Thursday, February 12, 2009

Duties of the Hindu majority.



An excellent article by Dr Subroto Gangopadhyay is given below that is set to induce a soul-search in every Hindu to stand up and protect the Hindu ethos that is in the state of extinction by a collusive impact of exploitative politicians, intellectually mis-guided elites and a Hindu majority that is unaware of the import of sanatana dharma.


Sanatana dharma does not address the nations. It does not tell how a group or a community must behave. It only tells how every individual must function. It tells how a person must behave in a group or community. In this, way every Hindu has a role in nation building and in protection of the Hindu ethos. Such a role encompasses compassion for all beings and tolerance bordering on non-violence. But the same dharma does not stop one from protecting himself and his interests in the face of an attack.


Hinduism and Hindu dharma are facing an attack by the so-called secular politicians and the so-called elites and intellectuals. The various facets of this are discussed in this article. It is time that the Hindu asserts his right to his dharma and his land that has been the home for  Universal sanatana dharma. If he does not, Destiny or Time will not forgive him. Puranic and Ithihasic revelation is that whenever this dharma is in danger, those who have allowed and abetted it to deteriorate, have also been punished along with those who have caused the harm. As silent spectators to the deterioration, the Hindu majority will have to pay a heavy price which would have to be born by their future generations. The article gives a good food for thought on how the Hindu majority must work towards making his land a safe and peaceful place for his future generations.


-jayasree

 

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From

http://www.blogs. ivarta.com/ Reclaiming- India-Indian- History-Heritage /blog-249. htm

 

Reclaiming India, India"s History and Heritage

By Dr Subroto Gangopadhyay


Feb-10-2009

(The author is a practising physician and an adherent of Sanatan Dharma)



The attacks on Mumbai are reminiscent of the first Arab incursions, by sea between 634 and 637 AD through Thana, Broach and Debal. These were repulsed and led to incursions through land routes in the Northwest between 650-711 AD. Muhammad Bin Qasim finally succeeded in occupying parts of Sindh in 712 AD. In contrast to the 70 years it took to occupy Sindh in face of Hindu resistance, the Islamic armies had conquered Persia, Syria, Egypt within eight years of the Prophet"s death. North Africa was taken between 640 AD and 709 AD with Spain falling in 711 AD. Thus the entry of Islam into Hindu India which now has broken into a Muslim Pakistan, a Muslim Bangladesh and a Muslim Afghanistan faced more resistance than its triumphant march elsewhere. When Christian Europe finally won against Islam, they did not leave growing colonies within, to repopulate and create new Islamic nations. Arabs, no longer need attack India. The Muslim descendents of the Hindus, at least in Pakistan and Bangladesh, having severed themselves from their roots and heritage, find greater commonality with Arabic language, customs and religion. The idea of roots, state, civilization or cultural heritage are super ceded by the common ground of Islam.



Islam, does not recognize the idea of sovereignty of state or the concept of individual free will guiding individual choice –whether towards lifestyle or to one"s spiritual path. All Semitic faiths speak of a single God, but clearly not the same one, as each claims an exclusive covenant and an exclusive revelation through an exclusive prophet and salvation through the individual agency representing the religion. Thus if all were true then there must be three equal Gods or if only one were true then there is one true God and two other false Gods with two false creeds and two false institutions. If all were false, the idea of God must be difficult to sustain for the majority of the world and these religions must find a separate mission than offer salvation -invited or uninvited. Of the three great faiths one must admit that the modern Jewish faith does not directly negate
others and does not indulge in the task of conversions overtly and covertly and therefore intrinsically seeks no conflict -only the right of self existence.


The Hindus seek peaceful self existence but differ from all, in laying no claim to a unique covenant or a unique relationship with their own particular God. They further believe in self inquiry, the right to- differ, question, criticize, adopt or reject any particular aspect or tenet of spiritual life. Faith is welcome but not necessary and lack of faith or criticism does not call for execution. No conversions are needed as spiritual life does not mandate membership in an exclusive creed. State has no spiritual responsibility. The spiritual path at the beginning calls for personal purity and righteousness, with non violence and harmlessness to all- and evolves finally towards individual spiritual inquiry leading to
enlightenment or realization -of the nature of God. Venerable Prophets are many, within and outside
India, who can be guides but are not necessarily needed. Being reflections of the Divine through the human form they are exalted beings but may have human  limitations or imperfection at times.


There is no Hindu Umma, Dar al Hind and Dar al Harb and there are no Momins and Kafirs. No Ghazis are required to wield swords to decapitate heads of Kafirs to reap rewards in an indulgent Zannat to please the one God.

 

For Hindus- property, life and women of Non Hindus, are not subject to enjoyment, destruction, enslavement and confiscation as per scriptural guidelines. Places of worship where others worship are not special targets of wrathful destruction. Hindus have largely chosen to accept, ignore, negate and justify their suffering, believing that tolerance and patience would certainly be rewarded in the long run by dawning of reason among those
who have brutalized
India for about ten centuries.

 

Large scale negation has been supplemented by outright falsification of the scale of atrocities on part of Islamic invaders. Indians have also submitted to more subtle but equally pernicious civilizational and spiritual subversion along with economic destruction by the Christian West. Purposeful erosion of the Hindu culture (Kul-achar) and ethos, was ensured, post Independence by the Congress-Communist nexus, under the cloak of secularism. This destruction continues unabated today.

 

Political empowerment of minorities is yet to occur in Europe and North America while in Islamic countries systematic cleansing has reduced minorities to near extinction almost everywhere. Indian congress, communists, secularists and Human right activists have not
bothered themselves with the Hindu victims of Islam or Christianity.
They have built their credibility among foreigners and anti- Hindu faiths by sabotaging the ideal of India"s Nationhood based on Sanatan Dharma.



The idea of a tolerant Islamic State (for Non Muslims) is a contradiction in terms. For Christianity, state and religion, have historically been symbiotic entities -one thriving on the expansion of the other, each empowering the other. State was certainly the vehicle
for Christianity" s spread and eventual conquest of Europe rendering extinct all indigenous forms of spirituality and culture, from Greece to Lithuania beginning from Italy. For Islam, conquest of Arabia wiped out millennia of pre-Islamic Arabic history and culture. Persia and Egypt did not fare better. State as an entity, is subservient to Islam
and is merely its tool for expansion. In Western Europe and more prominently in America, while the pursuit of an individual religion is not interfered with but political empowerment of minority faiths other than Judaism is not even entertained as an idea in political or social discourse .The idea of Hindutva, Hindu fundamentalism are not merely
illogical concepts but are carefully crafted themes to empower the exclusivist faiths who battle today for the soul and soil of India.



There is no state other than India, that has seen political empowerment of minority faiths to an extent that persecution of majority is no longer looked upon with surprise. The ethnic cleansing of 400,000 Kashmiri Hindus in Hindu majority India is ignored, while communal riots in response the burning of Hindu pilgrims in Godhra is termed pogrom with international condemnation, humiliation, and enquiry commissions whose findings contradict the charge of genocide due to state complicity or permissiveness. This of course cannot satiate the Indian media"s Hindu bloodlust. India"s English media, human rights activists, television and it"s ruling Cabal reflect a coalition of Christians, Communists, Moslems, Western educated McCaulayites and foreign agents who live on the crumbs from middle east or the West. The zenith of one"s recognition in politics, academia, art , media, or intellectual circles is related to the degree of virulence one is able to muster against the Hindu and the culture of his forefathers.


Regrettably, the defense of majority Hindus in their own land is at the hands of parties like BJP, whose apologetic conviction of their own heritage offers little hope. Their need for eulogies from the nation"s enemies is only matched by their gutlessness, lack of vision for their nation, colossal lack of cohesive planning and the spinelessness of political opportunism.



How about the spiritual foundation? the very reason why the Hindu has not given up his identity through millennia of occupation. India"s conquest to a large extent was due to loss of Dharma. Dharma as it relates to individual action guides the individual towards his larger sphere of responsibility towards family, community, nation, environment, and world at large. It is not merely individual salvation that religion should contract to, but it must exhort the individual to righteous and courageous action to uphold eternal values enjoined in Sanatan Dharma. Hindu spiritual leaders have miserably failed to exhort Hindus to the highest ideals of civic or community life and have forgotten the entire notion of Rashtra Dharma.


Creating competing cults and creeds for self promotion, ritualistic worship or individual salvation without fulfilling all aspects of one"s Dharma is the foundational deficit that is once again propelling India into subjugation by Asuric forces


India"s multitude of temple goers and professional priests can no longer understand the ethos that had decreed motherland to be more exalted than the heavens. Therefore, the ritualistic, cult based, habit reinforced and temple oriented Hindu today is oblivious of the environment he lives in. The insularity of ritualistic behavior has degraded a deep worship tradition to "customary practice" severing philosophic continuity with our children - while outsiders have hardly been subtle in their contempt.

 

For almost a thousand years jeering Islamic armies destroyed temples telling the Hindus that their Gods were mere idols who could not protect themselves, while the Hindu kept rebuilding his temples. The mosque built by the genocidal Babur was no mosque but merely a usurped temple that the weak Hindu finally used his bare hands to bring down
-but to what dramatic disbelief, condemnation and outrage -that a servile Hindu could do this! None bothered that a place of worship was named after a genocidal monarch - for it is but natural for Islam to honor its Ghazis. To protect Babur"s monument (though no Islamic scholar claimed it to be a true mosque) seemed to be a national obsession for the liberal Indian, for it to be brought down a national shame? Can such a country survive its citizenry? Is there a Church in Poland named after Hitler (a faithful) or for that matter, one in Rome after Constantine or Theodosius?



Finally one must come to the intellectual elite of India. The intellectual leaders of India are no longer creative, natural thinkers in indigenous languages but are brilliant products and protagonists of Western Education. One would be hard put to find an Indian thought
leader today who reads or writes in a language other than English. The Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Greeks, Germans, Spaniards, Mexicans or Egyptians do not have "English" intellectual Elite. These countries do no obsess themselves with intellectuals adorned with Booker prizes or Oscars for denigrating their countries. Their leading newspapers, media, or academic institutions do not have to use English to be well
regarded. It is perfectly cute to have the Chinese Premier shake his head at the US President and exchange pleasantries through an interpreter while it is not for the Indian savage to do the same. Indian parents regard education in English and higher studies in the English speaking West to be the highest form of academic achievement. It is a natural consequence to imbibe the English based knowledge systems and discard the vast indigenous intellectual wealth, available in Sanskrit and other indigenous literature.

 

Thus the first rung of our civilization -the intellectual Indian has been simply de-indigenized. Validated by economic success and access to leadership positions this Indian intellectual leadership is Indian only in appearance -in character it represents colonial continuity. It is virulently anti -Hindu and seeks not to be identified with Hindutva . Why else is "Hindu Tattva" or the essence of being a Hindu a dirty word while "being a good Christian" - a claim to value.

 

Is it not the Hindu seer who gave the world Numbers and Counting, Astronomy, Music, Grammar, Yoga and Ayurveda besides Philosophy and the first glimpse of God ? What knowledge streams did the Prophets from the Monotheistic faiths bequeath to the world ? India"s English media and its English Children have turned the Hindu into a despicable, backward and intolerable heathen, who is now violent as well. To unleash violence outside one"s borders on alien lands is natural as long as the perpetrators are Christians or Moslems but to defend oneself and one"s faith within one"s own borders is fundamentalism in case of the Hindu.

 

When the Christians or Moslems disallow proselytization or conversion it is the natural inclination to preserve one"s identity but for the Hindu to take such a view would be unacceptable bigotry. Barring exceptions, India"s intellectual elite today is India"s most pernicious enemy - an elite reared on the subsidized state sponsored education funded by the toiling Hindu.



One must end with a discussion on solutions.

As a first measure the Hindu majority of India must find its voice and aspiration reflected in the media.


It must not support an anti India media through viewership, audience, subscription or advertisement revenue in any form.


India must demand a media free of foreign ownership or revenue based influence. Indians must control their media.


Equally important for Indians is to elect a leadership that to start with is not anti-India. Needless to say, any leadership that is anti- Hindu is anti-majority and by definition, anti-India. They cannot be at the helm of the country.


Therefore, the UPA, its adherents and its supporting parties must be defeated and discarded into political oblivion.


Marxism is welcome as part of academic discourse but its anti-national and anti-majority views do not permit it to be a legitimate political body  Marxist organizations and political parties need to be outlawed.


The nexus of criminals and politicians has to be broken by a strengthened judiciary and ruthless imposition of law. A criminalized democracy manipulated by feudal families, foreigners, anti India and anti Hindu agencies is worse than an undemocratic, but ethical administration.


India of the past has done far better under Vikramaditya or Chandragupta. The academic institutions of India starting from at its schools need to be entirely revamped. Study of its indigenous languages, knowledge streams, and its classical history from indigenous sources must be mandatory for all, but most of all for its political leadership and administration, as a prerequisite for electoral contest or administration.


Anti India academicians cannot have any public funding sources towards salary, research and publications and media presentations offending Hindu sentiments should not be tolerated.


India"s 1.2 billion people and 1 billion Hindus must be what they want to be, not what others manipulate them to be -in this respect they must learn from China.


Minorityism in the form of appeasement, selective economic aid, reservation, media propagation and political empowerment for votes, must be eliminated without any compunction –

Hindu"s who have chosen to adopt foreign religions have no basis for special consideration, though they remain free to practice their faith in private.


Political action or activism that promotes sedition or violence must be met with violence and eliminated ruthlessly.


Hindus should not be supportive of any Hindu religious institution, cult, temple or spiritual leaders who remain disconnected from the concept of a nationalism based on Sanatan Dharma .There cannot be any spiritual path divorced from Dharma in its
broadest sense .


To support such self serving Hindu institutions and spiritual leaders is a folly as well.


The intellectual leadership of India must be reconstructed and realigned to be steeped in its historical traditions that have always reflected a combination of value systems - a search for discriminatory wisdom, simple living, cultivation of Dharma combined with a sense of honor and valor.


Meekness, avoidance of responsibility, search for self gratification and success should not be lauded but are worthy of rejection and derision.


India cannot honor those who dishonor it.


Leaders in politics, academia, media, corporate world, arts, sciences or spiritual domain must not be honored anymore for being Anti-Hindu.


If Tasleema Nasreen cannot be given asylum in India for offending sensibilities of Muslims, on what grounds does one have to tolerate the likes of Arundhati Roy, M F Hussain, Jayalalitha , Brinda Karat, Karan Thapar, Shabana Azmi, Agnivesh or AR Antulay?


Hindu majority India managed to lose power and suffer enslavement, decapitation, conversion, jiziya, dhimmitude, and famines apart from annihilation of its identity for over a thousand years.


Its current course shows no memory of this experience.


All Hindus must act now, through forging a common Hindu identity and must express this identity through a Hindu vote for a Hindu India - a Muslim India or a Christian India cannot be a pluralistic tolerant India.


Let Islam and Christianity demonstrate this first in the lands they control.




Let the US elect a non Christian Governor or President and let Indonesia or
Pakistan have a Hindu President first.

Let rest of the world demonstrate its equality to the Hindu .

The Hindu must protect himself first, to deliver humanity.

While India as a nation state should stand for equality for all its citizens and proclaim all life to be sacred as decreed by Sanatan Dharma - it must let its external enemies know, that the future theatres of war would be on their soil and the rites of war would be one that they inflict on others.

 

 


Wednesday, February 11, 2009

International conference on Sindhu- Sarasvati civilization.


http://indiapost.com/article/communitypost/5482/

Reappraisal of the Indus /Vedic Civilization


Tuesday, 02.10.2009, 03:41am (GMT-7)

LOS ANGELES:

An international conference on the Sindhu-Sarasvati Valley Civilization will be held on Feb 21 and 22 at Loyola Marymount University, in Los Angeles. Prominent scholars particularly archaeologists, linguists, anthropologists, historians, religious specialists and geneticists will discus the nature of the interrelation between the Indus or Sindhu and the Sarasvati or Vedic culture(s) from about 3000 BC to 1000 BC.

They will attempt to bridge the chronological, linguistic and racial gap between the material and literary cultures of the Indus and Vedic. A few fundamental questions raised are: Who were the people of Ancient India Civilizations? Were they Vedic Aryan or Indo- Aryan, Indo- Iranian or Dravidians? Has archaeological evidence confirmed the existence of common features of Vedic and Indus culture(s)? Is there an indigenous continuity of the culture in India and Pakistan or did the people come from outside the subcontinent?



How does the scientific evidence of the drying of the River Sarasvati play a role in the interpretation of the history and chronology of the civilization. How is the genetic evidence corroborated with archaeological evidences especially regarding the antiquity of the Indian gene?



Prominent scholars who examine the issues include Jonathan Mark Kenoyer (University of Wisconsin), Carl C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Dr. B.B. Lal (Archaeological Survey of India), R.S. Bisht (Archaeological Survey of India), Louis Flam (City University of NY), S.R.Rao (Archaeological Survey of India, National Institute of Oceanography), Edwin Bryant (Rutgers University) Shiva Bajpai (CSUN) , Vijendra Kumar Kashyap (India's National Institute of Biologicals), Subhash Kak (Oklahama State University), Ashok Aklujkar (University of British Columbia) , Jim G. Shaffer (Case Western Reserve University, Dennis Frenez (University of Bologna) and Nicholas Kazanas (Omilos Meleton Cultural Institute, Athens). The interpretations by scholars in the conference will be rooted in scholarship and presented with clarity and brevity for the sake of the educated public.



They will touch upon areas of consensus and contentions with a temporarily conclusive interdisciplinary understanding upon the topics: Indus and Sarasvati: ecology and culture, Indus and Aryan: Race and Language, The Indus Script/Language, Population: Migration and Settlement, Sociopolitical Organizations and DNA and Astronomical evidences. The conference enhances our historical understanding of the period in the Sindhu-Sarasvati area.



The overlapping evidences and ambiguities will be confronted by scholars who examine their inter-relationships, and arrive at a consensus. It will be of significant intellectual and educational interest to all students and scholars of science, humanities and social sciences, and more importantly, the educated public.


India Post News Service



Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The red line on the forehead of CEC, Mr N.Gopalswamy!




I came across a mail by by Mr Charuhasan, the brother of actor Kamal Hasan wherein he had cast aspersions on the credentials of the CEC, Mr N. Gopalswamy on the basis of the red line he always sports on his forehead.



This was in response to a write up by a lawyer from Andhra Pradesh who has made a convincing case for how it is well within the rights of the CEC to recommend the removal of EC – an issue that is debated in the media and political circles to the extent of sidelining the real question whether a person (Mr Navin Chawla) of questionable antecedents can be kept in the pivotal institution of democracy, the Election Commission.



I take particular exception to Mr Charuhasan’s words – “I believe that the red line he wears on his forehead could be psychologically influencing him to deviate from the secular path recommended by the Constitution.”



While on the one hand Mr Charuhasan has demonstrated that public memory, or rather, his memory is short in having forgotten the indictment of Mr Navin Chawla by the Shah commission that he is unfit to hold any public office that demands acts of fair play – on the other, he has made uncivilized remarks on the personal symbols adorned by the CEC Mr Gopalswamy, casting aspersions on his behavior in office.


First of all Navin Chawla’s appointment itself is questionable on rules of propriety and ethics. His misdemeanor is found detailed even in the wikipedia webpage on him. (More of it published at the end of this write-up) Such being the case, any right thinking person must be wondering why it took so long for the CEC to recommend his removal. In this background, it is appalling to find a response like this, casting aspersions on the CEC based on the red line on the forehead that it could be influencing him psychologically in deviating from the ‘secular’ path.


While the question remains what it means to be secular in this context, I wish to say a few points of this red line. This is the ‘Sree ChoorNam’ sported by the devotees of Vishnu. There is a high level of ideology and philosophy behind this. By rubbishing it with such aspersions, Mr Charuhasan makes me frame a new adage –

கம்பன் வீட்டு கட்டுத் தறியும் கவி பாடும் .

அது போல

கமல் வீட்டு கால்லிங் பெல்லும் நாத்திகம் பேசும் ”!



This ‘Sree Choornam’ is not a symbol of one’s caste. It is the image of goddess Mahalakshmi who symbolizes the ‘Mind’ of God Himself. The Thiruman on both sides of the Sree choorNam are the two feet of Lord Mahavishnu Himself. It is in Urdhwa mukham – that is, upward going. This symbolizes the upward movement of the Self in meditation and in attaining Brahman-hood. This is also called Urdhwa pundaram. Urdhawa means going upward. Pundaram means lotus flower. The heart is personified as lotus flower and Lakshmi resides on this flower. By thinking of Her, the person goes upward in mind to reach Bhagawan.


Chandoghya upanishad (VIII – vi- 6) says that there are 101 arteries (called as naadi) of the heart. The heart is not the heart in the literal sense. It is personification of the seat of upasana on which rests the feet of Bhagawan.

Bhagawan is always accompanied with Lakshmi –( as Sree choorNam) the Power that directs the self to the ‘lakshyam’ or goal. The goal is to reach Him. The meditation or worship rises the self through 100 arteries of the lotus- personified heart and reaches the head / forehead.


There the 101st naadi is situated. That naadi is protected by the ThirumaN- Sree ChoorNam. This mark is called as ThirumaN kaapu! Kaapu means ‘protection’. The ingredients used for this, suck the water content in that part of the forehead and keeps the naadi protected. The ThriumaN – Sree choorNam protects the 101st naadi as it gets activated.


By wearing it always, the person is also said to become the home for the divinities. It is un-civil and derogatory to comment on it linking it with some ill-will. If I have to reply to Mr Charuhasan in the same buck, I must say that where divinity resides, the person can not do anything wrong. The CEC has done the right thing without fear or fervor as the Voice of divinity!


-jayasree


On significance of ThirumaN – Sree choorNam :-

http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/oa/oa9.htm



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Mr Charuhasan’s mail:-

From

http://www.dc-epaper.com/DC/DCC/2009/02/10/ArticleHtmls/10_02_2009_008_005.shtml?Mode=0


CEC IN A SPOT


“The right and duty established by the article of the Constitution has nothing to do with equality and inequality between CEC and other ECs. I want to point out that the rule primus inter pares (superior among equals) does apply between the Prime minister of India and myself. That does not preclude me from my right to complain against his fitness to hold the illustrious office. I agree with writer’s conclusion that the CEC has ‘suo motu powers to recommend’ the removal of the EC. I should not be misunderstood as trying to back the CEC in all he does. I believe that the red line he wears on his forehead could be psychologically influencing him to deviate from the secular path recommended by the Constitution. But again, the same Constitution gives him the right to profess the religion of his choice. As a one time jurist, I believe in the dictum that justice should not only be done but must also be seen to be done”


S. CHARUHASAN

Alwarpet, Chennai





From

http://www.dc-epaper.com/DC/DCC/2009/02/07/ArticleHtmls/07_02_2009_008_004.shtml?Mode=0



“CEC’s report on EC binding on President”

by

VIVEK REDDY (a practising lawyer in the Andhra Pradesh high court )



THE RECOMMENDATION of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N. Gopalaswami to the President has created a constitutional crisis. Union law minister Hansraj Bhardwaj’s statement that the CEC cannot suo motu recommend the removal of election commissioner (EC) Navin Chawla is constitutionally indefensible given the text and structure of the Indian Constitution and Supreme Court’s previous decisions. Second provision of Article 324(5) of the Constitution states: “Provided further that any other election commissioner or a regional commissioner (RC) shall not be removed from office except on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner”.


There are four compelling constitutional reasons enabling the CEC to directly recommend the removal of the EC to the President. Any other interpretation could subvert the very purpose of the Election Commission as an impartial body.


First, there is nothing in the text of Article 324(5) which mandates that the CEC must give recommendations only after a referral by the President. Referral from one constitutional authority to another is an important constitutional process and wherever such a referral is required before effecting a removal, it has been expressly stipulated in the Constitution. For example, to disqualify a member of Parliament the Constitution mandates that the “question shall be referred for the decision of the President” and the President, in turn, has to “obtain the opinion of the Election Commission” (Articles 103 and 191). Similarly, if a member of Union Public Service Commission is to be removed, the President has to refer the matter to the Supreme Court (Article 317). No such requirement of a prior reference from the President to the CEC is contemplated by the Constitution with regard to the removal of an EC.


Second, any interpretation that would require a prior referral by the President to the CEC would threaten the concept of free and fair elections, which has been declared by the Supreme Court as part of the basic structure of the Constitution. If an EC acts blatantly in favour of the ruling party, the President — who acts on the advice of the Union Cabinet — may not refer the issue to the CEC since the ruling government is a beneficiary of the bias. The CEC would be helpless in that situation. This is not merely hypothetical — past records show that this is a possibility. ? Third, the constitutional structure of the Election Commission itself would suggest that a referral from the President is not a condition precedent for the CEC to recommend removal of the EC. Article 324(5) places RC and EC on equal footing as far as removal from office is concerned. The CEC, as the head of the organisation, is better posi tioned to examine the conduct of an RC and recommend his removal to the President if his conduct is not in the interests of the organisation. It may not serve the constitutional purpose if the CEC has to wait for a referral from the President to recommend action against an errant RC.


The same logic would apply to the removal of an EC. The CEC is better positioned to examine the behaviour of an election commissioner than the Central government. Requiring a formal referral from the President before the CEC gives his recommendation would make the Election Commission a toothless body in taking action against errant members in the body.


Fourth, the Supreme Court ruling in T.N. Seshan’s case supports this conclusion. To protect ECs and RCs from the whim and caprice of the CEC, the Supreme Court mandated that the “recommendation for removal must be based on intelligible and cogent con siderations which would have relation to the efficient functioning of the Election Commission”. The Court emphasised that the “CEC must exercise this power only when there exist valid reasons which are conducive to the efficient functioning of the Commission”. The Supreme Court conceived CEC’s power to recommend removal of EC as a “power” which must be exercised only when there are valid reasons and not when the issue has been referred to the CEC by the President.


This takes us to the next issue. Is the recommendation of the CEC binding on the President? Under Article 103(2), with respect to the disqualification of an MP, the Constitution mandates that the President shall obtain the “opinion” of the Election Commission and “act according to such opinion”. Article 324(5) does not have a similar provision. But if the CEC’s report discloses valid reasons, the President has to act on those recommendations. Taking the contrary view would mean that a partisan EC continues to be in office despite a report from the CEC. The opinion of the CEC is binding on the President in the same manner as the recommendation of the Chief Justice with regard to appointment of judges.


The Election Commission is the custodian of Indian democracy. Every effort must be made to preserve its independence. The timing of the current CEC’s report is debatable and can be resolved only after examining the report on its merits. The larger question is whether Indian democracy can afford the Election Commission to be headed by a person who has been declared by the Shah Commission to be “unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play”.



_________________________________________



From News Today published in 2006

http://www.newstodaynet.com/2006sud/06feb/0902ss1.htm



For god's sake, go! Navin Chawla !

by

V SUNDARAM

Postings and transfers of senior bureaucrats have a crucial impact on two sectors - law and order including security and the delivery systems in the country. On both these counts we have reached a critical stage in our national history and we will be in a deeper crisis if the government of India under the effete and de jure Prime Ministership of Dr Manmohan Singh and the de facto machinating, manoeuvring, mendacious Prime Ministership of Madame Mother Superior with her epicentre in Italy continues to be afflicted with the Mother Superior Disease Syndrome (MSDS) of apoplexy at the centre and anaemia at the extremities.


Two months before his appointment as Election Commissioner, using his clout with Mother Superior, he was moving for his appointment as Union Home Secretary. At that time on 16 March 2005 I wrote in News Today under the headline 'Shame Without Honour':


'The most spectacularly classical evidence in Indian bureaucracy is that whilst all bureaucrats of similar seniority are equal on paper, yet some chosen few are more equal than others'.


Navin Chawla belongs to the latter category, with tremendous clout in the UPA government, thanks to his unbroken record of 'loyalty' and 'service' to the Nehru family. He was very close to Sanjay Gandhi and wielded unprecedented power in his official capacity as Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Delhi Kishan Chand during the emergency in 1975-77. He functioned as the de facto Governor of Delhi and several bureaucrats who happened to interact with him during this period have confirmed the fact that he was known for his unabashed authoritarianism. His controversial role as secretary to the Lt. Governor of Delhi was noted by the Shah Commission which went into Emergency Excesses. Navin Chawla did not cover himself with glory when the Constitution of India was subverted with impunity during emergency. As one who occupied a vantage position during that period, he was charged with arbitrary exercise of authority. Any other officer with this kind of background would have been sidelined under the cliché-ridden 'Law will take its own course' umbrella. But there are spectacular exceptions to this general rule in our decadent and perverted democracy. Navin Chawla comes under the category of special exceptions and special exemptions under the law of the land'.


As a free lance and unknown journalist, after penning the above helpless lines, I have remained of the earth, earthy. But Navin Chawla has risen by ascending spirals to dizzy heights. He was appointed as Election Commissioner in May, 2005. His track record of having subverted the Indian Constitution during emergency in 1975-77 and his several acts and deeds of misconduct during that period were buried under the sea and he was considered as suitable and fit for appointment as Election Commissioner of India. Justice Shah had commented on Navin Chawla in his report: 'Navin Chawla became the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and Kishan Chand the Lieutenant Governor became Navin Chawla's lieutenant'. Thus this Chawla, the distinguished Daftri (perhaps 'Chaprasi') of the Nehru dynasty and Sanjay Gandhi's Man Friday was illegitimately rewarded by the government of India for his life-long loyalty not to the nation but to a family. Thus the ghosts of the Emergency were finally exorcised by the elevation of Navin Chawla to the post of Election Commissioner.


In his farewell remarks, the outgoing Chief Election Commissioner Krishnamurthy rightly said that he feared the politicisation of the commission. Perhaps Chawla's shady and sordid background was very much in his mind when he made this comment.


Chawla's appointment as Election Commissioner was against the public interest and all the more objectionable because, by sheer seniority, Chawla would be the Chief Election Commissioner in 2009 when the general election is due. It may not be out of place or out of context to reasonably imagine that Sonia Gandhi has cleverly planted him in this post keeping in view the interest of her son Rahul Gandhi whom she wants to elevate to the post of Prime Minister of India in 2009. In case Navin Chawla performs as per her expectations in 2009, he may as well land up to begin with as the Vice-President of India and later with Sonia willing, may even become the Indian President! Normally when we are helpless we say that 'God only knows!' But unfortunately for India and for all of us, even God does not know. Perhaps 'Sonia only knows' - all the way, now and for ever!!


One more striking instance of the reprehensible conduct of Navin Chawla has recently come to light. Using his official influence in the Indian Administrative Service and with the full blessings of his Mother Superior, he has collected large sums of money for a non-governmental agency being run by his wife Rupika Chawla under the contrived umbrella of 'Social Work and Social Service'. Ambika Soni seems to have contributed Rs 15 lakh, Karan Singh Rs 10 lakh, A R Kidwai Rs 45 lakh and God only knows how much money other Congressmen have contributed to this great humanitarian effort without parallel in human history! Are they all preparing themselves for 2009 elections? Are they all doing strategic perspective planning?


Navin Chawla has stated that after his appointment as Election Commissioner, no money has been collected. His response is both irrelevant and irresponsible. The moot question is whether before his appointment as Election Commissioner, he was a private citizen or a member of the IAS. If he was a member of the IAS, then he was very much governed by the All India Services Conduct Rules and as per these rules, any collection of unauthorised money unconnected with one's official duty from any member of the public or any organisation is prohibited. But as I have stated earlier, right from day one of his entry into the IAS, he was exempted from all rules under the All India Services, first by Indira Gandhi, then by Sanjay Gandhi, again by Indira Gandhi after 1980 and subsequently by Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. I am saying all this only in the light of the fact that senior Congressmen have participated with gusto and enthusiasm with huge sums of money in the collection drive of the NGO controlled by his wife. The whole nation knows that their aim is not to wipe every tear from every eye! Their aim is only to wipe every tear from every eye in Mother Superior's family.


Soli Sorabji, the former Solicitor General of India, has rightly suggested that Navin Chawla should step down. But as one who has voluntarily chosen the path of shame without honour, it is not unlikely to expect Navin Chawla to treat the observation of Soli Sorabji with indivisible contempt. I expect the Chief Election Commissioner of India to take note of this article and to initiate appropriate action against Navin Chawla as per the law. I would request the President of India to remove him forthwith from the post of Election Commissioner for functioning as an informal agent of the Congress party with the panoply of official authority for 30 years and more.


The Election Commission always talks with bravado about the need for a code of conduct amongst political parties and politicians. In this context I would like to make it clear that all the Election Commissioners themselves must have a code of conduct and they should all realise the fact that they too are not above the law of the land.

(The writer is a retired IAS officer)

e-mail the writer at vsundaram@newstodaynet.com




From

The trouble with Mr Chawla

Author: Ashok Malik
Publication: The Pioneer
Date:
April 14, 2007

What the Shah commission said :-

(excerpts)

Shah Commission indicted Navin Chawla and two others on the basis of oral and documentary evidence obtained during the inquiry in the following words: "It is clear on the evidence that S/Shri PS Bhinder, KS Bajwa and Navin Chawla exercised enormous powers during the Emergency because they had easy access to the then Prime Minister's house. "Having acquired the power, they used it without considering whether the exercise was moral or immoral, legal or illegal. The Commission is of the opinion that though the involvement of these officers may vary slightly in degree, their approach to the problems of the period relating to the citizens was authoritarian and callous.


They grossly misused their position and in the process rendered themselves unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play and consideration for others. In their relish for power they completely subverted the normal channels of command and administrative procedure."


The Shah Commission's interim reports - part I: March 11, 1978, and part II: April 26, 1978 - make fascinating reading. Chawla's indictment ran from the brazen to the downright terrifying. It began innocuously enough with a report on the requisitioning of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses for Congress rallies: "The buses were booked on the basis of telephonic instructions received from Shri Navin Chawla ... The details regarding the number of buses and the parties and places to which they would report were given by Shri Navin Chawla."


It was a different India. "On June 13, 1975," the Shah Commission said, "the entire fleet of 983 buses plying on the Delhi routes was taken off the road and the buses were diverted to converge on the Prime Minister's house."


……..The transport manager also played propagandist: "A number of films were produced by the Films Division to project the image of Shri Sanjay Gandhi... Shri Navin Chawla... was virtually nominated as consultant for these films." Chawla claimed he was following the Lieutenant Governor's orders and denied initiating any publicity for Sanjay Gandhi.---


Chapter XI of the Shah Commission's Interim Report II dealt with the "1,012 persons detailed under MISA [Maintenance of Internal Security Act] during the period of Emergency". Before the Emergency, only the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and the District Magistrate (DM) were empowered to issue detention orders under MISA.


On July 3, 1975, this authority was extended to five additional DMs (ADMs) as well. The DM and the ADMs were directed to expeditiously issue arrest orders, as and when requests were made by the police: "The detaining authorities were not required to bother much about the adequacy or veracity of the grounds of detention." Crucial to this endeavour was the Lieutenant Governor's Secretary.


The Shah Commission sought evidence from the ADMs: "S/Shri P Ghosh, GC Srivastava and Smt Meenakshi Dutta Ghosh have further stated that they were called by Shri Navin Chawla sometime after the additional district magistrates had been empowered to issue detention orders and were told to issue as many orders as possible."


The ADMs recalled that "Shri Navin Chawla had summoned... and told them to 'fabricate the grounds' whenever they found the grounds supplied by the police to be inadequate".


There was more: "Shri P Ghosh... was again summoned by Shri Navin Chawla and was told that the Lieutenant Governor 'would not hesitate to put even senior IAS officers behind the bars under MISA if he found them lacking in cooperation in the matter of MISA detentions'."


A committee headed by the Lieutenant Governor was set up in October 1975 to review detention cases. Cases to be taken up by the committee were pre-cleared by a three-member sub-committee that included Navin Chawla: "The main, if not the only, criterion for the recommendations was the severance of an individual's relations from his political party following a declaration of his support to the 20 point programme of the then Prime Minister."


There was also a hint of concentration camp approach: "A special sub-committee to interrogate certain persons who had tendered an apology for their past political activities was constituted ... (It) included a psychiatrist also. The purpose of the interrogation, conducted in jail, was to ascertain the genuineness of the political conversion of the persons. Smt S Chandra [then special secretary (home), Delhi] has stated that this special sub-committee was Shri Navin Chawla's idea."


What happened to the political prisoners in Tihar?

This is how the Shah Commission saw it: "Though Shri Navin Chawla had no position in the jail hierarchy, he was exercising extra-statutory control in jail matters and sending instructions on all matters including the treatment of particular detenues. Shri Chawla had suggested the construction of some cells with asbestos roofs to 'bake' certain persons. A proposal to this effect was also processed but given up eventually due to certain technical reasons."


Parole was used as "an incentive to promote family planning". This "freedom for sterilisation" formula was also Chawla's: "According to Shri Krishan Chand [then Lieutenant Governor] Navin Chawla had given an assurance to the detenues to release them on parole if they got themselves sterilised."


However, when it came to allowing student prisoners to appear for examinations, there was no relaxation, no parole. As Chawla admitted, student prisoners were "considered a high security risk". Other officials remembered Chawla "used to deprecate in very strong language the activities of the students in general and the student detenues in particular".


One sample stood out. "It was seen that in one case the Delhi University agreed to open a special centre... just a mile from Tihar Jail," the Shah report said, but it was to no avail. The law student in question lost a year. His name was Arun Jaitley.


http://www.hvk.org/articles/0407/51.html






Article published in The Pioneer, February 12, 2006



Dangerous EC: 2009

by Dina Nath Mishra



India enjoys the reputation of credible democracy in the whole world. We feel proud of being called the largest democracy. It is by and large an objective description of reality. But the level of maturity of our democracy differs from State to State. For decades, in J&K, elections were largely farce. Bihar too fell in the same category. Use of muscle power and Government agencies is very much prevalent in a large part of UP also. Yet another tendency has surfaced in UPA, particularly the Congress party, to align with unlawful organisations. It is only because of this that Congress could win the last election in Andhra Pradesh.


Nevertheless, unlike Pakistan, regular elections take place in India and many a time regime also changes. In recent years the credibility of EC has gone up after conducting free, fair and fearless elections in J&K and Bihar. Next General Election is scheduled to be held in early 2009. The present Chief EC would lay down his office in the year 2006. The second in the line Gopalaswamy retires in September 2008.


Navin Chawla will preside over the EC for ten months till he reaches 65 years of age. During his tenure Parliamentary elections would be held in 2009. Navin Chawla of IAS cadres is by for the loyal best officer for Sonia Gandhi and this he has proven time and again. A TV channel has exposed Navin Chawla's close relations with the Congress Party. It has proven that his family trusts received huge money from a number of Congress MPs. His relations with the Gandhi family and the Congress Party are too well known to be ignored. Metallic strength of democracy can't be measured by Constitution, verbal pronouncements and formal commitment to democracy.


It has to be measured by the deeds of people, politicians and persons at the helm of affairs. Moreover, it all depends upon human behaviour. Democratic commitment of Sonia Gandhi has been exposed by gubernatorial appointments of Goa, Jharkhand and Bihar and its gross misuse thereafter. It has been proven by the SC in more than one case. Now she has inducted Navin Chawla, a man known for his dubious character. She has set in directional change in the EC to be matured as destinational changes by 2009.


Shah Commission indicted Navin Chawla and two others on the basis of oral and documentary evidence obtained during the inquiry in the following words: "It is clear on the evidence that S/Shri PS Bhinder, KS Bajwa and Navin Chawla exercised enormous powers during the Emergency because they had easy access to the then Prime Minister's house. "Having acquired the power, they used it without considering whether the exercise was moral or immoral, legal or illegal. The Commission is of the opinion that though the involvement of these officers may vary slightly in degree, their approach to the problems of the period relating to the citizens was authoritarian and callous.


They grossly misused their position and in the process rendered themselves unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play and consideration for others. In their relish for power they completely subverted the normal channels of command and administrative procedure." At another point the commission said, "tyrants sprouted at all levels overnight-tyrants whose claim to authority was largely based on their proximity to power." Navin Chawla has been described as the man "unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play". Sonia Gandhi considered him the choicest fit to hold the highest electoral authority, the EC whose membership requires most impartial and fairest behaviour.


Can there be a bigger travesty of the situation? The appointment of Navin Chawla as a member of EC is surely an ominous symptom of the Commission's working, as head of the electoral mafia during 2009 general elections, may be in collusion with Italian mafia.


It is worthwhile to recall what Lt Governor Kishan Chand has to say about Navin Chawla during proceedings in the Shah Commission when Chawla was secretary to LG of Delhi, during Emergency. Kishan Chand in an extra-ordinary confession admitted that he used to receive instructions from his secretary, Navin Chawla.


The evidence spread over Shah Commission report suggests Chawla's Gestapo (German Secret Police) type behaviour like fabricating evidence, instructing asbestos roof for jail cells, to take on certain MISA detinues or put them in lunatic asylums and threatening some IAS officers of even putting them also under MISA. A man with such track record has been appointed as a member of the EC. Can he be trusted for this position?


http://www.indiafirstfoundation.org/ARCHIVES/ARTICLES/ARC_DNM/2006/february1206.htm






Saturday, February 7, 2009

Silk in Tamil tradition.



Continuing from the previous post, let us search for clues in Tamil texts to know whether silk was used in ancient Tamil land. If we look for the words on cloth, we do come across a popular Tamil term for silk, namely "பட்டு " (pattu).


There are different sources available in Tamil texts, to study what this pattu was all about.

Of the different names for cloth or vasthram (in Tamil, vatthiram),
துகில் is the most common word and is also the name which is defined as
having the term 'pattu' as one of its synonyms.


In sutra 6-69, சூடாமணி நிகண்டு , the Tamil thesaurus.

gives the synonyms of 'thugil' wherein 'pattu' is found a mention.


According to this sutra,
the following are the other names for 'thugil'.


thugil = idaiyal, vEdhagam, yEdagam and pattu.

Idaiyal = very thin cloth.

vEdhagam = vEga vaiikkappatta pon, i.e., very thin sheet of gold made
malleable by heating.

yEdagam = cloth made of fibres drawn from yEdu, or leaf of some vegetation.

Pattu = nEthiram (same as Sanskrit nEthram) which is very soft as the
peacock feathers with the eye. That is, pattu is that cloth which is
very soft to touch and to see, as how the peacock feathers appear.



Looking at this meaning of pattu, I am drawn to look at the 'காடு படு திரவியம் ' – the wealth of the forests. One of the wealth of the forest is peacock feather!

Nowhere can I locate sericulture or reeling of silk thread from cocoon in the Tamil texts

or from the sources related to products of the 5 lands of Tamils.


But the meaning of Pattu as nethram (peacock's feather) make me wonder whether Tamils knew some method of making fine cloth using peacock's feather.

There must be some connection to peacock feather, as we have even today the dothis called 'மயில் கண் வேஷ்டி '! This dothi is well known for the soft border that resembles the eye of the peacock.



Mayil kaN veshti is a special garment worn on special occasions. It is possible to assume that some laborious art work could have gone into making this 'mayil kaN' from peacock's feathers.

However we do come across an explicit reference to cocoons in another sutra in ChoodamaNi nigandu.


In sutra 6-70, it is said that

Pattu is of two types.


They are பாளிதம் and கோசிகம்.

paaLidham is a very soft cloth used to cover the top part of the
pandhal (vidhaana seelai)

It is kOsigam which has silk moth connection.
Kosigam is that which is derived from kOsakaaram.
kOsakaaram is an ancient Tamil word for silk moth.

Since kausheyam is the silk worm's pupa stage in Sanskrit, it is
understood that kOsigam is derived from the Sanskrit word. It is also
known as kausigam in Tamil.

This shows that silk was made in Tamil lands from cocoon.

Yet the mystery remains if it was made through violent or non-violent ways.



From Adiyaarkku nallar.



A big group of synonyms for thugil has been given by அடியார்க்கு நல்லார் , the famous 'urai aasiriyar' for Silappadhikaram. The interesting finding is that this group contains the kausheya (drawn from pupa) cloth and also the cotton cloth. From the different terms, it is understood that this group contains all the varieties of cloths made from different sources and made for different purposes and persons. The very first term that Adiyaarkku nallar has given is 'kOsigam' – ( or pattu as defined by ChoodamaNi nigandu) the Tamil equivalent of kausheyam (made from cocoon)!



In chapter 14 of Silappadhikaram, comes a line, "அகிலும் , துகிலும் .." agilum, thugilum (line 108).


Writing his commentary on this, Adiyaarkku nallar says that the word 'thugil' thugil'

indicates any of the following type of clothes. They are


"கோசிகம் (kOsigam)


பீதகம் (peethakam)


பச்சிலை (pacchilai)


அரத்தம் (arattham)


நுண்துகில் (nuNthugil)


சுண்ணம் (chuNNam)


வடகம் (vadagam )


பஞ்சு (panju)


இரட்டு பாடகம் (irattu paadagam)


கொங்கலர் (kOngalar)


கோபம் (kOpam )


சித்திரக் கம்மி (chitthira-k-kammi )


குறித்தி (kurithi )


கரியல் (kariyal )


பேடகம் (pEdakam )


பரியட்டக் -காசு (pariyatta-k-kaasu )


வேதங்கம் (vEdangam)


புநகர் (pungar )


காழகம் (kaazhagam)


சில்லிகை (chilligai )


துரியம் (thuriyam )


பங்கம் (pangam )


தத்தியம் (thatthiyam )


வண்ணடை (vaNNadai )


கவற்றுமடி (kavattrumadi)


நூல்யாப்பு (noolyaappu)


திருக்கு (thirukku)


தேவாங்கு (dEvaangu)


பொன்னெழுத்து (ponnezhutthu )


குச்சரி (kucchari)


தேவகிரி (dEvagiri )


காத்தூலம் (kaatthoolam )


இரஞ்சி (iranJi )


வெண்பொத்தி (veNpotthi )


செம்பொத்தி (chempotthi )


பணிப்பொத்தி (paNippotthi )


என்று சொல்லப்பட்ட பலவகைத்தாய தொகுதி "




This list starts with kOsigam (kausheyam) related to kOsa-kaaram, the term in Tamil for Silk-moth and peethakam (yellow vasthram) of Sanskrit origin. It also contains terms suggestive of other sources of cloth making. For instance panju means cotton, denoting a cotton cloth. But interestingly, the common word for silk, namely, 'pattu' is not found in this list. Does this mean the term pattu was not in common use or was not used until Adiyaarkku nallar's times (around 9th century AD)?



Panju must been a common term and cotton weaving must have been a cottage industry in ancient Tamil lands.


There is a reference in a புற நானுறு verse about the 'முற்றம் ' where
cotton (panju) was dried.

Another verse says about 'பஞ்சி களையாப் புண்ணர்', meaning 'like the
cloth (panji) on a wound, it hurts'

So cotton cloth making must have been widespread activity.




Other terms connected with 'pattu'.




The words pattu, pattOlai, pattai, patturuvudhal, pattayam all have
their roots in மரப்பட்டை , the fibre of trees.

Pattai
is mara-p-pattai, or fibre of trees which is also known as
mara-vuri in Ramayana.



In those days, if it was said, 'பட்டை உடுத்தான் ', it meant that the
person wore the cloth made of mara-pattai.
(eg:- Raman 'pattai' vudutthan, during his vanavasam.)



PattOlai is the sheet made of mara-pattai in which messages and
declarations were written.

Pattayam is the sheet used as promisory notes.

Patturuvudhal
is removal of fibres from pattai (pattai vUduruvudhal)

This patturuvudhal was weaving the fibre.



From all these the word 'pattu' must have come to stay. We can also
see that mara-p-pattai has been the basis of pattu or vasthram, in
other words, vegetation had been the basis for cloth.



Pattu also means a small town.
The ChinnaLa-p-pattu is a type of cloth woven by weavers of the small
town called Chinnala-p-pattu.

(Both patti and pattu mean chitroor a small town)
Here 'pattu' in chinnala-p-pattu does not mean silk.



The word Pattam had been in common use in Tamil for cloths.

According to Chudaamani nigandu, 'pattam' means vasthram.

The sutram (11-13) is
"pattamE vOdai, thoosu, padavi, vaaL, kavari maavaam"



Pattam is synonymous with, kuLam (tank) thoosu (cloth/ vasthram),
padavi ( position one holds) vaaL, (sword) and kavari maan (kavari
deer)

பட்டிகை means 'kachcham" like in pancha kaccham, the folds of cloth.

The அரைஞான் கயிறு (worn around the waist) is also known as pattigai.

The paatam or vasthram or cloth worn by people (pattam vudutthal) must
have come to be known as pattu udutthal.



There is another word, kOdi, and
'கோடி ' udutthudal means wearing a new vasthram.

kOdi means new cloth.




Is silk / pattu a pure (madi) cloth?




மடி is a Tamil word for cloth or vasthram.

Madi also means pure cloth, or a cloth made pure by maditthal.

மடித்தல் means 'அழித்தல் ', or removal of impurity.



There are methods of making this madi mentioned in shastras.
The cloth must be washed in water and dried in vaayu, i.e., not under
the sun, but under a shade.



7 types of vaayu present in this Universe, (5 of which are in this
world and the 6th one leads the worlds into pithruyaana and the 7th
one leads one to dEvayaana (brahma lokam)) will dry the
cloth making it fit for wearing for vedik purposes. If one has no time
to dry the cloth sufficiently, one can flutter the washed cloth 7
times in the air and it is then considered madi or purified for
wearing.



If one enquires about how the grand father or great grand father had
used the new vasthram, it will be known that none of them wore
vasthram new or fresh from the weaver's place. They used to wash and
dry it before wearing even for the first time.



Even the strict vediks will not advise you to wear a factory fresh
vEshti but ask you to wash and dry it for wearing for any vedik
ceremony. It happens in marriages and it happens in upanayanam.



They insist on wetting and drying the cloth before using.

What could be the rationale of this?

Is not the cloth already pure as it is made hygienically from
factories and made under best possible pure conditions?



The following is what I understand by putting together the facts
known to me.

In those days vasthrams were made from vegetation, especially from cotton.
In ancient works in Tamil, the term cloth is denoted by 'panju' or 'panji'.
Cotton has been the source of cloth making.

What is this cotton?
It is a part of a live tree.
Any living thing radiates energy or an aura around it.
This holds good for the cotton ball.
When it is plucked, that life energy or aura around it starts decaying.



It is like this.

It is a proven fact that all people possess aura. When a person dies,
this aura decays or something of a decaying nature starts setting in.
That is perhaps why death-theettu (impurity due to death)

is removed by water (taking bath).
Even if a person is not related to the dead one, if that person
happens to be anywhere near a dead body, he has to purify himself by
bath. (The same logic holds good for cleansing by water during and after the
mensus. Since the aural position of the woman changes during menstruation and
the dead ova with all its subsidiary energy-items are washed out of the body during that time, it is said to cause or radiate impurity. Once the dead cells with decaying aura are removed from the body, the woman cleanses herself by bathing
.)



Since every living organism has this aura, it is assumed that the
plucked cotton ball also has an aura in some decayed form or some decaying aura still
sticking to it. It then becomes logical to assume that
without removing this impurity, a vEdik would not like to wear it even
if it is a brand new vasthram.



Later, the general purity of the vasthram is ensured with every wash.

That is why a madi vasthram is that which is washed and dried overnight.

But silk is considered a madi (pure) vasthram. How?

If we think on lines of logic as above, only then we can justify the
madi (purity) of silk.

Silk of kaushEyam is made from the secretions from the mouth of the silk worm.
The secretions have no aural connection!


It is similar to how honey is collected.
Honey is an important vasthu used in vedic kaaryams.
It is obtained from the spitting of it by the honey bees. Here again
there is no aural connection.



That is perhaps why elders in those days would have accepted silk from
silk worm or cocoon after the moth fly had fled,

as there is no need to wash the cloth every time and there
is no aural impurity in it.

Remember, the silk cloth is generally not washed at all in those days

It will be just preserved carefully.

While a big fuss is made about cotton vasthram,

vediks would not mind using silk as madi vasthram.

The silk will be used many times without a wash.



In the absence of sericulture in those days, it can be assumed that silk making must have been a rare activity. And himsa was never part of Vedik precepts.

There is no himsa in obtaining honey. The bees are chased away and the
honey is obtained.


Similarly, no himsa would have been caused in deriving silk from cocoons.

Sanatana dharma, which considers ahimsa as parama dharma can not accept himsic silk.



But the complete ban to use of silk in vaideeha –related activities such as marriage and upanayana give rise to an opinion, that himsic silk too must have existed in those times and hence was avoided.

But today, what we have is himsic silk only.

It can not have Vedik sanction.



It must be recalled how the Paramacharyal of Kanchi had always spoken against hismic silk.

He never approved of this silk.


That must give us a clue about the silk that was used by Sita.


That must also give us a clue about why there is no trace of sericulture in the ancient land of this Bharath.


Ahimsa is the supreme dharma of this land!



Conclusion:-


(1) Silk is very much indigenous to India. Making silk from cocoon was known in Bharath even as early as Ramayana times. What has now been discovered in the Harappan sites comes as a proof of silk-making that dates back to Rama's times. The Harappan findings are to be considered as Post-krishna times. The culture was rich with much greater strides in the pre-Krishna period. Silk is one facet of it.



(2) The knowledge of making silk from coccon must have been present throughout India, as we find its name in Tamil texts too. The existence of quite many terms for cloths on the basis of source and the usage factor shows that our ancients were more knowledgeable in cloth making and it is no surprise that they knew reeling silk from cocoons.



(3) Sericulture was not practiced as an industry in Bharath, as silk making was done through non-violent ways. Empty cocoons must have been collected and silk was reeled from them.



(4) Such non-violent silk was considered precious and was used by the Royals and for adorning deities.



(5) Silk making by violent means has no sanction in Hindu dharma.