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Oct 17, 2022 18 tweets 11 min read Read on X
1/
#Thread on British plan to 'CIVILIZE' 'Uncivilized-Indians'
Src:Richard Hey 1811 ImageImage
2/
Britishers carried out research on Indian people, literature, scripture behaviour and presented their report to 'The House of Commons, UK' in 1813 April.

We will see how conversion to #CHRISTIANITY is akin to CIVILISING in following thread. Image
3/
The two gentlemen John Malcolm and Dr Buchanan speaks high of #hindus moralities, modalities and vividities. Malcolm calls Hindustan as Great World In Miniature. Image
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For Britishers, CIVILIZATION means obedient to one GOD. However, to them Indian multivariate culture was UNCIVILISED. They called Indians as Barbarians who should be turned CIVIL theough 'EDUCATION' i.e. Image
5/
Robertson agreed that Indians were very civilised till 15th Century when portugese first arrived. However, tyrannical and intolerant reign of #Moghuls and British conquests rendered all Public Institutions neglected and discontinued.
Leading to 'UNCIVILISATION' Image
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Their research found faultlines in the form of few #Hindus favourably disposed towards #Britain. Image
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To 'CIVILIZE' uncivilised Children (Hindus in this case). They devised 4 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1️⃣To make Hindus feel IMPOTENT and incapable of making decisions.
2️⃣ Don't interfere with #Hindus existing state of happiness while educating them

7/n ImageImage
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3️⃣ rd principle was to Administer 'Instructions' to unlearnt Child. He should not feel an individual but a part of some WHOLE.
4️⃣Child(Hindu) should be trained with 'GOOD HABITS' ImageImage
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To apply principles of civilization, Britishers focussed on issues of SATI pratha and Infanticides although, not convinced with degree of its prevalence.
They applied 2nd principle of civilization to those who have 'FORFEITED' their cast to convert easily Image
10/
3rd Principle of administering INSTRUCTION was applied on Hindu literature.

W. Jones himself said "Wherever we direct our attention to HINDU LITERATURE, the notion of INFINITY presents itself. Let us not be discouraged" Image
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They were able to find few communicative Hindus open for scrutiny of Hindu literature.

Children were targeted for 'Christian Civilization' ImageImage
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4th Principle of Civilization was applied to industrialise ample land in Bihar, Benaras, Bengal and make 'UNCIVILIZED' develope good habit. Image
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The Britishers' focussed on letting in Hindus in to the churches out of curiosity and that was seen as a big step towards Conversion.
The pastors were assigned duties to find SICK and INFIRM for consolation and relief (a potential for convert) ImageImage
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Narrations were drawn to deal with possible situation of inconsistencies in Bible and Vedas.

for EG. Question of Jesus incarnation while Christianity doesn;t promote re-birth should be answered that God never became MAN except to check the disorders existing in our society. Image
15/
Since #Sanskrit and #persian were not commonly spoken, hence local translation (e.g. Bengalee, Hindi, etc.) of NEW Testaments were preferred to be administered.

Few chosen ones were intended to send to EUROPE to view their advancement in Christianity than being #Hindu ImageImage
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Addressals to possible situations were summarised.
EG.
1. Question the ORIGIN of Vedas
2. If #VEDAS are infinite, How #Vyasa was able to reduced them in finite numbers that too unadultered, unperverted. ImageImageImageImage
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3. Challenge Hindus for their system of punishment with mere fine for kiIIing while capital punishment for theft in some cases. ImageImageImageImage
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From the reading, It appears to me, that Euro-Indologists studied our holy scriptures to suit their policies of colonization.

They translated VEDAS with literal and wrong connotation to convince not so educated. They targeted Children and uneducated ones first.

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More from @GemsOfINDOLOGY

Feb 22
1/ Aryan Migration Theory has a math problem.

Not political. Not ideological. Mathematical.

If sophisticated Indo-Europeans brought decimal systems to India around 1500 BCE, show me their source culture's mathematics. 🔢

I'll wait. Image
2/ Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European:

Counting to 100 ✓
Basic addition/multiplication ✓
Systematic large numbers ✗
Decimal place value ✗
Zero as concept ✗
Cosmological calculations ✗

Pontic-Caspian steppe, 4000-2500 BCE.
No mathematical texts. No astronomical observatories.Image
3/ Compare what supposedly migrated TO India:

Greek: imported Egyptian geometry, Babylonian astronomy
Latin: borrowed Greek mathematics wholesale
German: million (Latin), Milliarde (French)
Slavic: миллион (million) - borrowed

Every Indo-European branch borrowed large number terms.Image
Read 10 tweets
Feb 17
THREAD 4
WHEN LAW REPLACED CUSTOM
(surnames, forms, the myth of timeless patriarchy)

1️⃣
This is where the break happens.

Not in ancient India.
Not in temples.
Not in epics.

But in files, registers, and forms. Image
2️⃣
Pre-modern India ran on custom.

Identity was local.
Lineage could be maternal.
Marriage could be flexible.

The system worked because society did not need every child tied to a named father.
3️⃣
Colonial administration could not function like that.

The state needed:
Land titles.
Tax rolls.
Census categories.
Inheritance clarity.

Custom was messy.
Plurality was inefficient.

So lineage had to be fixed.
Read 8 tweets
Feb 15
ASI calls it a "graceful threshold of history."

October 1502: 400 pilgrims locked in a ship and burned alive at sea by the man this arch honors.

This is what government curation looks like when it erases inconvenient details.

Thread on what ASI forgot to mention. 🧵

#GemsofASI MNI500A stone relief features a figure dressed as a viceroy, holding a sword, near a coat of arms and inscriptions, symbolizing colonial history.
Vasco da Gama's second voyage, October 1502:

Intercepted the pilgrim ship Miri near Madayi. 400+ passengers. 50 women and children.

Looted it. Locked them inside. Set it ablaze.

Eyewitnesses Thomé Lopes and Gaspar Correia documented mothers holding babies through portholes.

*ps pic AI generated
2/Image
Francisco da Gama built this arch in 1600 during his viceroyalty (1597-1600).

Historical record by then:

• 300 temples demolished in Bardez (1567)
• Goa Inquisition active (1560-1812, 16,000+ documented trials)
• Dec 4, 1567 decree: Hindu marriages, sacred threads, cremations banned

3/Image
Read 6 tweets
Feb 10
Thread 3

WHEN WOMEN WERE LINEAGE, NOT DEPENDENTS
(Travancore, matriliny, 1920s)

1️⃣
Here is the part most people don’t expect.

These systems did not vanish in antiquity.
They survived into the 20th century.

This is not rock art.
This is documentation. Image
2️⃣
In parts of Kerala and Travancore, lineage followed the woman.

Property.
Household identity.
Social continuity.

Children belonged to the mother’s line.
Not the father’s surname.

This was not chaos.
It was a functioning social order.
3️⃣
Relationships were recognised through custom, not sacrament.

Sambandham-type unions existed.
Women could enter and exit relationships.
Sexual exclusivity was not the foundation of legitimacy.

A child did not need a certified father to be socially valid.

That detail matters.
Read 7 tweets
Feb 7
1️⃣ Every art history course starts in Greece.

But here's what they don't mention: almost every Greek painting from the Classical period is gone. Lost.

Meanwhile, in India, 700 years of continuous wall paintings still exist.

Let's talk about what survives vs what we worship. Image
2️⃣ Ajanta Caves.

Painting phases dated 2nd century BCE – 5th century CE.

That means: Ajanta begins before Alexander. And continues after Rome adopts Christianity.

This isn't parallel art. This is a continuous painting tradition spanning 700 years. Image
3️⃣ Where are Greek paintings from 480–323 BCE?

Answer from classical scholarship: almost entirely lost.

What survives:
• Roman wall paintings (1st c. BCE–1st c. CE)
• Literary praise by Pliny the Elder
• Copies, not originals

An origin remembered by texts vs one preserved in pigment.Image
Read 7 tweets
Feb 5
1️⃣ The first diamond ever touched by human hands came from Indian soil. Golconda mines, 4th century BCE. We didn't dig for profit. We picked them from riverbeds like pebbles. 💎

Then someone realized they could own what the earth gave freely. Image
2️⃣ 1600s: Golconda diamonds weighed 23 million carats annually. The world's entire supply. Tavernier documented it. Shah Jahan embedded them in the Peacock Throne.

We controlled brilliance itself. Image
3️⃣ 1739: Nadir Shah walks into Delhi. Walks out with the Kohinoor and the Peacock Throne. Combined worth? Impossible to calculate. The throne alone held 26,733 gems.

First lesson: What glitters gets taken. Image
Read 8 tweets

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