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Brahmin from the Rome
In early 1982, Father Joseph Parekatil of the Catholic Church of Parasahi, Madhya Pradesh, destroyed the sacred murthi of the Goddess Visweshwari Siddheswari enshrined on the nearby Nawain Tekdi hill and erected a small wooden cross. Later, the father erected a 31 - foot high concrete cross illegally on the hill on February 18th, 1983. Enraged villagers destroyed the cross a month later on March 17th. On February 20th, 1985, with the intent once again of trying to gain possession of the hill, Fa...
| Nithin S |
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The invention of a Hindu terrorist
I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy...
| S Basu |
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Sri Aurobindo for the 21st Century
In March 2008, Oprah Winfrey, the queen of American TV talk shows, interviewed spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle over a ten week period. The web cast is said to have been viewed from 9 to 11 people worldwide and created quite a stir. Tolle is the author of two popular books: The Power of Now (1997), and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Lifes Purpose (2005). Tolle states that a profound transformation is taking place in the collective consciousness of the planet earth and beyond.Tolle correctly summa...
| Dr Goel |
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SCR Conspiracy to divide India, Book Review
This timely book (by Rakesh Sinha, others: Bharatiya Vichar Manch, Karnavati) explores the controversial high level Sachar Committee report, part of the array of unwarranted sops to Muslim votebanks by Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singhs UPA government. In 2005, the Government of India constituted a committee to report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community in India. It was a seven member committee headed by Justice Rajindar Sachar. Popularly the committee is known a...
| S Basu |
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Hindu Terror? We need Right Perspective
The arrest of a Sadhvi and a few others belonging to a Hindu radical group in the Malegaon and Modasa bomb blasts case adds an ostensibly unexpected and sensational twist to Indias war on terror but is a corollary that was inevitable. The partisan polemics melodramatised by pre-election histrionics plus the religious parochialism replete with nuanced innuendoes that greeted this news report have only made an unenviable situation (vis-à-vis the anti-terror strategy) even murkier relegating common...
| Vivek G |
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Global Warming to Make Ganges Run Dry?
Global warming, now in 2008, is real, and upon us. How will global warming affect the rivers in India; will they all dry up? Can the holy Ganges, the river that has shaped and sustained Indian civilisation through the ages, who we Indians revere as the life-giving mother, run dry! Many climate experts and environmentalists, in the last ten years, have been making dire predictions of the Ganges becoming seasonal. Some doomsayers have even gone to the extent of boldly predicting the river to be ep...
| N Das |
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Inquisition of Goa: Will Pope apologize? - III
In order to accelerate the process of Christianising of the Hindus and the demolition of Hindu temples, one of the associates of St. Francis Xavier, Minguel Vaz, the then Vicar General of India appointed by the Pope in Rome, requested the King of Portugal as part of his 41 Point Programme to destroy all Hindu Temples in October 1546 as follows: Since idolatry is so great and offence against God, as is manifest to all, it is just that Your Majesty should not permit it within your territories, and...
| V Sundar.. |
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Anti-Brahmanism: Case Study to Muslims
The Great Uprising of 1857 unnerved the British, though for a while. Within two or three years of quelling it, and with great ferocity, they set to work putting together a version of the incident that would suit their ends. The uprising was confined to just a few pockets, they said, adding, it erupted as a result of local misunderstandings, and that there was no national sentiment behind it for the leaders themselves fought only for their feudal privileges-one because her son was not being recog...
| U Prabhu |
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Understanding and Reviving Muslim Psyche
Orthodoxy and fanaticism is found in every religious group, not just Islam. But in Hindu and Christian societies, there emerged a class of reformers who rejected such dogmas outright. There was, of course, a reason for this. Their religions were subjected to assaults and molestation as both had to face Islamic aggression. The defeat they suffered, stimulated these societies to reform themselves. Muslim society is unfortunate in this regard. It has never been subjected to the traumatic experience...
| U Prabhu |
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Orissa: Fight poverty, not each other
I have lived and worked in 6 countries, including India, and visited dozens more. I am purposefully harping on my cosmopolitan experience to add authenticity to my observations that have an important bearing on the subject matter of this article. I have seen quite a few Oriya cultural associations in foreign lands and have participated in some, either as a member or as an invitee. The single most noticeable feature of Oriya associations abroad, regardless of their size: be they tiny with 10 memb...
| N Das |
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Anti Hindu terror and its rationalization
The new myth floated by the secular media postulates that backward and riot hit areas serve as breeding grounds of terror. This is just old wine in a new bottle; rationalizing Islamic fundamentalism by creating justifications for the same instead of accepting the central dogma of jihad enshrined within Islamic theology as the root and stem of terror. After all, the secular media has a history of drawing parity between Islamic fundamentalisms and so called Hindu fundamentalism. In 1985, when a pe...
| S Basu |
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Indian Muslims vs Muslims of India
Islam is at the height of unpopularity today. Muslims are regarded with great skepticism and the credibility of Islam seems to be at stake. Recently, my distinguished friend M J Akbar answered this with a lot of vitality in his article, Is credibility of Islam at stake? But not many were moved by it.The skepticism Islam is encountering globally, is a strange phenomenon. To rebuild the credibility of the religion it is important that the terrorists-call them Islamists, Islamic terrorist, or just ...
| U Prabhu |
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Random Uncertainties: Partition of India
Random uncertainty is a statistical expression to explain anomalies in life. In a monogram title, Fooled by Randomness, author Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains the hidden role of chance in life and in the markets. Random uncertainties are a part of daily life; however, every so often, in politics and economic arena, anomalies dramatically surface on the global stage to amazement of all. History is a witness and a useful tool to identify some interesting examples of random uncertainties.History is ...
| K Bhatia |
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India is supreme: Value the Freedom
Indias resilient effort to be a free nation was tested by the British for 300 years. When the struggle for freedom began in 1857, thousands of lives were lost. These great freedom fighters didnt lose heart despite coming up against those who decided to bow to the British and licked their boots. They were broken, but they refused to bend over. Even during the time of Mahatma Gandhi, it was only five percent of the population who actually fought the British. All others preferred to stay within the...
| U Prabhu |
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Are Hindus Violent? - Part 3
One question does arise - why is our media, politicians and human right activists so biased and one-sided. Is it just their naivety? Is it their lack of self esteem, resulting from centuries of foreign rule? Is it fear from otherwise becoming the target of wrath of minority extremists? Or is there some other vested interest like power, money and influence? Do they really hate the faith of their motherland so much that they cannot see through the nefarious designs? Why is the Indian media, specia...
| Arindam B |
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