https://www.opindia.com/2016/03/academics-protest-over-proposal-to-consider-that-india-didnt-exist-at-all-before-1947/
Open Letter by Vamsee Juluru in Huffpost in 2016
>The decision of the IQC has been in full public view for several days now, and the links were provided on my petition too: India is indeed being “erased,” in several key places in the curriculum, all the way from “ancient South Asia” (with Hinduism now being called “Ancient Indian religion”) to the age of “Islamic civilization” (the new phrase to replace the earlier phrase “India and the Muslim world”). (See the complete list of changes, with Indus Valley edits marked distinctly, here).
>The IQC’s CHSSP committee had already accepted most of their suggestions in March, and but for the strong protest from the community and from other scholars on our petition, might not have even reconsidered them in its meeting on March 24. The issue is not yet settled, since the CDE has to make the final decision in May.
Meanwhile, it would help perhaps if all who care about truth and integrity in journalism (and in education) considered the following facts that the LA Times did not see fit to acknowledge, even in the form of a letter from me and several other scholars:
>-The South Asia Faculty group submitted two letters to the IQC, in November 2015 and again in February 2016 arguing for several changes in the curriculum. Their stated position, spelled out on the top of page 12 in their November letter, was that “most references to India before 1947 should be changed to South Asia.” They also asked for references to “Hinduism” to be changed to “religion of ancient India.”
->A committee appointed by the Instructional Quality Commission announced in early March that it had accepted a remarkable 62 of the 76 edits suggested by the South Asia Faculty group (compared to virtually none of the changes suggested by several scholars and Hindu community groups).
>-Thirty-six of these edits had to do with simply eliminating the words “India” or “Hinduism” from the curriculum. Were these simply harmless recommendations about the Indus Valley lying in Pakistan today and “South Asia” being more appropriate as the LA Times made it out to be? No. Several edits change the meaning of the lines severely and support the South Asia Studies scholars’ view that there essentially was no “India” before 1947
>- For example, edit 2749 by the South Asia Faculty changed the line “After 1000, Turks from Centra
... keep reading on reddit ➡https://structures.substack.com/p/part-1-how-to-protect-hinduism-in
Religion is often one of the most misunderstood things -often mistakenly seen as a pursuit for God, religion is not a theoretical unselfish endeavor, as it is a- colliding of selfish wishes, fear and community.
Many countries have and are currently seeing a rapid change in demographics(eg Nepal -Christianity went from 1%-10% within 2010-2020 ,South Korea Christianity went from 1%-30% within 3 decades ,Africa christianity went from 1% to 50% within a century -wiping out the indigenous religions)- while many for time immemorial seem to be in a stage of steady continuity - unchanged by outside forces ( Afghanistan has seen a negligible change despite foreign occupation and domination for more than 2 decades, Poland despite the communist regime has seen Church attendance and religiosity stay more or less the same throughout its domination, Even russia for that matter did not see a decline in religiosity even during the period of the Soviet Republic).
India too is seeing a rapidly changing population with large numbers adopting christianity, sponsored in part by the excessive funding coming in through the FCRA($2-3 billion every year). Arunachal Pradesh has gone from 1%-30% within 3 decades 1981-2011, Kanyakumari district has gone to close to 50% within a few decades. Similarly other states such as Andhra Pradesh have gone to 20%(although currently not accounted for by census data, Tamil Nadu has gone to 10%
While the factors that lead to religious change and causing religious change are often more clearly understood - a partitioned society and society in flux, monetary power to convince, physical and political power to coerce, and a radical clergy and link to society to enforce, the factors that strengthen continuity are often slightly less well understood.
Looking at the countries that have maintained a continuity in religion despite odds we can come up with certain factors that can be used to enhance continuity.
1)Linking of religion with identity - not with political party but with identity- despite religion not being a
... keep reading on reddit ➡
>Thus, a Buddhist monk from China, Fa-Hien, decided to come to the land of the Buddha in 399/400 CE. Authorised by the Han dynasty, Fa-Hien, he took the difficult journey while recording the experiences of a flourishing Buddhism from Central Asia to South Asia. Fa-Hien reported with great detail all the Buddhist sites and symbols that he encountered. Fourteen hundred years later, Alexander Cunningham, the father of India’s archaeology, followed Fa-Hien’s trails to uncover the sites.
>The information Fa-Hien documents is crisp, yet has detailed precision. Fa-Hien learned new languages and transcribed alien cultures filled with Buddhist lores.
>His travelogue became known as “A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms”, translated from old Chinese to modern English by Scotsman James Legge in 1886.
>Legge identifies the existing religious beliefs at the time of translation, as Christianity, Confucianism, Brahmanism, Mohammedanism and Taoism. Notably, there is no mention of Hinduism because there didn’t exist a faith as such.
>Fa-Hien notes of Brahmins as jealous and angry people who believed in a “false doctrine” that was contrary to the Buddhas. Brahmins attempted to root out any evidence of Buddhist past by cutting down the trees which were believed to be planted by the Buddha. He also notes meticulously how a “heretical Brahmin” went to the limits of murdering a woman so as to put the blame on the Buddha.
>Fa-Hien is one of our most spiritual-scholarly connections to China who preserved Buddha’s Dhamma. It is to the credit of Fa-Hien that we have records of our glorious history. Fa-Hien’s ethnography has brought us closer to the vast Indian past. Indo-China relations have to be built on similar lines of mutual cooperation and strong history that don’t promote jingoistic nationalism but humanitarian universalism.
>Buddha is common to humanity. We should promote Buddha and Buddhist values. The Buddha’s revolution was unacceptable to the Muslim and Brahminic invaders who collectively wiped off the treasures that Fa-Hien and another traveller of the seventh century Hsüan-tsang recorded.
>I wish to follow the trails of Fa-Hien. It was an uncomfortable and arduous journey. However, it was worth all the sacrifices. Today, we must honour Fa-Hien as a great chronicler of medieval India. He should be included in the pantheons of Bahujan society and India’s national history.
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/fa-hien-in-land-of-bud
... keep reading on reddit ➡
I'm very interested in learning about how Hinduism has differed in South India from North India. I would be very grateful if someone could point me to some good introductory books on any of these topics:
- unique features of ritual practice and folk religion in South India
- history of Vaishnava thought (particularly interested in Sri Vaishnavism here) and application of that to lay religion in South India
- same as above but for Advaita
Any other good introductions would be much appreciated. Thank you very much!
Char Dham of Uttarakhand are amongst the holiest sites of India. Unless I'm mistaken, except a brief period of 2 years, they were never under govt control.Am assuming their earnings should be pretty decent. In all these years,how much have they spent on Hindu causes like stopping conversion,Hindu hospital & schools to ensure Hindus dont fall prey to missionary circuit, proselytisation of Hinduism, funding for Hindu mythology based movies, etc?
Question for those who claim freeing temples from govt control would be the ultimate salvation of Hindus. Without a waqf like board to ensure Hindu religious earnings are used for Hindu cause, how is it helping in any way?
I really wonder about the relationship between Hinduism and political actions.
In my case, I saw lots of Korean Christian show some specific perspectives or actions following their religious view.
I hope to know about India's case too.
#"Since the days of Asoka Hindustan has prospered only under the rule of foreigners, and so it must be until caste is abolished and the spirit of brotherhood made possible, a condition that cannot come about short of a century."
Retrieved by Hindoo History:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1457443361997025282.html
https://archive.md/8F9Eu
Full article:
"When the Aryan nomads crossed the Himalayas and formed their pastoral settlements along the banks of the Indus they were a peaceful people, yielding easily to the governance of their patriarchal chiefs."
"When the Aryan nomads crossed the Himalayas and formed their pastoral settlements along the banks of the Indus they were a peaceful people, yielding easily to the governance of their patriarchal chiefs."
"And to the lowest of these-- measured by worldly standards-- one may see some wealthy Jat landowner or some prosperous Gujerati grain dealer bow with deference, as to one immeasurably superior to himself in the account of the gods. Caste outweighs wealth and station"
"The Gaekwar of Baroda wears the star of India, and his comings and goings are marked by a salute of 21 guns, but the Brahman who begs at the gates of his palace would be degraded by sitting at his table..."
"When we come down to the lower ranks of the people, the ramifications of caste are beyond the grasp of mind. Every occupation has its distinct caste and these are varied by locality."
"Then there are hundreds of castes growing out of mixed marriages for, although Hindu custom now forbids marriages between persons of different caste, there has been extensive intermingling, and in every such case the contracting parties lost their original caste."
"In many instances non-Aryan families and communities have become Hinduised and admitted into the ranks of the 'twice born.'"
"These ascensions in the social scale have usually been gradual and almost imperceptible, but in some cases they are the result of a revolt against the arbitrary classification or of a self-assertion supported by material advantages"
"Thus in Southern India the goldsmiths resisted the rule of the Brahmans and claimed to be the true spiritual leaders. In general, however, caste and occupation are inseparable and unchangeable."
"Each caste is at once a religious brotherhood and a trade guild. Int he latter capacity it supervises the training of its younger members, regulates wages, maintains boards of arbitration and fosters good fellowship by social g
... keep reading on reddit ➡https://www.opindia.com/2016/03/academics-protest-over-proposal-to-consider-that-india-didnt-exist-at-all-before-1947/
Open Letter by Vamsee Juluru in Huffpost
>The decision of the IQC has been in full public view for several days now, and the links were provided on my petition too: India is indeed being “erased,” in several key places in the curriculum, all the way from “ancient South Asia” (with Hinduism now being called “Ancient Indian religion”) to the age of “Islamic civilization” (the new phrase to replace the earlier phrase “India and the Muslim world”). (See the complete list of changes, with Indus Valley edits marked distinctly, here).
>The IQC’s CHSSP committee had already accepted most of their suggestions in March, and but for the strong protest from the community and from other scholars on our petition, might not have even reconsidered them in its meeting on March 24. The issue is not yet settled, since the CDE has to make the final decision in May.
Meanwhile, it would help perhaps if all who care about truth and integrity in journalism (and in education) considered the following facts that the LA Times did not see fit to acknowledge, even in the form of a letter from me and several other scholars:
>-The South Asia Faculty group submitted two letters to the IQC, in November 2015 and again in February 2016 arguing for several changes in the curriculum. Their stated position, spelled out on the top of page 12 in their November letter, was that “most references to India before 1947 should be changed to South Asia.” They also asked for references to “Hinduism” to be changed to “religion of ancient India.”
->A committee appointed by the Instructional Quality Commission announced in early March that it had accepted a remarkable 62 of the 76 edits suggested by the South Asia Faculty group (compared to virtually none of the changes suggested by several scholars and Hindu community groups).
>-Thirty-six of these edits had to do with simply eliminating the words “India” or “Hinduism” from the curriculum. Were these simply harmless recommendations about the Indus Valley lying in Pakistan today and “South Asia” being more appropriate as the LA Times made it out to be? No. Several edits change the meaning of the lines severely and support the South Asia Studies scholars’ view that there essentially was no “India” before 1947
>- For example, edit 2749 by the South Asia Faculty changed the line “After 1000, Turks from Central Asia,
... keep reading on reddit ➡Religion is often one of the most misunderstood things -often mistakenly seen as a pursuit for God, religion is not a theoretical unselfish endeavor, as it is a- colliding of selfish wishes, fear and community.
Many countries have and are currently seeing a rapid change in demographics(eg Nepal -Christianity went from 1%-10% within 2010-2020 ,South Korea Christianity went from 1%-30% within 3 decades ,Africa christianity went from 1% to 50% within a century -wiping out the indigenous religions)- while many for time immemorial seem to be in a stage of steady continuity - unchanged by outside forces ( Afghanistan has seen a negligible change despite foreign occupation and domination for more than 2 decades, Poland despite the communist regime has seen Church attendance and religiosity stay more or less the same throughout its domination, Even russia for that matter did not see a decline in religiosity even during the period of the Soviet Republic).
India too is seeing a rapidly changing population with large numbers adopting christianity, sponsored in part by the excessive funding coming in through the FCRA($2-3 billion every year). Arunachal Pradesh has gone from 1%-30% within 3 decades 1981-2011, Kanyakumari district has gone to close to 50% within a few decades. Similarly other states such as Andhra Pradesh have gone to 20%(although currently not accounted for by census data, Tamil Nadu has gone to 10%
While the factors that lead to religious change and causing religious change are often more clearly understood - a partitioned society and society in flux, monetary power to convince, physical and political power to coerce, and a radical clergy and link to society to enforce, the factors that strengthen continuity are often slightly less well understood.
Looking at the countries that have maintained a continuity in religion despite odds we can come up with certain factors that can be used to enhance continuity.
1)Linking of religion with identity - not with political party but with identity- despite religion not being a rational endeavor however linking of religion with the identity and especially a victim identity, in our case framing our identity as comin
... keep reading on reddit ➡https://structures.substack.com/p/part-1-how-to-protect-hinduism-in
Religion is often one of the most misunderstood things -often mistakenly seen as a pursuit for God, religion is not a theoretical unselfish endeavor, as it is a- colliding of selfish wishes, fear and community.
Many countries have and are currently seeing a rapid change in demographics(eg Nepal -Christianity went from 1%-10% within 2010-2020 ,South Korea Christianity went from 1%-30% within 3 decades ,Africa christianity went from 1% to 50% within a century -wiping out the indigenous religions)- while many for time immemorial seem to be in a stage of steady continuity - unchanged by outside forces ( Afghanistan has seen a negligible change despite foreign occupation and domination for more than 2 decades, Poland despite the communist regime has seen Church attendance and religiosity stay more or less the same throughout its domination, Even russia for that matter did not see a decline in religiosity even during the period of the Soviet Republic).
India too is seeing a rapidly changing population with large numbers adopting christianity, sponsored in part by the excessive funding coming in through the FCRA($2-3 billion every year). Arunachal Pradesh has gone from 1%-30% within 3 decades 1981-2011, Kanyakumari district has gone to close to 50% within a few decades. Similarly other states such as Andhra Pradesh have gone to 20%(although currently not accounted for by census data, Tamil Nadu has gone to 10%
While the factors that lead to religious change and causing religious change are often more clearly understood - a partitioned society and society in flux, monetary power to convince, physical and political power to coerce, and a radical clergy and link to society to enforce, the factors that strengthen continuity are often slightly less well understood.
Looking at the countries that have maintained a continuity in religion despite odds we can come up with certain factors that can be used to enhance continuity.
1)Linking of religion with identity - not with political party but with identity- despite religion not being a
... keep reading on reddit ➡