A parent responds: We will not vanish

A parent responds: 

 

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20060228&fname=witzel&sid=1

 

As I reached the end of this article, I felt myself thinking: This is just the beginning. That's not meant to sound sinister, I hasten to add, for the benefit of the authors. The only thing grim about me is my determination!

Parents tend to be a determined bunch, and thanks to all the red-blooded notoriety this issue has assumed, more parents have become aware that they need to remain aware.

Whatever the sages perched on the lofty spires of Harvard may say, we parents are the ones who deal with the steady deterioration in the quality of education in US schools. Don't get me wrong, most schoolteachers are wonderful. But when we happen upon the ones that make shocking spelling errors, mislead children about a word rather than admit they do not know, or simply do not care to help those lagging behind, what are we parents to do?

Well, for starters we work like hell with our kids at home, and open our veins to pay for supplemental instruction elsewhere. But we also have every right to stand up, speak out and hold the system accountable.

This need not be a negative and hateful act. If made and received in the proper spirit, critique can rejuvenate and enrich educational content. In reviewing a sixth-grade astronomy textbook, my research turned up a website corroborating my reservations about its content, listing several pages of glaring errors. I promptly made a copy and shared it with the principal as well as the science teacher.

Not even Professor Witzel, I am sure, would read malevolence into my doing that. Then why is it that the moment the text involves history and culture, the defenders of Business as Usual stop listening and start swarming about like hornets? We need to move this debate to higher ground.

The first question I had after reading this article was-- What exactly is meant by "Hindutva?" To me, the word suggests knowledge, consciousness and pride in what it means to be Hindu. As a parent, my hope is to convey that sentiment to my child. Is that evil?

On St. Patrick's Day at school my daughter is asked to wear green clothes, eat green apples, green doughnuts, read about the tradition, make artwork with that theme. Does this amount to inculcating " Irish ism ?" Or, in order to participate in performances onstage with her class choir, when she is made to sing selections from the Catholic Mass and many other works with an overtly religious motif, should I do a Paul Revere among my fellow Hindus warning of a hidden conversion agenda in schools? Let's shelve the paranoia, shall we?

Professors Witzel, Thapar and their supporters have selectively picked on and repeatedly rehashed for ridicule just a few elements from many changes proposed by HEF and VF. Fine, if certain edits are not entirely acceptable as proposed, let there be further dialogue and investigation of mutually acceptable resolutions; let the theater of debate be opened to more experts with impeccable credentials. And let those who cry "politics" and "hindutva" at every excuse cooperate in keeping unilateralism out of education.

By harping on politics as being the driving agenda of HEF and VF, and expending much verbiage on "exposing" their "hindutva" affiliations, Professors Thapar and Witzel transparently reveal their own priorities to be political. If it were not so, their article would have focused more upon the specifics of those textbooks, and less on character assassination of the opposition.

I think of the climate in the US after 9/11, when airwaves and print were overtaken by apologists for Islam, when spokespersons for that faith were given a fair opportunity to proclaim Islam a religion of peace, to interpret the Koran in the proper light. Despite all the seething in private, I don't remember anyone from Harvard or anywhere else jumping in with their own selective and subjective excerpts from the Koran. It seems only we Hindus need external help to fathom our own faith and culture, and to tell us who we really are.

This is not a video game, where a participant can walk off with a higher score and gloat about how many "hindutva" phantoms he slew. These are our kids, and this is our culture. We will not vanish at the flick of a switch.

 

CHITRA RAMAN

Academic Hinduphobia

COUNTERPOINT
Academic Hinduphobia
The sixth-grade classroom in America has become the battle ground for geo-politically charged fights where the anti-Hindu biases of the academicians are ruling the roost. Is the sixth-grade classroom the right place to prosecute an American minority culture or a foreign nation?

RAJIV MALHOTRA AND VIDHI JHUNJHUNWALA

The recent California Department of Education's hearings on sixth-grade textbook portrayals of religions and cultures have triggered conflicts between the Hindu Diaspora and a group of academicians claiming to be "the experts" on Hinduism. Every religion has good sides and bad sides, its "enemies" and its "victims." However, eleven-year olds are too young and naïve, and most of their teachers are too ignorant, to be subject to incoherent scholarly controversies on foreign politics. Most sixth graders are unlikely to study these religions ever again in their lives. Hence, the impressions created by these textbooks will have a lasting effect in shaping the future of American society.  

The table below compares how California textbooks treat Hinduism and other major religions. 

How religions are treated  in California textbooks
Topic	I	J	C	H
Women are shown equal to men?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Oppression of certain groups is discussed?	No	No	No	Yes
Beliefs are considered as historical fact?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Own leaders' interpretations are emphasized?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Treated as a world religion without social/political issues of any foreign country?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
I: Islam J: Judaism C: Christianity H: Hinduism

For example, take the current 'cartoon controversy'. The Danish media claims to be exercising its "intellectual freedom," but their cartoons, it could justifiably be argued, have hurt the sentiments of Muslims worldwide. The sentiments and actual hurt have been hijacked by cynical local and global politics and this has played into the hands of Islamic radicals: violent world-wide protests are on, embassies have been burnt and death threats given. All this has further exacerbated what many call the "clash of civilizations " between Islam and the West. This is not the first time it has happened either. But do the discussions on Islam, in these sixth grade text-books, for example, talk about such violent deeds committed in the name of Islam? No, and that is the way it should be.

Likewise, when Hindus' sentiments are routinely hurt in far worse ways, especially as a part of America's formal education system, it naturally adds fuel to religious politics. Since liberal intellectuals - rightfully - respect Muslim sentiments and do not demand "scientific proof" for Islamic beliefs, does it not follow that they should apply the same approach towards Hinduism?

This article merely argues for equal treatment of Hinduism, no more and no less, and shows that this is presently lacking due to a double standard. 

Intellectual honesty demands that we ask whether one religion's aggression against "idols" devastates another religion's respect for its murtis. Does canonized condemnation of "infidels" and "false religions" not then qualify as hate speech? Surely it is reasonable to demand that the same standards be applied to all religions when discussing textual references that are against women, persons of lower socioeconomic strata, non-believers of the given faith, and other faiths' symbols and practices as well? Either such textual references should be included for all religions or none. Why should Hinduism be singled out?

Selective condemnations of religion X while appeasing religion Y is a dangerous political game. One must courageously confront the fashionable academic bandwagons and expose their facile politics

It is also essential for all religions to be presented on an equal footing using the same pedagogy and standards. Therefore, someone has to choose the information that is to be taught to sixth-graders, and there must be transparent rules on how this is to be achieved. 

California's official educational standards contain specific policies on this, which assert, 

"No religious belief or practice may be held up to ridicule and no religious group may be portrayed as inferior,"  

and that, 

"Textbooks should instill a sense of pride in every child in his or her heritage."  

As the above table demonstrates, the textbooks do not comply with the California standards in the case of Hinduism.  

For instance, the textbooks say that Hinduism considers women to be inferior to men, but ignore biases against women in Islam, Christianity and Judaism. The textbooks focus on "Hindu atrocities" against certain groups, but do not point out that Islamic, Christian and Jewish societies have similar issues. The clergy in Islam, Christianity and Judaism are treated as credible experts and their religious texts are assumed to be stating historical facts, while Hindu texts are depicted through the pejorative lenses of critics and called "myths." 
 
The California Board of Education conducts a public review of its textbooks every six years with a goal to remove unfair and biased representations. Islamic, Christian, and Jewish groups have been successfully involved in this review process for many years, constantly removing any negative portrayals of their respective religions. Surprisingly, the recent involvement of Hindu American groups to participate in the public hearings with the educational authorities is being fiercely condemned by academicians who gracefully accept the changes proposed by other religious groups. American academicians who are known for their Hinduphobia have launched a vicious attack. They rallied instant support from many Indian academicians to do the dirty work, in a manner similar to the way in which British colonizers used Indian sepoys to shoot at their fellow Indians. Interestingly, most of the academicians who joined are not experts in the academic field of religion, and are not even members of the Hinduism Unit of the American Academy of Religion, which is the official academic body of Hinduism Studies. 

The attack has relied upon maligning Hindu groups and branding them as "fascists," "extremists," "fundamentalists," "chauvinists," etc. The attackers allege links between overseas violence and Hindu Americans, and use sensationalized warnings that accepting the Hindus on par with the Islamic and Christian groups would encourage international terrorism. In an educational review the subject of discussion should be the content of the textbooks, California's published educational standards, and the effects of religious representation on America's next generation. But in this case, an American religious minority is being labeled as a threat to international security just because it wants an equitable depiction of its religion. The scholars involved have failed both as defenders of intellectual freedom and as practitioners of independent critical inquiry.  

Furthermore, the California authorities, in a move which is now being challenged legally, heard a parade of anti-Hindu voices as "expert witness," while there were no similar dissenting voices invited to criticize Islam, Christianity or Judaism. The academicians fighting the Hindu Diaspora frantically arranged to fly in witnesses from far away places to testify about the horrors of Hinduism, while no similar witnesses were summoned to testify against the horrors of Islam, Christianity or Judaism.- such as, for example, Kashmiri Pandits, Hindus raped in Pakistan, Muslim women complaining against forced burqas, or the innocent children who have been victims of pedophile Christian priests.

Only in the case of Hinduism was the politics from the mother country dragged into the California proceedings What they overlooked is that Hinduism is a world religion with followers in many parts of the planet besides India. India's social-political problems do not reflect on the second-generation Indian Americans, the millions of Euro-Americans practicing yoga/meditation who claim Hindu or quasi-Hindu identities, or on millions of overseas Hindus living elsewhere. The scholars failed to decouple Hinduism from Indian politics, while no other religion got coupled to geopolitics.  
 

How the California process has worked
Public Process	I	J	C	H
Organized community groups are lobbying for change?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Have academics protested against the community's activism?	No	No	No	Yes
Did Education Board bring hostile academics as advisors?	No	No	No	Yes
Are advocates of the religion being branded as "chauvinists", "fundamentalists", "nationalists"…?	No	No	No	Yes
Is politics from the mother country driving the academic scholars?	No	No	N/A	Yes
I: Islam J: Judaism C: Christianity H: Hinduism

The academicians should first confront the mandate of California's Social Studies Standards which requires that, "Textbooks should instill a sense of pride in every child in his or her heritage." In this regard, textbooks should also include Hinduism's major contributions to America: yoga, vegetarianism, the transcendentalist literary movement in the 19th century, and the many positive influences on American pop music, cuisine, film, dance, etc. 

While attempts are being made to teach about "Hindu horrors" against minorities, the same academicians are not lobbying to add textbook sections on "Islamic genocides," in South Asia, "Islamic terrorism" worldwide, or "Christian holocausts" of Native Americans: The non-Hindu religions are coddled with political correctness and "sensitivity." In order to be true to their field of study, academicians should apply the same "human rights" criteria to all religions equally. 

The academicians are approaching Indian society as a patient waiting to be cured of maladies in the hands of America. But they have not addressed the following issues: Does America have a superior human rights record? Are American institutions accountable as doctors and qualified to "cure" Indian society? What is the past track record of American powers intervening in third-world domestic issues and curing them of their societal maladies? Are American agendas constructing categories of "cultural crimes"? 

The sixth-grade classroom has become the battle ground for these geopolitically charged fights. Is the sixth-grade classroom the right place to prosecute an American minority culture or a foreign nation? Among these California children, less than one percent will pursue careers as Christian evangelists slandering Hindus to convert, or as US government officials using "human rights" as a weapon to gain leverage against India. For this tiny number of potential specialists, there will be other opportunities in higher studies to embark upon a comprehensive study of India's positive and negative social qualities. 

The political activism of a cartel of elitist academicians is invading the psyche of innocent children: It harasses the Indian students in class, making them feel embarrassed and ashamed of their ancestry. Challenging history is one thing, but intentionally undermining self-respect at an impressionable age is a form of psychological child abuse. It handicaps the non-Indian students who will grow up to work in a world in which India must be taken seriously and not dismissed as a patient to be exposed, subjected to licensed condescension, or "cured" by the West. 

The controversy of the Mohammed cartoons should compel concerned citizens everywhere to balance intellectual freedom with intellectual responsibility. Whatever may be one's position in this debate, it must be equally applied to all religions or else it would be hypocrisy. 

---

Rajiv Malhotra is a public intellectual living in Princeton, New Jersey, who runs his own non-profit Infinity Foundation on a full-time basis.  Some of his on-line writings are available at Sulekha.com  

Vidhi Jhunjhunwala is a student at Boston University:

Hindu American Youth debates with Prof. Witzel on California Textbook Reforms

http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=3050

California School Text Issues: Students Debate With Prof. Michael Witzel At Harvard University
Special Correspondent

On Friday, Feb. 3rd, the Dharma Club, Harvard's Hindu students' organization, held a public forum to discuss the controversy over recent attempts to correct the presentation of Hinduism in textbooks in California. The forum featured presentations by two speakers. The first was Prof. Michael Witzel, Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard, who opposes many of the corrections of the contents on Ancient India proposed for the CA textbooks . The other speaker was Krishna Maheshwari, a student at the Harvard Business School and co-founder of the Cornell chapter of Hindu Students Council (HSC). While Mr. Maheshwari is not a member of either the Vedic Foundation (VF) or the Hindu Education Foundation (HEF), he agrees with the bulk of the proposed changes and volunteered to speak in favor of the corrections at this forum.

Prof. Witzel began by outlining his reasons for opposing the specific corrections proposed by the VF and HEF. He stated that while he understood the Hindu community's concerns about the often negative portrayal of Hinduism in textbooks, he and his supporters felt that many of the proposed corrections were historically inaccurate and thus should not be accepted by the California Department of Education. The Professor attempted to question the motivations of the VF and HEF. He alleged that these organizations have links to groups having Hindu fundamentalist leanings in India. Mr Maheshwari pointed out that Prof. Witzel's attempt in connecting the CA textbook issue of coverage of Ancient India to the current political situation in India is completely uncalled for.

 

Mr Maheshwari in his presentation eloquently brought out the issues with the textbooks, not just California textbooks, but books from all states. His statement that textbooks are wrong was agreed to by Michael Witzel. He shared his experience in the classroom while he was growing up. Few members from the audience also shared their experiences suggesting that correcting the textbooks is a necessity and is largely agreed upon.

Mr. Maheshwari responded to Prof. Witzel's call for historical accuracy by pointing out that the positions adopted by the VF and HEF are supported by archaeological and genetic evidence and pointed to arguments presented by some of Prof. Witzel's colleagues at Harvard. Mr. Maheshwari also pointed out that due to the complexity of Sanskrit, there are many plausible interpretations of the Vedas and other scriptures concerning issues such as caste and the role of women. The issue in California is about the fair, just and appropriate treatment of Hinduism.  He repeatedly asserted that the presentation of Hinduism should be on par with that of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.   Mr. Maheshwari also responded to Prof. Witzel's allegations of links between the VF/HEF and Hindu fundamentalism by pointing out that one of Prof Witzel's supporters, Steven Farmer, tried to enlist the support of Christian fundamentalists and other anti-Hindu elements to block the efforts of the Hindu community to change the textbooks; just as it would be unfair to attack Prof. Witzel�s motives because of the activities of his supporters, Mr. Maheshwari argued, it is equally wrong to try to dismiss the VF's and HEF's edits by questioning their motives.


Mr. Maheshwari agreed with Prof. Witzel that in general, it can be difficult to find a balance between sensitivity to religion and historical accuracy.  He pointed out, however, that it is fairly straight forward in the case of elementary school textbooks because the state of California has very clear guidelines for how this issue should be resolved. For example, the guidelines state that no religion can be portrayed as inferior to any other, that no religion can be portrayed as an improvement on another religion, and that the curriculum should instill pride in his or her religion in each student. The fundamental problem in California, said Mr. Maheshwari, is that the guidelines are both not followed and not enforced in the case of Hinduism. Some of the texts trivialize Hindu beliefs, such as one book that tells students to look around for monkeys when discussing the Ramayana. Extensive space is devoted to presenting Hindu theology in terms of social problems such as caste while little space is devoted to actual Hindu philosophy or any achievements of Hindu civilization in areas such as mathematics and medicine. Finally, many books treat problems such as caste and gender discrimination as part of Hindu theology, whereas the Crusades, the Inquisition, and jihad are portrayed as historical events that may not reflect the beliefs of American Christians or Muslims.

Prof. Witzels�s motive in getting involved in the textbooks issue was questioned in the meeting. One person from the audience asked if he read the edits submitted by Hindu groups and also the textbooks before sending the letter to the board citing �it may ead to an international educational scandal�. Prof. Witzel refused to answer it citing that the matter was in court. It is not known however, if there is any court case. Another comment came from the audience that though his letter to the CBE on Harvard letterhead listed about 50 signatories as �world specialists on ancient India', many of them are not in academics, and majority of them are linguists, non-Hindus and many of them have nothing to do with Hinduism or Indian history. In addition, few historians listed are also questionable, including some with Marxists affiliations. Prof. Witzel had no comments.

Overall, the audience seemed very interested in hearing both sides of the debate. There was general agreement among all present, including Prof. Witzel, that there are serious problems with the way in which Hinduism is presented in American textbooks. However, it is clear that even after this forum, there is still considerable debate within the Harvard community about how the issue should be addressed. There is still a considerable disconnect between the two sides on this issue. Prof. Witzel and his supporters continue to focus on narrowly defined notions of historical accuracy which itself is under considerable debate in academic circles, while the VF, HEF and their supporters are concerned primarily with the ensuring that California state Government's guidelines are followed. It is also expected that just and fair representation of Hinduism and ancient India is ensured in all school textbooks.

Indo-Americans Protest Indian History in California Textbooks

Indo-Americans Protest Indian History in California Textbooks

INDOlink News Bureau

San Jose, California - A new controversy about Indian history is brewing in the halls of California schools and the state's board of education.

This high-profile debate between religion and scholarship - is yet another sign of the growing political muscle of Indian immigrants and the rising American interest in Asia. California is now home to more than 300,000 people of Indian descent, with nearly 40,000 Indo-American students attending California schools in grades K-8. Over the next six years, they and millions of their peers will read the standardized sixth-grade textbooks on world cultures including Hinduism and ancient India. The chapters they will study are currently being reviewed by the California State Board of Education. California mandates the study of world religions in its public schools. The debate flared last November, when the state Board of Education held a public meeting to discuss the revisions, one of the final steps in the state's adoption process which takes place every six years. Madhulika Singh, an Indian-born Yale graduate who has lived in the United States for 23 years, was one of those who raised concerns with the text during the hearing. She told the committee her 11-year-old son was so embarrassed by what he read that he became ashamed of being Hindu. "There are many children, non-Hindu children, who didn't know much about Hinduism or India until they were exposed to it in the sixth grade. When they learn what they read in textbooks, they are shocked or hate India and Hinduism," she said. "Before they may have been neutral or ignorant of it; that's better than hating it. I don't want my children's co-students to learn all these negative things and make remarks to my children." The books that Madhulika's son uses in school describe the Goddess Kali, revered by Hindus for her cosmic power, as "bloodthirsty." They call Hanuman, a god worshipped for his loyalty and protection, the "monkey king." One exercise tells students that Hanuman loved Rama (a Hindu god) so much that some believe he appears every time the Ramayana (ancient Sanskrit epic) is read. "So look around � see any monkeys?" the passage taunts. While several groups, including Jewish and Islamic advocates also requested changes, the majority of the debate came over the Hindu groups' position which has led to ongoing review meetings. The Vedic Foundation and the Hindu Education Foundation, proposed 153 changes, 131 of which were initially accepted by the committee. In one example, the current text read: "The Aryans created a caste system." The proposed revision is: "During Vedic Times, people were divided into different social groups (varnas) based on their capacity to undertake a particular profession." The committee, advised by Professor Shiva Bajpai, a professor emeritus in the History Department at California State University at Northridge, approved the majority of the decisions. But a group of professors, led by Harvard Professor Michael Witzel, denounced the revisions in a letter to the Board of Education. In his letter, Witzel alleged the proposed changes "would trigger an immediate international scandal." The board appointed Witzel and two colleagues to a special committee, outraging the Hindu groups who believed Hinduism should be described by Hindus. In January, the board decided that both groups would discuss point by point which changes could be made based on historical facts. In response, The Hindu American Foundation led by Fremont physician Mihir Meghani, has hired a law firm to consider legal action should the state decide to modify the recommendations of the curriculum committee. HAF has retained Olson, Hagel and Fishburn, LLP, of Sacramento, CA, to represent the Foundation in its dialogue with the California State Board of Education, and to ensure that the concerns of the Hindu American community regarding textbook portrayals of Hinduism are conveyed.

HAF Legal Counsel Suhag Shukla wrote "While attacks from non-Hindu academics with no expertise in Hinduism, and whose careers have been consumed by advocating pre-modern theories now engulfed by debate, were expected, I have personally been shocked by the unshakable obsession of so many Indian-Americans to view every effort in this country through the prism of their own political ideologies from India. Almost playing right along a colonialist paradigm, Professor Witzel and his ilk, with one letter to the California School Board of Education (SBE) using the word, "Hindutva-inspired," have effectively divided fellow Indian Americans into an antagonistic, contentious and dithering populace�divided and conquered we remain"

Dr. Mihir Meghani, president of the HAF commented, "Hindus throughout the United States are watching the process with concern since the results have broad implications for all Hindus".

"For many years, Hinduism was taught from a non-Hindu perspective. All that we are asking is that Hinduism be taught as per state law, which asks that the education 'Instill in each child a sense of pride in his or her heritage; develop a feeling of self-worth�; eradicate the roots of prejudice... and enable all students to become aware and accepting of religious diversity while being allowed to remain secure in any religious beliefs they may already have."

http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=020106091558

Bigotry and Prejudice: the Depiction of Hinduism in the West

http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/feb/01rajeev.htm?q=tp&file=.htm

Bigotry and Prejudice: the Depiction of Hinduism in the West

February 01, 2006

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?

'I am not for rewriting Hinduism'

The proverbial unbiased observer would, on considering the facts, suggest it is a fundamental right of a major world religion to be treated on par with other major world religions. This would stand to reason, as rational people have long since ceased to believe in the superiority of certain races, or languages, or cultures.

'I am not a Hindu hater'

However, it turns out that in the case of Hinduism, ancient prejudices are still at work. It appears that religion is the one area in which it is perfectly acceptable to be an extreme bigot. Interestingly enough, Buddhism, which in many of its basic beliefs is almost identical to Hinduism, fares much better in the respect sweepstakes.

Hindus in India live in a fools' paradise: there is constant official propaganda that 'all religions are equal', and yet, paradoxically, that so-called 'minority religions' and their followers need to be given extra consideration, state largesse and patronage as they are fragile creatures under threat. In reality, they are powerful, rich and muscular State-sponsored religions.

Saudi Arabia's holy intolerance is the most obvious (yet a recent British Midlands airline edict is an example of how this is accepted in dhimmitude), but Europe and the US provide official patronage to their faiths too.

And this extends to the citizenry as well. There are cases of pictures of Hindu deities adorning toilet covers, shoes, underwear and so forth on a regular basis; film-maker Stanley Kubrick felt free to use one of the most sacred stanzas in the Bhagavad Gita as guttural background chanting for a sexual orgy in Eyes Wide Shut I never hear of Jesus or Abraham or Semitic texts being abused with such callous abandon.

In a recent incident in Malaysia, a Hindu soldier, an Everest mountaineer and national hero, was buried as a Muslim overruling the objections of his Hindu wife, who strenuously denied claims that he had converted to Islam. The court refused to even hear the wife's views, ruling that since she was not Muslim, she could not testify in a case involving Islam! The decimation of the Hindu populations of Pakistan and Bangladesh since 1947, including the recent massacre of small Hindu children in a temple in Balochistan, (see my column on that topic) are further instances of ill-treatment.

The paradox is that religious minorities are treated shamefully in white and/or Christist countries, and Arab and/or Muslim countries. This may stem from the beliefs of these faiths and ethnicities in explicit imperialism and world conquest. In India, the numerical minorities (Christians and Muslims) are treated as minor royalty and are the ones oppressing Hindus. Yet, all the propaganda would have you believe the exact opposite.

To put it bluntly, Hindus are despised and treated as second-class citizens outside India, and they are brainwashed into believing they deserve the second-class treatment they get in India, especially under the current dispensation, which has set all-time records for mindless pandering under the stewardship of a remarkably vigorous minister. The Indian government has as its official State religion something called 'secularism'. In plain English, that means endemic State hostility towards Hindus, but tenderness for Christians, Muslims and Marxists.

On the other hand, Christian belief has a special place in the West. Although that has typically been of the nature of primus inter pares, first among equals, it is worth noting that the God in whom we trust, according to US currency notes, is very much the Christian God. With evangelical millennialists rampant, the US now sees 'intelligent design' (belief masquerading as science) and diminishing separation of Church and State.

In the UK, the sovereign apparently is the protector of the Christian faith, or to be precise, the sub-sect that is prevalent in that nation. British rule in India was indistinguishable from fervent and chauvinistic Christian rule, as has been amply documented in Subhash Chakravarthy's incisive The Raj Syndrome.

Judaism, after centuries of oppression, pogroms, genocide, and hate-crimes against its adherents, has now reached a point (partly through their wealth and clout; partly through their willingness to seek legal redress) where nobody dares to denigrate Jews or their faith. The great crimes committed against them by Christians in Germany has also created a guilt complex which means that Christians are doubly careful about not offending Jewish sentiments.

Islam, paradoxically after 9/11, has now attained the same level of kid-glove treatment in the West. This is because of three reasons: one, Leftists in Western media have bullied all would-be dissenters into censoring themselves. Two, Muslim spokespersons in the West aggressively shame or threaten would-be accusers into politically-correct speech. Three, Muslims have deliberately emphasised the commonalities between these three West Asian faiths.

In this context of respectful treatment, it is amazing how differently Hinduism is treated in the West. In several countries, Hinduism is not even recognised as a religion. In determinedly secular France, Hinduism is not officially a religion, and is therefore treated on par with various bizarre cults that speak in tongues or handle rattlesnakes. I believe this is more or less the case in others like Spain and Italy, as well.

Hinduism, like Judaism, can reasonably induce guilt because Christian colonialism has directly caused the deaths of 30 million Indians, mostly Hindus (see Mike Davis' Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino and the Creation of the Third World), and the transfer of at least $10 trillion to Western coffers, in the process beggaring the nation. Yet, instead of tender treatment, Hindus get more oppression.

The only Hindu temple in Moscow was recently demolished, with the promise that alternate land would be provided for its reconstruction. But this promise has been reneged on: the temple is demolished and no land has been provided. And there was a broadside by one Archbishop Nikon of the Russian Orthodox Christian Church, which, among other unparliamentary things, refers to Hindu deities as devils.

It may be noted that the Indian government's -- and Parliament's -- response to this outrage was: absolutely nothing. No diplomatic letter, no _expression of concern, no apology extracted, despite Indo-Russian coziness. A group of British MPs, strangely enough, are the only ones to raise their voice. http://www.hinduforum.org/

Comments welcome at Rajeev.srinivasan@gmail.com

To be continued

Bolivian President reverts to Andean religion, shuns church ceremony

Bolivian President reverts to Andean religion, shuns church ceremony

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-01-21T191011Z_01_N21262912_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BOLIVIA.xml&archived=False

By Helen Popper
TIWANAKU, Bolivia
Sat Jan 21, 2006

At the sacred ruins of a powerful pre-Inca civilisation, a colourfully clad Evo Morales sought the spiritual energy and blessings of his Andean ancestors on Saturday, the eve of his inauguration as Bolivia's first indigenous president.

The 46-year-old Aymara Indian walked a path, which had been swept with coca leaves, that travelled among Tiwanaku's pyramids and temples, dating from 700 AD, in the company of spiritual leaders.

They dressed him in a red tunic like the ones used by the priests of Tiwanaku 1,000 years ago and a four-cornered cap and bestowed on him a staff of command representing the 36 nationalities of Bolivia's indigenous majority.

Amid shouts of "Jallalla Evo" (Long live Evo), the leaders performed rituals to energise the president-elect and together they made offerings to Pachamama, Mother Earth, to thank her for the victory.

Morales had gone to Tiwanaku to pray to Pachamama before the December 18 elections, in which the leftist won a surprisingly high 54 percent of the vote in Bolivia, the poorest country in South America.

Some 10,000 Bolivians from all over the country descended on the revered ruins, the cradle of the Aymara people located 40 miles (70 km) from the capital, La Paz, and 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) above sea level.

"Today begins a new era for the native peoples of the world," Morales told the crowd in Spanish, urging his followers to help "end the colonial state and the neo-liberal model."

The ritual was a mixture of Andean tradition and modern improvisation since the white elite has ruled Bolivia, a country of 9.4 million today, since the Spanish arrived 500 years ago.

Morales, a llama herder in boyhood who rose to prominence as leader of the coca farmers, will be sworn in on Sunday in Congress with an unprecedented 12 heads of state in attendance.

'I WILL BE MILLIONS'

Tiwanaku is considered to be the greatest megalithic architectural achievement of pre-Inca South America, home to 20,000 inhabitants at its height. It melted into obscurity around 1200 AD.

At dawn, under the heavy grey skies of the Andean highlands, Morales's followers protected themselves in the multicoloured indigenous flag, the ubiquitous Wiphala, and blue scarves of his Socialist party. Community leaders identifiable by their red ponchos provided the first ring of security.

After years of turmoil and protests that toppled two presidents, hope for change fuelled the festive atmosphere.

"There is so much poverty in Bolivia and before there was not much chance of change," said La Paz engineering student Juan Jimachi. "Even the rich people support Evo. He cannot betray us because he is one of us."

Despite centuries of oppression, only in recent years has, Bolivia's indigenous majority, made up mainly of Aymara, Quechua and Guarani nations, organised itself politically.

Morales rose to prominence among the indigenous with his coca growers' protests against a U.S-funded war on drugs and eradication of the coca crop, the raw material used to make cocaine.

In the 18th century during Spain's colonial rule of mineral-rich Bolivia, a defeated Aymara leader, Tupac Katari, predicted: "You only kill me, but I will return and I will be millions."

But the "original" citizens, and even Morales himself, are amazed that Tupac Katari's prophecy has come true.

"What we are seeing now is something that we never could have imagined," said Waldo Wilcarani, director of the brass band for the city of Oruro in which Morales used to play the trumpet.

Who remembers ancient India's scientific wealth?

Who remembers ancient India's scientific wealth?
By Md. Vazeeruddin - Syndicate Features

Sessions of Indian Science Congress are held with monotonous regularity at fixed periodicity. Eminent persons use them to think aloud on what breakthroughs India needs to achieve. For instance, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has just told such a session that India should aim at a second Green Revolution. That was a laudable sentiment. But is it not the duty of the notables to use such sessions to tell the masses what ancient India had achieved in the field of science? Is Indian heritage only spiritual and cultural, and not scientific? On the contrary, it is at least as scientific as it is spiritual or cultural. It is, however, true that any claim that India's scientific heritage is as great as its spiritual and cultural heritage may baffle many Indians because we have for decades, if not centuries, believed that science is the West's contribution to humanity while India made the world aware of, and prize, cultural and moral values. That is the reason why we talk day in and day out of our spiritual and cultural heritage but seldom, if ever, of our scientific heritage. Do we have any? Not many know the true answer. In the book "Changing Perspectives in the History of Science: Essays in Honour of Joseph Needham", edited by Mikulas Teich and Robert Young, Dr Rahman, "speaking for India", convincingly exploded the myth that science and technology were essentially European. The Director of the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies called for co-ordination among various agencies for the allocation of funds for the promotion of research into the history and philosophy of science in India. Inaugurating in Delhi a meeting of experts on "approach and logistics of supporting research into history and philosophy in India", Dr Ashok Jain said that critical studies in the historical and philosophical contexts of science and technology were vital for the sustenance of an innovative tradition. Research in this area is not only of cultural and academic significance but is responsible also for bringing to life the "foundational aspect of science" which is vital for the development of theoretical science. Unfortunately, a meeting, jointly organized by the Institute and the National Commission on History and Philosophy of Science, went more or less unnoticed by the public; understandably because the view is gaining ever-increasing acceptance that interest in the history of science is a sign of failing powers. Mercifully, however, medical practitioners who are usually enthralled by the history of medicine do not hold this low opinion. The possible reason is that physicians and surgeons, like all who are executants rather than theorists, are great hero-worshippers, and hero-worship is a great incentive to the study of historical records. What, anyway, is the Indian science whose history needs to be known? Take, for instance, zinc. Europe learnt to produce it in 1746, but it was distilled in India more than 2,000 years ago through the use of a highly sophisticated pyro-technology. Distillation of this metal in India was brought to light through a series of nearly intact structural remains of ancient Indian zinc distillation furnaces at Zawar near Udaipur in Rajasthan. In late 17th century zinc was imported in small quantities from the East and used in the production of brass. After all, before the advent of present-day high-pressure technology, zinc had inevitably to be produced as a vapour because of the vast difficulties in its distillation process at Bristol in Britain in 1747. The discoveries at Zawar nevertheless prove that Indians knew the process some 2,000 years ago. Or consider astronomy. According to Dr B.G.Sidhartha, Director of the B.M. Birla Planetarium at Hyderabad, Rig Vedic authors had already discovered the spherecity of the Earth and established the heliocentric (Sun-cantered) theory much before Copernicus. The Rig Veda, according to him, is the oldest textbook on modern astronomy. As such, its seers were scientists in the modern sense. Yet they deliberately concealed this knowledge in hymns, probably because the subject was the preserve of priests. In the hymns themselves, however, can be found through new interpretations the information that light is composed of seven colours, a discovery attributed by modern science to Newton. Thus, when Indra lets loose his seven rivers, it means the splitting of sunlight. Therefore, the rainbow is called "Indradhanush" in the Atharveda. Three ancient astronomers, the "Ribhus", were the first to establish that the Earth was round and that Mercury and Venus revolved round the Sun. But these sacred texts came down from father to son and thus lost their form and structure till they were lost by about 1400 B.C. The computer is the reigning fad today and, therefore, India's scientific achievements of the past, some argue, pale into insignificance. But were our ancient scientists totally ignorant of what has developed into the computer? Aryabhata, the ancient Indian mathematician, it is true, had no computer, but some of the techniques that he developed were precisely the ones used in solving problems with today's computer. What is more, computer designers in the West are now studying the works of ancient Indian mathematicians to learn a thing or two about writing software. Aryabhata's algorithm, called "kuttaka" and meant to solve linear intermediate equations, has been found by the West to be extremely efficient computationally. Similarly, the method of Brahmagouta, Jayadeva and Bhaskara-II (rediscovered in Europe 1000 years later) was "optimum in minimizing the number of steps for solving a problem". Dr Rick Briggs, an American computer engineer, in a paper published in the 1985 issue of "Artificial Intelligence", said that ancient Indians had developed a method for paraphrasing Sanskrit "in a manner that is identical not only in essence but also in form with the current work of artificial intelligence". According to him, "Sanskrit grammarians had already found a way of solving what is perhaps the most important problem in computer science—natural language understanding and machine translation". Now take physics. Dr Erwin Schrodinger, in an essay, "Seek For The Road", written in 1925, said that science, like Vedantic philosophy, used analogy to comprehend phenomena, as logic had its own limitations and left the scientist in the lurch after taking him up to a certain point. Dr Schrodinger, who won the Nobel Prize for his wave equation that placed the revolutionary quantum concept (as opposed to the Newtonian mechanistic interpretation) on a firm scientific basis, found support for Vedanta in the new physics with its element of indeterminism and idea of "collapse of the wave function", mathematical entity to describe nature for no discernible physical reason. The most important link between science and the Sastras is an uncompromising logical attitude to everything. According to Prof. T.S.Shankara, who took up "sanyas" and became Swami Parmananda Bharati after teaching physics for 15 years in the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology at Chennai, some basic concepts of modern-day physics are found in the Sastras. For example, the concept of relativity is to be found in them. Basic ideas of relative velocity (velocity not being absolute but only relative) are extensively referred to by Shankaracharya, quoting the Vedas. The Brahmashastras contain a profound discussion on the same subject. According to Swamiji, "if only some of our students had known this, one of them could have developed Einstein's theory of relativity much before it was done. Pithy statements in the Sastras can help our scientists make significant contributions". Or consider what the eminent nuclear physicist D.S.Kothari has to say. In a prestigious lecture on "Science and Values" delivered at the Indian National Science Academy on the concluding day of its golden jubilee celebrations, he claimed that the view of the universe provided by physics proclaimed the moral insight of philosophy. "Plank's constant, which explains movement of electrons at various levels of energy, does lead to the moral conclusion that in practicing truth lies immortality as stated in the Rig Veda," he explained. "Plank's constant has a message that either we hang together or will be destroyed together," he said, and referred to the Rig Vedic invocation to the Sun that stressed the wisdom of practicing truth. How can we lament lack of national pride in Indians without first acquainting them with the country's phenomenal scientific achievements in the dim distant past?

http://www.asiantribune.com/show_article.php?id=2978

Hindu Civilization is 7000 year old

http://www.tinyurl.com/8wx5e

Older civilisation than Indus found

Vadodara, Jan 21: Recent excavations in parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Pakistan have made the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) believe that a developed civilization possibly existed in the region in the 6th millennium BC, assumed to be older than the Indus valley civilisation. According to ASI Director Dr B R Mani, the civilisation, believed to be much older than the Indus civilisation of the second and third millennium BC, stretched from Iran in the west to North Bengal in the east. Dr Mani, who is here to attend a two-day international seminar on 'Magan (the present Oman) and Indus civilisation,' said till now the Indus and Harappan were considered to be amongst the world's earliest civilizations, but the relicts found during the recent excavations provided some evidence regarding existance of about 7,000-year-old civilization. ''Excavations at Lahuradeva site in Uttar Pradesh, Mehergadh in Pakistan and Haryana have led to recovery of pottery, cultivated rice and other artefacts dating back to that period,'' the ASI director said, adding that further research and excavations were on not only by the ASI but also by concerned state agencies and different universities. Bureau Report

Happy new year! (and my usual rumblings)

What would it take a Hindu New year be celebrated like this?

• When the power of the nation (China) is behind it, Google (or USA or anyone for that matter) would obviously be conscious of its culture (in this case Chinese New year)
• If I remember right, last year, President Bush avoided attending Diwali get-together, but on the same day evening, he attended a Islamic holiday party. I read somewhere the comment was - Hindus do not constitute a state (governing country). We, as Hindus typically, would attribute to his (Bush's) ignorance and move on. So be it. But, we have something to note though - Strength matters (including numbers)
• May this year of Dog teach us something!
• Now, please check out Google's greetings!

PS: Please do not forget to check out the appeal on http://www.hinduyuva.org

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Who are opposing the Hindu initiative to end discrimination in California textbooks?

http://www.indiapost.com/members/story.php?story_id=5264

 

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. A few Hindu organizations such as the Hindu Education Foundation (HEF) and the Vedic Foundation (VF), as well as many individual Hindus, have been working with the California Department of Education (CDE) to end the derogatory and discriminatory portrayal of Hinduism in textbooks.

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.

A group of academics led by Professor Michael Witzel of Harvard, has been opposing these reasonable changes. Interestingly, Witzel's group admitted that they were unaware of the nature of the proposed changes when they wrote their protest letter to CDE on November 7, 2005'.

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.

During their subsequent intervention at the CDE, Witzel's group argued that proposed HEF/VF correction that 'Ramayana was composed before Mahabharata' (the textbook said the opposite) should be rejected because 'how does a 6th grader care which text was written first'!

When Hindu groups proposed replacing a textbook picture erroneously showing a bearded man with a skullcap with the caption 'Brahmin', Witzel's group proposed that the picture should be replaced with that of an untouchable scavenger! When HEF/VF proposed that ahistorical pictures of members of the four castes should be replaced with more accurate drawings, Witzel wrote that the existing pictures were no worse than those found in the 'Amar Chitra Katha'!

Whereas the descriptions of other religious traditions in the textbooks do not say anything about unequal treatment of slaves and women therein, Witzel wants to single out Hinduism and India for such negative treatment.

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 Vijay Prasad, founder of the Forum of Inquilabi Leftists (FOIL).

The online blitz was carried out by FOSA ('Friends of South Asia'), a front of FOIL. These articles did not have much academic or substantive content, and indulged in reckless calumny by association, even insinuating that the HEF and VF were somehow linked to the murder of 1000 Muslims in Gujarat! Prasad's article even had the conspiracy theory argument that the edits proposed by Hindu groups wanted to make India look good so that the country could attract more foreign investment.

There were shrill and abrasive appeals for campaigns against HEF/VF on lists of Indian communists residing in the US, followed by letter writing to Indian American newspapers. Surprisingly, FOSA did not attack edits of the Islamic community, as if Islam is not a 'South Asian' religion practiced in South Asia. These articles alleged that HEF/VF were male chauvinist, forgetting that a good chunk of the advisors and coordinators of these organizations were women.

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

Theory from textbooks because they wanted to declare that Hinduism alone is indigenous to India and all other faiths are foreign!

These same people argue that Hinduism was constructed in 19th century by the British. How is it possible simultaneously that Aryans brought Hinduism into India in 1500 BCE, and then the British invented Hinduism out of nothing 3000 years later?

A new twist in this controversy is the recent involvement of 'Dalit' groups, who showed up in strength at the Board office in Sacramento on January 12, 2006. They protested the edit that asked for exclusion of the word 'Dalit' from one of the eight textbooks. It seems that 'Dalit' word means "broken/oppressed" which might have a demeaning impact on any student of referred castes. The word 'Dalit' is being used only after 1950s that too mainly in one section of India while word 'Harijan' was most commonly used by Mahatma Gandhi in 20th century. Even Kabir used the same word few hundred of years back.

In modern India, the Government of India uses "scheduled caste" while popular political party covering these castes uses "Bahujan Samaj". Most importantly, the textbooks dealt with Hinduism and India before 600 AD, in this ancient period, untouchability was anyway a rare phenomenon according to standard scholarly works.

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. They justify their role on the pretext that they are supporting Dalits, and because they are concerned at the 'Hindutva' nature of the edits proposed by HEF/VF. Needless to say, their participation is only vitiating the relationships between Hindus and Muslims in the United States.

The reality is that HEF/VF have only one concern, that impressionable sixth-grade school-going children of CA can use factually and historically accurate education materials that also conform to the CA State Law [Education Code 60044(a) and Subsection (b)], the "Standards for Evaluating Instructional Materials for Social Content (2000 Edition):

"1. Adverse Reflection. No religious belief or practice may be held up to ridicule and no religious group may be portrayed as inferior."
2. Indoctrination. Any explanation or description of a religious belief or practice should be present in a manner that does not encourage or discourage belief or indoctrinate the student in any particular religious belief."

How will an excessively negative presentation of India and Hinduism help any student? It could only hinder the psychological development of Indian American and Hindu American children because their classmates will not help notice that only Hinduism has been depicted negatively and other faiths have been not. So Hindu parents appealed to various parties opposed to these edits to consider the welfare of little children, and not make them the battleground of their divisive politics imported from 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?