Plenary sessions like “The Global Hindu Experience”, “Hindu Dharma and Its Promise for the 21st Century”, and “A Dharmic Approach to Mental Health” expanded the theme of education and advocacy, with discussions on how Hindu Americans are navigating modern challenges while rooted in Dharma.

One key breakout session was “Defining Hinduphobia on Campus” led by Dr. Indu Viswanathan, Director of Education at HUA. Dr. Viswanathan introduced her experience of growing up in the American education system and some of the nuanced subtleties of Hinduphobia that so many Hindu students in America face, often without being able to clearly define why they feel discriminated against. Dr. Viswanathan said, “The purpose of this initiative of Understanding Hinduphobia is to clear a path for young Hindu scholars to contribute.”

There is currently a strong negative reaction to Hindu joy from across the political spectrum, partially due to the subtle Hinduphobia that permeates American and European academia, media, and politics. Three key components of Hinduphobia are Stereotypes, Erasure, and Epistemic Injustice. Dr. Viswanathan walked through each with recent examples punctuated by an interaction with a student who said they hadn’t experienced it because they were a STEM major. “Did you ever learn about Hindu contributions to STEM?” Documenting Erasure is difficult to prove, but that is what the next Understanding Hinduphobia Conference will explore. Dr. Viswanathan is also planning to offer a course on Understanding Hinduphobia at HUA starting in January.

While navigating, explaining, and engaging the students in these tricky mechanisms that animate Hinduphobia, Dr. Viswanathan invited a representative from the Northwestern Yuva Chapter to share their experience. “They were basically saying none of us should exist.” The language used to argue that Hindu clubs shouldn’t be on campus “puja promotes Hindu fascism” reeks of ignorance, and is also an opportunity for education. While each chapter and campus has a unique dynamic, the Northwestern Student Senate may define Hinduphobia in their next session.

Dr. Viswanathan outlined what we can learn from other communities, what challenges we have within the community, and emphasized “It is about being effective, not about being right.”

The development of the Hindu ecosystem is going to take a lot of collaboration across Hindu institutions and requires intergenerational organizing. It is clear that Western academia lacks a Hindu perspective, and while Yuva can provide a Hindu presence on campus, it is going to take faculty, professors, researchers, and an institution like Hindu University of America giving intellectual-academic support for our community to be properly represented on campuses and in classrooms. To continue fostering a culture of collaboration and partnership, HUA is proud to offer Yuva Scholarships for Courses, Paid and Unpaid Internships, Work Letters for Optional Practical Training (OPT), and Faculty for the Speaker on Campus initiative.

With the success of this Summit, Hindu YUVA has solidified its role as a leading force in fostering collaboration and leadership among Hindu youth at universities across North America. Sankalp has set a new benchmark for engagement, paving the way for continued growth and unity across the campus life of Hindu student

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“The Indian caste system is perhaps the most extreme expression of a type of social organization that violates the most revered principles on which modern Western societies are based” (Stearns, et al. 24). This is the opening statement of a World History textbook passage on caste in India. With a self-righteous tone, this sentence indicts the entire Indian civilization and everyone associated with it, including innocent Hindu American students. The rest of the textbook pertaining to India employs bias by the commission to lay the blame for the inequities of the caste system entirely on the shoulders of Hindu civilization. It absolves the major Western colonizers, especially the British, of any blame in the current state of affairs. This is a pattern that repeats itself in other textbooks. However, history and Hindu scriptures paint an entirely different picture.

The Spanish and Portuguese origins of the word “caste” as “casta” are well known. What is less well-known are the European origins of birth-based caste, along with how Europeans imposed these concepts on their colonized peoples, as described by Sumit Guha in his online article. In addition, Hindu scriptures do not contain the word “casta” or any other derivative.

 Las Castas (The Castes), Anonymous.

The above painting was completed in the 18th century and depicts the 16 race-based castes at birth as defined and imposed by Spanish colonizers on the Natives of Mexico. This type of classification was devised prior to British interference with the indigenous social system of India. The idea of caste hierarchy being determined by proximity to the white race was first propagated by the Spanish and later implemented by the British in India. The subordinate status of Spanish women as compared to Spanish men can be concluded from the more limited marital options available to women, as shown in the painting.

At the time of the Spanish caste system’s development, Indian society was following a very different social order. Amongst the Vedas, which are the primary scriptures of Hinduism and are believed to hold true regardless of era or geography, the only kind of social structure that was mentioned pertained to the four “varnas.” The term “varna” referred to the four qualities or functions that were found in society: priests/scholars, rulers/administrators, merchants/farmers, and artisans/laborers. The Purusha Sukta contains the following hymn:

brā̠hma̠ṇō̎sya̠ mukha̍māsīt । bā̠hū rā̍ja̠nya̍ḥ kṛ̠taḥ ।
ū̠rū tada̍sya̠ yadvaiśya̍ḥ । pa̠dbhyāgṃ śū̠drō a̍jāyataḥ ॥

From His mouth came forth the Brahmins and from His arms were Rajanya made
From His thighs came the Vaishyas and His feet gave birth to Sudras.
(Rigveda 10.90.12)

Even though the above hymn is not referring to a hierarchy between the four varnas, the fallacy of a hierarchical varna system has gained widespread traction in today’s literature. In reality, the varnas represent the four parallel pillars of a holistic society. In Hindu thought, the entirety of existence is described as the manifestation of God, or Purusha. As God, or Purusha, is One, no part of Purusha can be considered higher or lower. Therefore, one varna is not considered higher or lower than another. Also worth noting is that Purusha is frequently taken to mean Lord Vishnu, who is oftentimes depicted in a reclining pose, with no part of his body higher or lower than the other. The hierarchy misconception can be refuted even further if one examines the next two verses from the Purusha Sukta in the Rig Veda:

cha̠ndramā̠ mana̍sō jā̠taḥ । chakṣō̠ḥ sūryō̍ ajāyata ।
mukhā̠dindra̍śchā̠gniścha̍ । prā̠ṇādvā̠yura̍jāyata ॥

nābhyā̍ āsīda̠ntari̍kṣam । śī̠rṣṇō dyauḥ sama̍vartata ।
pa̠dbhyāṃ bhūmi̠rdiśa̠ḥ śrōtrā̎t । tathā̍ lō̠kāgṃ a̍kalpayan ॥

From His mind the Moon was born, from His eyes was born the Sun

From His mouth, Indra and Agni, and from His life-breath was born Vayu

Space unfolds from His navel, the sky well-formed from His head

From His feet, the earth, and His ears the Quarters.

(Rigveda 10.90.13-14)

 If the Purusha Suktam referred to a hierarchy of the varnas, then, by the same logic, the Moon must be considered higher than the Sun, and space must be considered lower than the sky. Such nonsensical reasoning can be rejected, leading us to the conclusion that the Vedas do not recognize any sort of hierarchy in society. Instead, the varnas refer to psychological groupings of people based on their temperaments and qualities. These groupings achieve goals similar to that of today’s personality tests when they are used to predict what types of occupations may best suit a given individual. It is important to note that there are many examples of people having moved between varnas.

Another term that is native to Indian civilization and is mistakenly conflated with the caste system is “jati.” Unlike “varna,” the term “jati” is not found in Hindu scriptures. “Jati” typically refers to an endogamous community where a specific profession is often passed down in a hereditary fashion. Sharma quotes P.V. Kane in explaining how the jatis came into existence: “ …[jatis] arose from the unions of males of different varnas with women belonging to varnas differing from their own” (130). Sharma later calls out an important distinction between the traditional Indian concept of jati versus the modern Western misunderstanding of where jatis reside in the social fabric. In the traditional Indian view, jatis were formed outside of the traditional varnas. Jatis were formed to accommodate all of the different combinations of people in society that were derived from the original four varnas. The following figure depicts some of the many possible jatis that formed from the unions of the different varnas in succeeding generations:

Figure 1: Varna-Jati Relationship Prior to British Intervention

One can easily observe that over thousands of years, over many generations, and countless combinations resulting in thousands of different jatis, there was no way to create a definitive hierarchical order of jatis in pre-British Indian society. This indeed was the case, where the fluidity of movement between jatis and fluidity of jati status existed. Kane further describes this fluidity when he writes “Therefore, it must be admitted that the …social status of the several castes [ie. jatis] might have varied from country to country or from epoch to epoch…” (Sharma 130). Although there was jockeying for position within the larger society by the various jatis, there was no authority that dictated a jati’s social position. 

However, the situation drastically changed when the British gained power in India and they socially engineered the creation of the modern caste system. Sharma describes how the British administrators chose to think of the jatis as being contained within the varnas, as shown in the figure below:

Figure 2: Varna-Jati Relationship After British Intervention

Using the British methodology, each jati now had to understand itself in relation to the varnas. With a clear hierarchical structure, it was in each jati’s interest to be viewed as high as possible in the pyramid. Force-fitting the entirety of Indian society into a neat pyramid satisfied the British thirst for order and categorization, resulting in what they called the “caste system.” 

In their article, Walby and Haan describe how nineteenth-century Europeans felt a need to make sense of the world by classifying everything neatly into categories and then ordering them. Foucault proposed the creation of hierarchical taxonomies that would allow scholars to produce “truth,” or to reach conclusions about populations under study. 

The problem was that in India, many British census takers and data compilers ran into great difficulties when it came to reaching a neatly categorized and hierarchical view of nationwide caste data. During the British censuses of India, “…many people were reported to not know their caste, to claim they had no caste, or to provide a caste name to enumerators [census takers] when they should not have had one (as was the case for Christians and Muslims)” (Walby & Haan 304). They further describe that one of the ways for census takers to overcome these difficulties was “often through fudging the process” (304). Another commonly employed tactic, of which there is much evidence, is that castes were frequently fabricated. By doing so, British census takers and administrators not only created a new pecking order for the vast diversity of jatis in Indian society, but they also fossilized this pecking order in official government publications with the completion of each census. 

What before British rule had been an informal and fluid system of families and clans moving between different varnas and even jatis was hardened, with social hierarchy given official sanction by the colonizers. There are countless examples of jatis appealing to British officials to reassign their community to a higher status. These officials, and their census publications, became the ultimate judge of a jati’s stature in society.

ML Middleton, Superintendent of the Government of India, wrote the following in the 1911 census: “…we pigeon-holed everyone by castes and if we could not find a true caste for them labeled them with the name of a hereditary occupation…we are largely responsible for the [caste] system which we deplore.” (343)

Middleton further went on to speculate as to what may have happened if the British had not extensively tinkered with the indigenous system: “Left to themselves, such castes…would rapidly disappear and no one would suffer. The large number of people who have refused to record any caste at this census is a sign of progress and the breaking of customary bonds..[the British] Government’s passion for labels and pigeon-holes has led to a crystallization of the caste system, which, except amongst the aristocratic castes was really very fluid under indigenous rule” (343).

Aside from the European preoccupation with hierarchical categorization, there was another phenomenon at work that was even more pernicious. It was the nineteenth-century theory of race, which used pseudo-science in the form of anthropometric measurements to pin each race into a hierarchical order. Europeans considered the white race to be the most superior of the races, and they used this racial theory to justify the colonization and exploitation of other races around the world. In regards to the caste system, H.H. Risley reformulated caste along racial lines when he architected the 1901 Census of India. “Risley argued that caste was a system of social precedence deriving from a race-based hierarchy of social life” (Carlan). Risley used two anthropometric ratios to help him determine his social hierarchy based on race. The first was the nasal index, which was the ratio of the height to the width of the nose. The second was the cephalic index, which was the ratio of the length to the width of the head.

The British concoction of the modern caste system in India would change India forever, dividing its population against itself. Artificial racial boundaries of “Aryan” (ie. light-skinned) and “Dravidian” (ie. dark-skinned) were imposed on the native population, creating and shaping political movements that otherwise would never have existed. In addition to these effects, the modern caste system provided the British with yet another tool: the ability to deride Hinduism as the source of caste inequality and to position Christianity as a better alternative. Even though the caste system exists in other Indian religious communities such as Sikhism, Jainism, Christianity, and Islam, the British successfully perpetrated the “casteism in Hinduism” trope throughout the West, leaving this as another marker of their colonial legacy.

That is why in Social Studies textbooks today, the lens of caste is simplistically used to explain almost everything about Hinduism and Indian history: “What gave Indian civilization a recognizable identity and character was…a unique social organization, the caste system” (Strayer and Nelson 125). The same book later claims that the caste system prevented pan-India empires from surviving for any length of time. The book’s obsession with caste is evident throughout its coverage of India and Hinduism, eventually tying a person’s caste to their spiritual progress. The authors neglect to discuss any Hindu saints who belonged to the so-called lower castes. And not once is there any mention of the British intervention that produced the caste system as we know it today.

As another example, another textbook states that “…the caste system continued to serve as the most powerful organizing feature of Indian society” (Bentley, et al 318). A few pages later, this statement appears: “Caste distinctions first became prominent in northern India following [white] Aryan migrations into the subcontinent” (323). Thus, the book successfully promotes the superimposition of race onto caste, as envisioned by Risley and others over a hundred years ago. The false association between the so-called Aryans, Hinduism, and the caste system is something that is still pervasive in modern textbooks, an anachronism that has managed to outlive British rule in India.

        Books such as these are not purveyors of World History or World Cultures. They are purveyors of Hinduphobia.

Textbooks such as these come with real-world consequences. When the caste system is falsely tied to Hinduism as one of its defining characteristics, entire generations of Americans, both Hindus, and non-Hindus, walk out of the classroom with ingrained prejudices. The Hindu American Foundation published a report concluding that there is “a correlation between the intensity with which a school’s Hinduism unit focuses on caste and the likelihood both that the child will perceive that Hinduism has been taught negatively and that she/he will be bullied for her/his faith…” (HAF 6). The report goes on to suggest that when “an intense curricular focus on caste creates and reinforces a view of Hindu beliefs as uniquely repellant, it is the curriculum itself that needs to be reexamined” (6).

In conclusion, we find the lived reality of Hindu Americans to be at odds with the artificial reality found in Social Studies textbooks. No Hindu temple teaches its congregation about caste or any kind of social hierarchy. Many Hindu American children are not even aware of their caste affiliation. The colonial-era narrative that persists to this day in American textbooks insists that the hierarchical caste system is a fundamental part of Hinduism. This essay has attempted to point out that nothing could be further from the truth. With that being said, caste-based discrimination found in all of the religious communities in India must be eliminated because it is a social evil. When it comes to Hinduism, there is no room for this discrimination, or for any type of discrimination, in a faith community that recognizes each human being as divine. It is time for the narrative around caste and Hinduism to be rectified, especially in Social Studies textbooks for American students. 

This article is an adaptation of a term paper required for the course “Reconstructing Hindu History: The Commissions,” taught by Dr. Raj Vedam.

References

Anonymous. Las Castas. 19th century. Museo Nacional del Virreinato, Tepotzotlán, Mexico. Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casta. Accessed 6 June 2021.

Bentley, Jerry H., et al. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, UPDATED AP Edition. 6^th ed., McGraw Hill, 2020.

Carlan, Hannah. “Sir Herbert Hope Risley.” southasia.ucla.edu/history-politics/colonialepistemologies/sir-  herbert-hope-risley/. Accessed 8 June 2021.

Guha, Sumit. “What Did Europeans Contribute to the Caste System in India?” www.jhiblog.org/2018/05/30/what-did-europeans-contribute-to-the-caste-system-in-india. Accessed 6 June 2021.

Hindu American Foundation. “Caste in the Curriculum & the Bullying of Hindu Students: Secondary Analysis of Survey Results.” www.hinduamerican.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HAFN_16_018- CasteInCurriculumReport_r2_0.pdf. Accessed 5 June 2021.

Middleton, L. and S.M. Jacob. Census of India, 1921. Volume XV, Punjab, and Delhi, Part 1. Civil
and Military – Gazette, 1923.

Sharma, Arvind. The Ruler’s Gaze: A Study of British Rule over India from a Saidian Perspective. HarperCollins Publishers India, 2017.

Stearns, Peter N., et al. World Civilizations: The Global Experience Since 1200, AP Edition. 8^th ed., Pearson, 2020. 

Strayer, Robert W., and Eric W. Nelson. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources. 4^th ed., Bedford, Freeman & Worth, 2020.

Walby, Kevin and Michael Haan. “Caste Confusion and Census Enumeration in Colonial India, 1871–1921.”  Histoire Sociale/Social History, vol. 45, no. 90, 2012, pp. 301–318., doi:10.1353/his.2012.0026.

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DECOLONIZING RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES

Can Hindus study Hinduism critically or are they regarded as naive and non-critical because they see themselves as Hindus? These questions were the essence of a recent webinar discussion that focused on the persistent perception in the academia that Hindus cannot critically analyze and describe their own epistemology and hence intervention, followed by re-interpretation, by the Western academic scholars is needed. Western methods of “studying” Hinduism and other Dharmic cultures and traditions, are invariably based on the presumed notion of a primitive nature of their objects of study. This primitiveness has become an unquestionable first principle, through the ordering of cultures and civilizations on a scale of development, promoted by enlightenment era thinkers. Hinduism’s ‘ancientness’ cannot be disputed, and since ancientness connotes primitiveness automatically in the western paradigm, contemporary Hindus get automatically labelled, as ‘ancient’, ‘uncritical’ and ‘naïve’ i.e., they have not yet attained the so-called critical consciousness of the West. This was the argument of the colonial era, which justified systematic plunder of India, in the name of a civilizing mission.

This inherent bias entrenched in academia and the resulting adverse assessments and judgements cast on Hinduism from this research methodology have remained unquestioned for too long. The argument is also used to exclude Hindus from the domain of academic studies of Hinduism unless they too embrace the western paradigm of casting Hinduism as primitive. Ethnography, as a method of research, has too often been used, and continues to be used to portray ‘primitivity’ in its exotic and graphic detail. The question is, can this be changed? Can ethnography, which has been a formal subject area, itself be transformed so as to potentially rectify the issue at hand? Are there good ethnographic studies that can counter bad ethnographic studies and rectify the errors of the past? Or is the method of ethnography itself fundamentally flawed?

Webinar Recap

“The ways in which scientific research is implicated in the worst excesses of colonialism remains a powerful remembered history for many of the world’s colonized peoples. It is a history that still offends the deepest sense of our humanity.1”

In this webinar Decolonizing Research Methodologies, Dr. Indu Viswanathan and Kalyan Viswanathan discuss the problem of research methodologies practiced by most of the academia today in the west and in westernized institutions in Bharat. In this paradigm, Hindu researchers who are practicing members of their denomination somehow are presumed to not have the authority (i.e., adhikara) to study their own traditions and cultures due to the presumptive loss of subject-object distinction along with loss of objectivity. This provides an immense latitude for projection of an Etic perspective on the culture under investigation, and to place itself in a privileged vantage point that then describes the Hindu cosmology as primitive, stagnant, and hierarchical and oppressive. This outmoded form of research can trace its origins to colonial times, when the west was convinced about its unassailable superiority, culturally, economically, religiously, and militarily. But this method largely continues to be in play today.

Currently, all the disciplines of social sciences and humanities in the westernized universities are based on knowledge produced and epistemic privilege assumed by researchers from just five countries2: England, France, Germany, Italy and USA. The provincial ideas developed by this group on various subjects leading up to philosophy have been universalized to become the lens through which every other culture and tradition has been studied by them. This model has become pervasive and entrenched in academia over time. However, recent trends in studies in decolonization suggest that scholars from indigenous and non-dominant communities are beginning to question the validity of the prevailing methods and in fact, are starting to redefine the methods of research too. As an example of this perspective shift, Dr. Viswanathan pointed out even though Native Americans in the US are much smaller in number today, they have collectively made significant progress in their ability to articulate and advocate for changes to the ways their communities are studied and reported.

There is also a gap between the way practicing Hindus and the broader academia view our ancient texts. Hindus tend to revere the extensive body of knowledge and insights generated by its peoples and various sampradayas and these are incorporated in daily life in multitude forms. On the other hand, academia tends to view the same texts through the lens of ‘primitivity’ to downright irrelevance to modernity. The power of influence from current academia might seem formidable, but Dr. Viswanathan offered actionable suggestions for the Hindu community to consider.

1. Question Etic scholarship about its research efforts – methods, motives, reporting formats and use of research findings.
2. Investigate and question how data has been used in particular ways to develop a narrative and explore ways to reclaim the data and its meanings.
3. Dedicate time and effort in understanding what it means to be a member of the indigenous (minority) community. Liberate oneself from the clutches of perceived metrics of success and re-cast them in innovative and more meaningful ways.
4. Establish a review body consisting of interested and Emic individuals that can develop parameters for acceptable data collection protocols that are lawful, transparent, and respectful of the subjects. This review body should also have the authority to call out work standard violations committed by scholars.

Dr. Viswanathan advocated for increases in scholarship endeavor encompassing research and publication activities across disciplines such as education, ethnography, and media. When skillfully done, the authentic Emic based work will help, over time, drive tangible changes to the current colonial era-based perceptions to a more authentic, truthful representation of the Hindu cosmology.

Herein lies a great opportunity provided by the HUA platform, that is being developed by a solid group of scholars who have demonstrated their originality of thought and deep commitment to high-quality academic work. Is it not time, for the Hindu community to not just recognize this problem and provide an Emic perspective within the framework of academic research, but pave the pathway for reclaiming both their agency and their narrative, about themselves and their culture.

The webinar recording can be found here: Webinar Replay.

For more information about HUA, visit https://hua.edu.

References

1. Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2021), Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (Zed Books, Kindle edition), Introduction.

2. Grosfoguel, Ramón (2013) “The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities: Epistemic Racism/Sexism and the Four Genocides/Epistemicides of the Long 16th Century,” Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge: Vol. 11: Iss. 1, Article 8. Available at: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/humanarchitecture/vol11/iss1/8.

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The Hindu University of America commemorates the epoch-making punar-uddharana ceremony of the Ram Lala Mandir at Ayodhya with the release of a music video ‘Ayodhya – A Cultural Renaissance’ as a special tribute to the occasion.

Ayodhya – Music Video

This music video is composed and produced by Dr Kanniks Kannikeswaran, a faculty at HUA. The video weaves a 21st century multimedia-digital portrait of Ram using elements of Indian Classical music, Sanskrit Lyrics and powerful imagery. Earlier in 2022, Dr Kanniks had created the highly acclaimed work ‘Raag Darshan’ a portrait of India in 75 Ragas.

‘Ayodhya’ is released on the HUA Youtube Channel and will mark the occasion in a musical medium that integrates classicism, story telling, history, philosophy, Sanskrit, Hindustani and Karnatic music.

Celebrating the consecration of the mammoth Ram temple in Ayodhya and the cultural renaissance of Ayodhya through this musical medium is more than a fitting way to celebrate the epochal event. In creating this digital monument, we follow the model of leaders such as Rajendra Chola who built monuments such as the Gangai-konda-Cholapuram temple and engraved historic records in the form of inscriptions (celebrating the pan Indian outlook of the Cholas in their victorious march to the basin of the river Ganga), the footsteps of the Nayanmars, Alvars, and the Vaggeyakara Muthuswami Dikshitar.

Conceptualization, Research, Lyrics, Music, Script, Direction: Dr Kanniks Kannikeswaran

Running length:  7.5 min

Release Date:  January 21 11:00 am CST, in time for the consecration of the temple at Ayodhya

Lyrics:

śrī rāmachandram sadārādhayeham

śrīmadayodhyā sadanam dinamaṇi ravikula tilakam

nīrāgam nirāmayam nijānanda sukhapradam

nirālambam nirmalam- virājita sarayū taṭam

krūratara pāpa rahitam – māruti suhrdaya viditam

tāraka nāma sucharitam – dharma sthāpakam aniśam

ayodhyāpura- janmakshetram ānjaneya sannutam –

kalyāṇyā,,ramayā saha- kanaka bhavana- nivasitam|

koṭi-koṭi dīpavijita chandravadana— sphuritam

lalāṭa-tilaka-śobhita- traya- anuja-sahita-janitam

yogījana- kinkara- sevaka – suranarendra moditam –

yugāntara prasiddham -ati- nūtana mandıra- lasitam

parāśarātmajāśritam -mahāmatyādi vanditam

apāra- karuṇā pāngam -hridayasthitha māmakam –

śrī tyāgarāja-chakravarti-kamba – rāmadāsa

gosvāmi tuḷasIdāsa- kavikulaguru kāḷidāsa

bodhāyana- muni vasiṣṭha – śrī guruguha- mahā śreṣṭha

kulaśekhara – kavikokila śrīmadvālmikyārcita

martyāvatāra – maryādā puruṣottama

śrī rāma rāma rāma śrī rāma rāma rāma

raghupati rāghava rājā rāma

jai-śrī rāma rāma

śrī rāmachandram sadārādhayeham

Translation:

I always celebrate Sri Ramachandra who is enshrined in Ayodhya and who is the crown jewel of the Solar Lineage.

Who is beyond likes and dislikes, who confers true joy, who is pure and free and is enshrined on the banks of the river Sarayu. He destroys the accumulated karma and is ever present in the heart of Hanuman. His name bestows liberation and he is worshiped as the one who established the order of dharma in the form of Ramarajya.

He is enshrined in his birthplace in Ayodhya ; Anjaneya resides in his presence (at Hanuman Garhi). He is seated with Sita (who is endowed with auspiciousness Kalyan) by his side in Kanak Bhavan. His moon-like face excels the Dipotsav in its brilliance; born with three brothers, the tilak on his forehead radiates with effulgence. He is revered by the renunciates, the devotees engaged in service, humans, kings and the Gods; his presence in Ayodhya has been well known for eons; and he is (now) worshiped in a newly constructed temple. He is worshiped by great intellectuals such as Vyasamuni (the son of Parashara); he is filled with kindness and compassion beyond compare and he resides forever in my heart.

Victory to Rama, who is worshiped by Swami Tyagaraja, Kavi Chakravarti Kamban, Bhadrachala Ramadasa, Goswami Tulasidasa, Mahakavi Kalidasa, Bodhayana, Vasishta, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Kulasekhara Alwar, Maharishi Valmiki; an avatar in the human form, who is hailed as the noblest of purushas. Jai Shri Ram.

Thoughts from the Composer

Why it occurred to me to create this music video: A significant part of my understanding of Hindu Dharma is through temple visits and the Tamil liturgical music of the 700s and the Sanskrit Kritis of Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775-1835). The 1st millennium Tevaram songs are in praise of temples all over Tamilnadu and they provide a historical record of the temples in existence about 1300 years ago. The music of Dikshitar is along similar contours, and it uses the pan-Indian medium of the Sanskrit language and the Ragas of the 1700s and 1800s.

Much of the music that I have created over the years celebrates Bharat and the Dharmic Civilization. (e.g. Rivers of India, Monsoons (using the Tirukkural), Raag Darshan – A tribute to Bharat in 75 Ragas). During my recent trip to Bali, where I was blown away by the significant presence of Hindu dharmic ideas – I mused on how Dikshitar would have created music, had he visited Bali. The result was a music video ‘Om Swastiastu’, which uses the medium of the Kriti in Sanskrit, with visuals from all over Bali.

It was around Navaraatri 2023 that I figured out that time was running out*, and a similar kriti /video needed to be created in time for Jan 22. A kriti, which would narrate the story of Ram in Ayodhya, the geography of Ayodhya, the history, and the worship traditions with powerful visuals to accentuate the story. I wrote the first draft of the kriti during Navaratri; made a rough recording after Deepavali. Visited Ayodhya in early December; made a few changes based on the experiential understanding of Ayodhya; recorded the vocals over the Christmas holiday break, and worked on finishing and post-production all the way until Jan 22.

Moola Vigraha at the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir

What Ram means to me: Raman is as much a Tamil word as it is a Sanskrit word. Rama-Nama-Japam is very common; and writing ’Sri Rama Jayam’ down multiple times is a powerful exercise that is steeped in Bhakti, stills the mind and improves focus. I have seen people do it all the time. Ram gets referred to in Tamil film songs very often. There is no family with a relative not named after Ram. Even Ayodhya is part of the Tamil vocabulary. Dikshitar refers to Ayodhya as ‘Saketa Nagar’. In the course of my working on music with various groups, the most moving stories regarding the relationship to ‘Ram’ are those thatI have heard from the Indo-Caribbean diaspora.

Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Mandir

What Ayodhya meant to me: My visit to Ayodhya in December this year was a memorable one where circumstances conspired to make it happen. It is a place that has its ‘vibes’. ‘Ram’ is in the air, water and soil and in peoples heart and lips in Ayodhya. There is a simplicity of life that reminded me of Bali. The narrow lanes, surprises around every corner, small temples, the sound of bells, the sound of Ram-Dhun wafting in the air from all directions; the simple greeting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, the kirtankars doing nothing but singing kirtans all day long, the various landmark temples, the lofty towers, the chill breeze by the Sarayu, the modern Arti on the river – all these are memories to cherish; in a lot of ways it was a transformative visit; one that enabled to me to experience the feeling of ‘surrender’ or ‘sharanagati’.

Prana Pratishtha at Ayodhya

What the prana-pratishtha means to me:

It is a ‘punar-uddharana’ or a renaissance of the entire landscape of Ayodhya. It is a renewal. It is a moment of civilizational awakening. The town, the state, the nation (and even the diaspora) will never be the same again. There is a tremendous sense of confidence, an upsurge of energy; the enthusiasm to serve. There is a major renaissance of the ecosystem around Ayodhya. Who would have imagined 10 years ago that Ayodhya would be home to an International Airport with flights (potentially) to Thailand and other places in the Dwipantara (Far East) with deep-rooted connections to Indian culture and dharma? From having been a sleepy town to one which was internationally known for a ‘dispute’ is now a flourishing center of religious tourism. It is only a matter of time before Universities get set up here. To me, this revival and renewal is a moment of tremendous possibility and inspiration; that shows the power of sankalpa or intentionality.

What did I want to convey using the lyrics: I wanted to paint a picture of Ayodhya as it is today. The raga chosen is ‘Kalyan’- in acknowledgement of the auspicious ‘Kalyana-gunas’ of Shri Ram. The first part of the composition describes the timeless attributes of Ayodhya-Ram, the scion of the Surya Vamsha. Ram as the Brahman – the truth of existence, who in his Saguna form resides on the banks of the Sarayu and is ever present in the heart of Maruti. The next part of the composition describes the various landmarks in Ayodhya (Hanuman Garhi, Kanak Bhavan, Sarayu, Rama Janma Bhumi mandir) and the attributes of the vigraha. There is a line in there that describes the effulgence of his Tilak (that I had written even before becoming aware that the temple was designed to have the sun illuminate his tilak once a year). There is another that compares the moon-like face to the brightness of the Dipotsav.

The kriti also acknowledges the love that the devotees express towards Ram; and puns on words to acknowledge the 21st century contributors to the temple. (For instance, the phrase ‘sura-nara-indra-moditam’ has the word Narendra-Modi hidden in it; ‘Parasharatmaja’ acknowledges Shri Parasharan and the word ‘mahamatyadi’ acknowledges the archeologist K. K. Mohammed). It concludes that (apart from the places described above) Ram resides in our heart.

Purvikas: The next part of the composition acknowledges several poets and musicians who have sung of Rama. Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar (both of whom were mentored by Upanishad Brahmam an exemplary Ram Bhakta in Kanchipuram), Kalidasa, Bhadrachala Ramadasa, Kalidasa and others, and of course Valmiki.

Mudras: I acknowledge Dikshitar as the source of my inspiration using the phrase ‘Sri guruguha Maha sreshta’ and use my mudra- ‘Vidita’ in the phrase ‘Maruti Su-hrdaya viditam’.

The final part of the composition is a kirtan which is pictured on the Arti in Sarayu.

Artists: The singers Abhay Jodhpurkar and Reeshabh Purohit have done a fantastic job emoting the song and delivering it with spirit. The tabla accompaniment by Sai Shravanam is stupendous (and so is the soundscape that he has captured); the sarod played by Pratik Shrivastav adds a layer of depth; the choral singers provide ample support. I have sung a few lines along in the final recording as well.

It was a moving experience to be struck with revelations and discoveries as I composed and produced this piece; it was even more moving to watch the finished product and see the story come alive with great camera work on the artists and other visuals, edited elegantly by Sachin Dave.

My Sankalpa: It is my wish to share this with the world at large and inspire everyone to make a trip to Ayodhya in their lifetime. It is also my Sankalpa to make such music videos on 6 other places Kashi, Kanchi, Mathura, Ujjain, Haridwar and Puri – which along with Ayodhya constitute the 7 moksha-puris. (That I had referred to in the 75 Ragamala, in the raga Purya).

My Sankalpa: It is my wish to share this with the world at large and inspire everyone to make a trip to Ayodhya in their lifetime. It is also my Sankalpa to make such music videos on 6 other places Kashi, Kanchi, Mathura, Ujjain, Haridwar and Puri – which along with Ayodhya constitute the 7 moksha-puris. (That I had referred to in the 75 Ragamala, in the raga Purya).

*My initial idea was to produce a documentary film on the Footprints of Rama tracing his journey (Ramayana) through India using music and visuals from various parts of India. I had even written the outline of a script and a proposal. Perhaps it will happen at a later date.

About the Composer: Dr. Kanniks Kannikeswaran is an internationally renowned music composer, educator and scholar and an award winning filmmaker who is known for his sustained contribution to music and community for the past 25 years. His recent viral video, Rivers of India has received critical acclaim and has gone viral with words of praise from such luminaries as Anand Mahindra. Kanniks is regarded as a pioneer of Indian American Choral music; his far-reaching work in this area has touched the lives of over 3500 performers, inspired the flowering of community choirs in more than 12 U.S. cities, and built new audiences and collaborations. His flagship production ‘Shanti A Journey of Peace’ featuring a cast of 200+ is rooted in the Upanishadic vision of oneness and portrays 5000 years of Indian cultural history using choral music and multimedia.

Dr. Kanniks At Ayodhya

His research and his first-ever recording of the Indo Colonial Music of eighteenth-century composer Muthuswami Dikshitar in 2008 and his Documentary film ‘Colonial Interlude’ have received critical acclaim and awards in film festivals. Kanniks has collaborated with well-known ensembles and musician such as as Bombay Jayashri, Kaushiki Chakraborty, Ajay Chakraborty, Ranjani and Gayatri, Lakshmi Shankar, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and others. Kanniks is the recipient of several awards including the Ohio Heritage Fellowship and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Madras.

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 Śri Rāma – Vigrahavān Dharma

Celebrating Ayodhya – A Symbol of Sanātana Dharma

The Personal Connection

My parents named me Kalyanaraman, hoping and praying that some small fraction of Bhagavān Śri Rāma’s qualities and character may manifest in me. However, before I could fully understand the significance of that name, during my first visit to the USA, I changed it to better suit the Western tastes. Similar aspirations as my parents’ were perhaps held by those of notable individuals such as E. V. Ramasami Naickar, Ramachandra Guha, N. Ram, Jairam Ramesh, Sitaram Yechury, and Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, who may have also desired a glimpse of Rama in their sons. It is important to acknowledge that not all prayers are answered, and in hindsight, in some of these cases, the answer was a resounding “No.” Nevertheless, our history has also witnessed the presence of illustrious figures like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharishi, Ram Swaroop, Sitaram Goel, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and C.V. Raman, where the answer to their parents’ prayers was a “Yes”, even if it is a partial Yes.

The Clash of Two Ideas

In the present times, there exists a clash between India and Bharat, each representing two dominant and distinct ideas of India, being played out in the grand stage of India’s political battleground – its modern-day Kurukshetra. On the one hand, there is the idea that the entire civilizational heritage of India, encompassing its spirituality, religion, culture, and traditional wisdom, indeed its Sanātana Dharma (eternal law) is an unnecessary burden, irrelevant and detrimental to India’s progress. A natural corollary of this idea is the notion that India is better off forgetting its past, and must focus on modernizing and westernizing as quickly as possible. A consistent and deliberate effort, to engineer this “forgetting of the past”, has been made as a critical political project for many decades now; with the disconnection of the people from their language, Sanskrit, serving as one of the significant pillars. As individuals became increasingly alienated from their own culture and heritage, they developed an indifference, and even disdain, and grew to look down at their past, their parents, and ancestors. This disdain soon came to be considered a precondition for progress. This was the idea of India that I imbibed through my education at school and college, during my time as a student in India.

On the other side is the idea, which propounds that the country’s future cannot be de-linked from its civilizational past, and rely solely and entirely on imitating the latest Western fashions and fads. That its future must be rooted in a meaningful recovery of the wisdom embedded in its ancient culture, its traditions, and civilizational heritage. Recognizing and embracing that such a meaningful revival of India’s civilizational past—its “Dharma” or law which is “Sanātana” or eternal—as necessary for its own self-respect, sense of identity and destiny, is the alternate idea of Bharat. This perspective unfolded for me only gradually. The realization that this recovery of the past and restoration of Bharat’s Hindu heritage is not antithetical to its progress and does not constitute a regression, was not easy for me. I did not arrive at this understanding in one dramatic moment of explosive illumination, but rather the idea grew on me over time. Many Gurus and Acharyas contributed to this gradual understanding – Swami Dayananda Saraswati of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam being a central figure in that journey from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge. Just as the “forgetting” of India’s past was meticulously orchestrated, over many decades and perhaps even centuries, the “remembering” of India’s culture, wisdom, and civilizational heritage must also be consciously and diligently engineered. It cannot be left to the happenstance of accident, good fortune, or fate. And we all have a role to play here. To arrive at this understanding, I had to unlearn the previous idea of India that I had already deeply assimilated.

The Watershed Event and Pivotal Turning Point

In late 1992, I was a student at Ohio State University when the Babri Masjid was brought down. Like many poorly informed Hindus, I too was upset, and felt deeply disappointed with my fellow Hindus for having brought down the Babri Masjid. “It is not in our Hindu ethos or character to tear down a religious site of another religion, even if they had done it to us many times over”, I reasoned. I was filled with questions – “Why can’t we construct a Ram Mandir at a nearby site instead?” “Why do we have to claim that exact site for the Ram Mandir?” “Why do we need to stoke this controversy? Why can’t we be secular and work extra hard to get along with the Muslims?”

However, my perspective shifted after I came across the books Hindu Temples – What Happened to Them – Volume 1 and Volume 2. These books changed my thinking. I hold my encounter with these two “Rams” i.e., authors Śrī Sita Ram Goel, and his mentor Śrī Ram Swaroop, to be pivotal moments in my intellectual journey. I then went on to read another book by Śrī Sita Ram Goel titled How I Became a Hindu and one by Śrī Ram Swaroop titled On Hinduism – Reviews and Reflections. Until then, I had never heard about these two “Rams.” Their works left a profound impact on me and after this encounter, I couldn’t stop reading them. I highly recommend reading their books, and for those who have not read them, I have shared their links here. We must note with gratitude that the parents of both these authors had named them after the Bhagavān Śri Rāma.

The Symbiotic Juxtaposition

Vikās (development) and Virāsat (heritage) had always been pitched against one another in the old Idea of India. The current Prime Minister of India, Sri Narendra Modi, changed the rules of the game and showed us that Vikās (Development) does not have to be antithetical to Virāsat (Heritage). He taught us, and is still teaching, this invaluable and unforgettable lesson, through his ideas, his actions, and his accomplishments. It is unclear which of these he is more passionate about – Vikās or Virāsat. I must say here, that it was not entirely clear to me that this integration of Vikās and Virāsat was even possible. I often used to wonder, if a commitment to restore and recover our civilizational past, also invariably meant that we sacrifice a little in the realm of material progress i.e., in the general direction of modernization and westernization.

108 ft tall Statue of Oneness at Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh

Hi-Tech Vande Bharat Trains

However, the events that have unfolded in Bharat in the last ten years have shown otherwise. One day, Bharat inaugurates yet another of its latest Vande Bharat Railway Trains; and a few days later, it consecrates a newly created Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Corridor. One day, Bharat lands its Lunar mission Chandrayaan on the moon at a location where it has never been done before; a few days later, it inaugurates a newly refurbished Mahakaleshwar Temple Corridor. One day, Bharat celebrates completing nine billion Digital Payment transactions in one month; and a few days later it unveils a 108-foot Statue of Adi Shankaracharya at Omkareshwar. One day Bharat throws open its longest over-sea trans-harbor bridge from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai; and a few days later, the same Bharat is set to consecrate its Ram Lalla Mandir after a five-hundred-year wait in Ayodhya. We can go on with the examples. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is changing the grammar and structure of the democratic politics of India as we speak. He has moved it beyond family, caste, corruption, and appeasement, and created a new possibility – ‘Vikās with Virāsat’. He has overturned the Nehruvian idea that Vikās can come only at the expense of Virāsat and vice-versa. And the Nehruvians are in a state of shock now.

Chandrayaan III – The only Lunar Mission to land on the dark said of moon

Atal Setu – India’s Longest Sea Bridge

Ayodhya – A Testament

Ayodhya is a testament to this unique synthesis of Vikās and Virāsat. The whole city is re-emerging from a state of longstanding destruction, neglect, and abandonment. The Mandir is rising again, and is bringing in its wake a brand new airport, a new railway station, new trains, new facilities, and in time, new hotels, and other infrastructure will also emerge. The whole economy of the region is awaiting an impending transformation. When Rama returned to Ayodhya after his 14-year exile and numerous travails, the whole of Ayodhya lit up in joy. Now, when the Ram Lalla Mandir rises again in Ayodhya after its 500-year symbolic exile, Ayodhya will light up once more with unspeakable joy.

The proposed uplift of Ayodhya Railway Station underway

Interiors of the Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhya

A Civilization is waking up from its slumber. Dharma is awakening. This potential for rebirth, for re-emergence, is what makes it ‘Sanātana’ or eternal. Rāma is simultaneously eternal and undying in his Ādhyātmika dimension; He is the Avatāra of Viṣnu in his Ādidaivika dimension as a Vigrahavān Dharma; He is a great example for us all to emulate, as a human Hero in his Ādibhautika dimension. It is the Spirit of Sanātana Dharma that is re-emerging once more in Ayodhya.

We at Hindu University of America stand with Prime Minister Modi and the billion-plus Hindus all over the world, those who believe and stand ready to rejoice, and those who are confused and don’t know what to do about this phenomenon, to celebrate with gratitude this ceremony consecrating the Rām Lallā deity in this newly built Rām Mandir, on January 22, 2024.

May it be a day when we Hindus remember our past once more with both joy and pride and contemplate our future with confidence and clarity.

Jai Śrī Rāma!

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The Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT), which subsequently morphed into the Aryan Migration Theory (AMT) due to compelling evidence negating the invasion hypothesis has also run against factual headwinds (Danino 2016). These developments, however, have not prevented the misinterpretation and eventual misuse in political discourse of a convenient narrative for the supposedly marginalized groups to rise up, and reject the invaders and their ideologies in order to establish a secular society free from “Aryan influences.” This is also the prevailing leftist and Marxist-influenced academic view and it remains a dominant narrative in Indian schools even today: “As such, it has long been used to neatly divide India into dichotomous categories such as North and South Indians, Aryans and Dravidians, the fair-skinned and the dark-skinned, ‘high castes’ and ‘Dalits’, all of these binaries representing the classic division between the privileged and the oppressed.” (Chavda 2017).

However, evidence-based reinterpretations are increasingly providing an alternative and increasingly authentic version of Indian or Hindu history, and more importantly, a new narrative on South India or Tamil Nadu itself. There is a compelling body of archaeological, epigraphy, and literary evidence that instead suggests a concurrent, not separate, development of the South Indian/Tamil culture along with the original and indigenous Vedic culture. The notion of ‘Aryan vs. Dravidian’ is now becoming “speculative at best and resides in the domain of conjecture.” (TCP 2016).

Pioneering work by Dr. Ramachandran Nagaswamy, a historian, epigraphist who has specialized in deciphering and interpreting inscriptions in Tamil and Sanskrit from artifacts throughout Tamil Nadu, has helped amplify this relatively recent revision of history (TAA 2020). His lifelong work has led to the creation of verifiable data and supporting evidence that distills a realistic and credible version of history that questions and even negates the prevailing views about Tamil Nadu, its history, and its culture. This article attempts to provide a brief summary of Dr. Nagaswamy’s book (Nagaswamy 2016) based on published reviews as well as video materials available online (Nagaswamy 2020).

Dr. Nagaswamy’s book, Tamil Nadu, the Land of the Vedas, is a scholarly work presented in twenty chapters covering Vedic life, devotional, philosophical, and worldly literature, inscriptions, shastras, and records of kings and their administrations. It establishes that Tamil is one of the oldest classical and regional languages of India with a history that can be traced to the 2nd or 3rd century BCE. Subsequent to that period, Tamil has continued its development along dialectical and cultural lines.

Dr. Nagaswamy shows how the Vedas served as the principal basis for the administrations of the various rulers and kings in Tamil Nadu. Placing emphasis on native knowledge and daily life, the administrators blended both Tamil and Sanskritic values and traditions. This perspective, verifiable by available documents, challenges the prevailing myth that Tamil Nadu developed independently from the rest of India.

The book uses a wide variety of evidence such as written records from administrations under the Ceraņ, Cōḻaņ, Pallavā, and Pāṇḍya kings. The author establishes that these rulers traced their genealogies to well-known names in the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa. The Cerās considered themselves descendants of the Yādavas (to which Śrī Kṛṣṇa belongs), the Cholās descendants of Rāma, Pallavās descendants of Droṇa, and Pāṇḍyās descendants of Arjuna. This line of associations suggests linkages to the concurrent lives of the South Indian rulers to the Mahābhārata protagonists who were based in the northern part of the land.

Of particular importance is that Dr. Nagaswamy relies on records from the Sangam period, which is considered to be between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE. It has been named after the Sangam academies which flourished during that era under the royal patronage of the Pāṇḍya kings of Madurai. At these sangams, scholars gathered to discuss and debate literary works. Major contributions to Tamil literature from this period include Tolkāppiyam, Eṭṭuttokai, Pattuppāṭṭu, Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku, Cilappatiāram and Maṇimekalai (Dikshitar 1941).

Dr. Nagaswamy’s book further explains that the kings under the four dynasties mentioned above not only studied the Vedas and the Dharmaśātras but also performed sacrifices and rituals as prescribed in the Vedas (presumably the Yajur Veda) and made generous contributions for the upholding of Vedic and Dharmic values. Records contain references to specific yagnas such as Hiraṇya-garbha, Tulābhāra, Gosahasra, Bahusuvarṇa, Rājasūya, and Aśvamedha.

In addition, the society under the South Indian dynasties was organized according to the principles of Vedic dharma. The Brahmaṇas helped the kings in judicial and financial administrations. The Vanigas (Vaiśyas) oversaw trade, and the vellalas developed agriculture and were the principal government revenue administrators. Interestingly, the Brahmanas, Kṣatriyas, Vanigas, vellalas studied the Vedas and nearly 80% of the population studied the functional/practical aspects of the Vedas. In other words, South Indian people lived a life based on Vedic frameworks. The Patiṟṟuppattu poems point out that the ancient Tamil kings studied Vedas, Vedāṅga, and performed daily Vedic rites mentioned as Pañcamahāyagña in Vedic tradition. Avvaiyār, the greatest poet of the Sangam age, praises the three crowned Tamil kings for performing Vedic sacrifices. In birth, marriage, and death rites, the ancient Tamils followed Vedic injunctions. The kings appointed Vedic scholars as their chief ministers and presented them with lands called “Brahmadeyas.” Trade, both internal and international, was conducted by the Vanigas and there are several references in the records from the kingdoms about transactions with the Romans. The Cholās recognized that the country was mainly based on a rural economy and therefore entrusted the revenue administration of the village to the Muvendavelars—the officers who belonged to the agrarian family of the Vellalas. The Cholā kings established several Nallur as exclusive cultivators’ villages in addition to Brahmadeyas of Vedic Brāhmaṇas. It is also seen that it was the duty of the Brāhmaṇas to interpret the law for the benefit of the villagers (Nagaswamy 2016, 2020).

According to a book review published in The Hindu newspaper, “[w]ars in ancient Tamil country were fought according to tenets of the Dharma Śāstra, where battles with armies happened only as a last resort when individual combat failed. Moving to bhakti literature, the chapters look in detail as to how the inner message of the Shaivite and Vaishnavaite hymns is consonant with the message of the Upanishads that self-realization in thought and deed is the ultimate form of reaching freedom from this endless cycle of births and deaths” (Hindu 2017).

From a performing arts perspective, Tamil literature includes music and dance traditions that are based on Bharata’s Nāṭya Śāstra. It is also suggested that the Tamil grammar work Tolkāppiyam is a derivative of Nāṭya Śāstra. One of the most important of all Tamil works, the Tirukkuṟaḷ composed by Thiruvalluvar, has been assigned to the 1st century BCE period. This pioneering work is virtually a reflection of Dharmaśāstras. In a separate book (Nagaswamy 2017), Dr. Nagaswamy demonstrates that Thirukkural is derived from the Hindu Vedic tradition: the former imitates the latter’s śāstras as well as its fundamental outlook of Dharmic life including artha, kāma, dharma, and mokṣaa. Thiruvalluvar also talks about the pañcamahāyajña—the five daily offerings every human must make—that are also mentioned in the Dharmaśāstras. Reverence to ancestors through worship was also very popular and the various rituals and practices were performed according to Vedic principles.

In a separate and concurrent work by David Shulman (Shulman 2016), the Tamil language and the associated culture has been found to have had deep roots in south India and certainly the case before the AIT narratives were proposed. Recounting a story about the great sage Agastyar, who is the author of the first formal text on Tamil grammar, Agattiyam, that served the early poets in the Sangam period, Śiva himself endowed Agastyar with knowledge of Tamil grammar before he was sent southward to balance the earth.

Dr. Nagaswamy’s extensive findings fundamentally challenge the prevailing but increasingly questionable framework that asserts the development of an independent non-Bhāratīya Dravidian culture in Tamil Nadu. Dr. Nagaswamy has presented compelling evidence based on the epigraphical wealth of Tamil Nadu to show that the region has always been the Land of the Vedas. With this type of deep research and re-interpretation possible today, it is high time Hindu historical research evolves to re-interpret our collective history first and then re-educate the world based on evidence.

This article is an adaptation of a term paper submitted for the course “Reconstructing Hindu History: The Omissions,” taught by Dr. Raj Vedam.

References

Chavda, Abhijit., The Aryan Invasion Myth: How 21st Century Science Debunks 19th Century Indology. https://indianinterest.com/history/the-aryan-invasion-myth-how-21st-century-science-debunks-19th-century-indology/debunks-19th-century-indology/. Accessed May 2017.

Danino, M., Aryans and the Indus Civilization. In A Companion to South Asia in the Past (eds G.R. Schug and S.R. Walimbe). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119055280.ch13. 2016

Dikshitar, V. R. Ramachandra, and V. R. Ramchandra Dikshitar. “THE SANGAM AGE.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 5 (1941): 152–61. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44304708.

Nagaswamy, R., Tamil Nadu the Land of Vedas. Chennai: Tamil Arts Academy, 2016.

Nagaswamy, R., Tirukkural, An Abridgement of Sastras. Chennai: Tamil Arts Academy and Giri Trading Agency, 2017.

Nagaswamy, R., Tamil Nadu and the Vedas (By Padma Bhushan Dr. R. Nagaswami). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e49F52JOdwY. Accessed June 2020.

Shulman, David., Tamil. Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674974678

Tamil Arts Academy (TAA). https://tamilartsacademy.com/aboutrn.html. Accessed January 2020.

Tamizh Cultural Portal (TCP). Tolkappiyar, Ilango, and Bharata. https://tamizhportal.org/2016/03/tolkappiyar-ilango-and-bharata-part-1-sivam-illaiyendral-sakthi-illai-sakthi-illaiyendral-sivam-illai/. Accessed March 2016.

The Hindu, Vedic route to the past. https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/Vedic-route-to-the-past/article14397341.ece1. fridayreview/Vedic-route-to-the-past/article14397341.ece1. May 2017.

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Para and Apara are two terms that we often come across while reading or learning things related to Indian philosophy. Para is said to be Brahman, the Absolute Truth or Reality. Even though Para is said to be the Ultimate Truth and Hinduism is about reaching It, why does almost everything related to Hinduism, such as Itihasas, Puranas, etc., fall under apara? Also, when a beginner student tries to understand these two concepts, the first resort they take would be to search the term and read a few articles online. How much justice would the English translation of the word ‘Para’ as transcendental, beyond this world, otherworldly, supernatural, etc., do to the actual sense in which it is conceived in the Indian context? How much would a student miss out on the essence of what the words really try to convey to the seeker? There is another striking question, if Para is permanent and Apara is something that is impermanent, then, as students of Hindu Studies, why do we need to give equal importance to both Para and Apara? Can’t we just negate everything that is Apara for its transient nature and channel all our attention towards Para?

When the West interacts with the Hindu traditions and translates Hindu texts into English, the issue of cultural difference is bound to emerge. The problem of translation cannot be properly understood without knowing how cultures differ. When someone from an entirely different culture, traditions, and religious background tries to explain the concepts of Hinduism, they would assess them in comparison to their own religion. For example, the concept of God in Christianity is entirely different from the Hindu God. The Christian God is a single entity, the one and only Creator, who is present in an entirely different world. You will have to die and cross this realm in order to reach Him. However, for the Hindus, their God is all-pervading and omnipresent, whom they can unite with through self-realization.

When we interpret ‘Para’ as transcendental, the whole paradigm shifts to explain Para or Brahman as belonging to a different world or being supernatural. Apara on the other hand is conceived by us as all things of this world. This separation between the worlds creates confusion and a significant amount of knowledge with regard to the Hindu concept of God gets eliminated in the process. When in reality, Hinduism considers Para as the subtle entity from which everything has originated and to which everything would merge back.

Now, the next question in line is why do we give the same significance to Para and Apara, if Para is the supreme Reality and Apara is the material things that we encounter with in our lives. Hindu shastras say that the road to Para is through the Apara. In order to attain Para, one must pass through the paths that are entangled with the Apara entities and the experience we gain from those interactions. This can be explained through the argument of Sri Balagangadhara. In the verse:

“Asato ma sat gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrutyor ma amrutam gamaya,”
ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय । तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय । मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

(Brhadaranyaka Upanishad — I.iii.28)

We pray to the Lord to take us through the unreal to real, through the darkness to light, and through death to immortality. This shows that we need to pass through one thing, which might be undesirable to reach something worthy: we need to endure worldly life to attain liberation. In other words, Apara entities are the doors through which one needs to traverse in order to reach the Para entity or Brahman. Also, this verse is often translated by using “from” instead of “through” (such as ‘from’ darkness to light, ‘from’ immortality to death). Sri Balagangadhara argues that even though both usages are grammatically correct, our constant tendency to use “from” over “through” subtly reveals our inclination to identify “Para” with transcendental.1 We cannot simply pray to take us from one phase to another without facing up the materialistic elements of that particular phase.

1 Balagangadhara, S.N. “What do Indians Need, A History or the Past? A challenge or two to Indian historians” at the ICHR VII Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Memorial Lecture, 2014.

It is important to note that these confusions are not the products of mere translation issues. Even if one succeeds in translating specific words accurately, certain structures remain at the conceptual level. It is crucial that seekers in the Hindu tradition are aware of the possibilities and consequences of incorrect translations and interpretations that have and are bound to come up with the use of non-Hindu cosmologies. These issues have gained momentum, and students of Hindu Studies should be on the lookout. When we come across such a situation, it is important that we tackle the situation with a calm and clear mind, rather than becoming provoked and aggressive. This is because the task itself, an Apara card dealt for consideration, is a puzzle of our own lives to gain knowledge. In fact, one could be even thankful to our intellectual ‘opponents’ for giving us worthy puzzles to solve.

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This essay will cover the army composition, its organizational structure, troops distribution, war strategy, and weaponry.

Warfare in Ancient Bharat: Part 2 of 2

Army Composition

The army was considered one of the seven key elements of a state. According to Sukra Niti, what a mind is to man, an army is to a state. So, without an army, a state comes to a standstill. It also states, “There is neither kingdom, nor wealth, nor prowess. The treasury is the root of the army, and the army is the root of the treasury. It is by maintaining the army that the treasury and the kingdom prosper, and the enemy is destroyed.”

The ancient Hindu armies had a four-fold division called ‘caturanga-bala’ consisting of chariots, elephants, cavalry, and infantry in this order of prominence.

Chariots:

They were considered the most important in warfare. Sukra had mentioned of the iron chariot which consisted of swift-moving wheels, with good seats for the warriors and a seat in the middle for the charioteer and it was equipped with different offensive and defensive weapons. The Mahabharata had an elaborate mention of chariots.

Elephants:

Elephants are considered the next important force in the army. Greek ambassador Megasthenes explains how the elephants were hunted and tamed in Bharat. Some of the prominent works that deal with elephants are the Hastyayurveda of Palapakya and the Matangalila of Narayana. Roman historian Curtius Rufus mentions that the elephants created great terror and their trumpets frightened the Greek horses and their riders. They caused much disorder in the ranks, and veterans of many victories looked for shelter.

He also says that the most dismal sight was elephants gripping the Greek soldiers with their trunks, hoisting them above their heads, and delivering them to their soldiers to be beheaded. Similarly, Diodorus and Plutarch mentioned elephant warfare and their strength in the war between Alexander and Purushottam (Porus). According to Dhanurveda, the military training of elephants consists of mountaineering, moving through the water, running, jumping, rising, sitting, etc. The elephants should be made devoid of fear by putting them inside fire circles.

Cavalry:

The cavalrymen rode the horses with a whip that was fixed to the wrist unlike for the horses of a chariot. The cavalrymen were armed with bows and arrows or a spear or a sword. The cavalry had a wide range of tactical advantages. It was indispensable in situations requiring quickness of movement. Eminent works that deal with Horses and cavalry are Asva Sastra of Hemasuri and Asvacikitsa of Nakula.

Infantry:

According to the Agni Purana, victory attends to those armies where foot soldiers i.e., the infantry are numerically strong. The Sukraniti mentions foot soldiers possess firearms during combat. Dhanurveda mentions that the soldiers in an infantry should be of equal height and everyone in the infantry should be an expert in jumping and running. Moreover, they should be trained to move backward, stand still, run, and run apace rushing headlong into the hostile army, and move in different directions according to signals. According to Arrian, “They carry a bow made of equal length with the man who bears it.

This they rest upon the ground and pressing against it with their left foot, thus discharge the arrow having drawn the string backward: the shaft they use is little short of being three yards long, and there is nothing which can resist an Indian archer’s shot – neither shield nor breastplate nor any stronger defense if such there be”. Arrian also says, “All Indians are free. The Indian army was in constant pay, during war and peace. Arms and horses supplied by the state and army never ravaged the country. The bravery of the army is superior to any other army they had to contend with.”

Besides the four-fold classification of the army, Artha Sastra mentions a six-fold division. According to this division, the army consisted of six ‘limbs’ which are:

• Maula (hereditary troops)
• Bhrita (territorial army)
• Sreni (organized militias)
• Mitra (friendly troops)
• Amrita (alien forces)
• Atavi (jungle tribal forces)

Army Organizational Structure

According to Artha Sastra, Army’s organizational structure is as follows:

• Patika – Commander of ten units of the army.
• Senapati – Commander of 10 Patikas.
• Nayaka – Commander of 10 Senapatis.

Troop Distribution

Scriptures, such as The Mahabharata, mention the distribution of troops into nine different units namely: Patti, Senamukha, Gulma, Gana, Vahini, Pruthana, Chamu, Anikini, Akshauhini. Each unit consists of chariots, elephants, horses, and foot soldiers in the ratio of 1:1:3:5. The following table explains the composition of each unit taken from The Mahabharata, Aadi Parva (Adhyayam 2, verses 19-26).

War strategy

There are several different types of military formations mentioned in Hindu scriptures. Some of these formations are: Padma Vyuha, Chakra Vyuha, Ratha Vyuha, Sarpa Vyuha, Garuda Vyuha, Simha Vyuha, Agni Vyuha, Danda Vyuha, Matsya Vyuha, Makara Vyuha, Sucimukha Vyuha, Sakata Vyuha, Vajra Vyuha etc. The type of vyuha (array) used shall depend on the type of anticipated attack.

Weaponry

According to Dhanurveda, weapons fall into four categories based on their nature:

• Mukta – which are thrown
• Amukta – which are not thrown
• Muktamukta – which are thrown or not thrown
• Yantramukta – which are thrown by spells

Twelve weapons fall under the Mukta category: Dhanu (Bow), Arrow, Bindivala (Crooked club), Sakti (Spear), Drughana (Hatchet), Tomara (Tomahawk), Nalika (Musket), Laguda (Club), Pasa (Lasso), Cakra (Discus), Danta kantaka (Tooth-thorn), Musundi (Octagon-headed club)

The Amukta class consists of the following twenty weapons: Vajra (Thunderbolt), Hand sword, Parasu (Axe), Gosirsa (Cow-horn spear), Asidheny (Stiletto), Lavitra (Scythe), Astara (Bumarang), Kunta (Lance), Sthuna (Anvil), Prasa (Spear), Pinaka or Trisula (Trident), Gada (Club), Mudgara (Hammer), Sira (Ploughshare), Musala (Pestle), Pattisa (Battle-axe), Maustika (Fist-sword, Dagger), Parigha (Battering-ram), Mayukhi (Pole), Satagni (Hundred-killer)

The Muktamukta class weapons were further classified into two classes, namely Sopasamhara (connected with the withdrawing or restraining Upasamhara) and the Upasamhara themselves which are the restrainers of the previous class. There are forty-four varieties in the Sopasamhara class and fifty-four varieties in Upasamhara class.

There are only six weapons in the Yantramukta class, and nothing can defeat these six weapons.

1. Visnuchakra (Discus of Vishnu)
2. Vajrastra (Thunderbolt)
3. Brahmastra (Brahma’s Missile)
4. Kalapasaka (Noose of death)
5. Narayanastra (Missile of Narayana)
6. Pasupatastra (Missile of Pasupati)

Unlike Dhanurveda, the Agnipurana classified weapons into five categories. 1. Yantramukta, those thrown by a machine, 2. Panimukta, those thrown by the hand, 3. Mukta-sandharita, those thrown and drawn back, 4. Amukta, those which ate not thrown, and 5. Bahuyuddha, weapons that the body provides for personal struggle. Gustav Oppert in his monologue, ‘On the weapons, army organization and political maxims of the ancient Hindus’, mentions that there are other classifications besides the previously mentioned.

Likewise, various treatises consist of different opinions regarding the superiority of one weapon over the other. For example, Vaisampayana in his Niti Prakasika had high regard for the sword whereas according to Agnipurana, it was considered a subaltern weapon where battles fought with bows are considered noble followed by fighting with spears, swords, and wrestling is considered the worst form of fighting. He also says that the efficiency of the weapons varies and is subject to great changes. Because of the construction mode, the materials used to make a weapon are different, and the quality of a weapon is not the same in different ages and places.

Besides, increasing, decreasing, and preserving the efficiency of a weapon depends a lot on the strength and ability of a person who uses such arms. One notable mention is that according to Gustav, gunpowder can be attributed to Niti Prakasika and Sukraniti. He also mentions that the gunpowder equivalent in Sanskrit is ‘agnicurna’ also called ‘curna’.

Conclusion

Hindu civilization had a rich knowledge of warfare, weapons, military strategies, and martial arts. This made the Hindu kings resist armed Islamic and Portuguese invasions in its history for the longest time which was nowhere to be seen across other civilizations in the world. Despite the mention of gunpowder in Hindu scriptures, and the training of elephants with fire circles to make them devoid of fear, we don’t witness any usage of fire weapons in Bharat’s armed struggle concerning Islamic invasions.

Moreover, Muslim historians recorded instances where naphtha balls were thrown against the rushing elephants and frighten them in wars between Rajputs and Turkish invaders from the North-West (Elliot and Dowson, vol. I). In any case, this rich knowledge combined with our ancestors rooted in Dharmic values led to the failure of total Islamization and the Christianization of Bharat.

References and Works Consulted

Chakravarti, P.C., The Art of War in Ancient India (General Printers & Publishers, 1941), University of Dacca. Accessed at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.282006

Hema Hari, D.K. and Hari, D.K., Autobiography of India: Breaking the Myths – About Identity (Sri Sri Publications Trust, 2018), accessed at https://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-India-Identity-Breaking-Myths-Vol1-About-ebook/dp/B07C15GJMG

John C. Rolfe, Litt. D., Curtius Rufus, Quintus [History of Alexander], (Harvard University Press, 1946), University of Pennsylvania. Accessed at https://archive.org/details/quintuscurtius0002unse/page/n7/mode/2up

McCrindle J.W., Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian, (Thacker, Spink & Co., 1877). Accessed at https://archive.org/details/ancientindiaasd01mccrgoog/page/n6/mode/2up

Mookerji, Radha Kumud, Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, University of Madras, 1943. Accessed at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.281321.

Oppert Gustav, NitiPrakasika, (Higginbotham And Co, 1882). Accessed at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.217444

Oppert Gustav, On the weapons, army organization, and political maxims of the Ancient Hindus, (New Order Book Co, 1967). Accessed at https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.46936

Rangarajan, L.N., Kautilya, The Arthashastra (Penguin Books, 1992). Accessed at https://archive.org/details/kautaliya-arthshashtra-ancient-India/mode/2up

Ramachandra Dikshitar, V.R., War in Ancient India (Macmillan & Co., 1944), University of Madras. Accessed at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.503472

Ray, Purnima, Vasişţa’s Dhanurveda Samhitā (J.P. Publishing House, 2003). Accessed at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.382701

Thippabhatla RamaKrishnaMurthy, Suram Srinivasulu., Shrimahabharatam aadiparvamu-sabhaparvamu-part-1 (Gita Press, Gorakhpur, 2018) Accessed at https://www.gitapress.org/bookdetail/shrimahabharatamu-aadiparvamu-sabhaparvamu-part-1-telugu-2141

Vittal, Vinay, “Kautilya’s Arthasastra: A timeless Grand strategy” (Graduate Thesis, Maxwell Air Force Base, AL. 2011). Accessed at https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1019423.pdf

Ancient Indian Warfare, accessed at https://www.worldhistory.org/Indian_Warfare/

Dhanurveda – Works on ancient Indian artilleries. Accessed at http://mahabharata-research.com/onewebmedia/chapter%203.pdf

Hindu Online, accessed at http://hinduonline.co/scriptures/dhanurveda/dhanurveda.html

Mahabharatam, in Telugu (Gita Press, Gorakhpur, 2016). First edition.

Surya’s Tapestry, accessed at https://www.hinduwisdom.info/War_in_Ancient_India.htm

We acknowledge the editorial assistance provided by Dr. Kalyani Samantray, Sri Sri University, Odisha, India.

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There is no single solution to the challenge of cultivating better narratives, methods, and paradigms to  improve and expand the understanding of Hinduism and Hindus.

“Do you speak Hindu?” 
“Are you Shia or Sunni Hindu?” 
“What caste are you?” 

These questions, unintentionally frustrating as they might be, are a feature of being Hindu in America. They are also the reason why my answer to the importance for Hindu Studies in academic environments is an emphatic yes.

In spite of being practitioners of the third largest religion and one of the oldest surviving family of philosophies and traditions, a survey by Pew Research Institute found that Americans as a whole know little about Hinduism, and those who know something or think they know something, have ambivalent impressions of Hindu Americans. At the same time, the popularity of Hindu practices like yoga and ayurveda continue to skyrocket, but are intentionally delinked from Hinduism. And scientific inquiry in quantum physics or cognitive psychology are increasingly converging with Vedantic understandings of reality and Consciousness, yet acknowledgement of Hinduism is all too often missing.

There are some 3.5 million Hindus living in America, several million across other diasporas, and over a billion  in the Indian subcontinent. We live in diverse and pluralistic societies across the globe. The world is  becoming smaller as a result of mass communication and globalization. Considering all of these realities, it becomes imperative that who we are as a people and how we engage with the world is understood. 

One way to do that is through the academic study of Hinduism. Unfortunately, the current state of Hindu  studies, built as it is on the foundation of Christian frameworks about religion and history, rather than provide accurate and nuanced understandings of Hindu history, teachings, and traditions, perpetuate outright  fallacies and harmful stereotypes. 

There is no single solution to the challenge of cultivating better narratives, methods, and paradigms to  improve and expand the understanding of Hinduism and Hindus. But here are a few that I believe are  feasible: 

1. Support through academic grants scholars committed to the study of Hinduism as a lived tradition who:

• highlight emic understandings; 
• explore lesser known aspects of Hindu history, philosophy or traditions; 
• expose biases in dominant paradigms and methods;
• develop new paradigms and methods to study Hinduism; or
• engage in the comparative study of religion. Given that we do not want, appreciate, nor find constructive oversimplifications or broad brushstrokes about the Hindu traditions, Hindus must gain more nuanced understandings of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc. which can pave way  for deeper understandings of Hinduism through thoughtful comparative studies.

2. Call out bias and advocate for higher standards in the various academies engaged in the study of religion, history, etc. For example, see my call to the American Academy of Religions to adopt a code of academic integrity: Academic Integrity: It’s What’s Missing at the AAR

3. Build bridges between academics, activists, and communities with other previously colonized civilizations or countries working through their own decolonizing processes to exchange ideas, share best practices, do comparative work, and cooperate constructively.

4. Encourage more second and third generation Hindu Americans to pursue the academic study of not only religion, but history and other humanities and social sciences. This cannot be done in a vacuum. It will require investment in our own svadhyaya, sadhana, and positive identity building as contributing members of our respective families, communities, and sanghas, sampradayas, or mathas.

5. Encourage more second and third generation Hindu Americans to pursue the academic study of not only religion, but history and other humanities and social sciences. This cannot be done in a vacuum. It will require investment in our own svadhyaya, sadhana, and positive identity building as  contributing members of our respective families, communities, and sanghas, sampradayas, or  mathas.

References

1.    “What Americans Know About Religion.” Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (July 23, 2019)
2.    Shukla, Suhag A. Web log. Academic Integrity: It’s What’s Missing at the AAR (blog).

This blog is an adaptation of a term paper submitted for the Fall 2020 quarter of  Orientation to Hindu Studies (HSF 5000)

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WHOSE COMMON ERA?

Students are taught a one-sided history, no matter the school or state. 

Millennia of history, written by winners of wars and purveyors of ethnocide, is unravelling. Disrespect and erasure of non-European civilizations has been etched into the fabric of the English-speaking world at all levels, especially in the public education system. In elementary school, the history of this settler colonial state starts with Christopher Columbus sailing West across the Atlantic Ocean in three tiny ships to trade with Indians. No discussion of the fact that India was prosperous [1] and complex with a Vedic literature [2] that plausibly seeded Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Democritus. Instead, there is a mention that India had nice spices.

We get pablum on how the Christian/Catholic Capitalist Settler Colonizers used brutal violence to expand their Dominion in their New World, while the Native American Indian was nearly eradicated. Instead of 500 years of attempted genocide against the Indigenous people of this land, children are taught that Indians helped the Pilgrims at Thanksgiving. We are going from Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 to Columbus sold 9-year-old girls into slavery, to be raped. It is written in the words of his men [3] and his own words [4]. I will not hold back my words.

Starting with the word “Indian” itself, Europeans mislabeled a diversity of cultures and civilizations, which has stuck. The ancient people of the Americas were diverse and complicated, but nearly wiped out and replaced. The mislabeling of an oppressed people by the oppressor in the oppressor’s language, is part of the conceptual framing of colonization and ethnocide. Fundamentals of the way society is organized in the English-speaking world, are about to change.

The resurgence and rejuvenation of indigenous human civilizations shall be crucial to transcending the European colonizer’s Christian narrative that used Manifest Destiny to conquer, destroy, and create the modern world. The strategic pre-meditated systematic assimilation and then destruction of numerous indigenous civilizations needs to be recognized and reconciled if this truly shall be humanity’s common era.

Mahmud of Ghazni [4] is very much like Christopher Columbus in that he documented his ruthless barbarity in his own words, in his own journals, and in the letters shared with his people. Plenty of Muslim mosques are known to have been built using materials from razed Hindu mandirs to express social order and religious hierarchy under Islam. We were never even given a hint at the numbers of Hindus who were erased — murdered, captured, enslaved, raped and/or forced to convert — to create the Mughal Empire and then the British Raj. In that same way, winners of wars project a heroic accounting of history to justify the spoils of their barbarity.

There was no lesson on the rapacity of the East India Company [5] and how $45 trillion in wealth was extracted from India through a sophisticated colonization plan [6]. The colonial roots go deep in America’s education system and it is no accident that winners write the history and then project their narrative. In high school, the first Advanced Placement class many students take is European History. For teenagers in America, it is the one-sided history, the accumulating micro-aggressions in popular culture, and the continued bullying of Hindu youth to this day [7], that illustrates the fact that we are only scratching the surface of Hindudvesha [8].

The Mughal Empire was a unique civilization where a minority of Muslims dominated the more numerous Hindu, Jain, Buddhist plurality, and under which Sikhism grew along with a sophisticated government that codified apartheid. Europeans learned Sanskrit to interpret Hindu texts, especially the Vedas [9] and then proceeded to tell Hindus what their ancient texts really mean while laying the groundwork for conversion to Christianity – the ultimate gaslighting. Both Muslims and Christians co-opted key parts of Hindu culture to facilitate their control of the land, resources, and people.

William Jones “discovered” Hinduism, James Mill denounced it, Thomas Macaulay disrupted it, Max Mueller digested it, and Jawaharlal Nehru regurgitated the colonizer’s narrative about Sanatana Dharma. At the crux of the battle for history is the specious speculation of European Christians like Max Mueller and Mortimer Wheeler that Vedic civilization was seeded by Aryan invasions [10], later changed to migrations [11]. The Aryan empire, especially the hypothesized Aryan invasion seeding Vedic culture around 1,500 years Before Christ (fitting the literal Biblical timeline) has been thoroughly refuted [12][13].

Across multiple disciplines such as archeology [14], linguistics [15], astro-archeology [16][17], genetics [18][19], and through common sense, the evidence shows there was no Aryan invasion or large-scale migration bringing Vedic civilization to India. Yet, academics and some European Indologists still believe, regurgitate, and defend weak positions, while avoiding debate. The alternative is the more coherent and parsimonious explanation that Vedic civilization grew out of India [20].

As we discover more ancient archeological sites [21] we get a fuller version of history that shows that the Indus River Valley Civilization was flourishing millennia before a fictional Aryan people migrated. Harappa was robust with representation of Vedic knowledge systems in the form of altars, rituals, idols, figurines, and urban planning 5,000 years ago [22].

Because generations of people have been indoctrinated in the Eurocentric global education system with a whitewashed history, the critical period of 1453 to 1492 needs attention as a fulcrum of civilizational battle between the Abrahamic peoples. We are on the verge of the refutation of the Eurocentric global economy dependent on violence and exploitation since Inter Caetera in 1493 and the other Papal Bulls of the 1400s.

The crescendo of Muslim jihad forced the Catholic Church to reformulate their crusade in 1453 when Constantinople was claimed as Istanbul by Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire. On one side of the world, the Roman empire evolved and spawned the English-speaking United Kingdom, which created and distributed the self-reproducing colonial project across the planet in competition with the equally rapacious Spanish, Portuguese, and French colonial projects, all supported by an unbroken line of Catholic Popes.

Colliding into it, was the Muslim world which assimilated [23] and then tried to erase thousands of years of Hindu contributions, expanded the scope of slavery in Africa [24], and stretched from the Great Wall of China to the Steppes of Europe. There is a pervasive oppressive denigration of all things indigenous, and with the conflation of the Hindu and Indian identities, the complicated genocidal-existential tension that exists across civilizations continues through modern day geo-politics.

Our global economy has evolved from blatant slavery, mass murder, dispossession of land, and genocide through “civilizing colonization” to a complicated geo-political framework where independent and semi-dependent nation states and non-state actors with layers of religious, economic, geographic, genetic, cultural, political, and historical identities are constantly triangulating against each other and for their people.

The systematic effort to marginalize, disrespect, and trivialize Hinduism has been an ongoing project of Europe for nearly three centuries. Most Americans are not aware of this, and some subconsciously buy into simplified false narratives that depict Hindus as tribal, superstitious, hierarchical, oppressive, violent, and dangerous. The British creation and enumeration of caste [25] still shapes public consciousness, while stereotypes and generalizations supported by anecdotes regurgitated by a biased media are held up by a colonial academic framework and continue to poison public discourse.

Hindus throughout the common era have been a huge, fractious, and diverse population. Divide and conquer was used expertly by claiming Varna as a system of hierarchy and oppression where the Brahmins ruled, dominated, and oppressed the others. Do public intellectuals, teachers, and spiritual leaders oppress wide swaths of society today? Could that even be possible?

It is the epitome of hypocritical anti-intellectualism to claim that educators and curators of knowledge, wisdom, and indigenous culture were the ones oppressing laborers, exploiting merchants, and manipulating soldier/administrators to subjugate society. The insidious genius of English colonization was to undermine, destroy, and denigrate all forms of Hindu knowledge systems, language, and culture to the point that a section of Indians, including a former Prime Minister, participate in and support the devaluation of Hindu knowledge, tradition, culture, and contributions.

History from different perspectives presents different theories, facts, experiences, biases, and even timelines. There are forces on all sides that would use religion, violence, economics, and knowledge systems as tools for power and control. Throughout ancient history with modern warfare no outlier, lies and manipulation buttressed by ideologues have led to hundreds of millions of unnecessary human deaths and the destruction of cities. Instead of the cycle of violence, let us elevate Vedic thought and dharmic principles towards enlightenment for those who seek it, while moving all of us towards peace, comfort, opportunity, and a new common era founded on the unflinching truth.

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