Grassroot initiatives to clean #India

The map below is my effort to support clean-up initiatives in India, albeit from afar.


I support Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Clean India campaign. While there is merit in tagging public figures to do clean-ups and photo ops to inspire others, grassroots initiatives should also be recognized.  Many, such as the idea of The Ugly Indian, predate the PM's campaign.

This map helps:

• Identify existing grassroots clean-up initiatives across India, north to south, east to west, 
• Identify gaps in coverage, and
• Provide a means to network among various initiatives and jointly plan clean up campaigns.

Users may download the map as KML, import the data into Google Maps or Google Earth, and customize the map to their needs.  I also tried importing the KML into ArcMap, but non-spatial attribute data was converted to unparsed CDATA.  This map is a gift to those involved in cleanup initiatives in India.

The Ugly Indian on Facebook provided much of the information to build this map.  Mr. Warren Doud organized the information into a table listing the names of grassroots clean-up initiatives and their respective Facebook pages.  I mapped the points, and added attribute data, including description, Facebook page, email, phone number, etc., wherever data was available.

If you zoom in on Bangalore, you will see areas representing the Bangalore North, Bangalore South and East, and Anekal taluks of the Bangalore Urban District.  These areas were derived from the GADM database of Global Administrative Areas.

BTW I informed The Ugly Indian that I created this map, and TUI said that was a "nice effort" - not necessarily a ringing endorsement.  TUI might be doing a mapping effort of its own to focus on sustainable efforts and provide quality control.  At any rate, TUI is welcome to use my data and customize to their needs.

Please email me at bahuofbengal [at] yahoo [dot] com if you have any changes to recommend.

Review of Indra's Net

Namaste

Indra's Net: Defending Hinduism's Philosophical Unity by Rajiv Malhotra
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the first part of Indra’s Net, Rajiv Malhotra traces the lineage of scholars who posit a “neo-Hinduism” invented by Swami Vivekananda. The most recent of this lineage is Anantanand Rambachan of St. Olaf College, who claims that Swami Vivekananda’s reliance on direct experience is incompatible with Shankara’s reliance on sruti.

Malhotra then proceeds to show that Rambachan’s concept of Hinduism is too narrow: namely, that Shankara did not dismiss direct experience out of hand and that Sankara’s Advaita Vedanta is only one system of knowing within Hinduism. Malhotra discusses how Hinduism has evolved over time and places Swami Vivekananda squarely in the Hindu tradition.

Malhotra then discusses “digestion” of Hinduism. By digestion, he means the process by which people absorb the parts of Hinduism that they like and excrete (my word, not his) the parts they don’t like. A good example is the de-contextualization of yoga from Hinduism, whereas the rest of Hinduism is trashed.

He introduces the concept of “poison pills” to prevent the “digestion” of Hinduism into other frameworks. These poison pills include characteristics of Hinduism (karma, re-incarnation, embodied knowing, integral unity) that cannot be reconciled with the traditional tenets of Abrahamic religion and force the spiritual seeker to make a choice among religions.

Indra’s Net is more accessible than Malhotra's book An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism; however, Being Different and Indra’s Net re-enforce one another. I would have to read both books several times to fully understand the concepts that Rajiv Malhotra introduces. My 3-star rating is less about the merits of the book and more about the limits of my understanding.


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Review of Understanding Hinduism

Namaste
Understanding Hinduism by Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book supplements the online continuing ed course Introduction to Hinduism–History, Text, Philosophy from the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies.

Virtues of this book:

It exercises caution in inferring what archaeological finds indicate about the Indus Valley Civilization.

Similarly, it is cautious about the Aryan Invasion Theory. All it says about the Aryans:

• AIT is a colonial construct (drawing upon Kim Knott's book Hinduism A Very Short Introduction)
• Vedic Sanskrit has linguistic similarities with other Indo-European languages
• We may infer that the Vedic people were agriculturists or pastoralists from their hymns

Understanding Hinduism notes that South Indian priests instructed North Indian priests in Vedic ritual after Islamic suppression of Hinduism. This is evidence of the cultural affinity between North and South (see Breaking India to see how various forces are alienating the South from the North).

I like Understanding Hinduism even better than Klaus K. Klostermaier's book A Short Introduction to Hinduism. Understanding Hinduism is the best introduction to Hinduism that I've read: therefore, I'm rating it 5 stars.

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Review of Breaking India

Namaste, 

Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines by Rajiv Malhotra
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The book Breaking India by Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan is about the forces that are fragmenting India. While Islamic radicalism and Maoist insurgencies are two forces that are fragmenting India, Breaking India focuses on the North-South divide, as evidenced by its subtitle Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines.

Breaking India begins with a study of the construction of Aryan and Dravidian identities through the years and how this artificial divide was promulgated and led to setting different groups in opposition to each other. The book focuses on the construction of Dravidian identity, rather than on deconstruction of the AIT - perhaps because others have done that, the authors don't say.

The most eye-opening part of Breaking India is about the roles that academia, evangelical Christian organizations, NGOs, "think tanks," and governments play in undermining India's unity. Shared interests lead to unlikely pairings such as left-wing intellectuals with evangelical Christian interests. There are also unlikely alliances between Maoists and evangelical Christian entities in India's "Red Corridor."

I recommend Breaking India to anyone concerned about India's unity, and encourage readers to go beyond the main text to read the appendices and endnotes. Appendix B highlights references to the Vedas in Tamil religious literature and Tamil familiarity with smriti such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata - a testament to the unity in Indian civilization. Appendix C presents the extreme case of what can happen when separate identities are constructed and put in opposition to each other: the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that pitted Hutus and Tutsis against each other. Parallels are drawn with the bloody civil war in Sri Lanka that pitted Tamils and Sinhalese against each other.

Breaking India has a dedicated website, www.breakingindia.com.

Other examples of north/south interactions that I'd like to bring up (although they are not mentioned in the book):

Engaging Vishakha Desai, past President, Asia Society on Wendy Doniger's The Hindus

Namaste

Don't even ask why I'm spending so much time and effort on Wendy Doniger's The Hindus, but here is my missive to Vishakha Desai, formerly President of Asia Society:

Vishakha Desai

Dear Dr. Desai,

I am writing with respect to your opinion piece India's Move on 'Hindus' Shows Disturbing Fear of Free Expression that was published on the Asia Society web site, http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/indias-move-hindus-shows-disturbing-fear-free-expression.

The web page listed your Twitter handle @VishakhaDesai but I see that you have been inactive on Twitter since December 2012. Since I couldn’t share my thoughts with you via Twitter, I decided to write this email.

Some questions and comments:

• How can you say that Wendy Doniger’s opponents are well-funded? Do you have a money trail that you can show? Asia Society lists donors who contribute more than $50,000, and you were probably instrumental in getting contributions of this magnitude when you were President of Asia Society. I doubt that Wendy Doniger’s critics have those resources.
• Would you have the nerve to denounce Muslim groups that force censorship (often with the threat of violence or even violence itself) in the way that you have denounced the “right-wing” Hindus who sought recall of Doniger’s book? I suspect not, as “right-wing” Hindus (particularly an 88-year-old man) are a soft target.
• You promoted debate instead of censorship. Here are some comments on your opinion piece: 
• Wendy Doniger has refused to engage in debate: for example, “she did not participate in a discussion of her book at the annual conference of AAS (Association of Asian Studies) at Hawaii in 2011.” 
• “What discussion can you have with obnoxious findings without any proof?” for example, claiming that Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda had a homosexual relationship. I would also like to point out that Wendy Doniger has stooped to name-calling: she told one of her critics that he was a “mouse turd.” 
• “There is no debate possible with Wendy Doniger or her students - it was tried fruitlessly about a decade ago (Google for "RISA Lila"). But since Doniger is a Western academic, a colleague in the same power structure that Ms. Vishaka N. Desai belongs, Ms Desai will not point it out.” Indeed, you’ve closed ranks with the academic establishment. 
• You wrote,”it's heartening to see that all major newspapers, especially those in English, are full of major stories and editorials by well-known writers and thinkers, all condemning the decision by Penguin … But where was the organized effort to ensure that the climate of fear and intimidation would not continue to allow the destruction of more books deemed to have a view of Indian culture different from the right-wing Hindu zealots?” Well, the English language media in India, academia, and your writers and thinkers are that organized effort. Once again, it is telling that you singled out “right-wing Hindu zealots,” not Christian zealots, not Muslim zealots.
• Wendy Doniger’s critics do not have a level playing field to engage her. It is true that the Internet and social media have been great levelers, but access to traditional media is still important. Her critics do not have access to marquee publishers like Penguin with its marketing muscle (it could give away copies of “The Hindus” – I know, because Penguin sent me a free copy in advance of the release date) and mainstream media. Wendy Doniger and “The Hindus” controversy were featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and PRI’s The World radio programs. USA Today did interview Rajiv Malhotra, Wendy’s foremost critic, at length, but his comments were not included in the final article that was published.
• Wendy Doniger’s “The Hindus” is prescribed in various syllabi. What will be the effect on Hindu students? Will they be subject to mockery, taunts, and worse, on account of Ms. Doniger’s interpretation of the “sexualized nature of Hinduism,” as you call it? (I call her interpretation pornography) In this politically correct climate, other groups would protest if they receive similar treatment, and academia would give in to them. 

I have derived a lot of satisfaction from cultural events sponsored by Asia Society in DC. It pains me to see that Asia Society published your opinion piece, but I will not demand that it remove it. Given that, your viewpoint should not go unchallenged.

I was surprised to get a quick reply from Ms. Desai: go past the jump to read it:

Christianity vis-a-vis Hinduism

Namaste

This is the paper I submitted for my online course through the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.

Christianity vis-a-vis Hinduism by juliemaitra

Our tutor Dr. Nicholas Sutton has not been well, so we waited a long time before others could read and grade our papers. Here were the comments on my paper:

This is a well written essay that demonstrates considerable research and a clear understanding of essential differences between Hindu and Christian identity, understandings and practice.

Your writing is well structured and reflective and you make interesting and relevant comparisons between each.

Just a few points to help improve the academic quality of your writing.

When using sanskrit terms, (dharma, smriti, sruti) explain their meaning when they are first introduced in your essay.

Be careful about recognising diversity in Hindu traditions without equally recognising the range of diversity in Christian tradition.

Your conclusion is a little weak and would improve with a drawing together of your ideas here.

You raise an interesting point on ‘vicarious atonement‘ contrasted with the idea of karma from Ram Swarup. However there are salvationist parallels in devotional Hindu traditions too, particularly the Vaishnava traditions with their emphasis on the grace and mercy of the deity as requisite for making any progress in spiritual practice.

It’s not the same as the idea of original sin and atonement in Christianity but chp 12.6-7of the Bhagavad Gita offers a idea of Krishna as saviour when He says He is : ‘the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death’. It is not always about working out ones own destiny in Hinduism.

You rightly point out that dharma is a more nuanced code of ethics than the 10 commandments, but there are some parallels of moral code too within Hindu tradition recommended for all.

In the yoga traditions we find recommendations for observances or prohibition of certain behaviours.(yama and niyama).

In the Bhagavad Gita too we have many lists of behaviours suitable to a Godly man (ch 16) a man in knowledge (13) a man fixed in understanding (ch 2) or a devotee of Krishna (chp 12). Often these over-lap and include qualities like truthfulness, compassion for all living creatures, feedom form anger, forgiveness, etc..

Overall a good essay and an enjoyable read!

Revisiting The Hindus: An Alternative History by Wendy Doniger

I've been fairly obsessed about Penguin India's recent decision to recall and pulp Wendy Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History.

Here I have to make a disclosure: Penguin (US) actually gave me a complimentary copy.  It was flattering that a big operation like Penguin took note of my little blog and it appealed to my sense of vanity.

Here are a couple of worthwhile commentaries on Penguin India's recent decision to recall and pulp The Hindus: An Alternative History:

• Sandeep Balakrishna writes that the "outrage cleverly sidesteps the valid and vast critiques of Wendy Doniger’s scholarship and frames the issue as one of a book ban and Hindu fundamentalism" in his commentary Why the Wendy Doniger episode is not a free speech issue.
• Koenraad Elst describes the Hindu victory in getting Penguin India to recall and pulp The Hindu as a "Pyrrhic victory" (which it is) in his commentary Banning Wendy Doniger's "The Hindus."

In his article, Elst notes Vishal Agarwal's effort to compile a chapter-by-chapter refutation of The Hindus.  You may find Vishal's chapter-wise review at http://vishalagarwal.voiceofdharma.com/articles/thaah/.

Lastly, I have made a few changes in the last paragraph of my review on Goodreads.

The Blood Telegram: India's Secret War in Pakistan by Gary J Bass

Namaste

The Blood Telegram : India's Secret War in East Pakistan by Gary J. Bass
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was released in the U.S. as The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide. This version was released in South Asia as The Blood Telegram: India's Secret War in Pakistan.

The U.S. title is more accurate. Nixon and Kissinger claim the opening to China as their greatest foreign policy success. In actuality, Pakistan was the conduit to the U.S. opening to China. To reward Pakistan, Nixon and Kissinger shipped arms, which Pakistan in turn used to brutally crack down on the Bengalis in East Pakistan, resulting in a near-genocide of Bengali Hindus. In The Blood Telegram, Garry Bass seeks to correct Nixon and Kissinger's foreign policy record.


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