The Vedic peoples discriminated against the Dasa, a group of people who spoke a different language that did not sound at all like Sanskrit. The Brahmins sometimes made fun of the Dasa and said that they spoke as if they had no noses. (Pinch your nose and see what you would sound like.) The Dasa had wide flat noses and long curly black hair, and the Brahmins claimed that they had darker skin and called them uncivilized barbarians, who didn?t know how to behave.?
In my earlier article, ?Hindus fight discrimination in California textbooks - 1,? I had pointed out how anti-Hindu ideologues, led by Professor Michael Witzel of Harvard, are intent on denying Hindu girls in California an opportunity to take justifiable pride in the achievements of females among their ancestors. ...
If you are a Harijan Hindu, and if your child goes to a California school, she would be told that she is a broken person ? that is, if Michael Witzel et al have their say.
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In my earlier articles, I had summarized the California textbook trial, and had also analyzed the specious recommendations of anti-Hindu ideologues with respect to the status of women in ancient India, historicizing the origins of Hinduism using creationist, racist and 19th century colonial theories, and their shocking suggestion that Harijan Hindu children be derogatorily called ?broken persons.? In this article, I will examine their accusation that Hindu groups attempted to portray Hinduism as a monotheistic religion along the lines of Christianity and Islam. Is it not patronizing to claim that Hindus want to model their religion after Christianity or Islam? Never mind, let us see the validity of this accusation....
What is at stake in the California textbook controversy? Few would agree that it concerns only the image of Hinduism as offered to the pupils of the California state schools. The controversy involves much more than that alone. It is the next phase in the NRI community?s struggle for a less biased and more benign portrayal of Hinduism in the educational system and in American society in general. In the last three years many similar incidents have occurred: the acrimonious debate about ?Wendy?s Child Syndrome?; the Kripal and Courtright controversies; the indignation about the depiction of Hindu deities on bikini?s, slippers and toilet seats; etc. These transient outbursts express a solid and growing concern about the derogatory conceptions of the Hindu traditions, which still dominate the western societies and academia. In very general terms, the aim of this struggle could be put as follows: to make the world aware of the positive contributions the Indian culture and its traditions have made and can make to humanity. Since this is an aim I share, I would like to assess the NRI community?s progress towards its realization. This evaluation will take the California textbook controversy as a reference point, while addressing some of the broader issues involved....
