The following two e mails were sent by self to TOI, HT & DNA yesterday.DNA has published an abridged version.

Dear Sirs,

Karunanidhi challenged Advani to debate on Valmiki Ramayana but the later did not follow it up.Letters of rage from readers also did not take the matter further. I don't think that Karunanidhi called Rama a drunkard in English. He must have said kudiyan in Tamil which is translated by the English media as drunkard. Whatever it might be; most of the readeres have not gone thru the text in Valmiki Ramayana. I give the sankrit text from

SRIMAT VALMIKI RAMAYANAM

In Sanskrit original.

Printed and Published by Gita Press, Gorakhpur.

Vikram Samvad 2020 equal to AD 1963.

Uthara Kandam: Sarga 42: Verses 16 to 23 Page 686 .

Thadhabhootam hi Ramasya Kaananam Sannivesanam

Brahmasana Grihopetaam Latagriha Samavritaam 16

Asokavanikaam Speethaam Pravisya Raghunandanah

Aasane cha Subhakaare Pushpa prakara bhooshite 17

Kudhastharana Samsteerne Ramah San nishasada ha

Seetamaadaaya Hasthena Madhu Maireyakam Suchi 18

Paayayaamasa Kakutsah Sacheemiva Purandarah

Mamsadi cha Sumrishtani Phalani Vividhani cha 19

Ramasyadyavaharaardham Kinkarasthoornamaharan

Upanrityascha Rajanam Nritha Geeta Visaradaah 20

Apsaroraga Sanghascha Kinnaree Parivaritah

Dakshinah Roopavatyascha Striyah Paanavasam Gataah 21

Upanrityanda Kakutsam Nritya Geeta Visaradaah

Monobhiramaah Ramaasta Rame Ramayataam Varaah 22

Ramayaamaasa Dharmatma Nityam Paramabhooshitaah

Sa thaya Seetaya saardham Aaseeno Viraraaja h 23

This show that at that time kings his spouses and the girls entertraining them do drink.

I would like you to make use of these verses after varifying with your own texts.

Yours,

K.N.Krishnan.

Dear Sirs,

There are innumerable number of study material on the story of Ramayana. There are summaries from a few pages to hundreds; of the story in almost all laguages in India. My acquentances are very few. However, I have not come across answers for many questions raised by many. One of them is as follows. The first verse in Ramayana is about sage Valmiki raising a question about who is the perfect person in this world. Narada answers that such a person is Rama who rules Ayodhya at that time. Valmiki is living in the kingdom of Rama but does not know of his virtues and qualities. There is no answer for his ignorance. If the explanation is that the sage is not interested in worldly affairs: then the question to Narada has no standing. Should the other worldly sage; concern himself about the perfect person in this world in his time?

Another question concerns us is that why Rama and Lakdhman are together and Bharata and Shatrughna. There is no reason for such bonding. When Viswamitra comes to Dasaratha and ask him to sent Rama; Lakshman also was sent along and not Bharata or Shatrughna

The next question. Why Rama's coronation was decided when Bharata and Shatrughna were not in town but at Bharata's uncle's place far away

Was not coronation day fixed after scholars in astrology were consulted for the auspicious day and time? With all precautions taken; the coronation did not take place and king had to die?

There are so many questions that were not asked nor answered. Any questioning is taken as ·invading the sacred· and denounced as anti-hindu if not anti-indian. Those who claim to be the repositaries of the ·sacred· are in fact aping their counterparts in the Semitic religions. The later has their sacred books but in India no book is accepted as common to all. Shaivates do not agree with Vaishnavates. Similary others do not accept the one other than their own. In the past there were reports of conflicts between sects to dominate society. But that kind of conflict almost disappeared from social life since the 19 ^th century social reforms and the national liberation movements.These gentlemen who cry about ·invasion of the sacred· by secularists and leftists seem unaware of the tradition of Shad Darsanas i.e six kinds of views in Indian philosophy. Some of them do not propagate any sacred texts and Lokayata is completely negetived any. Both Budha and Mahavira did not advocate or impose any sacred texts. The Nasadiya Suktam in Rig Veda is a pointer to the earliest sceptical thoughts that is said to have intrigued Swami Vivekananda. But todays hindutva enthusiasts find a need to harmonise its meaning to their ·accepted· understandings that is again borrowed from Semitic ones. The latest is the explanations propounded to the published letters of Mother Theresa. The Indian tradition never considered about any limitation to the thoughts. Such need for limitations are imported from abroad and absorbed by the commons during the rule of Semitic believers.I include communists in this group. However, except for the countries ruled by religious tenets even those Semitic nations has outgrown such restrictions and are on the way to democracy and freedom. Freedom of thought is central to them.

Yours,

K.N.Krishnan

Below is the copy of a letter sent to TOI, HT & DNA

It is unfortunate that Ms. Taslima Nasreen has to run around this secular country for protection against the threat of Muslim fundamentalists who in fact form a miniscule body of the community. What is more shameful is the attitude and acts of the CPI(M) and its govt. in West Bengal. Instead of standing up to the threat of the fundamentalists both buckled and allowed the writer to seek fresh abode in other parts of India. Once in the past the Rajiv Gandhi Govt succumbed to fanatical fringe of the same groups and amended the constitution in order to deny maintenance to divorced Muslim women as ordered by our Supreme Court. The result of such abject surrender to Muslim fanatics pawed the way for the Hindu groups headed by BJP to come to power. Similarly the CPI(M) has given up the secular space to communalists. Even if liberal minded Hindus come to the conclusion that secularism is sham idea one may not be surprised. The so called pillars of secularism crumbled at the first test against real communalism. It seems that Islamic fundamentalists became bold to act in West Bengal because of the misguided stand of the left supporting the Islamic regime in Iran in the name of anti-imperialism. The left Govt. in West Bengal banned Tasleema's book Dvikhandito at the behest of the same forces. Then judiciary stood up to secure secularism and ordered the ban to be withdrawn. When in last year the Muslim fringe protested and threatened death to creators of the Prophet Cartoons communists were prominent in the crowd at Azad Maidan in Mumbai. While our own nuclear projects suffer from lack of technology and material the left constructed hurdles in the way of the Nuclear Agreement 123 again in the name of fighting American Imperialism but firm in supporting the Iranian efforts at becoming a nuclear power. The leaders of CPI(M) like Biswas and Yechury were bending backwards to wriggle out of a situation that is unconvincing. They acted to mollify the anger of communalists at the cost of secular values. The results could be predicted in advance. As in the aftermath of Sha Banu case the Hindu fundamentalists headed by their political outfit BJP will be the party to benefit from the left betrayal. No excuse and or correction could make amends to the situation. A final question. If communista could not stand up for secularism who else will?

However Tasleema is in good company with Rushdie, Hussain, Ayan Hishie Ali. As in the case of the last who was given space by a far right think tank in US Tasleema is backed by the BJP spokespersons. They in fact demanded giving citizenship to her. Does this mean that only antagonists will protect the dissidents in other's camp? The religious fundamentalist believe that those who were born in their faith have no choice but remain in it and not speak against it. At the same time they want to convert people from other faiths i.e. speak and act against other faiths. What a monstrous perversion!!

By K.N. Krishnan

I finished reading Arundhati Roy and wish to quote an article by Neelotpal Basu CPI(M) in today,s DNA. I agree with most of the things said by Basu. However, the Maoists started their activities in WB when CPM came to power. Though the strength of the movement came down in WB and in Kerala the same spread to other states. Gadachiroli in Maharashtra is very near o the city of Mumbai. I also quote another article from Ajitha the ex-maoist from Kerals. She is the daughter of kunnickal Narayanan about whom I noted in my autobiography.

Womens Reservation Bill

Everyone thunders on equality between sexes but when it come to crunch the bias comes out strongly. Let us not forget that the 33% reservation in the legislatures and parliament is waiting for more than a decade. Apart from that the unwillingness to concede seats to women is blatantly clear. Each one boosts that he is the genuine partisan for gender equality.

As for the present claims of honoring women because a woman is nominated to contest for nation's president, less said is the better. As you know Prathibha Patil is not the first choice from the congress nor from the left. After struggling with many names for which no consensus was found Sonia threw this name. The lady is not the first women governer in India. That should go to Sarojini Naidu the legendary nigtingale of India. Nehru made her governor of UP or so. During the last presidential elections the legendary heroine of the Indian National Army of Subhas Chandra Bose; Laxmi Seghal was the nominee of left. But the congress did not support. They joined to vote for Kalam. At no point of time the polital parties choose women in the first instance.

As for the personal worth of Mrs Patil, I have my reservations. Rajdeep Sardesai has writen an article in today's Hindustan Times on this subject and I mostly agree with his observations. However, the present calculations are that the chance for Patil are bright. The popular Kalam made himself a fool after refusing to stand at the first instance and then consenting when approached by a so called third front.

By the way as of today nothing will change with a woman in Rashtrapati Bhawan. But one should admire the calculating Sonia for out smarting all. Enough for present.

By K.N. Krishnan

HINDUS: An Alternate History

I mentioned about reading the latest book by Wendy Doniger titled "Hindus: An Alternate History:" that was brought by Saraswathy last December. I have penned my thoughts about this book and the same is copied here.

HINDUS: An Alternate History

By Wendy Doniger.

This is a heavy book with about 799 pages in which text consist of 692 printed pages. I completed reading it taking a long time and now going through it for second time. Much of the narratives given in this book are known to me but not thought about deeply in my case. Doniger at the outset disclaims herself as any kind of historian or philosopher of Hinduism. She just collected both well-known and not so known facts from the repository of Hindu traditions from several strands of oral and written ones. Her list of bibliography goes to 25 pages in the book. She follows a common accepted chronology without much emphasise on its relevance. When she goes back and forth connecting narrations one may get the impression that she is trying to create some new narratives which she admits is the case in her book. I was always of the view that Hinduism is something that could not be understood in one lifetime. Any description or understanding will be incomplete and too partial. The Hindu tradition is so vast and so varied and contradictories co-exist that one will get messed and end with choosing what he or she wanted to assert. This situation has created the political conservatives to grab the most bizarre grounds to propagate their restricted theories in political mobilization. The reality shows that they did indeed succeed in their objective nowadays.

Doniger mentions the incident when an egg was thrown on her by one in the London audience for saying that Sita in Valmiki’s Ramayana accuses Laxman of impropriety in not going to the help of Rama before Ravana abducts her. Doniger found sexual meaning to this episode. One of the blogs alleged that its writer after having learnt of the sacred books of Hindus had not come across such happenings as claimed by Doniger. Doniger in turn says that she is writing this book specifically to dispel such misdirected claims and show how the known and mostly unknown texts and oral stories are worth going through in order to understand better the ways and meanings of Hindu for Hindus themselves. In her efforts she is as complete as it could possibly be taking the time frame involved.

Doniger narrative tries to tackle such incomplete representations of Hindus. She started from the earliest known chronology from 50,000 year and unto Indus Valley in 3,000 to 1,500 BCE. There is some kind of continuity from findings of archeology. But the Vedic texts do not fit in the time frame. The tradition of Indus Valley architecture like town planning gets a break at time starting 1,500 BCE or so. The subsequent tradition follows a different rout mainly that of Vedic. There is an extensive chapter where Doniger questions all the attributed interpretations of Indus Valley signs and symbols through the Vedic textual ones. Most or all of the Indus seals could be explained in more than one way or in none. Take them as it is for toys or others.

Again the actual Vedic tradition gets lost giving way to Upanishadic and puranic tradition. Still both these traditions are tangled in controversies and contradictions. Political Hindus believe and assert for political reasons that the puranas are history of actual happenings and individuals mentioned there were living at those times. But there are others as devoted to Hindu traditions and having different meanings to epic narratives. One most recent one that I found in the Speaking Tree column of Times of India was about the scene of Kaliya Mardanam in Bhagavata Purana. The writer says that Srikrishna subdued the many headed Kaliya to show us that we as humans are to subdue our own sinful wishes like lust greed hate etc. The writer unwittingly admits that the Purana narrative is just allegoric and fictional. Similar meanings could be found in most of the writings of very devoted Hindus otherwise than scholarly. Sita, Draupadi, Kunti, Bhishma, Karna even Ravana were read as allegorical figures explaining the underlying spiritual contents. So Doniger is in good company to cite different meanings of the sacred texts including her way of psychological analysis. However, I feel that a good lot is missing from her narrative. They are mostly from the South, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other areas (about Telugu and Kannada I am not very familiar). There are historians who found and concluded that the Jaina and Buddhist religions that were too widespread in South were erased from the regions by force and violence resorted to by some of the later rulers.

There are some more nice points that are missing. At one place she refers Vasudeva as the stepfather of Krishna. In another place Nanda is called as Krishna’s stepfather. While Vasudeva and Devaki are Krishna’s natural parents the later is not mentioned anywhere in the narrative. Devaki was Kamsa’s sister and he charioteer the couple to Vasudeva’s home. A voice from heaven warned Kamsa that the eight sone of Devaki will kill him. Instead of reaching them home Kamsa jailed both. Earlier he jailed his own father to occupy the throne. The gods and anti gods were born to different mothers with one father. As per the puranic lore all creatures were from mothers and one father. Many anti-gods like Hiranya Kasipu and Ravana did penance to Brahma and Shiva respectively and got boons. Then Vishnu has to incarnate to finish of the demons. Even here the story is that Jaya and Vijaya the guards at the abode of Vishnu i.e. Vaikunda and were cursed by rishies for doing their duties of not allowing any without permission. It will be difficult to enumerate all such points with my own limited knowledge. But they are not failings. As I maintain the narrative on Hinduism is not amenable for one life time alone.

But there are people who claim to know everything about Hinduism by reading some stories on Ramayana, Mahabharat, Bhagavata Purana and some slokas and bhajans. They have no idea as to what is the Veda about or Upanishads. They read the articles like Speaking Tree in TOI and or similar writings in other papers and magazines and that were all that is Hinduism. There too many regional language magazines (Tamil & Malayalam that I knew) catering this groups with more and more concocted stories from puranic and local lore (Stala Puranas). I had conversed with such minded people and found them wanting in reasoning. One or two examples could be sited. I quarried some of them the reasons for King Dasaradha in deciding coronation of Rama as crown prince when Bharata and Shatrughna were at Kekaya and not at home. Why the sudden decision? Many were astonished to hear me saying it. They replied that they were not aware of the absence of these two from palace. They only know that Kaikeyi objected to the coronation of Rama with promptings from her maid.

I pointed out that when Rama got ready to go into exile for 14 years, Sita insisted to follow him to the forest. Laxman also followed. But what did Laxman’s wife Urmila do? She is condemned to live separate from her husband for 14 long years unlike other sisters who lived with their husbands at home i.e. Mandovi with Bharata and Srutakirti with Satrughna. Sita also did not persuade her sister to follow her husband. It is surprising that the author Valmiki who pronounced “Ma Nishada” when he saw the male crouncha bird killed by a hunter. By these words Valmiki expressed his anguish and compassion towards the separated bird. Some claimed that they were not sure that Laxman and others were married. All agreed that while reading the stories this never came to their mind. I conveyed to all that these two points always worried me. In my readings of so many articles and books and hearing the story I never came across any explanation. No one to my knowledge raised these points in their discourses.

When Karunanidhi the DMK chief told in public about Rama drinking, the political Hindu got enraged and organised demonstrations all over the country. I do feel that many of the leading lights would have read the Valmiki Ramayana in full and knew very well that in Uttarakanda Valmiki describes the party being hosted every day in the palace and Rama offering “Madhu Maireyakam Suchi” to Sita while drunken girls were singing and dancing. (Uthara: Sarga 42 Verses 18-23) But they concealed the facts and allowed the mobs to play up their fanatical beliefs. There is much more to the stories. In Aranyakanda Rama asks Bharata about the welfare of the queens numbering 353 that include three named wives of Dasaradha. There are so many unknown details of puranic stories that got omitted from summaries and orations.

Although every one of the Hindu knows and believes that Vyasa did separate Vedas into four books none dares to mention that the most sacred hymn Purush Sukta of Rigveda says that the three Vedas came out of the sacrifice performed by devas and rishis “Thasmad Yajnad Sarvahutah Richa Samani Jajnire: Chandamsi Jajniire Thasmad Yajus thasmadajayata”.

The writings of the Diaspora on Hindu scriptures and history are replete with such omissions and commissions that confirm their own idea of their religion. Most of them were arguing for a systemised and homogenous construction of Hinduism. They are just imitating in a way the Semitic religions to assert for one interpretation and one tradition also for one moral code that in reality will exclude the vast varieties and faces of Hindus It was basically Western morality and values evangelical fervor of the Victorian era that imposed severe strictures on the so-called heathen amorous degradation and sought to cleanse the Indian people by propagating those values. Today, the philosophical acceptance of desire and the erotic sentiment has been asphyxiated by a hypocritical morality that has for much too long equated sex with sin and desire with guilt. (Quote)

An example could be that of the Californian text book case a few years back. At home the vandalism perpetrated by ABVP (a part of the RSS parivar) at Delhi University history department for advising the students to read A.K. Ramanujam’s essay on Many Ramayanas. For them the authentic version is not Valmiki’s Sanskrit text but Rama Charita Manasa of Tulasi Dasa in Hindi a very puritanical one.

Doniger mentions the rivers in Pittsburg being named as Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati by Indians there in US. During my short stay in US a very devout Brahmin claimed to have seen Kaliya in the deep Grand Canyon i.e. the five headed snake that Krishna subdued and sent to deep down Patala. He in fact did not see the snake but a video clip that was shown on the screen in the tourist vehicle and heard the guide explain it so.

A volume of writings by Diaspora titled “Invading the Sacred” while damming and questioning the Western specifically the US, mostly of Doniger of hypocrisy, dishonesty and outright hatred to Hindu did not refer any of the milliard writings of 18^th & 19^th century reformists. They did conceal on the trenchant critical views of Agarkar, Jyotiba Bhule, Dr. Ambedkar, Ramaswami Periyar and others of more recent. Dr. Ambedkar himself has to his credit “What is Hinduism” “Riddles of Hinduism” and other full length volumes severely criticizing much more forcefully than any Western scholars. It is pertinent to recall that Ambedkar’s writings were set on fire by Hindu zealots when they were published by the then Congress ruled Govt. The next Govt. headed by Shive Sena and BJP stopped distributing the books and also stopped further collections. Instead of Ambedkar and many others, the Diaspora cites “Marxists” who were supposed to be anti Hindu. But Marxists are opposed to all religions.

I would like to recollect my and many others of our village as to how we imbibed the idea of Hindu religion. From the time we were able to speak we were told to recite names of gods both in the mornings and evening sitting cross legged on the floor. More in the evenings in front of pictures depicting the images of gods. Many of these pictures were prints from calendars that were copied from Raja Ravi Varma paintings. Vishnu is pictured sitting astride on his vehicle eagle Garuda holding his two wives the goddesses of earth and wealth, Bhoomi Devi and Laxmi Devi. Srikrishna is shown as a small baby on a peepul tree leaf. Similarly there are pictures of Shiva, Murugan, Devi etc. These pictures and recitations of names of Gods are imprinted in our brains making them unquestionable realities. Babies are taken to the temples and made to bow before the altars, imbibe the holy water from the bathing idols. All these influence our lives permanently. In our villages most of the children are enrolled in English medium schools and they never look back critically their own religious rituals.

However, I missed the English medium and found myself in Sanskrit medium school. The regular lessons were from stories from epics such as “Sri Ramodantam”, Sri Krishna Vilasam”, “Raghuvamsham” Ramayana Champu””Sishupala Vadham” “Kiratarjuneeyam”. All these are summaries composed by different authors. Later I found these summaries too pressed leaving out a lot of details from the original texts on which they are based. My Sanskrit education included readings from Nyaya-Vaisheshika or Tarka philosophy. It says that there are four ways to know things or phenomena i.e. 1. Pratyaksha (seeing personally) 2. Anumana (by reasoning as in the case of perceiving fire from smoke) 3. Upamana (similarities) and 4. Sabda (Aapta Vakya meaning words of a confident but later interpreted as saying of Veda). Learning this and reading such reasoned debates and articles as well as books made me to think about everything and question their truth. When at a later years one of my young nephews asked about the reasons for my belief in no god, I explained it as due to my education in Sanskrit. I told him that none of the ancient philosophies actually posted an almighty and omnipotent god. In fact Puranas created gods and pasted them into the philosophy.

With such a background I could understand the half baked even nil baked understanding of Hinduism among people around me. The other unknown masses are not much better than the ones I know. The comments made by people professing knowledge of Hinduism on Ram Sethu, Sita’s exile, Wendy Doniger, Martha Nussbaum and scores others exhibit their knowledge as coming from readings Amar Chitra Katha and or viewing Sagar’s Ramayana and Mahabharata TV serials. Much more of such serials are on several channels even today. All they cater is prejudice and more prejudice. The volume of “Hindus: An Alternative History” by Doniger is welcome and I do hope people will read it without prejudgments unlike some of the commentators in the web who unabashedly admit not having read or not intending to read it. Instead of commenting on the book itself many of them attack her personality. One found the book cover being obscene for depicting Krishna caressing breasts of many women. I feel sorry for such mentality in people. They should refer to Geeta Govindam song, “Aneka Naari Parirambha Sabhrama Spuran Manohari Vilasalalasam Murarim…” (Gitam 3, Verse 10) “Dheera Samire Yamunatheere Vasathi Vane Vanamaali, Gopi Peenapayodhara Mardana Chanchala Karayuga Saalee”. (Gitam 11, Stanza 1) This picture was not invented by Doniger but copied from murals on Rasaleela theme. There are too many explicit narrations of Krishna playing with Gopies and Radha. Here is another “Urasi Murarerupahitahare Ghanamiva Taralavalake, Thadidiva Pite Rati Viparite Raajasi Sukrita vipake:Vigalita vasanam parihrita rasanam Ghadaya jaghanam apidhanam; Kisalaya sayane Pankajanayane Nidhimiva harshanidanam” (Gitam 11 Stanza 5 & 6) I am not giving the translations since they might be termed obscene and against the god devine.

One or two challenged her to write on Christianity, Virgin Mary and Jesus ascending to heaven or medieval crusades that inflicted violent killing of millions. (All these gentlemen did not see that their knowledge of Christian history comes from the trenchant critics from among Western scholars themselves.)

In conclusion I am of the firm view that narratives like that of Doniger with all its failings enrich our understanding of our own past. Others have to work on other phenomena thus correcting Doniger with due respect to her views. Kerala is an example to find Hinduism in varied forms. The concepts behind them might be ancient puranic but practices are absolutely peculiar to Kerala. I take only one of them. There are annual festivals in almost all the temples of Kerala variously termed as Pooram, Vela, Utsavam etc. They celebrate it with processions of number of caparisoned elephants with other paraphernalia including the Kerala specific drums beatings i.e. Panja Vadyam a combination of five instruments and Chenda Melam another combination. This tradition is not much older but also taken over by Tamil Brahmin temples in Kerala villages. There is nothing comparable anywhere outside. The Trissur Pooram is unique with 15 decorated elephants each on competing two sides. The two sides have their competing drummers. I would once again reiterate that Hinduism is many sided with ancient and modern as late as a few years traditions and practices co existing.

By K.N. Krishnan

SC decisions on actress Khushboo & about Khap Panchayat

A couple of years back the Tamil actress Khushboo gave an interview to a magazine saying that modern males should not expect future brides to be always virgins. Consenting adults may live together without formalizing. This was translated and published in Tamil papers insinuating enough. Some Hindu zealots and obscurantists took it upon themselves to organise loud protests and also filed more than 2 dozen criminal complaints in that many locations and courts saying that the actress has committed the offence of hurting the sentiments of Hindus and their traditions.. Khushboo appealed to HC to squash the cases but the HC did not accept it but compounded all cases into one to be heard at Chennai. She appealed to the SC against the HC verdict. The case came before a 3 judge bench a few weeks back. During the arguments the judges asked the complainants several quarries about the law stating that Khushboo’s utterances were criminal. They had no answer except repeating that they are against our traditions. This prompted one judge to observe that the relationship between Radha & Krishna also is in our tradition. One an obscurantist reader outraged by the observations wrote in two papers vilifying the judges as ignorants and they should not have made any observation on the divine relations between Radha and Krishna that hurt the religious sentiments of people. Still this guy did not say that Radha and Krishna were married. Finally a few days back the verdict was pronounced conveying that the complaints are too frivolous and should not have been admitted by the lower courts.I know about Radha Krishna from several sources including that of Gita Govindam. There is no Gopi named Radha in Harivamsam and Bhagavata Puranam where Krishna’s childhood plays are detailed. Harivamsam is part of Mahabharata and I did read it twice. I had no opportunity to read the second but know very well the stories from Narayaneeyam by Melpathur Narayana Bhatathiripad. It is a concise version of Bhagavatam without omitting any parts of the stories. Reading the introduction to Gita Govindam I found that the Radha Krishna story is from Brahma Vaivartha Puranam. I went on to the web and a number of portals that give info on Puranas.

Some recent developments here make me concerned about our future. The issue of Khap Panchayat role in choosing partners by its members was debated in NDTV. There were a couple of people vehemently asserting the Khap’s right to enforcing its rules even to the extend of murdering the young ones. Strangly there was a mother daughter duo both literate enough defending the Khap actions. The political and police authorities are also hand in glove with this criminal Khaps in Hariyana, Panjab, Rajastan and many more Northern states. All newspapers called for action against the Khaps but so far no Govt. authority has come forward to initiate any action. If this goes like this, Khaps will dictate rules tomorrow.

Another development is that of including caste in the coming census count on the violent demands of the Yadav trio: Lalu, Mulayam & Sharad of RJD, SP & JD(U). Caste counting was discontinued since Independence. The leaders heading the national struggle wanted to ensure a caste less society in India. However as the years passed new forces have come forward vitiating the national consensus. At first it was the RSS inspired parties then the regional parties and again caste based parties today. Today almost everyone understands that national politics are fragmented among all these groups. The caste count will only encourage more divisions in the country. Muslims have expressed their demand to have separate representation in legislatures an old forgotten demand of the defunct Indian Muslim League. No one is farsighted enough to foresee the outcome of all these divisive forces. Politicians and even many intellectuals are seemed shortsighted as of now.

By

K.N.Krishnan

Mind of the Market by Michael Shermer

Review by K.N. Krishnan.

Though it is said to be about market economics I found it to be more about the evolution of minds, emotions, morality etc. He gives a lot of quotes from experiments and research on psychology and brain mappings i.e. ECG, MRI. He maintains that humans and before that primates, all evolved almost similar kind brains while humans today are more conscience than their ancestors on the evolution. I am reading this book for second time. Shermer comes to markets and argues for freedom and choice there in. The markets are not rational because the investors & consumers are mostly carried away by precedence and anxieties. As persons people might do good and expect the same from others. But ones circle is restricted to family, friends, random acquaintances and not all of them are experts in evaluating things or happenings.