Thread by @KuldeepGaurav7

Today Indians are openly called Racists. This is one amongst many false or exaggerated Narratives that has been built against Indians, especially Hindus.

A [THREAD] to tackle this claim and verify its veracity on Factual Grounds.
A famous example I've been told by many is

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of Dwayne Bravo being referred to as 'Kalua' which he initially thought meant powerful. Similarly with Darren Sammy.

Here is an Article: google.com/amp/s/theprint…
(Interesting that in this Article the monkey gate incident has been included where it was verified by none

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other than Sachin that what Bhajji actually said was 'Maa ki' and not Monkey - Alas! Propaganda always wins.)

Let's jump straight into it then.
The root word under contention is Racist. So let's understand this word first. The earliest mentions of Racism is found in

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Greek works of Aristotle, "While Greeks are free by nature, "barbarians" (non-Greeks) are slaves by nature, in that it is in their nature to be more willing to submit to a despotic government..."
However, in modern History it's the White Man Racism we focus on which has

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created the dialogue on Racism and it's horrendous implications. The Roots of White Man Racism can be found in the Bible.

Genesis 1:26
Man to have dominion over all other beings.

Deuteronomy 7:6
Israelites are the chosen people.

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Psalm 78:51; 105:23,27; 106:22; 1 Chronicles 4:40
Egypt the land of Ham (the Black one)

Genesis 9:25
The Book of Genesis's biblical curse on Canaan know as Curse of Ham, which was used to justify slavery in 19th century America.

In furtherance of the Biblical teachings,

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in Europe there was a field of study, 'Racial sciences.' One such Race Scientist Lord Risley using Ratio of the width of a nose to its height identified 7 races in India and taking this as a basis amongst other considerations, the Caste system was created and

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applied in India. There were many such studies conducted by Europeans all accross the Globe.

The ramifications of Racism with Respect to Human Rights is a very well recorded History. The dreadful Oppression and unimaginable discrimination which carries on till date isn't

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hidden, it had taken its worst form in Slavery. If a man is a property the property owner can do whatever it wishes with it, maybe he decides to study live Human anatomy - actual incidents. Suffice it to say that a
Systematic and institutional discrimination and

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oppression carries on till date. Numerous cases of Racially charged violence against the Black community is occuring regularly. The Educational texts have started White washing the History but the discrimination continues at private level unabated - No Dogs or Blacks

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allowed signs could be seen as recent as in the 1960's. I am not covering this in detail as the information is readily available and majority are aware of it. Also much details on White man Racism and slavery may prompt Twitter to censor this Thread.

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The Africans faced the worst of it without a doubt but we shouldn't forget that Indians too have been subjected to immense Racism. The same as Africans Indians too were shipped off for Slave work in Carribbean Plantations, the descendants of whom we see

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today in those Nations.
This painting very clearly summarises the British view of India. In it India has been portrayed as a Black lady who is offering her jewels to the White England.

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The same signs of No Dogs, No Indians were very common across British India as well.

Therefore, we can confidently surmise that calling someone a Racist is an extremely grave charge and cannot be taken lightly.

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Now let's analyse India with respect to Racism. We must go into Indian History to assess the truth of these claims. Are Indians inherently Racist?
It's common accross Civilizations that we depict our Gods and Deities as we observe our society. The representation of

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Abrahamic God in the texts is in consonance of the society reflected by Abrahamic societies.
Similarly, when it comes to Indian (Hindu) Gods we observe that two of the most popular Gods have been depicted as Black.

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Bhagwaan Rama in Valmiki Ramayana, Sundarkanda, Sarga 35, Shloka 16 is referred to as Shyama or of Black Colour.
दुन्दुभिस्वननिर्घोष स्स्निग्धवर्णः प्रतापवान्।
सम स्समविभक्ताङ्गो वर्णं श्यामं समाश्रितः।।
"His tone is resonant like drums, he has a beautiful, dark, shining

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complexion. He has symmetrical, well proportioned limbs. His colour is Black. He is neither too tall nor too short."

Bhagwaan Krishna (कृष्ण), the name in itself is synonymous to Black. He is very famously also referred to as Shyama (श्यामा) or Black.

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These Gods have also been referred to as नील or Blue.

नीलाम्बुजश्यामलकोमलाङ्गं सीतासमारोपितवामभागम।
पाणौ महासायकचारूचापं नमामि रामं रघुवंशनाथम॥
श्री रामचरितमानस, अयोध्याकाण्ड, मंगलाचरण-३
"Whose body has the colour of Blue Sky is Black..."

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Similarly, for Bhagwaan Krishna in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.28.13
प्रसन्नवदनाम्भोजं पद्मगर्भारुणेक्षणम् ।
नीलोत्पलदलश्यामं शङ्खचक्रगदाधरम्
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead has a cheerful, lotuslike countenance with ruddy eyes like the interior of a lotus and a swarthy body

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like the petals of a blue lotus. He bears a conch, discus and mace in three of His hands."

The Blue color has Spiritual as well as Puranic explanations.
In Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā 5.30
veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣam-
barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam...

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kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept in playing on His flute, with blooming eyes like lotus petals with head decked with peacock's feather, with the figure of beauty tinged with

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the hue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charming millions of Cupids."

Commenting upon it Swami Prabhupada explains: "God's bodily hue is just like bluish cloud. But it is very beautiful. These are not imagination. They are taken from Vedic literatures. So His

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bodily luster is like that. Therefore He is blue. It is not that we have painted blue by imagination. No. It is authoritative."

Sadhguru explains it as: "Blue is the color of all-inclusiveness. You will see in the existence, anything that is vast and beyond your

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perception generally tends to be blue, whether it is the ocean or the sky. Anything which is larger than your perception tends to be blue because blue is the basis of all-inclusiveness. It is based on this that so many gods in India are shown as blue-skinned."

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However, the Blue is accompanied with Black (श्याम). Infact the world नील is mentioned as a synonym or पर्यायवाची of काला or Black.
I too would very much like to know the etymology of this. If Shreeman @MisraNityanand ji would be kind enough to educate us.

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Although in many cases Bhagwaan Krishna is depicted as entirely Black.

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Amongst our deities, Goddess Kaali (काली), her name itself meaning Black.

But does this sound like a bias in favour of Black then? No. Just as there are Gods and Goddesses who have been depicted as Black and Blue, we've God's who've also been depicted as entirely White.

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Bhagwaan Shiva, one of the most revered deities in the Southern part of India is referred to as:
कर्पूरगौरं करुणावतारं संसारसारम् भुजगेन्द्रहारम् ।
सदावसन्तं हृदयारविन्दे भवं भवानीसहितं नमामि ॥
"One who is of the colour of Camphor..."

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Although Bhagwaan Shiva too is depicted as Blue in many cases. Though Puranic story depicts his throat as Blue due to holding of the Vish (poison) Halahala.

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Maa durga avatars are depicted in all colours.
"जय अम्बे गौरी, मैया जय श्यामा गौरी..." भजन talks about all Durga Avatars.

A civilization will certainly not paint and refer it's revered deities of a colour which they find inferior. Instead, what we do observe is that Our

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Gods were of all colours, this is in consonance with Indian Darshan (philosophy) and it's Civilizational ethos and the same can be seen across all dimensions of Bhartiya Civilization.

There has also been Historical recordings as well, on his travels to India in the

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13th century Marco Polo observes: Dark skin is highly esteemed among these people. ‘When a child is born they anoint him once a week with oil of sesame, and this makes him grow much darker.' We see here just the opposite of Dark being more preferable.

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Present day Indian fascination with Fair Skin is like a cancer, spread everywhere. As we've explored there is no Historical source to it. It's Genesis lies in British colonialism which has embedded the idea that fair skinned people were the civilised ruling class, and

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darker-skinned people were the uncivilised subjects. This has been further propelled by Western monoculturism which again propagates markers and standards of beauty as per their own racist history. Sadly this has taken hold in the Indian psyche and benchmark for alluring

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physical appearance is taken as Western notion of Fair Skin.
However, the discrimination is entirely on lightness or darkness of Skin color of the same ethnicity of people. Is it correct to call it Racism?
Is colorism same as Racism? Since the focus of discriminatory

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practice we've acquired from our Colonial masters which is further aped and reinforced by the Indian colonial Entertainment media industry, is more on the Skin tone rather than the race of the person it cannot really be called Racism.

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For assessing skin coloured based behaviour in Indian society first we address the majority population of India, Our Villages. This is where generalisation is drawn of a population not from minority Urban dwellers.
Of those who come from villages, they can attest that

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its affectionate means of referring to someone. The village populace have not been effected by colonialism as the City population is and are still connected to their roots and celebrate the Black skin colour of their gods and goddesses & hence affectionately name their

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children by their Skin colour. Here we see just the opposite, its love and affection that the name reflects.

Now, coming to the Urban population where every pebble in the road is cause for a sensitivedebate. In India when we really come down to people being referred to as

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Kalua or Black - what usually happens is, it's more of a joke meant as a tease. There is really no parallel to 'Ni**a' which is meant as a derogatory form of address to assert Racial dominance. There really isn't any discrimination or oppression. It's not as if the person

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excluded from a group or isn't invited to social gatherings or not allowed anywhere or is rejected a job opportunity due to his Skin colour, it's very similar to someone being called a 'Motu' or fat. With negligible exceptions this is almost always meant as a light

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hearted Joke. If any discrimination does occur, it's the modelling industry which is a replica of the Western modelling industry, india doesn't really have its own modelling industry - Another colonised institute promoting colonised appendage of discrimination.

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The biggest mitake that we do is we try to fit a grand Multi-coloured civilization as Bharat into very Binary classifications of Western Civilization which has had a very distasteful History and their studies and concerns reflects that History which need not be applicable

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to India.

There is really no parallel in India to Western understanding of Racism which comes from a certain past & to label us as one is either a product of colonised view of India or outright Propaganda.

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[THREAD] ends.