Showing posts with label indian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label indian. Show all posts
Monday, February 27, 2012
Militants behead two jawans in J&K - Indian Press supresses story
India Today
Ajmer Singh New Delhi, August 6, 2011
In a barbaric incident, which has shocked army officials, Pakistan-trained militants beheaded two soldiers and dumped their bodies during an encounter to check infiltration attempt near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district of Kashmir late last month.
It is suspected that the militants killed the jawans from the 20 Kumaon regiment, beheaded the duo and reportedly retained their heads as war trophies.
But, the army officials are not willing to accept the tragic story, as it might have an impact on the morale of the armed forces waging anti- terror operations in J& K. A jawan of 19 Rajput, who was part of the patrol party, also died in the cross- fire.
A senior Army official, requesting anonymity, disclosed that the two men of Kumaon regiment were killed and their heads were chopped off. Their bodies were also mutilated, he said.
The incident happened around Pak foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar's visit to the country, in the last week of July, disclosed the officer.
The martyred soldiers were identified as Havildar Jaipal Singh Adhikari and Lance Naik Devender Singh.
The details of the third jawan, from 19 Rajput, couldn't be ascertained.
The soldiers were cremated on Wednesday at their native places in Pithoragarh and Haldwani districts of Uttrakhand.
A state police officer, who was present at the cremation of Devender Singh, confirmed that the bodies were badly mutilated and not shown to relatives. The Army authorities informed that the heads were blown away during the fierce encounter, he said.
Lance Naik Devender Singh's uncle also admitted that the bodies weren't shown to the family members, and so did a 20 Kumaon regiment official. Militants fired rocket propelled grenades at the jawans, killing them on spot and blowing off their heads, the official said.
He, however, refused to share details of the encounter. Lt Col J. S. Brar, the official spokesperson, HQ 15 Corps wasn't available for comments.
Rajesh Kalia, the official spokesman of Udhampur based Northernern Command, said there was an infiltration bid near Farkian Gali, which is close to the Line of Control (LOC), and that they had lost three men.
When asked if militants beheaded Indian soldiers, Kalia avoided a direct reply by merely commenting that " details weren't available". But, the actual incident is quietly being discussed among the army circles in the valley.
A commanding officer of a Rashtriya Rifles ( RR) unit, deployed in the Kupwara sector, also privately confirmed that militants had beheaded two soldiers of the Kumaon unit.
Officers said that the trend of beheading armymenby the militants has resurfaced after four yeras.
A major rank officer of Kumaon Scouts, however, claimed that soldiers were martyred in a fierce encounter, which took place at 16.40 hrs on July 30, near Kupwara.
The ambush party had come under attack from three sides.
The barbaric incident is despicable and has outraged top army officers, stated one colonel posted in Kupwara sector.
In 1999 also, there was a national outcry, when Kargil hero Lt Saurabh Kalia and five Jawans were captured by Pakistani troops.
They were brutally tortured and then shot dead.
According to Lt Kalia's father's online petition, Pakistan had dared to humiliate India by flouting all international norms.
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The Birkin effect: Our jawans are beheaded
Pioneer 24 August 2011 15:26
Kanchan Gupta
Pakistan’s businesswoman-turned-Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar may feign to be miffed that the media chose to focus attention on her Birkin handbag, Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, Jimmy Choo shoes and South Sea pearls during her recent visit to India rather than her intellectual contribution towards peace-making between a terrorist state and its victim neighbour, but that does not in any manner diminish the fact that a calculated gamble by the decrepit civilian Government in Islamabad and the criminal military-jihadi complex in Rawalpindi has served its purpose and paid rich dividends.
The feckless political class in India has elected to be reduced to a bowl of quivering jelly in the face of Pakistan’s charm offensive, much as it was when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto brought along his daughter Benazir and managed to extract huge concessions at Simla in 1972 without raising any hackles. As for the media of this unfortunate country, led as it is by television channels desperate to grab eyeballs whatever it takes and ever-so-mindful of sensitivities across the Radcliffe Line, it has neither the time nor the inclination to look beyond the obvious. Given as we are to self-flagellation, self-doubt and self-denigration, it is only natural that our media, which frankly reflects our society without any distortion, should have seized upon Ms Khar’s visit to paint Pakistanis as the sub-continent’s beautiful people and Indians as the beasts. Nothing could have exemplified this better than the running commentary by the editor of a news channel comparing fuddy-duddies in the Government of India with the swish visiting Minister, and how we as a nation are straggling while Pakistan is boldly marching forward. It’s a pity that our media houses continue to enjoy the untold and never-to-be disclosed benefits of stationing their studios in Delhi and its suburbs; their hearts and minds belong elsewhere.
And so it is that ever since Ms Khar came to Delhi, showed off her sartorial preference for hand-made exclusive Hermes bags which she wouldn’t dare flaunt in the lanes of Karachi and conquered our Left-liberal commentariat which controls media content, rare has been the story or article critical of Pakistan or fair in its assessment of that country’s continued hate India, harm India policy that is implemented with the ruthless fanaticism of jihadis who have dedicated their lives to the mass slaughter of innocent men, women and children. Hence, it stands to reason that our media should have purposefully glossed over the barbaric beheading of two Indian soldiers by Pakistanis — it is unclear whether the perpetrators were Pakistani soldiers or Pakistani terrorists being provided cover by the former while trying to sneak into India — near the Line of Control in Kupwara district of Jammu & Kashmir. The ghastly incident, it now transpires, occurred late last month, around the time of Ms Khar’s visit. Sketchy details that are available suggest the Indian soldiers’ bodies were “dumped” on our side of the LoC, which would mean they were kidnapped, tortured and then beheaded, a ritual without which jihadis believe their faith-ordained task is incomplete.
India Today’s web edition, which has a story on the brutality, says “It is suspected that militants killed the jawans from the 20 Kumaon Regiment, beheaded the duo and reportedly retained their heads as war trophies.” The journal says, “A senior Army official, requesting anonymity, disclosed that the two men of Kumaon Regiment were killed and their heads were chopped off. Their bodies were also mutilated.” Such was the mutilation that the families of the soldiers were requested not to lift the shrouds covering their bodies. Quoting Army officials, the report identifies the two martyrs as Havildar Jaipal Singh Adhikari and Lance Naik Devender Singh. A third jawan, from 19 Rajput Regiment, was shot dead. His name has not been disclosed. The fallen soldiers were cremated on Wednesday at their native villages in Pithoragarh and Haldwani districts of Uttarakhand. But for the report in India Today, India would have remained ignorant of this horror story.
Unfortunately, the Army has chosen to maintain a strange silence. According to officials who spoke to India Today, this is because confirmation of the slaughter would ‘demoralise’ the soldiers on duty. But that’s balderdash: Jawans are not known to take the killing of their fellow jawans lightly, nor do they suffer loss of morale. If anything, it hardens their resolve and strengthens their belief that the enemy must be fought tooth and nail, till the last man standing. The capture and subsequent horrific torture of Lt Saurabh Kalia and five jawans whose mutilated, unrecognisable bodies were returned by the Pakistani Army did not weaken the resolve of our men in uniform during the Kargil war. While media is to be blamed for not sniffing out the story and splashing it (although it spared no effort to sniff out that Ms Khar was indeed carrying a Birkin handbag and that it could cost up to Rs 17 lakh and then went on to inform us why those who carry this bag are to be taken seriously) we must not overlook the role of our effete political leadership in keeping such details of Pakistani perfidy under wraps. It would not be unfair to presume that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, desperate to go down in history as the friend of a country that torments India, took personal interest in ensuring the story did not surface in the public domain; it would have remained a secret had an intrepid reporter of India Today not put it out.
Soon after I resumed writing for this newspaper in 2004 after returning to India from Cairo where I was posted on a Government assignment, I had penned a piece on a similar incident that had missed the attention of media and fetched no protest from the Government of India, headed then as it is now by Mr Manmohan Singh. Late in the evening on Saturday, April 16, 2005, an Assistant Commandant and a constable of the Border Security Force, on duty at Lankamura outpost on the India-Bangladesh border, a mere eight km from Tripura’s capital, Agartala, were dragged into Bangladeshi territory. By the time the BSF got them back, Assistant Commandant Jeevan Kumar was dead. He had been shot at point blank range. Injuries on his body indicated he was brutally knifed before being killed. Constable KK Surendran, seriously injured, was battling for his life. I must confess I do not know whether he survived that attack. On that occasion, in the absence of any official statement, I had sought to reconstruct events on the basis of what local residents had to say: The two men were rushed by a group of Bangladesh Rifles personnel in civilian clothes, dragged across the border and then set upon by their colleagues. All the while, the BDR’s men kept firing on the Lankamura outpost. The firing stopped around midnight, followed by a hastily arranged flag meeting during which Kumar’s lifeless body and a barely alive Surendran were handed over to the BSF. There was not even a word of condemnation.
PS: On Kargil Diwas I tweeted about Saurabh Kalia. There were numerous tweets in response, asking me who was Saurabh Kalia. Those asking this question were young Indians, well-educated and from middle-class families. A nation forgets its martyrs when it is led by those who hold martyrs in contempt and are elected to office by those who are bowled over by Birkin handbags, Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, Jimmy Choo shoes and South Sea pearls — namely, our selfish, self-serving middle-classes.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Headley was the first one to shed light on the involvement of the ISI-LeT joint venture in the creation of the IM
Excerpts from Shishir Gupta’s book which traces the genesis of the terror group
Banglore Mirror July 18, 2011
| While reams could be written on 26/11, our focus is on the intersection and overlap between LeT-ISI and the Indian Mujahideen. The role of the Indian Mujahideen was peripheral, but it was in the investigation of the Mumbai attacks that one could trace out the birth and origins of this group and the Pakistani involvement behind its creation. Had it not been for the mistakes mentioned earlier, the Mumbai attacks would also have been blamed on the Shahbuddin Ghouri brigade of the Indian Mujahideen. The terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks were all carrying fake identity cards of Arunodaya Degree and Post-Graduate College, Vedre Complex, Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad. Kasab was Samir Dinesh Chaudhari from Bengaluru; Ismail Khan was Naresh Vilas Varma of Hyderabad, Imran Babar was Arjun Kumar of Hyderabad; Nasir Umar was Dinesh Kumar of Hyderabad; Hafiz Arshad was Raghubir Singh of Ahmedabad; Abdul Rehman was Arun Sharma of Navi Delhi and Fahadullah was Rohil Patil of Hyderabad. Not only this, a virulent e-mail from the so-called group Mujahideen Hyderabad Deccan was sent to all the prominent TV news channels and print media during the Mumbai terror attack. Highlighting the plight of Muslims in India, the e-mail, written in chaste Hindi, said that the Mumbai attack was the revenge for the communal riots and the Babri Masjid demolition at the hands of Hindu zealots. If the Kuber had been sunk by the LeT terrorists, Ajmal Kasab not survived and arrested and there were no telephone intercepts, India would have found it extremely difficult to prove the Pakistani involvement. Just as in the case of the 26/11 attacks, it was investigations at the American end that provided the big picture of Pakistani complicity in Islamist terror attacks against India. It also became evident that jihadist terrorist groups like the LeT and the JeM were part of the larger Pakistani strategy to contain and hurt India. On 3 February 2010, former director of US National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair said before the US Senate Committee that the overall Pakistani strategy was to use militants as an important part of its strategic arsenal to counter India's military and economic advantages. This view was reinforced by a secret cable sent in September 2009 by US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson, which Wikileaks released in December 2010, stating that Islamabad would not abandon the LeT even if the US was to pump more aid into that country. If the LeT-ISI combine is the heart of this jihadist-terrorist nexus against India, the Indian Mujahideen group is another manifestation of the same with the controls in Pakistan. The origin of the Indian Mujahideen and its true mentors was revealed only after David Coleman Headley, a Pakistan-born American national formerly known as Daood Syed Gilani, was arrested by the FBI on 3 October 2009. It was Headley who identified the voices of Abu Al Qama, Sajid Majid alias Wasi Bhai and Abu Qahafa in the 26/11 control room in Karachi. The fourth person in the 26/11 control room who guided the ten gunmen is suspected to be an Indian with the nom de guerre of Jindal Bhai as identified by Ajmal Kasab. While arrested terrorist Amjad Khaja identified the fourth voice in the control room as Syed Zabiuddin Ansari of Maharashtra others believe that it could be Mohammed Abdul Aziz alias Ashraf alias Gidda, a radical Islamist who had fought the jihad in Bosnia and Chechnya and now works with the ISI. Both Zabiuddin Ansari and Gidda were members of SIMI in the 1990s. While India is still to get the voice samples of those Pakistanis accused in 26/11, the final word on the Indian in the The Indian Mujahideen 226 26/11 control room is still to be said as Headley could not identify the fourth voice. The Indian intelligence agencies, and visa and immigration officials were caught napping; they were oblivious to the fact that Headley had visited India nine times between September 2006 and March 2009 in order to survey Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Jaipur and other places to help the LeT target them. Headley was arrested by the FBI, which had been informed by MI-6 that he was in touch with Al Qaida operatives in Europe, at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport while en route to Pakistan as part of the global conspiracy to target and attack Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper that had earned the ire of Muslims all over the world for publishing blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in September 2005. Headley's two associates in the conspiracy (called the Mickey Mouse project) to attack the Danish newspaper personnel and facilities were two top-notch Pakistan-based terrorists: Syed Mohammed Abdur Rehman Hashmi alias Abdur Rehman Syed alias Pasha and Ilyas Kashmiri. While Headley was the first one to shed light on the involvement of the ISI-LeT joint venture in the creation of the Indian Mujahideen, Saeed and Kashmiri were the front officers of Islamist jihad against India. HuJI veteran Kashmiri's involvement in jihad against India began in 1994 with Omar Saeed Sheikh. Abdur Rehman Syed was the controller of the Karachi Project, so called by Headley. But before we go into Headley's revelations on the Karachi Project in detail, it is important to understand Ilyas Kashmiri, for he is the perfect example of the fact that there may be group loyalties or specified target areas of operation in jihad but the master, the ISI, remains the same. Excerpted with permission from Hachette India. Price: 550
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Saturday, September 10, 2011
Arundhati’s mother to donate ‘cursed money’
Mother of big case to donate hard-won inheritance
Landmark property rights order favouring Mary Roy executed after 24 years in Kerala
JOHN MARY
Mary Roy in Kottayam
Kottayam, Oct. 25: The spotlight on writer Arundhati Roy at a Delhi seminar on Thursday where she sat beside Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani perhaps overshadowed a more historic event involving her mother down south in Kerala.
Just a day earlier, the 76-year-old Mary Roy, who had fought and won a landmark legal case on women’s property rights in India 24 years ago, finally saw the Supreme Court order executed in her own case.
The mother of Booker Prize-winner Arundhati, however, told The Telegraph she would donate the hard-won family share to charity.
Going by the market rate in Kottayam town, her 0.09 acres may now fetch Rs 1.8 crore. But to Mary Roy, the land — which is near Aymenem, the location for Arundhati’s novel The God of Small Things — is “cursed” property because it caused bitterness among siblings.
“Let it go to charity. Arundhati and my elder son, Lalit, would not want to enjoy it,” she said. Arundhati too had donated almost her entire Booker Prize money to charities, with parts of it going towards the Bhopal gas victims’ welfare.
Mary Roy had walked out on her now-deceased Bengali husband — a Calcuttan who later moved to the Northeast — with her two young children after he turned an alcoholic. Her battle for family property began in 1965 when she was asked to leave her Ooty home by her brothers shortly after their father’s death. Arundhati was then three and Lalit just a little older.
The brothers’ action was rooted in two laws — the Travancore Christian Succession Act 1916 and Cochin Succession Act 1921 — which restricted a Keralite Syrian Christian daughter’s property rights to a fourth of the son’s share or Rs 5,000, whichever was less.
The young mother went to court and, after a 21-year battle, got the Supreme Court to strike down the two laws in 1986 in what has come to be known as the “Mary Roy case” in Indian legal history.
The verdict brought all Christians in the country under the Indian Succession Act which gives equal property rights to sons and daughters, enabling thousands of Keralite Christian women to regain their share of property denied to them.
Yet Mary Roy’s wait for her own tiny piece of land continued for nearly a quarter century longer. When she approached the Kottayam sub-court seeking implementation of the apex court order, her brothers raised objections.
The case got entangled in issues such as her mother’s right to one-third of the property without alienating it. Mary Roy should have got the land after her mother’s death in the year 2000. But one of her brothers, who had sold a part of his share for Rs 5 crore, sought to prevent the partition by dragging her to Kerala High Court.
After the high court cleared the legal hurdles before Mary Roy, the principal sub-judge here ordered execution of the verdict last Wednesday and sent court officials to carry it out.
Last week, Mary Roy travelled to the site of the disputed family property. She stood there, cheered by a motley crowd, taking possession of her nine cents (100 cents make an acre) after pulling down dilapidated sheds with the help of an earthmover. It was a moment the ailing educator and rights campaigner had thought would never come in her lifetime.
“I am relieved that my long struggle for justice has yielded result. My battle was not for a piece of property alone but to ensure that women in this country enjoy the rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” Mary Roy had told PTI last week.
The campaigner in her is not done yet. She has commissioned Delhi-based advocate Anand Grover to petition the Supreme Court to get local bodies to implement the environment ministry rule that asks every citizen to dispose of his garbage responsibly. The issue has become a problem in Kerala, with rubbish strewn everywhere and posing a health risk.
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Gulf times
Sunday,24 October, 2010,
By Ashraf Padanna/Kottayam, Kerala
The mother of Booker prize winner Arundhati Roy who won a five-decades-long fight for family property, says she does not want the ‘cursed money’ and will give it away in charity.
Mary Roy who won the case in the Supreme Court received possession of her share of land last week.
“My daughter (Arundhati) and son Lalit have told me they are not interested in it. Now the proceeds from the cursed property worth Rs18mn will go to charity,” Roy said. “We are glad that after nearly 50 years this saga of litigation has come to an end.”
Speaking to a group of reporters at her residence inside a 10-acre campus of the Pallikkodam School that she established on her own, Roy said she had given a power of attorney to her son to execute her decision.
“Neither me nor my elder sister Molly Joseph needs my father’s land. We have both been fighting for a principle - equality of women before the law,” she said. “Many other women got justice after the apex court verdict more than two decades back. I had to wait another 26 years.”
In 1965, Roy was told to get out of a cottage in Ootty which belonged to her father and where she lived with her small children Arundhati, 3, and Lalit, 5. At the time she was told that according to the Travancore Christian Succession Act (TCSA), “a daughter shall receive one-fourths the share of a son or Rs5,000 whichever is less.”
She was just back from Kolkatta after a failed marriage and struggling to take care of her children. She was able to retain the cottage, as the TCSA was not applicable in Tamil Nadu.
She then decided she would fight to get equal rights under the Indian Constitution and she would fight the humiliation heaped upon her and other women. A Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Supreme Court in 1984 and two years later the court passed the historic judgment.
All Indians are now governed by the Indian Succession Act which gives equal rights to sons and daughters.
After her father’s death her mother had right over all her husband’s property. She died in 2000 after which her brother George Isaac resorted to innumerable adjournments and appeals to the Kerala High Court to prevent the partition but to no avail.
The litigation came to an end last week when a civil court in Kottayam assigned the property to Roy.
Isaac sold the ancestral house and half the property for Rs50mn. The remaining half is divided between the two sisters and their late brother John’s wife who is a Canadian. “Today everyone should be happy. The land has now come into our possession with no further impediments,” Roy said.
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Christian Law of Succession in India
Lawisgreek
Sunday, July 31, 2011
A British View of India: Jugganath
Cultural Cataracts
Archeology Online
By Jack Hebner
"Juggernaut: a massive, inexorable force that crushes everything in its path."
— Oxford Dictionary
Spiritual and intellectual efforts of hundreds of millions of people over millennia have graced India with a rich and complex culture — a culture whose subtlety knows no rival. During the last three centuries the attempts of most Westerners to penetrate the spiritual dimension of Indian culture has at best been doomed to superficiality.
Although some sincere seekers of truth from outside India's borders have succeeded in their pursuit of Indian spirituality (and this is increasing as time goes on), still, the vast majority of the Western world remains caught in the slumber of misconception, much of which can be traced to an insufficient fund of knowledge and misinformation. Without the benefit of a preliminary briefing or education in Indian spirituality, a newcomer to India is certainly at a decided disadvantage, and is apt to view things according to his or her own cultural or religious biases. Of course this cultural cataract has marred many attempts to understand another's culture, yet the British view of India is perhaps one of the most vivid examples of misunderstanding that continues to take its toll today, some 40 years after Indian independence. Thus perhaps the richest spiritual heritage on Earth has been relegated to obscurity in modern times.
After a visit to India, Mark Twain once said, "East is East and West is West and ne'er the twain shall meet." This is certainly true on the physical plane, but the very nature of spirit is that it is neither Eastern or Western. India has, as her trademark, demonstrated an exemplary attitude of religious tolerance for many centuries, accommodating a vast number of different religious traditions within her borders: Jewish, Christian, Zorastrian, Muslim, and Hindu, among others, thus demonstrating that religious harmony does not depend on geographical considerations.
How the basic misconceptions about Indian spirituality first developed vividly comes to light when we examine history between 1690 and 1947, during which time Great Britain occupied India.
The East India Company
The British began their conquest of India from Calcutta, where they established the East India Company — a business venture that was destined to rule India with an iron fist for almost 250 years.
When the Britishers returned to their motherland, they depicted India as a barbaric, uncivilized country filled with polytheism, mythology, and idolatry. The scene they painted portrayed India as a country of primitive worshipers bowed down before a ghastly statue of some god or goddess. To them this represented one of the most hideous examples of human degradation, one of those horrors of ignorance which the British had long left behind. The British summed up India as a hodgepodge of heathenistic superstitions. This attitude toward India and her spirituality was shared by just about every Britisher in India and at home, from the King and Queen of England down to the desk clerk at the East India Company in Calcutta.
They felt nothing of value could be gained from the "primitive Hindus" except their abundance of gold and jewels. However, in actuality the British had stumbled upon the oldest and most civilized society — in terms of spiritual culture — in the world. Sadly, the British view of India was to become the prominent world view of India.
India Links
During the early days of imperial rule in India, the British received some of their first impressions of India's spiritual culture via their encounters in the holy city of Jagannath Puri — encounters which plunged the British deep into severe cultural shock.
Jagannath Puri is located on the east coast of the Indian sub-continent in the tropical state of Orissa, about 310 miles south of Calcutta. It has been a holy place of pilgrimage for devout Hindus since ancient times. The city is shaped like the silhouette of a conchshell. The shape of the conchshell bears the spiritual significance of Jagannath Puri being the abode of the Godhead, Vishnu, who carries a conchshell as part of his eternal paraphernalia. In the center of the conchshell silhouette there is a portion of raised ground called Nilgiri or "the blue hill." On the crest of Nilgiri stands an imposing temple complex dedicated to Vishnu as Jagannath, "the Maintainer of the Universe." In Sanskrit jagat means the universe, and natha means the maintainer.
It has been a standard practice in India since ancient times to develop a city or village around a central holy shrine. Thus the temple of Jagannath is established at the center of Jagannath Puri. Situating the temple at the center of the city had a twofold justification: apparent and transcendental. The apparent reason was a practical one; the temple being in the center of the community provided easy access for community gatherings. The transcendental reason was a philosophical one: the people of ancient India conceived of the Godhead as being at the center of the universe and at the center of all activities in the universe. Thus the temple being at the center of the community acted as a reminder that human life is ultimately successful when everything is dedicated to the Godhead at the nucleus.
The proper name of the temple in Jagannath Puri is Sri Mandir, and according to the palm leaf chronicles therein, the temple has existed for a very long time. The present temple structure, built in the twelfth century by King Chodaganga Deva, soars 215 feet into the air and spans an area of more than 428,000 square feet. Surrounding this massive structure is a stone wall 20 feet high with four large gates: the elephant gate, the lion gate, the horse gate, and the tiger gate. These gates face north, east, south, and west respectively; the temple itself faces east as is customary in Indian temple construction.
Within the main compound of Sri Mandir there are over one hundred shrines of lesser importance which are committed to the demigods in charge of universal affairs or the sub-controllers of the universe. In the midst of these lesser shrines is the main temple hall called the Bada-deula, in which resides the predominating deity of the temple, Sri Jagannath. The deity's eyes are large and round like the lotus flower, his complexion is blackish, and his nature is all-merciful to his devotees.
Sri Mandir is one of the best examples of spiritual culture found anywhere in India, past or present. The standards of worshiping the deity have been going on for many centuries without interruption in the grandest style imaginable. Fifty-four separate offerings of vegetarian food are prepared daily and offered to Jagannath. For the preparation of these offerings, an exceptionally large kitchen called the bhoga mandap is required. This happens to be the largest kitchen in Asia, and it employs 650 people as cooks and assistants.
It is believed that the food offered to Jagannath becomes prasadam, "the mercy of God," which when eaten, destroys one's karmic reactions and thus helps to purify one's existence. Over 50,000 people take prasadam at the Jagannath temple every day.
Before entering the main shrine of the deity there is a finely crafted hall with many pillars called the nata mandap or "dancing hall," and pilgrims, devotees, and worshipers of Jagannath often perform dancing and singing there for the pleasure of Jagannath. Previous to British rule, the Jagannath temple maintained several hundred devi dasis, or maidservants of Jagannath, who would frequently perform dance and drama in the nata mandap. The system of the devi dasis was a voluntary one, and never involved any kind of slavery, as was misconstrued by the British overlords during their rule in India.
In the bada-deula main hall of Sri Mandir, Jagannath rests on a five-foot-high stand called the ratna singhasan, the jeweled throne. The deity itself is also about five feet tall. To the right of Jagannath are two other thrones: one for Subhadra, the sister of Jagannath, and one for Baladeva, the older brother of Jagannath.
According to the worshipers of Jagannath, Godhead is never alone. He (in this case it is he, the male aspect of Godhead, purusha) is eternally engaged in transcendental pastimes via the manifestation of his own internal energies. These pastimes are said to exist eternally on the absolute plane of reality. Godhead, they say, is complete in his existence, yet for the pleasure of himself and his loving servants, he creates a world of transcendental variegatedness called the paravyoma, the spiritual sky. Subhadra and Baladeva are said to exist in the spiritual sky as members of the divine family and are thus worshiped along with Jagannath at Sri Mandir.
Six times a day beginning at 4 A.M. and ending at 9 P.M., the main hall is open to the devotees for viewing the deity. This is called darshan. During these times the worship of Jagannath is enthusiastically performed and the devotees become absorbed in ecstatic rapture.
How the deity of Jagannath appeared and came to be worshiped at Jagannath Puri is an interesting story which one can learn from any of the temple priests: A millennia ago there was a pious king named Indradyumna who ruled the province of Malava, extending from Jagannath Puri to the southern tip of India. King Indradyumna was a spiritual-minded man, and as such he always favored the association of sages and saintly persons. One day while listening to the sages, the king heard that the ultimate realization is that of the personal form of Godhead. From that day on the king cultivated a desire to see the form of Godhead in the core of his heart. Knowing that such a desire may take many lifetimes to perfect, the king continued to rule his kingdom and to associate with the saints and sages.
One night King Indradyumna had a dream that Vishnu came to him. During this dream, Vishnu said that the king would find a wooden log at the seashore and that he should take this special log and get it carved into a deity according to the direction found in the Shilpa Shastra, the authorized scripture which governs such things. When the king awoke from his dream he was exceedingly happy and went directly to the seashore, where he found a very large log lying on the beach.
King Indradyumna's men carried the heavy log back to the palace, and the king ordered his carpenters to begin the wood carving. However, the wood was so hard that whoever tried to carve it simply broke his tools. The king was very perplexed and thus he took rest for the night.
The next day, Vishvakarma, the architect of the celestial world, came to see King Indradyumna. Vishvakarma informed the king that the log which he had found at the seashore was daru-brahman or divine wood. Vishvakarma said that it would not be possible for any mortal to carve this wood, but that he himself would do it if the king desired.
As Vishvakarma prepared to do his work, he informed King Indradyumna that there was one stipulation: no one should be allowed to observe the work of carving until everything was complete. Vishvakarma said that if his meditation were disturbed, he would immediately abandon the king and return to the celestial world. The king agreed.
Many days passed and King Indradyumna patiently waited while Vishvakarma carved away in a secluded chamber. Unfortunately, the king's wife Gundicha was not so patient as her husband; Gundicha repeatedly urged her husband to take a peek at the progress. Remembering his agreement with Vishvakarma, King Indradyumna was naturally reluctant. Then one day, the noise of hammering and chiseling stopped and not even the slightest sound could be heard coming from Vishvakarma's studio. The suspense of silence pushed the king to the edge of his patience and he and Gundicha slowly opened the door to the studio. Before the door was halfway open, Vishvakarma vanished from sight, leaving his tools on the floor and his work unfinished.
King Indradyumna was mortified at this turn of events and his heart felt heavily burdened. In order to expiate for the interruption and incomplete work, the king decided to fast until death. While fasting he again had a dream in which Vishnu told him that the incompleted forms of the deities were in fact perfectly worshipable forms. The so-called incompleteness, he said, represented bodily transformations resulting from intense love in separation, a particular ecstatic mood known as vipralambha. In the case of Jagannath, it was the purusha's longing for his female aspect prakruti in intimacy. Overjoyed by these instructions, King Indradyumna arranged for the building of a beautiful temple and for the worship of the deity which continues even to this day.
The British regarded all these stories about the appearance of Jagannath as mythology and never took them seriously. Neither did the British ever enter the temple to observe the loving ecstasy of the devotees who worship Jagannath. They assumed the whole affair to be idol worship. However, there was one occasion when the British did get the opportunity to see Jagannath face to face and to witness the great devotion of his devotees. Every year the temple of Jagannath holds a marvelous festival called Ratha Yatra. It appears from the temple records that this festival is the oldest regularly performed spiritual function in human society.
The Ratha Yatra is held annually in mid-July and lasts for several days. Preparations begin months before with the construction of three exceptionally large chariots or rathas. To build the large chariots, vast amounts of wood are required, which is brought to the main road in front of the temple and placed in stacks. Day and night workers paint the individual parts of the chariot and begin to assemble them one by one; soon the shape of the chariots becomes manifest.
Each chariot towers three stories high while standing on sixteen wheels. When the super-structure is complete, the upper portion of each chariot is covered with a brightly colored canopy of red, yellow, black, and green silk. The wheels are eight feet in diameter and a slightly sagging hand rail encloses the upper deck of the chariot. On top of the canopy there is an impressive gold spire flanked by two green parrots carved in wood and a yellow silk flag.
Pilgrims are astonished to see the beautiful decorations of the chariots. The chariots have a celestial beauty and appear as high as a great mountain. The decorations include bright mirrors, white whisks, pictures, sculptures, brass bells, and iron gongs. When the chariots are completed, thousands and thousands of pilgrims begin to arrive from all over India. On the actual day of the festival, over one million people are present, including some of the top ministers in the Indian government, generals from the army, and occasionally even the prime minister. At the lion gate everyone gathers with an intense eagerness as they wait for Jagannath to be brought from the temple and placed on his chariot. Suddenly, heralded by the blowing of conchshells, the smiling face of Jagannath appears in the doorway of the temple. The crowd stands, jumps, and shouts a welcome praise to the Lord of the universe, "Jagannath kijay! Jagannath kijay! Jagannath kijay!"
As the deity emerges from the temple he is supported on both sides by strongly built men called dayitas. A series of sturdy cotton pillows called tulis are spread out from the temple door to the chariot, and the heavy deity of Jagannath is carried from one pillow-like pad to the next. Moving from pillow to pillow with a graceful swaying motion, Jagannath gradually ascends his chariot.
The dayitas say,"Jagannath is the maintainer of the whole universe. Therefore, who can carry him from one place to the next? Jagannath moves by his personal will just to perform his pastimes." This first aspect of the festival where Jagannath mounts his chariot is called the pandu-vijay and takes about one hour.
The deities of Subhadra and Baladeva are similarly transported to their chariots as the parade is about to begin. Joining Jagannath on his chariot are dozens of enthusiastic servants and devotees. Surrounding the chariots are devotees from Bengal and Orissa who begin to sing melodious devotional songs accompanied by the music of clay drums and hand cymbals. A minister of the government then comes forward and sweeps the road in front of the chariots with a gold and silver broom. Then sandalwood-scented water is sprinkled on the freshly swept road. Seeing the highly posted minister engaged in menial service to the deity, the people become very happy.
Four long, extra-heavy ropes are attached to the front of each chariot and extended into the crowd of people. Taking the ropes in hand, a hundred or more people on each rope, everyone awaits the signal from the chariot driver to begin to pull. A whistle sounds one long blast, the rope tightens, and the chariot begins to roll. The huge wooden wheels wobble from side to side as they squeak and turn on their heavy wooden axles. The chariot pullers, called gaudas, pull with great happiness. The chariot sometimes moves quickly, sometimes slowly. Mysteriously the chariots sometimes come to a complete stop even though everyone is pulling very hard. It appears that the chariots are moving by the will of Jagannath. Making their way along a stretch of road for about three miles, the chariots arrive in front of the Gundicha temple, where they remain for some days and then return to the Jagannath temple in a similar manner.
There is a profound spiritual meaning behind the Ratha Yatra which the great sages and devotees of Jagannath have described thus: "The worship of Jagannath is generally conducted on a grand scale of awe and reverence wherein his devotees see and revere him as the Supreme Godhead. This mood of awe and reverence, however, is not as pleasing to Jagannath as the mood of spontaneous love of God exhibited by his most confidential devotees the gopis, the milkmaids of Vrindavan. In the mood of awe and reverence, Jagannath is always found in the company of Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune. But sometimes Jagannath remembers the intimate loving affairs between himself and the gopis, and thus he is overwhelmed with feelings of separation and desires to return to Vrindavan. Jagannath then leaves his temple and mounts his chariot to go to Vrindavan and meet with the gopis. As Jagannath sees the white stretch of sandy road in front of his chariot with beautiful gardens on both sides, he is reminded of the Yamuna River and the groves of Vrindavan where he sported with his gopis. Jagannath's mind becomes filled with pleasure at these thoughts and he smiles intensely."
The esoteric meaning of the Ratha Yatra combined with the actual beauty of the event have inspired many devotees to compile excellent songs and poetry in praise of Jagannath. Famous in Jagannath Puri are the beautiful verses known as Jagannath-astakam, which are vibrated from the lips of thousands of pilgrims during the festival:
"Sometimes in great happiness Jagannath, with his flute, makes a loud concert in the groves on the banks of the Yamuna. He is like a bumblebee who tastes the beautiful faces of the cowherd damsels of Vrindavan, and his lotus feet are worshiped by great personalities such as Lakshmi, Shiva, Brahma, Indra, and Ganesh. May that Jagannath be the object of my vision."
"In his left hand Jagannath holds a flute. On his head he wears a peacock's feather, and on his hips he wears fine yellow silken cloth. Out of the corners of his eyes he bestows sidelong glances upon his loving devotees, and he always reveals himself through his pastimes in his divine abode of Vrindavan. May Jagannath be the object of my vision."
"Jagannath is an ocean of mercy and he is beautiful like a row of blackish rain clouds. He is the storehouse of bliss for Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, and Saraswati, the goddess of learning, and his face is like a spotless, full-blown lotus. He is worshiped by the best of demigods and sages, and his glories are sung by the Upanishads. May that Jagannath be the object of my vision."
"When Jagannath is on his chariot and is moving along the road, at every step there is a loud presentation of prayers and songs chanted by large numbers of brahmanas (priests). Hearing their hymns, Jagannath is very favorably disposed towards them. He is the ocean of mercy and the true friend of all the worlds. May that Jagannath be the object of my vision."
Unfortunately, the British did not have the same visions of Jagannath as did his devotees. Not only did they see something less beautiful and charming but they saw something quite ghastly. Perhaps it was a projection of their own inner natures since it was they who had come to India as conquerors and not as seekers of truth.
The British described Jagannath as "a frightful visage painted black, with a distended mouth of bloody horror." Seeing the grand procession of the Ratha Yatra, the British experienced further disdain and coined the term "juggernaut." This word gradually found its way into the Oxford Dictionary with the meaning "a massive, inexorable force that crushes everything in its path." It could hardly be expected that the British should have immediately fallen in love with Jagannath or worshiped him, but at least they could have investigated the meaning and philosophy behind him. Instead they maligned Jagannath to the world as "a horrible, bloodthirsty idol." Lamentable as it was, the British view of India spread throughout the world, and thus for centuries the real beauty of India's spiritual conceptions remained undiscovered.
JagannathaBut fortunately, we in the Western world are gradually maturing culturally, and are becoming more open-minded and receptive than ever before to learning what India has to offer the West. And Jagannath's big eyes are still beaming, and his wide smile still invites all people to come to Jagannath Puri every year to enjoy the spiritual bliss of the Ratha Yatra. I have seen this festival with my own eyes, and I doubt that I will ever experience anything quite as prodigious and jubilant in my life.
Archeology Online
By Jack Hebner
"Juggernaut: a massive, inexorable force that crushes everything in its path."
— Oxford Dictionary
Spiritual and intellectual efforts of hundreds of millions of people over millennia have graced India with a rich and complex culture — a culture whose subtlety knows no rival. During the last three centuries the attempts of most Westerners to penetrate the spiritual dimension of Indian culture has at best been doomed to superficiality.
Although some sincere seekers of truth from outside India's borders have succeeded in their pursuit of Indian spirituality (and this is increasing as time goes on), still, the vast majority of the Western world remains caught in the slumber of misconception, much of which can be traced to an insufficient fund of knowledge and misinformation. Without the benefit of a preliminary briefing or education in Indian spirituality, a newcomer to India is certainly at a decided disadvantage, and is apt to view things according to his or her own cultural or religious biases. Of course this cultural cataract has marred many attempts to understand another's culture, yet the British view of India is perhaps one of the most vivid examples of misunderstanding that continues to take its toll today, some 40 years after Indian independence. Thus perhaps the richest spiritual heritage on Earth has been relegated to obscurity in modern times.
After a visit to India, Mark Twain once said, "East is East and West is West and ne'er the twain shall meet." This is certainly true on the physical plane, but the very nature of spirit is that it is neither Eastern or Western. India has, as her trademark, demonstrated an exemplary attitude of religious tolerance for many centuries, accommodating a vast number of different religious traditions within her borders: Jewish, Christian, Zorastrian, Muslim, and Hindu, among others, thus demonstrating that religious harmony does not depend on geographical considerations.
How the basic misconceptions about Indian spirituality first developed vividly comes to light when we examine history between 1690 and 1947, during which time Great Britain occupied India.
The East India Company
The British began their conquest of India from Calcutta, where they established the East India Company — a business venture that was destined to rule India with an iron fist for almost 250 years.
When the Britishers returned to their motherland, they depicted India as a barbaric, uncivilized country filled with polytheism, mythology, and idolatry. The scene they painted portrayed India as a country of primitive worshipers bowed down before a ghastly statue of some god or goddess. To them this represented one of the most hideous examples of human degradation, one of those horrors of ignorance which the British had long left behind. The British summed up India as a hodgepodge of heathenistic superstitions. This attitude toward India and her spirituality was shared by just about every Britisher in India and at home, from the King and Queen of England down to the desk clerk at the East India Company in Calcutta.
They felt nothing of value could be gained from the "primitive Hindus" except their abundance of gold and jewels. However, in actuality the British had stumbled upon the oldest and most civilized society — in terms of spiritual culture — in the world. Sadly, the British view of India was to become the prominent world view of India.
India Links
During the early days of imperial rule in India, the British received some of their first impressions of India's spiritual culture via their encounters in the holy city of Jagannath Puri — encounters which plunged the British deep into severe cultural shock.
Jagannath Puri is located on the east coast of the Indian sub-continent in the tropical state of Orissa, about 310 miles south of Calcutta. It has been a holy place of pilgrimage for devout Hindus since ancient times. The city is shaped like the silhouette of a conchshell. The shape of the conchshell bears the spiritual significance of Jagannath Puri being the abode of the Godhead, Vishnu, who carries a conchshell as part of his eternal paraphernalia. In the center of the conchshell silhouette there is a portion of raised ground called Nilgiri or "the blue hill." On the crest of Nilgiri stands an imposing temple complex dedicated to Vishnu as Jagannath, "the Maintainer of the Universe." In Sanskrit jagat means the universe, and natha means the maintainer.
It has been a standard practice in India since ancient times to develop a city or village around a central holy shrine. Thus the temple of Jagannath is established at the center of Jagannath Puri. Situating the temple at the center of the city had a twofold justification: apparent and transcendental. The apparent reason was a practical one; the temple being in the center of the community provided easy access for community gatherings. The transcendental reason was a philosophical one: the people of ancient India conceived of the Godhead as being at the center of the universe and at the center of all activities in the universe. Thus the temple being at the center of the community acted as a reminder that human life is ultimately successful when everything is dedicated to the Godhead at the nucleus.
The proper name of the temple in Jagannath Puri is Sri Mandir, and according to the palm leaf chronicles therein, the temple has existed for a very long time. The present temple structure, built in the twelfth century by King Chodaganga Deva, soars 215 feet into the air and spans an area of more than 428,000 square feet. Surrounding this massive structure is a stone wall 20 feet high with four large gates: the elephant gate, the lion gate, the horse gate, and the tiger gate. These gates face north, east, south, and west respectively; the temple itself faces east as is customary in Indian temple construction.
Within the main compound of Sri Mandir there are over one hundred shrines of lesser importance which are committed to the demigods in charge of universal affairs or the sub-controllers of the universe. In the midst of these lesser shrines is the main temple hall called the Bada-deula, in which resides the predominating deity of the temple, Sri Jagannath. The deity's eyes are large and round like the lotus flower, his complexion is blackish, and his nature is all-merciful to his devotees.
Sri Mandir is one of the best examples of spiritual culture found anywhere in India, past or present. The standards of worshiping the deity have been going on for many centuries without interruption in the grandest style imaginable. Fifty-four separate offerings of vegetarian food are prepared daily and offered to Jagannath. For the preparation of these offerings, an exceptionally large kitchen called the bhoga mandap is required. This happens to be the largest kitchen in Asia, and it employs 650 people as cooks and assistants.
It is believed that the food offered to Jagannath becomes prasadam, "the mercy of God," which when eaten, destroys one's karmic reactions and thus helps to purify one's existence. Over 50,000 people take prasadam at the Jagannath temple every day.
Before entering the main shrine of the deity there is a finely crafted hall with many pillars called the nata mandap or "dancing hall," and pilgrims, devotees, and worshipers of Jagannath often perform dancing and singing there for the pleasure of Jagannath. Previous to British rule, the Jagannath temple maintained several hundred devi dasis, or maidservants of Jagannath, who would frequently perform dance and drama in the nata mandap. The system of the devi dasis was a voluntary one, and never involved any kind of slavery, as was misconstrued by the British overlords during their rule in India.
In the bada-deula main hall of Sri Mandir, Jagannath rests on a five-foot-high stand called the ratna singhasan, the jeweled throne. The deity itself is also about five feet tall. To the right of Jagannath are two other thrones: one for Subhadra, the sister of Jagannath, and one for Baladeva, the older brother of Jagannath.
According to the worshipers of Jagannath, Godhead is never alone. He (in this case it is he, the male aspect of Godhead, purusha) is eternally engaged in transcendental pastimes via the manifestation of his own internal energies. These pastimes are said to exist eternally on the absolute plane of reality. Godhead, they say, is complete in his existence, yet for the pleasure of himself and his loving servants, he creates a world of transcendental variegatedness called the paravyoma, the spiritual sky. Subhadra and Baladeva are said to exist in the spiritual sky as members of the divine family and are thus worshiped along with Jagannath at Sri Mandir.
Six times a day beginning at 4 A.M. and ending at 9 P.M., the main hall is open to the devotees for viewing the deity. This is called darshan. During these times the worship of Jagannath is enthusiastically performed and the devotees become absorbed in ecstatic rapture.
How the deity of Jagannath appeared and came to be worshiped at Jagannath Puri is an interesting story which one can learn from any of the temple priests: A millennia ago there was a pious king named Indradyumna who ruled the province of Malava, extending from Jagannath Puri to the southern tip of India. King Indradyumna was a spiritual-minded man, and as such he always favored the association of sages and saintly persons. One day while listening to the sages, the king heard that the ultimate realization is that of the personal form of Godhead. From that day on the king cultivated a desire to see the form of Godhead in the core of his heart. Knowing that such a desire may take many lifetimes to perfect, the king continued to rule his kingdom and to associate with the saints and sages.
One night King Indradyumna had a dream that Vishnu came to him. During this dream, Vishnu said that the king would find a wooden log at the seashore and that he should take this special log and get it carved into a deity according to the direction found in the Shilpa Shastra, the authorized scripture which governs such things. When the king awoke from his dream he was exceedingly happy and went directly to the seashore, where he found a very large log lying on the beach.
King Indradyumna's men carried the heavy log back to the palace, and the king ordered his carpenters to begin the wood carving. However, the wood was so hard that whoever tried to carve it simply broke his tools. The king was very perplexed and thus he took rest for the night.
The next day, Vishvakarma, the architect of the celestial world, came to see King Indradyumna. Vishvakarma informed the king that the log which he had found at the seashore was daru-brahman or divine wood. Vishvakarma said that it would not be possible for any mortal to carve this wood, but that he himself would do it if the king desired.
As Vishvakarma prepared to do his work, he informed King Indradyumna that there was one stipulation: no one should be allowed to observe the work of carving until everything was complete. Vishvakarma said that if his meditation were disturbed, he would immediately abandon the king and return to the celestial world. The king agreed.
Many days passed and King Indradyumna patiently waited while Vishvakarma carved away in a secluded chamber. Unfortunately, the king's wife Gundicha was not so patient as her husband; Gundicha repeatedly urged her husband to take a peek at the progress. Remembering his agreement with Vishvakarma, King Indradyumna was naturally reluctant. Then one day, the noise of hammering and chiseling stopped and not even the slightest sound could be heard coming from Vishvakarma's studio. The suspense of silence pushed the king to the edge of his patience and he and Gundicha slowly opened the door to the studio. Before the door was halfway open, Vishvakarma vanished from sight, leaving his tools on the floor and his work unfinished.
King Indradyumna was mortified at this turn of events and his heart felt heavily burdened. In order to expiate for the interruption and incomplete work, the king decided to fast until death. While fasting he again had a dream in which Vishnu told him that the incompleted forms of the deities were in fact perfectly worshipable forms. The so-called incompleteness, he said, represented bodily transformations resulting from intense love in separation, a particular ecstatic mood known as vipralambha. In the case of Jagannath, it was the purusha's longing for his female aspect prakruti in intimacy. Overjoyed by these instructions, King Indradyumna arranged for the building of a beautiful temple and for the worship of the deity which continues even to this day.
The British regarded all these stories about the appearance of Jagannath as mythology and never took them seriously. Neither did the British ever enter the temple to observe the loving ecstasy of the devotees who worship Jagannath. They assumed the whole affair to be idol worship. However, there was one occasion when the British did get the opportunity to see Jagannath face to face and to witness the great devotion of his devotees. Every year the temple of Jagannath holds a marvelous festival called Ratha Yatra. It appears from the temple records that this festival is the oldest regularly performed spiritual function in human society.
The Ratha Yatra is held annually in mid-July and lasts for several days. Preparations begin months before with the construction of three exceptionally large chariots or rathas. To build the large chariots, vast amounts of wood are required, which is brought to the main road in front of the temple and placed in stacks. Day and night workers paint the individual parts of the chariot and begin to assemble them one by one; soon the shape of the chariots becomes manifest.
Each chariot towers three stories high while standing on sixteen wheels. When the super-structure is complete, the upper portion of each chariot is covered with a brightly colored canopy of red, yellow, black, and green silk. The wheels are eight feet in diameter and a slightly sagging hand rail encloses the upper deck of the chariot. On top of the canopy there is an impressive gold spire flanked by two green parrots carved in wood and a yellow silk flag.
Pilgrims are astonished to see the beautiful decorations of the chariots. The chariots have a celestial beauty and appear as high as a great mountain. The decorations include bright mirrors, white whisks, pictures, sculptures, brass bells, and iron gongs. When the chariots are completed, thousands and thousands of pilgrims begin to arrive from all over India. On the actual day of the festival, over one million people are present, including some of the top ministers in the Indian government, generals from the army, and occasionally even the prime minister. At the lion gate everyone gathers with an intense eagerness as they wait for Jagannath to be brought from the temple and placed on his chariot. Suddenly, heralded by the blowing of conchshells, the smiling face of Jagannath appears in the doorway of the temple. The crowd stands, jumps, and shouts a welcome praise to the Lord of the universe, "Jagannath kijay! Jagannath kijay! Jagannath kijay!"
As the deity emerges from the temple he is supported on both sides by strongly built men called dayitas. A series of sturdy cotton pillows called tulis are spread out from the temple door to the chariot, and the heavy deity of Jagannath is carried from one pillow-like pad to the next. Moving from pillow to pillow with a graceful swaying motion, Jagannath gradually ascends his chariot.
The dayitas say,"Jagannath is the maintainer of the whole universe. Therefore, who can carry him from one place to the next? Jagannath moves by his personal will just to perform his pastimes." This first aspect of the festival where Jagannath mounts his chariot is called the pandu-vijay and takes about one hour.
The deities of Subhadra and Baladeva are similarly transported to their chariots as the parade is about to begin. Joining Jagannath on his chariot are dozens of enthusiastic servants and devotees. Surrounding the chariots are devotees from Bengal and Orissa who begin to sing melodious devotional songs accompanied by the music of clay drums and hand cymbals. A minister of the government then comes forward and sweeps the road in front of the chariots with a gold and silver broom. Then sandalwood-scented water is sprinkled on the freshly swept road. Seeing the highly posted minister engaged in menial service to the deity, the people become very happy.
Four long, extra-heavy ropes are attached to the front of each chariot and extended into the crowd of people. Taking the ropes in hand, a hundred or more people on each rope, everyone awaits the signal from the chariot driver to begin to pull. A whistle sounds one long blast, the rope tightens, and the chariot begins to roll. The huge wooden wheels wobble from side to side as they squeak and turn on their heavy wooden axles. The chariot pullers, called gaudas, pull with great happiness. The chariot sometimes moves quickly, sometimes slowly. Mysteriously the chariots sometimes come to a complete stop even though everyone is pulling very hard. It appears that the chariots are moving by the will of Jagannath. Making their way along a stretch of road for about three miles, the chariots arrive in front of the Gundicha temple, where they remain for some days and then return to the Jagannath temple in a similar manner.
There is a profound spiritual meaning behind the Ratha Yatra which the great sages and devotees of Jagannath have described thus: "The worship of Jagannath is generally conducted on a grand scale of awe and reverence wherein his devotees see and revere him as the Supreme Godhead. This mood of awe and reverence, however, is not as pleasing to Jagannath as the mood of spontaneous love of God exhibited by his most confidential devotees the gopis, the milkmaids of Vrindavan. In the mood of awe and reverence, Jagannath is always found in the company of Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune. But sometimes Jagannath remembers the intimate loving affairs between himself and the gopis, and thus he is overwhelmed with feelings of separation and desires to return to Vrindavan. Jagannath then leaves his temple and mounts his chariot to go to Vrindavan and meet with the gopis. As Jagannath sees the white stretch of sandy road in front of his chariot with beautiful gardens on both sides, he is reminded of the Yamuna River and the groves of Vrindavan where he sported with his gopis. Jagannath's mind becomes filled with pleasure at these thoughts and he smiles intensely."
The esoteric meaning of the Ratha Yatra combined with the actual beauty of the event have inspired many devotees to compile excellent songs and poetry in praise of Jagannath. Famous in Jagannath Puri are the beautiful verses known as Jagannath-astakam, which are vibrated from the lips of thousands of pilgrims during the festival:
"Sometimes in great happiness Jagannath, with his flute, makes a loud concert in the groves on the banks of the Yamuna. He is like a bumblebee who tastes the beautiful faces of the cowherd damsels of Vrindavan, and his lotus feet are worshiped by great personalities such as Lakshmi, Shiva, Brahma, Indra, and Ganesh. May that Jagannath be the object of my vision."
"In his left hand Jagannath holds a flute. On his head he wears a peacock's feather, and on his hips he wears fine yellow silken cloth. Out of the corners of his eyes he bestows sidelong glances upon his loving devotees, and he always reveals himself through his pastimes in his divine abode of Vrindavan. May Jagannath be the object of my vision."
"Jagannath is an ocean of mercy and he is beautiful like a row of blackish rain clouds. He is the storehouse of bliss for Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, and Saraswati, the goddess of learning, and his face is like a spotless, full-blown lotus. He is worshiped by the best of demigods and sages, and his glories are sung by the Upanishads. May that Jagannath be the object of my vision."
"When Jagannath is on his chariot and is moving along the road, at every step there is a loud presentation of prayers and songs chanted by large numbers of brahmanas (priests). Hearing their hymns, Jagannath is very favorably disposed towards them. He is the ocean of mercy and the true friend of all the worlds. May that Jagannath be the object of my vision."
Unfortunately, the British did not have the same visions of Jagannath as did his devotees. Not only did they see something less beautiful and charming but they saw something quite ghastly. Perhaps it was a projection of their own inner natures since it was they who had come to India as conquerors and not as seekers of truth.
The British described Jagannath as "a frightful visage painted black, with a distended mouth of bloody horror." Seeing the grand procession of the Ratha Yatra, the British experienced further disdain and coined the term "juggernaut." This word gradually found its way into the Oxford Dictionary with the meaning "a massive, inexorable force that crushes everything in its path." It could hardly be expected that the British should have immediately fallen in love with Jagannath or worshiped him, but at least they could have investigated the meaning and philosophy behind him. Instead they maligned Jagannath to the world as "a horrible, bloodthirsty idol." Lamentable as it was, the British view of India spread throughout the world, and thus for centuries the real beauty of India's spiritual conceptions remained undiscovered.
JagannathaBut fortunately, we in the Western world are gradually maturing culturally, and are becoming more open-minded and receptive than ever before to learning what India has to offer the West. And Jagannath's big eyes are still beaming, and his wide smile still invites all people to come to Jagannath Puri every year to enjoy the spiritual bliss of the Ratha Yatra. I have seen this festival with my own eyes, and I doubt that I will ever experience anything quite as prodigious and jubilant in my life.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Aruni Kashyap claims Rapes against women from northeast are higher
Rapes show extent of prejudice against India's north-east
Female migrants to Delhi from India's north-east are increasingly being subjected to sexual attacks made worse by police attitudes
Aruni Kashyap
Guardian
Thursday 3 June
Last week, after a local Assamese daily reported that another woman from India's north-east had been raped in the country's capital, a lot of my friends in Delhi started to get calls from anxious parents. A friend hoped her mother hadn't read the papers that day since they would worry and ask her to return home. Delhi is an unsafe city for women. Almost all women here face sexual harassment in some form or the other.
But what goes largely under-reported is that a significant number of these cases are against migrant women from north-east – a number that is increasing every day. It is a subject the jingoistic, popular Indian media is not comfortable talking about.
A year ago, an email was forwarded to me that had disturbing images of two Manipuri girls in Gurgaon, who were beaten with iron rods by their landlord as they refused to provide "sexual favours". They escaped with injuries to their thighs, backs and buttocks. In March 2010, when a Manipuri girl who was molested in Munirka went to file a first information report (FIR) in a local police station, the officer-in-charge initially refused to file it or arrest the accused, who she had chased and caught, until members from her community gathered and protested for two hours.
Last year, another woman was raped by a Delhi student and burned alive, apparently for resisting rape. It caused huge outcry, and north-eastern student organisations arranged a protest march demanding chief minister Sheila Dikshit ensure safety for the community, especially women.
One major factor behind these cases is, of course, poor administration, lack of adequate patrolling in the streets, but this isn't the sole explanation. The problem lies in the deep prejudice against north-easterns, and even more against women. Though the administration identified the increasing number of crimes against north-eastern migrants in Delhi, they are complicit in the perpetuation of racial prejudice.
In July 2007, a booklet was published by the west district of Delhi police where they asked north-eastern women not to wear "revealing" dresses and "avoid lonely road/bylane when dressed scantily. Dress according to sensitivity of the local populace". After a gang rape took place in June 2005, the principal of Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, publicly said the salwar-kameez must be the dress code of north-eastern women to avoid sexual harassment in Delhi.
The rest of India has a fraught relationship with its north-eastern states, but the politics of targeting north-eastern women with violence have only started to increase in the last two decades. Due to prolonged internal conflict between the many insurgent groups and the Indian state, student migration from these states has increased phenomenally. Now, thousands of students leave their home every year to different cities of India in search of better academic prospects and jobs. This has made the community a visible minority scattered across India.
Last summer, popular news channels and newspapers were practically hysterical over the racist attacks on Indians in Australia. This surprised the north-eastern community, for we have been facing similar things from other Indians for so long. Amid this mass mania of the solidarity shown for Indians in Australia, some news sites published a report referring to a recent survey that 86% of north-eastern students in Delhi face racial violence in many different forms, with 41% of these cases being sexual violence on women.
In December 2009, when the Dhaula Kuan rape case verdict was announced, reports said that the advocate defending the accused tried to argue for his innocence by citing that the victim from Mizoram, who was raped in a moving car, had an "active sexual life" – which probably meant that the rape shouldn't matter at all.
The judge responded with strong words but such a sentence could only have been hurled against a woman from the north-east; it is even worse that we hear of such debates happening in a court in this day in age, at the heart of this supposedly liberal, progressive nation.
Female migrants to Delhi from India's north-east are increasingly being subjected to sexual attacks made worse by police attitudes
Aruni Kashyap
Guardian
Thursday 3 June
Last week, after a local Assamese daily reported that another woman from India's north-east had been raped in the country's capital, a lot of my friends in Delhi started to get calls from anxious parents. A friend hoped her mother hadn't read the papers that day since they would worry and ask her to return home. Delhi is an unsafe city for women. Almost all women here face sexual harassment in some form or the other.
But what goes largely under-reported is that a significant number of these cases are against migrant women from north-east – a number that is increasing every day. It is a subject the jingoistic, popular Indian media is not comfortable talking about.
A year ago, an email was forwarded to me that had disturbing images of two Manipuri girls in Gurgaon, who were beaten with iron rods by their landlord as they refused to provide "sexual favours". They escaped with injuries to their thighs, backs and buttocks. In March 2010, when a Manipuri girl who was molested in Munirka went to file a first information report (FIR) in a local police station, the officer-in-charge initially refused to file it or arrest the accused, who she had chased and caught, until members from her community gathered and protested for two hours.
Last year, another woman was raped by a Delhi student and burned alive, apparently for resisting rape. It caused huge outcry, and north-eastern student organisations arranged a protest march demanding chief minister Sheila Dikshit ensure safety for the community, especially women.
One major factor behind these cases is, of course, poor administration, lack of adequate patrolling in the streets, but this isn't the sole explanation. The problem lies in the deep prejudice against north-easterns, and even more against women. Though the administration identified the increasing number of crimes against north-eastern migrants in Delhi, they are complicit in the perpetuation of racial prejudice.
In July 2007, a booklet was published by the west district of Delhi police where they asked north-eastern women not to wear "revealing" dresses and "avoid lonely road/bylane when dressed scantily. Dress according to sensitivity of the local populace". After a gang rape took place in June 2005, the principal of Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, publicly said the salwar-kameez must be the dress code of north-eastern women to avoid sexual harassment in Delhi.
The rest of India has a fraught relationship with its north-eastern states, but the politics of targeting north-eastern women with violence have only started to increase in the last two decades. Due to prolonged internal conflict between the many insurgent groups and the Indian state, student migration from these states has increased phenomenally. Now, thousands of students leave their home every year to different cities of India in search of better academic prospects and jobs. This has made the community a visible minority scattered across India.
Last summer, popular news channels and newspapers were practically hysterical over the racist attacks on Indians in Australia. This surprised the north-eastern community, for we have been facing similar things from other Indians for so long. Amid this mass mania of the solidarity shown for Indians in Australia, some news sites published a report referring to a recent survey that 86% of north-eastern students in Delhi face racial violence in many different forms, with 41% of these cases being sexual violence on women.
In December 2009, when the Dhaula Kuan rape case verdict was announced, reports said that the advocate defending the accused tried to argue for his innocence by citing that the victim from Mizoram, who was raped in a moving car, had an "active sexual life" – which probably meant that the rape shouldn't matter at all.
The judge responded with strong words but such a sentence could only have been hurled against a woman from the north-east; it is even worse that we hear of such debates happening in a court in this day in age, at the heart of this supposedly liberal, progressive nation.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Racism in Dubai
from Just Landed (a Blog)
Hi guys! I found this thread with experiences from other expatriates on Gulfnews - this should answer some of your question
Clubbers in Dubai have claimed that they are often turned away from some nightspots because of their race.
Many Dubai residents have stories about being refused entry to various clubs in the city because it is 'couples and reservations only', and a recent Gulf News online poll revealed that 70 per cent of people thought they had been turned away from a club due to racism.
Club and bar owners in Dubai deny that they have racist policies - some saying that groups of men often cried racism after being denied entry, others said they were often too busy to let people in.
Do you think some clubs in Dubai have racist policies? Do you think you've been turned away from a bar because of your race? Are people using the race card simply because they've been refused entry? What can be done to alleviate any problem that may exist?
Thank you for your response. This topic is now closed. No more emails will be published on this page
Last night my friend and I were refused entry to a club for no apparent reason. First they said it was a private graduate party, but then they let some Europeans in. Little did the bouncer know that I was in fact a guest of the graduate party, however they did not care. I think the policy of the night club makes me sick; I’m an Indian who’s been in London, Australia and California for the past six years and I have never experienced such treatment.
Abhijeeth
By email
Bouncers are not only racist, but they are also rude. If the argument is don't blame the bouncers they are working under management orders, then I believe that they have also been told to treat any dark skinned men, i.e. Arab, Asian or African, like an animal, while they graciously open the door to any white clubbers. Not only do we get refused entry, but they stand 'in your face' with a disgusted look on their face. Once we were not allowed in and left outside the club for being an uneven ratio of males to females, five guys and three girls. They claimed it was couples entry only and during our argument three young, white lads walked right in and received a smile on their way. It's outrageous, just disgusting. Have we forgotten where we are? Last time I checked this wasn’t London or Berlin or Paris, but an Arab/Asian country.
Anonymous
By email
As an Indian born in Dubai and having lived in Dubai my entire life, but currently residing in Australia, I have seen both sides of the proverbial river. I can safely say that I have yet to face racism in Australia, but while in Dubai it was almost a daily occurrence. In Dubai racism is prevalent; it seems to be encouraged and segregation enforced, for example the discrimination that occurs when attending/entering night clubs and this it just the tip of the iceberg.
Anonymous
By email
I'm a black African and when I was in Dubai I was turned away from several nightclubs and it was obvious to me that it was because of my race. I was also almost in a fight for just trying to speak to a woman in Dubai. Some men did not take kindly to me speaking to an Arab woman and threatened me with violence. We must stick together to some degree or the Europeans will destroy us both.
James
By email
Clearly racism is part and parcel of life, as anybody living in the UAE should know. You just have to pick up the classifieds to know what I am talking about. Anyway, I would think that this is a much more serious issue for a progressive society than being barred from clubs. We all know what half of them are like anyway. Trust me, you are not missing much.
Jabber
By email
Racism exists in Dubai's nightclubs but I would not say to a large extent. I've frequented numerous clubs in the past but have been turned away only thrice from three different clubs. Quite obviously, the rejections were race-based. How else could one explain a no-stags policy when hoardes of White men are allowed in at the same time? What else would you understand when you are not let in since you have no reservations or you are not a guest while other nationalities are given entry without a whimper? But please don't blame the bouncers...they are under the management's orders. Racism is not only obvious at the entry point, some clubs have the serving staff instructed not to entertain certain race so that they don't stick in there for long. I guess, they are only trying to create a perfect world! On a positive note, there are so many wonderful nightclubs waiting with their arms wide open and they even entertain better.
Rizwan
Dubai
Racism does exist in clubs in Dubai. The bouncers often give a suspicious look to certain 'Dubai residents' from an Asian decent. I have myself faced this. I think its time tht the management of these places take a note of this and understand that these groups are large in numbers and may even contribute more to their bottom line numbers (if given a chance) than the other expats.
Anand
by email
Hello, I'm born Canadian of African/Arab roots who looks Indian and I'll vouch for the comments above there is huge racism in clubs here. If I go to the pub with my white friends they bend over backwards to welcome me in but if I'm meeting them inside or come on my own there are instances where they won't let me in. I was at a bar in Bur Dubai, was a regular there for a few months (no longer) went in with my girlfriend they asked for her ID after looking at it and seeing her nationality they said 'no I'm sorry reservations only' and then let the five white people behind us go in no questions asked. So I'm sorry there is blatant racism here, no question. Dubai has changed considerably and the colour of your skin is not indicative to your income or education level and it is about time that people realize this.
Fayz
Dubai
Every time. That's how many times we face racism in UAE's Nightclubs. Even though I am fair, and most of my friends are from India, we (mixed groups) are denied entry at Dubai and Abu Dhabi nightclubs. It's absolutely ridiculous. Sometimes we flash stacks of money to show these bouncers that we are monetarily eligible to be entertained at their nightclubs. Its embarrassing. My boyfriend personally tips the bouncers 100 bucks to remember his group of friends. How sad is that? DTCM needs to take severe action. We Indians have the money to buy you guys out and yet they treat us like trash. And if you ask any Indian, they will tell you the same thing, "Yeah! Only reservations or guests are allowed". But then you see flocks of white stags and couples walking in. It's frustrating and extremely embarrassing. Look at the nightclubs in Toronto or NYC. 100 times better than Dubai's nightscene and yet very gracious to every colour of human race that walks in.
Emilie
Dubai
I think this whole article is shameful and should not have been published. The racism in this country is probably the lowest in the world. And all I see this article doing is firing-up racism between people and encouraging it even further. From my point of view, nightclubs are private businesses and not some sort of public parks made to amuse the public. The owners have every right to let-in or stop people in whichever way they see serves the interest of the business. I hope not to see such articles in your newspaper in the future as it is only gives negative impressions about your newspaper and the country.
Hani
by email
Once, a friend and I were walking in to a club on Shaikh Zayed Road. Prior to walking in, we were talking in Arabic, then to our surprise the bouncer wouldn't let us in! He said only couples are allowed (the oldest excuse in the book). To our amazement, two guys walk past and go in without hesitation, why? Well because they were blonde haired guys speaking in a heavy British accent. After yelling and screaming, we told him we are Lebanese and proud, but to make them feel stupid, I took out my Australian passport, and my friend took out his Canadian passport. That's right, I was born in Australia and my friend in Canada, even though this, i am not ashamed of my roots and heritage. To make things worse, he said that, "I didnt know you were foreign". They begged us to go in, but my pride was worth more than a glass of beer.
Elmo
Dubai
I do understand the reason for an enterprise to maintain the male to female ratio in a night club, but blatant discrimination is certainly not the remedy. If companies recruiting in the UAE can boldly state the nationality of the candidate they are seeking, then I don't see anything wrong for a nightclub to clearly state who their target audience is. It's high time they clean up their act. They welcome everyone on a weekday, when business is low and then keep the same client out during the weekends, when they wish to patronise a particular section of the people. Ridiculous.
Arjun
Dubai
Hi guys! I found this thread with experiences from other expatriates on Gulfnews - this should answer some of your question
Clubbers in Dubai have claimed that they are often turned away from some nightspots because of their race.
Many Dubai residents have stories about being refused entry to various clubs in the city because it is 'couples and reservations only', and a recent Gulf News online poll revealed that 70 per cent of people thought they had been turned away from a club due to racism.
Club and bar owners in Dubai deny that they have racist policies - some saying that groups of men often cried racism after being denied entry, others said they were often too busy to let people in.
Do you think some clubs in Dubai have racist policies? Do you think you've been turned away from a bar because of your race? Are people using the race card simply because they've been refused entry? What can be done to alleviate any problem that may exist?
Thank you for your response. This topic is now closed. No more emails will be published on this page
Last night my friend and I were refused entry to a club for no apparent reason. First they said it was a private graduate party, but then they let some Europeans in. Little did the bouncer know that I was in fact a guest of the graduate party, however they did not care. I think the policy of the night club makes me sick; I’m an Indian who’s been in London, Australia and California for the past six years and I have never experienced such treatment.
Abhijeeth
By email
Bouncers are not only racist, but they are also rude. If the argument is don't blame the bouncers they are working under management orders, then I believe that they have also been told to treat any dark skinned men, i.e. Arab, Asian or African, like an animal, while they graciously open the door to any white clubbers. Not only do we get refused entry, but they stand 'in your face' with a disgusted look on their face. Once we were not allowed in and left outside the club for being an uneven ratio of males to females, five guys and three girls. They claimed it was couples entry only and during our argument three young, white lads walked right in and received a smile on their way. It's outrageous, just disgusting. Have we forgotten where we are? Last time I checked this wasn’t London or Berlin or Paris, but an Arab/Asian country.
Anonymous
By email
As an Indian born in Dubai and having lived in Dubai my entire life, but currently residing in Australia, I have seen both sides of the proverbial river. I can safely say that I have yet to face racism in Australia, but while in Dubai it was almost a daily occurrence. In Dubai racism is prevalent; it seems to be encouraged and segregation enforced, for example the discrimination that occurs when attending/entering night clubs and this it just the tip of the iceberg.
Anonymous
By email
I'm a black African and when I was in Dubai I was turned away from several nightclubs and it was obvious to me that it was because of my race. I was also almost in a fight for just trying to speak to a woman in Dubai. Some men did not take kindly to me speaking to an Arab woman and threatened me with violence. We must stick together to some degree or the Europeans will destroy us both.
James
By email
Clearly racism is part and parcel of life, as anybody living in the UAE should know. You just have to pick up the classifieds to know what I am talking about. Anyway, I would think that this is a much more serious issue for a progressive society than being barred from clubs. We all know what half of them are like anyway. Trust me, you are not missing much.
Jabber
By email
Racism exists in Dubai's nightclubs but I would not say to a large extent. I've frequented numerous clubs in the past but have been turned away only thrice from three different clubs. Quite obviously, the rejections were race-based. How else could one explain a no-stags policy when hoardes of White men are allowed in at the same time? What else would you understand when you are not let in since you have no reservations or you are not a guest while other nationalities are given entry without a whimper? But please don't blame the bouncers...they are under the management's orders. Racism is not only obvious at the entry point, some clubs have the serving staff instructed not to entertain certain race so that they don't stick in there for long. I guess, they are only trying to create a perfect world! On a positive note, there are so many wonderful nightclubs waiting with their arms wide open and they even entertain better.
Rizwan
Dubai
Racism does exist in clubs in Dubai. The bouncers often give a suspicious look to certain 'Dubai residents' from an Asian decent. I have myself faced this. I think its time tht the management of these places take a note of this and understand that these groups are large in numbers and may even contribute more to their bottom line numbers (if given a chance) than the other expats.
Anand
by email
Hello, I'm born Canadian of African/Arab roots who looks Indian and I'll vouch for the comments above there is huge racism in clubs here. If I go to the pub with my white friends they bend over backwards to welcome me in but if I'm meeting them inside or come on my own there are instances where they won't let me in. I was at a bar in Bur Dubai, was a regular there for a few months (no longer) went in with my girlfriend they asked for her ID after looking at it and seeing her nationality they said 'no I'm sorry reservations only' and then let the five white people behind us go in no questions asked. So I'm sorry there is blatant racism here, no question. Dubai has changed considerably and the colour of your skin is not indicative to your income or education level and it is about time that people realize this.
Fayz
Dubai
Every time. That's how many times we face racism in UAE's Nightclubs. Even though I am fair, and most of my friends are from India, we (mixed groups) are denied entry at Dubai and Abu Dhabi nightclubs. It's absolutely ridiculous. Sometimes we flash stacks of money to show these bouncers that we are monetarily eligible to be entertained at their nightclubs. Its embarrassing. My boyfriend personally tips the bouncers 100 bucks to remember his group of friends. How sad is that? DTCM needs to take severe action. We Indians have the money to buy you guys out and yet they treat us like trash. And if you ask any Indian, they will tell you the same thing, "Yeah! Only reservations or guests are allowed". But then you see flocks of white stags and couples walking in. It's frustrating and extremely embarrassing. Look at the nightclubs in Toronto or NYC. 100 times better than Dubai's nightscene and yet very gracious to every colour of human race that walks in.
Emilie
Dubai
I think this whole article is shameful and should not have been published. The racism in this country is probably the lowest in the world. And all I see this article doing is firing-up racism between people and encouraging it even further. From my point of view, nightclubs are private businesses and not some sort of public parks made to amuse the public. The owners have every right to let-in or stop people in whichever way they see serves the interest of the business. I hope not to see such articles in your newspaper in the future as it is only gives negative impressions about your newspaper and the country.
Hani
by email
Once, a friend and I were walking in to a club on Shaikh Zayed Road. Prior to walking in, we were talking in Arabic, then to our surprise the bouncer wouldn't let us in! He said only couples are allowed (the oldest excuse in the book). To our amazement, two guys walk past and go in without hesitation, why? Well because they were blonde haired guys speaking in a heavy British accent. After yelling and screaming, we told him we are Lebanese and proud, but to make them feel stupid, I took out my Australian passport, and my friend took out his Canadian passport. That's right, I was born in Australia and my friend in Canada, even though this, i am not ashamed of my roots and heritage. To make things worse, he said that, "I didnt know you were foreign". They begged us to go in, but my pride was worth more than a glass of beer.
Elmo
Dubai
I do understand the reason for an enterprise to maintain the male to female ratio in a night club, but blatant discrimination is certainly not the remedy. If companies recruiting in the UAE can boldly state the nationality of the candidate they are seeking, then I don't see anything wrong for a nightclub to clearly state who their target audience is. It's high time they clean up their act. They welcome everyone on a weekday, when business is low and then keep the same client out during the weekends, when they wish to patronise a particular section of the people. Ridiculous.
Arjun
Dubai
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Indian student attacked in Australia
PTI
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 22:57 IST
MELBOURNE: A 21-year-old Indian university student has been badly injured after he was beaten up by group of people apparently in a latest racially motivated attack.
The student, who wanted to be known only as David, has been knocked out in a vicious attack, The Age reported on Wednesday. David, who has been in Australia for just two-and-a-half months, was walking home from a railway station at night when four men stopped him and asked for a cigarette. "The four people surrounded me from the four corners and went behind me, they smashed a bottle on my head and I became unconscious and after that I don't know what happened. They were beating me a lot," David said.
"They punched me, kicked me," he said, adding "I asked people driving on the other side 'help, help', they don't listen to me." David, who was hospitalised for 10 hours, received stitches to his head and treatment for severe facial swelling, a black eye and broken nose. In April, 23-year-old Indian student Jalvinder Singh, who was working as a part-time taxi driver here, was stabbed and left to bleed on the roadside allegedly by a passenger.
----
After years of violence, voices finally being heard
The Age (AU)
Carol Nader
February 20, 2009
Pressing home a point: Raj Dudeja believes the stories published in his Indian Voice newspaper have raised police awareness. Photo: Penny Stephens
THE two Indian students were walking in Sunshine, doing nothing to draw attention to themselves.
A speeding car came out of nowhere. They narrowly avoided being hit, but could not avoid the baseball bats that struck them soon after the car stopped and a couple of people emerged from the vehicle.
One was left bleeding and the other had a fractured arm, they told the Indian Voice newspaper in August 2007. Both were terrified and stressed by the random attack.
Raj Dudeja, 62, the editor of the Melbourne-based Indian Voice, says these stories have been around a long time. The monthly English-language paper has published a litany of them. "The main concern was (that) when these matters were reported to the police … the police were not taking any action," he says. "Sometimes students are scared, they are timid, they believe that it will affect their visa status if they get involved in any police matters."
Mr Dudeja, a member of the newly established Police Indian Western Reference Group, believes the ugly stories his paper has been publishing have contributed to raising police awareness. He is heartened that at last a group is talking about how to end the violence.
The stories of victimisation have prompted Amit Suri, an Australian-born law student of Indian ethnicity, to start an organisation to help Indian students adapt to life in this country. He hopes to set up a program that will help migrants do everything from the basics, such as setting up a bank account, to getting support in cases of assault.
Mr Suri cites the case of a young Indian man targeted on a train. "They grabbed his head so that the turban came off … and that caused him embarrassment," he says.
He says the attacks are not the fault of the Indians.
"They're not the ones trying to attract attention. It takes them a while to integrate and feel confident to adapt to Australian society."
___________
So is Australia racist? You bet!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 22:57 IST
MELBOURNE: A 21-year-old Indian university student has been badly injured after he was beaten up by group of people apparently in a latest racially motivated attack.
The student, who wanted to be known only as David, has been knocked out in a vicious attack, The Age reported on Wednesday. David, who has been in Australia for just two-and-a-half months, was walking home from a railway station at night when four men stopped him and asked for a cigarette. "The four people surrounded me from the four corners and went behind me, they smashed a bottle on my head and I became unconscious and after that I don't know what happened. They were beating me a lot," David said.
"They punched me, kicked me," he said, adding "I asked people driving on the other side 'help, help', they don't listen to me." David, who was hospitalised for 10 hours, received stitches to his head and treatment for severe facial swelling, a black eye and broken nose. In April, 23-year-old Indian student Jalvinder Singh, who was working as a part-time taxi driver here, was stabbed and left to bleed on the roadside allegedly by a passenger.
----
After years of violence, voices finally being heard
The Age (AU)
Carol Nader
February 20, 2009
Pressing home a point: Raj Dudeja believes the stories published in his Indian Voice newspaper have raised police awareness. Photo: Penny Stephens
THE two Indian students were walking in Sunshine, doing nothing to draw attention to themselves.
A speeding car came out of nowhere. They narrowly avoided being hit, but could not avoid the baseball bats that struck them soon after the car stopped and a couple of people emerged from the vehicle.
One was left bleeding and the other had a fractured arm, they told the Indian Voice newspaper in August 2007. Both were terrified and stressed by the random attack.
Raj Dudeja, 62, the editor of the Melbourne-based Indian Voice, says these stories have been around a long time. The monthly English-language paper has published a litany of them. "The main concern was (that) when these matters were reported to the police … the police were not taking any action," he says. "Sometimes students are scared, they are timid, they believe that it will affect their visa status if they get involved in any police matters."
Mr Dudeja, a member of the newly established Police Indian Western Reference Group, believes the ugly stories his paper has been publishing have contributed to raising police awareness. He is heartened that at last a group is talking about how to end the violence.
The stories of victimisation have prompted Amit Suri, an Australian-born law student of Indian ethnicity, to start an organisation to help Indian students adapt to life in this country. He hopes to set up a program that will help migrants do everything from the basics, such as setting up a bank account, to getting support in cases of assault.
Mr Suri cites the case of a young Indian man targeted on a train. "They grabbed his head so that the turban came off … and that caused him embarrassment," he says.
He says the attacks are not the fault of the Indians.
"They're not the ones trying to attract attention. It takes them a while to integrate and feel confident to adapt to Australian society."
___________
So is Australia racist? You bet!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Slumdog Millionaire
From the Great Bong
This [..] is done through punching together as many stereotypes that Westerners have about India as is humanly possible. People live in garbage heaps. A character jumps into a huge heap of human excreta and without batting an eyelid comes running out covered in brown slime, as if its the most natural thing in India, to get an autograph of a star. The hero, a Muslim, sees his family slaughtered by Hindu rioters and sees along with it a rioting kid (presumably) dressed as Lord Rama, in blue paint and with a bow and arrow in hand, standing as a sentinel of doom, an image whose indelibility in the character’s mind becomes a principal plot point.
A character is booked on the flimsiest of charges and then he is beaten black and blue in a police station and given volts of electricity.
What else? Let’s see.
Child prostitution. Check.
Forced begging. Check.
Blindings of innocent children. Check.
Rape. Check.
Human filth. Bahoot hain sahab.
Call centers. Oh yes most certainly.
Destiny. Of course.
But wait. Do Hindu saffron-clothed Ram Senas not run havoc through Muslim slums? Do street kids not get taken in by beggar gangs and maimed? Doesnt rape happen in India? Are those slums specially constructed sets? Why do you, third world denizen, get so defensive about your own country? Chill.
Well yes these things do happen in India. However the problem is when you show every hellish thing possible all happening to the same person. Then it stretches reason and believability and just looks like you are packing in every negative thing that Westerners perceive about India for the sake of “crowd pleasing”....
______________________________________
And >
The movie being described by these critics is not the film that I saw several weeks ago in a darkened movie theater. Instead what I saw was a cynical collection of third-world clichés sold with pretty colors and an uplifting soundtrack. Slumdog Millionaire is the story of a little boy living in a society which happily allows his mother to be murdered by a roving mob for being Muslim, and then abandons him to live in the streets alone, scrabbling in the mud. It’s the story of a boy sold into slavery by his countrymen, a boy who once he escapes slavery can only survive by repay the kindness of tourists with theft. It’s the story of a boy whose brother treats him like garbage, betrays him and threatens to kill him so he can rape the beautiful woman his sibling loves. It’s the story of a boy who grows up to be beaten and hideously tortured by the police for doing well on a game show which tries to cheat him. It’s the story without a single moment of genuine virtue or morality demonstrated by anyone around the movie’s protagonist. It’s a story full of crime, murder, and child abuse. The only time our hero Jamal is ever really happy in, he’s robbing people. Even the film’s so called happy ending is paper thin. Having watched him live a life in which each tiny success is brutally punished by a culture of bigotry, corruption, and abuse there’s every reason to believe that after our Jamal walks off camera he’ll immediately be stabbed and left for dead in a Mumbai alley.
Yet Donald Monroe of the Fresno Bee says this “Indian tale is delightful.” What? This is a movie which portrays Indian culture as bankrupt and evil. As shown in Slumdog Millionaire the Indian way of life is one of poverty and callous disregard for basic human rights. I have no idea if that’s the real India, but that’s the one portrayed in this movie. This is the story of a boy surviving in a civilization of vicious murderers and hate-mongers. This is the story of a boy scrabbling about in the dirt heaped upon him by a national heritage of brutality, learning to lie and steal as his birthright, desperate to survive in an entire nation of evil people. Yet Duncan Riley of The Inquisitor insists, “it taps in to Indian culture in a way not really seen in movies shown in the West.” If the way he’s talking about is one of savagery, then he’s correct. Somehow I don’t think that’s what he meant.
read the rest here..
Hat Tip to Shadow warrior:
The Mis-Education of a Millionaire
This [..] is done through punching together as many stereotypes that Westerners have about India as is humanly possible. People live in garbage heaps. A character jumps into a huge heap of human excreta and without batting an eyelid comes running out covered in brown slime, as if its the most natural thing in India, to get an autograph of a star. The hero, a Muslim, sees his family slaughtered by Hindu rioters and sees along with it a rioting kid (presumably) dressed as Lord Rama, in blue paint and with a bow and arrow in hand, standing as a sentinel of doom, an image whose indelibility in the character’s mind becomes a principal plot point.
A character is booked on the flimsiest of charges and then he is beaten black and blue in a police station and given volts of electricity.
What else? Let’s see.
Child prostitution. Check.
Forced begging. Check.
Blindings of innocent children. Check.
Rape. Check.
Human filth. Bahoot hain sahab.
Call centers. Oh yes most certainly.
Destiny. Of course.
But wait. Do Hindu saffron-clothed Ram Senas not run havoc through Muslim slums? Do street kids not get taken in by beggar gangs and maimed? Doesnt rape happen in India? Are those slums specially constructed sets? Why do you, third world denizen, get so defensive about your own country? Chill.
Well yes these things do happen in India. However the problem is when you show every hellish thing possible all happening to the same person. Then it stretches reason and believability and just looks like you are packing in every negative thing that Westerners perceive about India for the sake of “crowd pleasing”....
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And >
The movie being described by these critics is not the film that I saw several weeks ago in a darkened movie theater. Instead what I saw was a cynical collection of third-world clichés sold with pretty colors and an uplifting soundtrack. Slumdog Millionaire is the story of a little boy living in a society which happily allows his mother to be murdered by a roving mob for being Muslim, and then abandons him to live in the streets alone, scrabbling in the mud. It’s the story of a boy sold into slavery by his countrymen, a boy who once he escapes slavery can only survive by repay the kindness of tourists with theft. It’s the story of a boy whose brother treats him like garbage, betrays him and threatens to kill him so he can rape the beautiful woman his sibling loves. It’s the story of a boy who grows up to be beaten and hideously tortured by the police for doing well on a game show which tries to cheat him. It’s the story without a single moment of genuine virtue or morality demonstrated by anyone around the movie’s protagonist. It’s a story full of crime, murder, and child abuse. The only time our hero Jamal is ever really happy in, he’s robbing people. Even the film’s so called happy ending is paper thin. Having watched him live a life in which each tiny success is brutally punished by a culture of bigotry, corruption, and abuse there’s every reason to believe that after our Jamal walks off camera he’ll immediately be stabbed and left for dead in a Mumbai alley.
Yet Donald Monroe of the Fresno Bee says this “Indian tale is delightful.” What? This is a movie which portrays Indian culture as bankrupt and evil. As shown in Slumdog Millionaire the Indian way of life is one of poverty and callous disregard for basic human rights. I have no idea if that’s the real India, but that’s the one portrayed in this movie. This is the story of a boy surviving in a civilization of vicious murderers and hate-mongers. This is the story of a boy scrabbling about in the dirt heaped upon him by a national heritage of brutality, learning to lie and steal as his birthright, desperate to survive in an entire nation of evil people. Yet Duncan Riley of The Inquisitor insists, “it taps in to Indian culture in a way not really seen in movies shown in the West.” If the way he’s talking about is one of savagery, then he’s correct. Somehow I don’t think that’s what he meant.
read the rest here..
Hat Tip to Shadow warrior:
The Mis-Education of a Millionaire
Friday, January 2, 2009
WHO CONTROLS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN INDIA?
NDTV:
Funded by Gospels of Charity in Spain. Supports Communism. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because the Pakistan President has allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan. Indian CEO Prannoy Roy is co-brother of Prakash Karat, Gen Secy of Communist party of India.
CNN-IBN:
Funded solely by the Southern Baptist Church in the US. It has branches in all over the world with headquarters in the US. The Church annually allocates 800 million dollars for promotion of this channel. Its Indian head is Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh.
TIMES GROUP LIST:
TIMES OF INDIA, MID-DAY, NAV-BHARTH TIMES, STARDUST, FEMINA, VIJAYA TIMES, VIJAYA KARNATAKA, TIMES NOW (24 hour news channel) and many more.
Times Group is owned by Bennet & Coleman. Eighty per cent of funding is done by the World Christian Council. The balance of twenty per cent is equally shared by an Englishman and an Italian. The Italian Roberto Mindo is a close relative of Sonia Gandhi.
STAR TV:
Is run by an Australian who is supported by St. Peters Pontifical Church in Melbourne, Australia.
HINDUSTAN TIMES:
Owned by Birla Group, but hands have changed since Shobana Bhartiya took over. Presently it is working in collaboration with Times Group.
THE HINDU:
An English daily started over 125 years by a Sri Vaishnava Hindu family. It has been recently taken over by the Joshua Society in Berne, Switzerland. Edited by the Communist Sinophile N. Ram. He also edits the newspaper's fortnightly Marxist magazine FRONTLINE. THE HINDU is known in Chennai (Madras) variously as "The Sapper" (because it supported the British during the struggle for Indian independence) and "The Old Widow of Mount Road" (because of its lugubrious, cliche-ridden style of writing and incomprehensible editorials). More recently it has aquired the title "China's National Newspaper in India".
INDIAN EXPRESS:
It is divided into two groups. THE INDIAN EXPRESS in North India and THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS in South India. Founded by the Hindu freedom fighter Ramnath Goenka. Controlled by Acts Ministries who has a major stake in the INDIAN EXPRESS. THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS is still with its North Indian counterpart.
EENADU:
To date this Hyderabad newspaper is still controlled by an Indian named Ramoji Rao. It is under concerted attack by the Christian Church, the Andhra Pradesh Christian chief minister Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy and the Congress Party.
ANDHRA JYOTHI:
The Muslim Party of Hyderabad known as MIM along with a Congress minister has purchased this Telugu daily very recently.
THE STATESMAN:
It is controlled by Communist Party of India.
KAIRAL TV:
It is controlled by Communist Party of India (Marxist).
MATHRABHOOMI:
Leaders of the Muslim League and some Communist Party members have major investments in the newspaper.
ASIAN AGE & DECCAN CHRONICLE:
These popular newspapers are owned by a Saudi Arabian company. Its chief editor was M.J. Akbar until early 2008. New chief editor unknown. These papers are aggressively pro-Christian (Roman Catholic) anti-Hindu newspapers.
DOORDARSHAN
India's national TV network broadcasting in all corners of the country. Since Sonia Gandhi's Congress Party has come to power, all DOORDARSHAN stations carry Christian missionary programmes dubbed into the regional languages.
Courtesy: Intellibriefs at http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2006/12/why-eenadu-etv-is-under-siege-in-ap.html
______________________________________________________
THE USURPATION OF CONTROL OF THE INDIAN MEDIA HAS BEEN DONE BY THE AMERICANS
By Gautam Sen
India happens to be one of the very few major countries in the world whose dominant media is controlled directly or indirectly by foreigners. The usurpation of control has actually been by Americans, much of it through surrogates of evangelical organisations that are in fact quasi-government agencies. Paradoxically, Leftist Indian political parties supposedly hostile to a US presence in India have been subdued with alacrity by these quasi-state religious agencies, which have been operating effectively in other parts of the world as well. In Latin America, where liberation theology offered succour to the poor, the very same neo-fascist, American evangelical organisations, working in conjunction with the US State Department and intelligence services, ousted them. In India, most English language media outlets, are, in effect, vying with each other to accelerate the fragmentation of India in consonance with Anglo-American goals.
Viceroys to India in the decade before independence, Linlithgow, Wavell and Mountbatten are destined to prove prescient about its innate fractiousness. The alleged oppression of minorities is the political bridgehead that modern evangelical organisations have entrenched in the public consciousness, relentlessly distorting its reality and using it ruthlessly to fuel discontent within India. By deliberately misrepresenting the Godhra communal riots as genocide, though both communities suffered, the media has gleefully incited Islamic terrorist attacks against Hindus and harsh international condemnation of India. As a corollary, the rise of the BJP inspired them to equate mundane nationalist aspirations with the oxymoron of Hindu extremism. Yet, there is resounding silence on the role of the minority community in providing succour to Islamic terrorism through vote bank politics and concealment from attention.
Courtesy: India-Forum: News and Analysis
"Indian Media's War on Hinduism" - A Historic Symposium in Chicago.
Funded by Gospels of Charity in Spain. Supports Communism. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because the Pakistan President has allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan. Indian CEO Prannoy Roy is co-brother of Prakash Karat, Gen Secy of Communist party of India.
CNN-IBN:
Funded solely by the Southern Baptist Church in the US. It has branches in all over the world with headquarters in the US. The Church annually allocates 800 million dollars for promotion of this channel. Its Indian head is Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh.
TIMES GROUP LIST:
TIMES OF INDIA, MID-DAY, NAV-BHARTH TIMES, STARDUST, FEMINA, VIJAYA TIMES, VIJAYA KARNATAKA, TIMES NOW (24 hour news channel) and many more.
Times Group is owned by Bennet & Coleman. Eighty per cent of funding is done by the World Christian Council. The balance of twenty per cent is equally shared by an Englishman and an Italian. The Italian Roberto Mindo is a close relative of Sonia Gandhi.
STAR TV:
Is run by an Australian who is supported by St. Peters Pontifical Church in Melbourne, Australia.
HINDUSTAN TIMES:
Owned by Birla Group, but hands have changed since Shobana Bhartiya took over. Presently it is working in collaboration with Times Group.
THE HINDU:
An English daily started over 125 years by a Sri Vaishnava Hindu family. It has been recently taken over by the Joshua Society in Berne, Switzerland. Edited by the Communist Sinophile N. Ram. He also edits the newspaper's fortnightly Marxist magazine FRONTLINE. THE HINDU is known in Chennai (Madras) variously as "The Sapper" (because it supported the British during the struggle for Indian independence) and "The Old Widow of Mount Road" (because of its lugubrious, cliche-ridden style of writing and incomprehensible editorials). More recently it has aquired the title "China's National Newspaper in India".
INDIAN EXPRESS:
It is divided into two groups. THE INDIAN EXPRESS in North India and THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS in South India. Founded by the Hindu freedom fighter Ramnath Goenka. Controlled by Acts Ministries who has a major stake in the INDIAN EXPRESS. THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS is still with its North Indian counterpart.
EENADU:
To date this Hyderabad newspaper is still controlled by an Indian named Ramoji Rao. It is under concerted attack by the Christian Church, the Andhra Pradesh Christian chief minister Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy and the Congress Party.
ANDHRA JYOTHI:
The Muslim Party of Hyderabad known as MIM along with a Congress minister has purchased this Telugu daily very recently.
THE STATESMAN:
It is controlled by Communist Party of India.
KAIRAL TV:
It is controlled by Communist Party of India (Marxist).
MATHRABHOOMI:
Leaders of the Muslim League and some Communist Party members have major investments in the newspaper.
ASIAN AGE & DECCAN CHRONICLE:
These popular newspapers are owned by a Saudi Arabian company. Its chief editor was M.J. Akbar until early 2008. New chief editor unknown. These papers are aggressively pro-Christian (Roman Catholic) anti-Hindu newspapers.
DOORDARSHAN
India's national TV network broadcasting in all corners of the country. Since Sonia Gandhi's Congress Party has come to power, all DOORDARSHAN stations carry Christian missionary programmes dubbed into the regional languages.
Courtesy: Intellibriefs at http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2006/12/why-eenadu-etv-is-under-siege-in-ap.html
______________________________________________________
THE USURPATION OF CONTROL OF THE INDIAN MEDIA HAS BEEN DONE BY THE AMERICANS
By Gautam Sen
India happens to be one of the very few major countries in the world whose dominant media is controlled directly or indirectly by foreigners. The usurpation of control has actually been by Americans, much of it through surrogates of evangelical organisations that are in fact quasi-government agencies. Paradoxically, Leftist Indian political parties supposedly hostile to a US presence in India have been subdued with alacrity by these quasi-state religious agencies, which have been operating effectively in other parts of the world as well. In Latin America, where liberation theology offered succour to the poor, the very same neo-fascist, American evangelical organisations, working in conjunction with the US State Department and intelligence services, ousted them. In India, most English language media outlets, are, in effect, vying with each other to accelerate the fragmentation of India in consonance with Anglo-American goals.
Viceroys to India in the decade before independence, Linlithgow, Wavell and Mountbatten are destined to prove prescient about its innate fractiousness. The alleged oppression of minorities is the political bridgehead that modern evangelical organisations have entrenched in the public consciousness, relentlessly distorting its reality and using it ruthlessly to fuel discontent within India. By deliberately misrepresenting the Godhra communal riots as genocide, though both communities suffered, the media has gleefully incited Islamic terrorist attacks against Hindus and harsh international condemnation of India. As a corollary, the rise of the BJP inspired them to equate mundane nationalist aspirations with the oxymoron of Hindu extremism. Yet, there is resounding silence on the role of the minority community in providing succour to Islamic terrorism through vote bank politics and concealment from attention.
Courtesy: India-Forum: News and Analysis
"Indian Media's War on Hinduism" - A Historic Symposium in Chicago.
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