• This forum contains old posts that have been closed. New threads and replies may not be made here. Please navigate to the relevant forum to create a new thread or post a reply.
  • Welcome to Tamil Brahmins forums.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our Free Brahmin Community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.

A Committee Chosen By Modi Government To Rewrite India's History

Status
Not open for further replies.

GANESH65

Active member
Committee chairman KN Dikshit said he will present a report
Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said larger plans to revise history
Mr Sharma said the findings will enter textbooks, academic research
New Delhi: During the first week of January last year, a group of scholars gathered in a white bungalow on a leafy boulevard in central Delhi. The focus of their discussion: how to rewrite the history of the nation.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had quietly appointed the committee of scholars about six months earlier. Details of its existence are reported here for the first time.


Minutes of the meeting, reviewed by Reuters, and interviews with committee members set out its aims: to use evidence such as archaeological finds and DNA to prove that today's Hindus are directly descended from the land's first inhabitants many thousands of years ago, and make the case that ancient Hindu scriptures are fact not myth.

The committee's chairman, KN Dikshit, told Reuters, "I have been asked to present a report that will help the government rewrite certain aspects of ancient history." The committee's creator, Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, confirmed in an interview that the group's work was part of larger plans to revise India's history.

For India's Muslims, who have pointed to incidents of religious violence and discrimination since PM Modi took office in 2014, the development is ominous. The head of Muslim party All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Asaduddin Owaisi, said his people had "never felt so marginalised in the independent history of India."

"The government," he said, "wants Muslims to live in India as second-class citizens."

"The true colour of Indian history is saffron and to bring about cultural changes we have to rewrite history," said RSS spokesman Manmohan Vaidya to Reuters. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the ideological mentor of the BJP.

Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said the group's work was part of larger plans to revise India's history (Reuters)

Balmukund Pandey, the head of the historical research wing of the RSS, said he meets regularly with Culture Minister Sharma. "The time is now," Mr Pandey said, to restore India's past glory by establishing that ancient Hindu texts are fact not myth.

The Culture Minister told Reuters he expects the conclusions of the committee to find their way into school textbooks and academic research. The panel is referred to in government documents as the committee for "holistic study of origin and evolution of Indian culture since 12,000 years before present and its interface with other cultures of the world."

Mr Sharma said this "Hindu first" version of Indian history will be added to a school curriculum which has long taught that people from central Asia arrived in India much more recently, some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, and transformed the population.

Hindu nationalists and senior figures in PM Modi's party reject the idea that India was forged from a mass migration. They believe that today's Hindu population is directly descended from the land's first inhabitants. Historian Romila Thapar said the question of who first stood on the soil was important to nationalists because "if the Hindus are to have primacy as citizens in a Hindu Rashtra (kingdom), their foundational religion cannot be an imported one." To assert that primacy, nationalists need to claim descent from ancestors and a religion that were indigenous, said Ms Thapar, 86, who taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi for decades and has authored books on ancient Indian history.

Shashi Tharoor, a prominent member of the Congress party, said right wing Hindus are "leading a political campaign over Indian history that seeks to reinvent the idea of India itself." "For seven decades after independence, Indianness rested on faith in the country's pluralism," Mr Tharoor said, but the rise of Hindu nationalism had brought with it a "sense of cultural superiority."

The history committee met in the offices of the director general of the Archaeological Survey of India, a central body that oversees archaeological research. Among the committee's 14 members are bureaucrats and academics.

PM Narendra Modi did not order the committee's creation - it was instigated by Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, government documents show - but its mission is in keeping with his outlook. (Reuters)

Culture Minister Sharma told Reuters he will present the committee's final report to parliament and lobby the nation's Ministry of Human Resource Development to write the findings into school textbooks.

"We will take every recommendation made by the Culture Ministry seriously," said Prakash Javadekar, who heads the ministry. "Our government is the first government to have the courage to even question the existing version of history that is being taught in schools and colleges."

According to the minutes of the history committee's first meeting, Mr Dikshit, the chairman, said it was "essential to establish a correlation" between ancient Hindu scriptures and evidence that Indian civilization stretches back many thousands of years. Doing so would help bolster both conclusions the committee wants to reach: that events described in Hindu texts are real, and today's Hindus are descendants of those times.

The minutes and interviews with committee members lay out a comprehensive campaign to achieve this, including the dating of archaeological sites and DNA testing of human remains.

Culture Minister Sharma told Reuters he wants to establish that Hindu scriptures are factual accounts. Speaking of the Ramayana, the epic that follows the journey of Lord Ram, Mr Sharma said: "I worship Ramayana and I think it is a historical document. People who think it is fiction are absolutely wrong."

Mr Sharma said it was a priority to prove through archaeological research the existence of a mystical river, the Saraswati, that is mentioned in another ancient scripture, the Vedas. Other projects include examining artifacts from locations in scriptures, mapping the dates of astrological events mentioned in these texts and excavating the sites of battles in another epic, the Mahabharata, according to Sharma and minutes of the committee's meeting.

Nine of 12 history committee members interviewed by Reuters said they have been tasked with matching archaeological and other evidence with ancient Indian scriptures, or establishing that Indian civilization is much older than is widely known. (Reuters)

"If the Koran and Bible are considered as part of history, then what is the problem in accepting our Hindu religious texts as the history of India?" said Mr Sharma.

PM Modi did not order the committee's creation - it was instigated by Mr Sharma, government documents show - but its mission is in keeping with his outlook. During the 2014 inauguration of a hospital in Mumbai, the PM pointed to the scientific achievements documented by ancient religious texts and said: "We worship Lord Ganesha, and maybe there was a plastic surgeon at that time who kept the head of an elephant on the torso of a human. There are many areas where our ancestors made large contributions."

Nine of 12 history committee members interviewed by Reuters said they have been tasked with matching archaeological and other evidence with ancient Indian scriptures, or establishing that Indian civilization is much older than is widely known. The others confirmed their membership but declined to discuss the group's activities. The committee includes a geologist, archaeologists, scholars of the ancient Sanskrit language and two bureaucrats.

One of the Sanskrit scholars, Santosh Kumar Shukla, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, told Reuters he believes India's Hindu culture is millions of years old. Another committee member, Ramesh Chand Sharma, former head of the linguistics department at Delhi University, said he would take a strictly scientific approach. "I don't subscribe to any ideology," he said.

During the last three years, Mr Sharma said, his ministry has organised hundreds of workshops and seminars across the country "to prove the supremacy of our glorious past." The aim, he said, is to build a fresh narrative to balance the liberal and secular philosophy espoused by India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and furthered by successive governments

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/a-c...ment-to-rewrite-indias-history-report-1820397
 
[h=1]Panel on Indian culture not an attempt to rewrite history, says government[/h]

NEW DELHI: The findings of a committee set up to conduct a "holistic study" of the evolution of 12,000 years of
Indian culture are due to be placed in public soon in the midst of contentions — vehemently denied by the government — that it is intended to rewrite ancient Indian history and textbooks.
The panel comprising experts had a one-year mandate to carry out a "holistic study of the origin and evolution of Indian culture since 12,000 years before to present (sic), and its interface with other cultures of the world".

Culture minister Mahesh Sharma said his ministry had set up a 17-member multi-disciplinary committee that was mandated to verify facts that establish the rich history of India and its culture. "The committee met twice during its one-year tenure and has given various suggestions on important historic findings on Indian culture," Sharma said, adding that the report hasn't been collated and put in the public domain as yet.

A Reuters report that the committee's report would be a basis of rewriting history and that archaeological finds were being used to argue that Hindus had directly descended from the original inhabitants and that ancient Hindu scriptures are a fact set off a controversy over the intent of the panel.

The report quoted committee head K N Dixit as saying, "I have been asked to present a report that will help the government rewrite certain aspects of ancient history." RSS spokesman Manmohan Vaidya was quoted as saying, "The true colour of Indian history is saffron and to bring about cultural changes we have to rewrite history."

Sharma denied any intent to rewrite history or textbooks and said the committee, whose one-year tenure ended on November 11, 2017, had given various suggestions about the origins of Sanskrit, the Indo-European confluence and references to findings of the Kushan period.

HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, whose ministry is in charge of education and oversees any changes to textbooks, said he had no knowledge of the committee or its findings.

The committee, however, seems likely to make a case for historicity of Indian thought and tradition. "We are attempting to capture the antiquity of Indian history, culture and tradition. We will make recommendations and the committee will also be responsible to create resource materials and contents on the same," said a committee member.

While the government denied the committee was linked to any effort to alter the reading of history, the panel's mandate could include an examination of long-held views on the advent of Aryans and the evolution of Sanskrit. Saffron ideologues have regularly challenged the Aryan "invasion" theory.

Stating that the final report will take time, one of the members of the committee, Prof Santosh Kumar Shukla of Jawaharlal Nehru University, said drafting is at a preliminary stage. "Yes, the committee was set up, but deliberations and drafting of the report are at a preliminary stage. Once it is ready, it will be submitted to the ministry (of culture)."

According to committee members, there are no plans to prepare history textbooks for schools or higher education courses as the mandate of the committee is to establish facts on India's history and culture.
"We are not making history textbooks or rewriting history. We are looking at resources, verifying facts which establish the millions-of-years-old rich history of India and its culture. Many of these have been presented as distortions or completely ignored," said a member.


A committee member, who did not wish to be identified, also said the committee's scope of work was limited to research, deliberation and content creation. "The report will be submitted to the government of India. Thereafter the government will decide what to do with it," a source said.



Sharma, meanwhile, confirmed to TOI that the ministry also set up a separate advisory committee to study the origins of Saraswati, the mythical river. Formed in September 2015, the committee was given a two-year tenure, which was extended for another two years in December 2017. "The committee comprises archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists and historians, among others, to study the Saraswati basin and establish its origins. I have also visited the site where the Saraswati is said to have been found in Kurukshetra in Haryana," Sharma said.





https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/panel-on-indian-culture-not-an-attempt-to-rewrite-history-says-government/articleshow/63193679.cms
 
[h=1]Panel on Indian culture not an attempt to rewrite history, says government[/h]

NEW DELHI: The findings of a committee set up to conduct a "holistic study" of the evolution of 12,000 years of
Indian culture are due to be placed in public soon in the midst of contentions — vehemently denied by the government — that it is intended to rewrite ancient Indian history and textbooks.
The panel comprising experts had a one-year mandate to carry out a "holistic study of the origin and evolution of Indian culture since 12,000 years before to present (sic), and its interface with other cultures of the world".

Culture minister Mahesh Sharma said his ministry had set up a 17-member multi-disciplinary committee that was mandated to verify facts that establish the rich history of India and its culture. "The committee met twice during its one-year tenure and has given various suggestions on important historic findings on Indian culture," Sharma said, adding that the report hasn't been collated and put in the public domain as yet.

A Reuters report that the committee's report would be a basis of rewriting history and that archaeological finds were being used to argue that Hindus had directly descended from the original inhabitants and that ancient Hindu scriptures are a fact set off a controversy over the intent of the panel.

The report quoted committee head K N Dixit as saying, "I have been asked to present a report that will help the government rewrite certain aspects of ancient history." RSS spokesman Manmohan Vaidya was quoted as saying, "The true colour of Indian history is saffron and to bring about cultural changes we have to rewrite history."

Sharma denied any intent to rewrite history or textbooks and said the committee, whose one-year tenure ended on November 11, 2017, had given various suggestions about the origins of Sanskrit, the Indo-European confluence and references to findings of the Kushan period.

HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, whose ministry is in charge of education and oversees any changes to textbooks, said he had no knowledge of the committee or its findings.

The committee, however, seems likely to make a case for historicity of Indian thought and tradition. "We are attempting to capture the antiquity of Indian history, culture and tradition. We will make recommendations and the committee will also be responsible to create resource materials and contents on the same," said a committee member.

While the government denied the committee was linked to any effort to alter the reading of history, the panel's mandate could include an examination of long-held views on the advent of Aryans and the evolution of Sanskrit. Saffron ideologues have regularly challenged the Aryan "invasion" theory.

Stating that the final report will take time, one of the members of the committee, Prof Santosh Kumar Shukla of Jawaharlal Nehru University, said drafting is at a preliminary stage. "Yes, the committee was set up, but deliberations and drafting of the report are at a preliminary stage. Once it is ready, it will be submitted to the ministry (of culture)."

According to committee members, there are no plans to prepare history textbooks for schools or higher education courses as the mandate of the committee is to establish facts on India's history and culture.
"We are not making history textbooks or rewriting history. We are looking at resources, verifying facts which establish the millions-of-years-old rich history of India and its culture. Many of these have been presented as distortions or completely ignored," said a member.


A committee member, who did not wish to be identified, also said the committee's scope of work was limited to research, deliberation and content creation. "The report will be submitted to the government of India. Thereafter the government will decide what to do with it," a source said.



Sharma, meanwhile, confirmed to TOI that the ministry also set up a separate advisory committee to study the origins of Saraswati, the mythical river. Formed in September 2015, the committee was given a two-year tenure, which was extended for another two years in December 2017. "The committee comprises archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists and historians, among others, to study the Saraswati basin and establish its origins. I have also visited the site where the Saraswati is said to have been found in Kurukshetra in Haryana," Sharma said.





https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/panel-on-indian-culture-not-an-attempt-to-rewrite-history-says-government/articleshow/63193679.cms

So Jaats are right!
They call themselves Jaat Devata.
If Saraswati river was found in Haryana..so Jaatland must be Gods chosen Land!LOL

Move over Kerala..lets revert to original Gods Land! Haryana!LOL

ok..so if Puranic stories are about plastic surgery (attaching elephants head to human body)..that would give a real bad name to Lord Shiva.

Lets use logic..if indeed organ transplant was possible..why take another species?
It would lead to severe graft rejection..why not just use the same severed head.

God..making Puranas become facts are going to make God sound so helpless that a plastic surgeon had to restore Gods sons head!

Do people have grey matter these days?

Purana stories are just symbolic..not to be taken literally.

I know some might go one step further and say its photons..quarks..hadrons ..inertia..mass..velocity...but logic has to be there in anything we analyse.

Sans logic even Shivam becomes Shavam!
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest ads

Back
Top