Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Imperium - 3 - Stages of Subversion

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Before I begin this article, here are three quotes from three diverse sources which have created a positive impression in my mind about the subject that is to follow. 

First quote is by current RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in his FINS speech, 2009
"हमें permission  नहीं हैं रण छोड़कर भागने की. हमें permission नहीं हैं हारने की. भगवान की permission नहीं हैं. भारत तो कोई हरा या मिटा नहीं सकता. इसीलिए चिंता मत कीजिये. केवल इतना ध्यान रखिये की कैसे जल्द से जल्द भारत अपना पूर्ण स्वरुप प्राप्त कर विश्वगुरु के पद पर विराजमान होता हैं."
Second Quote is fron TV Series "Chanakya" which can be found here 
यदि प्रमाणित करना चाहते हैं आप अपने शास्त्रों की श्रेष्ठता तो आपको अपने शास्त्रों के अनुसार जी कर दिखाना होगा. समय के आघात का उत्तर समय के द्वारा ही दिया जा सकता हैं. भय यदि बल से हो तो निर्बल अपने शास्त्रों की रक्षा कभी नहीं कर पायेगा. और चुनौती अगर समय ने दी हो तो शास्त्रों ने कहा हैं की शास्त्र कभी कालबाह्य नहीं होता. दोनों ही स्थितियों में परीक्षा हमारी हैं. 
And the last quote is by Allama Iqbal's famous Tarana-e-Hind
कुछ बात हैं के हस्ती मिटती नहीं हमारी,
सदियों से रहा हैं दुश्मन दौर-ए-जहाँ हमारा.
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The trigger for this article came long ago when I heard this lecture by Yuri Bezmenov, a KGB defector to USA, who was posted in India to carry out subversive KGB operations within India in 1970s. The thought has been developing in my mind for few years now and now slowly it is beginning to find an utterance. 


Fantastic lecture wherein the stages involved in subversion of a nation OR a society are nicely explained in sufficient details to model the scenario in India. Yuri here has fantastically explained the four stages employed by a destabilizing power. The four stages are as follows - 

1. Demoralization (lasts around 15-20 years)
2. Destabilization (lasts around 3-6 years)
3. Crisis (lasts around 3-5 months)
4. Normalization (indefinite until some sort of equilibrium is achieved, in other words, FUBAR)

When applying these four stages to Indian context on longer time-scale, there is a one crucial stage prior to demoralization. That is "Deracination". In this part of the ongoing "Imperium" series, I will lay out the theory which I will be using to elucidate how this 5-step process is being constantly applied to India.

Stage 0 - Deracination:

I have written extensively about Deracination of Indian society on this blog. The articles are chronicled under the label of "Deracination series" which can be availed by clicking on the link in red. The stage of deracination typically lasts as long as the ability of a target society to view the world through their indigenous glasses is lost OR compromised. As the word suggests, Deracination is a botanical term where we uproot a tree from its native soil/environment and plant it in foreign/different soil and environment. The uprooting of the tree and its struggle to find and grow roots in alien environment is what we refer to as "de-racination" in botany. 

This stage lasts for few generations and is not definitive. It involves inculcating false sense of history among the target population which alienates them from their native narrative, sowing seeds of doubt about the efficacy of native linguistic, religio-socio-judicio-cultural and politico-economic systems and institutions and then gradually replacing them with foreign systems. When completed successfully in target population, people lose their sense of direction and look at the newly established foreign institutions and world-views to look at the world and try to find the solutions through that frame of reference. 

Deracination is primarily applied, as stated in earlier paragraph, on religious, cultural, linguistic and historical narrative of a target society. The contexts of the words are changed and then distorted using translations and forcing natives to understand their history and society using foreign language (something which through this blog I too am guilty of, sadly). Fault-lines among various social groupings of the target society are identified and at times encouraged. Once the society (or at least section of target society) is deracinated for large degree, the next step of subversion is applied. Many articles are written on this blog regarding this point. Modern day philosopher par excellence, Shri. Rajiv Malhotra has written three books so far chronicling the range and extent and manner of deracination that has been applied to Indian society. The books are Invading the Sacred, Breaking India and Being Different. The readers are encouraged to purchase these books and read through them. They have been eye-opening experience for me. 

Stage 1 - Demoralization





Demoralization lasts of 15-20 years because that is usually how long it takes to subvert one entire generation of young minds. When applied from age of 4 (Junior KG) to age of 24 (Masters degree), a child will be programmed thoroughly to behave and make decisions accordingly for rest of its life. It is done by targeting the ideas, structure and life-style perception of the society. 

As seen in table above, subversion of religion include politicization and trivialization of religion. Hindu gurus are routinely ridiculed and castigated. To assist them, due to lack of educational systems which gave well-qualified spiritual leaders to Indian society, more and more half-baked so called "Gurus" are coming up which fuels this vicious cycle. 

Education is subverted by creating environment where child is unaware of its history nor is it capable (encourage humanities over pure-sciences and engineering for example. Modern Indian youth is woefully unaware of India's history, geography and civics because they were systematically goaded to keep such "non-useful" topics in option and focus on job-giving subjects and careers. 

The Mandalization of society and politics is epitome of demoralization which had severely hampered the relations between social-groupings in Indian society. Thankfully now that factor is slowly evaporating thanks to emergence of rooted OBC leaders like Modi. The less said about the sold out mainstream media of India, the better. Thankfully here too the awareness is on the rise among the young Indians. 

Creation of false heroes (Like Nehru, for example) has severely dampened the fighting spirit of Indian society and made it complacent and decadent. The Nehruvian over-emphasis on legislative rules over society's internal and inherent moral-rules has made India a land where there are too many laws but none of them are enforced. The latest movement for Lokpal is one such example where people were asking for another giant bureaucratic body to punish the corruption in rest of bureaucracy. Instead of relying on inherent moral-compass of human being, we are increasingly depending on legislative rulings of parliaments and courts. This is not a good sign. 

Gross negligence towards military upkeep of Indian army and serious mistrust between intelligence agencies and government (which surfaced in rather ugly fashion post 26/11 India) is a very deeply concerning matter which leads to serious demoralization of country. The negligence of past 10 years has lead to incursions of China many miles within Indian territory and India cannot do anything to stop it. All this leads to demoralization of Indian public seeing their territorial sovereignty being violated by Chinese at their will and India appearing so powerless.

This reflects in internal policy of minority appeasement by government because majority is beginning to be annoyed and demoralized towards the incumbent government. This in turn has a disastrous effect on the health of India.

The last but very important point which is significantly demoralizing India in past 20 years is emphasis of delhi-government to displace people from their villages to cities. One can understand the drive to move a segment of people out of agriculture as means of livelihood to some other sector. But the complete uprooting of families and castes  from their native villages to dilapidated homes and shanties in the cities is most brutal form of rape that the establishment is doing on Indian populace. This is festering problems which, when unleashed, will cause a wave too big for a state to withstand.

India has been targeted on all these counts for past 40-45 years. First 20 years by USSR and post 1990 by USA and the west. The result is deracinated and demoralized society which is ripe for destabilization and crisis. The soviet backed demoralization resulted in naxalism, emergency as part of destabilization and crisis respectively. The west backed demoralization post 1990 is yielding dividends now with maoism, Evangelism, Islamic terrorism, and emergence of anarchists within political spectrum which has eroded the very belief of people in democracy and Indian system.

Stage 2 - Destabilization




Destabilization lasts for around 5 years where the application of subversive forces become more precise and concentrated. The demoralization in previous phases forces the government to indulge in populist schemes which in turn ends up in concentrating power in hands of government. This slowly destroys economy and makes individual dependent on state. This has alternate effect on breaking of inter-personal bonds and family bonds. The Labor-Employer relations are tampered by means of strikes and the other extreme of contract-labor with no rights. All this leads to weakening of nation thus impairing its foreign and military policies. But most importantly, the trust of people on system starts evaporating which is the most important trigger for the next phase. When this mistrust exceeds a certain critical value, society plunges into crisis.

Stage 3 - Crisis

The stage of crisis is a high-energy flash-point which cannot last longer than few months. In this stage the faultlines meticulously sowed in deracination and demoralization stage  decades ago begin to erupt lava. The social-groupings begin to become confrontational where each group feels that they can survive and progress only after "defeat" of the "other". Here the "other" can be another social group OR government itself. To give example, the phases of Indian history just prior to imposition of emergency in 1975 was a crisis phase. Another such example is the year of 2011 in Delhi where public movements against government were raging and certain media houses were trying to equate it to Arab Springs happening elsewhere in the world. Once a society (or a section of society) reaches the stage of crisis, it inevitably leads to next stage.

Stage 4 - Normalization

Normalization is process where the high-energy state of crisis-stage is dissipated and equilibrium is achieved by "any means whatsover" and at "any costs whatsoever". Its a ironic term because Normalization entails one of the following three scenarios.

A. Foreign Invasion: Taking advantage of society (or section) in crisis a foreign power (usually the agent who caused deracination and demoralization) invades and occupies the country and installs its own system.

B. Civil War: in absence of any foreign invader, the social factions arm themselves and a civil war erupts until one of the side wins. In case of absence of clear winner, after plenty of time and blood is wasted, the country is partitioned.  

C. State clampdown: If government is strong enough, there is heavy clampdown of the trouble-makers (for government) which includes vast overrulings of civic-liberties and human-rights. State being the only "bully" in the town represses all the dissenting voices with utter force. In case state is unable to do so in time, the problems like Maoism, LTTE etc erupt. 

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India has been subjected to all these 5 stages of subversion for past 200 years now post the fall of Maratha empire in 1818. There has been a constant fight between the deracinated, demoralized, destabilized section of Hindu society against rooted and proud and practicing section of Hindu society since 1857. The deracinated section of society has aided (willingly or unwittingly) the anti-dharma forces throughtout past 150 years. Their main opponent have always been nationalistic pro-dharma-forces in different shapes and forms places and times. 

As the pie of deracinated and demoralized segment of Hindu society is increasing exponentially post 1990, curiously the reverse is also being seen in Indian society. Many of those who were deracinated and demoralized are beginning to look at dharma with genuine curiosity. The hunger of this section of society to read, know and implement the workable dharmik models of dharma-artha-kaama-moksha aspects of human life is only going to increase. It is the duty of those who are rooted to come up with such socio-judicio-linguistic-politico-economic-cultural models of life. 


Dharma is the operating system of India. Its currently running on limited safe-mode. Time has come for development of its upgraded components for covering all operations required for a living, thriving and growing dharmik-society. India is slowly opening up again for reinstallation of Dharma. it won't be easy and without an uphill struggle. 

But then, if we won't claim our motherland, then who will?

उत्तिष्ठ भारतः !!!

Imperium - 2 - Evolution of the Good side

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This is second installment of the Imperium series which chronicles the evolution of the "Pro-Indic Forces" of India in past century.

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1. Who is blocking the dynasty from coming to power?

2. The proxy "routine" was rerun post the assassination of MKG. This time time, the focal point was the pro-Hindutva forces. Like INC where people were removed in stages as a newer dimension of proxy was established, with Angry India >> INC. First triumvirate (lal-bal-pal) replaced by MKG.. Jinnah removed, Bose removed to propel the second triumvirate to power in 1947 (JLN, VBP, MKG).. MKG removed immediately, VBP died naturally, thus JLN remained the sole viceroy of India.

3. The story of how proxy continued in INC with IG replacing LBS, later RG replacing SG.. Later Sonia miraculously replacing the third triumvirate (Kesari-Sindhia-Pilot) propelling PG and RG (junior). The vazeer-e-azam, Sri A{c]hmed Patel, fulfilling the role of next "sayyid brothers", ruling on behalf of and entertaining the bumbling "Rangeele Muhammad Shah", high emperor of red-fort and India. 

4. Barring the third point above, rest of the story can be found elsewhere which I will not repeat here.

5. But India was never a "unipolar" entity. There was another force which was gathering strength, in spite of the repeated attempts by the proxies and the imperium itself to sabotage its rise. Someone had already hinted about it on this board. That force the continuum of Vijaynagar-Marathas-(Sikhs-1857)-revolutionaries.  This story is about how that force was suppressed time and again by various proxies at specific intervals.

6. I have put sikhs and 1857 in same bracket because of the unique relation which these two forces shared - a relation which can be used to explain newtonian third law of motion, rather evidently. I will not go into details, but these two resurgent forces were cleverly used against each other. 

7. As Shiv said recently in one of his posts, pakjabi mussalmaans never have ruled in history. I would extend that to entire Punjab region and not limit myself to Pakjabi muslims. I will give my reasons for that.

8. The land of Punjab is referred to as "Vaahik Pradesh" in Indian scriptures which translates literally to "land of rivers". Since elder days, Vaahik pradesh (similar to upper Ganga river region) has been divided into smaller "islands" making it difficult to cross and establish the power-continuum. Since Rigvedic days, most of these "islands of polity" of Vaahik pradesh preferred "republican" model of governance. While the east (Bihar aka Magadh) has been known for its imperialistic streak (since Jarasandha's time), VP retained its republican character for long.

9. Except for Harshavardhan of thanesar and Ranjit Singh of Lahore, there is no "well known" Punjabi "emperor" in annals of history. And apart from harsha (and Chandragupta maurya), no king based in Punjab ever ventured out of Punjab. This tendency of VP power centers to limit themselves. To be honest, it was after partition when so many punjabis (hindus and sikhs) had to migrate to inner India, that their "patriotism" blossomed even more. When Punjab was united and people settled, this "urge" to spill over in the inner India, whenever Inner lands were in trouble, is seldom seen in the power-centers of Punjab. This changed since the days of first triumvirate (Lala Lajpat Rai). Also many contingents from Rawalpindi participated in 1857's Mutiny.

10. The fate of "Sikh-1857" bracket was decided on 17-12-1805, when Ranjit Singh allied with British against Marathas, thereby India losing the "north" to EIC along with any prospects of getting it back. What political compulsions led to this event, let us not get into the details, but what is important is, MRS, like his VP predecessors, refused to step out of VP. Furthermore, MRS, though great, was an anomaly in history of VP and dharma, since the demography was already against dharma and MRS's lineage was unsuccessful in continuing his work and at least maintaining Punjab as last bastion of Dharma. This was the first instance in last 200 years when the consolidation of Pro-Dharma forces was sabotaged by the Imperium.

11. 1857 is well known. Parag Topé has written a good book on it. 

12. Various small rebellions were quelled through out India until 1885. I have spoken about few of them in previous part of this story.

13. With establishment of INC as first proxy, the excess pressure of Pro-Indian Forces (PIF) too began to mount. It penetrated the first proxy and facilitated the formation of first triumvirate, thereby making it necessary to bring in MKG.

14. However the brutal suppression of the PIF took place in the years prior to rise of MKG, in three epicenters of Indian resistance vis-a-vis Punjab, Bengal and Maharashtra. The simultaneous suppression of the "men of action", along with engineering events to force them out to do the "violent and liberating act" preemptively. This resulted in many commanders and "potential leaders" of India being killed OR rounded up and arrested OR exiled. The imperium did this serially, first to fall was Maharashtra, followed by Bengal and then Punjab. As the PIF in the region fell, the MKG proxy quickly moved in to fill in the vacuum. The imperial brutality convinced many (rather most) to join the bandwagon of MKG, if they wished to stay safe and alive.

15. But something happened which the imperium did not hope for. Even MKG's proxy began to develop cracks and newer generation "men of action" began to emerge. There were many responses designed and executed by the imperium against these new problems. One of them was to sow the seeds of dissent among the PIF. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (VDS) was released from Kalapani in the attempt of sowing these seeds at the backdrop of Mopla riots in Malabar. VDS, just like SCB, was ardent supporter of replicating 1857 like movement where all Indians, Hindus and Muslims fought together to overthrow imperialistic yoke. All his thoughts, literature was indicating this mindset, making him, according to Imperium, an ideal candidate to sow the seeds of dissent withing PIF. Furthermore, he had "apologized" for his behavior and had requested to be transferred to mainland India. If grew too big, his "apology letters" would prove to be a handy too to distract public attention.

16. However VDS had changed while his stay in Andaman. He was no longer a dreamer in his mid 20's when he was arrested and sentenced deportation.  He was in his early 40's now (1924-25), having seen and learnt from his experience in Andaman with Muslim inmates, jailer and also Mopla riots and fiasco of Khilafat movement. He gave a word to PIF's political ideology - Hindutva and wrote a treatise defining this word. 

17. The writing of this book is one of the landmark events of Indian history which is highly understated. Within couple of years after publication of this book, one important organization was established in India which continue to have its domineering presence on Indian polity even today. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (The national volunteer association) commonly known as "RSS". 

18. Savarkar's definition of Hindu (although controversial and not universally accepted, not even by the RSS's first chief, Dr. Hedgevaar) gave a launch pad for the PIF in its new avatar. 

19. It was clear after fiasco of Khilafat movement, Mopla riots and increasing popularity of Mullahcracy along with steady blind eye that the Imperium and the proxies tuned against mullahs, that the nature of struggle was going to shift. The "Indian" core which was stable and active during 1857 to large extent and which was very painstakingly built by Marathas after death of Aurangzeb in 1707 by sacrificing themselves at Panipat, was divided into Indic and Non-Indic. The damage was already done and the Non-Indic component had acted, in accordance with Najib of Rohilkhand, and had already made a deal with foreign Abdali to defeat their fellow country men. Panipat was now inevitable. The only choice left was whether Indics will fight that war from position of abysmal weakness OR relative weakness.

20. For next 20 years, this organization spread rather rapidly in territories previously held by the Marathas. While this was happening, VDS was unconditionally released (in 1937) and became president of Hindu Mahasabha. By this time the demand for Pakistan was already made. 

21. The role of VDS on the events from 1925 to 1948 is difficult to describe. But his presence is impossible to ignore. Any one who wishes to understand India, cannot afford to neglect the thoughts and actions of this man and see what good and ill effects did he bring upon India.

22. Anyways, in 1948, MKG was assassinated by a group of young men from Pune. Most of them were associated with RSS and the HMS at some point of time in their earlier life. While the conspiracy itself was planned and executed by these guys, the influence of VDS is unmistakable on the thoughts of these men. 

23. The fact that the Second triumvirate (JLN-VBP-MKG) neglected the threat to MKG's life until it actually materialized makes it the next "biggest" blow to the PIF gathering strength. The CID had information a week earlier when they arrested one of the co-conspirators. Yet, nothing concrete was to done to stop this assassination. This also was one of the "self-goals" scored by Indics. 

24. The persecution of the PIF "commanders" by the "imperium" and the remaining two triumvirs was so large that the wings of executive arm of RSS were clipped off. They had to pledge themselves to the government of their "non-violent" and "cultural-onlee" role in order to sustain. The pogrom of 1946-52 was next big filter after 1905-1915 to clip the wings of "men of action" within PIF camp. 

25. The career of VDS ended here. He was quite old as well, and spent rest of his life writing and cautioning GOI about China, which was not heeded. Shyamaprasad Mukherjee (SPM) was eliminated systematically in the jail cell of Sri nagar. No one knew what happened to SCB. Other commanders of INA were also punished in spite of the "valiant" defense by JLN.

26. This turn of events forced the RSS to reinvent itself as a cultural movement and had to redefine the political thought as "integral humanism". Deendayal Upadhyay (DDU) was the last intellectual of this movement, worth its salt.

27. Golwalkar died in 1973, after steering the organization from one "prunning stage (of 1948)" to another (of 1975-76, the emergency). He successfully strengthened the roots of the organization. His is the period where the PIF saw emergence of two political ideologues B. Madhok and DDU. Under these two, their two great pupils starting rising to prominence. Lal Krishna Advani (LKA) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee (ABV).

28. Many great emerging leaders and activists of PIF were eliminated in 1975. Those who stayed, quite a few of them had "compromised". Just like 1948, the PIF guys of the era (RSS, JP, Lohia et al) had to resign from some of their "stances" and agendas in exchange of life (physical and/or political). Emergency was next big instance where the gathering strength of PIF was sabotaged again.

29. There are many sources which tell us the story of this "great pruning of 1975". The proxy (IG) and imperium were perhaps not at ease with each other due to some events that had transpired meanwhile. 1971 war and liberation of BD. 1974 smile of Buddha. Siachin. the heir apparent (SG) favoring US more than others and IG indulging. The cold war entered India in 1979 when Soviets invaded AFG and along with it started the decade long tussle to gain supremacy over the ruling dynasty of India. RG as PM was not effective at all. The PIF (now heavily communal, perhaps much more than pre-partition riots) started gaining strength again.

30. Shah-Bano, Shilanyas, RJM etc propelled the most "visible" political face of PIF to power. But this is when the next pruning happened. INC was now controlled for the first time since 1920s by a Non-proxy triumvirate. There is difference between being corrupt and being a proxy. However, when buddha smiled again in 1998, out of no where, the three are eliminated from world, SG made INC supremo and proxy is successfully installed which miraculously came to power in 2004 and has been in it, ever since.

31. The problem with having to gather strength and install proxy again and again, is that with time, people loose interest. Both the proxy and the PIF has lost its "efficacy" in the minds of people. one cannot say the same about PIF because it is a ever-reinventing itself. Vijaynagar to Anna-Baba duo.. But the problem of frequent reinvention is that lot of energy is wasted in making people aware that they are PIF. And in that process, many people compromise out.

32. The current proxy split Babaji and Annaji to ensure that they won't have to face the ire of both of them simultaneously. While they have succeeded, it is merely tactical brilliance. While PIF is not strengthening, Imperium is definitely weakening rapidly. And this is precisely the problem which India will face in coming decades.

33. The Rangeela Muhammadshah might sell out to western imperium OR ROP-lobby, in this tactical brilliance. Do we see a pattern here? 

34. Imperium here refers to Mughal-British-Dynasty power continuum operating in India either directly or via proxy. PIF refers to Vijaynagar-Maratha-(Sikh 1857)-Revolutionaries-nationalistic forces operating in India in various forms.

35. The Imperium will not do anything which is directly against the tradition of its predecessor. If doing partition was in interest of Imperium, keeping partition is in favor of imperium too. If dividing indian society to help rule India easily was in interests of Imperium, keeping those divisions and fostering new ones is in interest of ay iteration of imperium in any given time in near future. If deracination is in interests of Imperium, it will remain so, as long as Imperium (in any form calls shots).

36. Similarly, PIF changes with time. when a PIF component does not do what its predecessors did, one can safely conclude that the component has gone bad. Be it Holkar, Bajirao-2 peshwa himself, OR Godse, Bhindrawale or allegedly the patriarchs of BJP and the "team Anna". Most of PIF's interests are opposite to Imperium's interests and coherence with codes of Dharma. Any one who stands  for Dharma, he is the PIF in given space and time

Imperium -1 - The evolution of the dark side.

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Dear Readers, 

I have been wanting to publish this post and few others which are not written by me but by one of the illusive acquaintance. I have been trying to get in touch with him to ask from him the permission to publish this article and couple of those which will follow. I managed to get this permission after a long wait of more than year and half. I will be publishing them in parts under the series titled "Imperium". 

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1. Why was INC established? - The shock and awe. The shock was repression of 1857 (in north), 1875-80 in Deccan. The awe was subsequent implementation of educational and administrative reforms which culminated in foundation of INC in Mumbai in 1885. 

2. Why 1885 and western India? because for short duration in 1882, Pune city and adjoining area was liberated by armed revolution of Ramoshi (later joined by many people) under leadership of Vasudeo Balwant Phadke. The expanse of this revolt spanned all over Deccan. 

3. Remember the scene in Matrix trilogy when Neo meets "the architect" in second instalment of the series. 

4. This second proxy was found inadequate with rise of Tilak-Pal-Lajpat rai. These people starting harbouring notorious men of action as their clout increased (Bhagat sing et al by lajpat Rai, Savarkar, Chaphekar brothers by Tilak, Aravinda Ghosh by Bipinchandra Pal). Savarkar in turn harboured the third "tier" of foot soldiers (Madanlal Dhingra, Anant Kanhere, Madam Cama etc). This, unless unchecked, would have led to 1857 redux by mid 1910s. 

5. What was the reason to be wary of the decade of 1910? Now in hindsight, we know it was WW1.  But the british empire of 1910 at the height of her military and imperial might shall see it coming quite earlier. The decisive shift was to be made in the "Vaishya" of Musalmans to Vaishya of "Christians". And among Christians, it would be continental europe (Catholics) against English (Protestants). The conquest of the Byzantium was what essentially important to secure the trade routes. 

6. The drawback of Indian part was the uprising was only spearheaded by "Brahmin" aspect of samaaj-Purusha and the Kshatriya (who was mostly used as mercenary) aspect was not much pursued. The Vaishya and Shudra aspect were totally neglected. An uprising, when of brahmin character, is intellectual, principled, often dreamy and away from ground realities. A predominantly Kshatriya uprising (1857) is gory, violent creates lots of fuss but may not be effective. The Vaishya uprising (as we are witnessing today with MMS's 10% growth hogwash), gives rise to mentality where everything is for sale and promotes and encourages "mediocrity" in society. On positive aspects, it increases the wealth pool of civilization. In Shudra uprising (in essence), there is plenty of emphasis on technological aspects but lack the understanding on how to fund that "technology", against whom to be used and "why". Shudra uprising also represent "mass-movement" when even the last man of society contributes. 

7. For the establishment of Dharma, there requires the "concerted coordination of these four forces" in a way that the best of all four is seen in that uprising. This explains "what went wrong" in many aspects of India's answer to Abrahmics (Vijaynagar-Maratha-Freedom struggle). 

8. The necessity to install a proxy within a proxy (in form of MKG whom Pal referred to as Papal autocrat) arose acutely. It is interesting to see how the "fledgeling industrialists" of India were encouraged to help MKG's cause without running out of money. How Bajaj was still rich along with many "Zamindars" who helped INC under MKG to make his cause appear "respectable enough (by means of "allowed propaganda"). Same goes with Birla. The Tata group was anyways away from all the fuss. These people were allowed to "invest" as they were securing the second tier proxy. 

9. The systemic problem which arose during first proxy arose again with rise of SCB. Now, SCB was thinking like Peshwa, savarkar, Dhingra, yet was a disciple of MKG and good friend of "Bajaj". Thus SCB represents the collaboration of "Brahmin-Kshatriya-Vaishya" networks of India's Samaaj-Purusha. What happened to him in spite of this is known to everybody. The "technology" aspect of Shudra was missing in all of these. For that, one needs patronizing Vaishya which includes their protection by Kshatriya which further means mobilization of Kshatriya by Brahmin. This time, however the need was more urgent (owing to rapid rise of third Reich). Hence SCB (and Jinnah a decade earlier) were systematically removed from the loop.

10. This gives rise to JLN. JLN is akin to pleasure loving Sultan who is an armchair visionary of some extent. Meanwhile the second Proxy (MKG) reneged from the promise and started 1942 movement. Thus, the quick-fix patch of Muslim-league was installed which demanded Partition. 

11. One has to remember that by the time MKG started his movement, the battle of stalingrad was going on. The fortunes of Hitler and quit-India movement in this period went down hand-in-hand. This battle was the breathing time for British when tide had turned in their favour already. They knew by february 1943 that it was matter of time when Hitler fell and Russia was ally. The worrying part was advance of Japanese with INA and SCB towards Bengal. If SCB reached Bengal, it would take no time to unsettle this carefully placed system. As someone has rightly pointed out earlier, the occurrence of 1943 famine coincides with this possibility. 

12. After 1943, the INC was beginning to "understand" the consequence of what might happen "if..." This understanding was lost from minds of India's policy makers since repression of 1857. This is when the third proxy began to rise (JLN, VBP). This proxy is predominantly of Vaishya-Shudra nature. No one in INC (IMO) understood the value of "real-estate" more aptly than Patel. This understanding of his is evident in the map of India that he created after 1947. This hawkishness is also seen in his opposition with JLN over JLN's Shikhandi-manoeuvres on cashmere issue. 

13. The defeat and capture of INA personnel and their "unsuccessful, but valiant defence" by JLN in court was used to whitewash the sell out of India (in form of acceptance to partition) which perhaps the INA chief and main competitor of JLN was unaware of. What happened to him is not known to us. But can we say this with certainty that it wasn't known to Indian army, hence British and subsequently JLN (on need to know basis)? I think not. If we assume (for sake of argument) that the fate of that man was known to british, how will a pleasure-loving armchair visionary sultan react to the prospects of loosing power?

14. The vision of JLN in terms of Shudra aspects (Technology, education to poor, overall socialist bent) is well known. He also successfully linked few Vaishya families to the cause of generating capital to create a pool of technologically competent Hindus. Since installation of this third proxy, there requires a necessity to have an inherent check on the system. The kshatriya and Brahmin aspect of society was totally suppressed by JLN. There was creation of "Jagat-seth" like Vaishya-Shudra nexus which somehow prevented the rise of Brahmin-Kshatriya. The bargaining power of loss of power over JLN must be higher in 1945, but quite lower in 1962. By that time, he was an old dying man who had his share of power and pleasure. Hence, when 62 came as a rude shock to him, he started empowering the Kshatriya aspect of society too. This includes (but not limited to) invitation to RSS contingent to perform parade on rajpath on 26th Jan. 

15. With Shastri coming to power rather "easily" and saying "Jai Jawan and Jai Kisan" this was the mark of a man having visions of Vaishya-Kshatriya nexus. This nexus is what we call as "Military-Industry" complex. Furthermore, he had nothing to lose. 

16. JLN somehow had somehow remained relatively neutral to USA and USSR. Shastri was way too much neutral and was perhaps acting against the planted agents by both these players in delhi. This is the interesting part to ponder upon. Why was Nehru allowed to go commie? out of everybody else, why USSR? What is it that USSR held that was so compelling that British allowed their "crown jewel" be penetrated by KGB? OR was JLN doing so on his own. But then considering what happened to his progeny who tried acting independently, I do not think he will do that entirely on his own. He perhaps convinced British something in exchange? Was any decision of JLN which favoured British few years before his implementation of 5 year plan (around 1948-49)? The answer is obvious, no. Kashmir issue. By 1950, Patel was dead and by 1951, first 5-year plan was implemented. I think since then the penetration of west began to decrease in India supplanted by USSR. 

15. The west has an interesting method of wresting control. The "old school" network. The universities like oxford and cambridge typically take up such potential leaders and their children to train them in the way which is "desired" for system to continue.anyways. 

16. Vaishya-Shudra reform by JLN completed the remaining leg of India's revival with beginning of IITs, DAE, Patronage of Homi Bhabha (whose death is similar to SCB and Shastri), Sarabhai. Why did Bhabha disappear? Was India going too fast on "technological" uprising which will lead to rise of "Brahmin-Kshatriya" nexus? It is wise not to type out the answers which are known to everybody. 

17. Post 1990, there is tendency to deny the shudra uprising in India as well. Only "Vaishya" is being encouraged. The technology (tejas, kaveri, missile etc) is all due to inertia. All the new R&D is somehow being sabotaged in name of foreign collaboration. This is how many indigenous programs were killed. Indian students from IITs and other good colleges start getting 6 figure packages when in 3rd year of their engineering in investment banking firms and IT-coolie companies. The 21-year old start enjoying life, forgetting the rigorous vows of brahmacharya which are essential to be disciplined and achieve excellence. note - Brahmacharya does not imply celibacy. It is natural to have sex, what is not permitted is to get carried away and breaking the disciplined life of a student. This is the bad news that there is now a fourth tier of "illusive world" draped in front of Indian eyes.

18. This is also a good news that there are 4 tiers of proxies which are activated now. INC>>MKG>>JLN, IG, RG>>Sonia. This is too much of "Maaya" for a thinking society like India. India is  today enjoying life and pleasure like Macchindernath was enjoying when he entered the body of king and forgot that he was Yogi. All it took was a call from his disciple Gorakhnath, and the Yogi in that Bhogi King's body woke up.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Hindu good-news according to NaMo - Reinvoking Vedik and Ashokan Dharmavijayee streak among Indians.

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Background reading - 

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NaMo is bringing in a much needed "Evangelical streak" among Hindus. This should translate into full-fledged Hindu evangelism. Will be useful in the process of assimilation in future. Those in their 20s, 30s and 40s should remember this streak and sharpen it.. Bhaaratmata is going to need it 2-3 decades from today.

A legend tells us that having conquered Kalinga, a certain king which is referred to as Devaanaam Priya Raja Priyadarshi (Beloved of devas, king Priyadarshi), whom modern historians equate with Ashoka Maurya,  grandson of emperor Chandragupta Maurya, looked at the battlefield filled with remorse and proclaimed that he shall henceforth conquer the world by the means of Dharma-vijaya and not shastra-vijaya. Dharmavijaya is beautiful Indian counter-word for western word "Evangelism". It does not have the baggage of evangelism, yet captures the zeal to spread and convert aptly. I will henceforth call Hindu-missionaries as "Dharmavijayee" people. 

He then trained and sent Indian missionaries all over the world which spread Indian civilizational influence to distant lands. The wheel of Buddha's dharma started rotating throughout Asia. The real catalysts of this revolutionary spread of Hindu soft-power were traders, monks, roaming brahmins and Bhikshuks who were so convinced about their belief in superiority of "Dharma" that the original Vaidik zeal of Krinvanto Vishwam Aaryam received a shot in arm. 

Various darshanas in India kept on competing with each other on ideological domain to capture the imagination and following of as many people as possible. This continuous churning which is characteristic of Hindu civilization gave rise to stalwart names like Nagarjuna, Dharmakirti, Ashwaghosha, Adi Shankara, Kalidasa, Ramanuja and many many others in all spheres of life from engineering to poetry, from warfare to philosophy and sciences. While Ashoka himself temporarily paralyzed himself and India due to overemphasis on Ahimsa in political domain, the subsequent Indian kings corrected this course time and again and maintained a fine balance between Shastra-vijaya (victory by arms) and Dharmavijaya (victory by soft-power). If we follow the trajectory of Sungas, Guptas, Pratiharas, Rashtrakutas, Cholas etc, a long spell of dharmavijaya followed after every short-spell of shastravijaya. 

The agents of Dharma-vijaya, were able to function and convince others due one simple and fundamental fact - They were living as per "dharma", they were protected dharma and were in turn being protected by dharma, they were tasting the fruits of leading a dharmik lifestyle and thus were convinced (by comparing adhaarmik civilizations through the 4-pramana based tarkashastra) that following dharma will lead to the ultimate happiness of mankind. In fact, it is their ishwara-pradatta karma (godgiven duty) to spread dharma. Hence they even chose to call one of their most prominent and popular dharmashastras as "Maanav-dharmashastra" (The ethics for mankind).

The drive and the qualities described in above paragraph are essential in every civilization hoping to perform a dharma digvijaya. The invasions of past thousand years have eroded this mentality among the Hindus. It is true that post independence, many dvaita-vedantin sects have been successfully propagating and "Evangelizing" their sampradaaya (ISKCON, for example), but this is in very limited context of a small-subset of total moksha-purushartha repertoir which in itself is a quarter of overall purushartha-ashrama based dharmik civilization. For dharmavijaya to show its effect, the thrust has to be on all four purusharthas and all four ashramas from all four Varnas of society. For this to show its effect, people have to have an example, a real experience of living in a dharmik system and leading a principled, prosperous and peaceful lives. 

Strange things started happening in Indian society since Indira Gandhi imposed internal emergency in 1975, thus breaking a social-contract which Indians had with Indian National Congress. The civilization struck back, thus giving vital sanjeevani to a long suppressed Dharmik  revivalist movement within the society which is now popularly referred to as Hindutva. Throughout the decades of 80s and 90s, this movement grew stronger, although it was severely diluted in my opinion by fixating it on a material object, that is Ramjanmabhumi temple of Ayodhya. The rise of Narendra Modi is against this backdrop. 

The man belongs to an institution which in turn belongs to an ideology which invokes and tries to work by the very Rigvedic and Ashokan concepts of Krinvanto Vishwam Aaryam OR Dharmavijaya. It has the necessary discipline, pride and mechanisms to train the dharmavijaya agents. What Narendra Modi has done is given some tangible data and evidence to these agents to go out and spread the good news of Dharma among macaulayputras and Nehruvians and common people. Today we see various people arguing with other people who oppose Narendra Modi out of either ignorance about Indian civilization OR hatred towards Indian civilization - both instilled in the minds due to 6 decades of three-pronged Nehruvian education (which comprises of Nehruvian socialism, secularism and westernism).  These dharmavijayi people argue and try to "convert" the Nehruvians and fence-sitters with similar missionary-like zeal. This sort of arguments stem from inherent pride which the dharmavijayins have in their civilization and way of life which is buttressed by actual workable material growth models which Modi has demonstrated. 

It is not about Modi, the individual. It is about valuable data that he has provided to dharmavijayi people to go out and evangelize and convert people to lead their life under all-encompassing umbrella of Dharma (Hindutva is just a fashionable name of this fundamental Indian characteristic). The critics of this idea has expressed their reservations about this thesis by saying that this is only a temporary swell in the enthusiasm of Hindus which can be easily cauterized by engineering an electoral loss. Yes, in case there is electoral loss of BJP in loksabha elections, there will be some depression among dharmavijayee people. But this will not reflect in states of India which are becoming increasingly prosperous and demanding increasing autonomy to operate and make their own decisions. The very fact that the number of dharmavijayee people and their drive and zeal only went on increasing in past 6-7 years (that is in spite of electoral loss of 2009), is evidence this is not a superficial change in Hindu society. 

In many ways, Narendra Modi is like Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of USA. He represents a fundamental shift in Indian political thinking from the London based regimes of internationalist controls. But there is a catch here - One should know that Andrew Jackson actually started the process in 1833 of slow descent of USA towards Civil war 20 years later. America truly became independent from London based regimes of international controls after Lincoln won the civil war and stabilized the two coasts. The nullification crisis of 1833 was a major turning point in American history which is underrated. 


India has much to learn from USA. USA, with all its current failures, is a model for India to relearn our ancient genius. The current faults of American policy has arisen because they signed the Atlantic charter in 1941. Churchill somehow managed to sell the English dream of global empire and "Pax Americana" to Roosevelt. Anyways, post 1941 USA has very little to teach India. But the American founding fathers and some great leaders of 19th and earlier 20th century has a lot to teach. By studying them, we can actually find some missing data-points of how India would have been if we had continued on the pre-Islamic trend-line as if nothing happened.

The Mughal-British-Congress continuum of Delhi-based centralized governance on India with the coalition of small local regional satraps pandering to a small but united minorities, has induced India into a long comatose tamasik state. To shed this tamas and invoke the inherent Raajasik and Saatvik characteristics in Hindu prakriti, past decade has been instrumental. Now is the time to fan this dharmavijayee zeal among Dharmiks. 

My fellow Dhaarmik brothers and sisters, it is our duty to make this world dharmik and aarya by removing the adharma and uncivility rampant. I urge you to not only try and convert the "other" Nehruvians and adharmiks within and outside the geographical confines of India, but also to study, learn, adapt to current times and resurrect all the dharmik models of all spheres of life - from spiritual to economic, from military to political, from sociological to family-related and from individual to entire world. The rest of the world is desperately searching for sustainable solutions to lead a principled, peaceful and prosperous life. They are searching for answers and my fellow dharmik brothers, you are sitting on that treasure trove. You only have to know yourself and spread this goodnews to rest of humanity. 

That is your Dharma in this birth !!!!

Shubham astu.. 

Saturday, September 07, 2013

Maharashtra's Sugar Lobby - The entrenched Jaagirdari system

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Here are few links which form the background of the story elucidated in this essay.

1. Evolution of Raj and Bal Thackeray's ideology
2. Historical Analysis of Maharashtra politics
3. Critique on some events in life of Veer Savarkar

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The story of Maharashtrian Jaagirdari is a fascinating story (and a murky one). Murky because although it has been antithetical towards nationalistic forces, it was not exactly anti-Indic forces as well. It conveniently occupies the shades of grey in ongoing battle of AIF Vs Nationalists. 

NCP and INC were as Hindutva-vadis as SS or BJP or RSS walas. Even today, the ground cadre is practically indistinguishable. INC (and NCP which is its offshoot only) in MH is an elaborate system of Jaagirdari designed by Yashwantrao Chavan to please and and yet maintain a separate existence from Nehru. 

This began after death of Lokmanya Tilak. Large number of brahmin, marathas and OBC youth who were inclined towards Tilak and violent means were systematically liquidated by British post MKG suddenly calling off Non-cooperation movement after Chauri-Chaura incident.

The culling of 1920s ensured that from MH (as was with Punjab and Bengal) only pygmies will remain in the national discourse of Indian freedom movement. Only Dr. B R Ambedkar was the leader worth a salt who managed to emerge and escape from this pogrom of 1920s, that too because of his Dalit cause. Even he was sidelined by JLN for his pragmatic stances. He and to certain extent Savarkar (with his wings severely clipped). Similarly, only Subhash babu managed to emerge from Bengal post 1920s pogrom. And after Lalaji and hanging of Bhagat Singh, not a single national leader has emerged from Punjab. The fate of Punjab has always brought tears to my eyes. Muslims were overcome by Sikhs and just as they were rising British took over. Lalaji, Arya samajis etc were again making Punjab rise but Lalaji was eliminated and brilliant young men like Bhagat Singh were sacrificed. 

Same thing happened in MH. RSS, Hindu Mahasabha shielded a large bulk of youth from Mh and central India and western UP (basically all those territories which were once under stable Maratha occupation prior to 1818) suffering that fate from 1925-45. This gave rise to many stalwarts which later went on to shine in non-INC platforms like jansangh, BJP and various subsidiaries of RSS. 

But the die was already cast in 1940s. HMS and RSS (which in turn meant nationalistic youth from erstwhile maratha territories)were beginning to be vocal and active with partition related violence increasing in tenor. Role of cadres from these organizations in saving Bengal and Punjab and even Kashmir (as far as I know, the runway of Srinagar airport was prepared by RSS guys in 1948 so that IA planes could land). 

With JLN has head of GOI, nathuram godse's action gave the establishment a chance to cull this budding nationalist forces. The Brahmin-Maratha dispute has been going on in MH since 1741 (began with Peshwa-Bhonsale feud over chauth of Bengal which resulted in infamous Maratha raids on Bengal). This was systematically used to drive out MH-brahmins from villages where they had mass-base. This was done by INC under premiership of Yashwantrao Chavan and S K Patil. After exodus of brahmins from villages, the Marathas got to place their fingers right on the pulse of power. This is where we see the rise of 96-clan lobby in MH (more precisely western MH).

It is not sufficient that person should belong to 96-clan Maratha community to rule over MH. Heck, MH-brahmins have been severely deracinated since their eviction from politics (post 1920s). It is OBCs and the 96-clan Marathas who are more Hindutvavadis than many of the MH-brahmins and form bulk of cadre of BJP-RSS-SS in Maharashtra. It is not only about caste. One should belong to right family. 

This is the reason why BJP cannot win (so far) in western MH. BJP and RSS have stalwart Maratha and OBC leaders. Shelar, Tavde, Fundkar are dedicated BJP leaders belonging to 96-clan Maratha community who have strong following in Mumbai and urban MH. But they are outsiders to the lobby of Maratha jaagirdars.

In 1955, when the demand for Telugu language based AP was beginning to take root, similar demand started in MH - this is called Sanyukta Maharashtra samiti. All the non-INC parties, the communists the Hinduvadi people (who were flying low due to MKG assassination) joined in. The convener of this movement was father of Balasaheb Thakre - Keshav Thakre, aka "Prabodhankaar". It became obvious that unless something was done INC would be eradicated from MH. In 1957 state assembly polls, SMS won large number of seats and INC could barely win a majority. If left unchecked, by 1962 INC would have been finished from MH for ever. 

This is when Yashwantrao Chavan started Cooperative sugar factory movement in MH. This movement, although yielded rich economic dividends to MH, propelling MH to the position of wealthiest state in India (I think despite of last 15 years of misgovernance, MH still holds that position due to this movement by YC). Fantastic movement and full credit to Yashwantrao. However, closer scrutiny of what this movement really was, shows an interesting story. Like Raja Todarmal introduced Mansabdari system for Akbar in north India, thereby stabilizing Mughal rule in Ganga valley for three centuries, Yashwantrao introduced Mansabdari system for his Nehru. Each district of western MH (and fertile parts of marathwada, Khandesh and Vidarbha) is given to family of 96-clanner Maratha to look after. That district was the Jaagir of that family. 

Now, who is in this lobby - The requirements are that one has to be a 96-clanner person who owed allegiance to Yashwantrao (later usurped by Sharad Pawar) and who is NOT from Konkan. 96-clanner Konkani Marathas (like Narayan Rane, for example) can never be part of this Sugar-lobby. It has to be Deshastha Marathas only. But not all 96-clanner Marathas from the Ghat. Those who owe their allegiance to yashwantrao and who will go after him either with OR against Nehru and who were big farmers with great political clout and following AFTER having displaced brahmin leadership (and farmers) from those particular district. Quite a tall order. Like the Delhi's dilli-billi circuit, this Maratha jaagirdar lobby has been calling shots in MH and rest of KG basin since fall of yadava empire in general. 

The opponents of this Sugar-lobby were the usual suspects - RSS, HMS, communists, Dalits and farmer-worker party (Shetkari Kaamgaar Paksha). This Shekaapa was a formidable non-INC, non-RSS force (kind of like Janta Dal of Lohia). Mr. Govindrao Pawar (father of Sharad Pawar) was promising leader of this party. Many say, he was an idealist. He was murdered, (some sources say at the behest of certain prominent Sugar-lobby members). After the murder of Govindrao, the Shekaapa lingered but toothlessly. Sharad Pawar, however, received great care and affection from Yashwantrao. SP was his protege. 

In this jaagirdari model of Chavan, Nanded was given to Chavan (another), Satara to Chavan (yashwantarao), Sangli to Patil (the current RR patil comes from same Patil clan of Sangli), latur to Chakurkar and Deshmukh (Shivraj Patil-Chakurkar and Vilasrao Deshmukh), Kolhapur to Desai, Pune-Baramati to Pawars, so on and so forth. These families formed the first iteration of 96-clan Sugar-lobby of western MH which held tight to each other. Like Pre-Shivaji Maratha feudal lords, they may change parties, they may even fight one-other occasionally but they never eliminate each other. When the appear fighting, it is more often than not, Maya only.. Most importantly, in all this fighting and rabble-rousing, the territory and its resources remains with this lobby, no matter which master they serve.

The raison d'etre of Sanyukta Maharashtra Samiti vanished when state of Maharashtra came into existence. The power of this new state went squarely to this lobby headed by Yashwantrao Chavan. The remaining social groupings (dalits, Brahmins, OBCs and the rejected 96-clanner Marathas) were leaderless and started meandering towards Communism. This is where rise of Shivsena happened. SS and communists were eyeing these exact social groups and in the process (at times with active support of Sugar-lobby), Sena defeated and threw out communists from MH. This included a series of political murders which will be digression here. 

With Communists weakened, the natural gravitas of MH society started manifesting again by slowly moving towards anti-Delhi bias with strong hindutva undercurrent. This is late 1970s I am talking about. The emergency and crackdown of RSS was visible to everyone. After 1920s, the emergency era saw deaths of so many RSS volunteers who were promising. Thankfully Sena did not allow the youth of MH to go anti-national as it happened in Bengal and Punjab (Naxalism and Khalistani movement respectively). The public sentiment remained anti-delhi, but staunchly nationalistic (at times hindu-nationalistic). This undercurrent began to grow vocal as the great strikes of early 80s brought Mumbai to standstill. Sena (helped by businessmen and Sugar lobby) was overpowering communists. But fueling Shivsena also meant fueling and funding Hindutva ethos. 

Meanwhile Pawar had split from INC for the first time to form Progressive democratic party (Purogaami Lokshahi dal) in alliance with Morarji's Janta Party against Indira in 1978. Riding the JP wave, he became MH CM in 1978. But when Indira came back to power, first thing she did was dismissing this non-INC government from MH. Antulay sahab being a man from "peaceful community" has his own links and baggages. But he was first person from outside Sugar lobby (He was a konkani muslim) to become MH-CM. Hence he was in touch with various Bhais (Haji mastan, Karim lala ityadi). He was convicted in extortion case and was forced to resign in 1982 after two years. He, being loyal to IG, was then shipped to Delhi to become minorities affairs minister. He was never heard from again, until 26/11 when he crapped out some Zaid-Hamid like stuff. 

Babasaheb Bhonsale became MH-CM thereafter and seeing the power safely in hands of Sugar-lobby, our Pawar Saheb returned to INC in 1987 as if nothing happened and within matter of few months packed off Shankarrao Chavan to dilli and became CM of MH and president of MH-INC. Beautiful politics. He ensured power of MH remains in hand of Sugar lobby and not anybody else (including Nehrus and Gandhis). But in the process he cultivated his personal image of unreliable politician in minds of Dilli-billi. Meanwhile SS had allied with BJP (in 1985), Shahbano incident had happened and RJB was beginning to gear up.

All this politicking requires loads of money. Kind of money which stable jaagir cannot churn up, hence requires dirty money. It is not easy challenging Delhi (and Indira) and survive. This is where Pawar's alleged connections arise with Haji Mastan and later Dawood. The transfer of money started from 1978 (when he first broke off from INC). Various names like Choksi (the famous Hawala trader) along with owner of a well known Gutkha company were part of all this. All this information is available in public domain. Plus lot has been said about Dawood, Pawar and 1993 blasts and Vohra report, so no point in repeating it. It is slightly tangential to our story.

After death of Rajiv, Pawar was closest to the top-job since Bajirao-1 conquered delhi in 1737. He was undone by his past, machinations of Dynasty-sympathizing lobby who wanted to prop up Sonia, ND Tiwari and Arjun Singh - who like Pawar were also vying for top job. The unlikely winner of this quadrangular match who screwed (although temporarily, but resoundingly) to all four contestants was PVNR who packed off Tiwari, Arjunsingh, Pawar and Sonia-backers. He used all his luck in this (and bomb and liberalization). 

His mishandling of name-change of Aurangabad's Marathwada University, series of protests by Anna Hazare, series of demolitions of illegal constructions in Mumbai (mostly funded by builder lobby backed by the "bhai") by G R Khairnar, BMC's deputy commissioner, coupled with Mumbai Bomb-blasts and RJB wave prevalent throughout the country, had severely eroded the INC. 

All these factors and this history, combined caused the aberration of SS-BJP coming to power in 1995. They did fantastic job when in power, just like CBN in AP. Yet in 1999, INC (which means Western MH based Sugar lobby) was back to power. How?

This too is fascinating story. The anti-delhi sentiment has always been popular in MH-public imagination. This is connected to Maratha-Mughal antagonism. Delhi, subconsciously, symbolizes enemy seat which rightfully belongs to Marathas. The terms like "Dillishwara" or "Dilli-pati" means Sultanate and to be precise Aurangzeb. The "rebellion" of Pawar against Sonia prior to 1999 assembly and general elections diverted public attention. 1999 elections are really fascinating. The state and general polls happened simultaneously in MH. Public chose SS-BJP in Loksabha and INC-NCP in state - within matter of 5 minutes, public chose two different poles of political spectrum. 

I could not understand how INC-NCP (later UPA) could come to power in MH after people witnessed whirlwind progress under SS-BJP. The reason that I now understand is, SS-BJP were not meant to be in power. They did not "win". Sugar-lobby let them win while they set their houses in order meanwhile and reorient themselves in accordance to changing polity and realities of India. SS-BJP did progress, but they did not (could not have) destroy the mass-base and dense network of industrialists, farmers, traders, politicians, police and bankers which form the back-bone of Sugar-lobby. The large network of cooperative banks, societies, factories, farms spread across villages of MH are the real strength of Sugar-lobby. 

Last of the banks which were holding out against this lobby were sacrificed at the alter of INC (the new Sonia-MMS-Chidambaram's INC). The stories of United Western bank and Ganesh Bank of Kurundwad and their mergers by Chiddu in IDBI and Federal Bank (originally an Evangelical-funded bank from Kerala) respectively was the last nail in the coffin. SP again hoped to be PM in 2004 when he allied yet opposed Sonia to be PM. Sonia, via Chiddu, screwed him by forcing Ganesh Bank to merge in Federal Bank. United Western Bank was a very strong and robust bank since 1907 (they funded, covertly of course) to many of the Tilak's proteges. With Tilak's demise, the bank although dominated by brahmins, stayed on very good terms with Sugar Lobby. Almost entire Sugar-belt was dominated by this bank. Chiddu decided to screw this bank up to teach Pawar a lesson. I do not know what Pawar did, but he saved UWB from merging into Federal bank. People say the relations between Chiddu and Pawar soured greatly after Pawar played some game and did not allow Federal bank to make inroads in MH. 

An interesting trivia here, but the hindi word for Insurance is WIMA (Not Vima). It is an acronym for Western India Mutual Assurance which is the parent company established by Anna Chirmule (The founder of United Western bank) in 1907. This just shows how popular and deep-rooted this institution was. There was a director of United western Bank who refused to give shady loan to Sugar-lobby. Furthermore, he had the audacity to claim the pending loans too. He actually made Pawar pay up. This caused much furor in MH. It is here that the fate of UWB was sealed. The bogey of Brahmin-Maratha dispute was brought up and UWB suddenly became "Brahminical Bank". Its comical, really. 

This was a lengthy essay. I have been wanting to write this for long time. This is the source of Sugar Lobby's power. In all my previous articles I have praised Sharad Pawar for keeping the nose of "Delhi" (which meant Nehru/Indira/Sonia) out of MH. He went to great lengths (unethical lengths) to do so. But he has so far ensured that power of Deccan stays in Deccan and Delhi only gets a nominal Chauth in exchange of staying away. He is one of the reasons. why there was hardly any Evangelical conversion activity in 1980s and early 90s in MH. Of course the chief being the natural tendency of Maharashtrians which periodically gravitates towards Hindutva.

Friday, September 06, 2013

Brief History of Hindu Marriage - 5.1 - Taming of Fire as chronicled in Vedas

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ॐ अग्निमीळे पुरोहितं, यज्ञस्य देवमृत्विजम् l होतारं रत्नधातमम् l (RigVeda-1.1.1)
Om, We praise Agni who is a Purohita (one who is appointed/sent ahead to make things favorable) of Yagna (any adhibhautika, adhidaivika and/or adhyatmika effort), a devata (radiant and luminous entity), Ritvija (one who initiates various Yagnas as per need of space and time), Hotar (One who invokes various Devatas in course of Yagna) and Ratna-daataa (one who adores the yagna-performers with gems, that is, fruits of performing yagna)
Hindus have been performing all their 16 sanskaras (or rites of passage) in presence of fire. Fire is the first word of the earliest composition of human-being as seen in the verse quoted above which is itself a tribute to effect that the discovery of fire has had on quality of human life and evolution. Rigveda is earliest composition of mankind. As described in previous parts of this article-series, Vaidik literature itself is a vast memory-pool of those times much earlier to the stage when man started composing something as ethereal as Vedas. Vedas give a vivid picture of those times when speech was being discovered (bird songs of Saama and Rik veda). Similarly, Vedas give a vivid picture of times when fire was first tamed by mankind. 

As it is with the earlier articles, the main reference of this essay too is monumental treatise of Itihasacharya V K Rajwade, named "Bhaartiya Vivaaha Sansthecha itihaas". In previous part, we saw how the concept of Mitra and Atithi are closely associated with evolution of human pair-bond and eventually Hindu-marriage institution.

The story of evolution of human pair-bonding which essentially the story of Hindu-marriage institution, is intrinsically linked with discovery of fire. This final part of this series, is in a way a rehash of all the information presented in earlier parts coupled with the fact that discovery of fire enabled many cultural changes in human society, fundamental of which is movement of man from marital satyayuga as described by Bhishma in earlier parts to institutionalized marriage with stable pair-bonds (either monogamous or polygamous). 

Before Fire..

If and when we get enough data to track the path of human evolution, discovery of fire seems to be the most important land-mark after human ability to walk on two legs. Fire is devastating hence fire is referred to as Krishna-varma (one who blackens every thing) in Rigveda, when the composers talk about earlier days. One thing Vaidik composers have done is meticulously preserved these prehistoric words, descriptions, rituals and human-preferences in form of rites. Man observed that when fire is around, predators seem to stay away. But there was no means to "make" fire. Given the climate of India, the wild-fire is prevalent in summer months. Rest of the 12 months, this protection was not available.

After Fire...

However, they discovered that forest-fire can be preserved in caves or similar natural shelters by constantly feeding them with small dosage of inflammable substances like dried twigs, leaves, branches, charcoal etc. Thus fire which was "seasonal" started becoming available throughout the year. Thus was described as गुहाहितं गुहाया निहितं (one who is preserved in caves) in vedas.

But there was a problem. The fire meticulously preserved in depths of caves could not be transported in all places where life is sustainable (like on banks of rivers). The group of people who overcame this problem and who were deputed of preserving and transporting fire to desired location are referred to as "Angirasa" in vaidik literature. Angirasa is a sage (or group/clan of sages) who called themselves children of fire and who brought fire in all yagnas. This is slightly similar to the earlier greek story of prometheus, although Angirasas are lauded by gods (devatas) and men alike for discovering means of fire-transportation. 

Thus portable fire, the necessity of staying close to the caves to stay safe from predators became redundant. Fire could  be preserved in huts and be carried as one moved. In event of attack on an Vedik village by predatory animals or rival human tribes (referred to as Dasyu in Vedik literature), they attack could be repelled using fire as weapon. Similarly, it was a very handy tool while attacking rival clans AND hunting. 

यथा वै मनुष्या एवं देवा अग्र आसन (Taittiriya Samhita 7.4.2) - "Like the devatas (vaguely, gods) used to rain fire on men to stay ahead of them" say the composers, "this agni destroys our enemies, that is barbarians (dasyus) too just like devatas did in ancient times" (अयं अग्नि पृतनाषाट सुवीरो येन देवासो असहन्त दस्यून - Rigveda 2.263.9)
To stay ready to respond to a raid by predators of rival tribes, the ancestors of people who composed Vedas started digging small ditches in their huts and kept blocks of wood burning inside constantly. Thus a "Yagna-Kunda" or "Sthandila" was invented. They never ventured anywhere without carrying fire along. With this invention in their quiver, they set out from their homeland, that is Saraswati-Sindhu-upper Ganga basin and migrated in rest of Indian subcontinent. A cursory look at Indian countryside would still show many Sadhus still carrying Dhuni as they make temporary camps during their constant "Parivrajaka" (wanderers) phase. Many of them still carry fire in form of dhuni as they wander. 

It is interesting that nowhere in early Vedic literature is there any mention of flint-stone. Their ancestors had recently discovered the method of transporting fire in form of Dhuni and making fire my meticulous means of friction-heating the inflammable substances like dry wood and saw. A particular verse of Rigveda interestingly points at invention of "Torch" by mankind. These were the ancestors of these "Angirasas" who's usage of torch as weapon and as a handy tool to "see" in darkness is spoken of in these verses of Rigveda. 


तपुन्ष्यग्ने जुह्णा पतन्गान संदितो विस्रुजः विष्वगुल्का 
अस्माकमत्र पितरो मनुष्या अभि प्रसेदुरऋतमाशुषाणा:
अश्मवज्रा सुदुधा वव्रे अन्त रुदुस्रा आजन्नुषसो हुवानाः ४.१.१३ 
ते मर्मृजत दद्दवान्सो अद्रिं तदेषां अन्ये अमितो वि वोचन्
पश्वयन्त्रासो अभि कारमर्चन्विदन्त ज्योतिश्चकृपन्त धीभिः ४.१.१४ 
ते गव्यता मनसा दृध्रमुब्धं गा येमानं परि षन्तमद्रिम्  
दृळ्हं नरो वचसा दैव्येन व्रजं गोमन्तमुशिजो वि वव्रुः ४.१.१५ 

Our ancestors had given rise to tools like Ulka while searching for the cows hidden by the evil Pani people. Our ancestors had worshiped and consumed Agni. With the help of Agni (in their hands in form of Ulka), they invoked Usha (the deity of brightness at dawn) in the dark caverns of the caves where Panis had hidden the cows. WIth the help of Agni, they opened the closed door (and other obstacles, mostly of wood) and hailed him as the path lay open. As they ventured inside, the darkness increased so they asked for help from Agni again who graciously gave them "Jyoti" thus enabling them to see in dark (as they moved swiftly) and rescue back the cows abducted by Panis. 
The interesting terms to look in this otherwise very famous Vedik story of Panis, are Jyoti, Ashmavajraa and Ulkaa. Angirasas are also famous for अग्निः अर्चयन्तः ज्योतिः अविदन (Worshiped Agni and gained knowledge of preparing "Jyoti"). Here Jyoti means torch or Mashaal (as it is popularly known in Hindi). A handy and portable fire weapon/tool was extremely handy in their raid against barbarian tribe of Panis who had stolen their cows. All this description has happened much before this verse of Rigveda was composed, hence the composers speak of their age-old ancestors who did this "long time ago". So this was much before agriculture was invented and man was mostly hunter-gatherer with recently mastered art of animal-domestication. The term व्रज (known as ब्रज  or Braj in Prakrita) is famous term for cow-stable. Ashmavraj (cow-stable made of large stones) for protecting and containing cattle along with portable fire, huts, cattle and yagna-kunda within each hut to preserve fire are the typical signatures of these ancestors that Rigveda composers talk about. 

During the days when these ancestors of Rigvedik seers were leading this life, it seems that the region around the Yagna-Kunda was leveled and consecrated and plastered using cow-dung. Cow-dung is even today very widely used to plaster the floor and walls of huts in villages. A typical  Indian village courtyard leveled and plastered with cow-dung looks something like this - 



A hut with leveled and cow-dung plastered floor around the Yagna-Kunda was the place for family or the clan to hang out after day's tiring work. There used to be public Yagna-Kundas in the courtyards in front of huts similarly leveled and at times sheltered using thatches which is still a very common scene in rural India since the days of these distant ancestors of Rigvedic composers. These Rigvedic ancestors used to sit around these fire-places, drink Somaras, indulge in philosophical discussions (which over the period of time evolved into Vedas, Upanishads and various earlier philosophical schools like Saamkhya-yoga), star-gazing (which later led to vedic astronomy and astrology or Jyotisha), dances (these tribal dances of these distant ancestors over the period of time evolved into famous classical dances of India), dramas, mimicries and enactments (which later evolved into elaborate science of Theatrics or Naatyashaastra), cook and eat together and compose poems in various meters or Chhandas together. And last but not the least, the important function of "procreation" was conducted around this very yagna-fire. This is where the fire became indispensable part of Hindu-Marriage institution. We will talk about this aspect in next and final part of this series. The story of fire-taming from Vedas itself is so fascinating and worth-telling that without understanding the significance of this tool, it is difficult to understand how Agni is still such an integral part of all our rites of passage from birth to death. Vivaaha is simply one of those passage. Agni is witness to all of this. 

Agni's historical and socio-political significance

Thus Agni was not only life-altering technology which man had mastered but was also the most popular devata or god which Vedic people worshiped. It is because of Agni that they could come out and live in open without having to fear predators. It is because of Agni that they could cook (and thus disinfect) their food thus increasing their life-expectancy. It is Agni who rid them of many diseases which killed many humans before they matured. Because of Agni they could tame and domesticate animals and protect them from rival tribes and predators thus widening their nutrition and becoming more strong and healthy. It is because of Agni that they could convert the patches of vast expanses of evergreen and dense forests in Ganga-valley into meadows for their cattle to graze. In fact, it is because of Agni that they dared to spread out in the vast and fertile plains of Ganga from their native region of Saraswati-Sindhu river (in modern day Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Sindh). 

According to internal references of Vedas as well as now recently discovered geological references, this Saraswati-Sindhu basin of western India was the "homeland" of Veda-composing people and their ancestors who called themselves "Aarya". When these ancestors of Vedik people ventured and settled in rest of North India, they had already began composing and preserving Vedas and called this entire land of North-Indian plains from Assam to Afghanistan as Sapta-Sindhu (land of seven rivers) and Aaryavarta (Land of the Aryans). 

But all this happened much later. The distant ancestors of Rigveda composing seers (hundreds of thousands of years before human beings started composing Vedas) who discovered the techniques to tame fire and preserve it and store it passed on these memories from generations to generations. It is these memories that we see chronicled in various parts of Vedas.  These are very ancient memories we are talking about. Hence they are extremely vague and smudged all over. As the memories start becoming recent, they start becoming more and more clearer as we see in the memory of Angirasas rescuing cows from Panis is quite vivid and perhaps not as old as discovery of fire itself.

All this truly justifies the word "Sanaatana Dharma" which Hindus use to describe their way of life and civilization. The way of life stretching so back to pre-history, to the origins of where it all began is denoted by this term "Sanaatana Dharma". And while it shows the origins deep in pre-history and shows continuity of that dharma until today, it also chronicles the way in which people changed, adapted and reformed the Sanaatana Dharma to keep this continuity and this link with origins intact while staying contemporary and changing with space and times. 

This very heritage and continuity makes it worth preserving. 

Shubham Astu !!!







To be concluded....