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Death by a Thousand Cuts

This week's killing of 35 Hindu villagers in Kashmir is an ugly reminder of how India is under siege from the forces of terror. What the country needs is a credible counter terror campaign. Instead, its citizens get political rhetoric and little else.

India has come a long way since the gloom of the 1960s, a decade in which the Chinese military invasion shattered national confidence, socialism began to fail and U.S. wheat aid gave rise to the image of a country with a begging bowl. Today, a buoyant India is a knowledge powerhouse, a nuclear-weapons state and a food exporter. But it still manifests some of the same weak spots that crippled it several decades ago.

Nowhere is India's frailty more apparent than on internal security, which historically has been its Achilles heel. With one of the world's highest rates of terrorism, India today is battling underground extremists on multiple fronts: Pakistan-aided Islamists in Kashmir and elsewhere; Maoist rebels in a north-south corridor stretching from Nepal to its southeastern coastline; and separatists in the restive northeast region between Burma, Bangladesh and China-annexed Tibet.

The biggest threat India confronts is from Pakistan-based jihadist groups that are carrying out daring assaults deep across the border. The terrorist bombings in New Delhi, Bangalore and the Hindu holy city of Benares in the past six months were all linked by investigators to Pakistani militant groups

The Jihadists, having ethnically cleansed much of Indian Kashmir of its Hindu minority, are now targeting the small number of Hindus that remain in isolated, rugged pockets. Monday's attacks on three mountainside villages in a border belt were among the worst massacres in Kashmir in recent years. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh responded typically -- with empty rhetoric about the need to fight terror. But this was not backed by any concrete plans to tackle the militants. Instead he simply held talks with Kashmiri separatist politicians Wednesday.

The latest massacre comes at a time when Mr. Singh's credibility is under attack in the face of mounting political problems at home. Faced with bickering in his cabinet, the prime minister is looking less like a leader and more a manager seeking to keep his government from unraveling. The expected communist victories in state elections in West Bengal and Kerala -- where results are expected next week -- won't help.  

 

Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is Catholic and PM Manmohan Singh is a Sikh.

The Jihadists, having ethnically cleansed much of Indian Kashmir of its Hindu minority, are now targeting the small number of Hindus that remain in isolated, rugged pockets.
India's former Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti felt compelled to remind fellow citizens that, "We don't have the political will to fight terrorism,"

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Mr. Singh, the latest in a series of septuagenarians and octogenarians who have led India since 1989, epitomizes India's leadership deficit. A technocrat who served as finance minister in the first half of the 1990s, Mr. Singh became prime minister in 2004 by accident when Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi declined to assume that office and nominated him instead.

India's former Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti felt compelled to remind fellow citizens that, "We don't have the political will to fight terrorism," when he retired from office last October. India cannot boast of a single successful commando raid to rescue hostages.

India's stoic, forbearing approach is now embedded in the national psyche. It is as if the Indian republic has come to accept terrorist strikes as the products of its unalterable geography or destiny. That may help explain why India's laconic response to the Pakistan-based jihadist groups' strategy to inflict death by a thousand cuts has been survival by a thousand bandages. Just as India has come to accept a high level of political corruption, it is starting to live with a high incidence of terrorism. Turning this abysmal situation around demands a new mindset that will not allow India to be continually gored. That means a readiness to do whatever is necessary to end the terrorist siege of India.

(source: Death by a Thousand Cuts - By Brahma Chellaney - The Wall Street Journal May 5, 2006).

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Varanasi - Older than History
A Living Text of Hinduism

Mark Twain (1835-1910) also known as Samuel Clemens, one of the most widely loved and celebrated American writers since his first books were released in the late 1860s. Many of his writings have reached the pinnacles of American and world literature, including the timeless Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

He had quipped: 

"Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together."

For 2,500 years this city, also called Varanasi, has attracted pilgrims and seekers from all over India. Sages, such as the Buddha, Mahavira, and Shankara, have come here to teach. Young men have come here to study the Vedas with the city’s great pundits. It antiquity has caught the imagination of many.

Reverend M A Sherring ( ? )  a mid-nineteenth-century missionary in Banaras, who wrote effusively: 

Twenty five centuries ago, at the least, it was famous. When Babylon was struggling with Nineveh for supremacy, when Tyre was planting her colonies, when Athens was growing in strength, before Rome had become known, or Greece had contended with Persia, or Cyrus had added luster to the Persian monarchy, or Nebuchadnezzar had captured Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of Judea had been carried into captivity, she had already risen to greatness, if not to glory.”

To linger in Banaras is to linger in another era, an era which one cannot quite date by century. It is very old, and yet it has continued to gather the cumulative Hindu tradition, right to the present. 

Edwin Arnold ( ?  ) called Benaras "the Oxford and Canterbury of India in one."

Count Hermann Keyserling (1880-1946) philosopher, author, public speaker. He is the first Western thinker to conceive and promote a planetary culture, beyond nationalism and cultural ethnocentrism, based on recognition of the equal value and validity of non-western cultures and philosophies. Keyserling founded the School of Wisdom in Darmstadt, Germany in 1920 based on the original Schools of Wisdom which prospered over two thousand years ago in Northern India. 

Keyserling who left Europe shortly before World War I to journey around the world, wrote an account of the city of Banaras:

"Benares is holy. Europe, grown superficial, hardly understands such truths anymore.....I feel nearer here than I have ever done to the heart of the world; here I feel everyday as if soon, perhaps even today, I would receive the grace of supreme revelation...The atmosphere of devotion which hangs above the river is improbable in strength; stronger than in any church that I have ever visited. Every would be Christian priest would do well to sacrifice a year of his theological studies in order to spend his time on the Ganges; here he would discover what piety means."

(source: India Travel Diary of a Philosopher – By Count Hermann Keyserling p. 118 - 122).

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'O Mother Ganga, may your water,
abundant blessing of this world,
treasure of Lord Shiva, playful Lord of all the earth,
essence of the scriptures and
embodied goodness of the gods,
May your water, sublime wine of immortality,
Soothe our troubled souls.' 

One of the oldest living cities in the world, Banaras is the holy place of the Hindus, as significant as Jerusalem is to Jews and Christians and Mecca is to Muslims. Referred to by Hindus as Kashi (the Luminous), the city is visited by pilgrims from all over India, who come to bathe in the River Ganga (Ganges) - many, indeed, to die on its sacred banks.

 

"Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together." Its splendid riverfront face has retained its old and ageless character.

Refer to chapter on Nature Worship.

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Banaras is a magnificent city, rising from the western bank of the River Ganges, where the river takes a broad crescent sweep toward the north. There is little in the world to compare with the splendor of Banaras, seen from the river at dawn.

The rays of the early morning sun spread across the river and strike the high-banked face of the city, which Hindus call Kashi – the Luminous, the City of Light. The temples and shrines, ashrams and pavilions that stretch along the river for over three miles are golden in the early morning. They rise majestic on the high riverbank and cast deep reflections into the waters of the Ganges. 

Long flights of stone steps called Ghats, reaching the roots into the river, bring thousands of worshippers down to the river to bathe at dawn. In the narrow lanes at the top of these steps moves the unceasing earthly drama of life and death, which Hindus call Samsara. But here, from the perspective of the river, there is a vision of transcendence and liberation, which Hindus call Moksha.

The riverfront reveals the sources of Kashi’s ancient reputation as the sacred city of the Hindus. Along the river there are over seventy bathing ghats, literally “landings” or “banks,” reaching from Asi Ghat in the south to Adi Keshava in the north, beyond the bridge. Bathing in the Ganges, a river said to have fallen from heaven to earth, is the first act of Banaras pilgrims and a daily rite for Benaras residents. Along the river are dozens of temples with high spires, most of them dedicated to Lord Shiva, who according to tradition, makes this city his permanent earthly home.

 

Shiva Nataraja, Lord of Chidambaram, bronze 12th century. Now in Rietberg Museum, Zurich.

Watch Scientific verification of Vedic knowledge

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There are riverside cremation grounds at Harishchandra Ghat and Manikarnika Ghat, recognizable by the smoke that rises from the pyres of the dead. Death in Kashi is acclaimed by the tradition as a great blessing. 

Dying here, gains liberation from the earthly round of Samsara. 

(source: Banaras, City of Light - By Diana L Eck   p.1 - 6). For more refer to chapter on Nature Worship. Watch History of Ayodhya - videogoogle.com.

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Islamic Terrorism at  Varanasi - Hinduism's Holiest city

2 blasts rock Varanasi; 20 dead.  At least 20 persons were killed and over 50 injured when two blasts rocked Varanasi on Tuesday evening.

 

 

According to the police, two blasts occurred almost simultaneously at about 6.30 pm. The first blast took place at the Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple that was crowded on Tuesday, believed to be a special day for Lord Hanuman. 

Panic prevailed at the temple  with  at least 10 persons dying on the spot while about 40 were wounded. "Ten of the wounded are critical," a hospital official said.

 

 

Victims of Islamic terrorism in India.

Refer to Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing of Kashmiri Hindu Pandits - And the World Remained Silent - Movie http://www.jaia-bharati.org/films/and-the-world.mpg. Refer to video Statistics on Islamic Terrorism - By B Raman.  Watch History of Ayodhya - videogoogle.com.

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A similar explosion in the waiting area of the Varanasi railway station followed the temple blast. A bomb went off outside the station master's room at the railway station, leaving five dead and about 20 injured. Another live bomb was unearthed in Gudaulia  residential locality. "It was diffused by the bomb squad," police said.

According to Varanasi Senior Superintendent of Police Navneet Sikera, "The blasts were big and we would not rule out more casualties." Ammonium Nitrate was used in the bombs, official sources said. They were connected to timer devices that were set to go off in a serial manner. Sikera also does not rule out a terrorist hand behind the blast. "What else could it be?" he asked. "I would not be surprised if it were some kind of a retaliatory act by Lashkar-e-Tayiba, as we had nabbed one of their agents in Varanasi in February," Sikera sought to add.

The suspected  LeT agent was handed over to West Bengal police as the Bengal police had alerted them about the accused.

 

 

The Sankat Mochan temple is the oldest Hanuman temple in Varanasi.

It is said that Saint Tulsidas established two temples in Varanasi and this Hanuman temple is of great value to people who follow the saint's Ramcharita Manas.

"Every Hindu visitor to our city goes to this temple," Dr Rakesh Mazumdar, a resident of Varanasi told rediff.com.

 

Lord Hanuman who represents devotion, loyalty and hope for millions of Hindus worldwide.

In India, millions of Hindus are followers of Bajrangbali (Lord Hanuman) and the Sankat Mochan temple is a sacred spot for them.

Refer to Confront the anti-Hindus: The only way to rescue Hinduism - By J.G. Arora.

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In India, millions of Hindus are followers of Bajrangbali (Lord Hanuman) and the Sankat Mochan temple is a sacred spot for them. Mazumdar said, "Even Actor Amitabh Bachchan celebrated wife Jaya's 50th birthday here."

Anil Mishra, a senior journalist with Hindustan newspaper said, "Residents of Varanasi were aware of terrorist threats in city. In the last three months, three Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists were caught and the police knew that city is under risk. But it looks like not enough security measures have been taken." The temple is run by the Sankat Mochan Foundation, which is headed by Veer Bhadra Mishra, who was named by Time magazine as one of the Heroes of the Planet in 1999 for his work in cleaning the Ganga river.

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Mecca to Varanasi - On 07-03-06 another Hindu city came under Islamic attack. This time the target was the nerve center of Hinduism the holy city of Varanasi, also called as Kashi, the city of Lord Shiva. More than 25 Hindus died in this Islamic terrorist attack. 

"India is really soft state as we do not capture or punish anybody. In addition, most of the parties want Muslim votes. So they are always involved in appeasing them. Where are leftist and Muslim demonstrators who protested so violently against Danish cartoons and Bush visit? Should they not be as vehement in protesting these attacks against Hindus? Hello, Arundhati Roy, are you sleeping now?"

(source: Controlled rage greets Varanasi blasts - hindustantimes.com and Mecca to Varanasi). Refer to Are the Hindus Destined to Become an Extinct Race? By Ishani Chowdhury.  For more refer to chapter on Islamic Onslaught and a documentary on Hindu temples, refer to The Lost Temples of India.

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