Book Review [158] : Rama and Ayodhya

From my childhood i have heard and read a lot of stories about Bhagwan Ram and Krishna. Its indeed a painful experience to see one's holiest shrines topped by religious structures of another faith. Mahmud Ghazni destroyed many such great temples including Shri Krishna Temple at Mathura and Somnath Temple in Saurashtra. Since then and till the decline of Mughal empire it never stopped. Many many temples were destroyed and over those temples many Mosques were erected; Kashi, Mathura are two such prominent examples. Destruction of Mathura and Kashi Vishwanath temples are very well documented. 

Shri Ramjanmbhoomi - Babri Masjid dispute is one of the oldest running disputes over a religious place anywhere in the world. Its well known that Ayodhya is the birthplace of Bhagwan Ram but no body knows the exact location where Ramji was born. Babri Masjid was located at a place which was very sacred to Hindus and there were hardly any Muslim habitation there. Who would built such a Mosque there at a mound which is surrounded by sacred Hindu shrines. Meenakshi Jain's Rama Ayodhya answers many such questions.

The worship of Rama is not a recent phenomenon as the leftist intellectual tell us. More than 2000 years old Bhagwan Ram artifacts have been found. There are huge number of literary evidence about Bhagwan Ram. The excavation done by ASI at disputed structure revealed many artifacts and structures which can only be found in Hindu shrines/temples. The Ayodhya site had been in occupation for more than 2000 years and the last prominent temple was built by Gahadavala King. Why would Babur built a Mosque at a place which was not politically important! Delhi and Agra were more important. Ayodhya was religiously more important. Perhaps thats the answer.

A civilization that does not acknowledge the crimes committed by its vanquishers and instead  celebrates their acts is destined to enjoy infinite intellectual slavery, inferiority complex and defeatism. 

Highly Recommended book for those who want to wake up (10/10)

Book Review [154] : A Forgotten Empire - Robert Sewell

A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar) is one of the finest and rare books on medieval South Indian history. This book was written by Robert Sewell and was published in 1900. It is mainly based on the records of contemporary historians/travelers namely:

• Ferishta (died 1611 AD)
• Ibn Battuttah (15th Century)
• Domingo Paes(circa 1520 AD)
• Fernao Nuniz (1535-37 AD)
• Barros (16th Century)
• Couto (16th Century)
• Abdur Razzak (15th Century)
• Duarte Barbossa (1504 AD)
• Gaspar Correa (1540 AD)
• Nicolo Conti (1421 AD)
• Nikitin (1468-74 AD)

Invasions and Destructions

This book is full of many details of brutalities of that period. In 1318 Mubarak Khilji marched to Devagiri and flayed alive its Prince Haripala Deva, setting up the head of unfortunate prince at the gate of his own city. 

In 1334 in order to punish his rebel nephew Gurshtap who found refuge in fortress of Anegudi the cruel Muhammad Bin Tughluq invaded and destroyed Anegudi. The women committed Jauhar,the rebel Gurshtap was given by Anegudi to Dvarsamudra ruler to save the tradition of (Sharnagat).The Dvarsamudra ruler abandoned Gurshtap to Tughluq. Gurshtap was flayed alive by Tughluq. Entire South was ravaged by Khilji, Malik Kafur and Tughluq. Many many towns and temples were destroyed and pillaged and scores of people were killed, converted and enslaved.

The Beginning

In the wake of such destruction the south revolted and an empire was founded in 1336 on the banks of Tungabhadra river on the advice of sage Madhwacharya Vidyaranya. Harihara built a great temple in the memory of this sage and it is still in existence. By 1345 the Hindu rulers of Warangal and Vijayanagar drove back the Tughlugs north of Warangal.The entire south and part of deccan was liberated from the foreign yoke. With the founding of Bahmani Sultanate (in 1347) the south India again started facing the push and warangal was lost to Bahmanis in 1424. The Raichur Doab and Goa were the main issues between the two neighbours. 

The Greatness 

The earlier Vijaynagar Kings fought a defensive battle with Bahmani Sultans and Krishna remained a defacto border between the two. Devaraya II (1412-1442) was the first expansionist ruler of Vijaynagar empire. Devaraya II defeated Bahmani in 1419 and destroyed many towns. Bahmanis took the revenge in 1423. By 1442 Devaraya started employing Muslim archers in his army. Mosque was also erected in the city, this was unprecedented. After Devaraya II the Vijaynagar Empire went into chaos. It was revived by the great Krishnadeva Raya (1509-30). He was undoubtedly the greatest ruler of Vijayanagar. He conquered Raichur in a great battle. By this time Portuguese had entered in the geo politics.The Portuguese and Vijayanagar entered into an alliance. The horse trade was monopolized. Krishnadeva Raya destroyed Bijapur.

After his death Achyuta Deva Raya succeeded him. He was his cousin. In 1543 his nephew Sadashiva Raya became King. He was king only in name and the power was enjoyed by three brothers - Aliya Rama Raya, Tirumala and venkatadri. Aliya Rama Raya and Tirumala were the son-in-laws of Krishnadeva Raya. During this period the fame and prosperity of Vijayanagar became worldwide and it was recorded by various travelers coming from different parts of the world.

The Destruction

Aliya Rama Raya (1543-1565) was a great warrior, master strategist but was very haughty and arrogant. He entered into an alliance with Bijapur Sultans against Ahmadnagar Sultan and utterly destroyed Ahmadnagar. He called Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur his son and even gave refuge to Qutb Shah of Golconda when he was in distress. These Muslim Sultans never liked an infidel power to grow in such importance. Partly driven by haughtiness of Rama Raya and partly blinded by faith these Sultans (Baridis, Golconda, Ahmadnagar and Bijapur) entered into a strategic alliance against Vijayanagar Empire.They started their campaign in Dec 1564 and on 23rd Jan 1565 the most decisive battle was fought between Muslim Federation and Hindu Vijayanagar. Aliya Rama Raya fought a great battle but luck was not with him. He was about 70 years in age. He was beheaded by Nizam Shah who adorned his spear with his ahead and paraded before Vijayanagar forces. This caused a complete rout. Entire Army melted away followed by a great slaughter. Within 3 days the enemy were at the gates of the capital. The complete destruction took 6 months and once mighty capital was broken into pieces by the invading army. All the great temples were destroyed and now only broken monuments remains. 

The head of Aliya Rama Raya used to be colored and oiled and displayed to the Muslims of Ahmadnagar on the yearly celebration of the victory by the descendants of the beheader and this continued atleast till 1829 AD.

The Question

The question remains how such a wealthy and powerful empire like Vijayanagar was defeated in such a decisive fashion. Why the invading army destroyed the capital in such a fashion perhaps no such capital except Carthage was destroyed in such a manner? Why we were not told about this great empire, it was the greatest empire of medieval era?

I don't know the answers, perhaps nobody knows.....

Highly Recommended (10/10)

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 [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 [131] : Somanatha - The Many Voices Of History

Every civilization has a love that warms its heart; India has many such hearts and Somnath is one of them. 

Mahmud of Ghazni raided Somnath, desecrated the holy temple, broke the Shiva lingam into pieces and carried those pieces to Ghazni and installed those below the footsteps of the Mosque of Ghazni to be trampled by feet of the people going to/coming from Mosque (according to Al Beruni, who was contemporary of Mahmud of Ghazni and an eye witness of the destruction). This happened in 1024. Al Beruni also writes that the raids of Mahmud caused such devastation that the Hindus came to dislike the Muslims permanently.  

'Somanatha - The Many Voices of History' by Romila Thapar is a very good attempt to whitewash the barbaric invasions of Mahmud of Ghazni and to rationalize it.

Farrukhi Sistani was the court poet of Mahmud of Ghazni. He writes that Mahmud destroyed the temple by setting it on fire. According to him the word Somanatha was a garbled version of su-manat – referring to the goddess Manat of Arabia. She was originally worshiped as Semitic Goddess Ishtar and was one of the important trio of Goddesses – Lat, Uzza and Manat, mentioned in a verse of Quran. These were the goddesses of the three shrines close to Mecca and were considered daughters of God. They each were represented by natural stones. The pilgrimage to Kaba was considered incomplete without a visit to the shrine of Manat.  Prophet Muhammad had called for the destruction of these shrines. Ali destroyed the shrine of Manat on instruction from Muhammad but some sources say that it was saved.

These Goddesses were involved in what is called satanic verses; Initially Muhammad said that these Goddesses can be worshiped as intermediaries of God. Later Muhammad declared that these verses were inspired by Satan and these were expunged from Quran. Gardizi was another contemporary historian. According to Gardizi and Sistani the images of the two goddesses were destroyed while Manat was saved and taken over to Kathiawar for safekeeping in a land where idol worship was considered normal.

According to Romila Thapar there might be many reasons behind Mahmud expedition to Somnath:

•         He wanted to destroy Hindu temple
•         He wanted to destroy the temple of Manat (i.e. the Somnatha Temple)
•         He wanted to stop the horse trade between Arabia and Veraval so that he  could benefit from the horse trade through his territory.

During the time of Mahmud of Ghazni, Multan was ruled by Ismaili ruler. Mahmud sacked Multan and put Ismailis to death. The Ismailis were considered heretics by the Sunni Muslims. These Ismailis had earlier destroyed the Multan temple and constructed their Mosque in 10th century. Mahmud in his letters to Caliph of Baghdad mentioned in great details the richness of Somnath. Barani, Isami and Minhaj Siraj also mention that Idol was of Manat at Somnatha.  Badayuni wrote that Somnatha was not Manat. He says that the part of broken idol was sent to be placed at the entrance of Ghazni mosque (Al Beruni also mentions the same).

Ulugh Khan destroyed the temple and built the mosque at its place in 1299 and sent the Idol to the Alauddin Khilji, the Idol was taken around the city to entertain the people. Mujaffar Khan (Governor of Gujarat) destroyed temple in 1395 and built a mosque over it. Zafar Khan did the same in 1398 and Mahmud Beghada in 1469. Akbar permitted the worship of Shivlinga at Somnath and appointed officers to administer it. Aurangzeb ordered its destruction in 1706. Ahalyabai Holkar built a small temple in its vicinity. Turkish and Persian texts mention destruction of Somnath temple in great details but did not give so much importance to other destroyed temples while Indian texts are almost silent on this gory event.

A Kadamba King ruling Goa region records his pilgrimage to Somnath in an inscription in 1038. He did not mention anything about destruction or desecration. There is no mention of the attack of Mahmud on Somnath temple in any Indian text. An inscription dated 1264 in Sanskrit and Arabic mentions grant of land to a Muslim trader from Hormuz, named Nuruddin Firuz, to build a mosque in the vicinity of Somnath temple. The Arabic text of the inscription has a sentence expressing the desirability of Somnatha Pattana becoming a city of Islam with no infidels and no idols, a wish that is tactfully omitted in the Sanskrit version. There is one inscription of 1406 in Veraval in Sanskrit. It begins with the Muslim greetings “Bismillah –e- Rahman –e- Rahim”. It gives details of a Bohra named Farid who died defending the Somnath town against the invading Turks.

The poet Dhanapala, the poet in the court of Bhoja Paramara, contemporary of Mahmud of Ghazni mentioned that Mahmud looted a lot of towns en-route to Somnath and broke the idol of Somnath. He also mentioned that Mahmud failed to break the idol of Mahavira at Satyapura in south Rajasthan. The Idol was too strong and may be the writer was trying to prove the superiority of Mahavira Idol over others. Kashmiri poet Bilhana visited the place fifty years after the event but he does not mention the Mahmud desecration. Kalhana though mentions the expedition of Mahmud against Shahis, does not mention the expedition of Mahmud to Somnath.

Some verses in the ‘Shabara Tantra’ refer to Mahmud of Ghazni. These verses praise Mahmud of Ghazni. These were recited by the Tantrics/Nathapanthis/Shaktas etc. Some verses of these sects venerate Allah and Muslim pirs.

Alexander Burnes deputed to the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh mentions that Maharaja was negotiating with Shuja and his offer of help to Shuja was contingent on Shuja’s returning gates of Somnatha temple from Ghazni. This was in 1831. Before this period there is no mention of any such gates taken by Mahmud to Ghazni. Though locals of Ghazni thought the gates had come from some sacred place (i.e. Somnath Temple). The custodians of the Mahmud’s tomb pleaded with General Nott to leave the gates behind but General Nott refused (as instructed by the Governor General of India Lord Ellenborough), it was in 1842 and happened during first Anglo-Afghan war. Ferishta mentions the raid of Mahmud on Somnath but he did not mention anything about gates. Lord Ellenborough was fiercely attacked in the House of Commons by other MPs including Lord Macaulay for promoting ‘superstitious’ Hindu religion and antagonizing Muslims. Lord Ellenborough said that the insult that was heaped on India by Mahmud of Ghazni 800 years back had to be avenged and the painful feelings that were rankling in the hearts of the Hindus needed to be removed. Lord Ellenborough won the debate in the Parliament. 

The Somnatha Temple site was excavated in 1950s and some evidence of burning and desecration of sculpture have been found. The new temple was built in 1951 and inaugurated by the first President of India. K M Munshi played a great role in it.

In my humble opinion this temple is a symbol of the victory of faith over the dark powers of destruction.
Recommended (7/10)

Book Review [127] : The Difficulty Of Being Good

What is here is found else where.
What is not here is nowhere. (Mahabharat I.56.34-35)

No story has inspired more souls than Mahabharat, no story has solved more dilemmas than Mahabharat and no story has more enriched the culture of mankind than Mahabharat. I am a big fan of Mahabharat and have heard almost every incident of Mahabharat innumerable times but it has never bored me. It is eternal and quintessential fresh. 

'The Difficulty of Being Good' is a 'modern' take on Mahabharat's characters by  Gurucharan Das. He raises the very old but very pertinent question that why the Pandavas had to suffer so much atrocities and adversities despite of being good. The eldest Pandava Yudhisthira never did any wrong and always supported and forgave the Kauravas and was even ready to give up his just claim on the throne of Indraprastha for just 5 villages but what price he (and other Pandavas) had to pay for their exemplary goodness. They had to fight a reluctant but bloody war and had to kill their kins and teachers and had to see their kins getting killed in the battlefield. 

Gurucharan Das does not even venture to solve this dilemma, he simply says that one has to be pragmatic like Krishna and should not go to the extremes of Duryodhana (the evil extreme) and Yudhisthira (the virtuous one) as Dharma is too subtle. 

To be frank this book has confused me a lot and i don't understand what message Mr. Das is trying to deliver. In the end he says that Yudhisthira is the real Hero of Mahabharat as he did not lose his goodness in his adversities and in his halcyon days. But he was good only when he stuck to his 'Dharma' and he suffered badly for doing that. He started having good time only when he turned pragmatic or a bit 'opportunist' like when he took part in the plans to neutralize Bheeshma and Dronacharya. 

His dealing of the character of Karna is pretty good and he really brought some fresh insights.

According to me the greatest thing this great epic can teach is that if your aim is just and true that it justifies pragmatic or slightly deviant ways to achieve it. 

Recommended (7/10)

Book Review [122] : Shreeman Yogi

When i was kid i used to read random books on great Indians. Those days UP board had 'Hamare Poorvaj' (Our ancestors) book in syllabi of class VI, VII and VIII to educate young students about our great ancestors, i am not sure whether this book still exists or consumed by the fire of  skewed 'Secularism'; There were chapters on Shivaji, Hyder Ali, Chandbibi, Rani Durgawati, Rani Laxmibai, Bheeshm Pitamah, Shershah Suri, Guru Gobind Singh etc, well those days were different days. I first read about Shivaji in one of those books and since then i have become a great admirer of Shivaji. 

'Shreeman Yogi'  (originally written in Marathi) by Ranjit Desai is a great historic novel on the life of Shivaji Raje. It is mammoth in size and each of its 992 pages are drenched with the sacrifices of Raje and his people. When there was no independent Hindu kingdom south of Narmada and when the Hindus of India were persecuted in major part of the country and when their temples were desecrated as a matter of routine that time Shivaji Raje ignited the fire of resistance against the tyranny of Mughals and Adilshahi.

He was born in a rich and powerful family of Bhonsles and related to another powerful family of Jadhavs on maternal side but he and his mother were abandoned by Shahji Maharaj in the hostile estate of Pune under the guardianship of Dadoji Kond-dev. He learned the heard way under Dadoji and started dreaming about an independent state when he was barely in his teens. He started his remarkably ambitious mission by first conquering the Torana fort. He became the master of Sahyadri before his 30th birthday. He successfully countered the hostilities of Siddis, Mughals and Adilshahi and founded a solid Kingdom in western Maharashtra.

The books tells in details how Shivaji Raje built his team and filled them with the ambition of founding an independent state. The way he overpowered the treachery of Afzal Khan has become a subject of countless ballads. His chivalrous conduct with the most beautiful daughter-in-law of Subedar of Kalyan does not have any comparison. He did that in an age when women prisoner of war were either inducted in the harem of the conquerors or were sold in slave markets. 

Mata Jijabai was the most brave and intelligent women of medieval India. Had there been no Mata Jijabai, certainly there would have been no Shivaji. She inculcated in him the feeling of independence and chivalry from his very childhood. The seed that was sown in the hostile land of Pune became a mighty Chhatrapati by 1674. Mata Jijabai died within a month after the coronation of Shivaji Raje in 1674.

As they say King is as great or bad as his followers and Shivaji had very loyal and brave followers - Yesaji Kank, Tanaji Malsure, Bajiprabhu Deshpande, Moropant, Anaji, Firgonji, Shiva Mahala, Jiva Nai, Prataprao to name a few.

The book covers in minute details the Purandar treaty with Mirja Raja Jai Singh and the escape of Shivaji from Agra under the nose of barbaric Aurangzeb. The General who was not defeated by even the most mighty generals like Shaishta Khan or Afzal Kan, was undone by the family intrigues. 

Highly Recommended (9/10)

Book Review [121] : India - A Wounded Civilization

'India - A Wounded Civilization' is second masterpiece of Sir V S Naipaul's Indian trilogy. Written during emergency period, it is a commentary on the classical Indian concept of taking refuge in security of fatalism and quietism in times of challenges and flux.

A single invasion can shatter the confidence of any great country, India has faced countless invasions over the last 1000 years and its soul has taken drastic beatings. India had had faced invasions since time immemorial but those invasions were defeated in the end and the invaders were integrated without any trace of their originality. No one in current India identifies him/herself with Shakas, Pahalvas, Hunas or Kushanas; their probable lack of religion or high culture made them weaker against Indian civilization but the situation changed after the advent of Muslim civilization. Now the invaders had a culture and a more egalitarian religion and this resulted in a very complex relations between the invaders and the conquered people. The conquered India was finally beaten to dust by the 'superior' western civilization; the deadly mix of Hindu quietism and Muslim stagnancy only helped the charge of the Anglo - Saxons invaders.

Singing glories of ancient civilization and not doing anything to build upon it has become a hallmark of contemporary India. We spend our energies, time and resources in protecting cows instead of enhancing their productivity. We sing and love the ancient Sanskrit literature but can we single out any great piece of Sanskrit literature produced by Indians in this century. Nowhere in the world poverty is idolized and nowhere in the world only the past is considered a perfect solution for all the evils without any innovation and without any plan for future. No country has receded culturally and geographically as India and this receding has been going on without any break for the last 1000 years. For Invaders India has always been India but for Indians India has always been an agglomeration of castes and religious groups and it does not look like changing. We have been decaying and continue to decay.

Highly Recommended (9/10)

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)

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 [92] : A Cultural History Of India

A L Basham (1914-1986) was one of the finest historians of last century and current apostles of Indian history like Romila Thapar, R. S. Sharma etc owe their celebrity status to legendary Basham. I read 'The Wonder that i was India' couple of years back and was impressed by the sheer simplicity of the text without loosing any weight of the scholarship. 'A Cultural History Of India' is another gem from him, first published in 1975 under his editorship. Its a collection of essays and articles on various facets of Indian culture by great scholars and intellectuals like Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, B. B. Lal, S. A. A. Rizwi, Romila Thapar etc. 

This book is written with such a passion and scholarship that no one can put if off once started; it enlightens you with unleashing so many hidden treasures that you can not stop yourself saying what a wonder that is India. It does not suffer either from right wing exaggeration - nationalistic chauvinism or from left critic of Hindu religion, art and culture. It has dedicated chapters on Indo-China historic interactions, India's influence on South East Asia, India's contact with ancient west and on ancient-medieval literature etc. Before reading the last few i did not know that "Few India leaders proposed to Cabinet Mission of 1946 that one of the descendants of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II should be made Constitutional Emperor of India, this would solve the partition problem". It many sound like an absurd idea but all ideas are absurd idea before they are actually unleashed. There are many such revelations in this book. I took almost 3 weeks to finish this magnum opus so please get a copy and enjoy the ride

Highly Recommended (9/10)

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)