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Political incorrectness?
Disparaging/Sarcastic text of Ramayana in American Textbooks?
So look around—see any monkeys?”

Current California textbooks on Hinduism (Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Textbook) on p. 87:

“The monkey king Hanuman loved Rama so much that it is said that he is present every time the Ramayana is told. So look around—see any monkeys?”

Lord Ram with Hanuman and his army. Scene from Thai Ramayana, Grand Palace, Bangkok. Thailand.  

Since the time of Valmiki, other poets have made their translations and adaptations of this epic, and Ramayana long ago migrated across South East Asia (Suvarnabhumi) to countries as Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia each of whom have their own Ramayana literary traditions and have made it a part of their culture.

Refer to chapter on Survarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor

***

Jules Michelet (1789-1874) French writer, one of the greatest historian said about the Ramayana:

"There lies my great poem, as vast as the Indian ocean, blessed, gilded with the sun, the book of divine harmony wherein is no dissonance. A serene peace reigns there, and in the midst of conflict an infinite sweetness, a boundless fraternity, which spreads over all living things, an ocean (without bottom or bound) of love, of pity, of clemency." 

(source: Philosophy of Hinduism - An Introduction  - By T. C. Galav  ISBN: 0964237709 Universal Science-Religion. Pg 149 and Making History Poverty?. For more refer to chapter on Hindu Scriputres.

(Note: Navya Shastra also requests that the school board recognize the positive contribution of Dalits to Hinduism, and strongly suggests replacing the photo of the Dalit performing a menial task* with one that illustrates a Dalit immersed in a faith practice. For while the caste system has treated many Hindus very unfairly, the liberating resources of the tradition that affirm the equal worth and dignity of all beings should also be presented).

***

Textbooks about Hinduism: Why accuracy matters?

What the Hindus and Jews were demanding had nothing to do with evolution or intelligent design. They were asking that the books accurately and fairly portray their religions and histories. But the request to make the changes was met with antagonism by a group of prominent religious scholars. The group, led by Harvard Sanskrit scholar Michael Witzel, filed a petition against the changes, claiming they had more to do with religious fanaticism on the part of the groups than with accuracy.

Many Hindu groups and parents in California were understandably upset -- Witzel unfairly branded them as extremists. But he doesn't have to worry about his child coming home from school and declaring that he no longer wants to be a Hindu because his classmates ridiculed him about something taught in class that day. That recently happened to one Milpitas, Calif., parent of an 11-year-old.

(source: Textbooks about Hinduism: Why accuracy matters? - By Viji Sundaram New America Media, Jan 10, 2006). Refer to Bigotry and Prejudice: the Depiction of Hinduism in the West - By Rajeev Srinivasan - rediff.com and Endemic discrimination against Hindus - By Rajeev Srinivasan

Refer to Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America - By Krishnan Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas and Aditi Banerjee.

***

Negative portrayal of Hinduism in American schools ?

"the state of Hinduism as has been portrayed in public school textbooks is outdated and derogatory and misleading. There is no expanding on the philosophy of the Hindus, their positive attributes. The textbooks bring topics that are not brought in when it comes to other religions. When they talk about Jesus or give instances from the Bible, they put on them on paper as historical fact, but when it comes to stories of Rama or Krishna, it is always a myth. if you look at Christianity or Judaism or Islam, nowhere in the textbooks is there any discussion on women's rights. Then, to pull it in for Hinduism is a different treatment of Hinduism. If you look at Christianity or Judaism or Islam, nowhere in the textbooks is there any discussion on women's rights. Then, to pull it in for Hinduism is a different treatment of Hinduism. (Refer to Treatment of Women in the Bible and chapter on Women in Hinduism and Hindus fight discrimination in California textbooks – 1 – By Kalavi Venkat).

Hindus are just beginning to join the civic process in the US. I think schools are well aware that you cannot have people in ivory towers writing textbooks without having some inputs from the community which is being written about. It is easy to fling mud to deflect attention from what is really being put into the book. There are so many political Hindu-phobic forces. If you look at high academia and look at the way Hinduism has been portrayed by many, they had a free rein for so many years. They were able to define Hinduism for Hindus. I think they have apprehensions now to allow Hindus to define Hinduism. "

(source: 'I am not for rewriting Hinduism' - interview with Suhag A Shukla - rediff.com).  Refer to Indian Identity in American Schools - By C Alex Alexander - sulkeha.com. Also refer to Bigotry and Prejudice: the Depiction of Hinduism in the West - By Rajeev Srinivasan - rediff.com and Endemic discrimination against Hindus - By Rajeev Srinivasan.  Refer to Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress - By Howard Zinn

Watch Sex crimes and the Vatican - videogoogle.com.

Refer to World Conquering Creeds - By Dr. Koenraad Elst - chapter on Glimpses XVI

(Note: Double Standards? American journalists believe that it is the right of Christians, Muslims or Jews to be politically active, but brand Hindus fighting for their political rights as "Hindu fundamentalists").

Your child is a ‘broken person!’ 

Mahatma Gandhi  " I am a Hindu because it is Hinduism which makes the world worth living."

He used to refer to them as children of Hari - Harijans. He told the  Christian missionaries that he resented their attempts to convert the Harijans. 

"I resent the overtures made to Harijans."

Watch An Invasion through Conversion - videoyahoo.com and  Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress - By Howard Zinn

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If you are a Harijan Hindu, and if your child goes to a California school, she would be told that she is a broken person – that is, if Michael Witzel et al have their say.

Everyone would agree that positive reinforcement is the best way to nurture a child. But, Witzel et al, in their capacity as reviewers, have insisted that California textbooks should call Harijan Hindus ‘Dalits’ [Ref.: State of California, Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission’s Memorandum, dated November 22, 2005, edit 86]. This word literally means ‘a broken person.’ It was coined in 1972 by a militant group called Dalit Panthers Party [Joshi, B.: Untouchables! Voices of the Dalit Liberation Movement, pp. 141-147]. The party was ephemeral but some politicians, who act as the fifth column of Christian missionary fronts, insist on using this word to denote the Harijans.

In the effect it has on the child, this obnoxious word is not different from ‘nigger,’ a word used by racists to call Black Americans. Such words inculcate anger, a feeling of victimization and destroy the child. 

Will textbooks ever describe Native Americans as ‘nits’ and ‘wolves,’ the words racists used for them?

Michael Witzel et al did not stop at that. They also wanted an illustration of a night-soil remover to depict a Harijan in a textbook on ancient India for grade six [Ref.: State of California, Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission’s Memorandum, dated November 22, 2005, edit 7]. Can Witzel cite evidence that this obnoxious profession even existed in those times? Why does he insist on falsely stereotyping the Harijans, who have a heritage they can be proud of? Will he demand that textbooks have the powerful depiction of victims of Inquisition or jihad to illustrate Christianity and Islam respectively?

(source: Hindus fight discrimination in California textbooks - 3 - By Kalavi Venkat india-forum.org). For more refer to chapter on Caste System and Conversion. Also refer to Bigotry and Prejudice: the Depiction of Hinduism in the West - By Rajeev Srinivasan - rediff.com and Endemic discrimination against Hindus - By Rajeev Srinivasan and Insults to the Mahatma, ignored by India - rediff.com.

Yes, ‘secular’ US seems kinder to Hindus than ‘secular’ India 

The headlines of this short story, factually told, run like this. ‘Hindus worship ‘statues’, not ‘deities’.’ ‘Hindu God cannot have capital ‘G’ and have to be content with the ordinary letter ‘g’ as, unlike the Gods in Abrahamic faiths, there is no one God for Hindus’. ‘Who in sixth standard cares whether Ramayana was written before or after the Mahabharata’.

This scandalous depiction of Hindus, their faith and history is not the tirade of evangelicals luring Hindus to their faith. But, this is how some US scholars who supported the demeaning descriptions of Hindus and India in textbooks proposed by the California Department of Education (CDE) defended their contents when Hindus protested and sought corrections. Since the US scholars were not Hindus, their defence of the books lacked credibility. To fill the credibility gap, Indian seculars stepped in, led by Romila Thapar; they jointly petitioned the CDE that the Hindu protest against the textbooks was actually the protest of the ‘Hindutva forces’. Hence, the corrections suggested by them should be disregarded.

The issue is whether what Hindus say is true or not. Does the truth lose its value because Hindus bring it out? 

Dr Michael Witzel, a Harvard University professor who is undeniably anti-Hindu and thus an icon of Indian seculars, charged that the Hindu community’s corrections were motivated by ‘Hindutva forces’. He warned the CDE that it ‘would lead without fail to an international educational scandal’ if accepted. Romila Thapars of secular India joined as co-petitioners of Witzel, making it a kind of ‘confession’ on behalf of Hindus.

(source: Yes, ‘secular’ US seems kinder to Hindus than ‘secular’ India - By S Gurumurthy - newindpress.com). Thus Spake Professor Michael Witzel - A Harvard University Case Study in Prejudice?

Refer to QuickTime trailer and Part One of the film The God Awful Truth.

Are Hindus children of a lesser 'god'?
Who are opposing the Hindu initiative to end discrimination in California textbooks?

Many Hindu American parents have been dismayed by the negative and caricaturist description of our heritage that our school children in the United States are subjected to.

Other ancient traditions such as Jainism are also ignored in textbooks. HEF has received letters of support from Jain groups, as well as Hindu American organizations representing immigrants from Nepal and the Carribbean. More than 100 world-class scholars of archaeology, history and academic study of religion have written to CDE in support of HEF/VF efforts.

Who are they, and why did they oppose the changes? Steve Farmer, a non specialist who does not understand a single Indic language or genre of texts, initiated Witzel's petition, on which many Marxist ideologues signed. It seems that Michael Witzel, who sent the petition on behalf its signatories, has called Hindus immigrant to the USA, "lost or abandoned people." Reports also indicate that he has made fun of the most sacred Hindu chants such as "Om." Witzel indulged in clandestine activism, and urged his cosignatories to mobilize opposition to the Hindu initiative through fringe ultra-left Indian or South Asian groups in the United States.

Lars Martin Fosse, a cosignatory on Witzel's petition and writing on behalf of Witzel's petitioners, appealed to fundamentalist Christian missionaries and alleged Khalistanis to mobilize volunteers to oppose the Hindu initiative. Sikhs, who are a peace-loving, hard-working and enterprising community, have been rightly upset that textbooks that deal with medieval history ignore Sikhism.

Predictably, the Witzel group has received strong support from Indian communists who have always borne an animus for Hindus. The very first articles by Nalini Taneja favoring his stance came out in the online newspaper of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Further articles by Anjana Chatterjee, an Indian leftist in United States, appeared in some Leftist online magazines, as did articles by Comrade Vijay Prasad, founder of the Forum of Inquilabi Leftists (FOIL). All kinds of abuses in their standard lexicon ('fascists', casteists, Hindu nationalists, Nazis etc.) were hurled without any attempt to understand the issues academically. Another conspiracy theory stated by Leftists was that HEF/VF wanted to exclude the Aryan Invasion.

Moreover, ancient Buddhist texts also seemed to include similar treatment of Chandalas in ancient India, and true egalitarianism was absent in other religions as well. Therefore it was unfair to single out Hinduism. However, Witzel group and the Indian American Leftists played the 'Dalit' card, further muddying the situation to no one's benefit. Some reports indicate that many of the participants who showed up at the Board meeting might not be Hindu Dalits.

Lastly, some members of the Indian Muslim community (such as Khalid Azam of the Indian Muslim Council) have stepped in the fray although Islam was not present in ancient India. In contrast to Hindu changes, the 500 changes of the Jewish community and a hundred changes proposed by the Muslims were accepted in toto by everyone without a single protest. But as many as 58 of the modest 95 odd Hindu group proposed edits were opposed by the same people. Why? Are Hindus children of a lesser 'god'? Why is that that 'scholars' who have never acted constructively in improving the coverage of India and Hinduism in textbooks are now trying to 'foil' constructive maiden attempts by HEF/VF? How come anti-Hinduism is common in all these groups?

(source: Who are opposing the Hindu initiative to end discrimination in California textbooks? - By Vishal Agarwal - indiapost.com. Refer to Insults to the Mahatma, ignored by India - rediff.com. Also refer to Hate group numbers top 800 in USA - Southern Poverty Law Center. Watch Sex crimes and the Vatican - videogoogle.com. 

Refer to Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress - By Howard Zinn

Refer to World Conquering Creeds - By Dr. Koenraad Elst - chapter on Glimpses XVI. Watch An Invasion through Conversion - videoyahoo.com

American conspiracy against Hinduism!

As an unknown heathen with my racial and cultural memories going back to the dawn of history, I am rather amused by the manner in which the California Education Department has recently permitted some known anti-Hindu baiters like Michael Witzel, professor of Sanskrit, Harvard University, and some of his chosen suspects to intrude into (if not lurking house trespass!) the textbook selection, evaluation and reform process, in gross violation of established norms of decorum and decency. 

Professor Witzel of Harvard University is a great champion of the Aryan Invasion Theory of India. He succeeded in persuading the authorities to incorporate this as an inviolable fact in the textbooks. It should not be forgotten that the Aryan Invasion Theory of India was manufactured, marketed and sold as a common colonial product during the days of British Raj and which was later lapped up by all the European historians, the highly Anglicised Indian historians and the so-called 'secular' historians belonging to the moribund leftist groups in India. The Hindu Education Foundation requested the Californian Authorities to take note of the overwhelming evidence available today against the Aryan Invasion Theory so as to make the presentation in the textbooks more reasonable, balanced and in accord with different shades of expert academic opinion. 

(source: American conspiracy against Hinduism!  - By V Sundaram - newstodaynet.com). Also refer to Bigotry and Prejudice: the Depiction of Hinduism in the West - By Rajeev Srinivasan - rediff.com and Endemic discrimination against Hindus - By Rajeev Srinivasan. For some humor refer to Indology Researchers' Fan Club. For more on Western Biased Scholarship, refer to chapter on First Indologists and European Imperialism.  

Watch Sex crimes and the Vatican - videogoogle.com.  Refer to Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress - By Howard Zinn

Whose religion is it anyway?
California schoolbooks are up for grabs by Hindu-baiters

The letter disparaged the Hindu parents and activists as the American handmaidens of Hindu nationalist groups in India. The Hindu nationalists, the petition charged, had sought to "rewrite" history and that the heinous project was derailed by the expert and active intervention of secular, academic, and objective "South Asia" scholars.

Known for his abrasive and sarcastic put-downs on various India-centred discussion lists, Professor Witzel had inserted himself into a variety of debates on these matters in the past. His muscle as an Ivy League professor was sought to be leveraged by the US-based RSS/ BJP baiters who wrote him asking for his quick intervention in California's school textbooks vetting process. The Hindu groups' request for review of the textbooks was no different from the request by Jewish Americans.

The politics is going to be vicious because the chief petitioner has previously expressed bias against Indian immigrants to the US and stereotyped them as "lost" and "abandoned" people. His hostile and scurrilous imprint is all over the Internet, and yet those who have co-signed his petition have done so without an inkling about the nature of the changes proposed and the changes accepted after review. Professor Michael Witzel has defined NRIs as "Non Returning Indians", Hindus in North America as "HiNA" - punning on the Sanskrit hina (meaning low born, lowly) - and caricatured Hindu parents in the US training their sons and daughters in Indian classical music and dance as being unaware of the status of dance and music in India in feudal times.

The "experts'" petition refers to the bloody riots in Gujarat in 2002, and cleverly and diabolically seeks to insinuate that the Hindu parents and activists of California who have sought changes in the school textbook are ideologically in bed with the murderers and rapists in Gujarat. This is the kind of political skullduggery that we may expect in Washington DC or in New Delhi, but should we countenance such vile and vulgar practices by academics?

(source: Whose religion is it anyway? - By Ramesh Rao - indiareacts.com). Refer to Romila Thapar’s Kluge Prize – By Dr. Gautam Sen - vigilonline.com

Harvard professor launches anti-Hindu Crusade
Unmasking the anti-Hindu elements in Western Academia?

Recently, in a Communist-leaning political list better known for its uncritical beliefs in myths like Aryan Invasion and its negation of historical facts, Harvard professor Michael Witzel made some startling claims about Hindu immigrants to the USA. One of his acolytes invented the acronym HINA for Hindus in North America. Witzel disingenuously and infamously transliterated it as “hiina” and translated it as “lost” or “abandoned.” This Sanskrit word has many other derogatory meanings such as “inferior,” “insecure,” “lowly” and “defective.”

It caught my attention that Witzel had described Hindus using the very same phrase – “lost people” – which a rabid Christian fundamentalist and anti-Semite had used to describe the Jews a few years ago.

Rev. Bailey Smith, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, a founding father of the movement, once told 15,000 people at a Religious Roundtable briefing in Dallas, had infamously declared: 

“God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew” and added, “without Jesus Christ, they [the Jews] are lost."

Witzel also makes fun of the Hindu custom of cremating their dead: “[Hindus immigrants to the USA] have begun ---as an old, very conservative US Brahmin friend pointed out to me already in 1994—building crematoria as well.”

Stanley Wolpert, a UCLA historian whose sensational books were banned by Indian government during Indira Gandhi's days, writes: 

“This was the most important invasion in all of India’s history, since the Aryans brought with their Caucasian genes a new language – Sanskrit – and a new pantheon of gods…”

It seems that to our UCLA professor the importance of an invasion depends on whether it involved the inflow of Caucasian genes! Hey, what is next? The most important invasion in all of Americas’ history is the 16^th century invasion of Europeans because it brought in Caucasian genes? Thank god, African Americans, who do not possess Caucasian genes, did not invade Americas! 

(source: Harvard professor launches anti-Hindu Crusade - By Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman - india-forum.com). For some humor refer to Indology Researchers' Fan Club

Refer to QuickTime trailer and Part One of the film The God Awful Truth. Refer to World Conquering Creeds - By Dr. Koenraad Elst - chapter on Glimpses XVI

Diaspora depressed over deception

The Indian diaspora in America is upset over the manner in which the California education department has permitted known anti-Hindu baiters like Harvard professor Michael Witzel and other usual suspects to intrude in the textbook selection and reform process, in violation of established norms. The result is that while the Curriculum Commission has accepted changes mooted by representatives of the Christian, the Jewish and the Muslim groups, changes desired by Hindu groups are being posted for re-review by Hindu-baiting academics!

The Jewish and the Hindu groups shared a common agony that American textbooks did not capitalize “God” when referring to the supreme deity(s) of their respective faith traditions. Both groups objected to their scriptures being demoted as “stories,” which suggested “that the events described are fictitious.”

Prof. Michael Witzel of Harvard’s Sanskrit Department wrote to the California State Board of Education on November 8, objecting to the accommodation of Hindus sensitivities. Prof. Witzel and his colleague Steve Farmer collected signatures from over four dozen scholars around the world, including worthies like Prof. Romila Thapar and Prof. Stanley Wolpert, without bothering to examine the desired changes! As Witzel exclusively targetted Hindu-Americans, he may have had a political agenda.

On December 4, 2005, the California School Board accepted many changes desired by the Hindu community in Grade VI textbooks on topics dealing with India and Hindu dharma. The corrections were vetted by an ad hoc committee including renowned Indologist Dr. Shiva G. Bajpai, who was hired by the Commission. But the Witzel intervention led the Commission to appoint Witzel, Wolpert and others as experts for a post-review process (Content Review Panel).

(source: Diaspora depressed over deception - By Sandhya Jain).

Refer to Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America - By Krishnan Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas and Aditi Banerjee.

***

Stop this anti-Hindu tirade!  -  "Your use of the word 'saffronisation' shows your sick mindset. Can Hindus in the USA ask for parity with other religions? Can they demand that Hinduism in textbooks be taught using the same yardstick applied to Islam and Christianity?" asks Sadanjan from Hyderabad.

Jagan Mohan from Pondicherry asks, "Is asking for a review of the decision to include Aryan invasions in fact 'pro-Hindutva'? India has always been portrayed as a land of snake charmers, sati, maharajas and cows."

The Michael Witzel group is trying to maintain the status quo by showing India as a backward, cultural inferior civilisation by taking refuge behind the anti-Hindutva facade.

And the amazing thing is that the Hindustan Times is also taking sides blindly by calling the activists who are trying to set right the distorted image as 'pro-Hindutva' fundamentalists. What's next? Call them terrorists?" he asks.

Raunak from San Francisco says, "I have not read a more ill-informed article that this! I am a resident of California and I see no saffronisation in the campaign taken up by some Hindus against the misrepresentations made in the proposed text. Does a secular Hindu have a right to make a representation or not? Are you going to label all of them as RSS followers? I am a proud Hindu and not a supporter of RSS. You must be ashamed of being a Hindu and hence the title."  

Does having pride in Hinduism make Hindutva?  Without meeting a single mother out of some one thousand - Witzel wearing his Harvard halo, branded all of them Hindutvavdis!  It is increasingly becoming fashionable to denigrate Hinduism in the name of secularism and modern thinking. Painting every attempt with a broad brush and calling it "Hindutva" has become a fashion! According to Miss Kanupriya Vashisht, Hindu Americans born and educated in America are just "Hindutva". But Witzel, a Polish Nazi immigrant educated by Nazis, who came recently to the US after destroying the Kern Institute in Leiden where he held the Sanskrit chair, is described as "American" professor.

(source: Stop this anti-Hindu tirade! - hindustantimes.com and The Hindutva deluge in California - By Kanupriya Vashisht and Is Hindutva 'hydra headed'?  

Bigotry and Prejudice: the Depiction of Hinduism in the West - By Rajeev Srinivasan - rediff.com. For the past few months, an obscure debate has been raging on about California school textbooks, which actually boils down to a vexed and important issue: Do Hindus have the right to be treated as equals with followers of other religions, or are Hindus and Hinduism to be deemed, ipso facto, inferior and objects of scorn?

Self Pride in our Heritage and Identity ? or Saffronization?

On the other hand, Hinduism has all along been discriminated against. The following have been the significant features of the treatment of Hinduism:  It is historicized not according to its traditional beliefs but according to the speculative, racist and unproven 19^th century colonial theories propagated by those highly hostile to Hinduism. For example, Aryan Invasion Theory [AIT], which was invented to divide India on racial grounds, justify British occupation and facilitate conversion to Christianity, is used to historicize the origins of Hinduism. This is being done even though many empirical evidences actually refute AIT.

(source: The California Textbook Trial - By Kalavai Venkat - sulekha.com). Refer to Jesus Christ: Artifice for Aggression - By Sita Ram Goel).

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Non-African world was colonized by different waves of emigrants from India?

“There was only one main Exodus of modern humans from Africa, and no more," writes medical doctor and researcher Stephen Oppenheimer (Eden in the East), taking on advocates of "multiregional" origins and those who believe there were several exoduses out of Africa. Oppenheimer deftly brings together recent advances in population genetics, climatology and archeology to advance his theory that when groups of Homo sapiens left Africa approximately 80,000 years ago, they first headed east along the Indian Ocean, where they formed settlements as far away as India over several thousands of years. It was only during a respite in glacial activity, when deserts turned into traversable grasslands, that our ancestors headed northwest into the Russian steppes and on into eastern Europe, as well as northeast through China and over the now submerged continent of Beringia (located where the Bering Strait is today) into North America.

Oppenheimer concludes with two extraordinary conclusions: 'First, that the Europeans' genetic homeland was originally in South Asia in the Pakistan/Gulf region over 50,000 years ago; and second, that the Europeans' ancestors followed at least two widely separated routes to arrive, ultimately, in the same cold but rich garden. The earliest of these routes was the Fertile Crescent. The second early route from South Asia to Europe may have been up the Indus into Kashmir and on to Central Asia, where perhaps more than 40,000 years ago hunters first started bringing down game as large as mammoths.

(source: The Real Eve : Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa -  By Stephen Oppenheimer and forum asia times.com  Refer to DNA interactive.

Indians descended from South Asians

Noida, India: A new genetic study says most modern Indians descended from South Asians, not invading Central Asian steppe dwellers.

National Geographic says the finding disputes a long-held theory that a large invasion of Central Asians shaped the language, culture and gene pool of many modern Indians within the past 10,000 years.

Vijendra Kashyap, director of India's National Institute of Biologicals in Noida, said India may have acquired agricultural techniques and languages from the west, but very few genes. Kashyap's findings, published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, reveal that the large majority of modern Indians descended from South Asian ancestors who lived on the Indian subcontinent before an influx of agricultural techniques from the north and west arrived some 10,000 years ago, National Geographic said.

(source: Indians descended from South Asians - newkerala.com).  

Aryan impact myth crumbles

Two new genetic studies have disputed long-held beliefs that pastoral central Asian people brought agriculture to India and contributed heavily to the genetic make-up of modern Indian populations. The central Asian people who migrated to India included the Aryans who began arriving around 3,500 years ago.

The studies by scientists in Calcutta with colleagues in other countries might force historians to revise current ideas about the impacts of migrations from central Asia beginning about 8,000 years ago on India.

A study by scientists at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Calcutta has revealed that most present-day Indians are the descendants of early humans who began to arrive in India about 60,000 years ago. “The perennial concept of people, language and agriculture arriving in India together through the northwest corridor does not hold up to close scrutiny,” Vijendra Kashyap and his colleagues at the University of Oxford and the Estonian Biocentre said in their research paper.

“Our findings suggest most modern Indians have genetic affinities to the early settlers and subsequent migrants and not to central Asians or Aryans, as they’re called,” a research scholar at the CFSL said.

(source: Aryan impact myth crumbles  - By G S Mudur - The Telegraph - Calcutta).

The Dangers of Aryan Invasion Theory - BBC

The Aryan invasion theory denies the Indian origin of India's predominant culture, but gives the credit for Indian culture to invaders from elsewhere.

It even teaches that some of the most revered books of Hindu scripture are not actually Indian, and it devalues India's culture by portraying it as less ancient than it actually is.

The theory was not just wrong, it included unacceptably racist ideas:

• it suggested that Indian culture was not a culture in its own right, but a synthesis of elements from other cultures
• it implied that Hinduism was not an authentically Indian religion but the result of cultural imperialism
• it suggested that Indian culture was static, and only changed under outside influences
• it suggested that the dark-skinned Dravidian people of the South of India had got their faith from light-skinned Aryan invaders
• it implied that indigenous people were incapable of creatively developing their faith
• it suggested that indigenous peoples could only acquire new religious and cultural ideas from other races, by invasion or other processes
• it accepted that race was a biologically based concept (rather than, at least in part, a social construct) that provided a sensible way of ranking people in a hierarchy, which provided a partial basis for the caste system
• it provided a basis for racism in the Imperial context by suggesting that the peoples of Northern India were descended from invaders from Europe and so racially closer to the British Raj
• it gave a historical precedent to justify the role and status of the British Raj, who could argue that they were transforming India for the better in the same way that the Aryans had done thousands of years earlier
• it downgraded the intellectual status of India and its people by giving a falsely late date to elements of Indian science and culture.

(source: The Dangers of Aryan Invasion Theory - BBC). Refer to Distortion of Indian History and School Textbooks. 

Refer to The Aryan Myth: A History of Racist and Nationalistic Ideas in Europe - By Leon Poliakov  

Gulf of Cambay Cradle of Ancient Civilization

For decades archaeologists have argued about the origins of the mysterious "Harappan" (Indus Valley) civilisation that flourished across what is now Pakistan and north-west India from about 3000 BC. Now new findings by Indian scientists working in the Gulf of Cambay suggest that the Harappans were descended from an advanced mother culture that flourished at the end of the last Ice Age and that was submerged by rising sea-levels before history began. Report by Badrinaryan Badrinaryan, chief geologist with the scientific team from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) responsible for the underwater surveys in the Gulf of Cambay.

It was generally believed that well organized civilizations could not have existed prior to 5500 BP. Many were reluctant to accept that the flood myths mentioned in many ancient religious writings. The recent discovery made in the Gulf of Cambay, India, shocked many and made some to sit up and watch with interest. It clearly established the existence of an ancient civilization that was submerged in the sea. The methodology adopted was novel and different, wherein advanced marine technologies and most modern scientific applications of various disciplines were put to best use. The traditional but conservative archaeologists found it hard to accept that a major discovery could have been made by hitherto unapplied, unheard of techniques. Some observed and understood the importance of the discovery and came out in open support. Initially when the sidescan sonar images of underwater structures were shown, some called it a magic of computer software. When hundreds of artifacts were collected and shown, they opined that it could have been transported by the ancient river! Again detailed scientific studies were undertaken to prove that the artifacts are insitu. The criticism has driven us to adopt most modern technologies and scientific methodologies available in the world which have completely substantiated our findings and the results were published as research papers in reputed international journals. Now several authors are quoting the Gulf of Cambay work as a standard and a bench mark methodology for modern marine archaeological surveys and investigations. The discovery has clearly established the possibility of ancient civilizations that were submerged due to flooding by rising sea waters, after the last ice age.

(source: Gulf of Cambay Cradle of Ancient Civilization - www.grahamhancock.com).

As BBC proves Vivekananda right after a century...

This confession of wrong done to India and high praise for India’s endogamous antiquity from an unlikely source approves of not just what Swami Vivekananda said over a century ago, but validates the ‘saffron’ view. This endangers the ‘secular’ scholarship whose bread and butter is now under threat. How will they continue to assert that India is more a khichadi than a continuity of undated antiquity?

How will they go on asserting that there is nothing Indian about India; that there was never anything called India at all; that there is today an India courtesy the invaders – the Aryans, Turks, Moghuls or the British; that thanks to the British we are a nation....

Yes, the secular scholarship is in deep trouble. But they have a solid reason to feel assured that it will take decades for this truth to overcome the billions of pages of falsehood printed and circulated so far. For the grains of truth to emerge from this mountain of falsehood will take a life’s time.

(source: As BBC proves Vivekananda right after a century... - By S Gurumurthy -newindpress.com).  Also refer to A new look at Vedic India - by Paul Kekai Manansala 

Refer to Romila Thapar’s Kluge Prize – By Dr. Gautam Sen - vigilonline.com. Refer to Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America - By Krishnan Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas and Aditi Banerjee.

***

Refer to Michael Witzel and pals to target BBC next after CA textbook debacle and Aryan Invasion Theory and Christian Supremacism in Academia - By Arvind Kumar and Witzel's vanishing ocean and Scholarship of Equine Posteriors– Har(vard)appa Style – By Narayanan Komerath. The California Textbook Trial - By Kalavai Venkat - sulekha.com. Refer to QuickTime trailer and Part One of the film The God Awful Truth. Refer to Distortion of Indian History and School Textbooks

Also refer to Aryan Invasion Theory and Christian Supremacism in Academia - By Arvind Kumar and Witzel's vanishing ocean and Scholarship of Equine Posteriors– Har(vard)appa Style – By Narayanan Komerath and Harvard professor launches anti-Hindu Crusade - india-forum.com and Aryan Tourist Theory (TM) - By Dr. S. Kalyanaraman and Sanskrit Dept. in Disarray, Students, Officials Say - By Jonathan A Lewin - the harvardcrimson.com.  For some humor refer to Indology Researchers' Fan Club. 

***

Colonialist Scholars

Prof. Bal Ram Singh (UMass Dartmouth) has written about the controversy:

"a German linguist, Michael Witzel, a professor at Harvard's Sanskrit and Indian Studies department claiming expertise in Indian history, culture, and religion, interjected himself into the issue of sixth grade textbook portrayal of India in general, and Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists, in particular.

While concerned parents, community educational organizations, and education experts, had worked out a reasonably acceptable text for social studies books, Witzel along with several of his like minded colleagues (including Stanely Wolpert whose sensational books were banned by Indian government during Indira Gandhi's days, and D. N. Jha, whose book on beef eating in India was banned by Indian courts in 2001) wrote a letter to the California Board of Education (CBE), berating Hindus, Hindu scholars, and Indian Americans, urging "to reject the demands of nationalist Hindu ("Hindutva") groups that the California textbooks be altered to conform to their religious political views."

Witzel represents a group of remaining colonialist scholars who are trying to hold on to their view of superior Aryan race, a view that has been decimated within the past decade by a group of very dedicated individuals like N. S. Rajaram, S. Kalyanraman, and David Frawley. They have collected more effective scientific and archeological evidences, as opposed to linguistics and speculative history, to refute the existences of Aryan race, ever. BBC recently reported that the Aryan Invasion Theory among other things "provided basis for racism in the Imperial context by suggesting that the peoples of Northern India were descended from invaders from Europe and so racially closer to the British Raj".

(source: Disconnect between Expertise and Reality with Dangerous Consequences India New England, Boston - By Bal Ram Singh  - hvk.org). 

Refer to Romila Thapar’s Kluge Prize – By Dr. Gautam Sen - vigilonline.com. Refer to Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America - By Krishnan Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas and Aditi Banerjee.

Watch Scientific verification of Vedic knowledge  

***

Death of the Aryan Invasion Theory 

Prof. Dipak Basu of Nagasaki University in Japan has written:

"British linguist Max-Muller has invented the Aryan invasion theory that ancient Aryans invade India at about 1500BC, driven out the Dravidians from their land, have imported the Hindu civilization along with Sanskrit language from the steppes of central Asia. The theory was the justification for the British occupation of India, as Winston Churchill remarked. Although there was no archeological evidence to support this theory, it has become the most important doctrine on the ancient Indian history. 

Although it was opposed by prominent historians like Ramesh Chandra Mazumdar and archeologists like Rakhaldas Banerjee and S.P.Gupta, the pro-British historians of India so far have disregarded all arguments against this theory.

However, some recent archeological discoveries in India, Russia and Japan have pushed back the antiquity of the Aryans to at least 6000BC and proved beyond doubt that the ancient Aryans were not nomadic tribes from central Asia but had very advanced urban civilizations. Russian archeologists and linguists also proved that the Aryans have migrated not from the Russian steppes but came to Russia via Armenia and Georgia. There are increasing evidence that India was the original home of the Aryans.

Advanced civilization of the Aryans in Chelyabinsk, Russia

President Putin of Russia and Prof. Zdanovich at ancient town of Akraim.

***

President Putin has recently visited one of the most mysterious places on planet Earth - the ruins of the ancient town of Arkaim, which is situated on the outskirts of the city of Chelyabinsk. Pravda reported (on 16 July 2005) about the starling discovery of ruins of a very advanced civilization of Indo-Aryan origin, which was at least 4000 years old in Arkaim.

Prof. Gennady Zdanovich, the chairman of the archaeological expedition said, "We achieved what seemed to be absolutely unreal. How did people of such ancient civilization manage to accomplish incredible technological progress, which still seems to be unachievable nowadays?” The discovery made by the Russian archeologists of the temple of Mithra under the basement of the world’s oldest official Christian church in Yerevan, Armenia shows that link.

Relationship with Krishna’s Dwarka:

The discoveries at Gulf of Cambay by the National Institute of Ocean Technology established, using carbon-14 date of 7,500 years for the wood samples excavated from under the sea, the existence of a civilization dating to that period.

Krishna’s Dwarka existed some 4,000 years ago. There was a rise in the sea level about 30 metres in 7,500 years, approximately at the rate of 10 metres in 3,500 -3,800 years. Eroded debris and pottery provided evidence of a port town destroyed by sea about 3,500 years ago.

The marine archaeologists in India have found enough proof to assert that Mahabharata is not a myth, but history. The discovery of submerged buildings of the legendary city of Dwarka indicates that Indians were masters in town planning and maritime activity, 4,000 years ago. The rise in the sea level in Dwarka is a scientific truth. Studies have proved that the sea considerably and suddenly rose to submerge the city.

Sculpture of Vishnu from onshore excavation, Dwaraka.

Refer to chapter on Dwaraka.

Watch Lost / Submerged city of Dwaraka – The Learning Channel video

***

Harivamsha describes the submerging of Dwarka saying Krishna instructed Arjuna, who was then visiting Dwarka; to evacuate the residents of the city as the sea was going to engulf the city. “On the seventh day (of Krishna saying this), as the last of the citizens were leaving the city, the sea entered the streets of Dwarka.” [in ‘Search on Krishna´s Dwarka comes to a standstill’, By Vaidehi Nathan; Organiser, 2004, June20]

Ruins of Dwarka also show a very advanced civilization of at least 4000 years old, which could not be formed by semi-nomadic Aryans coming down from central Asia in 1500BC. The city originally itself could be about 6000 years old. 

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1838 - 1894) One of the greatest novelists of India who gave the people the sacred 'mantra'- 'Vande Mataram.'

In his essay ‘Is Krisna a historical figure’ (in ‘Krisna Charita’) has calculated the time of the war described in Mahabharat. 

According to him, the war took place in about 3700BC.

Where does that leave the theory propagated by Max-Muller, and assorted British historians and their Indian agents like Romila Thaper, D.N.Jha, and Irfan Habib? Recently the Indian History Congress, dominated by the historians of India with slave mentality, has proposed that there should not be any archeological excavations in any of the ancient religious sites in India. Slaves are afraid of the truth.

Another nail was struck on the British theory of Aryan invasion in 1500BC by the discovery of ruins of a city, at least 6000 years old, under the sea near Okinawa, Japan. The original people of Japan were Indo-Aryans and the structure of the ruins has close similarities to the ancient architecture of India, Iran, and Egypt. The ancient people of Japan were not Mongolian, but Indo-Aryans; Mongolians began to migrate to Japan about 2000 years ago. The decendants of the ancient Indo-Aryans of Japan, Aino people, are still there in the northern island of Hokkaido; they have distinct Indo-Aryan physical features. Details of this lost civilizations and photos of the undersea buildings are in the website http://www.pref.okinawa.jp/summit/tokusyu/ruins1.htm

(source: Death of the Aryan Invasion Theory - By Prof. Dipak Basu - indiacause.com). For more refer to chapter on Dwaraka and refer to Pravda.

Discovery of a century in Tamil Nadu

Neolithic stone celt with the Indus Valley script has been discovered by a school teacher, V. Shanmuganathan, in a village called Sembian-Kandiyur near Mayiladuthurai in Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu. The celt, a polished hand-held stone axe, has four Indus Valley signs on it.

A 3,500-year-old stone ax engraved with an ancient northern Indian script found in the country's south could establish a closer historical link between the distinctive regions, an archaeologist said Monday. Iravatham Mahadevan, one of the world's foremost experts on the Indus script, called the find "the greatest archaeological discovery of a century in Tamil Nadu." The discovery proved that the Indus script had reached Tamil Nadu. He estimated the date of the artefact with the script to be around 1500 B.C. "I have cautiously and conservatively put it between 2000 B.C. and 1500 B.C.," Mr. Mahadevan said. It was in the classical Indus script. He ruled out the possibility of the celt coming from North India because "the material of this stone is clearly of peninsular origin." Mr. Mahadevan commented that the latest discovery was very strong evidence that the Neolithic people of Tamil Nadu and the Indus Valley people "shared the same language, which can only be Dravidian and not Indo-Aryan." He added that before this discovery, the southernmost occurrence of the Indus script was at Daimabad, Maharashtra on the Pravara River in the Godavari Valley.

(source: Discovery of a century in Tamil Nadu - hindu.com and Ancient Ax Links North, South Indian Cultures - foxnews.com). 

Refer to Engraved celt tool of Sembiyan-kandiyur with Sarasvati hieroglyphs

It is Official - Romila Thapar Defends Aryan Invasion Theory!

For several decades, Hindu Americans and Indian Americans have been dismayed at the slanted, erroneous and prejudiced descriptions of their heritage in these textbooks. This time however, they organized themselves and approached the State Board of Education in California to rectify these errors, before the textbooks were formally adopted and the text was frozen. These groups of Hindu Americans meticulously followed the procedures of the State Board in offering their comments, suggestions and edits to the texts that were submitted to the Board for reviews.  

However, just when these corrections were about to be accepted, a group of traditional India-bashers (e.g. Michael Witzel, Steve Farmer), non-scholars (e.g., astrophysicist Rajesh Kocchar, Indian Marxists (e.g., D N Jha, Romila Thapar),

A group of traditional India-bashers.- Romila Thapar, Sudha Shenoy and Angana Chatterji.

Although the Aryan invasion theory was opposed by prominent historians like Ramesh Chandra Mazumdar and archeologists like Rakhaldas Banerjee and S.P.Gupta, the pro-British historians of India so far have disregarded all arguments against this theory.

Refer to Romila Thapar’s Kluge Prize – By Dr. Gautam Sen - vigilonline.com

. Refer to Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America - By Krishnan Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas and Aditi Banerjee.

***

Non-specialists in ancient India (e.g. Sudha Shenoy, Homi Bhabha), scholars alleged to have demonstrated Eurocentric bias in the past (e.g., M Tosi[2] of Italy) and obscure linguists wrote an arrogant and pompous letter (on Harvard University letterhead, signed by Michael Witzel with endorsing signatures from 46 other ‘scholars’) to the State Board, addressing themselves as “all equally famous world class specialists” on ancient Indian history. 

The letter alleged that all these Hindu groups proposing edits in the textbooks under review were dangerous Hindu nationalists who were somehow connected with the slaughter of 1000 people in Gujarat, and whose friends in India routinely discriminate against millions of Indian minority members and Dalits!  

And yet, Michael Witzel, Romila Thapar and other prejudiced ‘scholars’ launched a Goebbelsian blitzkrieg, labeling these California residents, apolitical parents who pay their taxes regularly and contribute to the US society immensely, as dangerous Hindu fundamentalists linked to murderers and what not.

(source: It is Official - Romila Thapar Defends Aryan Invasion Theory! - By Vishal Agrawal - indiacause.com). Refer to Distortion of Indian History and School Textbooks and Now, Hindu Nationalists Rewriting California Textbooks – Angana Chatterji - znet.org and Quotes from The American Taliban and The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party and Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in America.

Refer to Dr. Sudha Shenoy - http://irffanclub.blogspot.com/2006/01/hon-associate-of-economic-history-dr.html 

Refer to QuickTime trailer and Part One of the film The God Awful Truth. Refer to World Conquering Creeds - By Dr. Koenraad Elst - chapter on Glimpses XVI

Refer to The Crusaders: Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image - By Bob Moser - rollingstone.com and Dominionist. Refer to As America declines, the Bible thumpers take hold - By Ramesh Rao - indiareacts.com. Also refer to More evangelicals turning up in elite circles, schools - By Laurie Goodstein and David D. Kirkpatrick and David D. Kirkpatrick and David D. Kirkpatrick and A conflict between science and God - By Martin Kettle - Guardian and  and Christian Fundamentalists to Push Bible as Classroom "Knowledge" and Insults to the Mahatma, ignored by India - rediff.com.

Refer to The Aryan Myth: A History of Racist and Nationalistic Ideas in Europe - By Leon Poliakov

Also refer to Harvard University’s international scandal unravels a global Hindu conspiracy - By Dr. S. Kalyanaraman. Thus Spake Professor Michael Witzel - A Harvard University Case Study in Prejudice?

Refer to Petty Professorial Politicking in The Indo-Aryan Controversy - By Koenraad Elst.

Now Pakistan Press has joins in

Of late, in California, a debate had arisen regarding textbook content related to Indian history. According to a progressive (?) organization founded by South Asians in California’s Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay area, Friends of South Asia (FOSA), an attempt is being made by what it says are revisionist Indian historians and aggressive NRIs (non-resident Indians living in the US) to rewrite these textbooks to include a more Hindutva-centred content with reference to India.

(source: Hindutva revisionists and California’s textbooks - By Omar R. Quraishi dawn.com. Refer to Pakistan: A curriculum of hatred - jihadwatch.org and Textbook case of radicalism - By Wilson John and Abuse of History in Pakistan: Bangladesh to Kargil and  Pakistani Studies Textbooks Can Cause Cognitive Dissonance in Students - By Yvette Rosser

***  

Harappan Horse: Polemics and Propaganda ?

R Nagaswamy, former Director of Archaeology in Tamil Nadu dissects Harvard Professor Michael Witzel’s methodology of trying to negate evidence, and shifting arguments: 

When we come to these myths, none is more persistent than the one about “No horse at Harappa.” This has now been supplemented by another claim that the spoke-wheel was unknown to the Harappans. The point of these claims is that without the horse and the spoke-wheel the Harappans were militarily vulnerable to the invading Aryan hordes who moved on speedy, horse-drawn chariots with spoke-wheels. This claim is not supported by facts: an examination of the evidence shows that both the spoke-wheel and the horse were widely used by the Harappans.

(The idea seems to be borrowed from the destruction of Native American civilizations by the Spanish and Portuguese ‘Conquistadors’. The Conquistadors though never used chariots.)

As far as the spoke-wheel is concerned, B.B. Lal, former Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India records finding terracotta wheels at various Harappan sites. In his words: “The painted lines [spokes] converge at the central hub, and thus leave no doubt about their representing the spokes of the wheel. …another example is reproduced from Kalibangan, a well-known Harappan site in Rajasthan, in which too the painted lines converge at the hub. …two examples from Banawali [another Harappan site], in which the spokes are not painted but are shown in low relief.” (The Sarasvati Keeps Flowing, Aryan Books, Delhi, pages 72-3). It is also worth noting that the depiction of the spoke-wheel is quite common on Harappan seals. 

The horse and the cow are mentioned often in the Rigveda, though they commonly carry symbolic rather than physical meaning. There is widespread misconception that the absence of the horse at Harappan sites shows that horses were unknown in India until the invading Aryans brought them. Such ‘argument by absence’ is hazardous at best. To take an example, the bull is quite common on the seals, but the cow is never represented. We cannot from this conclude that the Harappans raised bulls but were ignorant of the cow. In any event, depictions of the horse are known at Harappan sites, though rare. It is possible that there was some kind of religious taboo that prevented the Harappans from using cows and horses in their art. More fundamentally, it is incorrect to say that horses were unknown to the Harappans. The recently released encyclopedia The Dawn of Indian Civilization, Volume 1, Part 1 observes (pages 344 – 5): “… the horse was widely domesticated and used in India during the third millennium BC over most of the area covered by the Indus-Sarasvati [or Harappan] Civilization. Archaeologically this is most significant since the evidence is widespread and not isolated.” 

This is not the full story. Sir John Marshall, Director General of the Archaeological Survey when Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were being excavated, recorded the presence of what he called the ‘Mohenjo-daro horse’. Giving salient measurements, comparing it to other known specimens, he wrote: “It will be seen that there is a considerable degree of similarity between these various examples, and it is probable the Anau horse, the Mohenjo-daro horse, and the example of Equus caballus of the Zoological Survey of India, are all of the type of the ‘Indian country bred’, a small breed of horse, the Anau horse being slightly smaller than the others.” (Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization, volume II, page 654.) 

Actually, the Harappans not only knew the horse, the whole issue of the ‘Harappan horse’ is irrelevant. In order to prove that the Vedas are of foreign origin, (and the horse came from Central Asia) one must produce positive evidence: it should be possible to show that the horse described in the Rigveda was brought from Central Asia. This is contradicted by the Rigveda itself. In verse I.162.18, the Rigveda describes the horse as having 34 ribs (17 pairs), while the Central Asian horse has 18 pairs (36) of ribs. We find a similar description in the Yajurveda also.

This means that the horse described in the Vedas is the native Indian breed (with 34 ribs) and not the Central Asian variety. 

The Vedic horse is a native Indian breed and not the Central Asian horse. As a result, far from supporting any Aryan invasion, the horse evidence furnishes one of its strongest refutations. 

To sum up Witzel's arguments proceed on the following lines: (1) No horse bone has been found in Harappan sites. (2) When pointed out that they are found in some instances, it is said they are only fragments and not full skeletons. (3) When pointed out they were found in more than one site it is said the layers in which they were found ought to have been eroded ones or disturbed. (4) When pointed out that the reports of horse bones were not by present day archaeologists but by the early pioneers it is said that those are dubious and decades old. (5) When pointed out they were reported by archaeological excavators then comes the argument that archaeologists are not trained zoologists and palaeontologists to comment on horse bones (though by the same argument no credence can be placed on Witzel's opinion as he is neither an archaeologist nor a palaeontologist). 

Such arguments are brought under reductio ad absurdum by logicians.

(source: Harappan Horse: Polemics and Propaganda - By R Nagaswamy - hindu.com). Refer to Distortion of Indian History and School Textbooks. Refer to Petty Professorial Politicking in The Indo-Aryan Controversy - By Koenraad Elst.

Older civilisation than Indus found 

Early Humans Settled India Before Europe, Study Suggests

Modern humans migrated out of Africa and into India much earlier than once believed, driving older hominids in present-day India to extinction and creating some of the earliest art and architecture, a new study suggests. The research places modern humans in India tens of thousands of years before their arrival in Europe. Sheela Athreya, an anthropologist at Texas A&M University, said. "The genetic evidence shows there were multiple migrations out of Africa, so there would have been multiple migrations into [India]. But I think these migrating populations didn't completely replace the indigenous group."

(source: Early Humans Settled India Before Europe, Study Suggests - Brian Vastag  National Geographic News November 14, 2005).

Contrary viewpoints 

About the so called ‘Aryans’ Dr. A. C. Das says: 

“All these evidences unmistakably point to the vast antiquity of the Rig Veda and Sapta Sindhu and go to prove that the ‘Aryans’ were autochthonous and did not settle there as colonists from another country.” 

Dr. K. M Munshi and many others hold the same opinion. This view is confirmed by the eminent Sanskrit scholar, Prof. Muir who says: “ I must however begin with a candid admission that so far as I know, none of the Sanskrit books, not even the most ancient, contain any distinct references or allusion to the foreign origin of the Indians.”  

With regard to the “Dravidians” race theories Prof. P. T. Srinvas Iyengar, author of the book, Ancient India, says 

“Several writers of Indian history seem to hold it as a necessary axiom that the fertile lands of India with her wonderful wealth of minerals underground and her infinitely various flora and fauna overground and with her climate, insular in some parts and continental in others, pre-eminently fitted to nuture man especially in early stages of their evolution, should yet depend upon importations from the arid countries beyond her borders for the human inhabitants and for the various cultures that adorn the pages of her history. Some writers conduct the ancient Dravidians with the self confidence of a Cook’s guide through the North-Western or North-Eastern mountain passes of India and drop them with a ready-made foreign culture on the banks of Cauvery or Vaigai….No single fact has yet been adduced that compels us to believe that the ancient people of India were not autochthonous.”   

(source: Perennial Hindu Culture and The Twin Myths – By M. Vaitialingam The Thirumaka Press. 1980  p. 22-37).

Chidambara Kulkarni says:

"The word Arya means 'noble', 'respected',  'high-born', 'elderly', 'cultured', etc. and it is used in all our religious and literary works, right from the Rig Veda in this sense only. It does not indicate any racial and linguistic distinction. Modern scholars are fully aware of the meaning of the term 'Arya'. Max Muller declared long ago that the term Aryan  is utterly inapplicable to race. A. L. Basham has also categorically stated that there are no Aryan or Dravidian races. The term Arya denotes a cultural context only.

According to Indian tradition, the term Arya denotes the people who believed in and lived upto a well-defined cultural system. They are often distinguished from the dasas or dasyus who, at different stages of history, deviated from the accepted cultural standards. In other words, the term dasa or dasyus or anarya simple means 'uncultured'; it is a term of abuse or criticism. It again, does not mean that the dasas or dasyus belong to a different race or territory, or even, language. In brief, aryas and dasas belonged to the same race, language and territory from times immemorial. There is no evidence to show that either of them came from outside India. Till 1851 all scholars believed that India was the original home of the Aryas. There is no archaeological proof to support these guesses. 

We have also to note that in the huge Sanskrit literature there is no mention of any place outside India from which the Aryans could have migrated here. On the contrary, the authors of the Vedas, the Puranas and the Epics declare their deep love and devotion to their mother-land - Bharata, and invest it with all holiness. They also describe the Rigveda- the earliest literary work of mankind - their home, particularly, the Sapta Sindhu region, so fully and in so many details as to leave no doubt about their being the sons of the sacred soil.

Buddha Prakash author of Rgveda and the Indus Valley Civilization states: "The whole subject of the Aryan problem is a farrago of linguistic speculations or archaeological imaginations compiled by racial prejudices and chauvinistic xenophobia."

On the evidence of the Puranas, scholars like F. E. Pargiter, have shown that the Aryas went out of India and settled in different parts of the earth. They are originators of all early civilizations. 

(source: Ancient Indian History and Culture - By Chidambara Kulkarni Orient Longman Ltd. 1974. p.34-37).

Goddess Saraswati known as Ben-ten in Japan.

Refer to chapter on Survarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor and Glimpses XVII

***

"Saraswati is not only a matter of Hindu faith, but also fact," said Ravindra Singh Bisht, director of the Archaeological Survey of India, who supervises excavation along what is believed to be the course of the river. 

"The overwhelming archeological evidence of ancient settlements along the course of what was once the Saraswati River proves that our earliest civilizations were not confined to the Indus river alone. Those who wrote the Hindu Vedas on the banks of the Saraswati were the same as the Indus Valley people."

"Hinduism was not brought to us by a foreign race called Aryans. It was born here on our land. The Rig Veda was composed here on the banks of Saraswati by indigenous people around the time of the Indus Valley period," said Arun Kesarwani, professor of ancient history at Kurukshetra University.

 "That is why the quest for Saraswati is important. It will shatter all the prevalent theories to pieces."

(source: A Hindu Quest for some Holy Water - washingtonpost.com).

Saraswati – the ancient river lost in the desert 

NEARLY ten thousand years ago when mighty rivers started flowing down the Himalayan slopes, western Rajasthan was green and fertile. Great civilizations prospered in the cool amiable climate on riverbanks of northwestern India. The abundant waters of the rivers and copious rains provided ample sustenance for their farming and other activities. Some six thousand years later, Saraswati, one of the rivers of great splendour in this region, for reasons long enigmatic, dwindled and dried up. Several other rivers shifted their courses, some of their tributaries were ‘pirated’ by neigbouring rivers or severed from their main courses. The greenery of Rajasthan was lost, replaced by an arid desert where hot winds piled up dunes of sand. The flourishing civilizations vanished one by one. By geological standards, these are small-scale events; for earth, in its long 4.5 billion years history, had witnessed many such changes, some of them even accompanied by wiping out of several living species. But those that occurred in northwest India took place within the span of early human history affecting the livelihood of flourishing civilizations and driving them out to other regions.  

The nemesis that overtook northwestern India’s plenty and prosperity along with the disappearance of the river Saraswati, has been a subject engaging several minds over the last hundred and fifty years. However, convincing explanations about what caused all the changes were available only in the later half of the current century through data gathered by archaeologists, geologists, geophysicists, and climatologists using a variety of techniques. They have discussed and debated their views in symposia held from time to time, many of which have also appeared in several publications. Over the last thirty years, considerable volume of literature have grown on the subject and in this article some of the salient opinions expressed by various workers are presented. 

Rivers constitute the lifeline for any country and some of the world’s great civilizations (Indus Valley, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian) have all prospered on banks of river systems. Hindus consider rivers as sacred and have personified them as deities and sung their praises in their religious literature, the Vedas (Rig, Yajur and Atharva), Manusmriti, Puranas and Mahabharata. These cite names of several rivers that existed during the Vedic period and which had their origin in the Himalayas. One such river Saraswati, has been glorified in these texts and referred by various names like Markanda, Hakra, Suprabha, Kanchanakshi, Visala, Manorama etc.^1,2, and Mahabharata has exalted Saraswati River as covering the universe and having seven separate names². Rig veda describes it as one of seven major rivers of Vedic times, the others being, Shatadru (Sutlej), Vipasa (Beas), Askini (Chenab), Parsoni or Airavati (Ravi), Vitasta (Jhelum) and Sindhu (Indus)^1,3,4 (Figure 1). For full 2000 y (between 6000 and 4000 BC), Saraswati had flowed as a great river before it was obliterated in a short span of geological time through a combination of destructive natural events.

(source: Saraswati – the ancient river lost in the desert - By A. V. Sankaran - Indian Academy of Sciences).

Clamour to deny Saraswati - By Pseudo-Secularists and Communists
Shelved for alleged reliance on mythology?

Earthquakes and other natural phenomenon caused the 'Naditama', or River Saraswati, to dry up over two millennia ago. Now, it's a man-made disaster what with pseudo-secularists and Communists out to deny it ever existed

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has, in its 91st Report submitted to the two Houses of Parliament on November 25, virtually "detoxified" the Saraswati Heritage Project (SHP). This is a rude blow to the first ever comprehensive archaeological study commissioned on tracing the flow of a subterranean river whose discovery has already been confirmed by geologists. 

LANDSAT imageries provided by NASA and Indian satellites have also provided clinching evidence that there was nothing "mythical" about the Saraswati. It really did exist and even today its revival, though prohibitively expensive, is technically possible.

In 2002, the Vajpayee government had started SHP as a multidisciplinary study based on scientific principles with stress on archaeological research in which the help of prestigious institutions like IITs and the Birbal Sahni Institution was taken. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) undertook excavations at 10 places - Adi Badri, Thanesar, Sandhauli, Bhirrana, Hansi (in Haryana); Baror, Tarkhanwala Dhera, Chak 86 (in Rajasthan) and Dholavira and Juni Karan in Gujarat. The project's Action Taken Report stated that during the excavation remains from pre-Harappan civilisations were discovered.

Yet, the Communist chairman who heads the Standing Committee, Nilotpal Basu, has rubbished SHP as a waste of money. Mr Basu has betrayed not only an allergy for anything connected with the heritage of India, but also utter ignorance of basic History by stating: "The Committee understands that existence of River Sarasvati (sic) is purely a mythological one and a scientific institution like ASI has not correctly proceeded in the matter."

True, the Rg Veda praises the Saraswati River as: Ambitambe naditambe devitambe Saraswati, or, "the best of mothers, best of rivers, best of goddesses, Oh Saraswati". That seems to be crime enough in the perverted outlook of India's Communists. The Standing Committee's Report is one more piece of inglorious evidence of what Independent India's masters can do to undermine her own people's collective interest. What contributes pathos to the whole affair is that our colonisers had more regard for our heritage.

It was India's British masters who first decided to investigate the veracity of the vast body of referential material found in iterary sources from ancient India about the existence of a mighty river flowing from Punjab to the Arabian Sea. They initiated not only archaeological but also geological studies. The credit for publishing not only the first comprehensive paper but also survey maps locating the course of the dead river and its tributaries goes to C F Oldham and R D Oldham. The former wrote in 1874 in "Notes on the lost river of the Indian Desert" (published in Calcutta Review, Vol.59, pp 1-27; 1993, "The Saraswati and the lost river of the Indian Desert", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series, Vol. 34, pp. 49-76:

The waters of the Saraswati (are) continuous with the dry bed of a great river (Hakra), which, as local legends assert, once flowed through the desert to the sea. On the basis of physical surveys of the area, they established that the ancient Saraswati was once fed by mighty rivers like the Sutlej and the Yamuna. Due to the westward movement of the Sutlej and eastward movement of the Yamuna, the Saraswati dried up.

The efforts of these pioneers have been vindicated by NASA and ISRO.

A joint paper presented by geologists of the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, and ISRO's Space Application Centre at a conference on Marine Archaeology held at Panjim in October 2005 hinted at the existence of an ancient river course extending up to 250 km in the Gulf of Cambay with its mouth veered towards Saurashtra. RV Karanth, a MSU geologist was quoted by The Indian Express (Ahmedabad edition, October 18, 2005) as saying: "It is too early to say what it is, we need more scientific studies. But it does indicate the likelihood of a river course which could have supported a human settlement in the region."

Had we been still under British rule, I am certain Dr Karanth's pursuit of the truth would have yielded dividends. But now, we are under the crush of a Government whose only chance for survival depends on its ability to exacerbate, even pamper, Communist paranoia. India' Reds, who are still obsessed by the globally-rejected ideology of Marxism-Leninism, are driven crazy by the fear that someday the people of India would realise the deeper meaning of their civilisational ethos. They goaded the HRD Minister Arjun Singh to banish the NCERT textbooks within weeks of the formation of the UPA government. The priority they placed on their disingenuous "detoxification" project only proves their lunacy.

(source: Clamour to deny Saraswati - Editorial Daily pioneer.com - December 17 2005). For more on The Saraswati River refer to chapter on Glimpses XII

Refer to Distortion of Indian History and School Textbooks and Communismwatch and cpmterror.

Vikas Saraswat, West Arjun Nagar, Agra writes:

"The attempt to sabotage the Saraswati Heritage Project by pseudo-secularists and the Communists betrays their intellectual perversion. It is ironical that the Communists, who continually harp on developing a scientific temperament, develop cold feet when studies are ordered to trace the course of river Saraswati or excavations ordered at the temple site in Ayodhya. All possible attempts are then made by them to thwart such projects.  

Numerous studies have been undertaken by different reputed organisations such as BARC and Central Arid Zone Research Institute to find out about the river. In fact, even NASA and ISRO have conclusive proof of the existence of the once mighty Saraswati which originated from Shivalik hills at the foot of the Himalayas. It flowed through the course which coincides with the present-day Ghaggar-Hakra-Hara valleys terminating in a large delta in the Arabian sea through the Rann of Kutch.  

***

Neo-Colonial Captive Minds - By C V Devan Nair

To give just one illuminating illustration, we might mention the Nearly universal and quite uncritical acceptance by both Indian politicians and the generality of national and international academics, of the 19th Century myth of the "Aryan invasion of Dravidian India" and of the arbitrary classification of the population into Aryan and Dravidian ethnic types. The damage inflicted on the political perceptions of the population poses a threat to the very integrity of India as a unique political and cultural entity. Witness the two most dominant political parties of Tamil Nadu, the DMK and the ANNA DMK (the 'D' standing for 'Dravida'). They swallowed hook, line and sinker the shallow, ill-researched "findings" of 19th Century European Indologists. 

Even India's present national anthem perpetuates the Aryan/Dravidian divide by referring to 'Dravida'. 

It was a wrong-headed decision to discard the original national anthem "Vande Mataram"

(source: Neo-Colonial Captive Minds - By C V Devan Nair - infinityfoundation.com). Refer to Origins of Vedic Civilization - By Kenneth Chandler  

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The rest of the chapter continues -  Aryan Invasion Theory II

Did You Know?

Living as Dalit (Oppressed) Christians - By P.N. Benjamin
"Physician, heal thyself!" 

In a reply to a question are not Christians entitled to combat untouchablility, Mahatma Gandhi 1869-1948) was among India's most fervent nationalists, fighting for Indian independence from British rule. Gandhi rose to the eminence of being called “amoral genius” by no less a person than the celebrated British philosopher C. E. M Joad. (For more on Joad refer to Quotes301_320).

Gandhi, a devout Hindu, said:

"Not only are the Christians entitled, but it is their duty to combat untouchablility in their own midst. But if the question is that Christians should combat untouchablility in Hinduism my answer is that they simply cannot do it because untouchablility of Hinduism should not be untouchablility of Christians."

***

Double Discrimination ?

Social justice has been one of the main concerns of the Catholic and Protestant Churches in India since the 1960s. Though social justice is a profound idea, yet, like many other profound ideas, it gets profaned when men who mouth it are sans character. That is why "almost 20 million Dalit Christians have been tamed and reduced to eternal slaves of the organised Church bodies," as a statement issued by a Dalit Christian organisation revealed recently.

To corrupt George Orwell's famous aphorism: all Indian Christians are equal, but some are more equal than others. By embracing Christianity, the Dalits have not found themselves emancipated from economic and social inequalities. Conversions have neither offered the Dalits a way of escape from the bondage of caste nor have they fostered the social transformation of the Dalit Christians. They still live under the same conditions of discrimination, exploitation and oppression.

The Dalit Christians are "twice alienated', both by the Government and the Church. On the one hand they are denied, as Christians, the rights and benefits availed of by their fellow Dalits, and on the other, as Dalits, they are dominated and persecuted by the upper castes and the elite Dalits within the Church. The majority of Dalit Christians suffers from economic disparities, demoralising social discrimination and cruel denial of equal rights.

The Church has sinned more than others in perpetuating social injustices against Dalit Christians. 

In Indian Christian communities, caste discrimination takes many forms. There are some churches built for separate groups. These places of worship even today retain their caste identity. Another example of casteist practice is allotting separate places in churches. Usually, the Christians of Scheduled Caste origins occupy the rear of the church. A glaring instance of caste distinction is found among the dead. The dead of the Dalit communities are buried in separate cemeteries.

It is said that charity begins at home. But, the home (Church) where it begins, the Dalits Christians do not belong. According to a study, all the landed properties of churches in India put together, the church is the second biggest landlord in the country, next only to the Government. In addition, the Church institutions and Church or Christians-led NGOs receive foreign financial support amounting to over Rs. 2500 crores per year. There is no transparency with regard to these funds as well the massive income accruing from the elite schools, colleges and hospitals and also shopping complexes built all over the major cities in the country. The poor Dalit Christian does not even get the crumbs, leave alone participation in Church matters. There seems to be a vested interest in keeping the Dalit Christians where they are to maintain the status quo in the Church.

To a religion that has always prided itself on the advocacy of complete equality of all human beings, irrespective of caste, colour or race, the charge of discrimination within its own family is galling. Strangely enough, the Church has won its adherents in this country on the strength of its teaching about the dignity of all human beings and its rejection of distinctions based on birth, colour and race. Now it finds itself charged with failures on this very score.

Church of South India Synod Executive Committee recently declared: "Caste discrimination is a blot against humanity. Caste is a direct assault on 200 million Dalits of India denying them their dignity and humanity and as Church we condemn this draconian discrimination."  After reading it, one is tempted to tell the CSI leaders: "Physician, heal thyself!"

(source: Living as Dalit (Oppressed) Christians - By P.N. Benjamin - Deccan Herald - January 9, 2004).

There is rampant casteist mentality in Christianity that takes pride in the egalitarian nature of its society. 

Its missionaries sell dignity to the underclasses in the Hindu society but forget about it after their conversion to Christianity. 

The Hindu society at least throws up periodically reformers who champion the cause of Dalits who are useful to Christianity only to swell its flock. But now Dalit Christians are more untouchable in Christianity than they were in their original faith. 

Most Pakistani Christians today still do the same work as their untouchable ancestors: sweeping the streets and doing other menial jobs deemed ritually or literally unclean by higher-caste Hindus. (The Untouchables' Church despite a Catholic bishop's protest suicide in 1998, Christians holds little hope for repeal of blasphemy law, Ethan Casey in Pakistan. Christianity Today Magazine).

(source: Does Indian Christianity allow untouchability? - By Laura Kelly & Christian Hendersen). 

Refer to chapter on Caste System, European Imperialism, First Indologists and Conversion.

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