1. In due course, most Hindus, particularly the English-educated Hindu elite, have been made to believe that a Hindu is not true to himself nor to his religion and culture unless he... 2. ...1) honours as his own heroes all those invaders and crusaders who demolished his temples, desecrated the images of his Gods and Goddesses, burnt his Shãstras, humiliated his holy men, dishonoured his women,...

1. The destruction of Hindu temples at the hands of Islamized invaders continued for more than eleven hundred years, from the middle of the seventh century to the end of the eighteenth. 2. It took place all over the cradle of Hindu culture, from Sinkiang in the North to Tamil Nadu in the South, and from Seistan in the West to Assam in the East.

1. Amir Khusru describes with great glee how the heads of Brahmans "danced from their necks and fell to the ground at their feet", along with those of the other "infidels" whom Malik Kafur had slaughtered during the sack of the temples at Chidambaram. 2. Firuz Shah Tughlaq got bags filled with cow's flesh, tied them round the necks of Brah- mans, and had these "mines of kufr and shirk" paraded through his army camp at Kangra.

1. There are many Muslim monuments all over India which provide unmistakable evidence that materials from demolished Hindu temples have been used in their construction. Most of them carry inscriptions in Arabic or Persian stating when they were built and by whom. 2. Some of these inscriptions proclaim that the mosques in which they stand installed, occupy the sites of Hindu temples which were destroyed. Others say that temple materials were used in the construction of the mosques.

1. Islam has been tormenting Hindu society for more than thirteen hundred years. It has inflicted no end of grievous injuries on the Hindu homeland, Hindu population, and the Hindu heritage. 2. It is high time that Hindus stop whining about and weeping over the Muslim behaviour pattern, and try to understand the system of belief from which the pattern follows. The problem before the Hindus is not Muslims but Islam.

1. Hindus will do well to learn from the experience of Mahatma Gandhi. He spent a life-time in singing hymns of praise to the "noble faith of Islam", and extolling the Qu'ran and the Prophet. He championed the cause of Khilafat as dearer than that of the freedom for India. 2. He believed sincerely that the only solution of the "communal problem" in India was to concede to the Muslims whatever they demanded.

1. The Constitution of independent India adopted in January 1950 made things quite smooth for the Christian missions. They surged forward with renewed vigour. 2. Nationalist resistance to what had been viewed as an imperialist incubus during the Struggle for Freedom from British rule, broke down when the very leaders who had frowned upon it started speaking in its favour.

1. History of Hindu-Christian encounters falls into five distinct phases. In all of them Christian missionaries stick to their basic dogma of One True God and the Only Saviour which Hindus should accept or be made to accept. 2. But they keep on changing their methods and verbiage to suit changing circumstances. To start with, spokesmen for Hinduism offer a stiff resistance to the Christian message as well as missionary methods.

1. The Vedic tradition advises people to be busy with themselves, that is, their own moral and spiritual improvement. Several disciplines have been evolved for this purpose: tapas (austerity), yoga (meditation), jṅāna (reflection), bhakti (devotion), etc. 2. A seeker can take to (adhikāra) whichever discipline suits his adhāra (stage of moral-spiritual preparation). There is no uniform prescription for everybody, no coercion or allurement into a belief system, and no regimentation for aggression against others.

1. This is the true import of the Kalima - there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet. 2. It seems that the prophet of Islam had no use for a God who could have his own independent will, who could have and express his own opinions of men and matters, and who could exercise his own judgement about right and wrong.

1. MONOTHEISM IS DISGUISED MATERIALISM

If the theologians of Christianity and Islam can be considered authoritative exponents of Monotheism,... 2. ...it means that God or the Supreme Power or whatever the name we give to the Ultimate Reality, remains outside the Cosmos, that is, becomes extra-cosmic after the act of Creation.

1. It is only in the field of Hindustani music that we find Hindus and Muslims sharing the same tradition. But the fact that many Muslims specialise in this music does not make it Islamic. Islam has never had any music of its own. 2. What is known as Hindustani music today has always been and remains Hindu music. Simply because some Hindu musicians converted to Islam in order to obtain patronage, does not mean that their music also underwent a similar conversion.

1. POISON IN THE CORE OF ISLAM

The seed is sown by the Kalimah - there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet. This is not a religious precept which may be verified by spiritual experience, or referred to any system of logic. 2. It is a purely political pronouncement which divides mankind into mu‘mins and kāfirs, like the Communist division of people into progressives and reactionaries , or the Nazi division of them into superior and inferior races.

1. The language of Indian nationalism has not to be invented or synthesised from a floating mass of syllables. On the contrary, this country has known a language of nationalism since times immemorial. 2. This language was evolved, developed and perfected in the past by a long line of seers, sages, saints and scholars. All our immortal literature - particularly the Mahabharata, the Puranas and the Dharmashastras - was written in this language.

1. It is amazing as well as painful that the Hindu leadership which has emerged in the post-independence period should fail singularly in learning from Mahatma Gandhi. 2. Amazing because they are following the same line vis-a-vis Islam for which they have criticized the Mahatma rather vehemently. And painful because they show no sign of the Mahatma's commitment to the culture of Sanatana Dharma.

1. LANGUAGE OF CHRISTIAN IMPERIALISM

It first came to this country in the company of Portuguese pirates in the opening years of the 16th century. Some of these pirates were dressed as priests and friars and introduced themselves as missionaries of Jesus Christ. 2. It was this latter tribe which trumpeted that

1) The only True God had sent his Only-begotten Son, Jesus, to atone for the sins of all mankind by dying on the Cross in Jerusalem in 33 A.D.;

Every Hindu politician or pen-pusher who aspires to pass the test of Secularism has to

1. proclaim that Islam stands for equality and human brotherhood;
2. celebrate the prophet's birthday with fanfare and throw an iftār dinner
at the end of Ramzan; 3. attend Urs of sufis and Urdu mushāirās;
4. support the claim of Urdu to be the second state language in all states
where Muslims are in a minority;
5. admire whatever passes for Islamic art and architecture;

1. Western imperialism was a multi-dimensional drive from the very beginning. Its military power which conquered and occupied many countries was visible from afar. What remained hidden, except for those who looked deeper, were some other strands. 2. Political domination had no meaning for the Western imperialists unless it could be converted into hard cash through commerce.

1. The Catholic Mission in India had a share in the harvest of converts which the recurring famines brought to Christianity in the 19th century. The British government saw to it that famine relief in most places was handled by the missionaries. 2. The famines also provided a lot of orphans for whom all Christian missions have been looking always and everywhere. There were also considerable gains among the forest-dwellers.

1. The missionaries had sensed from the very first that it was the Brahmin who stood in their way of breaking the barriers of Hindu society. But it was St. Xavier who made anti-Brahminism the central theme of his missionary thrust. 2. “These are,” he wrote, “the most perverse people in the world... they never tell the truth, but think of nothing but how to tell subtle lies and to deceive the simple and ignorant people...the poor simple people do exactly what the Brahmins tell them...

1. Frustrated on all sides, the missionaries advised their masters, the Pope and the king of Portugal, 2. ...that the only way left for imposing Christianity firmly on Indian soil was the Rigour of Mercy to be employed wherever the Portuguese exercised absolute power over their subjects.