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Nice effort Sir, I am highly thankful to you for bringing out the Internet Addition of Daily Excelsior. I recently came to know about it, and find myself now in touch with my place through your eyes. I can atleast now know what is happening in J&K. The site is a nice effort by you all at Excelsior and my sincere thanks to all of you. Yours etc... |
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Rewrite Indian history Sir, It is long over due that the Government of India get together a panel of eminent historians in order to rewrite the history of India. To this day the history being taught in India is substantially based on the interpretations of British historians. While undoubtedly the British had some great intellects and they (the British) were also adventurers, nevertheless, one must mention the British were only in India to further their own interests like any other colonial power. Hence, the British did fine tune the Indian history to further their own political gains. Even to this day for example not enough is mentioned about the great Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the text books in India. As is well known that not only was Maharaja Ranjit Singh a formidable rival to the British during the nineteenth century in India but this Maharaja also for sure had the capability to defeat the British. Interestingly apart from having a large kingdom in India the Maharaja being an aggressive person had his troops occupy Kabul in 1838. Unfortunately after the demise of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1839 a rift occurred (due to misunderstandings) between the Jat-Sikhs and Dogra-Rajputs who composed most of the Sikh Kingdom's nobility and armed forces. The result of this rift (naturally this rift was further exploited by the British) was that the Sikh Kingdom technically disintegrated after the Sikhs lost in battle at Sabhraon to the British on February 10, 1846. Most military experts accept that even under these circumstances the British barely managed to emerge victorious . Unfortunately also a substantial part of the history of our own Jammu and Kashmir State has been misinterpreted. There is a school of historians who claim that Kashmir was ruled by the Greeks or Indo-Greek kings. They cite numismatic evidence based on some stray coins which have been unearthed on the edges of the Vale of Kashmir, even though these coins have nothing to do with Kashmir. These coins appeared in Kashmir probably due to trade. Moreover the Rajataringini, a history of Kashmir completed by the brilliant Kashmiri Pandit historian Kalhana in 1148 A.D makes no mention of any persons of Greek origin having ruled Kashmir. One might mention that time has proven Kalhana to be a credible historian. In fact the character of Kalhana is clearly evident by his following quote. ''That noble-minded poet alone merits praise whose word, like the sentence of a judge is free from love or hate in recording the past''. However, Kalhana does mention that some Mlecchas were driven out by Jalauka the son of the great Indian emperor Ashoka. According to Kalhana (Rajataringini Book 1, 115), ''He who was endowed with mighty courage, expelled the Mlecchas who oppressed the land and conquered in victorious expeditions the earth up to the encircling oceans''. As Jaluaka inherited a large empire from his father Ashoka it is not even certain whether these Mlecchas had actually entered the Vale of Kashmir or some other part of the kingdom of Jalauka. As to who these Mlecchas were Kalhana makes no mention. Also the views of some Western Indologists that the Aryans invaded India has no bearing now. All evidence points that the Aryans were native to India and they then emigrated to other parts of the world. Moreover, the oldest surviving Indo-Aryan language namely Sanskrit is not only native to India but is also without any ambiguity the mother of all Indo-European languages. In addition to this genetic studies by modern techniques has revealed amazingly that modern day Caucasians are genetically linked to even some castes of South India. Yours etc... |
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Plight of women Sir, I have gone through the letter 'plight of women' published in Daily Excelsior dated 21/12/99. It is agreed that many developing countries are expanding education facilities to mitigate the sufferings of women. But still they are unable to improve the fortune of women. As far as Indian women are concerned, it is a matter of great delight that Prime Minister of India has convened meeting on women's Reservation Bill. The Govt has already committed 33 percent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies. If the bill is introduced and cleared in this session then women can represent in large majority to rule the country. Government can this way make less severe the suffering of Indian women and this will be first step to impove destiny of women in our country. In our country, women are living as slaves to their families especially to their husbands. They are so dominated that they cannot even speak a word against their husbands. They are living like slaves since centuries together and it will take years together to eradicate it from the country. There is no doubt that Women's Reservation Bill is certainly going to better the lot of Indian women. Yours etc... |
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