Powerfully contests the myth - spun both by secular "Indian nationalists" and communal "Hindu nationalists" with diametrically opposite motivations, of harmonious ancient times in the landmass called India.
<<Genocide may be an anachronistic description of religious conflict in the Gupta period, but ancient Hindu discourse certainly seems to believe in it as the cure for its anxieties, even to the extent that it associates genocide with salvation – the only means of escaping the wretchedness of the Kaliyuga. ... While Hindutva today recognises itself in opposition to Muslims, or Lutyens’ liberals, or urban Naxals, the upper-caste Hindu of the classical period clearly existed in opposition to Buddhists, Jains, lower-castes, and virtually any Hindu sect that departed from the all-encompassing knowledge of the Vedas. The pool of heretics surrounding him (yes, always ‘him’) was infinitely large. In his commentary on the Manusmriti, Narada describes heretics as “Buddhists, and so forth”. Patanjali, in his Mahabhashya, describes the relationship between Brahmins and Shramanas (Buddhists and Jains) as that between “a snake and a mongoose”. The Linga Purana delivers the final verdict, stating that heresy exists “wherever there are atheists and hypocrites, Buddhists or Jains”. While denouncing heretic Hindus makes more economic sense to the Brahmin than killing them, Buddhists and Jains are certainly expendable.>> (Excerpted from: < https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/indias-dharam-sansads-was-genocide-normalised-in-ancient-texts >.) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greenyouth/CACEsOZhj0JdpMGmC__zv4cHXkTsGVJcnNj3ArYetARwbEgAYsA%40mail.gmail.com.
