any connection would impure them. Hindus consider as impure anything which touches the fire and water of a foreigner. Once polluted they don’t welcome the polluted again in their fold. They are not allowed to receive anybody who does not belong to them, even if he wished it, or was inclined to their religion. Aversion to foreigner is not only a trait of Hindus but it is common to all nations towards each other. 

     He furthers writes that:

    Hindus consider all knowledge come from them and all other people and nations are ignorant and barbarians.

   Lack of Scientific approach

   Al Beruni further writes that Indians lack methods of strict scientific deductions. The science of Hindus is in a state of utter confusion and devoid of any logical order and always appease to the sentiments of crowd and it has inherent religious dogmas in it. Hindus mathematical and astronomical literature is like a mixture of pearls and dung and both are equal in the eyes of Hindus since they cannot raise themselves to the methods of a strictly scientific deduction. In Greeks one can find philosophers like Socrates who refused to appease dogmatic people. He did not call the star gods and opposed Idolatry for which he was condemned to death.

History

Al Beruni says that the famous idol of Hindus at Multan was dedicated to sun and was made of wood and covered with red leather. Huen Tsang had also mentioned about this temple. It was called Aditya and was very much worshipped. Muhammad bin Qasim did not break this Idol as it was a flourishing trade center and wealth had been accumulated. In mockery he hung a piece of cow’s flesh on its neck. On the same place a mosque was built. When the Karamatians occupied Multan, Jalam Ibn Shaiban broke the idol in pieces and killed its priests.

The Idol of Thaneshwar was made of bronze and Al Beruni says it is lying in the hippodrome in Ghazni.

Hindu Kings of Turkish origins ruled Kabul. The first such King was Barahatakin. The last such Hindu Turkish King was succeeded by his Brahmin minister. Anandpal, Trilochanpal were the last of the rulers. Al Beruni praises Hindu Shahi Kings. They did what was good and right and were men of noble bearing and noble sentiment.

Mahmud of Ghazni destroyed the Shiva Linga of Somnath. The upper part was broken. Parts of Idol were installed before the door of the Mosque of Ghazni on which People rub their feet to clean them from dirt and wet.
These were the reasons why Hindus hate Muslims according to him.

 Hindu Customs

About the Hindu customs Al Beruni says that they differ from Muslims to such a degree that they appear to us monstrous. If any custom of Hindus resembles Muslim custom it has certainly just the opposite meaning. Hindus do not cut their hairs and Hindus do not eat Cow meat. In washing Hindus begin with their feets and then they reach their face. In all consultations Hindus take the advice of women. They do not ask permission to enter a house but when they leave it they ask permission to do so. He calls Hindus perverts and praises Islam for abolishing these habits in part of India where People had become Muslims. He further says that the greediness of the ignorant Hindu Princes for gold making does not know any limit. They can kill even the innocent children if the kill is required to make gold. The science of Alchemy should banish. Hindus have firm belief in charms and incantations. In general Hindus are liars.

Geography of India

He says that Kannauj is in ruins. He says the Kashmiri people are very insular. They hardly allow outsiders to enter their country though they allowed Jews to enter their territory.  The Gilgit region was ruled by the Turks. The king has the title Bhatta Shah. The capital of Kashmir suffers from the inroads of these Turks. He mentions Rameshwar as the southern tip. Setubandha is further south. Setubandha is the dike of God Rama that he builds to connect India to Lanka. His idea about Indian geography is very detailed and he mentions almost accurately all rivers, towns of India.

Religion/Astronomy and Cosmology

Very detailed take on Hindu religion, astronomy and cosmology. He quotes Brahmagupta in much detail.  He does not say about untouchability though he talked about caste system and the inherent hierarchy. The sudras were not allowed to hear Vedas. He mentions that there is a tree in Prayag from which Brahmans and Kshatriyas commit suicide by throwing them in the river from that tree.

This is a great work on India and its a shame that we did not write such books on our tormentors and never tried to learn their ways, their strengths and their weakness. For this insularity we paid the price in medieval period.
Highly Recommended (9/10)

Book Review [150] : Jai Somnath

6 months a very long break in a kind of unbroken sequence of 149 book reviews over a period of 10 years. Sorry for this break though i enjoyed this break and was engaged in some serious actions in field.

I read 'Jai Somanth' in first week of July 2017 and its been a painful read. Indians are the rare people who rejoice in their defeats and that perhaps explains the title of the this book by eminent freedom fighter and writer Shri K M Munshi. Before reading this book i had read 'Somnatha - The many voices of history' by Romila Thapar. In this book Ms Thapar debunks the claim that Mahmud Ghazni destroyed the temple of Somnath on grounds of religion and he attributes only economic reasons behind his raid. I completely disagree with Ms Thapar on this. If economic reasons were the only reasons then why the Idol was destroyed and why its pieces were placed below the stairs of Ghazni mosque. What were the reasons behind destruction of Mathura temple, Multan sun temple and many more temples. These facts are well documented by his scholar companion Al Beruni.

'Jai Somnath' is a painful story of the sack and destruction of Somnath Temple by the hoards of Mahmud of Ghazni. The King of Prabhas Pattan Bhimdev fought really bravely but he was outmatched by Mahmud in resources and in numbers. The Indians though fought valiantly were undone by the traitors who helped Mahmud to open a hidden tunnel giving access inside the temple 'fortress'. What followed was gory trail of genocide, destruction of Shiva Idol and temple, enslaving of civilians and loot which he carried on the backs of camels and horses back to Ghazni. 

Many Indians helped him in this daring raid. But there were Indians who fought even better than the likes of Leonidas at Thermopylae. A few hundred strong clan of Chauhan Rajput Ghogha Baba fought like titans against the more than 50,000 strong barbaric hoards of Mahmud.

In a way, Justice was done when this temple was restored after Independence. The force of destruction can never decimate the spirit of truth and creation. But the most important point to ponder is that why we allowed these invaders to defile our country time and again. Perhaps V. S. Naipaul was right when he says 'The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it'.

Highly Recommended (9/10)

Book Review [149] : Vengeance

I have seen Steven Spielberg 'Munich' about half a dozen times and never got bored. Eric Bana has simply immortalized the role of Mossad agent Avner in this flick. This movie is based on true story of Operation 'Wrath of God' launched by Israel ( and documented by George Jonas in his book Vengeance) to avenge the death of 11 Israeli athletes brutally killed by Black September terrorists during Munich Olympics of 1972. I was looking for this book 'Vengeance' for a long time but could not buy it because its pretty expensive about 900 bucks on Amazon. I got fortunate this year and i found it in the Police academy and i finished it in 3 days without a break.

The book starts with the story of Avner (changed name) and his training. He was a Sabra (i.e. born in Israel to Jewish parents) and son of a Mossad agent. He was chosen by Mossad chief Zvi Zamir and Major General Ariel Sharon to lead a 4 member strong team to kill 11 terrorists responsible for Munich massacre. He was asked to take the operation by Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir herself. The book goes almost on same line as the movie and varies only in dramatization of certain killings. The team had 5 members - Carl the cleaner, Steve the driver, Hans the forger, Robert the explosive expert and Avner the leader. The team was given complete freedom and full financial resources but the team had to break off all the associations with the Mossad and legally it was on its own so that Israel can deny any responsibility in case of any mishap. 

The team was able to kill 8 terrorists out of 11 names given to them though they could not kill Ali Hasan Salameh - the master mind behind Munich massacre, Abu Daoud and Dr Wadi Haddad. Carl, Robert and Hans were killed in this 3 year long operation and the mission was called off in January 1975.

The book records in detail the psychological impact the mission had on its members and also underscores the fissure between Yekke Jews and Galician Jews. The Yekke Jews were mainly from the western Europe and were rich and sophisticated while the Galician Jews came from Eastern Europe and were tough and accustomed to the ghetto life. The top echelons of Mossad and Israel Army were dominated by the Galician Jews and they did not consider Yekke Jews martial material. Avner had a Germanic ancestry and hence a Yekke though Sabra and in the end he was given rather very poor treatment by the Mossad despite of his brilliant leadership.

I really like the definition of terrorism given by the writer. "Terrorism is not defined by the political aims but by the means to achieve it".

Highly Recommended (10/10)