We are ‘ Secular Stupid ‘!! Jai Ho !!

Dear Sir,

Apropos the report ” Memorial for bishop who coined the term Dravidian ” -  (TNIE – 30 Jan).

Dr. S.Radhakrishan (Philosopher & Former President of India) told an audience at Oxford University- ‘ To the Indian Christian, Jesus was the Whiteman’s God, marching with a sword in one hand and the Union Jack in the other ’. That aptly sums up Bishop Robert Caldwell (1814-1891), your paper’s eulogy notwithstanding !!

The report stated : ” After learning Tamil, he developed deep love for its literature and started doing research on its uniqueness”. Oh Yes Sir !! Haven’t we heard this before !! There was the Rev. De Nobili (1577 – 1656), of the infamous ‘Sachinnanda Ashram’ of the Madurai Mission !! He was also a lover of Tamil and Sanskrit !! That this love of the vernacular was for the ‘sole purpose’ of ‘Harvesting of Souls’ was the very raison de etre for the ‘ Holy Rev ‘, dressing as a Brahmin priest replete with ‘ Panchakacham, Vibhuti and the Kudumi ‘ !! His love of the vernacular was so overwhelming, that he ‘discovered’ a New Veda, which he termed as the ‘ YESU-R-VEDA ‘ !!  Yesu is the Tamil name for the ‘Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ’!! The ‘YESU-R-VEDA’ was nothing but the Bible !!

In a similar vein was Bishop Robert Caldwell of Tirunelveli. He authored the ‘ Comparitive Grammer of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages ‘ in 1856. History tells us that this was part of the Colonial – Missionary nexus to divide the people of India into antagonistic groups under the labels like Aryan and Dravidian, to perpetuate the Colonial Raj, and more important, for the ‘Harvest of Souls’.

Dr. N.S. Rajaram, in his scholarly treatise ” Sarasvati River and the Vedic Civilization ” wrote: ” First published in 1856 [Caldwell’s book], it continues its influence today, especially in Tamil Nadu. This is due less to its scholarly content than the fact that it became the political manifesto of Dravidian politicians who not infrequently engaged in outrageously crude conduct towards innocent people that they labeled as descendants of Aryan oppressors”. (pp-54)

Caldwell’s theory was that the Dravidians were Scythians who brought a Scythian language which later became Dravidian. In short, Caldwell’s postulation was that the Dravidians suffered from two ‘terrible invasions’!! The first was a Scytho-Dravidian combine followed by the ‘infamous’ Aryan Invasion !!

Another scholar, Charles E. Gover, in his book, ” The Folk Songs of South India”, criticised Caldwell for his ‘ fanciful theories ‘. It drew forth the following response from Caldwell, written in third person: ” It would have been well, if Mr.Gover had made himself sure of perfectly apprehending Dr.Caldwell’s Scythic Theory before regarding its refutation – – – as not only of considerable moment from a philological point of view – but of vast moral and political importance”. Now one wonders what has a ‘ humble ‘ Bishop got to do with ‘ political ‘ implications? Elementary Dear Watson would be the Baker Street quip !! To look after the Colonial and ‘ Harvesting of Souls ‘ enterprise !! And, your paper of 05 Sep 2009, carried a report entitled : ” Dravidian only a British construct “, wherein, British historian JBP More ” asseted that it was a mere construct of the British since the term does not figure in ancient Tamil literature” .

A sample of the hard work put in by Calwell & Co. can be had in Arun Shourie’s ‘ rip-off ‘ of these ‘ Harvesters ‘ – ” Missionaries in India: Continuities, Changes, Dilemas “. A small excerpt from a letter written “To Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, by the Grace of God, Queen by the Grace of God, Queen of Great Britain and DEFENDER OF THE FAITH” by the native Christians of the Province of Tirunelveli, in July1853:

” – – – Knowing that many among our Hindoo countrymen, both male and female, though still heathen are beginning to read our Bible and inquire about the TRUE RELIGION, we take comfort in the hope that the Lord will vouchsafe to them His saving grace, and in future also, as hitherto, will hear the prayers of His faithful children throughout the world in their behalf “. (pp-118)

And, in the end product of the ‘Harvesters’ denationalising the spirit of the ‘Harvested’, Shourie wrote:

 ” For over a hundred years thus missionary activity was interwoven with, and inextricably tied up with British imperial control of India; that the missionaries – even those of Indian origin – DID NOT JOIN THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT was NOT AN ACCIDENT; nor was it an accident that those who did – C.F. Andrews for instance – abandoned missionary work all together”. (pp-200)

Nor did the older generation of the current Dravidian politicos !! After all, the Justice Party wanted the ‘Raj’ to continue !!

In tune with Aditya Sinha’s “Chuck de Chatwal”, I beleieve the ‘Good Papa Doc’ of Gopalapuram must ‘Chuck de Caldwell’ with at least a Padma Vibhushan, if not a Bharat Ratna. After all, the Padma Awards shouldn’t be the exclusive privelege of the Chatwals or the Bipan Chandras !! It must be shared with others who tried their ‘damndest’ to divide India  and destroy her civilisational ethos !!

We are  ‘ Secular Stupid ‘!! Jai Ho !!

VANDE MATARAM

Responses