---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Vijaya
Dear Dr. Chatterji,
Since I last wrote to you concerning your interview to Znet on your book 'Violent Gods:Hindu Nationalism in India's Present'
I have done a search on your earlier articles and I am disappointed and dismayed.
Your field work seems not only selective but highly charged with hostility towards Hindus and Hinduism. The teaming up with John Dayal who is known for anti Hindu views, is dismaying.
The credibility of your stats is in doubt. And Parvati Menon's review of your book in The Hindu (Aug. 11,2009) relies solely on your account and does not seem to be an independent review. And this will no doubt be repeated in one liberal publication after another.
I cannot see how the authenticity and integrity of Left thinking can be furthered by such partisanship. Your close links with several Christian groups is also designed to raise doubts in the average reader's mind as to your aims.
Christian conversion started long before the arrival of Hindu Nationalism. It commenced stridently during the colonial era and continues to this day with the aid (quite literally) of American fundamentalist groups. Financial aid keeps pouring in.
No Hindu would convert unless you hold a gun to his/her head or he or she is in dire economic distress. During the colonial era it was done with political power. Today it is done through money and incentives. Fortunately, the tide is turning against such egregrious practices. Many converts are returning to their ancestral indigenous faith. Hinduism has survived for millenia and will so survive. Hence, missionary attempts to subvert it by fair means or foul, will not work. It only causes communal hostilities. It causes individuals to act in irrational ways as in the case of a crazed lunatic murdering Graham Staines and his sons. It is totally unneccessary and should be prohibited because of the social tensions that it is causing.
This frenetic conversion activity is quite disgraceful and even Gandhiji himself disapproved of conversions. He has said that if he had the power he would stop it. It should be noted that recently a Christian prelate signed an agreement with Israel that conversions will not be encouraged.
As for Swami Lakshmananda who was brutally assasinated last year in Kandamahal, along with a Hindu nun and their associates, and that too in an Ashram which has hitherto been considered sacred ground, he had been working tirelessly for the last 60 years for the uplift of the tribal people of the region.
If he practises and preaches his religion why is it less acceptable than similar practices by Christian missionaries who are actually importing a foreign religion into an indigenous religion. These, in fact, have been systematically creating disharmony in the local population. Incidentally, how is it that with your concern for women's rights,human rights etc. you did not write about the trauma of the children in the Ashram who witnessed the brutal slaying of the monk and his associates.
And does it not trouble you that a monk from the Ramakrishna Ashram, was stripped of his ochre robe and tied to a pole and beaten with metal weapons till he was unconscious ? He too was simply practising his religion in his own land. This happened most recently in West Bengal. I did not see any of you activists write about it and condemn it. I saw no mention of it in the liberal papers either.
If you take time off and read Romain Rolland's biography of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa(1930;1931) and as well that of Swami Vivekananda, you will come across the chapter where he describes the last days of the Paramahamsa and the inauguration of the Ramakrishna Order.
The young Narendra (later Swami Vivekananda) and the young men passed by the bed of the reclining Paramahamsa and received an ochre robe and blessings from him. This is one of the most moving scenes in the book.
That is how it began and the record of the Ramakrishna Order has since been an unblemished record of social service and self sacrifice (Romain Rolland was no Hindu Nationalist. He was a French intellectual and writer who has also written on Mahatma Gandhi).
This is what the Hindus are defending. Some hotheads may carry it to extreme limits, but the situation is higly charged, with people like Ms. Setalwad, and now I see, yourself, disseminating false information about Hindu Nationalism.
In passing, I want to add that trishuls in and of themselves, don't trouble me. A trishul (trident) is afterall the emblem of the god Shiva. Both you and I must surely have seen this in bazaars and public places. Sanyasins typically carry a trishul.
The silver lining in all this is that since I checked your record the other day I realise that many Hindu groups have challenged your stats. and have written counter letters to the many letters that you seem to have written to various authorities. It is encouraging to see that Hindus are not just rolling over during the onslaught by Indians(abroad) who make a profession of Hindu bashing.
I request that you show some balance and return to the objectivity that should characterise an academic, rather than being carried away by political partisanship. It is an ill wind that does not serve communal harmony.
I look forward to reading your book Violent Gods. The title reminds me of Jyotirmaya Sharma's book on Guru Golwarkar
' Terrifying Vision '
It is a dishonest work on Golwalkar, and it seems as if Sharma has not read Golwalkar's works.
I will be curious to see how you develop Foucaultian theory in explaining Hindu India. We did not have the dogmatism of the Abrahamic faiths and thus did not have the violence against dissenters, such as the horrific scene of the punishment of Damien.
One understands what that phrase 'drawn,hung and quartered ' means. Biopolitics (Foucault's favourite word), was especially true both of medieval and modern Europe.
Once again, I request that you approach your field studies with a balanced outlook and awareness of the consequences of a lack of this balance. I have mentioned this before and I repeat it here: The Indian Left and sympathisers, have to work with the existing forces of good in India.
Tilting against them will not help anyone, least of all the everyday Indian that you wish to help.
Sincerely,
Dr. Vijaya
__________________________________________________________________
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From: Vijaya
Dear Dr. Chatterji,
Since I last wrote to you concerning your interview to Znet on your book 'Violent Gods:Hindu Nationalism in India's Present'
I have done a search on your earlier articles and I am disappointed and dismayed.
Your field work seems not only selective but highly charged with hostility towards Hindus and Hinduism. The teaming up with John Dayal who is known for anti Hindu views, is dismaying.
The credibility of your stats is in doubt. And Parvati Menon's review of your book in The Hindu (Aug. 11,2009) relies solely on your account and does not seem to be an independent review. And this will no doubt be repeated in one liberal publication after another.
I cannot see how the authenticity and integrity of Left thinking can be furthered by such partisanship. Your close links with several Christian groups is also designed to raise doubts in the average reader's mind as to your aims.
Christian conversion started long before the arrival of Hindu Nationalism. It commenced stridently during the colonial era and continues to this day with the aid (quite literally) of American fundamentalist groups. Financial aid keeps pouring in.
No Hindu would convert unless you hold a gun to his/her head or he or she is in dire economic distress. During the colonial era it was done with political power. Today it is done through money and incentives. Fortunately, the tide is turning against such egregrious practices. Many converts are returning to their ancestral indigenous faith. Hinduism has survived for millenia and will so survive. Hence, missionary attempts to subvert it by fair means or foul, will not work. It only causes communal hostilities. It causes individuals to act in irrational ways as in the case of a crazed lunatic murdering Graham Staines and his sons. It is totally unneccessary and should be prohibited because of the social tensions that it is causing.
This frenetic conversion activity is quite disgraceful and even Gandhiji himself disapproved of conversions. He has said that if he had the power he would stop it. It should be noted that recently a Christian prelate signed an agreement with Israel that conversions will not be encouraged.
As for Swami Lakshmananda who was brutally assasinated last year in Kandamahal, along with a Hindu nun and their associates, and that too in an Ashram which has hitherto been considered sacred ground, he had been working tirelessly for the last 60 years for the uplift of the tribal people of the region.
If he practises and preaches his religion why is it less acceptable than similar practices by Christian missionaries who are actually importing a foreign religion into an indigenous religion. These, in fact, have been systematically creating disharmony in the local population. Incidentally, how is it that with your concern for women's rights,human rights etc. you did not write about the trauma of the children in the Ashram who witnessed the brutal slaying of the monk and his associates.
And does it not trouble you that a monk from the Ramakrishna Ashram, was stripped of his ochre robe and tied to a pole and beaten with metal weapons till he was unconscious ? He too was simply practising his religion in his own land. This happened most recently in West Bengal. I did not see any of you activists write about it and condemn it. I saw no mention of it in the liberal papers either.
If you take time off and read Romain Rolland's biography of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa(1930;1931) and as well that of Swami Vivekananda, you will come across the chapter where he describes the last days of the Paramahamsa and the inauguration of the Ramakrishna Order.
The young Narendra (later Swami Vivekananda) and the young men passed by the bed of the reclining Paramahamsa and received an ochre robe and blessings from him. This is one of the most moving scenes in the book.
That is how it began and the record of the Ramakrishna Order has since been an unblemished record of social service and self sacrifice (Romain Rolland was no Hindu Nationalist. He was a French intellectual and writer who has also written on Mahatma Gandhi).
This is what the Hindus are defending. Some hotheads may carry it to extreme limits, but the situation is higly charged, with people like Ms. Setalwad, and now I see, yourself, disseminating false information about Hindu Nationalism.
In passing, I want to add that trishuls in and of themselves, don't trouble me. A trishul (trident) is afterall the emblem of the god Shiva. Both you and I must surely have seen this in bazaars and public places. Sanyasins typically carry a trishul.
The silver lining in all this is that since I checked your record the other day I realise that many Hindu groups have challenged your stats. and have written counter letters to the many letters that you seem to have written to various authorities. It is encouraging to see that Hindus are not just rolling over during the onslaught by Indians(abroad) who make a profession of Hindu bashing.
I request that you show some balance and return to the objectivity that should characterise an academic, rather than being carried away by political partisanship. It is an ill wind that does not serve communal harmony.
I look forward to reading your book Violent Gods. The title reminds me of Jyotirmaya Sharma's book on Guru Golwarkar
' Terrifying Vision '
It is a dishonest work on Golwalkar, and it seems as if Sharma has not read Golwalkar's works.
I will be curious to see how you develop Foucaultian theory in explaining Hindu India. We did not have the dogmatism of the Abrahamic faiths and thus did not have the violence against dissenters, such as the horrific scene of the punishment of Damien.
One understands what that phrase 'drawn,hung and quartered ' means. Biopolitics (Foucault's favourite word), was especially true both of medieval and modern Europe.
Once again, I request that you approach your field studies with a balanced outlook and awareness of the consequences of a lack of this balance. I have mentioned this before and I repeat it here: The Indian Left and sympathisers, have to work with the existing forces of good in India.
Tilting against them will not help anyone, least of all the everyday Indian that you wish to help.
Sincerely,
Dr. Vijaya
__________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now
http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com.
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