RE: Romila Thapar's new book sheds light on Ghazni's Invasion of Somanatha

Tue, 17 Feb 2004 10:35:37 -0800


Ms. Romila Thapar has certainly distinguished herself, Which is why we are debating her. Whether it's Venom, or Roses filled with Venom, or just Roses is for each one of us to dissect and find out!

I am certainly not buying into her work, and I have no RELIGION!

"It's fuel that sits in the wings of planes, consumed by thirsty engines, but I am just a traveller seated in the plane of humanity. "

Ravi


From: "Mona Mehta" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Romila Thapar's new book sheds light on Ghazni's Invasion of Somanatha
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 18:12:41 +0000


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   It is quite disturbing that many thinking individuals who are part of progressive movements like SAPAC are buying into the vicious campaign of the Hindu Right, in both India and the U. S., to smear the reputation of Romila Thapar, a distinguished historian of ancient India, now appointed in a prestigious chair at the Library of Congress, who has courageously insisted on the truth about past events. It is even worse to put Thapar in the same league as the Hindu Right and to claim as Ravi Sharma does that her work is a �fantastic novel� and nothing but �more and more of spewing venom at the supposedly venom spewing Hindu Rightwing!

           Let�s get facts right before making sweeping statements. Thapar is trying to provide counter evidence to the fantastic and intellectually dishonest history of the Hindu Right that sees Indian history as a constant record of how Hindus were �wronged� by Muslims. This is one-sided nonsense. The �Hindu� king Shivaji�s greatest military confidant was a Muslim and they were interested in annexing Hindu as well as Muslim kingdoms. There are tons of such examples. Mosques were desecrated by Hindus and Temples were desecrated by Muslims. Let us not let this debate degenerate into a history of one-upmanship. Thapar is trying to put history in perspective and NOT justifying the Muslim rulers. It is absolutely ridiculous to expect the present day Muslims to condone or take responsibility for what Md. Ghanzni or Babar did. India is a secular democratic country today and to hold Indian Muslims responsible for Babar or Ghazni is a fraud on the Indian Constitution.

 

Mona Mehta



>From: "Ravi Sharma" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: RE: Romila Thapar's new book sheds light on Ghazni's Invasion of Somanatha
>Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 11:57:54 -0600
>
>
>When most of Romila's works espouse "Knee-jerk" reactions, there's
>certainly something wrong with her or her Work!
>
>Romila certainly hasn't found the Remedy that she is "Painstakingly"
>trying to find. Maybe she is trying to feed "slow poison" which is
>why the "knee-jerk" reaction of trying to trash her work ?
>
>Her intellectualism is biased and suits more as a fantastic Novel
>than academic research.
>
>cheers,
>Ravi
>
>>From: "Rasheed Ahmed" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>To: "'Mona Mehta'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
>><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>Subject: Romila Thapar's new book sheds light on Ghazni's Invasion
>>of Somanatha
>>Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 11:25:09 -0600
>>
>>KSB, it was not my summary. I merely forwarded an article on the
>>website
>>of Business Standards written by C.P. Bhambhri. It would be
>>intellectually honest to refrain from knee-jerk reactions and
>>spoon-fed
>>responses developed with an agenda to blur the truth. Do you
>>subscribe
>>to the phenomenon that anyone who has different point of view than
>>Hindutva preachers is neither a Hindu nor an Indian?
>>
>>
>>
>>http://www.business-standard.com/today/story.asp?Menu=34&story=34407
>>
>>
>>
>>Ahmed
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mona Mehta
>>Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 10:35 AM
>>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
>>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>Subject: RE: Romila Thapar's new book sheds light on Ghazni's
>>Invasion
>>of Somanatha
>>
>>
>>
>>There is no silence KSB. It is precisely knee-jerk reactions like
>>"Double Standard" (as Khelan SB argues) that Romila Thapar is tying
>>to
>>argue against. Thapar is attempting to challenge the "football view
>>of
>>history" propagated by the Hindu Right in which Hindus and Muslims
>>are
>>always pitted against each other and trying to score points. South
>>Asian
>>history is so much more complicated than that and I think it would
>>be a
>>terrible misreading of Thapar's work to see it as a justification
>>of the
>>destruction of Hindu temples by Mhd. Ghazni.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Mona Mehta
>>
>>
>>
>> >From: "Khelan S. B."
>>
>> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>> >Subject: RE: Romila Thapar's new book sheds light on Ghazni's
>>Invasion
>>of Somanatha
>>
>> >Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2004 23:35:17 -0600
>>
>> >
>>
>> >
>>
>> >It seems that Ahmed's summary of Thapar's book justifies the
>>
>> >destruction of Hindu temples by Mhd. Ghizni and the invading
>>Muslims
>>
>> >since 'other Hindus were doing it too.'  I would like to echo a
>>bit
>>
>> >of logic every 3rd grader has heard at least once or twice, 'if
>>___
>>
>> >jumped off a bridge would you do it too?'
>>
>> >
>>
>> >What if, in the aftermath of WWII and the Holocaust, the Nazi's
>>
>> >argued that they should be given leniency since 'Stalin killed
>>his
>>
>> >own people too' or 'some Catholics looked the other way while we
>>
>> >were gassing Jews' ???  How DARE anyone even suggest such a
>>thing?
>>
>> >
>>
>> >Why the silence now?  Where are the voices of objection on this
>>
>> >board?
>>
>> >
>>
>> >Two words: Double Standard.
>>
>> >
>>
>> >-KSB
>>
>> >
>>
>> >_________________________________________________________________
>>
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>>
>> >
>>
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>>
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>>
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>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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