varnam

On July 8, 1988, Bangalore-Trivandrum Island Express derailed and plunged into Ashtamudi lake near Kollam, Kerala, killing 107 people.There was an investigation and the accident was blamed on a localized tornado. This was probably the first and last tornado in the history of Kerala which surprisingly did not affect anything else in the neighborhood. On Feb 27, 2002 kar sevaks were burned to death in Godhra, Gujarat and the reason was found to be self-combustion.

Looks like investigators from Kollam and Godhra are now in Pakistan. According to some theories Benazir died because she had struck her head on a metal lever on the sun-roof of her armoured Toyota Land Cruiser, resulting in a fatal skull fracture. Another theory is that she was killed by a laser gun. If the plan is to come up with an outrageous theory, they should go with the indigestion one.

We are pleased to invite you to the following events in Delhi in early January:

1. The World Congress 2008 on Spirituality & Psychology has over 450 registered delegates from 40 countries.
2. Here is a pdf flier giving an overviewof Infinity Foundation, designed specifically for this World Congress.
3. The first 3 volumes of our Series of 20-volumes on the History of Indian Contributions to Science & Technology will be launched on January 7th.

(From an e-mail from Rajiv Malhotra)

In 1503, the much awaited clash of the titans was to take place in the Salone dei Cinquecento, the imposing chamber of Palazzo Vecchio in Italy. Piero Soderini, an Italian statesman commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to paint Battle of Anghiari on one wall and Michelangelo Buonarotti, the Battle of Cascina, in the opposite wall. Even though the artists were contemporaries, they had never competed directly before. Both of them lived in Florence and had a strong dislike for each other and thus this contest was eagerly awaited for the people expected  this contest would push each artist to produce his best.

They worked on the initial drawings, but  both did not complete the task. Leonardo was known for not completing most of his projects and he turned his attention elsewhere. Pope Julius II summoned Michelangelo   to Rome for an even more prestigious project - to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Thanks to the work of artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Giotto, Brunellesci, Donatello, and Rapahel and writers like Erasmus, Francois Rabelais, and Shakespeare, there was a resurgence in art, philosophy and literature from the late 13th century, which we  know as Renaissance.

Renaissance fostered an atmosphere in which value was placed on human excellence, demonstrated with real examples that  have set the standards for the modern age. While sitting through a lecture on Renaissance, the question in my mind was: Are there lessons we can learn from the 14th century Italians? Can we also achieve that level of greatness?

Carbon nanotube

Sir Walter Scott in his book Talisman mentions, through a recreation of the scene of October 1192 AD when Richard Lionheart of England met Saladin the Saracen to end the Third Crusade, that Richard wielded a good English broadsword while Saladin had a scimitar of Damascus steel, ‘a curved and narrow blade, which glittered not like the swords... but was, on the contrary, of a dull blue colour, marked with ten millions of meandering lines...’[Nanotechnology was used by ancient Indians’ ]

The Damascus steel is actually Indian steel. Wootz steel as it is known is  formed by adding large quantities of carbon to iron and this steel industry was based in the southern peninsula. The  name Wootz is the westernized version of Kannada ukku and Sangam Tamil ekku, meaning crucible steel.

According to Robert Floyd Curl, Jr., Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry in 1996, Indian craftsmen used nanotechnology in Wootz steel as well as in paintings. More specifically carbon nanotubes, first announced by Russian scientists in 1952, was found in the sword of Tipu Sultan as well as in Ajanta paintings. Carbon nanotubes which are cylidrical fullerenes have extraordinary strength in terms of tensile strength and elastic modulus

"Our ancestors have been unwittingly using the technology for over 2,000 years and carbon nano for about 500 years. Carbon nanotechnology is much older than carbon nanoscience," Curl said at the ongoing 95th Indian Science Congress here.

Indian craftsmen used unique smelting techniques to manufacture the Damascus blades which led to nanotisation giving them a unique long-lasting edge. Wootz also had a high percentage of carbon, which was introduced by incorporating wood and other organic matter during fabrication. India, for ages, was a leading exporter of this steel which was used to make Persian daggers which were quite popular in Europe centuries ago. [Indian craftsmen, artisans used nanotech 2000 yrs ago]

See Also: The nanotechnological wonders of Damascene steel, The Wootz File, Wootz Figures, The Legendary Wootz Steel

In Night at the Museum Ben Stiller plays a watchman at the Museum of Natural History where exhibits come to life after being animated by an Egyptian artifact. You can think of Jyothi Basu as the watchman of the Museum of Dead Ideologies where various exhibits like Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and Che Guevera come to life after being animated by the chanting of a few passages from The Communist Manifesto. It turns out that this geriatric curator has finally seen the light and has has revealed certain truths which were self-evident for rest of the world.

We want capital, both foreign and domestic. After all we are working in a capitalist system. Socialism is not possible now,” he said in response to a question after a meeting of the party’s state secretariat.“We had spoken about building up a classless society, but that was a long time ago,” he said. [We are expire !]

Various revolutionaries are shocked and cannot figure out why Jyothi Basu had to quit sticking his head in the sand. RSP national secretary K.Pankajakshan annouced that their revolutionaries, at least those who are alive, will continue with the head-in-the-sand policy and if the sand is not deep enough, they were willing to walk till the Gobi desert.

Kerala Chief Minister V S Achyutanandan argued that it is not a good idea to tell public that Santa Claus des not exist and chanted the Communist Gayatri mantra, "the innate strength of the working class would inevitably wipe away capitalism."  Since the entire working class of Kerala is in "Gulf", there was no one to hear his speech, but there are reports that Fidel Castro got up from his coffin and laughed at VS' speech.

Jyothi Basu and the Bengali comrades should be congratulated for finally telling the truth, but the Kerala comrades are still following the Mother Teresa Design Pattern. The Mother doubted the existence of God, heaven and the soul and came to the conclusion that Jesus was not true, but still kept on saving souls for the church. The Kerala comrades too have become rich through capitalism and know very well that socialism is dead, but still keep on peddling that failed ideology.

In Night at the Museum, Ben Stiller gets help from President Teddy Roosevelt (played by Robin Williams) and he is able to control the chaos. Probably Achyutanandan needs help from President Bush (played by Will Ferell).

Kerala Views writes about the image of the Chief Minister of Kerala

Kerala Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan has admitted that the squabbles among his Ministers have dented the image of his Government. What he has not said is that his lack of leadership and grip in the administration is largely to be blamed for the disquiet in his Cabinet.

Achuthanandan is just a group leader within his party, and do not have much sway over the Left Democratic Front constituents except when their interests coincide. The Chief Minister also lacks administrative experience and lacks an able team of officials to back him up in the governance of the State.

British library in Trivandrum was one of the best resource for books. When I was young, I found it a very peaceful place to spend time in learning. They also provided free Internet service for a long time. Sadly all good things must come to an end. So the British council decided to close it from February (they were spending over a crore rupees per year).

What is very funny about this is the reaction from politicians. Our chief minister visited the library ordered the British "NOT to close" the library. Unions were formed to protect the staff at the library. What are they going to do?  Are they going to organize strikes in London demanding that they should operate library in Trivandrum?

Terming the UDF Government's decision to train monkeys to climb coconut trees as an attack on the common-man's right to livelihood, the government scrapped the policy since it unilaterally favored the monkeys and the bourgeois apes. Instead, the Government decided to set up a school to train malayalis to climb trees and pluck coconuts. In the wake of the economic boom riding on technology revolution and industrialization that requires education and soft-skills, the thought-leaders of the current government saw this as a perfect answer. Perfect reply rather.

See Also: Notes from Kerala, (2), (3),(4)

Revenues of various temples across the country are going up. Within five years the revenues of Somnath temple has grown from Rs 2 crore to Rs 10 crore and the number of visitors too have gone up five fold.  The collection from the hundi in Tirupati is not less than Rs. 1 crore a day  and during the 41 days Mandalam period, the revenue at Sabarimala was Rs.51.16 crore. With such money around, it is lucrative for the Govt. to meddle in temple affairs even though it goes against the separation of the Temple and State

The Flushing Remonstrance,  a 1657 Colonial American petition to Peter Stuyvesant, the Governor of the Dutch colony of New Netherland,  is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights. The separation of Church and State, championed by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson made sure that the Congress would not pass any law respecting the establishment of a religion. Besides freeing the State from religion, their intention was to keep the State away from matters of the Church.

In India such separation should result in the State keeping away from temple affairs, the way it keeps away from the affairs of mosques and churches. Instead we have a Communist minister telling us what should be done in Guruvayoor temple and who should be let in.

In a welcome move, the newly elected BJP Govt. of Himachal Pradesh has decided to stop interfering in temples.

"State government shall not indulge in functioning of temples. It shall add facilities to the temples so that more pilgrims and tourists visit them...My government will lift state's control over temple management," he said.[Himachal will follow 'Gujarat model' for SEZs: Dhumal ]

Yes, most of our ministries are redundant and we should do away with them.

Pakistan is a major ally in the war on terror since most of the terror originates from Pakistan. Billions of dollars are pumped into Pakistan to improve the Army to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Seeing  little ROI on the money, Americans are planning to conduct aggressive covert operations within Pakistan to strike the terrorists and capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. Shekhar Kapur is upset with this news

It will take a lot of will and hard thinking from the Pakistani people to stop this and not allow their nation to become the next battle ground between terrorism and the US. And neither can India now stand by and watch.

.... It is time for India to go out and actively extend our help to the people of Pakistan to move to a more stable democracy. It is time to forget the past and help Pakistan develop economically. [Bush expands his 'war on terror' to inlude all of Pakistan]

A similar surge in sympathy towards Pakistan was seen when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. While the news was tragic, some Indians were commenting that Benazir was India's best hope and Karan Thapar wrote a warm and personal article in which she manifested as Saint Bhutto. According to Mr. Thapar she was a warm, understanding and caring person, which might be true, but  secondary if you care about India's national interests.

She was also the prime minister who gave the ISI the go-ahead to wage jihad on India. She was the one who exhorted the Pakistan trained and financed terrorists to 'jag-jag mo-mo han-han' Jagmohan the then governor of Jammu and Kashmir with an explicit chopping motion of the right hand across the open left palm. She was the one who shrieked 'Azadi-azadi' from across the LOC and extended Zia-ul-Haq's doctrine of death by a thousand cuts to Kashmir[Remembering the truth about Benazir]

Zulfikar Bhutto proudly announced, "Pakistanis would eat grass", referring to their nuclear program.  Pakistan is facing a shortage of wheat, sugar and cooking oil and the ongoing energy shortages and hoarding of wheat have worsened the wheat flour crisis.  Still the American money contributed for the war on terror has been used for developing weapon systems to counter India. Even if Benazir, who Henry Kissinger thought was more intimidating than Zulfikar is dead, the anti-India stand espoused by her is alive under the baleful influence of  Musharraf, ISI and the Pakistani Army.

Also, we have bitten many times before. On February 20, 1999 around 4:10 PM, Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee crossed to Pakistan in the Delhi-Lahore bus and he was  greeted by the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. They pledged to "open the gates of friendship and demolish the wall of hatred." Few months later,  in May 1999, the the elite Special Services Group as well as four to seven battalions of Pakistan Army backed by Kashmiri guerrillas and Afghan mercenaries covertly occupied vantage points in Kargil inside India. Finally Indian Army with Israeli and American support regained the territory. Who is going to guarantee that such state sponsored tourism won't happen again?

Unless there is an attitude change across the border (which will happen when David Dhawan starts making Pather Panchali type movies), any talk about forgetting the pasting is a stultifying discussion.

Technorati Tags: shekhar kapur, karan thapar, pakistan, terrorism, benazir bhutto

The Indian History Carnival is an attempt to collect posts related to Indian history and archaeology from the blogosphere.

1. Hari ponders:  Why did the highly original Pre-Columbian empires of Mexico, Central and South America – the Aztecs and the Incas – perish so abruptly and spectacularly under European conquests, while the ancient traditions, beliefs, books and languages of the Indian subcontinent, even while suffering destructive invasions through the ages, manage to adapt and survive so successfully to the present day?

2. Writing about Wootz steel, Andrew Leonard notes how ancient globalization worked: "So Diocletian, an Illyrian commoner native to what is now Croatia, rises to absolute power over the Roman Empire and builds armament factories in Syria that employ steel from Hyderabad as the raw material for state-of-the-art weapons of individual destruction. That's globalization, old school." More information on Wootz steel can be found here, here and here.

3. Arun Gandhi recently made the comment that, "We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity." Rebecca notes that Mahatma Gandhi too had similar views. David T writes that Gandhiji's principles do not work against everyone.
   

4. Kedar discovers that India was an economic super power from the 1st century till the 17th century.

5. Vinod writes about how a less known Atlantic Conference played a key role in Indian history because it was there that FDR made Indian Independence a pre-requisite to American involvement in WWII.

6. Aryaputra writes about Zamorins , the rulers of Calicut from the 14th to the 18th century.

7. Chandrahas has an interview with historian Ramachandra Guha.
   

8. The Indian Backpacker has images from Mahabalipuram: Tiger Cave,  Five Rathas, and Shore Temple

There are many history carnivals in the blogosphere like the Military History Carnival and the Asian History Carnival, but none which focuses on India. If you find any posts related to Indian history please send it to jk AT varnam DOT org or use this form

A 2500 year old stone seal discovered outside the Old City walls has caused excitement in Jerusalem since it connects archaeology and the Hebrew Bible. The seal depicts worshippers offering incense to the Sumerian god Sin, symbolized by a crescent moon, and has the words "Temech" engraved on it. According to the Book of Nehemiah, a book of the Hebrew Bible which contains an account of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, the Temech family were servants of the First Temple sent into exile following the destruction of the temple in 586 B.C.E.

According to Dr. Eilat Mazar who led the dig

"The seal of the Temech family gives us a direct connection between archeology and the biblical sources and serves as actual evidence of a family mentioned in the Bible," she said. "One cannot help being astonished by the credibility of the biblical source as seen by the archaeological find."[First Temple seal found in Jerusalem]

The seal which has been dated 538-445 B.C.E is called the First Temple seal by Jerusalem Post which is odd because the First Temple was already destroyed by then. Technically it is a Persian seal since it was made in Babylon and depicts a Sumerian God.

There is scepticism about the way the characters on the seal have been read.

Writing on the ANE-2 e-mail list, Peter van der Veen disagrees with Mazar’s reading. If you examine the figures below, you can easily see why. Engravers normally put the letters on a seal backwards, so that the seal impression in clay would show the letters in their correct orientation. A reversed tav might not immediately grab your attention, but a reversed mem practically shouts, “Hey, read me in the mirror!”[But can it balance a beach ball on its nose?]

If you read it in reverse, those characters read, “Shelomith” and not "Temech." Even if you assume that the words read "Temech", what about the biblical connection? How can you assume that this one name exactly refers to the person n the Bible?

The name תמח does indeed appear in a list of the Bible—precisely twice, with reference to the same individual, in a list of “temple servants” (Ezra 2:53 // Nehemiah 7:55). Mazar hasn’t adduced a shred of evidence to connect that תמח with the biblical תמח—nor could anyone expect her to do so, since all we know about the biblical תמח is his name and (possibly) occupation. Without knowing how common the name תמח was among Judeans of the relevant period, we have no way even to put a probability figure on the seal’s תמח being the biblical תמח.[But can it balance a beach ball on its nose?]

Also if he is the Biblical Temech, what is this monotheist doing in front of a Sumerian God?

Some Aryan invasion/migration theories are highly entertaining. One fascinating version originates in Central Asia around the middle of the fourth millennium B.C.E when an "unknown disturbance" triggered a cluster of Indo-European tribes on a trip across the continent. This group of nomadic people, wandered around, looking for a place where there is sun, water and grass for their cattle. They reached India, around 1500 - 1200 B.C.E,  "forgot" about their wanderings through Central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan, and hence did not write anything about it in the vedas^[1]

This Aryan migration theory created two groups of people --- the Aryans who came from Central Asia and Dravidians, the people who were already in India.  In our diverse nation, these Aryans helped bring  up new differences.  Thus Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi still talks about the Aryan-Dravidian battles and Marxist historians write about the light skinned IE speakers over powering the dark skinned Dravidian speakers. Also, we have been told that the concept of caste groups came  with the Aryans while  tribals were the original inhabitants of the country.  These Aryans also helped historians to categorically state that the vedas were composed not by Indians, but by the Central Asians.

If these theories were true, shouldn't there should be scientific evidence to back it up? Shouldn't we see a genetic difference between caste and tribal groups and between Indo-European and Dravidian speakers? Also, shouldn't there be genetic markers which show Central Asian incursion into India around the 1500 - 1200 B.C.E time frame? In fact some genetic studies have shown relatively small genetic distance between Indians and West Eurasians and this has been used as proof of Aryan migration, but recent studies tell a different story.

Recently a 2500 year old Babylonian Seal which depicted worshippers offering incense to the Sumerian god Sin was discovered in Jerusalem. Dr. Eilat Mazar who led the dig read the inscription on the seal as "Temech" and connected it to the Temech family mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In her interview with the Jerusalem Post, she noted that, "The seal of the Temech family gives us a direct connection between archeology and the biblical sources and serves as actual evidence of a family mentioned in the Bible."

This reading was questioned by other scholars who suggested that the words on the seal actually read "Shelomith.” Even if the words read "Temech", there is nothing to suggest that this was the Temech of the Hebrew Bible. Also, without knowing how common this name was during the time of the destruction of the First Temple, there is no way to find the probability that this person was indeed the biblical one.

Now imagine finding a tomb in Jerusalem in which there is an ossuary which holds the remains of Jesus, son of Joseph. Going by the same logic which was used in the Temech case, one could argue that there is no evidence to say that the ossuary was of Jesus of Bible fame. What if you find that next to the Jesus ossuary, others which read, Joseph, Mary,  Mariamne (possibly Mary Magdalene) and Judah, son of Jesus.

These were all common names, but the probability of all of them appearing together in  a family tomb is rare. Film makers Simcha Jacobovici (of the Exodus Decoded fame) and producer James Cameron made this case in their documentary, The Tomb of Jesus. The documentary upset clerics and the some faithful because it challenged the cornerstone of Christian faith, that Jesus rose bodily into heaven after his crucifixion.

A conference on this topic was held recently in Jerusalem in which archeologists, statisticians and experts in DNA and ancient languages came together to analyze the evidence. Three days of debates and the conclusion is that there are many camps ranging from,  "no way" to "very possible". First there is group which believes this tomb does not belong to Jesus.

Myers, who specializes in archaeology and the history of Second Temple, said there are two main reasons why he rejected the claims put forth by Cameron and Jacobovici. The first dealt with the statistical analysis presented by Andrey Feuerverger, professor of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Toronto. Feuerverger had calculated that there was a 1 in 600 chance that the particular cluster of names found on the Talpoit ossuaries would occur in one of the roughly 1,000 tombs discovered so far.

It wasn't the statistical process he used that flagged the analysis for Myers, but it was the Feuerverger information used to calculate those odds.  Most of that information centered around the reading of the inscriptions on the ossuaries which bore the names used in the analysis. One was interpreted toread "Mariemene e Mara" and in some early Christian texts was believed to refer to Mary Magdalene. But epigraphers at the conference, however, contested the reading as "Mariemene e Mara" – a crucial part of the calculation.[Jesus Tomb Case Closed for Most Scholars ]

Reached in Jerusalem, director/author Simcha Jacobovici said, "we feel totally vindicated. My work with James Cameron was the catalyst for an international symposium that has finally considered the evidence and is opening the door for further research. It's time that the world seriously considered that the Jesus family tomb may very well have been located."[Princeton Conference Vindicates Associated Producers James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici on "Lost Tomb of Jesus" ]

And there is the "may be group"

I am with the “possible to likely” group, and it is not always easy totake positions that are in the minority, but my conclusions are based on my own sense of “best evidence,” and I have published them in Near Eastern Archaeology.I also think there is more to be said about the DNA testing as well as the statistical studies, some of which was misunderstood, in my view at least, at the Symposium. I will be writing more on this in coming days.[Results of the Princeton Symposium Regarding the Talpiot “Jesus” Tomb]

The final word is not out. Prof. James Charlesworth of Princeton  has been authorized to re-investigate the Talpiot Tomb site and analysis from various participants are yet to come out. This debate may be closed for some, but is opening for others.

Mycenean Greece, the home of Homer's Agamemnon, flourished after the decline of the Harappan civilization.This culture showed great affinity with that of the Minoan culture which predated it and displayed  warlike character similar to the Spartans (the folks in 300). The Mycenean palaces were fortified and  warfare paintings dominated their wall paintings.^[11]

This civilization collapsed around 1100 B.C.E and the collapse was attributed to the Dorian Invasion. According to this theory, a group of Greek speaking men from the North invaded the Peloponnese peninsula and destroyed the Mycenean civilization. As per the  Greek tradition, this movement was the return of the sons of Heracles, who were the founders of three Dorian (from the city of Doris in central Greece) tribes.

The early descriptions of the Dorians came from Herodotus, who himself was from a Dorian colony and wrote that the Dorian women wore a particular kind of dress which was fastened with pins. Thucydides dated the Dorian invasion to 80 years after the Trojan war and wrote that the Dorians held the Peloponnese implying military activity.

Archaeologists after reading Herodotus and Thucydides looked for the dress pins and found a few. It seems there was an ideological movement in the 19th century to emphasize the war like nature of the Dorians and distinguish them from the Peloponnese . While classical historians put the origins of Dorians near Thessaloniki, 20th century historians moved them far north and gave them blue eyes and blonde hair.

The similarity to the Aryan invasion/migration theory which states that war like Aryans from Central Asia invaded ancient India around 1500 - 1200 B.C.E is remarkable. The Aryan invasion theory was put to rest when genetic studies found that there was no massive movement of Central Asians in that time frame and  no external origins to Indian castes and tribal population. Genetic studies of Indian populations also told us that Indo-European speakers  reached India much before the fictional date and were not foreigners by the time the vedas were composed.

In the Peloponnese case, decipherment of Linear B, the script used for writing Mycenaean, revealed that it was Dorian in style and thus the invaders suddenly turned into a linguistic sub group. The question then was if the Dorians were newcomers or the old population adapting to new conditions of the Iron age. History Professor Isabelle Pafford calls it the invasion by safety pins since the earlier invasion theory has now been discredited.

Linguists have always tried to push the Aryans into India through the Khyber/Bolan passes and since this whole story is imaginary they had to distort original Sanskrit texts. One such distortion was done by a famous Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and when this distortion was pointed out to the esteemed professor, the reaction was not very academic like.

Professor Witzel and I happened to participate in a seminar organized by UMASS, Dartmouth in June 2006. When I referred, during the course of my presentation, to this wrong translation by the learned Professor, he, instead of providing evidence in support of his own stand, shot at me by saying that I did not know the difference between Vedic and Classical Sanskrit. Should that be the level of an academic debate? (Anyway, he had to be told that I had the privilege of obtaining in 1943 my Master’s Degree in Sanskrit (with the Vedas included), with a First Class First, from a first class university of India, namely Allahabad.)[Let not the 19th century paradigms continue to haunt us!]

This looks very civil, compared to what happened at the recent Princeton Theological Seminary conference on the Talpiot Tomb. The conference was held to discuss the possibility that a tomb in Jerusalem which held ossuaries belonging to Joseph, Mary,  Mariamne, Jesus, son of Jospeh, and Judah, son of Jesus would belong to the Jesus family of the Bible fame. Here is one scene from the conference.

During the opening session, Professor Kloner shouted down Professor James Charlesworth from the audience. I was sitting behind Professor Kloner and heard his colleagues advise him that screaming at Professor Charlesworth would not do his reputation any good. Subsequently, Professor Kloner decided to direct his invective at me. Filmmakers are fair game. At one point, Professor Kloner jumped on the stage and, as reported by the Jerusalem Post, shouted “liar” at me, as I attempted to ask a question from the audience. Later he thought better of it and again jumped up on the stage and publicly apologized. But after Ruth Gat’s statement, he verbally and physically attacked me at the closing reception in front of television cameras as they rolled. I said nothing to him, but I watched in shock as his wife wrestled with him so as to prevent any further physical assault. Is this scholarship?[Simcha Jacobovici Responds to His Critics]

Here is Gireesh Gupta, Associate Professor at Belmont Abbey College writing about the history of Hinduism

Around 1500 B.C.E., Indo-Aryans entered India through the northwest region. Scholars differ on the exact venue where the Indo-Aryans lived before migrating into India. Some scholars believe that they came to India from Central Asia.[Hinduism is one of the Oldest Religions of the World]

According to some genetic studies done recently Indo-European speaking population did not come from Central Asia and were native to the subcontinent for a few millennia. At least you can tell the Professor to read those papers, but what do you tell Charlene Wilkinson of Guyana?

My North American years were instructive. I discovered a culture of African American scholars who understood the centrality of Black people in the creation of human civilization. I learned that the Indus Valley civilization of India was a Black one before the coming of the Aryan invaders;[I beg you to turn away from shallow arrogance]