Was “Pandit Jackson” a Shady Indologist, eliminated by Abhinava Bharat for his subversive project? - 🧵

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Our friend @Kal_Chiron ji is positing that Jackson was a “shady Indologist”, running a subversive anti-Brahmin narrative project in Maharashtra — like Macauliffe in Punjab or Caldwell in Tamil Nadu.

He further posits that Savarkar brothers saw through his subversive narrative project, and therefore “nipped it in the bud” by Abhinav Bharat / Anant Kanhere assassinating him.

Let’s use the occasion to look at a) Jackson’s own works and how the nationalistic Indian and Hinduphile British scholars saw him, and b) what the revolutionary sources and Savarkar say about the reasons for killing him, and test these claims 🙏🏽

@vikramsampath 2/

Despite being a full-time ICS officer, Jackson was a prolific scholar:

• 6 major papers in JBBRAS (1899-1905) such as Two Inscriptions from Thana District (1899), The Caves of Nasik and Their Inscriptions (1901), Two New Valabhi Copper-plates (1902), A Note on the Hemadpanti Temples of the Deccan (1905) etc.

• 20+ articles in Indian Antiquary, mostly on folklore & epigraphy

• Several Public lectures - last one only days before his assassination - on methods in Indian antiquities.

• Posthumously published 2 volumes on Folk-Lore Notes about customs, beliefs, local deities, village festivals of Gujarat and Konkan.

• some 17 of his unpublished manuscripts in BBRAS Library

Most of the above - except the last - is available in public domain on Internet and I scanned through his works.

I don’t see any trace of a subversive element in his writings. He as a scholar comes across as respectful for Hindu civilization.

Acharya Abhinavagupta on Casteist interpreters of BhGita. 🧵

The savant makes a harsh rebuke to those he considers “casteist”.

While commenting on BhG 9.32-33, he calls such scholars जात्यादिमहाग्रहाविष्टा: i.e. “Those Who are Seized Greatly by Biases for Caste etc...”

A thread.

First, the shlokas and their literal meaning. Then Acharya’s remarks.

1/ मां हि पार्थ व्यपाश्रित्य येऽपि स्युः पापयोनयः।
स्त्रियो वैश्यास्तथा शूद्रास्तेऽपि यान्ति परां गतिम्॥
किं पुनर्ब्राह्मणाः पुण्या भक्ता राजर्षयस्तथा।
अनित्यमसुखं लोकमिमं प्राप्य भजस्व माम्॥
९.३२-३३

Near Literally:

They, O Partha, who take refuge in Me, verily even if they be born in a sinful yoni, women, vaishya, even shudra — they too attain the ultimate goal. How much (more easily) then, the Brahmanas, those (born of) virtuous (births), the Bhaktas and the Kshatriya Sages! (Therefore) having arrived in this unhappy and temporary world, devote yourself to Me.

2/

The Shankaracharya tradition wields more influence on Hindus than you realize.

Many popular movements can be traced ultimately to this parampara…

Ramakrishna & SV
Yogananda
Sivananda
Mahesh Yogi
Chinmayananda
Dayananda of Arya Samaj
Sri Sri
etc

A🧵

(4 Shankaracharyas, 1979) This thread is basis the writings of Sir Jadunath Sarkar and Haripada Chakraborti, with some inputs from other sources.

How Shankara re-established the Advaita Vedanta and the Sanyasa parampara through a Dashanami order and 4 Mathas to reinvigorate dharma is wellknown.

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Two other legal luminaries who contributed to the Temple case in All’d HC in a unique significant way, although not in capacity of official lawyers due to legal reasons:

1. Deoki Nandan Agarwal, Retd Judge of Allahabad HC

2. VKS Chaudhary, Retd Advocate General of UP

A 🧶

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https://twitter.com/bharatenduh/status/1741053505174139143

Deoki Nandan Agarwal was a judge in All’d HC from 1977 to 1983.

When he retired in 83, he immersed himself in studying the case in multiple suits.

It was Agarwal who came up with a unique angle to the case in 1989, that changed its course and ultimately decided it!

2/n

RS Prasad represented in Allahabad HC not Ram Lala Virajman but Mahant Suresh Das.

He was also not the “main lawyer”, which was Adv PN Mishra (arguing the case in courts since 1989).

Here is the **full list** of lawyers who argued for the temple in All’d HC.

A Thread 🧶

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https://twitter.com/kaushkrahul/status/1741024381797879924

1. Adv. PN Mishra, representing Ram Janmabhumi Punaruddhar Samiti

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Ayodhya 6-12-1992

RSS Vs Karsevaks

While Karsevaks were determined to bring it down, Swayamsevaks were protecting the mosque. They had formed a security cardon around it.

Karsevaks first taunted the swayamsevaks, and then fought with them to break the Babri.

local report: *cordon

Krishna-Karna discussion, a thread.

Towards the end of his diplomatic mission to Hastinapura to avoid the war, Krishna met Karna.

1//n In words of Sanjaya, Krishna spoke-

आनुपूर्व्येण वाक्यानि
श्लक्ष्णानि च मृदूनि च।
प्रियाणि धर्मयुक्तानि
सत्यानि च हितानि च॥

His words were smooth and mild. He made statements that were attractive and virtuous, credible and beneficial.

2/n

*When Gandhi asked Hindus to bravely pick up arms in self defense rather than run away from Muslim rioters*

November 1946.

Bengali Hindus had suffered badly in 1946 riots. Many had fled from their villages and gathered in shelters.

Gandhi visited Chandpur (now in BD)

1/n His interaction with Hindus gathered there-

Gandhi: “What goes against my grain is that a single individual can be converted or a single woman can be kidnapped or raped. So long as we feel we can be subjected to these indignities, we shall continue to be so subjected…”

2/n

धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे योद्धा सब समवाय
मामका: पाण्डवाश्चैव संजय करते काय

दृष्ट्वा तु पाण्डवानीकं दुर्योधन रण साज
आचार्यमुपसङ्गम्य बोले यह युवराज

पश्यैतां पाण्डुपुत्राणां गुरुवर सेन महान
व्यूढां द्रुपदपुत्रेण लिया आप से ज्ञान

+

https://twitter.com/bhAratenduH/status/1624079685238902786

अत्र शूरा महेष्वासा अर्जुन भीम समान
युयुधानो विराटश्च और द्रुपद बलवान

धृष्टकेतुश्चेकितानः काशिराज हैं धीर
पुरुजित्कुन्तिभोजश्च शैब्य नरोत्तम वीर

युधामन्युश्च विक्रान्त उत्तमौज वह शूर
सौभद्रो द्रौपदेयाश्च महारथी भरपूर

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was for “united India” as long as Hindus were to accept Muslim supremacy as it was during Sultanate. Why would Indian Muslims want a separate territory when they can get the whole India?

This “change” in SSAK came

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https://twitter.com/irtikazr/status/1488603028861112322

when he saw no hope for Indian Muslims to be able to achieve that, noticing the rising tide of Hindu revival, with a sophisticated Svadeshi movement with Bengal.

The “change” was noted by many, such as by Lala Lajpat Rai, who expressed it in a series of open letters to SSAK

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Watched #RRRMovie by Rajamouli.

If it is anything, it is a complex narrative of the Kshatriya Dharma without embarrassing apology for Hindu ethos.

Metaphors of Shri Rama and Bhimasena inform the characters. The main protagonist has Janeu while exercising his body. The focus of the relation between the two protagonists, one elite and the other subaltern- is not that of “social Justice” struggle, but of collaboration. The elite guides and is supported by the subaltern, both rooted in dharma. Conflict not of ideals but situations.

In an AI/ML experiment, thousands of random clips of All India Radios broadcasts in each language were collected, then processed by 4 diff NLP algorithms for recognizing the language.

The results of similarities between each Indic language with the other may surprise many.

1/n

https://twitter.com/AgentSaffron/status/1480490097518780420

1. Telugu sounds far similar to Bengali, Odia, Konkani or Hindi than to any Southern language! And it didn’t sound much like Sanskrit.

2. Malayalam sounded indeed very similar to Sanskrit, but Malayalam sounded even closer to Tamil than Sanskrit.

2/n

This behaviour, where the meaning of a word acquires modified meanings from one language to the other, is not a revelation to the students of languages.

अर्थ संकुचन or विस्तारण, अर्थादेश, अर्थोपकर्ष and अर्थोत्कर्ष - these are well studied behaviours since ages.

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https://twitter.com/arya_amsha/status/1463882654550425603

The transformation of the अर्थ of a word as it moves from one locale to the other and from one era to the next - is neither limited to Hindi-Sanskrit nor a new phenomenon.

This behaviour can be seen in any living language of the world and since the ancient times.

2/n

Elisa, you ask two questions on which let me share my perspective, but before that let me clarify that there is no strī-sūdra etc angle in what I wrote. Kabir, whose line I had used, was himself a great sūdra saint. The scope of sentiment was- the knowledge (not just mantras) +

https://twitter.com/elisa_freschi/status/1362377923169255427

is traditionally guarded from being unscrupulously shared with all and sundry. In the traditional world it is the “practicing insiders” who receive the authority to the texts and the “license to operate” as a scholar and a teacher, in addition to the responsibility of adding to+

#LangarPR

Milk and biscuit distribution by a gurudwara committee in Lucknow.

Value of material distributed may be far smaller than its show off, advertising and PR.

Thoughts. 1/n According to a किंवदन्ती, once a follower of Tulasīdāsa needed a loan for a family wedding.

Rahīm was then living in Kashi, and known to be a rich and generous man. No needy would return emptyhanded from him.

Requested by the man, Tulasīdāsa sent him to

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An estimate of the state level grains production, consumption, surplus and procurement policy disparities.
(Thread)

A] PRODUCTION

This is compiled according to the statistics published in 2018 by the department of agriculture, GoI. Have shown Sugarcane, Potato and Milk.

1/n Few observations about the prod:

1. MH is missing since it largely grows sugarcane, cotton and cash crops and imports the grains. Among Southern states, Kerala is significantly dependent on imports for grains.

2. Punjab is extremely skewed on rice and wheat alone 2/n

A few sentences in Hindi and Urdu side by side to illustrate the difference

U “उर्दू माने हिन्दी का यक दीगर क़वायदेज़ुबाँ कि जिस्के तहत जियादहतर अलफ़ाज़ फ़ारसी-अरबी के इस्तैमाल हों”

H “उर्दू अर्थात् हिन्दी की ही एक भिन्न शैली जिसमें अघिकांश शब्द फ़ारसी-अरबी के प्रयुक्त हों।”

+ U: सिफ़अत का क्या दख़्ल तज़ुर्बे की बात है! किसी ज़ुबाँ में ग़ैरी लुग़हतोक़मूस का पुरज़ोर दाख़िला हो जाय तो वो अलहदा शक्लोसूरत अख़्तियार कर लेती है!

H: परिभाषा की नहीं अनुभव की बात है। किसी भी भाषा में विदेशी शब्दकोश की भरमार कर दें तो वह एक नया रूप ले लेती है।

The Indo-Ganga basin with rich Himalayan alluvial is the world’s most fertile land supporting the densest populations on earth.

Within that, it’s a myth that Punjab soil is particularly rich.

Here are the real factors that better explain the higher yield of Punjab.

(Thread)

https://twitter.com/barbarindian/status/1333914057116684288

1. The first factor is popular adoption of engineered High Yield Variety seeds since 1960s. While the other states were slow, Punjab was quick to adopt new seeds, not only of wheat but also of rice. (Giving up the rich biodiversity of 100s of Indian varieties is a wise policy?)

१

नमस्ते आलोक जी। मनीषी-ग्रन्थों द्वारा “वाणी” के चार स्तर / अवस्थाएँ कही गई हैं। परा, पश्यन्ती, मध्यमा, और वैखरी। प्रथम “परा” हमारे अन्तर में प्रकट वाणी का “कारण” मात्र है। वहाँ न नाम है न रूप है। आगे वही विकसित होकर “पश्यन्ती” बन कर हमारे अन्तर्मन में एक मूर्त आकार लेती है।

https://twitter.com/alok_bhatt/status/1324157887011147776

२
अभी भी इसमें शब्द नहीं बस अनुभव है। फिर वह अनुभव हमारी बुद्धि में विचार रूपी वाणी का स्पन्दन करता है। यह वाणी मध्यमा कहलाती है। अब इसमें शब्द है पर केवल मन में।

फिर यही मानसिक शब्द प्रकट हो कर मुख से व्यक्त होते हैं।

अर्घ्यादिभिरलङ्कारैर्गन्धपुष्पैस्तथाक्षतैः
घूपैर्दीपैश्च नैवेद्यैर्नानाभक्ष्यसमन्वितैः
\\रुधिराक्तेन बलिना मांसेन सुरया नृप
बलिमांसादि पूजेयं विप्रवर्ज्या मयेरिता
तेषां किल सुरानांसैर्नोक्ता पूजा नृप क्वचित्\\
प्रणामाचमनीयेन चन्दनेन सुगन्धिना

#pashubali

The Devi is worshipped+ + through offerings of arghyas, various adornments, fragrances, flowers, dhupa, akshata, lamps and food-offerings of many kinds, bloody bali with meat and wine. O King, Her puja with #pashubali is however prohibited for the Brahmins, they being constrained from meat and wine +

Dear Dr. Swamy,

Please recall your letter to PM Modi in May of 2016 demanding the removal of the then RBI governor Raghuram Rajan.

Therein you had argued, besides other things, that since Rajan held a US Green Card, his patriotic and unconditional commitment to India was

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https://twitter.com/swamy39/status/1197370939618385920

less than beyond suspicion.

You had further argued that Rajan could be called to a military duty by the US government, and that made his holding a sensitive post with the Government of India less tenable.

I remind you of this, only to draw an analogy. @Swamy39

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