RMF Summary: Week of March 7-14, 2011

March 7

Indian Christian lashes against 'breaking India' activities by Church This long post has 2 items. PART I is a letter by an IndianChristian activist against the Church's politics of the kind that are breakingIndian communities by... March 8 Madurai book club I wish to thank Suri for the superb arrangement for launching the book "Breaking India" in Madurai. This was the major and unique function apart from... Chennai launch featured in Arsha Vidya Newsletter Chennai launch of Breaking India is featured in the February issue of the Arsha Vidya newsletter Comment by Prof Shiva Bajpai (Professor Emeritus at the California State University of Northridge. Co-author of, "A Historical Atlas of South Asia.")  "This is an impressive work based on solid and thorough research on the major theme, Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines. Your treatment of the subject is both scholarly and exhaustive as well as dispassionate. The book is indeed revelatory  because there is no other authentic account of how the global nexus of anti-India agencies and their Indian agents have undermined the unity of a democratic India ... Koenraad Elst, the distinguished scholar comments: Dear listfolk,   >Durgavati was born in Chandella clan of the Rajputs from and she was married in a Raj-Gond family. There is a theory that the Raj-Gonds are descendants of Rajputs who intermarried among Gonds. There is another theory that claims that the Chandellas were derived from the Gonds, the marriage of Durgavati is cited in support of this thesis. < Chandella looks like it is derived from the related tribal ethnonyms Gond/Kond/Kandh. So does, probably, Chandâla. Ptolemy mentions the Kandaloi as an Indian tribe. In Wendy Doniger's Manu Smrti translation, Chandâla is given a literal interpretation, "the 'fierce' untouchables", which may well be how Manu himself understood the term. But that would be folk etymology, overlaid on a purely ethnic term such as Kand/Kandaloi. The name Chandâla is mentioned in the Chandogya Up.,.. March 8 Re: tribe and caste (jati) It is a question of interest as to when and why Untouchability arose. And the question of the relationship of Jati to Varna. In my article 'Gandhiji was right... March 8 Madurai disscusion of the book: March 6. Book Readers' Club at Madurai had arranged for an introductory lecture on 'Breaking India' book at Arvind Eye Hospital auditorium... March 9 US tops Rs 31,000cr-donation list (2006-09) [The book has an appendix on this data and examines the activities of the westernn nexus and Indian recipients. The actual sums are much larger.] SHOCKING! A large portion of this money comes from organizations with vested interests in India, as mentioned in BI (e.g. church-based proselytizing orgs) 31K crores in Rupees at the current (2012) exchange rate is about $6.2 Billion using 2009 exchange rate of 37Rs/$, this comes out to about $8.3 Billion. Of this, about 1/3 or about $2Billion comes from the US alone. March 9 Ashani Sanket Another example of an organization meddling in internal Indian affairs. so much for sovereignty. (original news link was broken. I've googled and updated with live link) March 9 No quota benefits after conversion: High Court No quota benefits after conversion... March 9 Re: Tribe and caaste (jati) Dear Dr. Elst, Here is the train of thought: Both tribes and Jati were endogamous, but the Jati was linked to the economic unit of the shreni(guild). Jati... March 10 Re: N.S. Rajaram on BREAKING INDIA by Malhotra and Neelakandan Distinguished scholar N.S. Rajaram notes: The Chicago based NEWSGRAM carried my article on the book Breaking India by Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelkandan. It can be found here. March 10 Plight of scavenger dalit communities Vijay Rajiva adds: Below is a relevant account of the position of the Bhangis. You may kindly read the attached pdf on present Dalit (Scavengers). Here's the dostoc link. March 10 N.S. Rajaram's press statement *March 11, 2011* ** Here is an advance copy of the statement being released to the media at 10:00 AM today (March 11). Here is an advance copy of the statement being released to the media at 10:00 AM today (March 11). The book Breaking India will also be presented at the meet. The opinions given below are my own though I have consulted the book. I take full reponsibility [sic] for it.  - N.S. Rajaram March 11, 2011: Statement to the media Meeting on conversions: Summary of Dr Navaratna Rajaram’s presentation: 1.       Christian churches and their affiliated organizations must be seen as multinational socio-political entities that have no spiritual or even religious content. 2.       Their officials like bishops, archbishops, etc are not spiritual leaders but bureaucrats appointed by their masters like the Vatican, Church of England, etc. They can call themselves His Holiness, but they are no more than appointed representatives of foreign multinational corporations.... March 11 Is there a gene that prevent us from falling apart even as we quarrel Link. Just as no Hindi movie can survive without a Comic Relief so no Indian discussion group can survive without some Intellectual Relief...   March 12 Dalit Freedom Network Below is an excerpt from "Breaking India" (pages 220 to 222) pertaining to Dalit Freedom Network (DFN): [BEGIN EXCERPT]: Dalit Freedom Network, based in Colorado, USA, is an example of a West-run organization that professes to champion Indian Dalit emancipation through policy advocacy in the power centers of the USA. March 13 Re; Tribe and caste (jati) N. S. Rajaram comments:  I agree wholeheartedly with Shri Aravindan Neelakandan's view that we should move quickly and resolutely to remove any lingering injustices towards the Dalits. Much has already been done by GOI, individuals, NGOs and the nationalist organisations. More can be done. We have to do it because it is our Dharma, not because the EU or other busy bodies are trying to tell us what is ethical behaviour... March 13 Arya Koenraad Elst comments: The use of Arya cognates in Hittite and Lycian (Anatolian) in the sense of compatriot, fellow citizen is given in standard textbooks of Indo-European linguistics, such as JP Mallory, and in the On-line Etymological Dictionary http://www.etymonline.com/ The same in Iranian is beyond dispute. Iran <= Airyanam Khshathra. In 2006, Tajikistan hosted the UNESCO-sponsored World Aryan Fair, or so, where Aryan in effect meant Iranian,...   Blogger's note (November 2012): The contributions from noted Indian scholars (aside from the authors of 'Breaking India' themselves) like NS Rajaram, Koenraad Elst, Vijay Rajiva, among others, to the initial  RMF debates are outstanding, and establish a certain level of rigor and burden of proof in the discussions apart from not shying away from naming some of the big problems that confront Hindu society in India, i.e. Dalit emancipation, and made a strong case (both based on Hindu texts as well as empirical evidence) for bringing them back into the Hindu fold, if its not too late ....