Pavan Varma selectively targets the Hindus? Does Hinduism connive at corruption? - by M Pramod Kumar Historically, Indians were respected the world over for their truthfulness and honesty, as records of foreign travellers reveal. The Arab traveller Muhammda al-Idrisi tells us that a large number of Muslim merchants visited Nahrwara (Anahilavada) because the people were ‘noteworthy for their excellence of their justice, for keeping up their contracts, and for the beauty of their character’. In his recent book titled, Chanakya’s New Manifesto: To Resolve the Crisis within India, Pavan Varma comes up with an absurd theory which seeks to stereotype the Hindu religion and millions of its followers as morally loose and ‘corruption friendly.’ What is put forth above is not the Hindu view of ethics but the author’s distorted understanding of it based on the interpretation of British scholar-photographer Richard Lannoy. Varma quotes liberally from Lannoy (The Speaking Tree, A Study of Indian Culture and Society) to justify his theory. Instead, if he had spent some time reading original sources of Hinduism like the Vedas, the Itihasas and the Dharma Shastras with the help of indigenous scholars, he would not have had to rely on second class translations and interpretations of Hindu texts. It is sad that English educated Indians like Pavan Varma have a poorer understanding of their own roots and ethnic character than neutral observers like Paul Johnson. With all his penchant for moral imperative and transparency, it is curious to observe that the former diplomat, who resigned as India’s envoy to Bhutan in October 2012 to join the Janata Dal United (of Nitish Kumar), chooses to hide this fact in the author’s profile though his book was published later in 2013! more at: vijayvaani/ArticleDisplay.aspx?aid=3015
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 18:33:39 +0000
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