- Nandita
In the ancient days when Bramhadatta was the king of Varanasi Bodhisattva was a merchant there in Varanasi . Naturally he had to go out of Varanasi frequently for business purpose.
Once Bodhisattva set out for a business trip. On his way, he had to pass through a vast desert. It was 2400 KM long. The sand of the desert was so fine that one could hardly hold it in one's fist. The fine sand slipped through the narrow space in between the fingers. The fine sand got awfully hot during the day time. None could dare to walk through the desert during the day time. They travelled during the night only. So did Bodhisattva. He along with his horde travelled through this horrible desert during the night. They took rest in the day time. They carried food, fire woods water and all the necessary items of daily use with them as nothing was available there in that fierce desert.
During day time they used to let loose their oxen. And they kept their carts in a circle so that they could fix up their tent at the middle of the circle. Having their lunch they took rest through out the day. With the setting sun when the surroundings got cool they resumed their journey once again.
The way a navigator navigates the ship with the help of the pole star to the right direction, the merchants in order to make their journey safe and secure in that fierce desert took the support of the navigators to navigate them to their destination with the help of the stars. So Bodhisattva also had appointed a pilot in his group and the pilot could guide the horde quite efficiently through that fierce desert. And thus Bodhisattva and his horde was about to cross the desert quite safely. It was only one day left to cross the desert for them. And Bodhisattva asked his people to throw the excess fire woods, water and other useless materials just to reduce the weight of the carts. And thus they set out in the evening towards their destination. As usual the pilot was there in the front cart as he was supposed to monitor the hordes. But as ill luck would have it the pilot himself who had been very tired for his continuous journey fell asleep so sound that the carts started running at the opposite direction. The carts ran at a wrong direction through out the night. And when the pilot woke up he shrieked "stop, stop you have to go in the opposite direction" but it was all in vain because the sun was about to rise. And to their utter dismay they saw that they had come back to the same place from where they had started in the previous night. And now they neither had water nor the fire woods. They lost their hearts. They got upset. Being terribly depressed they all lay under the carts. They all thought that there was no other way out but to starve and die. How could the hungry oxen pull the carts? So this desert would be their graveyard.
When all the people in the horde got depressed Bodhisattva alone thought that he must took the initiative to save his people. It was early in the morning. So it was not very hot. Bodhisattva started surveying the area, around to find out the water. And in one place he saw a bunch of grass. He immediately deciphered that there must be water underneath those grass. He asked his people to dig at the place. His people got back their spirit and started digging. But sorry not a single drop of water was found even after they had finished digging almost 60ft. Rather they found that there was a big stone under it. With them it was next to impossible to break that big stone So they all threw their spades and shovels and they became doubly depressed. They were quite sure of their death now. But Bodhisattva did not lose heart for a single time. He got down in the ditch and kept his ears on the stone and he heard the sound of waters. Immediately he came up and told his servant who was a mere young boy, "if you lose your confidence we all will die, you are the only hope left for me." Saying these words he handed over a big hammer to the boy and asked him to hit the stone bravely. The boy servant obeyed his master and hit the stone hard with that hammer and hurrah! the stone got broken at once and water sprang out. Everybody was happy. They took bath. They drank. The oxen were given water. They all were saved from the sure death.
Now let us record some of the situations of this story which are, in fact, the turning points of the story.
S1: The pilot slept.
S2: The people were hopeless.
S3: Bodhisattva found the bunch of grass in the desert.
S4: The young boy hit the stone hard.
At one level, a leader is one who initiates.
Bodhisattva was the leader of the team. Because it was he who initiated the team for the purpose of business.
A leader is always committed to his group.
Bodhisattva alone tried to find out the way without expecting any kind of help or so from anyone from the group only because he was committed to the horde
But there was one more leader in the group. He is none other than the pilot. He was supposed to lead the team in the fierce desert. But he could not live up to his commitment. He proved himself very irresponsible.
Handling the situations prove the ability of a leader.
The handling of the situations of Bodhisattva shows that he is a leader per excellence. A leader never loses heart. Bodhisattva was all along cool—tranquil. Even when he found himself in sheer danger with his horde for no fault of his, he maintained his cool. It was because of that pilot that they were put into the crisis but Bodhisattva neither shouted at the pilot nor he blamed him. He rather read the situation with all his cool. And to be cool is one of the very important characteristics of a leader. And that is why he could over come his crisis and his horde was saved.
A leader understands whom to assign what. Bodhisattva handed over the hammer to the boy servant and he proved that Bodhisattva was right.
A leader never loses heart. He can see the silver lines always behind darkness.
When everybody lost his confidence, When all of them lay under the cart hopelessly, Bodhisattva alone was not depressed. Even in the last moment he faced the most difficult situation of breaking a big stone with a minor boy. Because a good leader is he who can explore the hidden potentials of his cadre. He motivates as well as inspires.
Monday 26 January 2009
God's Representative
- Pritha
Your hand's helped me gently from the day I took my first breath.
Your hand's helped to guide me as I took my first step.
You were the person who hushed me in your arms to rest;
When pain and sickness made me cry.
You were the one who dressed my dolls in clothes so colourful,
And fondly taught me how to play.
Your hands were always there when I used to hurt myself.
Your hands were close to me when tears would start to fall.
Your hands were there to brush my hair.
Your hands were there to make me disciplined.
You are the one who have always stayed by me.
You are the one whom God has sent as an angel to me.
Gitas in Mahabharata - Introduction - 3
- Ramesh Mukhopadhyaya
And yet the Mahabharata itself argues that no one can fully
decode it.
Why so? It has been said that Vedavyasa the composer, at the
instance of Brahma the creator invoked Lord Ganesha to take down
the narrative. Lord Ganesha agreed to act as a stenographer of
Vedavyasa. But if Vedavyasa faltered to dictate continuously Lord
Ganesha would give up the assignment. Well, Vedayasa agreed to the
terms of Lord Ganesha on condition that the latter must not write a
single verse without understanding its import. Consequently, whenever
Vedavyasa had to stop a while in course of his dictation, he would
introduce a riddle known as Vyasa-Kuta in the course of his narration.
And the Lord had to pause a while to decode the same. In this way it
is said that there are some 8200 verses scattered through-out the
narrative, that baffle the readers. If 8200 verses scattered all about
the narrative are ambiguous, the whole of the narrative becomes
ambiguous. It is claimed that Vyasa, Ganesha and Sukdeva only three
persons know the real import of those verses. Consequently by
admission of the Mahabharata itself the whole narrative is ambiguous.
Since, the Mahabharata could be read beginning from anywhere with
Anukramunika or Astiks Parva as the opening, the structure of the
Mahabharata and the meaning of the same is open-ended. If what
seems to be the third chapter of a novel is read as the first chapter the
import of the story changes.
In other words, ambiguity is inherent in the very structure and
language of the Mahabharata. The gitas under survey, as they stand
are extracts from the self-same text and hence they are ambiguous
also.
Krishna himself acknowledges the ambiguity in his speech when
he says, that people look upon the soul as marvellous, some others
speak of it as marvellous ; some others hear of it as marvellous. No
wonder that they donot understand it even after hearing about it.
Ascaryavad pasyati Kascidetam
Ascaryavad vadati tathaiva canyah
Ascarya vaccainamanyah srnoti
Srutvapyenam veda na caiva. kascit (B.G- II, 29)
The same could apply to describe the whole of the Mahabharata
as well as to all the gitas.
And of course, Empson observes that ambiguity is sine qua non
with all true poetry. Indian aesthetics also values laksmana as one of
the characteristic features of poetry. Kuntaka in his Vakrokti Jivita
observes that elliptical speech is the life of poetry. This clearly suggests
that a speech may have more than one level of meaning in vacyartha
or literal meaning and laksmanartha or suggested meaning.
But one wonders, if a sentence has meanings on more than one
level, has it any meaning at all?
There is no point in judging a work of art from some a priori notions
of what a work of art should be like. Aristotlean poetics with which
we could judge Sophocles fail to grasp the excellence of
Shakespearean drama. The aesthetic standard which we apply to judge
Shakespeare is of no avail when we appreciate the dramas of Kalidasa.
Indian poetics banishes every kind of tragedy from the realm of drama.
But Shakespeare has written tragedies that are time and again.
Hence, there are no universal rules to judge a work of art. In fact
every work of art is unique and it is a manifesto of what a work of art
should be. Every work of art has in it the hidden rules of aesthetics
with which we could judge it.
Any work of art known as literature is language at bottom. Curiously
enough the Brahmana gita, a subset of the Anu gita puts forward a
theory of language which sees eye to eye with the views of modern
linguisties.
Since we can not think without language modern linguisties points
out that language comes first & ideas next. Language, as such, however
has no meaning. Language is a collection of some shared signs. We
who speak English know what we mean by the word ‘chair’. We
agree among ourselves to call a kind of seat as chair. The word chair
is therefore a sign which has two sides in a set of phonemes or signifier
and a referent or a signified. A word is therefore Signified
Signifier
But the
signifier and signified are not organically connected. Another language
or another culture might call kedara what we mean by chair. Once
again, a signifier or a set of phonemes which was once employed to
mean one thing earlier might mean something else at a later point of
time. The Sanskrit word duhita.. used to mean the daughter of a
household who milks the cow. Right now duhita. means simply a
daughter of a household. She may shudder at the sight of a cow.
Since language comes first & ideas next, the Post—moderns posit
that this is a world made up of language. Since language as such has
no inherent meaning in it, the world that is built with language is also
without meaning. It is a virtual world—an illusion and everyone is at
liberty to make sense of it in his or her own way.
The Brahmana gita also observes that language is prior to mind &
ideas. This is evident from the query of the Brahmani—
Kasmad vagabhavat purvam
Kasmad pascanmanobhavat
Manasa cintitam vakyam
Yada Samabhipadyate. ( Br. G.- II, 10 )
How is it that speech came fist & mind later? We know that we
think out our speech with the help of our mind.
Lacan, the modern psychologist par excellence posits that our
minds are forged with our speech only.
The Brahmana gita however goes further in its philosophy of
language. It observes that there are two types of speech. One is
apparently determined by the mind. But this can only describe the
contingent and the sense perceptions. The supra-real or the suprasensual
is only grasped by language, of which mind does not know
anything.
Sthavaram jangamam caiva vindhyuthe manasi mama
Sthavaram matsakase vai jangamam visaye tava
Yastum tam visayam gachhenmantro varnah svaropi va
tanmano jangamo nama tasmadapi gariasi ( Br. G.-II, 16,17 )
The cosmic mind or Brahma avows that both the static and the
dynamic are its mind. But whatever is static or perceivable through
senses is within the grasp of human mind. Whatever is dynamic as
suprasensual is grasped by language alone.
In other words language creates the suprasensual world. And the
gitas are a language where the sensual & the supra sensual mingle. It is
not a language that describes the contingent and the fragmentary only.
It creates a world where senses falter.
Any presence always reminds of its absence. And abhava is one
of the substances according to Nyaya-vaisesika. Speech accordingly
reminds of silence. The Brahmana gita however speaks of speech as
of two types in speech & silence.
Ghosini jatanirghosa nityameva pravartate
Tayorapi ghosinya nirghosameva gariyasi (Br. G- II, 21)
And one wonders whether these gitas lead one from speech to
that indeterminate realm of silence where silence is eloquent?
In the face of these facts about language how could we decode the
text of the gitas? How could we get at their meaning?
Since, meaning is not inherent in a language, it is a culture that
makes sense of it. Putting vermillion on the parting of the hair is a
language with women of Bengal. Other Bengali women might infer
from it that a woman is married. But a Latin American woman, finding
a Bengalee woman putting on vermilion on the parting of the hair might
deem it to be a nice decoration. Thus a language becomes meaningful
through one’s culture.
(From A Study of the Gitas in Mahabharata - by Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya)
And yet the Mahabharata itself argues that no one can fully
decode it.
Why so? It has been said that Vedavyasa the composer, at the
instance of Brahma the creator invoked Lord Ganesha to take down
the narrative. Lord Ganesha agreed to act as a stenographer of
Vedavyasa. But if Vedavyasa faltered to dictate continuously Lord
Ganesha would give up the assignment. Well, Vedayasa agreed to the
terms of Lord Ganesha on condition that the latter must not write a
single verse without understanding its import. Consequently, whenever
Vedavyasa had to stop a while in course of his dictation, he would
introduce a riddle known as Vyasa-Kuta in the course of his narration.
And the Lord had to pause a while to decode the same. In this way it
is said that there are some 8200 verses scattered through-out the
narrative, that baffle the readers. If 8200 verses scattered all about
the narrative are ambiguous, the whole of the narrative becomes
ambiguous. It is claimed that Vyasa, Ganesha and Sukdeva only three
persons know the real import of those verses. Consequently by
admission of the Mahabharata itself the whole narrative is ambiguous.
Since, the Mahabharata could be read beginning from anywhere with
Anukramunika or Astiks Parva as the opening, the structure of the
Mahabharata and the meaning of the same is open-ended. If what
seems to be the third chapter of a novel is read as the first chapter the
import of the story changes.
In other words, ambiguity is inherent in the very structure and
language of the Mahabharata. The gitas under survey, as they stand
are extracts from the self-same text and hence they are ambiguous
also.
Krishna himself acknowledges the ambiguity in his speech when
he says, that people look upon the soul as marvellous, some others
speak of it as marvellous ; some others hear of it as marvellous. No
wonder that they donot understand it even after hearing about it.
Ascaryavad pasyati Kascidetam
Ascaryavad vadati tathaiva canyah
Ascarya vaccainamanyah srnoti
Srutvapyenam veda na caiva. kascit (B.G- II, 29)
The same could apply to describe the whole of the Mahabharata
as well as to all the gitas.
And of course, Empson observes that ambiguity is sine qua non
with all true poetry. Indian aesthetics also values laksmana as one of
the characteristic features of poetry. Kuntaka in his Vakrokti Jivita
observes that elliptical speech is the life of poetry. This clearly suggests
that a speech may have more than one level of meaning in vacyartha
or literal meaning and laksmanartha or suggested meaning.
But one wonders, if a sentence has meanings on more than one
level, has it any meaning at all?
There is no point in judging a work of art from some a priori notions
of what a work of art should be like. Aristotlean poetics with which
we could judge Sophocles fail to grasp the excellence of
Shakespearean drama. The aesthetic standard which we apply to judge
Shakespeare is of no avail when we appreciate the dramas of Kalidasa.
Indian poetics banishes every kind of tragedy from the realm of drama.
But Shakespeare has written tragedies that are time and again.
Hence, there are no universal rules to judge a work of art. In fact
every work of art is unique and it is a manifesto of what a work of art
should be. Every work of art has in it the hidden rules of aesthetics
with which we could judge it.
Any work of art known as literature is language at bottom. Curiously
enough the Brahmana gita, a subset of the Anu gita puts forward a
theory of language which sees eye to eye with the views of modern
linguisties.
Since we can not think without language modern linguisties points
out that language comes first & ideas next. Language, as such, however
has no meaning. Language is a collection of some shared signs. We
who speak English know what we mean by the word ‘chair’. We
agree among ourselves to call a kind of seat as chair. The word chair
is therefore a sign which has two sides in a set of phonemes or signifier
and a referent or a signified. A word is therefore Signified
Signifier
But the
signifier and signified are not organically connected. Another language
or another culture might call kedara what we mean by chair. Once
again, a signifier or a set of phonemes which was once employed to
mean one thing earlier might mean something else at a later point of
time. The Sanskrit word duhita.. used to mean the daughter of a
household who milks the cow. Right now duhita. means simply a
daughter of a household. She may shudder at the sight of a cow.
Since language comes first & ideas next, the Post—moderns posit
that this is a world made up of language. Since language as such has
no inherent meaning in it, the world that is built with language is also
without meaning. It is a virtual world—an illusion and everyone is at
liberty to make sense of it in his or her own way.
The Brahmana gita also observes that language is prior to mind &
ideas. This is evident from the query of the Brahmani—
Kasmad vagabhavat purvam
Kasmad pascanmanobhavat
Manasa cintitam vakyam
Yada Samabhipadyate. ( Br. G.- II, 10 )
How is it that speech came fist & mind later? We know that we
think out our speech with the help of our mind.
Lacan, the modern psychologist par excellence posits that our
minds are forged with our speech only.
The Brahmana gita however goes further in its philosophy of
language. It observes that there are two types of speech. One is
apparently determined by the mind. But this can only describe the
contingent and the sense perceptions. The supra-real or the suprasensual
is only grasped by language, of which mind does not know
anything.
Sthavaram jangamam caiva vindhyuthe manasi mama
Sthavaram matsakase vai jangamam visaye tava
Yastum tam visayam gachhenmantro varnah svaropi va
tanmano jangamo nama tasmadapi gariasi ( Br. G.-II, 16,17 )
The cosmic mind or Brahma avows that both the static and the
dynamic are its mind. But whatever is static or perceivable through
senses is within the grasp of human mind. Whatever is dynamic as
suprasensual is grasped by language alone.
In other words language creates the suprasensual world. And the
gitas are a language where the sensual & the supra sensual mingle. It is
not a language that describes the contingent and the fragmentary only.
It creates a world where senses falter.
Any presence always reminds of its absence. And abhava is one
of the substances according to Nyaya-vaisesika. Speech accordingly
reminds of silence. The Brahmana gita however speaks of speech as
of two types in speech & silence.
Ghosini jatanirghosa nityameva pravartate
Tayorapi ghosinya nirghosameva gariyasi (Br. G- II, 21)
And one wonders whether these gitas lead one from speech to
that indeterminate realm of silence where silence is eloquent?
In the face of these facts about language how could we decode the
text of the gitas? How could we get at their meaning?
Since, meaning is not inherent in a language, it is a culture that
makes sense of it. Putting vermillion on the parting of the hair is a
language with women of Bengal. Other Bengali women might infer
from it that a woman is married. But a Latin American woman, finding
a Bengalee woman putting on vermilion on the parting of the hair might
deem it to be a nice decoration. Thus a language becomes meaningful
through one’s culture.
(From A Study of the Gitas in Mahabharata - by Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya)
Friday 23 January 2009
Leadership
- Shankar Mukhopadhyaya
It says that you can fundamentally solve your problem if you can put forward your problem to a right person – a leader is much more than a figurehead. The person who can foresee the future, rather who can act a way forward. That person needs to possess certain qualities, some of which can be learnt but most of which are innate (leaders are born not made?). But what exactly makes someone a leader – may be self belief on himself, a security about himself, or may be partly charisma, partly comfort factor (comfort factor means – not in a cuddly way but in a safe hands – someone who will take care of things in the right way at the right time) & it is not an academic intelligence, rather a kind of acumen, a realism, an in-touch-with the worldness a finely honed intuitive sense – gut instinct with clarity & analytical capacity i.e. He must have crystal clear idea about the objective with the ability to break down the complex issues into simpler one ( i.e. which can be easy to understand from 13 to 75 yrs. ) coupled with direct & straight communicating ability suitable at the situation. Also good leaders must have the capacity to think beyond what most people think. This involves good judgement with passion & courage. Passion itself is not enough; passion in the hands of those who lacks judgement is the most dangerous thing. As lack of real judicious courage leads to demotivation & stagnation. It is true that analysis & research are very much needed but once one has mastered the facts, should apply his judgement with practical intelligence & get on with it, if it becomes clear at any point of time that one have got it wrong then again one have to be courageous enough to stop the project. Which means one has to admit that one has made a mistake, which is never easy, & therefore we have to keep in our mind that the leader should not be always very friendly & cosy. But it is very much important to behave in a consistent manner irrespective of whether leader is taking someone to task for the poor performance or praising him or her. Leader's style should be exactly the same. What is most important that followers should feel excited about the future & what they are doing. The aim is they feel good about their particular project but it is difficult as there is something happening different everyday & heading towards instability for which a good system needed, not an elephant memory & should not try to attempt many things together otherwise vision may be blurred. The leader must keep aside his energy for some mega event, where his energy may be required for the T (Together) E (Every member) A (Achieves) M (More), i.e. let the followers carry on the project & help them when needed; otherwise leader will lose his focus. Nurturing of upcoming pool of talent for future leader through delegation with flexibility to move very fast with a positive frame is the other function of a benevolent leader. As followers need a little sense of mystery that someone is up there to deal with the difficult unpredictable things in life, making everything safe. Thus we entered into a trap whether identity of the leader is essentially Relational or Individual. Can we say leadership is a function of a community or a result derived from an individual deemed to be superhuman or hybrid in nature?
It says that you can fundamentally solve your problem if you can put forward your problem to a right person – a leader is much more than a figurehead. The person who can foresee the future, rather who can act a way forward. That person needs to possess certain qualities, some of which can be learnt but most of which are innate (leaders are born not made?). But what exactly makes someone a leader – may be self belief on himself, a security about himself, or may be partly charisma, partly comfort factor (comfort factor means – not in a cuddly way but in a safe hands – someone who will take care of things in the right way at the right time) & it is not an academic intelligence, rather a kind of acumen, a realism, an in-touch-with the worldness a finely honed intuitive sense – gut instinct with clarity & analytical capacity i.e. He must have crystal clear idea about the objective with the ability to break down the complex issues into simpler one ( i.e. which can be easy to understand from 13 to 75 yrs. ) coupled with direct & straight communicating ability suitable at the situation. Also good leaders must have the capacity to think beyond what most people think. This involves good judgement with passion & courage. Passion itself is not enough; passion in the hands of those who lacks judgement is the most dangerous thing. As lack of real judicious courage leads to demotivation & stagnation. It is true that analysis & research are very much needed but once one has mastered the facts, should apply his judgement with practical intelligence & get on with it, if it becomes clear at any point of time that one have got it wrong then again one have to be courageous enough to stop the project. Which means one has to admit that one has made a mistake, which is never easy, & therefore we have to keep in our mind that the leader should not be always very friendly & cosy. But it is very much important to behave in a consistent manner irrespective of whether leader is taking someone to task for the poor performance or praising him or her. Leader's style should be exactly the same. What is most important that followers should feel excited about the future & what they are doing. The aim is they feel good about their particular project but it is difficult as there is something happening different everyday & heading towards instability for which a good system needed, not an elephant memory & should not try to attempt many things together otherwise vision may be blurred. The leader must keep aside his energy for some mega event, where his energy may be required for the T (Together) E (Every member) A (Achieves) M (More), i.e. let the followers carry on the project & help them when needed; otherwise leader will lose his focus. Nurturing of upcoming pool of talent for future leader through delegation with flexibility to move very fast with a positive frame is the other function of a benevolent leader. As followers need a little sense of mystery that someone is up there to deal with the difficult unpredictable things in life, making everything safe. Thus we entered into a trap whether identity of the leader is essentially Relational or Individual. Can we say leadership is a function of a community or a result derived from an individual deemed to be superhuman or hybrid in nature?
Nostalgia
- Sonnet Mandal
I do remember myself in my childhood
I do remember myself in my childhood
The time which outran soon,Just as a lonely ray
In a night without the moon.
I do remember going to the fields
Which remained flooded with pond water,
And watched the cows going with their tilted head,
From beneath trees as the 'drops. dripped on the bower.
I do remember the playful fights -With my little friends each with weakened might,
And it was love of courseWhich was bond's source.
I do remember playing in the mango grove
Along with some of my dears.
And when it went long
I was moulded with punishment fears.
I do remember my grandfather
Who with his storiesMade my heart as light as a feather
And still it was for nothing could I miss either.
Most of the sibling stage hath passed by
Mothers's love, fathers strength are amongst the left few;
My cousin too hath remained and he-Is amongst the smoked hives left bee.
Like a lonely boat in ripple-less water-Like a beakorn in a moonless night
I would like to cherish them ratherLosing them like a ray of light.
Thursday 22 January 2009
Global Depression : Observations
- by Sankar Mukhopadhyaya
Global Pain Persists
• Lehman Bros. proved to be the latest casualty in the aftermath of the ongoing crisis that engulfed the global financial market. The bank filed for the bankruptcy proceedings under chapter 11 after it was unable to find a buyer - as Barclays Bank and Bank of America walked away from the takeover negotiations. This came in wake of the Fed refusal to take guarantee of the troubled real-estate assets on Lehman's balance sheet.
• Lehman was forced to seek capital assistance after it posted a loss of US$ 3.93 bn in the third quarter (10th Sept 08). The global market sentiments received further jolt – when; in short sequence - the takeover news of Merrill lynch by Bank of America was reported for a consideration of around S$ 50 bn.
• These series of events came a bit too close for comfort after the market just had a narrow escape from the previous developments; when Fed took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Announcing conservatorship for both the GSE's in early Sept. )
• Added to that, the additional pain expected by the market experts in the coming few weeks from certain financial institutions and insurance houses' provided ominous signs for financial markets.
• The pain emanating from the subprime sector is increasingly hinting at infiltrating into other sectors. The manufacturing jobs in US have witnessed a decline. And the overall industrial output too is indicating a downward trend. With the US constituting a nearly 1/4th of the global GDP, the possibility a moderation in global economic growth seems likely.
• Given this backdrop, and the resultant sentimental fallout, it was natural that the emerging markets (including India) would react to the developments in US.
• Sensex posted a net decline of -3.35%, declining by 469 point, closing at 13531 points. Nifty closed at 4072 points, posting a decline of -3.68%. The damp market sentiment was further accentuated by the nearly US$ 212 mn pull out by FIIs from the Indian equities market.(possibly on currency risk fears) Domestic Cushion: India on its own trip
• The Indian economy, though bracing with its own internal issues, comes across as a mountain of stability in comparison to unfolding saga elsewhere. The growth of the Indian economy (not dismissing the umbilical cord of liquidity that connects the Indian markets to global bourses) would largely be determined by interplay of domestic factors.
• Of these, high inflation remains a major obstacle to growth in the Indian economic context. The political sensitivity towards inflation made it obligatory for the central banker to trade-off growth in favor of curbing inflation.
• The original reason for high inflation in India can at present be attributed to the fact that India remains a net consumer of commodities including crude oil. And therefore, has been affected by bull-run in prices of commodities abroad.
• However, the indication of a demand destruction in major commodity consuming economies, and a reinvigorated dollar has helped in unwinding significant gains made in commodities market. For instance, the international price of crude itself has declined by nearly 33% in the past few months and is currently trading at US$ 96 per barrel.
• This developing scenario provides ample head room for future growth. And would significantly assist in lowering the input cost of various infrastructure projects.
• The central government too has made an implicit argument for expanding the depth of the domestic financial market. The preliminary forays for policy reforms in Insurance, Banking, and Pension funds sector is an indication of towards that intent.
• Given this backdrop, the current market levels present a valuation of 13.79 times and 11.99 times respectively for the remaining quarter of FY09 & FY10 respectively. The earning opportunities for a large segment of Indian corporate sector remains largely untainted due to the near insulation of the domestic economy from the global slowdown.
• However, in the near term, the markets remain significantly susceptible to cues from global environment. An investor is therefore advised to hedge the risk across a larger time span using SIP facility. More-so, an optimal asset allocation strategy that, commensurates the risk-reward profile of an investor would be most prudent in the current scenario.
Global Pain Persists
• Lehman Bros. proved to be the latest casualty in the aftermath of the ongoing crisis that engulfed the global financial market. The bank filed for the bankruptcy proceedings under chapter 11 after it was unable to find a buyer - as Barclays Bank and Bank of America walked away from the takeover negotiations. This came in wake of the Fed refusal to take guarantee of the troubled real-estate assets on Lehman's balance sheet.
• Lehman was forced to seek capital assistance after it posted a loss of US$ 3.93 bn in the third quarter (10th Sept 08). The global market sentiments received further jolt – when; in short sequence - the takeover news of Merrill lynch by Bank of America was reported for a consideration of around S$ 50 bn.
• These series of events came a bit too close for comfort after the market just had a narrow escape from the previous developments; when Fed took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Announcing conservatorship for both the GSE's in early Sept. )
• Added to that, the additional pain expected by the market experts in the coming few weeks from certain financial institutions and insurance houses' provided ominous signs for financial markets.
• The pain emanating from the subprime sector is increasingly hinting at infiltrating into other sectors. The manufacturing jobs in US have witnessed a decline. And the overall industrial output too is indicating a downward trend. With the US constituting a nearly 1/4th of the global GDP, the possibility a moderation in global economic growth seems likely.
• Given this backdrop, and the resultant sentimental fallout, it was natural that the emerging markets (including India) would react to the developments in US.
• Sensex posted a net decline of -3.35%, declining by 469 point, closing at 13531 points. Nifty closed at 4072 points, posting a decline of -3.68%. The damp market sentiment was further accentuated by the nearly US$ 212 mn pull out by FIIs from the Indian equities market.(possibly on currency risk fears) Domestic Cushion: India on its own trip
• The Indian economy, though bracing with its own internal issues, comes across as a mountain of stability in comparison to unfolding saga elsewhere. The growth of the Indian economy (not dismissing the umbilical cord of liquidity that connects the Indian markets to global bourses) would largely be determined by interplay of domestic factors.
• Of these, high inflation remains a major obstacle to growth in the Indian economic context. The political sensitivity towards inflation made it obligatory for the central banker to trade-off growth in favor of curbing inflation.
• The original reason for high inflation in India can at present be attributed to the fact that India remains a net consumer of commodities including crude oil. And therefore, has been affected by bull-run in prices of commodities abroad.
• However, the indication of a demand destruction in major commodity consuming economies, and a reinvigorated dollar has helped in unwinding significant gains made in commodities market. For instance, the international price of crude itself has declined by nearly 33% in the past few months and is currently trading at US$ 96 per barrel.
• This developing scenario provides ample head room for future growth. And would significantly assist in lowering the input cost of various infrastructure projects.
• The central government too has made an implicit argument for expanding the depth of the domestic financial market. The preliminary forays for policy reforms in Insurance, Banking, and Pension funds sector is an indication of towards that intent.
• Given this backdrop, the current market levels present a valuation of 13.79 times and 11.99 times respectively for the remaining quarter of FY09 & FY10 respectively. The earning opportunities for a large segment of Indian corporate sector remains largely untainted due to the near insulation of the domestic economy from the global slowdown.
• However, in the near term, the markets remain significantly susceptible to cues from global environment. An investor is therefore advised to hedge the risk across a larger time span using SIP facility. More-so, an optimal asset allocation strategy that, commensurates the risk-reward profile of an investor would be most prudent in the current scenario.
Wednesday 21 January 2009
Essays for children
My Hobbby
A hobby is a means of relaxation. It is a kind of occupation that is not work. My hobby is trekking. Whenever I get a holiday, I go on a trekking expedition. We are four friends. We have resolved to remain together come what may, in order to go on trekking expeditions and search exciting places. I love to walk along the difficult mountain paths. Who knows? Someday, we four friends may try to climb a high peak! We are already trying difficult, out of the way paths in the Himalayas. These paths are bedecked with beautiful rare flowers and plants and not usually visited by tourists. After our exciting trips we have greater enthusiasm for our studies. In future, when we have jobs, we hope to make more and more interesting trekking expeditions. (Words-136)
Floods
India is a land of extremes. When there is drought the land dries up and there is no crop. Sometimes, the rainfall is so heavy that a deluge of floods causes widespread destruction. There are a number of reasons, besides rainfall, why floods occur. Often, barrage waters are released to add to the water of the floods. The cutting of forests results in the erosion of land so that thousands of tons of mud settle in the river beds and make them shallow. The rainwater finds its way to the adjoining lands causing devastating floods. After the water recedes, the victims are stalked by other menace- diseases. The contaminated water causes enteric diseases, cholera, jaundice etc. that result in more deaths and misery. The immediate necessity is the dredging of rivers to enable them to hold more water and planting thousands of trees to prevent erosion of soil. More canals should be built to diversify water. (Words-155)
A visit to a historical place
Agra is a historical place and its main attraction is the Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world Most of us are familiar with the story of Shah Jahan. Overcome with grief at the death of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan decided to build a monument to immortalize their love for each other. So he built the Taj Mahal, which was built of pure, white marble, and inlaid with precious stones of all types. When Aurangzeb, his son seized power and executed his brothers, he imprisoned his father in the Agra Fort from where he could see the Taj Mahal and remember his beloved wife. A beautiful monument with such romantic association is worth seeing, especially in the moonlight. So I visited the Taj Mahal on a full moon night and the scene can hardly be described by me, so full of emotion did I become. It seemed that the days of Shah Jahan had come alive before me; as I relived the pages of history. While I beheld the Taj Mahal, I remembered that this monument is so unique that it attracts the tourists from all over the world. He has truly immortalized Mumtaz in his Taj Mahal. (Words-208)
Autobiography of a Tree
I am a very large banyan tree. Do you know how old I am? Hold your breath! I am five hundred years old. I am standing in the garden of Dakshineswar Temple and many a great sage including Sree Ramkrishna has meditated under me. The place where I am standing is known as Panchabati, and I think my life is truly blessed as I have seen so many sages in my life. I have seen millions of pilgrims coming to see the Dakshineswar Temple and me at the Panchabati where Ramkrishnadev became enlightened. I have been a mute witness to the famous meetings between Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. I have seen other sages from Ramakrishna missions of other countries. Other sages of different religious orders have also come here. I have seen Rani Rashmoni and son in law Mathurbabu who order the Building of this Temple. Only spiritual thoughts were allowed in the temple. Once Rani Rashmoni was slapped by Ramakrishna, because she was thinking about her property while attending a religious function in the Temple. It was quite an unconscious act and Ramakrishna begged pardon of Rashmoni. But the latter was ashamed and in her turn was immensely grateful to him for pulling her up from her folly. She begged forgiveness. Every day hundreds of people come to the people and they also visit me. Some of them come out of curiosity. I ask Ramkrishnadev to bless them and convert them to pure souls. God knows how long I shall have to stand here!
Value of Sports and Games in a Student’s Life
All beings, animals and human beings like to play, when they are young. We notice how kittens play about while old cats simply lie down and watch. It is the case with all animals and even with human beings. Thus young boys and girls should be allowed to play, besides doing work and studying. Young boys and girls exhaust their energy in a natural way while they play. Play gives relaxation and new energy for work. We know how important sports and games have become in modern life. In fact, sports and games are being organized very carefully and they have become an institution. We know of the interest and the excitement that is aroused by world sports events. Sports give us not only entertainment but also instill in us strenuous discipline. Sports give us good health because they give us plenty of exercise in the open air and increase our blood circulation. Even adults should take part in sports and games to keep themselves fit. For all these reasons, sports and games have great value in a student’s life. Equipped with good health, discipline, patience and smartness that sports promote in us, a person is ready to face life with strength and confidence.
Science in Everyday Life
The modern age is the age of science. Everywhere we see signs of implementation of science, and technology. The technology that dominates our life is electricity. Electricity helps us to keep our homes lighted and protects us from the heat and coldness of the atmosphere. We listen to music and watch television, use geyser, food processor, all great boons for the modern man. Computers have enabled us to perform jobs of another country even from home. Science of genetics has provided us with the improved breeds of seeds contributing to the Green Revolution. Aero planes, trains, motor cars ensure our fast and comfortable journeys. We no longer care to write letters because the super efficient telephone system takes care of our communication with others, SMS and emails carry our messages as fast as light itself. Medicines are also part of our daily life. Lives saving drugs have increased the longevity of man’s lives. Micro– surgery is removing cataracts and the laser treatment to melt out brain tumors is the latest developments that have reduced the pain of operations. All these are the results of scientific researches. But we must be responsible citizens and handle our power with discretion and care. Otherwise our dear earth will not take much time to die at the hands of a few Hitlers.
My Aim in Life
Usually, young girls and boys wish to be doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, lecturers, teachers etc. But these have become thankless professions in our present day existence. In lieu of a substantial amount of salary the job holders are run off their feet. They have to work like robots. So it is better for me to leave these unpleasant jobs and go into space. What wonderful vistas open up before my eyes when I contemplate my favourite idea; the clean and vast unending space without the worldly atmospheric and cultural pollution assailing me. Yes you have guessed correct, I want to be an astronaut. It is not such an impossible idea as you would think. Progress in space technology is taking place by leaps and bounds. I am sure, before long, the space scientists will be looking for young men and women to go into space for doing research work, and I am adventurous to be one of them. The gloried instances of Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams inspire me to study space engineering and further the cause of India in space.
Science: A Blessing or a Curse
We find that our life is dominated by science all the twenty four hours of the day. Among the scientific inventions, electricity seems to be the most important. All the electric and electronic gadgets are run by electric power. Science has made communication easier. The most powerful medium television has now become a great medium of educating remote villages. The village people are now familiar with the foreign countries that play international matches of football and cricket. While we enjoy these blessings of science, we are not free from the hazards of scientific inventions. The calm and quiet of village life is a thing of the past. While sensible boys and girls take advantage of the improved communication and enhance their skills in various fields, others ape the actors and actresses of Bollywood and waste their precious youth in idle dreaming. Modern medicine has improved the health of the populations. But modern medicine is creating many other problems for man, such as side effects resulting in damaged organs. Unscrupulous doctors sell organs stolen from human body and sell them to make money. Invention of energy such as nuclear power can be beneficial for the human beings, but destructive forces are using this power to produce mighty weapons and make our mother earth the killing fields where innocents, even the children are butchered on a regular basis. Thus we can say that science though a blessing for us, can be turned into a curse at the hands of unscrupulous men.
A hobby is a means of relaxation. It is a kind of occupation that is not work. My hobby is trekking. Whenever I get a holiday, I go on a trekking expedition. We are four friends. We have resolved to remain together come what may, in order to go on trekking expeditions and search exciting places. I love to walk along the difficult mountain paths. Who knows? Someday, we four friends may try to climb a high peak! We are already trying difficult, out of the way paths in the Himalayas. These paths are bedecked with beautiful rare flowers and plants and not usually visited by tourists. After our exciting trips we have greater enthusiasm for our studies. In future, when we have jobs, we hope to make more and more interesting trekking expeditions. (Words-136)
Floods
India is a land of extremes. When there is drought the land dries up and there is no crop. Sometimes, the rainfall is so heavy that a deluge of floods causes widespread destruction. There are a number of reasons, besides rainfall, why floods occur. Often, barrage waters are released to add to the water of the floods. The cutting of forests results in the erosion of land so that thousands of tons of mud settle in the river beds and make them shallow. The rainwater finds its way to the adjoining lands causing devastating floods. After the water recedes, the victims are stalked by other menace- diseases. The contaminated water causes enteric diseases, cholera, jaundice etc. that result in more deaths and misery. The immediate necessity is the dredging of rivers to enable them to hold more water and planting thousands of trees to prevent erosion of soil. More canals should be built to diversify water. (Words-155)
A visit to a historical place
Agra is a historical place and its main attraction is the Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world Most of us are familiar with the story of Shah Jahan. Overcome with grief at the death of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan decided to build a monument to immortalize their love for each other. So he built the Taj Mahal, which was built of pure, white marble, and inlaid with precious stones of all types. When Aurangzeb, his son seized power and executed his brothers, he imprisoned his father in the Agra Fort from where he could see the Taj Mahal and remember his beloved wife. A beautiful monument with such romantic association is worth seeing, especially in the moonlight. So I visited the Taj Mahal on a full moon night and the scene can hardly be described by me, so full of emotion did I become. It seemed that the days of Shah Jahan had come alive before me; as I relived the pages of history. While I beheld the Taj Mahal, I remembered that this monument is so unique that it attracts the tourists from all over the world. He has truly immortalized Mumtaz in his Taj Mahal. (Words-208)
Autobiography of a Tree
I am a very large banyan tree. Do you know how old I am? Hold your breath! I am five hundred years old. I am standing in the garden of Dakshineswar Temple and many a great sage including Sree Ramkrishna has meditated under me. The place where I am standing is known as Panchabati, and I think my life is truly blessed as I have seen so many sages in my life. I have seen millions of pilgrims coming to see the Dakshineswar Temple and me at the Panchabati where Ramkrishnadev became enlightened. I have been a mute witness to the famous meetings between Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. I have seen other sages from Ramakrishna missions of other countries. Other sages of different religious orders have also come here. I have seen Rani Rashmoni and son in law Mathurbabu who order the Building of this Temple. Only spiritual thoughts were allowed in the temple. Once Rani Rashmoni was slapped by Ramakrishna, because she was thinking about her property while attending a religious function in the Temple. It was quite an unconscious act and Ramakrishna begged pardon of Rashmoni. But the latter was ashamed and in her turn was immensely grateful to him for pulling her up from her folly. She begged forgiveness. Every day hundreds of people come to the people and they also visit me. Some of them come out of curiosity. I ask Ramkrishnadev to bless them and convert them to pure souls. God knows how long I shall have to stand here!
Value of Sports and Games in a Student’s Life
All beings, animals and human beings like to play, when they are young. We notice how kittens play about while old cats simply lie down and watch. It is the case with all animals and even with human beings. Thus young boys and girls should be allowed to play, besides doing work and studying. Young boys and girls exhaust their energy in a natural way while they play. Play gives relaxation and new energy for work. We know how important sports and games have become in modern life. In fact, sports and games are being organized very carefully and they have become an institution. We know of the interest and the excitement that is aroused by world sports events. Sports give us not only entertainment but also instill in us strenuous discipline. Sports give us good health because they give us plenty of exercise in the open air and increase our blood circulation. Even adults should take part in sports and games to keep themselves fit. For all these reasons, sports and games have great value in a student’s life. Equipped with good health, discipline, patience and smartness that sports promote in us, a person is ready to face life with strength and confidence.
Science in Everyday Life
The modern age is the age of science. Everywhere we see signs of implementation of science, and technology. The technology that dominates our life is electricity. Electricity helps us to keep our homes lighted and protects us from the heat and coldness of the atmosphere. We listen to music and watch television, use geyser, food processor, all great boons for the modern man. Computers have enabled us to perform jobs of another country even from home. Science of genetics has provided us with the improved breeds of seeds contributing to the Green Revolution. Aero planes, trains, motor cars ensure our fast and comfortable journeys. We no longer care to write letters because the super efficient telephone system takes care of our communication with others, SMS and emails carry our messages as fast as light itself. Medicines are also part of our daily life. Lives saving drugs have increased the longevity of man’s lives. Micro– surgery is removing cataracts and the laser treatment to melt out brain tumors is the latest developments that have reduced the pain of operations. All these are the results of scientific researches. But we must be responsible citizens and handle our power with discretion and care. Otherwise our dear earth will not take much time to die at the hands of a few Hitlers.
My Aim in Life
Usually, young girls and boys wish to be doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, lecturers, teachers etc. But these have become thankless professions in our present day existence. In lieu of a substantial amount of salary the job holders are run off their feet. They have to work like robots. So it is better for me to leave these unpleasant jobs and go into space. What wonderful vistas open up before my eyes when I contemplate my favourite idea; the clean and vast unending space without the worldly atmospheric and cultural pollution assailing me. Yes you have guessed correct, I want to be an astronaut. It is not such an impossible idea as you would think. Progress in space technology is taking place by leaps and bounds. I am sure, before long, the space scientists will be looking for young men and women to go into space for doing research work, and I am adventurous to be one of them. The gloried instances of Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams inspire me to study space engineering and further the cause of India in space.
Science: A Blessing or a Curse
We find that our life is dominated by science all the twenty four hours of the day. Among the scientific inventions, electricity seems to be the most important. All the electric and electronic gadgets are run by electric power. Science has made communication easier. The most powerful medium television has now become a great medium of educating remote villages. The village people are now familiar with the foreign countries that play international matches of football and cricket. While we enjoy these blessings of science, we are not free from the hazards of scientific inventions. The calm and quiet of village life is a thing of the past. While sensible boys and girls take advantage of the improved communication and enhance their skills in various fields, others ape the actors and actresses of Bollywood and waste their precious youth in idle dreaming. Modern medicine has improved the health of the populations. But modern medicine is creating many other problems for man, such as side effects resulting in damaged organs. Unscrupulous doctors sell organs stolen from human body and sell them to make money. Invention of energy such as nuclear power can be beneficial for the human beings, but destructive forces are using this power to produce mighty weapons and make our mother earth the killing fields where innocents, even the children are butchered on a regular basis. Thus we can say that science though a blessing for us, can be turned into a curse at the hands of unscrupulous men.
Looking for nobody
- Avishek
I looked under mossy stones;
perchance hidden behind trees?
The parks I searched at high noon.
Scanning the face of the moon- for clues;
carrying torches to remote caves.
Deserts would yield only monuments;
books would yield nostalgia, shifting
like sand dunes, in my dehydrated landscape.
Did I lose sight amongst the scientists?
Huddled around doctors, peeping through-
black cloaks swishing; was that Atlantis?
It was while catching my breath I saw
the names, scattered carelessly on the grass.
I caught one, then another… it wasn't easy;
and somebody was always somebody.
I looked under mossy stones;
perchance hidden behind trees?
The parks I searched at high noon.
Scanning the face of the moon- for clues;
carrying torches to remote caves.
Deserts would yield only monuments;
books would yield nostalgia, shifting
like sand dunes, in my dehydrated landscape.
Did I lose sight amongst the scientists?
Huddled around doctors, peeping through-
black cloaks swishing; was that Atlantis?
It was while catching my breath I saw
the names, scattered carelessly on the grass.
I caught one, then another… it wasn't easy;
and somebody was always somebody.
A note on Symbolism
Ramesh Mukhopadhyaya
The word symbol could mean many things. When something represents something else the former symbolises the latter. Thus, every letter in an alphabet is a symbol that represents a particular sound. The sound is not the letter. The letter is not the sound. The symbol stands for a sound as arbitrarily determined by a convention. Again you always know a Bengali woman as married when you see vermillion on the parting of her hair.A virgin might sportingly put vermillion on the parting of her hair. Then we will deem her as a married woman. How do we know that she is a married woman? Only if we are acquainted with Bengali culture we can recognize the meaning of vermillion on the parting of the hair of a Bengali woman. An American lady visiting Calcutta might sportingly put on vermillion thinking that she has decked herself like a Bengali. But she does not know that although she is a virgin she is read like a married woman. Vermillion on the parting of hair is thus a symbol of being married for Bengali women. This is semiotics or science of signs. The connotation of the word symbol in symbolism is wider. Emmanuel Kant pointed out that this is a world which we half create and half perceive.Whatever we see in this world we see in time and space. By the by according to Kant time and space are not there out in the world. We are born with a priori notion of time and space and we add them to the world. Hence according to Kant the thing in itself or the reality is unknown and unknowable to man. Fine. The poets however posited that though the thing in itself cannot be perceived with the aid of senses it can be intuited perhaps. And the experience of the same though baffles our language could be communicated through symbols. What are the symbols? On the surface, they do not have any meaning as because they are capable of meanings on different planes. But they evoke the experience of the indeterminate reality in the reader. The poet is here something like a magician or a shaman.
Symbolism as an aesthetics seems to have shot up in reaction to the realism of the 19thcentury Europe. In the contingent, it was Baudelaire who wrote a poem entitled Correspondence. The appreciation or rather the apperception of the same gave birth to two schools of symbolism. One was led by Mallarme and Valerie. The other was led by Rimbaud and Verlaine. In England WB Yeats took the cue from French symbolists and revelled in an emergent kind of poetry. His The Second Coming is a triumph of symbolic art. There for example he exclaims that the centre cannot hold. Those who are logo centric could read in this symbol the fact that the world is getting out of joints. But on another level does it not give the foretaste of the emergent postmodern values. There are some who posit that that which cannot be told in prose is communicated through poetry. In that light, all true poetry is symbolic.
Tuesday 20 January 2009
Troy
by Sonnet Mondal
Engraved in the steel pages of history,
By bloodshot swords of courage-
Letters of a war – ‘Red’ yet ‘Golden’-
Unwashed by rain, unforgotten by men.
The birds of peace
Were about to sit in the trees,
Between Sparta and Troy-
For the countrymen to rejoice joy.
Wines, fruits and dancing maidens,
Turned the castle in a blissful garden;
Yet on one side in the castle-
The ‘Lady of Love’ was planning a tussle.
Helen gazed, traced and embraced the prince-
Lovingly, noruly yet evidently since
The ‘Love’ stayed under the canopy of fear-
Of her brother,
That broke later before Love’s power.
The younger prince secretly took away Helen-
Crackers, shouts, cheers by men!!
Trouble in disguise waited for them-
I doubt who was to blame!!
Sparta and Greece joined hands!
To capture and revenge the shores of the enemy;
So a fleet of conquerors –
Set off with minds to extend their Empire.
The whole army of Greece
Depended on none but Achilles.
Whose eyes were a glint of sword-
Whose emotion never swayed off words.
His immortal sword struck out once
The boat hit the shore;
His fifty men tore apart –
Troy’s opening door.
Inside Troy’s stone walls,
The soldiers hurried about….
The king and party stood together-
To respond to the Greek shouts..
The next day a fierce war broke out-
Where red fountains spurred up-
Great Greeks fell down before Hector’s frown…
But all along after the temporary win,
Hector knew they were yet to face
Achilles’s wit, style and spear;
The power of horse, the speed of deer.
The daybreak marked another war-
A fight tight for the Greeks this time-
Trojans outshone the armours-
With sudden attack before sunshine.
Achilles in night romance with Hector’s cousin-
Preferred not to be out;
But his cousin-brother went on in his armour-
To be cut dead by the sword of Hector.
Achilles roared out next day-
In a mind for the head of Hector.
A fierce, fearless, gruesome fight,
Marked the fall of the son of Troy.
Twelve days hence the Greeks hit a trick;
To get inside the opaque walls-
They formed as giant horse structure,
To facilitate the entry of butchers.
The Trojans were foolish in their nights-
To undervalue their rival!!
Thinking to have destroyed them-
They engaged their hearts in festival.
At night from the Horse the warriors came out-
As angry louts-
And sleeping Troy was attacked by surprise,
By the strongest enemies in disguise.
Roofs, walls pulled down by fire
Pressed over the countrymen;
Nothing remained saved neither rich nor lame-
The whole Troy dazzled and burned in flames.
Neither Achilles nor the King of Greece hailed the sword,
No Hector no king of Troy was saved in the war!!!
The giant fire swallowed all without bias-
Too add another pillar in the historical dais.
Engraved in the steel pages of history,
By bloodshot swords of courage-
Letters of a war – ‘Red’ yet ‘Golden’-
Unwashed by rain, unforgotten by men.
The birds of peace
Were about to sit in the trees,
Between Sparta and Troy-
For the countrymen to rejoice joy.
Wines, fruits and dancing maidens,
Turned the castle in a blissful garden;
Yet on one side in the castle-
The ‘Lady of Love’ was planning a tussle.
Helen gazed, traced and embraced the prince-
Lovingly, noruly yet evidently since
The ‘Love’ stayed under the canopy of fear-
Of her brother,
That broke later before Love’s power.
The younger prince secretly took away Helen-
Crackers, shouts, cheers by men!!
Trouble in disguise waited for them-
I doubt who was to blame!!
Sparta and Greece joined hands!
To capture and revenge the shores of the enemy;
So a fleet of conquerors –
Set off with minds to extend their Empire.
The whole army of Greece
Depended on none but Achilles.
Whose eyes were a glint of sword-
Whose emotion never swayed off words.
His immortal sword struck out once
The boat hit the shore;
His fifty men tore apart –
Troy’s opening door.
Inside Troy’s stone walls,
The soldiers hurried about….
The king and party stood together-
To respond to the Greek shouts..
The next day a fierce war broke out-
Where red fountains spurred up-
Great Greeks fell down before Hector’s frown…
But all along after the temporary win,
Hector knew they were yet to face
Achilles’s wit, style and spear;
The power of horse, the speed of deer.
The daybreak marked another war-
A fight tight for the Greeks this time-
Trojans outshone the armours-
With sudden attack before sunshine.
Achilles in night romance with Hector’s cousin-
Preferred not to be out;
But his cousin-brother went on in his armour-
To be cut dead by the sword of Hector.
Achilles roared out next day-
In a mind for the head of Hector.
A fierce, fearless, gruesome fight,
Marked the fall of the son of Troy.
Twelve days hence the Greeks hit a trick;
To get inside the opaque walls-
They formed as giant horse structure,
To facilitate the entry of butchers.
The Trojans were foolish in their nights-
To undervalue their rival!!
Thinking to have destroyed them-
They engaged their hearts in festival.
At night from the Horse the warriors came out-
As angry louts-
And sleeping Troy was attacked by surprise,
By the strongest enemies in disguise.
Roofs, walls pulled down by fire
Pressed over the countrymen;
Nothing remained saved neither rich nor lame-
The whole Troy dazzled and burned in flames.
Neither Achilles nor the King of Greece hailed the sword,
No Hector no king of Troy was saved in the war!!!
The giant fire swallowed all without bias-
Too add another pillar in the historical dais.
Monday 19 January 2009
On a poem by Sarojini Naidu - The Gift of India
By Mandira Chattopadhyaya.
The Gift of India
Is there aught you need that my hands withhold, Rich gifts of raiment or grain or gold? Lo! I have flung to the East and West Priceless treasures torn from my breast, And yielded the sons of my stricken womb To the drum beats of duty, the sabers of doom.
Gathered like pearls in their alien graves Silent they sleep by the Persian waves, Scattered like shells on Egyptian sands, They lie with pale brows and brave, broken hands, They are strewn like blossoms mown down by chance On the blood brown meadows of Flanders and France.
Can ye measure the grief of the tears I weep Or compass the woe of the watch I keep? Or the pride that thrills thro’ my heart’s despair And the hope that comforts the anguish of prayer? And the far sad glorious vision I see Of the torn red banners of victory?
When the terror and tumult of hate shall cease And life be refashioned on anvils of peace, And your love shall offer memoriam thanks To the comrades who fought in your dauntless ranks, And you honour the deeds of the deathless ones, Remember the blood of my martyred sons. (written in August 1615)
A critical estimate of the poem
The very word ‘gift’ raises expectations, possibilities galore, because an object will change hands, a relationship is about to be established between the giver and the receiver. Naturally, a curiosity starts pecking at our minds as to what should be the nature of the gift. We perceive that the nature of gift varies according to the intention, scope, purview, time and occasion. When am object changes hands one may also ask the question- Is it spontaneous, voluntary, or by force that an object is imparted? Along with a question the word ‘gift’ receives an added dimension. The thought tickles our interest. It does so all the more because it is not a simple occasion like a birthday or a wedding ceremony that is involved.
Here, we see that the perception as a giver involves a vast country rich with natural resources. She can produce rich resources of raiment, food or gold. Already the receivers’ hands are replete with those resources that she has been giving abundantly and generously. To the delight of the takers, her resources remain strewn about in all directions. Invaders from the East such as Taimur, Chenghis Khan and other barbarians have waded their way through the rivers of blood and filled their coffers with the rich booty, whatever they lay their hands on. ‘Raiment’ perhaps symbolizes culture, ‘grain’ stands for energy and ‘gold’ wealth. From time immemorial the tradition of this country is to offer food, clothes, and other valuables to the seekers who come for shelter. But sometimes looters have acquired treasures forcibly, as is referred to the phrase here, ‘torn from my breast’.
The quality and quantity of gifts this motherland is capable of providing baffles one’s imagination. She has suffered great pains and bled a great deal (ref. ‘my stricken womb’) in order to produce her sons. Her brave off-springs are often summoned abroad to the call of duty. To the orient and the occident the sound of drums reverberates to suck these heroes into the Valley of Death’, ‘into the mouth of Hell’.
The bodies of these heroes are not simply organic matters born to die, become rotten and decayed to disintegrate and vanish into oblivion. The value of their lives can be compared to the most valuable jewel of the mother earth. So their bodies are gathered like ‘pearls’ in alien graves or ‘strewn like mown down blossoms’. They are not born to die in ignominy, but the war mongers have imposed on them the burden of war that they strategize on a table. So now these bodies are destined to lie like pearls in ‘alien graves’ or ‘scattered like shells on Egyptian sands’ and strewn like mown down blossoms on the meadows of Flanders and France. Death has visited them already. The alien soil is brown with their blood.
The motherland watches in grief as the bodies of her sons lie helpless; victims of war but not of their own making. Her feelings rack her in different mode which come and go in kaleidoscopic form. The immeasurable grief tears apart her heart; pride of her sons’ heroism overwhelms her despair. She has to bear immeasurable pain and anguish to give away her dear sons to the aliens’ demand, a gift that prove to be too unbearable to part with for her.
She has visions that one day the surge of hate and terror will come to an end. People will realize the worth of peace. Life will be remodeled into a new shape with its new found peace. Love of peace will harmonize the world. Soon everybody will be relieved of the scars of war. Soon, to the future generation the war will be retold in all its past glory, keeping aside the gory tale of agony and despair. Cenotaphs will be built in memory of the ‘soldats inconnus’ and people will gather there to offer their reverence and prayers. The motherland reminds the future generation to love and honor the heroic deeds of these martyrs who shed blood for their country
The Gift of India
Is there aught you need that my hands withhold, Rich gifts of raiment or grain or gold? Lo! I have flung to the East and West Priceless treasures torn from my breast, And yielded the sons of my stricken womb To the drum beats of duty, the sabers of doom.
Gathered like pearls in their alien graves Silent they sleep by the Persian waves, Scattered like shells on Egyptian sands, They lie with pale brows and brave, broken hands, They are strewn like blossoms mown down by chance On the blood brown meadows of Flanders and France.
Can ye measure the grief of the tears I weep Or compass the woe of the watch I keep? Or the pride that thrills thro’ my heart’s despair And the hope that comforts the anguish of prayer? And the far sad glorious vision I see Of the torn red banners of victory?
When the terror and tumult of hate shall cease And life be refashioned on anvils of peace, And your love shall offer memoriam thanks To the comrades who fought in your dauntless ranks, And you honour the deeds of the deathless ones, Remember the blood of my martyred sons. (written in August 1615)
A critical estimate of the poem
The very word ‘gift’ raises expectations, possibilities galore, because an object will change hands, a relationship is about to be established between the giver and the receiver. Naturally, a curiosity starts pecking at our minds as to what should be the nature of the gift. We perceive that the nature of gift varies according to the intention, scope, purview, time and occasion. When am object changes hands one may also ask the question- Is it spontaneous, voluntary, or by force that an object is imparted? Along with a question the word ‘gift’ receives an added dimension. The thought tickles our interest. It does so all the more because it is not a simple occasion like a birthday or a wedding ceremony that is involved.
Here, we see that the perception as a giver involves a vast country rich with natural resources. She can produce rich resources of raiment, food or gold. Already the receivers’ hands are replete with those resources that she has been giving abundantly and generously. To the delight of the takers, her resources remain strewn about in all directions. Invaders from the East such as Taimur, Chenghis Khan and other barbarians have waded their way through the rivers of blood and filled their coffers with the rich booty, whatever they lay their hands on. ‘Raiment’ perhaps symbolizes culture, ‘grain’ stands for energy and ‘gold’ wealth. From time immemorial the tradition of this country is to offer food, clothes, and other valuables to the seekers who come for shelter. But sometimes looters have acquired treasures forcibly, as is referred to the phrase here, ‘torn from my breast’.
The quality and quantity of gifts this motherland is capable of providing baffles one’s imagination. She has suffered great pains and bled a great deal (ref. ‘my stricken womb’) in order to produce her sons. Her brave off-springs are often summoned abroad to the call of duty. To the orient and the occident the sound of drums reverberates to suck these heroes into the Valley of Death’, ‘into the mouth of Hell’.
The bodies of these heroes are not simply organic matters born to die, become rotten and decayed to disintegrate and vanish into oblivion. The value of their lives can be compared to the most valuable jewel of the mother earth. So their bodies are gathered like ‘pearls’ in alien graves or ‘strewn like mown down blossoms’. They are not born to die in ignominy, but the war mongers have imposed on them the burden of war that they strategize on a table. So now these bodies are destined to lie like pearls in ‘alien graves’ or ‘scattered like shells on Egyptian sands’ and strewn like mown down blossoms on the meadows of Flanders and France. Death has visited them already. The alien soil is brown with their blood.
The motherland watches in grief as the bodies of her sons lie helpless; victims of war but not of their own making. Her feelings rack her in different mode which come and go in kaleidoscopic form. The immeasurable grief tears apart her heart; pride of her sons’ heroism overwhelms her despair. She has to bear immeasurable pain and anguish to give away her dear sons to the aliens’ demand, a gift that prove to be too unbearable to part with for her.
She has visions that one day the surge of hate and terror will come to an end. People will realize the worth of peace. Life will be remodeled into a new shape with its new found peace. Love of peace will harmonize the world. Soon everybody will be relieved of the scars of war. Soon, to the future generation the war will be retold in all its past glory, keeping aside the gory tale of agony and despair. Cenotaphs will be built in memory of the ‘soldats inconnus’ and people will gather there to offer their reverence and prayers. The motherland reminds the future generation to love and honor the heroic deeds of these martyrs who shed blood for their country
Gitas in Mahabharata - Introduction - 2
- Ramesh Mukhopadhyaya
Each gita is a kind of samvada, Samvada is often a conversation
between two or more participants. But it might be a pure narrative as
well. For example the tenth chapter of the Anu gita is entitled Parasuram
Arjuna Samvad. It dewlls on how the legendary hero Kartaviryarjuna
tormented the ocean only to learn who could be a match for him in
prowess. Once again there is the Alarka Sambad in the same Anu gita
which dramatises a conversation between Alarka and his senses.
The gitas are also, a kind of sambad. Every Chapter of the Srimad
Bhagavad Gita ends with Iti Srikrisnarjuna sambade...etc. Srimad
Bhagavad Gita has set a convention and the Gita is a unique genre in
its own right. Genre implies a convention that communicates to the
reader what is expected from it. We never go to a post office for
prayer. We never go to a church to post a letter. This is because
genres in architecture are well defined. Similarly genres in literature
are often well defined. The reader can go to a novel or a lyric, according
to what he seeks. Let us now see into the genre called gita & learn
what we could expect from it.
As we have already pointed out, the gita is often a conversation
between two persons, sometimes it is a conversation among six persons
as in Sadja Gita. There Vidura and the five brothers—the Pandavas
participate in a discourse. In other instances it is commonly, a discourse
between two persons. The Vritra gita is a discourse between the demon
Vritra and Sanat Kumar—the child of Brahma, the Creator. The
Parasara Gita has been addressed by Parasara, the saint par-excellence
who happens to be the father of the very narrator of the Mahabharata.
The addressee here is the sage king Janaka. The Hamsa Gita is a
conversation between the Creator in the shape of a Swan and a host
of gods known as Sadhyas.
Thus the two persons participating in the gita need not be men
always. There might be a demon participating in it. There might be a
swan as well. The latter adds to the gita a flavour of the fable.
The two persons could be the personas of someone’s mind &
intellect as well. The Brahman gita a sub-set of the Anu gita is a
conversation between a Brahmin & his wife. The Brahman is the
persona of one’s intellect and the wife is the persona of one’s mind.
Thus even abstract ideas participate in the conversation of the gita
reminding us of the Morality Dramas in vogue during the Middle Age
Europe.
But the gita is not always a conversation between two persons. It
could be a dramatic monologue as in the case of Manky gita. Manky
a poor man fails in his economic pursuits and takes to renunciation.
He speaks to himself about his philosophy of life. A listener could be
present there; or may be there is none.
A gita could be a decree or a sermon as in the case of Vichakhnyu
gita where the king Vichakhnyu at the sight of cows slaughtered decrees
that no animal be slaughtered at the altar of sacrifice.
Most of these gitas have been quoted by the protagonists of the
Mahabharata in response to the queries of another. Thus Bhisma quotes
the Vritra gita in response to the queries of Yudhisthira, when the great
battle at Kurukshetra was over. The same Bhisma quotes the Bodhya
gita, and Vichakhnyu gita or the Hamsa gita on different occasions.
The listener is Yudhisthira. But the Sadja gita dwells on the deliberations
among the Pandavas and Vidura, their uncle, regarding the importance
of the different necessities of life in dharma artha kama & moksha.
Srimad Bhagavad Gita is however, directly addressed to Arjuna.
Krishna is the speaker. The same gita has been however quoted by
Sanjaya to keep Dhritarastra informed of the developments at
Kurukshetra where the belligerent Kauravas & Pandavas assembled
for a fight to the finish. Thus the gita is either a conversation among
people or else it is a speech quoted by one person in course of
conversation with another. Any conversation implies two persons. One
of them is eager to know something on an issue of crucial importance
to him. He puts forward his query before the other, whom he takes in
high esteem. The other, fully satisfied with the former’s devotion to
him and eagerness to know, either answers to the query on his own or
quotes someone’s speech on likely issue, spoken earlier.
For example Arjuna bewildered and at his wits’ end knowing not
what to do at the battleground submits himself at the feet of Krishna &
says—
I am your disciple. Teach me.
Siddha, the teacher, in the Anu gita tells Kasyapa that he is
satisfied with the devotion of his disciple.
The teacher must be satisfied with the disciple.
I am happy with thee, oh you learned
Tell me what I can do for you.
You are quite deserving for what you want.
And the right time is come. (A.G.-I, 42)
Yes, utterance at the right time is one of the important features of
the gita.
Srikrishna had earlier told the gita to Arjuna at the battle ground of
Kurukshetra. The Kurukshetra battle over, Arjuna once again asked
Krishna to repeat the contents of the gita once again.
But Krishna says that he is now helpless. Because, the situation
that impelled Krishna to utter the gita at the battle-field is no longer
present. When he told the gita to Arjuna, he points out that he was
yogayukta or under the spell of ecstasy. He chides Arjuna for not
remembering what Krishna told him earlier at the battle field.
Thus, the gita has always been uttered in a fit of ecstasy. When the
speaker is beyond himself. The utterance takes place as it were for
the first time and it is unique. Since one cannot say the gita. Whenever
one wills, could we argue that speech reveals itself through its speakers
whenever it wills.
The gita like all speech has three components in the encoder/speaker,
the decoder/listener and the speech or the gita itself.
It has been already pointed out, the speakers and the listeners of
the gita are no ordinary men and women. Yudhisthira, in quest of
knowledge tells Bhisma at the outset of the Vritra Gita.
Oh Grandfather ! Though we belong to men we are born of gods, still we
suffer from worldly sorrows. (VG -1, 2)
Yudhisthira is a man born of the seed of Yama, the deity that
controls the world. The addressee, Grandfather Bhisma is also born
of a mortal father & the goddess of the river Ganges. It is the grandfather
who quotes the Vritra Gita where Vritra, a demon puts forward his
queries and Sanat Kumar, the direct descendant of the Creator Brahma,
is the teacher. The frame of these gitas are chiefly conversation between
Yudhisthira and Bhisma or between Arjuna & Krishna. In Srimad
Bhagavad Gita Krishna himself speaks the gita. In the Sadja gita
Yudhisthira and his four brothers and Bidura who is also born of Yama
participate in a discourse. In other gitas, there are more than one
order of addressor & addressee. For example in the Vritra gita, the
first order of addressor and addressee are Yudhisthira and Bhisma. At
the instance of Yudhisthira Bhisma quotes the conversation between
the fallen demon and Sanat Kumar and Sukracharya the teacher of
the demons. That is the second order of addressor & addressee. As
in Anugita, there could be a third order of addressor & addressee &
so on.
As we have already referred to the Siddha’s spech in the Anu gita,
it is evident that any Tom Dick & Harry cannot be the listener of such
gitas. In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita also Krishna observes
I tell you the most secret thing.
You are dear to me.
Hence I tell you for your well-being
Sarvaguhyatamam bhuyah srinu me paramam vacah
Istosi me dridamiti tato vakshyami te hitam. (B.G- XVIII, 64)
Krishna warns Arjuna
Never impart it to a man sans penance
or sans devotion
Don’t tell it to one who does not want to hear
Or to one who despises me. (BH.G-XVIII, 67)
This puts in one’s minds the reader’s aesthetics. To decode the
text, it needs a competent reader. While the modern critics like Riffaterre
demand of the reader certain critical faculties and certain faculties of
imagination necessary to decode a text, the Bhagavad Gita, asks
something more from the reader. (i) He should be adept in penance.
(ii) He should have reverence. (iii) He must not despise the speaker or
author. (iv) He must be willing to read or hear. But, be that as it may,
Krishna spoke to Arjuna at the battleground of Kurukshetra in the
open space so that quite a few of the warriors could hear him besides
Arjuna. Hence the gitas are not necessarily the secret lore to be
imparted to a select few. By Vedavyasa’s own admission it must be
accepted that the Mahabharata & the Puranas, have been composed
only to be imparted among the masses, irrespective of caste or creed
or sex. And yet the Mahabharata itself argues that no one can fully
decode it.
(From A Study of the Gitas in Mahabharata by Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya )
Each gita is a kind of samvada, Samvada is often a conversation
between two or more participants. But it might be a pure narrative as
well. For example the tenth chapter of the Anu gita is entitled Parasuram
Arjuna Samvad. It dewlls on how the legendary hero Kartaviryarjuna
tormented the ocean only to learn who could be a match for him in
prowess. Once again there is the Alarka Sambad in the same Anu gita
which dramatises a conversation between Alarka and his senses.
The gitas are also, a kind of sambad. Every Chapter of the Srimad
Bhagavad Gita ends with Iti Srikrisnarjuna sambade...etc. Srimad
Bhagavad Gita has set a convention and the Gita is a unique genre in
its own right. Genre implies a convention that communicates to the
reader what is expected from it. We never go to a post office for
prayer. We never go to a church to post a letter. This is because
genres in architecture are well defined. Similarly genres in literature
are often well defined. The reader can go to a novel or a lyric, according
to what he seeks. Let us now see into the genre called gita & learn
what we could expect from it.
As we have already pointed out, the gita is often a conversation
between two persons, sometimes it is a conversation among six persons
as in Sadja Gita. There Vidura and the five brothers—the Pandavas
participate in a discourse. In other instances it is commonly, a discourse
between two persons. The Vritra gita is a discourse between the demon
Vritra and Sanat Kumar—the child of Brahma, the Creator. The
Parasara Gita has been addressed by Parasara, the saint par-excellence
who happens to be the father of the very narrator of the Mahabharata.
The addressee here is the sage king Janaka. The Hamsa Gita is a
conversation between the Creator in the shape of a Swan and a host
of gods known as Sadhyas.
Thus the two persons participating in the gita need not be men
always. There might be a demon participating in it. There might be a
swan as well. The latter adds to the gita a flavour of the fable.
The two persons could be the personas of someone’s mind &
intellect as well. The Brahman gita a sub-set of the Anu gita is a
conversation between a Brahmin & his wife. The Brahman is the
persona of one’s intellect and the wife is the persona of one’s mind.
Thus even abstract ideas participate in the conversation of the gita
reminding us of the Morality Dramas in vogue during the Middle Age
Europe.
But the gita is not always a conversation between two persons. It
could be a dramatic monologue as in the case of Manky gita. Manky
a poor man fails in his economic pursuits and takes to renunciation.
He speaks to himself about his philosophy of life. A listener could be
present there; or may be there is none.
A gita could be a decree or a sermon as in the case of Vichakhnyu
gita where the king Vichakhnyu at the sight of cows slaughtered decrees
that no animal be slaughtered at the altar of sacrifice.
Most of these gitas have been quoted by the protagonists of the
Mahabharata in response to the queries of another. Thus Bhisma quotes
the Vritra gita in response to the queries of Yudhisthira, when the great
battle at Kurukshetra was over. The same Bhisma quotes the Bodhya
gita, and Vichakhnyu gita or the Hamsa gita on different occasions.
The listener is Yudhisthira. But the Sadja gita dwells on the deliberations
among the Pandavas and Vidura, their uncle, regarding the importance
of the different necessities of life in dharma artha kama & moksha.
Srimad Bhagavad Gita is however, directly addressed to Arjuna.
Krishna is the speaker. The same gita has been however quoted by
Sanjaya to keep Dhritarastra informed of the developments at
Kurukshetra where the belligerent Kauravas & Pandavas assembled
for a fight to the finish. Thus the gita is either a conversation among
people or else it is a speech quoted by one person in course of
conversation with another. Any conversation implies two persons. One
of them is eager to know something on an issue of crucial importance
to him. He puts forward his query before the other, whom he takes in
high esteem. The other, fully satisfied with the former’s devotion to
him and eagerness to know, either answers to the query on his own or
quotes someone’s speech on likely issue, spoken earlier.
For example Arjuna bewildered and at his wits’ end knowing not
what to do at the battleground submits himself at the feet of Krishna &
says—
I am your disciple. Teach me.
Siddha, the teacher, in the Anu gita tells Kasyapa that he is
satisfied with the devotion of his disciple.
The teacher must be satisfied with the disciple.
I am happy with thee, oh you learned
Tell me what I can do for you.
You are quite deserving for what you want.
And the right time is come. (A.G.-I, 42)
Yes, utterance at the right time is one of the important features of
the gita.
Srikrishna had earlier told the gita to Arjuna at the battle ground of
Kurukshetra. The Kurukshetra battle over, Arjuna once again asked
Krishna to repeat the contents of the gita once again.
But Krishna says that he is now helpless. Because, the situation
that impelled Krishna to utter the gita at the battle-field is no longer
present. When he told the gita to Arjuna, he points out that he was
yogayukta or under the spell of ecstasy. He chides Arjuna for not
remembering what Krishna told him earlier at the battle field.
Thus, the gita has always been uttered in a fit of ecstasy. When the
speaker is beyond himself. The utterance takes place as it were for
the first time and it is unique. Since one cannot say the gita. Whenever
one wills, could we argue that speech reveals itself through its speakers
whenever it wills.
The gita like all speech has three components in the encoder/speaker,
the decoder/listener and the speech or the gita itself.
It has been already pointed out, the speakers and the listeners of
the gita are no ordinary men and women. Yudhisthira, in quest of
knowledge tells Bhisma at the outset of the Vritra Gita.
Oh Grandfather ! Though we belong to men we are born of gods, still we
suffer from worldly sorrows. (VG -1, 2)
Yudhisthira is a man born of the seed of Yama, the deity that
controls the world. The addressee, Grandfather Bhisma is also born
of a mortal father & the goddess of the river Ganges. It is the grandfather
who quotes the Vritra Gita where Vritra, a demon puts forward his
queries and Sanat Kumar, the direct descendant of the Creator Brahma,
is the teacher. The frame of these gitas are chiefly conversation between
Yudhisthira and Bhisma or between Arjuna & Krishna. In Srimad
Bhagavad Gita Krishna himself speaks the gita. In the Sadja gita
Yudhisthira and his four brothers and Bidura who is also born of Yama
participate in a discourse. In other gitas, there are more than one
order of addressor & addressee. For example in the Vritra gita, the
first order of addressor and addressee are Yudhisthira and Bhisma. At
the instance of Yudhisthira Bhisma quotes the conversation between
the fallen demon and Sanat Kumar and Sukracharya the teacher of
the demons. That is the second order of addressor & addressee. As
in Anugita, there could be a third order of addressor & addressee &
so on.
As we have already referred to the Siddha’s spech in the Anu gita,
it is evident that any Tom Dick & Harry cannot be the listener of such
gitas. In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita also Krishna observes
I tell you the most secret thing.
You are dear to me.
Hence I tell you for your well-being
Sarvaguhyatamam bhuyah srinu me paramam vacah
Istosi me dridamiti tato vakshyami te hitam. (B.G- XVIII, 64)
Krishna warns Arjuna
Never impart it to a man sans penance
or sans devotion
Don’t tell it to one who does not want to hear
Or to one who despises me. (BH.G-XVIII, 67)
This puts in one’s minds the reader’s aesthetics. To decode the
text, it needs a competent reader. While the modern critics like Riffaterre
demand of the reader certain critical faculties and certain faculties of
imagination necessary to decode a text, the Bhagavad Gita, asks
something more from the reader. (i) He should be adept in penance.
(ii) He should have reverence. (iii) He must not despise the speaker or
author. (iv) He must be willing to read or hear. But, be that as it may,
Krishna spoke to Arjuna at the battleground of Kurukshetra in the
open space so that quite a few of the warriors could hear him besides
Arjuna. Hence the gitas are not necessarily the secret lore to be
imparted to a select few. By Vedavyasa’s own admission it must be
accepted that the Mahabharata & the Puranas, have been composed
only to be imparted among the masses, irrespective of caste or creed
or sex. And yet the Mahabharata itself argues that no one can fully
decode it.
(From A Study of the Gitas in Mahabharata by Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya )
Friday 16 January 2009
Hasina and Bangladesh
- Ramesh Mukhopadhyay
The smashing victory of Hasina in Bangladesh is no less remarkable than the victory of Obama in the USA With the victory of Obama the blacks have got identity all over the globe Hence forth their voice will matter more than ever It might hit hard the white chauvinism and the establishment of the Christian church Hasinas overwhelming victory will hit hard the Islamic fundamentalism that rocks the world Here a word or two about Islamic fundamentalism would not be out of place Evidence is there that Hajrat Muhammad lived with the Jews as well as Christians in amity And the Quran Sharif says that God has no intention to fool any people Hence God sends a prophet to every tongue or language Hajrat Muhammad was however was very much against idol worship which was from his standpoint another name for materialism Who is a Mussalman? According to Islam one who has submitted his body mind and soul to God is a true Mussalman B e that as it may history is the witness of religious wars or crusades between the Christians and Muslims Besides with the conquest of Mecca by Hajrat Muhammad Islam moved from strength to strength and conquered the greater part of Asia and Europe Their rule extended as far as Spain in Europe And everywhere they caused great devastations To kill infidels they believed was an act of piety This doesnot portray them any more tyrannical than the ancient Greeks or todays Christian capitalism Tyrannical though they were it were they who preserved ancient Greek culture during the Middle Ages when the so called barbarians had their field in Europe during the Middle Age Such classics as Aristotle were preserved in Arabic translation It was chiefly the scholars of king Charlemagnes court who retranslated them into European vernacular Had not Islam preserved the ancient Hellenic lore and had it not been translated into European llanguages the Renaissance of which Europe boasts would not take place In india also they let loose cruelty Despite that it were they who carried the notion of the digit zero abroad Besides their rule in India cannot be called fundamentalist in the right sense of the term True that they destroyed numerous temples They insulted the Hindus in many ways Despite Islam in India was not fundamentalist The rulers in India like Alauddin Or Muhammad Bin Tughlaq didnot establish an Islamic state or theocratic state Not even Aurangzib They may have been devoted Mussalmans But they were absolute monarchs They didnot consult the Shariat or Hadish at every step That the Moslem rulers were not fundamentalist is best illustrated by the career of Akbar Akbar gave up Islam for a religion engineered by himself which is known as Din Ilahi Din Ilahi sought to assemble all the good things of every religion May be it was a pragmatist ploy But can any head of an Islamic state do that now a days without being threatened His life will be at stake But in India Islam was not like that It was Akbar who granted approx 500 acres of land where the Sikh Golden temple was built Even Aurangzib donated land to Jains Religious fundamentalism has not as yet raised its hydrahead in India . thank God But whatever Islamic fundamentalism we find here has been the consequence of British rule and the develpment of so called communication system With the British rule communication system developed and there was the slogan of Pan Islamism Earlier the Indian Moslems looked upon India as their home But with the advent of the British and developed communication they became homeless or rather Islam became their home Or else they think that they are among infidels and they must wipe them off and the country must be ruled according to the dictates of Islam Here I want to highlight two things One those who glory over the developed communication system through internet and the like should remember that the so called development of communication system has always been catalyst in developing fundamentalism Secondly Islamic fundamentalism is no more cruel than communist fundamentalism and the christian capitalist fundamentalism I will not tarry long on the latter But let me point out that the globalisation does not intend to leave even the culture of the poorest tribe to themselves unhurt Think of the Jaroas of Andaman They proved themselves wiser than the finest scientists of the world be he from Cambridge or Harvard Because it were the Jarowas who got the premonition of Tsunami that rocked the coasts of the Bay of Bengal But the scientist will not learn anything from them A day must come when the knowledge wallas will lie at the feet of these illiterate so called barbarians Do you know how they are being protected in Andaman They live in a preserved forest and visitors go to them the very way we visit the zoo and see the animals What man has made of man Down with technology Down with civilization Secondly what has happened to the civilised man Ateacher teaches the children in the class S/he is being watched by the Headmistress seated in her chamber This is the panopticon of Bentham which has been brought to the foreground Foucault in modern times We civilised men have turned into the animals osf a zoo And this process perhaps unknowingly stated when civilisation invented the zoo Let me now switch to another point With the advent of the British Pan Islamism was so popular among quite a few that one of the founders of Communism in India claims that Pan Islamism inspired the first communists to understand the tenets of communism Dont look askance at me When Ataturk Kamal Pasha did away with the institution of Khalifa a band of Mussalmans trekked away from India with a view to reaching Turkey and telling the Moslems there that there should be quarrel among Moslem brothers On the road through machinations of M.N Roy they were stopped at Turkey and brainwashed into communists Onlookers commented that they didnot have the rudiments of political thought and that is why they were baptised bythe Soviet Russia In retort Mujaffar Ahmed who belonged to that band and who is the author of the history oof the beginnings of communism in India says that they had the idea of Pan Islamism And he is right Any thing with the prefix pan is equally torturesome unless it is pan chaos or confusion Be that as it may Pan Islamism couldnot impress everyone in lndia Let me give you the instance of Kashmir It was a princely state where the ruler was Hindu and 75% of the subjects were Moslems The freedom movement that rocked all over India under the august leadership of Mahatma Gandhi did not raise any ripple in Kashmir The Moslems in Kashmir didnot want to abolish Hindu \Monarchy there But they organised a powerful movement to realise constitutional monarchy To that end they gathered and forged a political outfit which was at the outset named Muslim Conference The very next year the name was changed into National Conference There were more than hundred founder members of the Conference Among them there was only one Hindu Despite that all the founder members excepting one voted for the name National Conference Iam not here to write the history of modern Kashmir But my point is that when all is said and done Muslims in India were not fundamentalists It was the National Conference that didnot accept two nation theory If the Moslems of Kashmir were against India Jayanta Chaudhuri could not defeat the newly born Pakistan on the banks of Jhelum Despite all these the developmewnt of communication system and onward march of capitalism has made a dent on India Beyond India all over the non muslim globe shakes in fear of Muslim fundamentalism Now let us return to pre partition India to explore another axis of our discussion contd The smashing victory of Hasina in Bangladesh is no less remarkable than the victory of Obama in the USA With the victory of Obama the blacks have got identity all over the globe Hence forth their voice will matter more than ever It might hit hard the white chauvinism and the establishment of the Christian church Hasinas overwhelming victory will hit hard the Islamic fundamentalism that rocks the world Here a word or two about Islamic fundamentalism would not be out of place Evidence is there that Hajrat Muhammad lived with the Jews as well as Christians in amity And the Quran Sharif says that God has no intention to fool any people Hence God sends a prophet to every tongue or language Hajrat Muhammad was however was very much against idol worship which was from his standpoint another name for materialism Who is a Mussalman? According to Islam one who has submitted his body mind and soul is a true Mussalman B e that as it may history is the witness of religious wars or crusades between the Christians and Muslims Besides with the conquest of Mecca by Hajrat Muhammad Islam moved from strength to strength and conquered the greater part of Asia and Europe Their rule extended as far as Spain in Europe And everywhere they caused great devastations To kill infidels they believed was an act of piety This doesnot portray them any more tyrannical than the ancient Greeks or todays Christian capitalism Tyrannical though they were it were they who preserved ancient Greek culture during the Middle Ages when the so called barbarians had their field in Europe during the Middle Age Such classics as Aristotle were preserved in Arabic translation It was chiefly the scholars of king Charlemagnes court who retranslated them into European vernacular Had not Islam preserved the ancient Hellenic lore and had it not been translated into European llanguages the Renaissance of which Europe boasts would not take place In india also they let loose cruelty Despite that it were they who carried the notion of the digit zero abroad Besides their rule in India cannot be called fundamentalist in the right sense of the term True that they destroyed numerous temples They insulted the Hindus in many ways Despite Islam in India was not fundamentalist The rulers in India like Alauddin Or Muhammad Bin Tughlaq didnot establish an Islamic state or theocratic state Not even Aurangzib They may have been devoted Mussalmans But they were absolute monarchs They didnot consult the Shariat or Hadish at every step That the Moslem rulers were not fundamentalist is best illustrated by the career of Akbar Akbar gave up Islam for a religion engineered by himself which is known as Din Ilahi Din Ilahi sought to assemble all the good things of every religion May be it was a pragmatist ploy But can any head of an Islamic state do that now a days without being threatened His life will be at stake But in India Islam was not like that It was Akbar who granted approx 500 acres of land where the Sikh Golden temple was built Even Aurangzib donated land to Jains Religious fundamentalism has not as yet raised its hydrahead in India . thank God But whatever Islamic fundamentalism we find here has been the consequence of British rule and the develpment of so called communication system With the British rule communication system developed and there was the slogan of Pan Islamism Earlier the Indian Moslems looked upon India as their home But with the advent of the British and developed communication they became homeless or rather Islam became their home Or else they think that they are among infidels and they must wipe them off and the country must be ruled according to the dictates of Islam Here I want to highlight two things One those who glory over the developed communication system through internet and the like should remember that the so called development of communication system has always been catalyst in developing fundamentalism Secondly Islamic fundamentalism is no more cruel than communist fundamentalism and the christian capitalist fundamentalism I will not tarry long on the latter But let me point out that the globalisation does not intend to leave even the culture of the poorest tribe to themselves unhurt Think of the Jaroas of Andaman They proved themselves wiser than the finest scientists of the world be he from Cambridge or Harvard Because it were the Jarowas who got the premonition of Tsunami that rocked the coasts of the Bay of Bengal But the scientist will not learn anything from them A day must come when the knowledge wallas will lie at the feet of these illiterate so called barbarians Do you know how they are being protected in Andaman They live in a preserved forest and visitors go to them the very way we visit the zoo and see the animals What man has made of man Down with technology Down with civilization Secondly what has happened to the civilised man Ateacher teaches the children in the class S/he is being watched by the Headmistress seated in her chamber This is the panopticon of Bentham which has been brought to the foreground Foucault in modern times We civilised men have turned into the animals osf a zoo And this process perhaps unknowingly stated when civilisation invented the zoo Let me now switch to another point With the advent of the British Pan Islamism was so popular among quite a few that one of the founders of Communism in India claims that Pan Islamism inspired the first communists to understand the tenets of communism Dont look askance at me When Ataturk Kamal Pasha did away with the institution of Khalifa a band of Mussalmans trekked away from India with a view to reaching Turkey and telling the Moslems there that there should be quarrel among Moslem brothers On the road through machinations of M.N Roy they were stopped at Turkey and brainwashed into communists Onlookers commented that they didnot have the rudiments of political thought and that is why they were baptised bythe Soviet Russia In retort Mujaffar Ahmed who belonged to that band and who is the author of the history oof the beginnings of communism in India says that they had the idea of Pan Islamism And he is right Any thing with the prefix pan is equally torturesome unless it is pan chaos or confusion Be that as it may Pan Islamism couldnot impress everyone in lndia Let me give you the instance of Kashmir It was a princely state where the ruler was Hindu and 75% of the subjects were Moslems The freedom movement that rocked all over India under the august leadership of Mahatma Gandhi did not raise any ripple in Kashmir The Moslems in Kashmir didnot want to abolish Hindu \Monarchy there But they organised a powerful movement to realise constitutional monarchy To that end they gathered and forged a political outfit which was at the outset named Muslim Conference The very next year the name was changed into National Conference There were more than hundred founder members of the Conference Among them there was only one Hindu Despite that all the founder members excepting one voted for the name National Conference Iam not here to write the history of modern Kashmir But my point is that when all is said and done Muslims in India were not fundamentalists It was the National Conference that didnot accept two nation theory If the Moslems of Kashmir were against India Jayanta Chaudhuri could not defeat the newly born Pakistan on the banks of Jhelum Despite all these the developmewnt of communication system and onward march of capitalism has made a dent on India Beyond India all over the non muslim globe shakes in fear of Muslim fundamentalism Now let us return to pre partition India to explore another axis of our discussion contd
The smashing victory of Hasina in Bangladesh is no less remarkable than the victory of Obama in the USA With the victory of Obama the blacks have got identity all over the globe Hence forth their voice will matter more than ever It might hit hard the white chauvinism and the establishment of the Christian church Hasinas overwhelming victory will hit hard the Islamic fundamentalism that rocks the world Here a word or two about Islamic fundamentalism would not be out of place Evidence is there that Hajrat Muhammad lived with the Jews as well as Christians in amity And the Quran Sharif says that God has no intention to fool any people Hence God sends a prophet to every tongue or language Hajrat Muhammad was however was very much against idol worship which was from his standpoint another name for materialism Who is a Mussalman? According to Islam one who has submitted his body mind and soul is a true Mussalman B e that as it may history is the witness of religious wars or crusades between the Christians and Muslims Besides with the conquest of Mecca by Hajrat Muhammad Islam moved from strength to strength and conquered the greater part of Asia and Europe Their rule extended as far as Spain in Europe And everywhere they caused great devastations To kill infidels they believed was an act of piety This doesnot portray them any more tyrannical than the ancient Greeks or todays Christian capitalism Tyrannical though they were it were they who preserved ancient Greek culture during the Middle Ages when the so called barbarians had their field in Europe during the Middle Age Such classics as Aristotle were preserved in Arabic translation It was chiefly the scholars of king Charlemagnes court who retranslated them into European vernacular Had not Islam preserved the ancient Hellenic lore and had it not been translated into European llanguages the Renaissance of which Europe boasts would not take place In india also they let loose cruelty Despite that it were they who carried the notion of the digit zero abroad Besides their rule in India cannot be called fundamentalist in the right sense of the term True that they destroyed numerous temples They insulted the Hindus in many ways Despite Islam in India was not fundamentalist The rulers in India like Alauddin Or Muhammad Bin Tughlaq didnot establish an Islamic state or theocratic state Not even Aurangzib They may have been devoted Mussalmans But they were absolute monarchs They didnot consult the Shariat or Hadish at every step That the Moslem rulers were not fundamentalist is best illustrated by the career of Akbar Akbar gave up Islam for a religion engineered by himself which is known as Din Ilahi Din Ilahi sought to assemble all the good things of every religion May be it was a pragmatist ploy But can any head of an Islamic state do that now a days without being threatened His life will be at stake But in India Islam was not like that It was Akbar who granted approx 500 acres of land where the Sikh Golden temple was built Even Aurangzib donated land to Jains Religious fundamentalism has not as yet raised its hydrahead in India . thank God But whatever Islamic fundamentalism we find here has been the consequence of British rule and the develpment of so called communication system With the British rule communication system developed and there was the slogan of Pan Islamism Earlier the Indian Moslems looked upon India as their home But with the advent of the British and developed communication they became homeless or rather Islam became their home Or else they think that they are among infidels and they must wipe them off and the country must be ruled according to the dictates of Islam Here I want to highlight two things One those who glory over the developed communication system through internet and the like should remember that the so called development of communication system has always been catalyst in developing fundamentalism Secondly Islamic fundamentalism is no more cruel than communist fundamentalism and the christian capitalist fundamentalism I will not tarry long on the latter But let me point out that the globalisation does not intend to leave even the culture of the poorest tribe to themselves unhurt Think of the Jaroas of Andaman They proved themselves wiser than the finest scientists of the world be he from Cambridge or Harvard Because it were the Jarowas who got the premonition of Tsunami that rocked the coasts of the Bay of Bengal But the scientist will not learn anything from them A day must come when the knowledge wallas will lie at the feet of these illiterate so called barbarians Do you know how they are being protected in Andaman They live in a preserved forest and visitors go to them the very way we visit the zoo and see the animals What man has made of man Down with technology Down with civilization Secondly what has happened to the civilised man Ateacher teaches the children in the class S/he is being watched by the Headmistress seated in her chamber This is the panopticon of Bentham which has been brought to the foreground Foucault in modern times We civilised men have turned into the animals osf a zoo And this process perhaps unknowingly stated when civilisation invented the zoo Let me now switch to another point With the advent of the British Pan Islamism was so popular among quite a few that one of the founders of Communism in India claims that Pan Islamism inspired the first communists to understand the tenets of communism Dont look askance at me When Ataturk Kamal Pasha did away with the institution of Khalifa a band of Mussalmans trekked away from India with a view to reaching Turkey and telling the Moslems there that there should be quarrel among Moslem brothers On the road through machinations of M.N Roy they were stopped at Turkey and brainwashed into communists Onlookers commented that they didnot have the rudiments of political thought and that is why they were baptised bythe Soviet Russia In retort Mujaffar Ahmed who belonged to that band and who is the author of the history oof the beginnings of communism in India says that they had the idea of Pan Islamism And he is right Any thing with the prefix pan is equally torturesome unless it is pan chaos or confusion Be that as it may Pan Islamism couldnot impress everyone in lndia Let me give you the instance of Kashmir It was a princely state where the ruler was Hindu and 75% of the subjects were Moslems The freedom movement that rocked all over India under the august leadership of Mahatma Gandhi did not raise any ripple in Kashmir The Moslems in Kashmir didnot want to abolish Hindu \Monarchy there But they organised a powerful movement to realise constitutional monarchy To that end they gathered and forged a political outfit which was at the outset named Muslim Conference The very next year the name was changed into National Conference There were more than hundred founder members of the Conference Among them there was only one Hindu Despite that all the founder members excepting one voted for the name National Conference Iam not here to write the history of modern Kashmir But my point is that when all is said and done Muslims in India were not fundamentalists It was the National Conference that didnot accept two nation theory If the Moslems of Kashmir were against India Jayanta Chaudhuri could not defeat the newly born Pakistan on the banks of Jhelum Despite all these the developmewnt of communication system and onward march of capitalism has made a dent on India Beyond India all over the non muslim globe shakes in fear of Muslim fundamentalism Now let us return to pre partition India to explore another axis of our discussion contd The smashing victory of Hasina in Bangladesh is no less remarkable than the victory of Obama in the USA With the victory of Obama the blacks have got identity all over the globe Hence forth their voice will matter more than ever It might hit hard the white chauvinism and the establishment of the Christian church Hasinas overwhelming victory will hit hard the Islamic fundamentalism that rocks the world Here a word or two about Islamic fundamentalism would not be out of place Evidence is there that Hajrat Muhammad lived with the Jews as well as Christians in amity And the Quran Sharif says that God has no intention to fool any people Hence God sends a prophet to every tongue or language Hajrat Muhammad was however was very much against idol worship which was from his standpoint another name for materialism Who is a Mussalman? According to Islam one who has submitted his body mind and soul is a true Mussalman B e that as it may history is the witness of religious wars or crusades between the Christians and Muslims Besides with the conquest of Mecca by Hajrat Muhammad Islam moved from strength to strength and conquered the greater part of Asia and Europe Their rule extended as far as Spain in Europe And everywhere they caused great devastations To kill infidels they believed was an act of piety This doesnot portray them any more tyrannical than the ancient Greeks or todays Christian capitalism Tyrannical though they were it were they who preserved ancient Greek culture during the Middle Ages when the so called barbarians had their field in Europe during the Middle Age Such classics as Aristotle were preserved in Arabic translation It was chiefly the scholars of king Charlemagnes court who retranslated them into European vernacular Had not Islam preserved the ancient Hellenic lore and had it not been translated into European llanguages the Renaissance of which Europe boasts would not take place In india also they let loose cruelty Despite that it were they who carried the notion of the digit zero abroad Besides their rule in India cannot be called fundamentalist in the right sense of the term True that they destroyed numerous temples They insulted the Hindus in many ways Despite Islam in India was not fundamentalist The rulers in India like Alauddin Or Muhammad Bin Tughlaq didnot establish an Islamic state or theocratic state Not even Aurangzib They may have been devoted Mussalmans But they were absolute monarchs They didnot consult the Shariat or Hadish at every step That the Moslem rulers were not fundamentalist is best illustrated by the career of Akbar Akbar gave up Islam for a religion engineered by himself which is known as Din Ilahi Din Ilahi sought to assemble all the good things of every religion May be it was a pragmatist ploy But can any head of an Islamic state do that now a days without being threatened His life will be at stake But in India Islam was not like that It was Akbar who granted approx 500 acres of land where the Sikh Golden temple was built Even Aurangzib donated land to Jains Religious fundamentalism has not as yet raised its hydrahead in India . thank God But whatever Islamic fundamentalism we find here has been the consequence of British rule and the develpment of so called communication system With the British rule communication system developed and there was the slogan of Pan Islamism Earlier the Indian Moslems looked upon India as their home But with the advent of the British and developed communication they became homeless or rather Islam became their home Or else they think that they are among infidels and they must wipe them off and the country must be ruled according to the dictates of Islam Here I want to highlight two things One those who glory over the developed communication system through internet and the like should remember that the so called development of communication system has always been catalyst in developing fundamentalism Secondly Islamic fundamentalism is no more cruel than communist fundamentalism and the christian capitalist fundamentalism I will not tarry long on the latter But let me point out that the globalisation does not intend to leave even the culture of the poorest tribe to themselves unhurt Think of the Jaroas of Andaman They proved themselves wiser than the finest scientists of the world be he from Cambridge or Harvard Because it were the Jarowas who got the premonition of Tsunami that rocked the coasts of the Bay of Bengal But the scientist will not learn anything from them A day must come when the knowledge wallas will lie at the feet of these illiterate so called barbarians Do you know how they are being protected in Andaman They live in a preserved forest and visitors go to them the very way we visit the zoo and see the animals What man has made of man Down with technology Down with civilization Secondly what has happened to the civilised man Ateacher teaches the children in the class S/he is being watched by the Headmistress seated in her chamber This is the panopticon of Bentham which has been brought to the foreground Foucault in modern times We civilised men have turned into the animals osf a zoo And this process perhaps unknowingly stated when civilisation invented the zoo Let me now switch to another point With the advent of the British Pan Islamism was so popular among quite a few that one of the founders of Communism in India claims that Pan Islamism inspired the first communists to understand the tenets of communism Dont look askance at me When Ataturk Kamal Pasha did away with the institution of Khalifa a band of Mussalmans trekked away from India with a view to reaching Turkey and telling the Moslems there that there should be quarrel among Moslem brothers On the road through machinations of M.N Roy they were stopped at Turkey and brainwashed into communists Onlookers commented that they didnot have the rudiments of political thought and that is why they were baptised bythe Soviet Russia In retort Mujaffar Ahmed who belonged to that band and who is the author of the history oof the beginnings of communism in India says that they had the idea of Pan Islamism And he is right Any thing with the prefix pan is equally torturesome unless it is pan chaos or confusion Be that as it may Pan Islamism couldnot impress everyone in lndia Let me give you the instance of Kashmir It was a princely state where the ruler was Hindu and 75% of the subjects were Moslems The freedom movement that rocked all over India under the august leadership of Mahatma Gandhi did not raise any ripple in Kashmir The Moslems in Kashmir didnot want to abolish Hindu \Monarchy there But they organised a powerful movement to realise constitutional monarchy To that end they gathered and forged a political outfit which was at the outset named Muslim Conference The very next year the name was changed into National Conference There were more than hundred founder members of the Conference Among them there was only one Hindu Despite that all the founder members excepting one voted for the name National Conference Iam not here to write the history of modern Kashmir But my point is that when all is said and done Muslims in India were not fundamentalists It was the National Conference that didnot accept two nation theory If the Moslems of Kashmir were against India Jayanta Chaudhuri could not defeat the newly born Pakistan on the banks of Jhelum Despite all these the developmewnt of communication system and onward march of capitalism has made a dent on India Beyond India all over the non muslim globe shakes in fear of Muslim fundamentalism Now let us return to pre partition India to explore another axis of our discussion contd
The smashing victory of Hasina in Bangladesh is no less remarkable than the victory of Obama in the USA With the victory of Obama the blacks have got identity all over the globe Hence forth their voice will matter more than ever It might hit hard the white chauvinism and the establishment of the Christian church Hasinas overwhelming victory will hit hard the Islamic fundamentalism that rocks the world Here a word or two about Islamic fundamentalism would not be out of place Evidence is there that Hajrat Muhammad lived with the Jews as well as Christians in amity And the Quran Sharif says that God has no intention to fool any people Hence God sends a prophet to every tongue or language Hajrat Muhammad was however was very much against idol worship which was from his standpoint another name for materialism Who is a Mussalman? According to Islam one who has submitted his body mind and soul is a true Mussalman B e that as it may history is the witness of religious wars or crusades between the Christians and Muslims Besides with the conquest of Mecca by Hajrat Muhammad Islam moved from strength to strength and conquered the greater part of Asia and Europe Their rule extended as far as Spain in Europe And everywhere they caused great devastations To kill infidels they believed was an act of piety This doesnot portray them any more tyrannical than the ancient Greeks or todays Christian capitalism Tyrannical though they were it were they who preserved ancient Greek culture during the Middle Ages when the so called barbarians had their field in Europe during the Middle Age Such classics as Aristotle were preserved in Arabic translation It was chiefly the scholars of king Charlemagnes court who retranslated them into European vernacular Had not Islam preserved the ancient Hellenic lore and had it not been translated into European llanguages the Renaissance of which Europe boasts would not take place In india also they let loose cruelty Despite that it were they who carried the notion of the digit zero abroad Besides their rule in India cannot be called fundamentalist in the right sense of the term True that they destroyed numerous temples They insulted the Hindus in many ways Despite Islam in India was not fundamentalist The rulers in India like Alauddin Or Muhammad Bin Tughlaq didnot establish an Islamic state or theocratic state Not even Aurangzib They may have been devoted Mussalmans But they were absolute monarchs They didnot consult the Shariat or Hadish at every step That the Moslem rulers were not fundamentalist is best illustrated by the career of Akbar Akbar gave up Islam for a religion engineered by himself which is known as Din Ilahi Din Ilahi sought to assemble all the good things of every religion May be it was a pragmatist ploy But can any head of an Islamic state do that now a days without being threatened His life will be at stake But in India Islam was not like that It was Akbar who granted approx 500 acres of land where the Sikh Golden temple was built Even Aurangzib donated land to Jains Religious fundamentalism has not as yet raised its hydrahead in India . thank God But whatever Islamic fundamentalism we find here has been the consequence of British rule and the develpment of so called communication system With the British rule communication system developed and there was the slogan of Pan Islamism Earlier the Indian Moslems looked upon India as their home But with the advent of the British and developed communication they became homeless or rather Islam became their home Or else they think that they are among infidels and they must wipe them off and the country must be ruled according to the dictates of Islam Here I want to highlight two things One those who glory over the developed communication system through internet and the like should remember that the so called development of communication system has always been catalyst in developing fundamentalism Secondly Islamic fundamentalism is no more cruel than communist fundamentalism and the christian capitalist fundamentalism I will not tarry long on the latter But let me point out that the globalisation does not intend to leave even the culture of the poorest tribe to themselves unhurt Think of the Jaroas of Andaman They proved themselves wiser than the finest scientists of the world be he from Cambridge or Harvard Because it were the Jarowas who got the premonition of Tsunami that rocked the coasts of the Bay of Bengal But the scientist will not learn anything from them A day must come when the knowledge wallas will lie at the feet of these illiterate so called barbarians Do you know how they are being protected in Andaman They live in a preserved forest and visitors go to them the very way we visit the zoo and see the animals What man has made of man Down with technology Down with civilization Secondly what has happened to the civilised man Ateacher teaches the children in the class S/he is being watched by the Headmistress seated in her chamber This is the panopticon of Bentham which has been brought to the foreground Foucault in modern times We civilised men have turned into the animals osf a zoo And this process perhaps unknowingly stated when civilisation invented the zoo Let me now switch to another point With the advent of the British Pan Islamism was so popular among quite a few that one of the founders of Communism in India claims that Pan Islamism inspired the first communists to understand the tenets of communism Dont look askance at me When Ataturk Kamal Pasha did away with the institution of Khalifa a band of Mussalmans trekked away from India with a view to reaching Turkey and telling the Moslems there that there should be quarrel among Moslem brothers On the road through machinations of M.N Roy they were stopped at Turkey and brainwashed into communists Onlookers commented that they didnot have the rudiments of political thought and that is why they were baptised bythe Soviet Russia In retort Mujaffar Ahmed who belonged to that band and who is the author of the history oof the beginnings of communism in India says that they had the idea of Pan Islamism And he is right Any thing with the prefix pan is equally torturesome unless it is pan chaos or confusion Be that as it may Pan Islamism couldnot impress everyone in lndia Let me give you the instance of Kashmir It was a princely state where the ruler was Hindu and 75% of the subjects were Moslems The freedom movement that rocked all over India under the august leadership of Mahatma Gandhi did not raise any ripple in Kashmir The Moslems in Kashmir didnot want to abolish Hindu \Monarchy there But they organised a powerful movement to realise constitutional monarchy To that end they gathered and forged a political outfit which was at the outset named Muslim Conference The very next year the name was changed into National Conference There were more than hundred founder members of the Conference Among them there was only one Hindu Despite that all the founder members excepting one voted for the name National Conference Iam not here to write the history of modern Kashmir But my point is that when all is said and done Muslims in India were not fundamentalists It was the National Conference that didnot accept two nation theory If the Moslems of Kashmir were against India Jayanta Chaudhuri could not defeat the newly born Pakistan on the banks of Jhelum Despite all these the developmewnt of communication system and onward march of capitalism has made a dent on India Beyond India all over the non muslim globe shakes in fear of Muslim fundamentalism Now let us return to pre partition India to explore another axis of our discussion contd
let us go back to pre partition I ndia It is curious to note that the count of Moslem population in the then Bengal was larger than the Moslem population of any other part of India How come this could happen is a moot point to the historians Because the Sultans and Badsahs ruled from Delhi Hence it would be quite natural if Moslem population were the largest in Delhi and its neighbourhood Be that as it may let subedars and nawabs whatever they could, roughly speaking the Moslems and Hindus lived in amity in Bengal during the Moslem period In so caled folk cultures the two communities mingled in such a way that you could not distinguish and theirs was a culture qualitatively different from the North Indian culture Moslem fundamentalism flourished in UP Firstly it were the British who taught the Moslems that Urdu was their and taught the North Indian Hindus that Hindi was their language Secondly many things though could be said in defence of Sir Syed Ahmed it was he who was all for Moslems in a sense But Bengal was different from Northern India Even the English educated Moslems unlike Sir Syed were great admirers of the Hindus granted that the upper caste Hindus exploited them very much Unlike the Moslems in UP the majority of the Moslems here were poor The avant garde Moslem poets like Jasimuddin wrote in praise of Vaisnavism In the meantime a great event happened in the realm of Islam There was a religious conference of Moslems at Lahore and one Ahmed outwitted everyone there with his interpretation of the Quran Just as our Swami Vivekananda conquered Chicago so did Ahmed conquer Lahore What new did he say ? well it is said in the Quran that Hajrat Muhammad has been the last of the prophets and the greatest among all of them. Fine..But Ahmed argued it is told in Holy Quran that the Almighty is closer to you than your jugular vein In other words the Almighty resides in every being So Ahmed argued that although absolute god realisation can not happen to anyone after Muhammad partial god realisation is possible for everyone This contrary to the established Islam In fact let American boast whatever it can Islam in the world today moves from strength to strength There is no denial of it One explanation of the same is that since official Islam has declared that god realisation after Hajrat Muhammad is impossible the establishments interpretation should be the last word Any variation from that would be heresy This is why Bahaists have been expelled from Iran and the Ahmedias the followers of Ahmed were deemed heretics by the mainstream of Islam But I donot how the majority of the masses and the intellectuals among the Muslims in Bangladesh are Ahmedias In the pre partition India moslems were concentrated in the eatern part of Bengal In 1905 Lord Curzon was the Viceroy of India and his seat was Calcutta Till 1911 Calcutta was the capital of India In1905 Lord Curzon largely for administrative convenience decreed the partition of Bengal If the partition were accepted then the East Bengal might not part from India in 1947 Because they would have Moslem rule What new Pakistan could give them ? The partition of Bengal movement was a blunder Since the partition did not take place in 1905 it was realised in 1947 at the cost of lot of blood The Moslems triggered fierce riots Well presntly after partition in 1947 the Moslem Bengalees were getting settled But East Bemngal then East Pakistan became a colony of Palkistan The Ahmedias are persecuted in Palkistan Besides Pakistan wanted to thrust Urdu language upon the Moslem Bengalees In fact You cannot distinguish Moslem, Bengalis from other Bengalis on the surface in West Bengal even today Although Moslem culture in East Pakistan tried to distinguish itself from the Hindus Still they were very much Bengali When they were asked to give up their mother tongue they revolted against Pakistan and became a free nation called Bangladesh During the struggle in Bangladesh for freedom India helped Bagladesh Pakistan at that time brought many Urdu speaking North Indians who had migrated to Pakistan to quell the revolt Pakistani army was also there When Bangla desh was liberated those Urdu speaking men didnot go away from Bangladesh It were they who fanned fundamentalism anti Hinduism and anti Indianism A large neighbouring country is always feared by smaller countries So fundamentalism and anti Lndianism spread easily in Bangladesh The post independence Bengali culture was so steeped in Tagore and since the majority there are Ahmedians fundamentalism could not dominate ultimately This is what we read from Hasinas victory Why is it internationally important Well Bangladesh is the motherland of sometyhing like 12c rores of Muslims If such a great population votes against funadamentalism dont you think that this is a great jolt to pan Islamic fundamentalism ? Concluded
The smashing victory of Hasina in Bangladesh is no less remarkable than the victory of Obama in the USA With the victory of Obama the blacks have got identity all over the globe Hence forth their voice will matter more than ever It might hit hard the white chauvinism and the establishment of the Christian church Hasinas overwhelming victory will hit hard the Islamic fundamentalism that rocks the world Here a word or two about Islamic fundamentalism would not be out of place Evidence is there that Hajrat Muhammad lived with the Jews as well as Christians in amity And the Quran Sharif says that God has no intention to fool any people Hence God sends a prophet to every tongue or language Hajrat Muhammad was however was very much against idol worship which was from his standpoint another name for materialism Who is a Mussalman? According to Islam one who has submitted his body mind and soul to God is a true Mussalman B e that as it may history is the witness of religious wars or crusades between the Christians and Muslims Besides with the conquest of Mecca by Hajrat Muhammad Islam moved from strength to strength and conquered the greater part of Asia and Europe Their rule extended as far as Spain in Europe And everywhere they caused great devastations To kill infidels they believed was an act of piety This doesnot portray them any more tyrannical than the ancient Greeks or todays Christian capitalism Tyrannical though they were it were they who preserved ancient Greek culture during the Middle Ages when the so called barbarians had their field in Europe during the Middle Age Such classics as Aristotle were preserved in Arabic translation It was chiefly the scholars of king Charlemagnes court who retranslated them into European vernacular Had not Islam preserved the ancient Hellenic lore and had it not been translated into European llanguages the Renaissance of which Europe boasts would not take place In india also they let loose cruelty Despite that it were they who carried the notion of the digit zero abroad Besides their rule in India cannot be called fundamentalist in the right sense of the term True that they destroyed numerous temples They insulted the Hindus in many ways Despite Islam in India was not fundamentalist The rulers in India like Alauddin Or Muhammad Bin Tughlaq didnot establish an Islamic state or theocratic state Not even Aurangzib They may have been devoted Mussalmans But they were absolute monarchs They didnot consult the Shariat or Hadish at every step That the Moslem rulers were not fundamentalist is best illustrated by the career of Akbar Akbar gave up Islam for a religion engineered by himself which is known as Din Ilahi Din Ilahi sought to assemble all the good things of every religion May be it was a pragmatist ploy But can any head of an Islamic state do that now a days without being threatened His life will be at stake But in India Islam was not like that It was Akbar who granted approx 500 acres of land where the Sikh Golden temple was built Even Aurangzib donated land to Jains Religious fundamentalism has not as yet raised its hydrahead in India . thank God But whatever Islamic fundamentalism we find here has been the consequence of British rule and the develpment of so called communication system With the British rule communication system developed and there was the slogan of Pan Islamism Earlier the Indian Moslems looked upon India as their home But with the advent of the British and developed communication they became homeless or rather Islam became their home Or else they think that they are among infidels and they must wipe them off and the country must be ruled according to the dictates of Islam Here I want to highlight two things One those who glory over the developed communication system through internet and the like should remember that the so called development of communication system has always been catalyst in developing fundamentalism Secondly Islamic fundamentalism is no more cruel than communist fundamentalism and the christian capitalist fundamentalism I will not tarry long on the latter But let me point out that the globalisation does not intend to leave even the culture of the poorest tribe to themselves unhurt Think of the Jaroas of Andaman They proved themselves wiser than the finest scientists of the world be he from Cambridge or Harvard Because it were the Jarowas who got the premonition of Tsunami that rocked the coasts of the Bay of Bengal But the scientist will not learn anything from them A day must come when the knowledge wallas will lie at the feet of these illiterate so called barbarians Do you know how they are being protected in Andaman They live in a preserved forest and visitors go to them the very way we visit the zoo and see the animals What man has made of man Down with technology Down with civilization Secondly what has happened to the civilised man Ateacher teaches the children in the class S/he is being watched by the Headmistress seated in her chamber This is the panopticon of Bentham which has been brought to the foreground Foucault in modern times We civilised men have turned into the animals osf a zoo And this process perhaps unknowingly stated when civilisation invented the zoo Let me now switch to another point With the advent of the British Pan Islamism was so popular among quite a few that one of the founders of Communism in India claims that Pan Islamism inspired the first communists to understand the tenets of communism Dont look askance at me When Ataturk Kamal Pasha did away with the institution of Khalifa a band of Mussalmans trekked away from India with a view to reaching Turkey and telling the Moslems there that there should be quarrel among Moslem brothers On the road through machinations of M.N Roy they were stopped at Turkey and brainwashed into communists Onlookers commented that they didnot have the rudiments of political thought and that is why they were baptised bythe Soviet Russia In retort Mujaffar Ahmed who belonged to that band and who is the author of the history oof the beginnings of communism in India says that they had the idea of Pan Islamism And he is right Any thing with the prefix pan is equally torturesome unless it is pan chaos or confusion Be that as it may Pan Islamism couldnot impress everyone in lndia Let me give you the instance of Kashmir It was a princely state where the ruler was Hindu and 75% of the subjects were Moslems The freedom movement that rocked all over India under the august leadership of Mahatma Gandhi did not raise any ripple in Kashmir The Moslems in Kashmir didnot want to abolish Hindu \Monarchy there But they organised a powerful movement to realise constitutional monarchy To that end they gathered and forged a political outfit which was at the outset named Muslim Conference The very next year the name was changed into National Conference There were more than hundred founder members of the Conference Among them there was only one Hindu Despite that all the founder members excepting one voted for the name National Conference Iam not here to write the history of modern Kashmir But my point is that when all is said and done Muslims in India were not fundamentalists It was the National Conference that didnot accept two nation theory If the Moslems of Kashmir were against India Jayanta Chaudhuri could not defeat the newly born Pakistan on the banks of Jhelum Despite all these the developmewnt of communication system and onward march of capitalism has made a dent on India Beyond India all over the non muslim globe shakes in fear of Muslim fundamentalism Now let us return to pre partition India to explore another axis of our discussion contd The smashing victory of Hasina in Bangladesh is no less remarkable than the victory of Obama in the USA With the victory of Obama the blacks have got identity all over the globe Hence forth their voice will matter more than ever It might hit hard the white chauvinism and the establishment of the Christian church Hasinas overwhelming victory will hit hard the Islamic fundamentalism that rocks the world Here a word or two about Islamic fundamentalism would not be out of place Evidence is there that Hajrat Muhammad lived with the Jews as well as Christians in amity And the Quran Sharif says that God has no intention to fool any people Hence God sends a prophet to every tongue or language Hajrat Muhammad was however was very much against idol worship which was from his standpoint another name for materialism Who is a Mussalman? According to Islam one who has submitted his body mind and soul is a true Mussalman B e that as it may history is the witness of religious wars or crusades between the Christians and Muslims Besides with the conquest of Mecca by Hajrat Muhammad Islam moved from strength to strength and conquered the greater part of Asia and Europe Their rule extended as far as Spain in Europe And everywhere they caused great devastations To kill infidels they believed was an act of piety This doesnot portray them any more tyrannical than the ancient Greeks or todays Christian capitalism Tyrannical though they were it were they who preserved ancient Greek culture during the Middle Ages when the so called barbarians had their field in Europe during the Middle Age Such classics as Aristotle were preserved in Arabic translation It was chiefly the scholars of king Charlemagnes court who retranslated them into European vernacular Had not Islam preserved the ancient Hellenic lore and had it not been translated into European llanguages the Renaissance of which Europe boasts would not take place In india also they let loose cruelty Despite that it were they who carried the notion of the digit zero abroad Besides their rule in India cannot be called fundamentalist in the right sense of the term True that they destroyed numerous temples They insulted the Hindus in many ways Despite Islam in India was not fundamentalist The rulers in India like Alauddin Or Muhammad Bin Tughlaq didnot establish an Islamic state or theocratic state Not even Aurangzib They may have been devoted Mussalmans But they were absolute monarchs They didnot consult the Shariat or Hadish at every step That the Moslem rulers were not fundamentalist is best illustrated by the career of Akbar Akbar gave up Islam for a religion engineered by himself which is known as Din Ilahi Din Ilahi sought to assemble all the good things of every religion May be it was a pragmatist ploy But can any head of an Islamic state do that now a days without being threatened His life will be at stake But in India Islam was not like that It was Akbar who granted approx 500 acres of land where the Sikh Golden temple was built Even Aurangzib donated land to Jains Religious fundamentalism has not as yet raised its hydrahead in India . thank God But whatever Islamic fundamentalism we find here has been the consequence of British rule and the develpment of so called communication system With the British rule communication system developed and there was the slogan of Pan Islamism Earlier the Indian Moslems looked upon India as their home But with the advent of the British and developed communication they became homeless or rather Islam became their home Or else they think that they are among infidels and they must wipe them off and the country must be ruled according to the dictates of Islam Here I want to highlight two things One those who glory over the developed communication system through internet and the like should remember that the so called development of communication system has always been catalyst in developing fundamentalism Secondly Islamic fundamentalism is no more cruel than communist fundamentalism and the christian capitalist fundamentalism I will not tarry long on the latter But let me point out that the globalisation does not intend to leave even the culture of the poorest tribe to themselves unhurt Think of the Jaroas of Andaman They proved themselves wiser than the finest scientists of the world be he from Cambridge or Harvard Because it were the Jarowas who got the premonition of Tsunami that rocked the coasts of the Bay of Bengal But the scientist will not learn anything from them A day must come when the knowledge wallas will lie at the feet of these illiterate so called barbarians Do you know how they are being protected in Andaman They live in a preserved forest and visitors go to them the very way we visit the zoo and see the animals What man has made of man Down with technology Down with civilization Secondly what has happened to the civilised man Ateacher teaches the children in the class S/he is being watched by the Headmistress seated in her chamber This is the panopticon of Bentham which has been brought to the foreground Foucault in modern times We civilised men have turned into the animals osf a zoo And this process perhaps unknowingly stated when civilisation invented the zoo Let me now switch to another point With the advent of the British Pan Islamism was so popular among quite a few that one of the founders of Communism in India claims that Pan Islamism inspired the first communists to understand the tenets of communism Dont look askance at me When Ataturk Kamal Pasha did away with the institution of Khalifa a band of Mussalmans trekked away from India with a view to reaching Turkey and telling the Moslems there that there should be quarrel among Moslem brothers On the road through machinations of M.N Roy they were stopped at Turkey and brainwashed into communists Onlookers commented that they didnot have the rudiments of political thought and that is why they were baptised bythe Soviet Russia In retort Mujaffar Ahmed who belonged to that band and who is the author of the history oof the beginnings of communism in India says that they had the idea of Pan Islamism And he is right Any thing with the prefix pan is equally torturesome unless it is pan chaos or confusion Be that as it may Pan Islamism couldnot impress everyone in lndia Let me give you the instance of Kashmir It was a princely state where the ruler was Hindu and 75% of the subjects were Moslems The freedom movement that rocked all over India under the august leadership of Mahatma Gandhi did not raise any ripple in Kashmir The Moslems in Kashmir didnot want to abolish Hindu \Monarchy there But they organised a powerful movement to realise constitutional monarchy To that end they gathered and forged a political outfit which was at the outset named Muslim Conference The very next year the name was changed into National Conference There were more than hundred founder members of the Conference Among them there was only one Hindu Despite that all the founder members excepting one voted for the name National Conference Iam not here to write the history of modern Kashmir But my point is that when all is said and done Muslims in India were not fundamentalists It was the National Conference that didnot accept two nation theory If the Moslems of Kashmir were against India Jayanta Chaudhuri could not defeat the newly born Pakistan on the banks of Jhelum Despite all these the developmewnt of communication system and onward march of capitalism has made a dent on India Beyond India all over the non muslim globe shakes in fear of Muslim fundamentalism Now let us return to pre partition India to explore another axis of our discussion contd
The smashing victory of Hasina in Bangladesh is no less remarkable than the victory of Obama in the USA With the victory of Obama the blacks have got identity all over the globe Hence forth their voice will matter more than ever It might hit hard the white chauvinism and the establishment of the Christian church Hasinas overwhelming victory will hit hard the Islamic fundamentalism that rocks the world Here a word or two about Islamic fundamentalism would not be out of place Evidence is there that Hajrat Muhammad lived with the Jews as well as Christians in amity And the Quran Sharif says that God has no intention to fool any people Hence God sends a prophet to every tongue or language Hajrat Muhammad was however was very much against idol worship which was from his standpoint another name for materialism Who is a Mussalman? According to Islam one who has submitted his body mind and soul is a true Mussalman B e that as it may history is the witness of religious wars or crusades between the Christians and Muslims Besides with the conquest of Mecca by Hajrat Muhammad Islam moved from strength to strength and conquered the greater part of Asia and Europe Their rule extended as far as Spain in Europe And everywhere they caused great devastations To kill infidels they believed was an act of piety This doesnot portray them any more tyrannical than the ancient Greeks or todays Christian capitalism Tyrannical though they were it were they who preserved ancient Greek culture during the Middle Ages when the so called barbarians had their field in Europe during the Middle Age Such classics as Aristotle were preserved in Arabic translation It was chiefly the scholars of king Charlemagnes court who retranslated them into European vernacular Had not Islam preserved the ancient Hellenic lore and had it not been translated into European llanguages the Renaissance of which Europe boasts would not take place In india also they let loose cruelty Despite that it were they who carried the notion of the digit zero abroad Besides their rule in India cannot be called fundamentalist in the right sense of the term True that they destroyed numerous temples They insulted the Hindus in many ways Despite Islam in India was not fundamentalist The rulers in India like Alauddin Or Muhammad Bin Tughlaq didnot establish an Islamic state or theocratic state Not even Aurangzib They may have been devoted Mussalmans But they were absolute monarchs They didnot consult the Shariat or Hadish at every step That the Moslem rulers were not fundamentalist is best illustrated by the career of Akbar Akbar gave up Islam for a religion engineered by himself which is known as Din Ilahi Din Ilahi sought to assemble all the good things of every religion May be it was a pragmatist ploy But can any head of an Islamic state do that now a days without being threatened His life will be at stake But in India Islam was not like that It was Akbar who granted approx 500 acres of land where the Sikh Golden temple was built Even Aurangzib donated land to Jains Religious fundamentalism has not as yet raised its hydrahead in India . thank God But whatever Islamic fundamentalism we find here has been the consequence of British rule and the develpment of so called communication system With the British rule communication system developed and there was the slogan of Pan Islamism Earlier the Indian Moslems looked upon India as their home But with the advent of the British and developed communication they became homeless or rather Islam became their home Or else they think that they are among infidels and they must wipe them off and the country must be ruled according to the dictates of Islam Here I want to highlight two things One those who glory over the developed communication system through internet and the like should remember that the so called development of communication system has always been catalyst in developing fundamentalism Secondly Islamic fundamentalism is no more cruel than communist fundamentalism and the christian capitalist fundamentalism I will not tarry long on the latter But let me point out that the globalisation does not intend to leave even the culture of the poorest tribe to themselves unhurt Think of the Jaroas of Andaman They proved themselves wiser than the finest scientists of the world be he from Cambridge or Harvard Because it were the Jarowas who got the premonition of Tsunami that rocked the coasts of the Bay of Bengal But the scientist will not learn anything from them A day must come when the knowledge wallas will lie at the feet of these illiterate so called barbarians Do you know how they are being protected in Andaman They live in a preserved forest and visitors go to them the very way we visit the zoo and see the animals What man has made of man Down with technology Down with civilization Secondly what has happened to the civilised man Ateacher teaches the children in the class S/he is being watched by the Headmistress seated in her chamber This is the panopticon of Bentham which has been brought to the foreground Foucault in modern times We civilised men have turned into the animals osf a zoo And this process perhaps unknowingly stated when civilisation invented the zoo Let me now switch to another point With the advent of the British Pan Islamism was so popular among quite a few that one of the founders of Communism in India claims that Pan Islamism inspired the first communists to understand the tenets of communism Dont look askance at me When Ataturk Kamal Pasha did away with the institution of Khalifa a band of Mussalmans trekked away from India with a view to reaching Turkey and telling the Moslems there that there should be quarrel among Moslem brothers On the road through machinations of M.N Roy they were stopped at Turkey and brainwashed into communists Onlookers commented that they didnot have the rudiments of political thought and that is why they were baptised bythe Soviet Russia In retort Mujaffar Ahmed who belonged to that band and who is the author of the history oof the beginnings of communism in India says that they had the idea of Pan Islamism And he is right Any thing with the prefix pan is equally torturesome unless it is pan chaos or confusion Be that as it may Pan Islamism couldnot impress everyone in lndia Let me give you the instance of Kashmir It was a princely state where the ruler was Hindu and 75% of the subjects were Moslems The freedom movement that rocked all over India under the august leadership of Mahatma Gandhi did not raise any ripple in Kashmir The Moslems in Kashmir didnot want to abolish Hindu \Monarchy there But they organised a powerful movement to realise constitutional monarchy To that end they gathered and forged a political outfit which was at the outset named Muslim Conference The very next year the name was changed into National Conference There were more than hundred founder members of the Conference Among them there was only one Hindu Despite that all the founder members excepting one voted for the name National Conference Iam not here to write the history of modern Kashmir But my point is that when all is said and done Muslims in India were not fundamentalists It was the National Conference that didnot accept two nation theory If the Moslems of Kashmir were against India Jayanta Chaudhuri could not defeat the newly born Pakistan on the banks of Jhelum Despite all these the developmewnt of communication system and onward march of capitalism has made a dent on India Beyond India all over the non muslim globe shakes in fear of Muslim fundamentalism Now let us return to pre partition India to explore another axis of our discussion contd The smashing victory of Hasina in Bangladesh is no less remarkable than the victory of Obama in the USA With the victory of Obama the blacks have got identity all over the globe Hence forth their voice will matter more than ever It might hit hard the white chauvinism and the establishment of the Christian church Hasinas overwhelming victory will hit hard the Islamic fundamentalism that rocks the world Here a word or two about Islamic fundamentalism would not be out of place Evidence is there that Hajrat Muhammad lived with the Jews as well as Christians in amity And the Quran Sharif says that God has no intention to fool any people Hence God sends a prophet to every tongue or language Hajrat Muhammad was however was very much against idol worship which was from his standpoint another name for materialism Who is a Mussalman? According to Islam one who has submitted his body mind and soul is a true Mussalman B e that as it may history is the witness of religious wars or crusades between the Christians and Muslims Besides with the conquest of Mecca by Hajrat Muhammad Islam moved from strength to strength and conquered the greater part of Asia and Europe Their rule extended as far as Spain in Europe And everywhere they caused great devastations To kill infidels they believed was an act of piety This doesnot portray them any more tyrannical than the ancient Greeks or todays Christian capitalism Tyrannical though they were it were they who preserved ancient Greek culture during the Middle Ages when the so called barbarians had their field in Europe during the Middle Age Such classics as Aristotle were preserved in Arabic translation It was chiefly the scholars of king Charlemagnes court who retranslated them into European vernacular Had not Islam preserved the ancient Hellenic lore and had it not been translated into European llanguages the Renaissance of which Europe boasts would not take place In india also they let loose cruelty Despite that it were they who carried the notion of the digit zero abroad Besides their rule in India cannot be called fundamentalist in the right sense of the term True that they destroyed numerous temples They insulted the Hindus in many ways Despite Islam in India was not fundamentalist The rulers in India like Alauddin Or Muhammad Bin Tughlaq didnot establish an Islamic state or theocratic state Not even Aurangzib They may have been devoted Mussalmans But they were absolute monarchs They didnot consult the Shariat or Hadish at every step That the Moslem rulers were not fundamentalist is best illustrated by the career of Akbar Akbar gave up Islam for a religion engineered by himself which is known as Din Ilahi Din Ilahi sought to assemble all the good things of every religion May be it was a pragmatist ploy But can any head of an Islamic state do that now a days without being threatened His life will be at stake But in India Islam was not like that It was Akbar who granted approx 500 acres of land where the Sikh Golden temple was built Even Aurangzib donated land to Jains Religious fundamentalism has not as yet raised its hydrahead in India . thank God But whatever Islamic fundamentalism we find here has been the consequence of British rule and the develpment of so called communication system With the British rule communication system developed and there was the slogan of Pan Islamism Earlier the Indian Moslems looked upon India as their home But with the advent of the British and developed communication they became homeless or rather Islam became their home Or else they think that they are among infidels and they must wipe them off and the country must be ruled according to the dictates of Islam Here I want to highlight two things One those who glory over the developed communication system through internet and the like should remember that the so called development of communication system has always been catalyst in developing fundamentalism Secondly Islamic fundamentalism is no more cruel than communist fundamentalism and the christian capitalist fundamentalism I will not tarry long on the latter But let me point out that the globalisation does not intend to leave even the culture of the poorest tribe to themselves unhurt Think of the Jaroas of Andaman They proved themselves wiser than the finest scientists of the world be he from Cambridge or Harvard Because it were the Jarowas who got the premonition of Tsunami that rocked the coasts of the Bay of Bengal But the scientist will not learn anything from them A day must come when the knowledge wallas will lie at the feet of these illiterate so called barbarians Do you know how they are being protected in Andaman They live in a preserved forest and visitors go to them the very way we visit the zoo and see the animals What man has made of man Down with technology Down with civilization Secondly what has happened to the civilised man Ateacher teaches the children in the class S/he is being watched by the Headmistress seated in her chamber This is the panopticon of Bentham which has been brought to the foreground Foucault in modern times We civilised men have turned into the animals osf a zoo And this process perhaps unknowingly stated when civilisation invented the zoo Let me now switch to another point With the advent of the British Pan Islamism was so popular among quite a few that one of the founders of Communism in India claims that Pan Islamism inspired the first communists to understand the tenets of communism Dont look askance at me When Ataturk Kamal Pasha did away with the institution of Khalifa a band of Mussalmans trekked away from India with a view to reaching Turkey and telling the Moslems there that there should be quarrel among Moslem brothers On the road through machinations of M.N Roy they were stopped at Turkey and brainwashed into communists Onlookers commented that they didnot have the rudiments of political thought and that is why they were baptised bythe Soviet Russia In retort Mujaffar Ahmed who belonged to that band and who is the author of the history oof the beginnings of communism in India says that they had the idea of Pan Islamism And he is right Any thing with the prefix pan is equally torturesome unless it is pan chaos or confusion Be that as it may Pan Islamism couldnot impress everyone in lndia Let me give you the instance of Kashmir It was a princely state where the ruler was Hindu and 75% of the subjects were Moslems The freedom movement that rocked all over India under the august leadership of Mahatma Gandhi did not raise any ripple in Kashmir The Moslems in Kashmir didnot want to abolish Hindu \Monarchy there But they organised a powerful movement to realise constitutional monarchy To that end they gathered and forged a political outfit which was at the outset named Muslim Conference The very next year the name was changed into National Conference There were more than hundred founder members of the Conference Among them there was only one Hindu Despite that all the founder members excepting one voted for the name National Conference Iam not here to write the history of modern Kashmir But my point is that when all is said and done Muslims in India were not fundamentalists It was the National Conference that didnot accept two nation theory If the Moslems of Kashmir were against India Jayanta Chaudhuri could not defeat the newly born Pakistan on the banks of Jhelum Despite all these the developmewnt of communication system and onward march of capitalism has made a dent on India Beyond India all over the non muslim globe shakes in fear of Muslim fundamentalism Now let us return to pre partition India to explore another axis of our discussion contd
The smashing victory of Hasina in Bangladesh is no less remarkable than the victory of Obama in the USA With the victory of Obama the blacks have got identity all over the globe Hence forth their voice will matter more than ever It might hit hard the white chauvinism and the establishment of the Christian church Hasinas overwhelming victory will hit hard the Islamic fundamentalism that rocks the world Here a word or two about Islamic fundamentalism would not be out of place Evidence is there that Hajrat Muhammad lived with the Jews as well as Christians in amity And the Quran Sharif says that God has no intention to fool any people Hence God sends a prophet to every tongue or language Hajrat Muhammad was however was very much against idol worship which was from his standpoint another name for materialism Who is a Mussalman? According to Islam one who has submitted his body mind and soul is a true Mussalman B e that as it may history is the witness of religious wars or crusades between the Christians and Muslims Besides with the conquest of Mecca by Hajrat Muhammad Islam moved from strength to strength and conquered the greater part of Asia and Europe Their rule extended as far as Spain in Europe And everywhere they caused great devastations To kill infidels they believed was an act of piety This doesnot portray them any more tyrannical than the ancient Greeks or todays Christian capitalism Tyrannical though they were it were they who preserved ancient Greek culture during the Middle Ages when the so called barbarians had their field in Europe during the Middle Age Such classics as Aristotle were preserved in Arabic translation It was chiefly the scholars of king Charlemagnes court who retranslated them into European vernacular Had not Islam preserved the ancient Hellenic lore and had it not been translated into European llanguages the Renaissance of which Europe boasts would not take place In india also they let loose cruelty Despite that it were they who carried the notion of the digit zero abroad Besides their rule in India cannot be called fundamentalist in the right sense of the term True that they destroyed numerous temples They insulted the Hindus in many ways Despite Islam in India was not fundamentalist The rulers in India like Alauddin Or Muhammad Bin Tughlaq didnot establish an Islamic state or theocratic state Not even Aurangzib They may have been devoted Mussalmans But they were absolute monarchs They didnot consult the Shariat or Hadish at every step That the Moslem rulers were not fundamentalist is best illustrated by the career of Akbar Akbar gave up Islam for a religion engineered by himself which is known as Din Ilahi Din Ilahi sought to assemble all the good things of every religion May be it was a pragmatist ploy But can any head of an Islamic state do that now a days without being threatened His life will be at stake But in India Islam was not like that It was Akbar who granted approx 500 acres of land where the Sikh Golden temple was built Even Aurangzib donated land to Jains Religious fundamentalism has not as yet raised its hydrahead in India . thank God But whatever Islamic fundamentalism we find here has been the consequence of British rule and the develpment of so called communication system With the British rule communication system developed and there was the slogan of Pan Islamism Earlier the Indian Moslems looked upon India as their home But with the advent of the British and developed communication they became homeless or rather Islam became their home Or else they think that they are among infidels and they must wipe them off and the country must be ruled according to the dictates of Islam Here I want to highlight two things One those who glory over the developed communication system through internet and the like should remember that the so called development of communication system has always been catalyst in developing fundamentalism Secondly Islamic fundamentalism is no more cruel than communist fundamentalism and the christian capitalist fundamentalism I will not tarry long on the latter But let me point out that the globalisation does not intend to leave even the culture of the poorest tribe to themselves unhurt Think of the Jaroas of Andaman They proved themselves wiser than the finest scientists of the world be he from Cambridge or Harvard Because it were the Jarowas who got the premonition of Tsunami that rocked the coasts of the Bay of Bengal But the scientist will not learn anything from them A day must come when the knowledge wallas will lie at the feet of these illiterate so called barbarians Do you know how they are being protected in Andaman They live in a preserved forest and visitors go to them the very way we visit the zoo and see the animals What man has made of man Down with technology Down with civilization Secondly what has happened to the civilised man Ateacher teaches the children in the class S/he is being watched by the Headmistress seated in her chamber This is the panopticon of Bentham which has been brought to the foreground Foucault in modern times We civilised men have turned into the animals osf a zoo And this process perhaps unknowingly stated when civilisation invented the zoo Let me now switch to another point With the advent of the British Pan Islamism was so popular among quite a few that one of the founders of Communism in India claims that Pan Islamism inspired the first communists to understand the tenets of communism Dont look askance at me When Ataturk Kamal Pasha did away with the institution of Khalifa a band of Mussalmans trekked away from India with a view to reaching Turkey and telling the Moslems there that there should be quarrel among Moslem brothers On the road through machinations of M.N Roy they were stopped at Turkey and brainwashed into communists Onlookers commented that they didnot have the rudiments of political thought and that is why they were baptised bythe Soviet Russia In retort Mujaffar Ahmed who belonged to that band and who is the author of the history oof the beginnings of communism in India says that they had the idea of Pan Islamism And he is right Any thing with the prefix pan is equally torturesome unless it is pan chaos or confusion Be that as it may Pan Islamism couldnot impress everyone in lndia Let me give you the instance of Kashmir It was a princely state where the ruler was Hindu and 75% of the subjects were Moslems The freedom movement that rocked all over India under the august leadership of Mahatma Gandhi did not raise any ripple in Kashmir The Moslems in Kashmir didnot want to abolish Hindu \Monarchy there But they organised a powerful movement to realise constitutional monarchy To that end they gathered and forged a political outfit which was at the outset named Muslim Conference The very next year the name was changed into National Conference There were more than hundred founder members of the Conference Among them there was only one Hindu Despite that all the founder members excepting one voted for the name National Conference Iam not here to write the history of modern Kashmir But my point is that when all is said and done Muslims in India were not fundamentalists It was the National Conference that didnot accept two nation theory If the Moslems of Kashmir were against India Jayanta Chaudhuri could not defeat the newly born Pakistan on the banks of Jhelum Despite all these the developmewnt of communication system and onward march of capitalism has made a dent on India Beyond India all over the non muslim globe shakes in fear of Muslim fundamentalism Now let us return to pre partition India to explore another axis of our discussion contd
let us go back to pre partition I ndia It is curious to note that the count of Moslem population in the then Bengal was larger than the Moslem population of any other part of India How come this could happen is a moot point to the historians Because the Sultans and Badsahs ruled from Delhi Hence it would be quite natural if Moslem population were the largest in Delhi and its neighbourhood Be that as it may let subedars and nawabs whatever they could, roughly speaking the Moslems and Hindus lived in amity in Bengal during the Moslem period In so caled folk cultures the two communities mingled in such a way that you could not distinguish and theirs was a culture qualitatively different from the North Indian culture Moslem fundamentalism flourished in UP Firstly it were the British who taught the Moslems that Urdu was their and taught the North Indian Hindus that Hindi was their language Secondly many things though could be said in defence of Sir Syed Ahmed it was he who was all for Moslems in a sense But Bengal was different from Northern India Even the English educated Moslems unlike Sir Syed were great admirers of the Hindus granted that the upper caste Hindus exploited them very much Unlike the Moslems in UP the majority of the Moslems here were poor The avant garde Moslem poets like Jasimuddin wrote in praise of Vaisnavism In the meantime a great event happened in the realm of Islam There was a religious conference of Moslems at Lahore and one Ahmed outwitted everyone there with his interpretation of the Quran Just as our Swami Vivekananda conquered Chicago so did Ahmed conquer Lahore What new did he say ? well it is said in the Quran that Hajrat Muhammad has been the last of the prophets and the greatest among all of them. Fine..But Ahmed argued it is told in Holy Quran that the Almighty is closer to you than your jugular vein In other words the Almighty resides in every being So Ahmed argued that although absolute god realisation can not happen to anyone after Muhammad partial god realisation is possible for everyone This contrary to the established Islam In fact let American boast whatever it can Islam in the world today moves from strength to strength There is no denial of it One explanation of the same is that since official Islam has declared that god realisation after Hajrat Muhammad is impossible the establishments interpretation should be the last word Any variation from that would be heresy This is why Bahaists have been expelled from Iran and the Ahmedias the followers of Ahmed were deemed heretics by the mainstream of Islam But I donot how the majority of the masses and the intellectuals among the Muslims in Bangladesh are Ahmedias In the pre partition India moslems were concentrated in the eatern part of Bengal In 1905 Lord Curzon was the Viceroy of India and his seat was Calcutta Till 1911 Calcutta was the capital of India In1905 Lord Curzon largely for administrative convenience decreed the partition of Bengal If the partition were accepted then the East Bengal might not part from India in 1947 Because they would have Moslem rule What new Pakistan could give them ? The partition of Bengal movement was a blunder Since the partition did not take place in 1905 it was realised in 1947 at the cost of lot of blood The Moslems triggered fierce riots Well presntly after partition in 1947 the Moslem Bengalees were getting settled But East Bemngal then East Pakistan became a colony of Palkistan The Ahmedias are persecuted in Palkistan Besides Pakistan wanted to thrust Urdu language upon the Moslem Bengalees In fact You cannot distinguish Moslem, Bengalis from other Bengalis on the surface in West Bengal even today Although Moslem culture in East Pakistan tried to distinguish itself from the Hindus Still they were very much Bengali When they were asked to give up their mother tongue they revolted against Pakistan and became a free nation called Bangladesh During the struggle in Bangladesh for freedom India helped Bagladesh Pakistan at that time brought many Urdu speaking North Indians who had migrated to Pakistan to quell the revolt Pakistani army was also there When Bangla desh was liberated those Urdu speaking men didnot go away from Bangladesh It were they who fanned fundamentalism anti Hinduism and anti Indianism A large neighbouring country is always feared by smaller countries So fundamentalism and anti Lndianism spread easily in Bangladesh The post independence Bengali culture was so steeped in Tagore and since the majority there are Ahmedians fundamentalism could not dominate ultimately This is what we read from Hasinas victory Why is it internationally important Well Bangladesh is the motherland of sometyhing like 12c rores of Muslims If such a great population votes against funadamentalism dont you think that this is a great jolt to pan Islamic fundamentalism ? Concluded
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