Conference on Indian history, geopolitics and civilization
(Jan. 9-11, 2009, IIC, New Delhi)
Indic Studies Foundation, California
and
Akhila Bhartiya Itihas Sankalan Yojnaa
January 9-11, 2009
Consensus of ICIH-2009
(Conference on Indian History, Geopolitics, and Civilisation)
The conference was convened to have a cross-pollination of ideas on various facets of Indic studies like history, culture and geopolitics and related topics. The overriding purpose is to diagnose the flawed representation of Indian history and to map the correct mechanism for presenting true history on rational basis founded on authentic facts. It also discussed ways and means to delineate the appropriate and correct path for translating the ideas to workers at ground level.
The ICIH-2009 delineate that:
1. More and more people are realising that Indian history has been distorted by Colonial-Missionary historians, and that it has been misrepresented by some motivated historians in post-Colonial period. Steps should be taken to remove these distortions.
2. Current history, as taught in academic institutions, is not borne out by archaeological and other scientific evidence.
3. The myth that India lacked historical agency, created by Hegel and propagated by misinformed historians, is incorrect. India has a sense of history and historical tradition going back to Rigvedic times. It developed in many phases and in various forms down to the early medieval period, but it received set back due to British control on Indian knowledge system.
4. The periodization of Indian history is wrong because it does not reflect the twists and turns Indian spirit occurring in different epoch of its long history.
5. A correct idea of 'India, i.e. Bharata' is essential for understanding Indian history.
6. The chronology of India hitherto accepted is falsified. It needs to be corrected.
7. The delegates commit themselves to provide this correction on the basis of literary, archaeological, geological, scientific, linguistic, genetic, and other kinds of evidence.
If Indian spirit and psyche is properly understood, in its correct perspective of past present and the future, India can play its proper historical role on world stage and provide humanity the vision of peace and brotherhood so badly needed today. Spiritualization of human race is, in fact, the theme of Indian way of life, the burden of her eternal songs, backbone of her existence, the foundation of her being and the raison d'etre of her very existence.
Dhanyavad
Dr. Kosla Vepa , Director Indic Studies Foundation
Prof. Shivaji Singh, Chairman of the Conference
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PRESS RELEASE
NO PROOF OF ARYANS MASSACRING INDUS VALLEY PEOPLE
Historians Expose Various Myths and Distortions related to Ancient Indian History
International Conference on Indian History, Civilisation and Geopolitics (ICIH2009) opens in New Delhi
New Delhi January 9: "There is absolutely no proof that the Vedas were written in around 1200 BC and that the invading Aryans massacred the people of the Indus Valley. Unfortunately, these malicious distortions are still being taught in our schools as facts," said Dr. B.B. Lal, former Director General of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), on the first day of the International Conference on Indian History, Civilisation and Geopolitics 2009 (ICIH2009) which began here today
Warning that new distortions in Indian history are being created even today, Prof Lal in his paper presented to the conference said it is the duty of Indian historians to set these distortions right through cogent evidence and sustainable arguments.
Though the perception and mindset of historians play a dominant role in history writing, it is important for Indians to identify and challenge the distortions that have been deliberately introduced into their historical narrative over the centuries, he said.
In his speech, Prof. Shivaji Singh, Former Head of Department, Ancient History, Gorakhpur University, rejected the oft-repeated charge that Indians have no sense of history. "Ancient Indians had a robust historical tradition that originated in the Rig Vedic times and continued to develop and proliferate till the end of the medieval period, This tradition has created a rich and huge mass of historical literature that is unparalleled in the world," he said.
Prof. Singh explained that the indigenous Indian sense of history is unique because its main purpose is man's self-fulfillment and self-realisation instead of vague objective such as furtherance of freedom, rationalism and individualism that are prevalent in the West. "You have to understand that the Indian sense of history is grounded in Indian culture and it should not be judged by the yardstick of how the Westerners write their history," he added.
Dr. Kosla Vepa, Director of the US-based Indic Studies Foundation, the organizers of the three-day meet, spoke about the demeaning condescension that many Western historians have bestowed upon India. "Books on Indian history sold abroad deliberately neglect our ancient history so as to minimize and sideline its contributions. At the same time, they try to whitewash the horrors that the British rule inflicted on India, such as the large-scale famines triggered by colonial policies. Changing the content of the text-books worldwide and especially in the West to correct these distortions should be our goal," he said.
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About the Conference
The International Conference on Indian History, Civilisation and Geopolitics (ICIH2009) is being organized at New Delhi's India International Centre by the US-based Indic Studies Foundation in association with Akhila Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Yojana (ABISY). The three-day Conference (January 9-11) is hosting over 100 distinguished scholars and historians from India and all over the world and has been hailed as a landmark event in the interpretation of ancient Indian history.
The Conference offers a platform for scholars and historians to challenge many aspects of ancient India history as they are taught today and expose various myths that have been presented as facts by the Raj historians of the 19th century
About Indic Studies Foundation
The Indic Studies Foundation, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA, is a not-for-profit, public-benefit Corporation. It seeks to propagate a more accurate approach based on reason and rationality for the study and dissemination of the Indian civilizational ethos in the world, particularly to the USA and India.
The Foundation undertakes a series of seminars and conferences annually which exclusively focus on Indic history, with a view to research its distortions, to investigate and assess the consequences of such distortions and try to remedy the situation by facilitating impartial and professional research into Indic history. It also conducts programs to correct the distorted Indian history in the academia, media and public perception and to develop an education program to produce future Indian leaders.
About Akhila Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Yojana (ABISY)
ABISY is dedicated to researching and writing Indian history spanning the last 5000 years. Major projects undertaken by it include determining the exact date of the Mahabrarata as the sheet anchor of ancient Indian history, researches into "kaalaganana" (time-reckoninig) in Hindu traditions and researches into the now-lost 'Saraswati' river.
Prof. Shivaji Singh, Retd. Head of Dept. of Ancient History and Archaeology of the Gorakhpur University, is the President of ABISY. Dr. Sharad Hebalkar, author of "Ancient Ports of India" is its General Secretary.
Sarasvati Nadi Shodh Prakalp (headed by Dr. S. Kalyanaraman) is associated with ABISY, doing researches on the Vedic river Sarasvati, the Indian Ocean Community and the National Water Grid.
A series of seminars were held by ABISY and books published on the 1857 War of Independence under the guidance of Dr. Satish C. Mittal, former Head of Department of Archaeology and History, Kurukshetra University.
ABISY has conducted hundreds of seminars on Indian history and published over 300 titles in all Indian languages. "Itihasa Darpan" is a scholarly journal brought out by ABISY and edited by Prof. T.P. Verma, Retd. Head of Dept. of Ancient History and Archaeology, Benares Hindu University.
ABISY has Itihasa Sankalana Samitis in each state and each district of India. Special projects are undertaken by these Samitis to write local history under the series 'Through the Ages.' This series has published popular titles such as "Melkote through the Ages" and "Varanasi through the Ages."
The Venue
International Conference on Indian History, Civilization and Geopolitics- ICIH 2009
January 09th (Friday) to 11th (Sunday), 2009
India International Centre, 40 Lodi Estate, New Delhi, India
ICIH2009 Website:
http://indicstudies.us/icih_conf
http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/news/national/general/5_1_5144663.html Press coverage in Hindi in Jagaran daily.
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'Mahabharata War Occurred in 3067 BC'
'Calculus is India's Gift to West'
New Delhi January 10: A well-known Indian physicist has used advanced planetarium software and astronomical data detailed in the slokas of Mahabharata to conclusively date the ancient Indian epic to 3067 BCE.
Speaking at the ongoing International Conference on Indian History, Civilisation and Geopolitics 2009 (ICIH-2009) here, professor Narahari Achar said that most of the previous attempts at astronomical dating of the famous epic made the critical error of equating the Sanskrit word "Graha" with a planet.
"However, Graha actually meant not only a planet but any heavenly object moving through the sky that can 'grasp,' such as a comet or asteroid," he said. "Once we understand this, all apparent confusion and contradiction in the planetary positions given in the Mahabharata disappears."
Though the epic has been variously dated from 5000 BC to 1000 BC by historians, this is the first time that a scholar has taken into account the movement of planets excluding the comets to reproduce by simulation the astronomical references given in the Mahabharata.
"The year 3067 BCE arrived at by this method is consistent with the Hindu tradition and correlates perfectly with the time references given in Rigveda and Puranas for the epic," Prof. Narhari added.
In his speech at the conference, Professor C.K. Raju revealed that calculus was an Indian invention that was transmitted by Jesuit priests to Europe from Cochin in the second half of 16th century. "Indian infinite series has been known to British scholars since at least 1832, but no scholar tried to establish the connection with the calculus attributed to Newton and Leibnitz," he said.
Dr. Raju's 10-year research that included archival work in Kerala and Rome was published in a book "Cultural Foundations of Mathematics." It established that the Jesuit priests took trigonometric tables and planetary models from the Kerala mathematicians of the Aryabhata school and exported them to Europe starting around 1560 in connection with the European navigational problem.
"When the Europeans received the Indian calculus, they couldn't understand it properly because the Indian philosophy of mathematics is different from the Western philosophy of mathematics. It took them about 300 years to fully comprehend its working. The calculus was used by Newton to develop his laws of physics," Dr. Raju added. Ironically, some British scholars claimed credit for this research despite being warned against plagiarizing Professor Raju's work.
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