Hindutva
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===Pseudohistory of science and technology=== | ===Pseudohistory of science and technology=== | ||
In 2014, the newly elected Hindu nationalist BJP goverment appointed Y. Sudershan Rao, a history professor associated with a RSS-affiliated organization, as the head of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]] (ICHR). According to an article by [[Reuters]], Rao claimed that Indians used to fly [[aircraft]], conducting [[stem cell research]] and using cosmic weapons 5000 years ago! Rao belives the Indian epics the [[Mahabharata]] and the [[Ramayana]], which were written two milenia ago, are not fiction, but based on real facts of that time. He argues humans did not develop the art of fiction writing until a few centuries back. Thus, he claims, the events and things described in these epics are real!<ref name="Reuters Modification">[http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-india-religion-education-idUSKCN0J50BZ20141121 Fears grow in India about Hindu 'Modi-fication' of education], ''Reuters''</ref> | In 2014, the newly elected Hindu nationalist BJP goverment appointed Y. Sudershan Rao, a history professor associated with a RSS-affiliated organization, as the head of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]] (ICHR). According to an article by [[Reuters]], Rao claimed that Indians used to fly [[aircraft]], conducting [[stem cell research]] and using cosmic weapons 5000 years ago! Rao belives the Indian epics the [[Mahabharata]] and the [[Ramayana]], which were written two milenia ago, are not fiction, but based on real facts of that time. He argues humans did not develop the art of fiction writing until a few centuries back. Thus, he claims, the events and things described in these epics are real!<ref name="Reuters Modification">[http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-india-religion-education-idUSKCN0J50BZ20141121 Fears grow in India about Hindu 'Modi-fication' of education], ''Reuters''</ref> | ||
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| + | In 2014, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi asserted that [[genetic science]] and [[IVF]] existed in ancient India. To support his claim, he pointed towards the Mahabharata and argued, "We all read about Karna in the Mahabharata. If we think a little more, we realise that the Mahabharata says Karna was not born from his mother’s womb. This means that genetic science was present at that time. That is why Karna could be born outside his mother’s womb."<ref>[http://www.firstpost.com/politics/plastic-surgery-to-ivf-things-bjp-says-hum-indiawaale-had-before-the-world-did-1833759.html Plastic surgery to IVF: Things BJP says hum Indiawaale had before the world did] ''Firstpost''</ref> | ||
== References == | == References == | ||
Revision as of 11:59, 10 April 2015
| Vishnu be praised |
| Om |
Hindutva, or "Hinduness," a word coined by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his 1923 pamphlet entitled Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?, is the term used to describe movements advocating Hindu nationalism.
Contents |
Foundation
Savarkar, the founder of the Hindutva ideology, was an atheist.[1][2] Explaining the difference between Hindutva and Hinduism, he wrote that the term Hindutva was not reserved for "believers of the dogmas and religious practices that go by the name Hinduism".[3] For Savarkar, a "Hindu" was a political and cultural identity: he used the term "Hindutva" for all those religions of Indian origin (including the various branches of Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism), while excluding the Muslims and Christians.
Modern status
Modern adherents of Hindutva, however, often involve religious aspects in this ideology, and have been accused of practical violence like large-scale riots. In India, an umbrella organization called the Sangh Parivar champions the concept of Hindutva. The Sangh comprises organizations such as the RSS, Bharatiya Janata Party, Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and others.
Pseudoscholarship
Pseudoscience
The Sangh Parivar and Hindutva advocates in general also indulge in a lot of pseudoscientific claims. For example, it is not uncommon to find Hindutva proponents claiming that the discoveries of modern science are actually re-discoveries of what had been found ages ago by the ancient Hindu saints. Also, they tend to justify things like Ayurveda using pseudo-scientific blabber.
Vedic Science is a concept used by Hindutva advocates to denote to the scientific tradition of ancient India.[4] Astrologer Gayatri Devi Vasudev writing for The Organiser, a publication of the main Hindutva organization in India, RSS, claimed that the distinction of science and pseudoscience (or proto-science) is Eurocentric and inapplicable to Vedic Science:
“”Western scientic thought draws on the traditions of Greek rationalist thinking according to which only what is within the purview of the five senses is taken cognisance of. Scientific methods follow some kind of closed scientific reasoning which insulates itself against facts that its methods cannot account for. How else can they [scientists] dare dismiss Jyotisha (astrology) which sees a level of existence beyond the purview of the five senses?
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| —Vasudev 2001[5] |
Hindutva advocates even go as far to claim that religion and science is identical in India:
“”The idea of 'contradiction' is an imported one from the West in recent times by the Western-educated, since 'Modern Science' arbitrarily imagines that it only has the true knowledge and its methods are the only methods to gain knowledge, smacking of Semitic dogmatism in religion.
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| —Mukhyananda 1997:94[6] |
Pseudohistory and pseudoarcheology
Hindutva advocates propagate the pseudohistorical and pseudoarchaeological Indigenous Aryans theory which asserts that the speakers of Indo-Aryan languages are "indigenous" to the Indian subcontinent.
Hindutva writer P. N. Oak claimed Taj Mahal, a Mughal mausoleum considered the seventh wonder of the world, was a Hindu temple.[7]
Pseudohistory of science and technology
In 2014, the newly elected Hindu nationalist BJP goverment appointed Y. Sudershan Rao, a history professor associated with a RSS-affiliated organization, as the head of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR). According to an article by Reuters, Rao claimed that Indians used to fly aircraft, conducting stem cell research and using cosmic weapons 5000 years ago! Rao belives the Indian epics the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, which were written two milenia ago, are not fiction, but based on real facts of that time. He argues humans did not develop the art of fiction writing until a few centuries back. Thus, he claims, the events and things described in these epics are real![8]
In 2014, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi asserted that genetic science and IVF existed in ancient India. To support his claim, he pointed towards the Mahabharata and argued, "We all read about Karna in the Mahabharata. If we think a little more, we realise that the Mahabharata says Karna was not born from his mother’s womb. This means that genetic science was present at that time. That is why Karna could be born outside his mother’s womb."[9]
References
- ↑ Nandy, Ashis (2003). Time Warps: The Insistent Politics of Silent and Evasive Pasts. Delhi: Orient Longman. p.71. ISBN 9788178240718. OCLC 49616949.
- ↑ ^ Kumar, Pramod (1992). Towards Understanding Communalism. Chandigarh: Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development. p.348. ISBN 9788185835174. OCLC 27810012.
- ↑ ^ Sushil Mittal (2008). Studying Hinduism: key concepts and methods. Routledge. pp.272–. ISBN 978-0-415-30126-8. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ↑ Quite similar to the Hare Krishnas use of the term "Vedic creationism" to give their brand of creationism some ancient Indian patina
- ↑ Vasudev, Gayatri Devi. 2001. Vedic astrology and pseudo-scientific criticism, The Organiser (an English-language publication of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), reprinted in The Astrological Magazine, cited after Sokal (2006:38)
- ↑ Mukhyananda, Swami. 1997. Vedanta in the Context of Modern Science: A (Comparative Study. Mumbai [Bombay]: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
- ↑ The Tajmahal is Tejomahalay
- ↑ Fears grow in India about Hindu 'Modi-fication' of education, Reuters
- ↑ Plastic surgery to IVF: Things BJP says hum Indiawaale had before the world did Firstpost