The Dharma Dispatch

Decolonisation is a National Duty and a Hindu Civilisational Impertive   DECOLONISATION IS A NATIONAL DUTY and a potential national asset. Duty, to borrow the Bhagavad Gita’s eternal edict, is a profound, lifelong inner calling that has to be pursued for its own sake.    Decolonisation is diagnosis, scholarship, process and a civilizational continuum.   Even after three-fourths of a century, Indians have actually become more colonized than they had ever been under British rule. This embedded colonial nature is the direct cause for how easy it is, even today, to stir separatist sentiments along various fault lines. A thorough decolonisation makes for a united India.   At an even more fundamental level, decolonization is the recovery of memory. When we recover this memory, we automatically recover our narrative memory.   As an all-encompassing phenomenon, decolonization includes everything from politics to performing your daily Puja at home. -- Do read the second episode of our mega series on decolonisation. 🕉 🙏🛕🪔   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/decolonisation-is-a-national-duty-and-a-hindu-civilisational-impertive

Bharatavarsha Must Consciously Reject the Western Model of Ideological Universalism and Accelerate Decolonisation ---   The Western model of ideological universalism of Left and Right has broken down on its own home turf. India must consciously reject it and reshape her destiny using homespun models through decolonisation.   Even in the limited sphere of electoral politics, equating Narendra Modi with Geert Wilders or Giorgia Meloni is akin to forcing a simile between Christ’s alleged Second Coming and Krishna Janmashtami. The West has a well-defined Right Wing. India has only a well-defined Left Wing fully populated by spectral Indian slaves of the West. Members of this Indian Left Wing are equal opportunity slobberers: they avidly lick the saliva-stained crumbs off the palms of both the soul-vultures of the Joshua Project as well as the world-burning denizens of George Soros and Pierre Omidyar. India thus is a freak case where the ideological opponents of the (Indian) Left are yet to define themselves unambiguously. Defining themselves as “Right Wing” causes more self-inflicted harm than good in the long run. This is not to question the genuine commitment of the Indian non-Left to their pet causes but to point out a historical and common sense reality: that the best weapons in your arsenal pose the constant danger of backfiring. ---- We begin a mega-series on decolonisation and comparative ideological analysis. Don't miss it! 🕉 🙏🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/bharatavarsha-must-consciously-reject-the-western-model-of-ideological-universalism-and-accelerate-decolonisation

[PODCAST] From Alexander to Ahmad Shah Abdali: How the Hindu Civilisation Remains Unconquered https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2jAAv1lvQE

The Foundation and Value of Language Education in the Indian Tradition   In this profound piece, Shatavadhani Dr. Ganesh delves into the sorry state of language education at the primary level and suggests some methods at reform.    Some excerpts are given below. --   ONE OF THE TRAGEDIES OF OUR TIME is not prescribing evocative literature at the level of primary school instruction. It is tragic that the Government has kept numerous chicaneries of religion, caste, regionalism, and political ideologies in mind and has continued to design textbooks, which resemble manifestos. In this project, history and language textbooks have become the first sacrificial goats.   Language instruction occupies a separate realm. It has its own specialty. It chiefly works through literature and grammar. Here, literature preserves its identity through Rasa (Feeling), Dhvani (Suggestion) and Vakrōkti (Poetic Expression) at all times. Sans these, it will never become literature in the truest sense of the word.   If language and literature attempt to perform the tasks of other topics or branches of knowledge, which are the disciplines that will perform the task of language?    --- Do read the full brilliant piece! 🕉🙏🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-foundation-and-value-of-language-education-in-the-indian-tradition

Bharatavarsha now Awaits a New Mahakavya   On August 15, 1954, just seven years after India attained freedom, DVG delivered a deeply contemplative lecture on All India Radio. It remains relevant till date and contains a wealth of insights.   Here are some excerpts from it. ---   If India should live as the original India, we must rekindle our interest in our Svadharma.   It appears that there is no place left on the earth that can act as a sanctuary of peace and contentment. The old beauty has vanished from life, and there’s no sign of a new form of beauty replacing it.   THE FOUNDATIONS OF OUR SOCIETY have been irreparably displaced. The conduct, customs, and traditions handed down to us from ancient times have been erased.   The world now awaits a new Mahakavya (Epic Poetry). What we today seek from literature is not mere entertainment but the revelation of the grand and the exalted. The inspiration for germinating such life-nurturing literature cannot be achieved without Tapas. Neither should only those endowed with literary ability perform this Tapas. All of the educated people of the country, all thinking people must perform this Tapas in their respective fields.  -- Do take the time out to read and reflect on this profound essay! 📑🙏🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/bharatavarsha-now-awaits-a-new-mahakavya

The Fake Atheism of Nawab Nehru   An oped written in the 1950s by the eminent Kannada Litterateur Masti Venkatesha Iyengar deliciously shreds Nawab Nehru's fake atheism.   In an acerbic piece written sometime in the mid-1950s, Masti uproots three central pillars supporting the Nehruvian cult: his alleged rationalism, scientific temper, and democratic spirit, all of which were supposedly rooted in his atheism.   Here are a few excerpts from it.   Nehru learned the mentality of blindly condemning the superstitions of our own people from the British. Like Christians, he too, began to condemn our own beliefs without himself becoming Christian.   In the process, he overlooked an important aspect. Blind belief and superstitious rituals aren’t exclusive only to Sanatana Dharma. -- Read the full, brilliant piece! 📑🙏🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-fake-atheism-of-nawab-nehru

A little-known fact of Hindu history shows how the mighty Gahadavala Empire built a solid deterrent against alien Islamic invasions using a fiscal measure called the Turushka-Danda 📖🛕🕉 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/turushka-danda-a-hindu-fiscal-response-to-early-islamic-invasions

Ever Heard of Jhain? This is what Jalal-ud-din Khalji did to it   This is the little-known story of a Jhain, a prosperous town in medieval Rajasthan, heartlessly obliterated by Jalal-ud-din Khalji. Now it is known as the Chhan village. --- On March 22, 1291 Jalal-ud-din frontally led a massive troop from Delhi and marched towards Ranasthambhapura. His expedition was a colossal failure but the collateral damage it inflicted on Hindus was truly appalling.   One of the sites that suffered extensive destruction was a small town named Jhain. It is a geographical skeleton still awaiting our full rediscovery. Thirty-five kilometres from Sawai Madhopur.    "The sultan went again to the temples, and ordered their destruction, and set fire to the palace, and thus made a hell of paradise. In every ruin a treasure had been found.   "While the soldiers sought every opportunity of plundering, the sultan was engaged in burning the temples, and destroying the idols. There were two bronze images of Brahma, each of which weighed more than a thousand maans. These were broken into pieces, and the fragments distributed amongst the officers, with orders to throw them down at the gates of the Masjid on their return to Delhi."   -- Do read the painful story in full! 🙏🕉🛕🪔😢 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/ever-heard-of-jhain-this-is-what-jalal-ud-din-khalji-did-to-it

Why Annamalai Infuriates the DMK ---   IT IS RATHER BEFITTING that Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai chose Srirangam to launch his latest salvo against the ruling DMK.   Srirangam is an emotional and eternal monument to the memory of Vellayi, a Devadasi who enticed a Turushka iconoclast and jumped to her death so that the deity of Sri Ranganatha Swamy could be saved. If we go by the alleged rationalism spewed by the spurious Dravidian discourse, Vellayi’s heroism too, would be bracketed as a Brahminical conspiracy.  Thus, among other things, the presence of E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker’s statue in front of the Ranganatha Swamy Temple is an affront to the sacred memory of countless such Vellayis who sought no glory for themselves but gladly died so that Dharma could remain undefiled.  Ramaswamy Naicker, the Dravidian version of epic Murti-Bhanjakas like Mahmud Ghazni and Aurangzeb had statues built for him in his own lifetime.    The unambiguous verdict of the history of Indian public discourse over the last eighty years is this: the atheism and rationalism of Indian intellectuals with Hindu names comes to a screeching halt on the marbled steps of a mosque and bows at the pew of a Church. -- Read the full essay! 📑💪🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/why-annamalai-infuriates-the-dmk

The Tears of the Poralavoor Adithiri and Rama Varma’s Victory Against Tipu Sultan   PORALAVOOR ADITHIRI WAS THE NAME of the aged Vaidika that the boy Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma spotted on the ghats of the Kalyani. In his time, Poralavoor Adithiri was a legendary Sōmayāji and a Dviyāji.    When Rama Varma was thirty, Tipu Sultan the tyrant of Mysore, invaded Travancore and met with his first humiliation there. In a battle fought across the flooding river of Aluva, his superior force was severely battered by Rama Varma’s nimble but ferocious army. The damage was so extensive that Tipu himself fell into a ditch twice and had to be carried away by his soldiers to safety. That fall broke his leg and subjected him to painful bouts of lameness for the rest of his life.   Recalling this victorious battle later in his life, Rama Varma said, “Now I truly feel the blessed tears that the venerable Adithiri had shed over my head.”  -- Why did the Adithiri shed tears on Rama Varma's head? Read the full essay to know the answer! 🛕🕉🪔   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/the-tears-of-the-poralavoor-adithiri-and-rama-varmas-victory-against-tipu-sultan

Dharma Raja Karthika Tirunal Rama Varma’s Gift   The first episode narrating a profound incident that occurred in the childhood days of Travancore king Karthika Tirunal Rama Varma -------   The Travancore Samsthānam rose to glory first under the legendary Martanda Varma (1729-58) who battered the Dutch East India Company and built a modest empire from scratch.   Martanda Varma’s befitting successor was his nephew, “Dharma Raja” Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma. Rama Varma earned the epithet “Dharma Raja” on the merit of his steadfast adherence to our Dharmasastras.   The greatest service that he performed for the Sanatana community was giving refuge to thousands of Hindus and Christians fleeing Malabar during Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan’s savage Jihadist incursions.    When Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma was just nine years old, he had a profound experience that would transform his whole life. -- Read the whole story! 📑🙏🕉🛕🪔   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/dharma-raja-karthika-tirunal-rama-varmas-gift

As always, it was lovely speaking with Abhijit on a range of historical topics including the long term impact of colonization on the Hindu psyche. https://youtu.be/D-inm5QXSoU?si=Nv0jDlaWyEfgyhcA

The Secularist History-Sheet on Ayodhya   A lowdown on the sordid history of the cultural vandals who tried to block the construction of the Sri Rama Mandir and why we need to keep this memory alive ----   When Narendra Modi tweeted that "in my lifetime, I will witness this historic occasion, he voiced the sentiment of millions of Hindus throughout the world. What he left unvoiced was his own significant role in the long train of momentous events that will fructify on January 22, 2024 when the grand Sri Rama Mandir will be consecrated in Ayodhya.    What made thousands of ordinary Hindus depart from their faraway homes to travel to Ayodhya with just a brick in their hands and unshakeable piety for Sri Rama in their hearts?   What made them suffer the gruelling plight of filthy train travel in the chaotic '90s and brave the bullets of police forces let loose by insensitive governments manned by people with Hindu names?   What made them die by the hundreds when Mulayam Singh Yadav hunted them down like street dogs?   What fuelled their spirit and kept the light of their fight aflame in the face of multiple hostile governments supported by a global cabal that has explicitly declared its intent to dismantle Hindu Dharma?   What made them persist, despite knowing that they might never witness the dawn of success in their own lifetime?    It was Sri Rama... but it also transcended Sri Rama... it was their stainless faith in a spiritual civilisation that created Sri Rama.  -- Read the powerful essay in full! 📑🙏🕉🪔🛕   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-secularist-history-sheet-on-ayodhya

If you were a Politburo member, you got to own a private beach. Sordid details from communist history. https://youtube.com/shorts/lJAuBguFgks?si=qFM4kuKVbjpSzE_J

Anecdotes from Sri Visvesvarayya's Life   Fortunately for us, there are literally hundreds of anecdotes about Sri Visvesvarayya. They are quirky, astounding, inspirational and ennobling.   Sir M.V. declared Obbattu as India’s national delicacy and suggested the best method to eat it. Only the softest core of obbattu – which was also its sweetest – was to be eaten, its hard edges discarded.   Over the last 75 years, there have been scores of Bharat Ratnas, but by any yardstick, Sir M.V. epitomises the title. This is what Visvesvarayya told Nehru who offered the award to him: “I will accept this award on the condition that it will not restrict my freedom to voice unpopular views.” -- Read the full piece! 📑🙏🕉🛕🪔   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/anecdotes-from-sri-visvesvarayyas-life

Ennobling Facets from Sir M. Visvesvarayya's Life and Legacy   This is the first episode of a series showcasing various ennobling and inspiring facets from Bharataratna Sir M. Visvesvarayya's life and legacy. ---   It is amazing how Sir M. Visvesvarayya is omnipresent in the Indian national life. Till date, his photograph adorns every home in the Mysore – Mandya region right next to the photos of our Gods.    Sir M. Visvesarayya was one of the world’s greatest engineers of his era who also became an accidental statesman… anything he touched, he turned into gold… it was gold that he created for the use of others… he kept little for his personal use. He was an extraordinary wealth-creator who lived like a monk. -- Read this hugely inspirational essay in full! 📑🕉🛕🪔   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/ennobling-facets-from-sir-m-visvesvarayyas-life-and-legacy