Dear All:
I enjoyed that last article from HT. It seems like we have developed quite an affinity for R. Thapar. Perhaps we could invite her to speak one evening for us in Chicago? Of course I have a few comments to share:
"Both Hindu and Muslim religious nationalisms emerged in the early 20th
century and became a counterpart to anti-colonial nationalism. Where the
latter was inclusive and tried to bring together the segments of Indian
society, the former divided Indian society into a supposedly
irreconcilable dichotomy - Hindu and Muslim, and the one excluded the other."
First of all, in India's case there is no such thing as 'religious nationalism.' We all recognize, understand, and support the fact that India came into existence as a secular democracy. The nationalism was one of a Free India capable of following the course of her own destiny, not the one written by the Queen of England. The freedom fighters of Hindu-origin (Gandhiji, Nehru, Patel, et al) never promoted the idea of a Hindu-only India. On the other hand, Jinnah and the Muslim League espoused the idea of an Islamic State for Muslims only (how many Hindus live in Pakistan or Bangladesh versus the hundreds of millions of Muslims freely practicing their faith in India). Its only fair to note that Jinnah did not always feel that way. Initially he was fully supportive of a single, free, secular India. Why he changed his mind at the eleventh hour I'll leave you to ponder.
"Sanskrit is projected not only as unique but ancestral to all Indo-European languages; thus Aryan
culture went out from India. Other historians have argued that such theories are unsupported by the evidence from archaeology and linguistics..."
There are many holes here. However lets just touch upon a few blatant ones, shall we? Is so-called Aryan culture analogous to Sanskrit? What is Aryan culture anyways? Terms such as Vedic, Aryan, Sanatan Dharma, Hindu, are just buzzwords for most today. I agree that it seems highly unlikely (although not impossible) given the evidence today that Sanskrit came out of present-day India. However, the India we see on the trusty Rand-McNally is not the India of yore. Historically, the borders of a single "India" are blurred. Her wings are said to have spanned from the Iranian mouintains well past present-day Mayanmar. Indeed the world's largest "Hindu" temple (I say Hindu for lack of a more precise term) is Ankor Wat, in Cambodia. Can we say Aryans lived in the Khmer in the 12th Century? Did they speak Sanskrit? R. Thapar claims that the forces of Hindutva (yet another term that needs a good definition) are twisting history for their own evil ends. Sadly, some individuals are indeed bending history for political gain. In fact this is not a new phenomenon (refrence the early Church, Communist Russia and China, Southern Baptists, and many, many others). However when the history is not yet clear, and the research is still ongoing, how can anyone claim the one, true history? What the reformers are doing in India is not a rewriting of history, but a reinterpretation along traditional lines. This textbook revision is a welcome change, because it gives students in India a fresh perspective on stagnant topics.
Please do not mistake pride and resurgence as exclusion and hate.
Lastly, I'd like to comment on the overall tone of these SAPAC emails. According to the SAPAC website: http://www.sapacchicago.org/ the Organization's mission statement is as follows:
SAPAC Mission Statement
As South Asians of the Diaspora we condemn the way in which racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression manifest themselves in the United States and abroad. At this time we are specifically concerned about:
1) U.S. military interventions abroad
2) The government exploitation and condonement of communal violence and violence against women in South Asia
3) Economic colonialism and its role in increasing economic inequalities, labor and human rights violations, environmental degradation, and the systematic disempowerment of women globally
4) The obstruction of civil liberties through racial profiling, illegal detainment, denial of due process, and surveillance of dissenting groups in the U.S., escalating in the current political atmosphere
Our goal is to use open artistic _expression_, public education, media outreach, community dialogues and other tools to create a forum for the discussion of these and other issues both within the South Asian community and between ourselves and others.
It seems that a disproportionate amount of energy goes into #2. What about the other Missions? As Asian-Americans, which of these are more relevant, more pertinent to us? Its important to hear more than just what S. Azmi's PR schedule is for the next week, what M. Sarabai had for breakfast, or what F.U.D. R. Thapar is spewing again. How about discussions on the foreign policy of Kerry or Edwards? These two individuals may have a far greater impact on our lives than Romila ever will.
-Khelan Bhatt
Say �good-bye� to spam, viruses and pop-ups with MSN Premium -- free trial offer! ------------------------------------------------ visit http://www.geocities.com/sapacchicago email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe sapac" in msg body to unsubscribe
