The leading voices in science studies have argued that modern science reflects the dominant socia... more The leading voices in science studies have argued that modern science reflects the dominant social interests of Western society. Following this logic, postmodern scholars have urged postcolonial societies to develop their own “alternative sciences” as a step towards “mental decolonization”. These ideas have found a warm welcome among Hindu nationalists who came to power in India in the early 1990s. In this passionate and highly original study, Indian-born author Meera Nanda reveals how these well-meaning but ultimately misguided ideas are enabling Hindu ideologues to propagate religious myths in the guise of science and secularism.
At the heart of Hindu supremacist ideology, Nanda argues, lies a postmodernist assumption: that each society has its own norms of reasonableness, logic, rules of evidence, and conception of truth, and that there is no non-arbitrary, culture-independent way to choose among these alternatives. What is being celebrated as “difference” by postmodernists, however, has more often than not been the source of mental bondage and authoritarianism in non-Western cultures. The “Vedic sciences” currently endorsed in Indian schools, colleges, and the mass media promotes the same elements of orthodox Hinduism that have for centuries deprived the vast majority of Indian people of their full humanity.
By denouncing science and secularization, the left was unwittingly contributing to what Nanda calls “reactionary modernism.” In contrast, Nanda points to the Dalit, or untouchable, movement as a true example of an “alternative science” that has embraced reason and modern science to challenge traditional notions of hierarchy.
There is a sloka in The Mahabharata which can be translated like this: 'Whatever is found here ca... more There is a sloka in The Mahabharata which can be translated like this: 'Whatever is found here can be found elsewhere; what is not found here cannot be found anywhere else'. 1 This illustrates very well the variety of approaches to, and interpretations of, the epic for over a hundred and fifty years. Yet, when all of them are taken into account, it can be seen that they fall into a combination of one or two of four categories: 1) The Mahabharata as a unitary epic; 2) The Mahabharata as a composite epic; 3) The Mahabharata as a symbolic representation; 4) The Mahabharata as a real event.
"It was a brilliant American scholar, E. Washburn Hopkins, who, in 1901, in his great classic, The Great Epic of India: Its Character and Origin, and in other works, demonstrated that the epic in its present form is swollen with many additions, but they are all cast into the shade by the enormous mass added bodily to the epic as didactic books, containing more than twenty thousand stanzas ... there can be no further question in regard to the correctness of the term pseudo-epic as applied to these parts of the present poem"
It is not uncommon in mythology to create elaborate stories around historic heroic figures to ele... more It is not uncommon in mythology to create elaborate stories around historic heroic figures to elevate them to the level of gods who have time and again formed the basis for the development of religious sects. In Hindu mythology, the scene is slightly different where popular stories have been woven around Vedic themes that had nothing to do with history. Typical is the example of ‘the three strides of Viœµu’ mentioned at about a dozen places in «Rigveda (RV), which in the post-Vedic period was evolved into the ‘Våmana’ (dwarf) incarnation of Viœµu, with the original Vedic theme having been forgotten subsequently. The great Epic story “Mahåbhårata” (Mbh) which has influenced the life and culture in the Indian subcontinent for over 2200 years is probably another such example. So far all archeological excavations (Ghosh, 1989), at some of the important places mentioned in the Epic have yielded nothing, which can corroborate the story. However, most textbooks on Indian history date the Epic around 950 BC. The recent discovery of large ruined cities belonging to probably ‘the Harappan civilization’1, (1900-3000 BC) along the bed of the now dried up Ghaggar River, and a submerged site (believed to be ~1500 BC) at Dvårakå, off the coast of Gujarat by S. R. Rao (1999), has encouraged many scholars to push Mbh to greater antiquity.
Samyama and its Results 53 Samkhya, Yoga and Results 54 Interpolations in Yoga Sutra 56 An Apprai... more Samyama and its Results 53 Samkhya, Yoga and Results 54 Interpolations in Yoga Sutra 56 An Appraisal of Patanjali 58 2. THE ORIGINAL GITA The Matter of Scholarly Thought Chronological Accounts of the Original Gita Evidence in the Mahabharata Evidence in Alberuni's Work Evidence in the Bhagavadgita Bhashaya Evidence in the Brahma Sutras External Evidence Chronological Accounts of The Bhagavadgita The Author of the Gita Vyasa Date of the Gita Glimpses of the Original Gita Contents of the Bhagavadgita Evidence Showing the Continuity of the Original Gita Up to 800 A.D. 3. CORRUPTING THE ORIGINAL GITA The Underlying Circumstances The Revival of Brahmanism Shankaracharya An Appraisal of Shankaracharya The Bhagavadgita and the Quran The Bhagavadgita and the Bible v 4. CONSEQUENCES OF CHANGING THE GITA Political Submissiveness Philosophical Distortions Mystification of Yoga Religious and Cultural Effects 5. THE REDISCOVERY OF THE ORIGINAL GITA The Original Samkhya Karika The Original Yoga Sutra Scholarly Works on the Original Gita The Key to the Original Gita Pertinent Facts About the Original Gita Interpolated Verses in the First Three Chapters The Original and Interpolated Verses in the Extant Bhagavadgita Verses of the Fifteen Interpolated Chapters 6. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS The Cause of Social Development or Impoverishment Action versus Thought PART TWO THE MAHABHARATA: BACKGROUND OF THE ORIGINAL GITA
Introduction
One of the reasons for the phenomenal spread of the ideology of Hindutva in a short... more Introduction
One of the reasons for the phenomenal spread of the ideology of Hindutva in a short span of time can be ascribed to the ability of its ideologues to indoctrinate the masses with myths of Hindutva. Typically, myths deal with various dimensions of human life that are considered to be essential for the social, cultural, and religious life of people. Myths have special emotive appeal to the masses, they ignite their imagination and project ideals for them to pursue. Myths are also ambivalent in their nature in the sense that, they have the power to misguide the illiterate, the ignorant, and the naive. Therefore, if myths are not subject to rigorous hermeneutics, there is danger of people mistaking myths for reality, fiction for historical facts, a means to propagate falsehood, and a method to justify many superstitious beliefs and practices that are detrimental to the progress of civilization and dignity of human beings. Below we examine some of the notorious myths of Hindutva that have a sway over the Hindu masses and offer a critique of the same.
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a fr... more This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ... he can perceive nothing in it inconsistent or unworthy of belief. The rescue, of course, is due to the intervention of Visvamitra, as supposed by Wilson, and not to the efficacy of the hymns, but that was not intended to form the most salient point of the story. Exception has been taken to the theory of the sacrifice having been originally intended to be real on the ground of a story in the Aitareya Brahmana which narrates that "the gods once killed a man for their sacrifice, but that part in him which was fit for being made an offering, went out and entered a horse"; then the horse being killed, it went to an ox; and the ox being killed, it went to a sheep; and the sheep being killed, it went to a goat; and the goat being killed, it went to the earth; and the gods, guarding the earth, seized the rice, the produce thereof, which, made into cakes, formed the best offering, and all the animals from which the sacrificial part had gone, became unfit for being sacrificed, and no one should eat them. This story, I quote the entire passage from Haug's translation to enable the reader to judge for himself: "The gods killed a man for their sacrifice. But that part in him which was fit for being made an offering, went out and entered a horse. Thence the horse became an animal fit for being sacrificed. The gods then dismissed that man after that part which was only fit for being offered had gone from him, whereupon he became deformed. "The gods killed the horse; but the part fit for being sacrificed (the medha) went out of it, and entered an ox; thence the ox became an animal fit for being sacrificed. The gods then dismissed (this horse) after the sacrificial part had gone from it, whereupon it turned to a white deer. "The gods killed the ox; but...
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall ... more Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold , hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser For Sergei: in memoriam and remembering Kaushalya and Daya Ram and our many years together Contents List of Illustrations viii Preface lx Acknowledgements xi Note on the Bibliographies xii Chronology: c. IOOO BC-AD 1300 xiii Introduction xvii
The leading voices in science studies have argued that modern science reflects the dominant socia... more The leading voices in science studies have argued that modern science reflects the dominant social interests of Western society. Following this logic, postmodern scholars have urged postcolonial societies to develop their own “alternative sciences” as a step towards “mental decolonization”. These ideas have found a warm welcome among Hindu nationalists who came to power in India in the early 1990s. In this passionate and highly original study, Indian-born author Meera Nanda reveals how these well-meaning but ultimately misguided ideas are enabling Hindu ideologues to propagate religious myths in the guise of science and secularism.
At the heart of Hindu supremacist ideology, Nanda argues, lies a postmodernist assumption: that each society has its own norms of reasonableness, logic, rules of evidence, and conception of truth, and that there is no non-arbitrary, culture-independent way to choose among these alternatives. What is being celebrated as “difference” by postmodernists, however, has more often than not been the source of mental bondage and authoritarianism in non-Western cultures. The “Vedic sciences” currently endorsed in Indian schools, colleges, and the mass media promotes the same elements of orthodox Hinduism that have for centuries deprived the vast majority of Indian people of their full humanity.
By denouncing science and secularization, the left was unwittingly contributing to what Nanda calls “reactionary modernism.” In contrast, Nanda points to the Dalit, or untouchable, movement as a true example of an “alternative science” that has embraced reason and modern science to challenge traditional notions of hierarchy.
There is a sloka in The Mahabharata which can be translated like this: 'Whatever is found here ca... more There is a sloka in The Mahabharata which can be translated like this: 'Whatever is found here can be found elsewhere; what is not found here cannot be found anywhere else'. 1 This illustrates very well the variety of approaches to, and interpretations of, the epic for over a hundred and fifty years. Yet, when all of them are taken into account, it can be seen that they fall into a combination of one or two of four categories: 1) The Mahabharata as a unitary epic; 2) The Mahabharata as a composite epic; 3) The Mahabharata as a symbolic representation; 4) The Mahabharata as a real event.
"It was a brilliant American scholar, E. Washburn Hopkins, who, in 1901, in his great classic, The Great Epic of India: Its Character and Origin, and in other works, demonstrated that the epic in its present form is swollen with many additions, but they are all cast into the shade by the enormous mass added bodily to the epic as didactic books, containing more than twenty thousand stanzas ... there can be no further question in regard to the correctness of the term pseudo-epic as applied to these parts of the present poem"
It is not uncommon in mythology to create elaborate stories around historic heroic figures to ele... more It is not uncommon in mythology to create elaborate stories around historic heroic figures to elevate them to the level of gods who have time and again formed the basis for the development of religious sects. In Hindu mythology, the scene is slightly different where popular stories have been woven around Vedic themes that had nothing to do with history. Typical is the example of ‘the three strides of Viœµu’ mentioned at about a dozen places in «Rigveda (RV), which in the post-Vedic period was evolved into the ‘Våmana’ (dwarf) incarnation of Viœµu, with the original Vedic theme having been forgotten subsequently. The great Epic story “Mahåbhårata” (Mbh) which has influenced the life and culture in the Indian subcontinent for over 2200 years is probably another such example. So far all archeological excavations (Ghosh, 1989), at some of the important places mentioned in the Epic have yielded nothing, which can corroborate the story. However, most textbooks on Indian history date the Epic around 950 BC. The recent discovery of large ruined cities belonging to probably ‘the Harappan civilization’1, (1900-3000 BC) along the bed of the now dried up Ghaggar River, and a submerged site (believed to be ~1500 BC) at Dvårakå, off the coast of Gujarat by S. R. Rao (1999), has encouraged many scholars to push Mbh to greater antiquity.
Samyama and its Results 53 Samkhya, Yoga and Results 54 Interpolations in Yoga Sutra 56 An Apprai... more Samyama and its Results 53 Samkhya, Yoga and Results 54 Interpolations in Yoga Sutra 56 An Appraisal of Patanjali 58 2. THE ORIGINAL GITA The Matter of Scholarly Thought Chronological Accounts of the Original Gita Evidence in the Mahabharata Evidence in Alberuni's Work Evidence in the Bhagavadgita Bhashaya Evidence in the Brahma Sutras External Evidence Chronological Accounts of The Bhagavadgita The Author of the Gita Vyasa Date of the Gita Glimpses of the Original Gita Contents of the Bhagavadgita Evidence Showing the Continuity of the Original Gita Up to 800 A.D. 3. CORRUPTING THE ORIGINAL GITA The Underlying Circumstances The Revival of Brahmanism Shankaracharya An Appraisal of Shankaracharya The Bhagavadgita and the Quran The Bhagavadgita and the Bible v 4. CONSEQUENCES OF CHANGING THE GITA Political Submissiveness Philosophical Distortions Mystification of Yoga Religious and Cultural Effects 5. THE REDISCOVERY OF THE ORIGINAL GITA The Original Samkhya Karika The Original Yoga Sutra Scholarly Works on the Original Gita The Key to the Original Gita Pertinent Facts About the Original Gita Interpolated Verses in the First Three Chapters The Original and Interpolated Verses in the Extant Bhagavadgita Verses of the Fifteen Interpolated Chapters 6. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS The Cause of Social Development or Impoverishment Action versus Thought PART TWO THE MAHABHARATA: BACKGROUND OF THE ORIGINAL GITA
Introduction
One of the reasons for the phenomenal spread of the ideology of Hindutva in a short... more Introduction
One of the reasons for the phenomenal spread of the ideology of Hindutva in a short span of time can be ascribed to the ability of its ideologues to indoctrinate the masses with myths of Hindutva. Typically, myths deal with various dimensions of human life that are considered to be essential for the social, cultural, and religious life of people. Myths have special emotive appeal to the masses, they ignite their imagination and project ideals for them to pursue. Myths are also ambivalent in their nature in the sense that, they have the power to misguide the illiterate, the ignorant, and the naive. Therefore, if myths are not subject to rigorous hermeneutics, there is danger of people mistaking myths for reality, fiction for historical facts, a means to propagate falsehood, and a method to justify many superstitious beliefs and practices that are detrimental to the progress of civilization and dignity of human beings. Below we examine some of the notorious myths of Hindutva that have a sway over the Hindu masses and offer a critique of the same.
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a fr... more This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ... he can perceive nothing in it inconsistent or unworthy of belief. The rescue, of course, is due to the intervention of Visvamitra, as supposed by Wilson, and not to the efficacy of the hymns, but that was not intended to form the most salient point of the story. Exception has been taken to the theory of the sacrifice having been originally intended to be real on the ground of a story in the Aitareya Brahmana which narrates that "the gods once killed a man for their sacrifice, but that part in him which was fit for being made an offering, went out and entered a horse"; then the horse being killed, it went to an ox; and the ox being killed, it went to a sheep; and the sheep being killed, it went to a goat; and the goat being killed, it went to the earth; and the gods, guarding the earth, seized the rice, the produce thereof, which, made into cakes, formed the best offering, and all the animals from which the sacrificial part had gone, became unfit for being sacrificed, and no one should eat them. This story, I quote the entire passage from Haug's translation to enable the reader to judge for himself: "The gods killed a man for their sacrifice. But that part in him which was fit for being made an offering, went out and entered a horse. Thence the horse became an animal fit for being sacrificed. The gods then dismissed that man after that part which was only fit for being offered had gone from him, whereupon he became deformed. "The gods killed the horse; but the part fit for being sacrificed (the medha) went out of it, and entered an ox; thence the ox became an animal fit for being sacrificed. The gods then dismissed (this horse) after the sacrificial part had gone from it, whereupon it turned to a white deer. "The gods killed the ox; but...
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall ... more Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold , hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser For Sergei: in memoriam and remembering Kaushalya and Daya Ram and our many years together Contents List of Illustrations viii Preface lx Acknowledgements xi Note on the Bibliographies xii Chronology: c. IOOO BC-AD 1300 xiii Introduction xvii
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At the heart of Hindu supremacist ideology, Nanda argues, lies a postmodernist assumption: that each society has its own norms of reasonableness, logic, rules of evidence, and conception of truth, and that there is no non-arbitrary, culture-independent way to choose among these alternatives. What is being celebrated as “difference” by postmodernists, however, has more often than not been the source of mental bondage and authoritarianism in non-Western cultures. The “Vedic sciences” currently endorsed in Indian schools, colleges, and the mass media promotes the same elements of orthodox Hinduism that have for centuries deprived the vast majority of Indian people of their full humanity.
By denouncing science and secularization, the left was unwittingly contributing to what Nanda calls “reactionary modernism.” In contrast, Nanda points to the Dalit, or untouchable, movement as a true example of an “alternative science” that has embraced reason and modern science to challenge traditional notions of hierarchy.
1) The Mahabharata as a unitary epic;
2) The Mahabharata as a composite epic;
3) The Mahabharata as a symbolic representation;
4) The Mahabharata as a real event.
"It was a brilliant American scholar, E. Washburn Hopkins, who, in 1901, in his great classic, The Great Epic of India: Its Character and Origin, and in other works, demonstrated that the epic in its present form is swollen with many additions, but they are all cast into the shade by the enormous mass added bodily to the epic as didactic books, containing more than twenty thousand stanzas ... there can be no further question in regard to the correctness of the term pseudo-epic as applied to these parts of the present poem"
One of the reasons for the phenomenal spread of the ideology of Hindutva in a short span of time can be ascribed to the ability of its ideologues to indoctrinate the masses with myths of Hindutva. Typically, myths deal with various dimensions of human life that are considered to be essential for the social, cultural, and religious life of people. Myths have special emotive appeal to the masses, they ignite their imagination and project ideals for them to pursue. Myths are also ambivalent in their nature in the sense that, they have the power to misguide the illiterate, the ignorant, and the naive. Therefore, if myths are not subject to rigorous hermeneutics, there is danger of people mistaking myths for reality, fiction for historical facts, a means to propagate falsehood, and a method to justify many superstitious beliefs and practices that are detrimental to the progress of civilization and dignity of human beings. Below we examine some of the notorious myths of Hindutva that have a sway over the Hindu masses and offer a critique of the same.
At the heart of Hindu supremacist ideology, Nanda argues, lies a postmodernist assumption: that each society has its own norms of reasonableness, logic, rules of evidence, and conception of truth, and that there is no non-arbitrary, culture-independent way to choose among these alternatives. What is being celebrated as “difference” by postmodernists, however, has more often than not been the source of mental bondage and authoritarianism in non-Western cultures. The “Vedic sciences” currently endorsed in Indian schools, colleges, and the mass media promotes the same elements of orthodox Hinduism that have for centuries deprived the vast majority of Indian people of their full humanity.
By denouncing science and secularization, the left was unwittingly contributing to what Nanda calls “reactionary modernism.” In contrast, Nanda points to the Dalit, or untouchable, movement as a true example of an “alternative science” that has embraced reason and modern science to challenge traditional notions of hierarchy.
1) The Mahabharata as a unitary epic;
2) The Mahabharata as a composite epic;
3) The Mahabharata as a symbolic representation;
4) The Mahabharata as a real event.
"It was a brilliant American scholar, E. Washburn Hopkins, who, in 1901, in his great classic, The Great Epic of India: Its Character and Origin, and in other works, demonstrated that the epic in its present form is swollen with many additions, but they are all cast into the shade by the enormous mass added bodily to the epic as didactic books, containing more than twenty thousand stanzas ... there can be no further question in regard to the correctness of the term pseudo-epic as applied to these parts of the present poem"
One of the reasons for the phenomenal spread of the ideology of Hindutva in a short span of time can be ascribed to the ability of its ideologues to indoctrinate the masses with myths of Hindutva. Typically, myths deal with various dimensions of human life that are considered to be essential for the social, cultural, and religious life of people. Myths have special emotive appeal to the masses, they ignite their imagination and project ideals for them to pursue. Myths are also ambivalent in their nature in the sense that, they have the power to misguide the illiterate, the ignorant, and the naive. Therefore, if myths are not subject to rigorous hermeneutics, there is danger of people mistaking myths for reality, fiction for historical facts, a means to propagate falsehood, and a method to justify many superstitious beliefs and practices that are detrimental to the progress of civilization and dignity of human beings. Below we examine some of the notorious myths of Hindutva that have a sway over the Hindu masses and offer a critique of the same.