“Siva and Ganga met as two excesses. Siva allowed the celestial river to break over his head before touching the earth, which otherwise would not have survived the impact.” ImageImage
“And in ever bathing the motionless Siva’s head, ever flowing in streams down his face, Ganga stopped the scorching god from withering up the whole world”
“This beneficial and ever-renewed equilibrium was also a secret love affair. Of no other woman was Parvati so jealous as of Ganga. No sooner did she come close to him than she saw her sister in the quivering drops on Siva’s face. Even his saliva smacked of Ganga”
“A stream crosses the sky: a stream of souls of waters, of the dead, of subtle substance. It is the Milky Way... where do the celestial waters plunge down to earth, with their tremendous mass, where do they carve out their bed?”
“Such is the disparity of force, between heaven and earth, that it is perilous, rash, to pass directly from one to the other”
“The flow of the Milky Way headed down to where a mighty corrugation lifted earth to sky. It was the Himalaya. Thus, flowing down from mountaintops, the Milky Way became Ganga, Siva’s lover...
“The impact shattered the mass of water, which then came down to earth in a thousand small streams. That was Ganga’s body, forever twisting around her lover’s head, streaming over his lips, pouring from his jet black tresses” Image

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More from @vjgtweets

11 Mar
It is criminal that no Indian film director has made a historical epic about Malik Ambar yet. Kidnapped from Ethiopia, sold into slavery in India, eventually freed and leads a mercenary army in a guerilla resistance against the Mughals

livemint.com/mint-lounge/fe…
cc: @asc89 plz recommend best sources on Malik Ambar
Who plays Malik Ambar in said historical epic? I nominate Idris Elba...
Read 4 tweets
10 Mar
From Kwame Nkrumah's Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for Decolonisation, on the role of history:

"In the new African renaissance, we place great emphasis on the presentation of history. Our history needs to be written as the history of our society..." Image
"That is to say, the European contact needs to be assessed and judged from the point of view of the principles animating African society, and from the point of view of the harmony and progress of this society"
On the need for a "dynamic unity" to foster social cohesion among the three broad streams of African society, the traditional segment, the Islamic tradition, and the Christian tradition Image
Read 7 tweets
23 Feb
Lots of very concerned columns in American newspapers in 1900 re: Britain potentially losing India in light of the Boer War
"The Sepoy massacre taught us something, and we are now able to control our native troops through their religious prejudices... I verily believe that this is our only safety. If there were no castes in India, there would be no English here"
"The majority of Indian natives are taxed to death"
Read 8 tweets
16 Jan
Quick thread on the Cisco case and @HinduAmerican's response. According to the HAF blog:

"The State of California has asserted that the caste system is 'a strict Hindu social and religious hierarchy,' and therefore an integral part of Hindu teachings and practices." 1/n
Now step back for a moment and consider what's actually happening here: A state government agency in AMERICA is making an assertion in a court of law regarding what constitutes an "integral part of Hindu teachings and practices" 2/n
Put differently: the State of California is insisting that it has the authority to DEFINE the religious beliefs of a billion+ Hindus independent of the views of actual practicing Hindus themselves. The latter are evidently immaterial. 3/n
Read 9 tweets
14 Jan
Excerpt from Fanon's WOTE:
"Instead of being the coordinated crystallization of the people's innermost aspirations, instead of being the most tangible, immediate product of popular mobilization, national consciousness is nothing but a crude, empty, fragile shell" 1/n
"The cracks in it explain how easy it is for young independent countries to switch back from nation to ethnic group and from state to tribe-- a regression which is so terribly detrimental and prejudicial to the development of the nation and national unity" 2/n
"As we shall see, such shortcomings and dangers derive historically from the incapacity of the national bourgeoisie in underdeveloped countries to rationalize popular praxis, in other words their incapacity to attribute it any reason" 3/n
Read 5 tweets
4 Jan
Love reading Aurobindo's old newspaper clips. The excerpt below is from a 1907 column titled "Nationalism, not Extremism" that he wrote in response to a speech delivered by noted Moderate Rash Behari Ghosh regarding the "Extremists" of the Congress:
"The new movement is not primarily a protest against bad Government, — it is a protest against the continuance of British control; whether that control is used well or ill, justly or unjustly, is a minor and unessential consideration."
It is not born of a disappointed expectation of admission to British citizenship, —it is born of a conviction that the time has come when India can, should and will become a great, free and united nation.
Read 16 tweets

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