Why not Virgin MARY instead of Kali ?

LETTER TO TNIE

 

DEAR SIR,

 

 

Reference your  ‘ secular and along expected lines ‘, edit –

” Does Kali need such rescues? “ – (TNIE – 14 NOV).

 

First, some history of such instances in the recent past, as a background!! The ‘ Christian ‘  Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, about three years ago, in his designer ‘ fashion statement ‘, had designed a ‘ thong bikini ‘ with the figures of Godess Lakshmi & Sarawati etched in the ‘crotch region ‘ of the bikini. Passe, I suppose, for the Indian ‘Left-Lib Seculars’. Correct? Well the protests did it. The bikini was withdrawn. Next we turn our gaze to Harrods. Designer bathroom slippers, if you please. With Lord Ram and Ganesha etched on the slipper where the feet slip in. Once again, I harbour no doubts at all – Passe for our ‘Left-Lib seculars’. Once again the protests did in those ‘designer slippers ‘. Not just that – Harrods ‘ apologised ‘.  I’m positive – much to the chargin of the Indian seculars!!

 

 

The fact of the matter is that denigration of Indian Gods & Goddess & icons is part and parcel of  the Judeo-Christian mental make up. Heres why.

 

 

What would your ‘ ever-so-secular ‘ edit writers have to say, if they came across

:

 

” The Bhagavad Gita is not as nice a book as some Americans think – -. Throughout the Mahabharata – Krishna goads human beings into all sorts of murderous and self-destructive behaviours such as war – – – The Gita is a dishonest book; it justifies war.” 

 

Or another

. 

 

” There is generally,therfore, an inverse ratio between worship of goddesses [Hindu] and the granting of rights to human women. Nor are the goddesses by and large compassionate; they are generally  ‘ A PRETTY BLOODTHIRSTY LOT ‘. Goddesses are not the solution.”

 

 

Would you be led to conclude that a lunatic was uttering those words? And what if those were the written words of an ‘ award winning scholar ‘ in the Philadelphia Inquirer and Washington Post respectively? And what if this ‘ very worthy and award winning scholar ‘ happened to be the ‘ Mircea Eliade Professor of History and Religion ‘ at the University of Chicago and goes by the name – Wendy Doniger?

 

If only someone in your edit writing team had read an incisive and scholarly book – ” Invading the Sacred “ , your ‘ bullshit ‘  of the edit may NOT have happened, HOPEFULLY!! What this book portrays with evidences galore are the depiction of Hinduism (apart from the Bhagavad Gita) are (summarised):

 

Ganesha’s trunk as a ‘limp phallus ;  classified Devi as the
‘ mother with a penis ‘ and Shiva as a ‘ notorious womaniser ‘, who incites violence in India ;  Sri Ramakrishna as a pedophile who sexually molested the young Swami Vivekananda ;  condemned Indian mothers as being less loving of their children than ‘ white mothers ‘ ;  interpreted the Bindi as a drop of menstrual fluid and the ‘ HA ‘ in sacred mantras as a woman’s sound during orgasm.



Must sound ‘most scholarly’ to ‘secular ears’? eh?

 

 

This book then exposes the scholarship of these ‘ award winning professors ‘ – all ‘ kingpins ‘ at the ‘ AmericanAcademy of Religions ‘– with a branch that does the most damage to Indic religions and traditions – ‘ Religion in South Asia (RISA) ‘. In context to the edit, a Chapter in the book, exhaustively exposes how these ‘award winning professors’ describe and depict Hindu goddess in ways that would resemble a sex maniac and a demonic person. She is seen as oversexed and violent – her sexuality being the focus of ‘scholarly’ analyses and how she allegedly inspires or somehow causes violence. These scholars also attempt to link Hindu religious icons with various pathologies and problems in India.

 

 

Since the aforesaid learned treatises are from ‘ award winning professors ‘ from the prestigious AmericanAcademy of Religions – they are picked up by the American mainstream media. The book gives enough studies of Articles published in – wow!! – The New York times, The Washington Post et al!!! And the beauty of the American ‘ First Ammendment ‘ – the papers ‘ DO NOT PUBLISH REBUTTALS ‘!! I hope the Editor-in-Chief, TNIE is ‘ listening’!!  Thus well entenched stereotypes are ‘ manufactured ‘. Hence it is no surprise to see ‘ super

model ‘ – ‘ modelling her WARES

as Kali ‘.

 

My simple question – ‘ Why not Virgin MARY instead of Kali ‘ ?  Any answers please?

 

 

This incident happened in the ‘ land of Liberty ‘. Before ‘ shooting from your secular hips ‘, did you ever pause to reflect on this poignant point raised in the book? ” Hindu-American children are often the target of cultural and racial bias in the classroom. By and large the civilizational achievements of India in science and technology in its long history, or its contributions to modern American lifestyles like yoga, vegetarianism and the like are largely ignored in the classroom setting. In other words the positive contributions of India and its cultures are made invisible. When academically licensed misportrayal of oppressiveness, weirdness and dangerousness of Indian culture and religion is added to this mix, it has a powerful impact on Hindu – American children, many of who try to hide their religious identity. Many of them become disaffected with their families and communities.” 

 

The book further notes:




” Many Americans are shocked to learn that there is deep prejudice  among India’s INTELLECTUALLY COLONIZED INTELLIGENTSIA according to which secularism implies the exclusion from, OR EVEN CONDEMNATION OF, INDIC RELIGIONS IN CIVIC SOCIETY – which is the exact opposite of the respectful place given by American secular civic society to its majority Judeo-Christian traditions”.

 

 

All the foregoing was in full play in the ‘California Social Studies text-books controversy ‘, (2005), for the sixth standard.  Not a word was reported in our secular media . The Internet kept the connections going. Finally, the ‘seculars’ ended with a ‘ bloody nose ‘ in the Sacremento Court . Many of them, these days, have realised the ‘ VIRTUES OF SILENCE ‘ !!

 

And, lastly, here is why I support the protest

: ” Indeed such ‘scholarly’ works [ Wendy Doniger,Paul Courtright etc] are being used by American Christian groups to describe Hinduism as a ‘dirty dignity destroying religion’ and as a ‘pig pen from the East’ “.

 

 

In this light I tell the TNIE ivory towers edit writers – GO TAKE A WALK.  Better still  – GO JUMP!!

 

 

VAND MATARAM

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