>HINDUS: Indians --Hindus esp were content in letting reading of
scrptures be the game of a small coterie -- the so-called brahmin
priests.... hence there was no thrust in >promoting faith by educating
followers to become literate so that they can read scriptures.
This is correct, In fact the Hindus
were trying to keep the religion of the Vedas very much secret from the
public. Thus there was no incentive to evolve a writing method to record the
Vedas which was handed over orally for many centuries. Even when writing was
evolved, at the inspiration of the Buddhist, this written knowledge of the
Vedas was kept as much secret as possible. First the Sudras and women were
barred from raeding of the Vedas.
Against this Hindu conservativenessm
the Christians as well as the Buddhists attitude was to propogate the Dharma
to as many people as possible. Buddha's decree, like that of Jesus, was:"Go
and tell the people about the Dharma". Along with Buddhism, and the Indian
epic story Ramayana, the local languages were developed in many countries
besides India. The Vedas on the other hand are still being recited in
Sanskrit.
Rajen Barua
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 9:16
PM
Subject: [Assam] Guru
Granth.....casteism vs Bible, literacy & IndustrialRevolution;
development - Beyond discussions
Hi,
Today went to see the exhibit - first of its kind --very long queue
to enter--how the Bible (Christian religious book) evolved over the first
1000 years of the religion's origin.
How from the time of Dead Sea Scrolls (rolled paper) the book evolved
into a modern style book form (evolving book technology)
....and how in the process of its propagation the missionaries even
created alphabets (like for Armenian and Georgian) and helped define what
books are today. Ofcourse, over time many new additions were there and
some like one refering to Jesus as a teacher (Edgerton's book ?) were
declared heresies.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:
Their preoccupation with the written word in book form as the most
potent means of religious expansion (from onwards 5th century into
Britain ..etc) perhaps helped build the western preoccupation with
books and learning ---since all were expected to familiarize themselves
with the text. Ofcourse it was mostly the priests who did the reading and
preaching but since they could be from any class or tribe --ALL th society
was energized towards book reading, literacy and education-----resulting
in knowledge gathering and knowledge production later on----Industrial
revolution since 1600s.
HINDUS: Indians --Hindus esp were content in letting reading of
scrptures be the game of a small coterie -- the so-called brahmin
priests.... hence there was no thrust in promoting faith by educating
followers to become literate so that they can read scriptures.
Muslims had in later days become content with reading Arabic only
--instead of translating the Quoran in other languages --so limited
literacy.
LITERACY:
Literacy provides religious communication and cohesion as well -and
perhaps thats whay Hindus are largely disconnected. They cannot
communicate with each other --most are functionally illiterate. (So are
most muslims in South Asia atleast.)
GURU & the teacher:
Yesterday I was invited by a student to go to th Sikh Gurudwara to
celebrate Diwali. My Malayalee landlord went along -his first . He asked
whom do Sikhs worship? Do they worship Krishna, Ram etc? I said they
worship the book --the Guru Granth (book) --which is their Guru . The God
they worship is the formless God (of the Yogis, Gnostics, Buddhists
etc). Surprisingly, I later realized it was the first time I was in
presence of the Guru - while my student was in the room. A teacher in
front of the Guru!!
Sikhs have a different reason for Diwali celebration -- you know
why?
Umesh
Umesh Sharma
5121 Lackawanna ST
College
Park,
(Washington D.C. Metro Region)
MD 20740
1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]
Ed.M. - International Education
Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard
University,
Class of 2005
weblog:
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
website: www.gse.harvard.edu/iep
Send instant messages to your online friends
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