I have come to the conclusion that the Muslim and British invasions of India, though defeated and dispersed, have yet managed to crystallise certain residues – psychological and intellectual – which a battered Hindu society is finding it very difficult to digest. These residues are now in active alliance with powerful international forces, and are being aided and abetted on a scale which an impoverished Hindu society cannot match. [pg – 07]
The above paragraph is from an aphoristic work, ‘Hindu Society under Siege’ by Sita Ram Goel Ji.
This paragraph summarizes the whole idea of the book. The book states how the shining sun of Hindu glory got clouded with the foreign attacks and it was supposed to shine again with the advent of political freedom on 15th August 1947. But unfortunately this sun is still clouded with certain residues. The society is no longer dominated by foreign powers, but somehow by the residues of the invaders and the unfortunate ignorance of our own Hindus.
It is evident from the book that Sita Ram Goel Ji, was an Indian historian and religious and political activist. Mr. Goel lit the torch of literature about Hinduism and Hindu nationalism in the late twentieth century, which still guides the ignorant youth toward the light of much-needed, practical, and true Hindu nationalism.
The author begins the book by explaining that the Hindu society is the only significant society in the world in the chapter, ‘The Significance of Hindu Society’. Though the society still presents a continuity of cultural existence and functioning since times immemorial, the death of Hindu society is no longer impossible. For instance, being born to a rich man does not ensure that one will die rich.
The dominant school of Western historians and their Indian disciples have propagated several misunderstandings; some of some of them are following.
1) Hindu history commenced with Alexander’s invasion and Hindus had no history, perhaps their eyes couldn’t see beyond.
2) AIT or the Aryan invasion Theory is such an agendum very cleverly instilled in the Indian minds attempting to create a division.
3) Taking these acts of planned foolishness to other heights, the Aligarh school of historians opine that the majority of the Hindu society came out in support of the invaders who were hailed as liberators as they were oppressed and exploited by the Indian/Hindu kings. The Marxist historians agreed and added that these foreign invasions made India take many steps out of economic stagnation and towards material and social progress.
The motives are to malign and misrepresent Hindu history to denigrate and destroy Hindu society. Unfortunately, many Indians too have joined the game.
Responsible Western historians admit that:
1) Hindu history is much, very much, older than Alexander’s invasion
2) The Aryan invasion of India is at best a conjecture for which there is no positive evidence, literary or archaeological.
Though the Hindus never constructed a strong, imperial centralized state, like that of ancient Iran and Rome yet had a strong and highly decentralized social fabric made of organic units such as the clan (kula), caste (jãti), village (grãma), town (nigam), metropolis (nagar), country (janapada) and empire (sãmrãjya).
As per Greek historians who accompanied and followed Alexander only two other foreign powers invaded India.
1) Queen Semiramis of Babylonia in the 8th Century
2) Cyrus the Great of Iran in the 6th Century BC
Both attacked India with vast armies but were defeated at the borders and made to flee with very few survivors.
Plutarch leaves us in no doubt that Alexander himself had to beat a hasty retreat from the banks of the river Beas.
Later, his successor in East Asia, Seleucus Nicator, was soon humbled and not only made to cede conquered Indian Territory but also pay homage to the Indian emperor by a matrimonial alliance.
This triumphal course of Hindu history suffered a severe setback only with the advent of the Muslim invaders in the middle of the 7th Century AD. Muslim rule was destroyed and dispersed by the middle of the 18th Century. The number of converts that, considering its political power and intentions won during its long spell of seven centuries was rather small.
The British – the new invader had superiority in the art of warfare and a much subtler weapon of diplomacy. Due to the rising tide of humanism, rationalism, and universalism inspired by the revival of the Greek heritage, Christianity could not obtain an unbridled sway in the counsels of the British rulers as Islam was able to do in the courts of the Muslim kings. In the normal course, the Hindus who had such a glorious history should have come into their old golden condition after 1947 and resumed their career of newer cultural creations. But the Muslim and British invasions of India, though defeated and dispersed, have left certain psychological and intellectual residues.
In the second chapter of the book, ‘The Residue of Islamism’ Sita Ram remarks that it is not at all about our Muslim brethren but to that microscopic minority that takes pride in the purity of its Arab, Persian, or Turkish descent.
Islamism has evolved a strategy in which the Muslims of India are envisaged as a base. Some salient features of this strategy can be outlined as follows:
1) The Muslim intelligentsia should be sealed off from every shade of rationalism, universalism, humanism, and liberalism, and an army of mullahs and maulvis trained in the tenets of Islam should be let loose to brainwash and keep them along the right track.
2) Muslims should be encouraged to air as many grievances as can be invented, trying to appear as a downtrodden minority, oppressed, exploited, and treated as second-class citizens by the ‘brute’ Hindu majority.
3) The Muslims should be made to agitate for India’s support to all international Islamic causes, right or wrong, legitimate or illegitimate so that their attention is kept constantly diverted from demands of their own economic, social, and cultural condition.
After Islamism, the third chapter brings us to another imperialistic force or the Residue of Christianism.
The British rule in India crystallized two residues – Christianism and Macaulayism. Here, Christianism in India does not refer to the Christians in this country. Christianism in India is centered in the numerous Christian missions operating all over the country, particularly in the so-called tribal belts. Some of the eight fundamentals of Christianism in India may be summarised as follows:
1) The Hindus have never had a Saviour whose historicity can be ascertained, with the possible exception of the Buddha.
2) Thomas, an apostle of Jesus himself, was specially chosen by the Church to win India for his Master’s message, and he could not complete his mission in India because he met an untimely martyrdom at the hands of some Hindu, most probably Brahmins.
3) That it is the sacred task of the Christian Church to complete the mission of St. Thomas and see to it that India becomes a Christian country, once and for all.
This has not ended but it this snake has got a new skin that has following fangs full of poison.
1) To establish and extend educational institutions that at least immunize the upper-class Hindu children and youth against whatever Hindu ways still survive in their homes, wherever they do not succeed in attracting them towards Christianity.
2) To build and expand hospitals and undertake other social work to attract an all-round respect for the Christian spirit of social service.
3) To concentrate on Hindu ‘tribals’ who are removed from the main centers of the Hindu population, so that there is no untoward publicity.
4) To encourage well-to-do and willing Christians in the West to adopt boys and girls from poor Indian families, send them to missionary schools and colleges, and provide them with monetary assistance till they are converted.
5) To finance and promote political campaigns for separate states, inside or outside the Union of India, in those areas where the Christian population has attained majority or dominance.
“We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and intellect”.
“Indian in blood and colour but English in taste” this quote is enough to highlight the residue of Macaulayism. The term derives from Thomas Babington Macaulay, a member of the Governor General’s Council in the 1830s.Macaulay was the chief advocate of a new system and expected a class of Indians brown of skin but English in taste and temperament.
The spread of its spell over Hindu society, particularly Hindu intelligentsia, can be seen as –
1) A sceptical, if not negative, attitude towards Hindu spirituality, cultural creations, and social institutions with solemn airs of scholarship and superior knowledge. This can be seen in several movies and OTT content.
2) A positive, if not worshipful, attitude towards everything in Western society and culture, past as well present, in the name of progress, reason, and science. This can be seen as all the white collar job holders wearing black suit despite high temperature.
Another residue that Sita Ram Ji mentions is the Communist Conspiracy.
Ideologically, Communism in India is, in several respects, a sort of extension of Macaulayism, a residue of British rule. That is why Communism is strongest today in those areas where Macaulayism had earlier spread its widest spell.
Towards the end, he mentions evil forces which he calls ‘The United Front’.
The love story of the Islamism and Communism in India has been in existence and active since the early forties when the Communist Party of India came out openly in support of the demand for Pakistan.
Communism had its earlier respectability restored to it soon after the death of Sardar Patel and the eclipse of his following inside the Indian National Congress.
The United Front between Islamism and Communism achieved its first great victory when it effectively blocked the emergence of Hindi as the national language.
It expelled Rahul Sankrityayana from its ranks. Despite his great service to Communist causes in India, Rahulji remained an advocate of Hindi as the national language. The three ideologies have not yet started exchanging blows simply because their areas of operation have not yet coincided.
Their three Targets are as follows.
1) Christianism targets Hindu ‘tribals’
2) Islamism targets the Harijans
3) Communism is spreading its tentacles amongst the upper and middle classes
He concludes the book by emphasizing that India is secular because India is Hindu. It can be added as a corollary that India is a democracy also because India is Hindu.
Let us unite and save ourselves, our democratic polity, secular state, and Sanãtana Dharma for a new cycle of civilization, not only for ourselves but also for the world.
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