Doing worse than the U.N.

When Buddhist monks started their peaceful protest against economic mismanagement and political oppression in Burma, the U.N. Secretary General issued a statement asking all parties to avoid provocative actions, thus equating the peaceful monks with the ruthless dictators. As the Burmese protestors got support from around the world, the U.N. sent an envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, to meet with Senior Gen. Than Shwe and pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Just after Ibrahim Gambari briefed the Security Council and reported that he saw a window of opportunity for talks between the junta and Suu Kyi, the junta reduced security in Yangon. The state television broadcast Suu Kyi’s images, referred to her respectfully as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and released monks and demonstrators, all of which are unusual.

President Bush, it seems asked the China’s foreign minister Yang Jeichi to talk to the generals privately and it was this intervention that facilitated the visit from the U.N. envoy. Following this, the senior U.S. envoy was invited by the military regime for bilateral talks and she is expected to ask the junta to start talking to the democratic opposition groups.

While China, United States and even United Nations is involved in bringing a transition in Burma, India is absent from the diplomatic effort. When the U.N. is doing more than us, it tells a lot about how much influence or lack of influence we have in our neighborhood.

Tags: Burma, India, Democracy

Betraying Buddhists Again

In 2002, when India and Pakistan appeared to be headed for a war, Colin Powell, the U.S. secretary of state played a key role in cooling down the tensions. Apparently a significant part was also played by India’s huge software and information technology industry which asked the government to tone down the rhetoric. No one could have put it better than the metaphor maestro, Tom Friedman who wrote, “That’s right — in the crunch, it was the influence of General Electric, not General Powell, that did the trick.”

While business interests can avert wars, it can also cause nations to support dictators and be mute spectators to genocide. In 2006, when United States and its European partners wanted United Nations to pass a resolution to allow UN peace keepers in Darfur, it was opposed by China. China has leverage with the Sudanese government due to the vast investments in Sudanese oil fields, but has always withstood putting pressure on them. Chinese oil purchases have supported the regime and Chinese made AK-47s are used as the murder weapon in Darfur.

It is not just China which behaves like this. The main opposition to the Iraq war came from Russia, France and Germany who all had lucrative deals with Saddam Hussein. Our own Natwar Singh took kick backs and faked a moral opposition to the war.

With the protest of the Burmese Buddhist monks getting attention from around the world, analysts have concluded that if there is one nation that can exert pressure on the military junta, it is China. China is Burma’s largest trading partner and has the leverage, but it is a foregone conclusion that China will do nothing to help the monks. A nation which suppressed the Tiananmen revolution and brutally murdered Buddhist monks in Tibet would be least interested in bringing democracy to Burma. When the issue was bought up before the United Nations, China protested, similar to the protest in Darfur case.

Occasionally there is a mention that India could do something about the issue in Burma, then it as hilarious as the suggestion by one of the callers on On Point Radio, who said that all Americans should write to Wal-Mart asking it to do something about the freedom struggle in Burma. While the world was watching, India chose to be as insensitive as possible by sending the petroleum minister Murli Deora for business talks. Pranab Mukherjee went one step further and requested the murderers to conduct an enquiry into their own activities which is like asking Veerappan do his own post mortem.

Both India and China are least bothered about the plight of the monks and the human tragedy in Burma. Out of this, India’s behavior is shameful as it is a democracy selling arms to a cruel dictatorship in return for access to oil and gas. When China brutalized Buddhists in Tibet, India kept quiet and now probably to show that the foreign policy is consistent, it is keeping quiet when the show is being repeated in Burma. This was an opportunity for India to take a moral stand and distinguish itself from China, but instead it has chosen to let General Electric run the show.

(Image via Free Burma)

Tags: Burma, China, India, Buddhism

Notes from Kerala (3)

Bhaskar writes about the Communist Government in Kerala

This government cannot be saved by saving the ministers concerned. So far no member of this administration has been able to gain recognition as a good minister. At the same time, the parties say they are satisfied with the ministers’ performance. Apparently, although the ministers have not been successful in addressing the people’s problems, they are meeting the party’s needs.

Akrami writes, again about the Communist Government in Kerala

Every hour passed with the comedy government in power will prove costly for the LDF and will soon see a coming back of the vicious minority lobbies. Atchuthanandan it seems has vowed to see the end of the LDF. Democracy itself needs changes that able people come to power, manage the state’s resources. But for now a better team needs to take charge. This small state with not a kilometre of normal roads, not a urinal around, not public transport, with only pety issues and petty politics cannot stand watching further. Before they are kicked out without grace let them leave and make way for better people.

Ratheesh writes how people of Kerala are resorting to Gandhigiri to stop hartals

From one of my relatives, I came to know about this Gandhian model campaign in Kerala against “Hartal”. Campaign for Peace is an NGO that plans to send a lakh postcards to the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court requesting him to ensure safety of people during Hartal days. The plan is to send postcards on October 2, which is going to be observed as Hartal Viruddha Dinam (Anti-Hartal Day). Why not e-mails? I think it’s because e-mails are not frequently read in many Government organizations in India, and having an email flood in the Inbox would hardly have any impact anywhere. But making a lakh postcards pile up in the mail-room would be a more effective form of symbolic protest.

The Buddha loses

Nitin, you were right. They came back.

MINGORA: Some unidentified militants blew up the historic statue of Buddha in Jihan Abad area of Swat district on Saturday.

The curator maintained that the statue belonged to 7th century A.D, and it was the most complete and inspiring symbol of Gandahara art. After the historic statues of Bamyan in Afghanistan, which were destroyed by the Taliban, the swat statue was the sole example of Buddhist cultural heritage.

“It was seven meters tall and 20 feet high from the land, showing Buddha in the condition of meditation. I don’t know what they want to achieve by such actions,” he added. Aqleem said he had reported the incident to the local police but he did not think that the police would be able to protect Buddhist cultural sites in swat as they themselves were the victims of terrorist attacks.[Militants blow up Buddha statue in Swat]

Epic Problems: My article in Pragati

In an affidavit pertaining to the Sethusamudram project, the Central government told the Supreme Court that there was no historical evidence to establish the existence of Lord Rama or the other characters in Ramayana. The affidavit was filed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), an organization under the Ministry of Culture, whose goal is to conduct archaeological research and protect India’s cultural heritage. This caused an arc of outrage and a political crisis. To control the political damage, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government withdrew the affidavit and suspended the concerned ASI officials. This makes sense, not so much for shielding the Minister for Culture, but for making unwarranted statements about the historicity of Rama.
Read the rest at the October 2007 (Community Edition) of Pragati.
The Community Edition of Pragati is available for free download and this edition may be freely distributed (in its complete form) via both electronic and non-electronic means. You are encouraged to share your copy with your local community or social networks.

Lost Under Water Cities

Excerpt from Egyptian antiquities By George Long (Published in 1832)

After the 2004 tsunami receded, a naval diving team assisted the Archaeological Survey of India in looking for some structures which were revealed in Mahabalipuram. They found some temple shaped structures covered with marine growth leading archaeologists to believe that it was the remains of the other six pagodas.

Under water archaeology in Dwaraka and the dating of the retrieved artifacts have revealed that the debris is related to the ruins of a city dated to 2280 BCE. Previous under water excavations revealed about 120 anchors. These anchors often had three holes of which the upper one was used for tying a rope and the other two holes for holding wooden flukes.

There seems to be evidence of a submerged city, similar to Dwaraka, near the island of Yonaguni Jima in Japan. Masaaki Kimura, a marine geologist at the University of the Ryukyus in Japan, who has been diving there for more than fifteen years has found submerged stone structures which look like a monolithic stepped pyramid. (photos)

Similar to the story of the lost continent of Atlantis and Lemuria, there is an Asian tale of the lost continent of Mu. According to one concept, it was the survivors of Mu who found the Mayan civilization and some folks believe that the structures found near Yonaguni Jima is evidence of Mu.

Sceptics think that these pyramid like structures are natural formations, but Kimura says that he has found quarry marks and characters etched into the carved faces. He believes that the ruins are 5000 years old based on the date of stalactites, which is around the same time as the ruins found in Dwaraka.

A similar under water city has now been found under the site of present day Alexandria, the city found by Alexander of Macedonia. The city, dated to around 1000 BCE, seems to be the remains of Rhakotis, a town mentioned in histories, but never found.

As evident from the archaeology at Dwaraka, Mahabalipuram, Yonaguni Jima and Alexandria, there is always some historical basis for certain “mythologies”. Any decent archaeologist would investigate the sites before jumping to conclusions, unless of course they report to Ambika Soni or T R Baalu.

Tags: Dwaraka, Mahabalipuram, Archaeology, Yonaguni Jima, Rhakotis, Ancient History

Found: Buddha's Hand

According to Digha Commentary II, what remained after Buddha’s body was burned were four canine teeth, the two collarbones, the frontal bone, the other unburnable dhatus. Now we have the whole hand, in the form of a citrus fruit.

The Saraswati Project is on

The Saraswati Heritage Project was started by the culture and tourism minister Jagmohan in 2003-2004 to conduct archaeological excavations in the region. Then the usual words – saffronization of history, attempts to push the antiquity of Indian civilization were thrown and Congress led UPA Government canned it.

Turns out that there are some smart folks at the ASI for they have quietly continued the project just by renaming it.

But the ASI funded the project from its own resources. “We wanted to bring the search to a logical conclusion,” RS Bisht, former joint director, ASI, who coordinated the project during the NDA regime, told DNA. [Sarasvati project is on, under a new name]

Tags: Archaeology, Saraswati, Ancient History

Historical Levity

Amit Kaundinya’s review of Priyadarshan’s new movie Dhol has the following paragraph

Armed with a script that is as old as the Harappan Civilization and with actors who are competing for the Worst Actor Award, director Priyadarshan sets off to make the audience laugh. And as expected he fails miserably. Clichéd scenes, garish cinematography, tiring songs and perhaps the most banal screenplay are what you take back after watching Dhol. [Dhol]

ASI archaeologist Karunanidhi, who also doubles as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, would have explained Priyadarsan’s miserable failure as the result of a Dravidian trying to adapt a script as old as an Aryan civilization. Besides this, Priyadarshan also used Aryan actors in a movie which was initially written and performed by Dravidians.

Exodus: A myth?

One of the important events in the book of Exodus, which describes the departure of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, is the parting of the Red Sea. Chased by the Pharaoh’s army, the Israelites reach the Red Sea and Moses causes the water to part. Once the Israelites cross to safety, the water comes back and drowns the Pharaoh’s army.

There have been countless under water archaeological expeditions looking for evidence of drowned Egyptian armies, but all unsuccessful. In Simcha Jacobovici’s controversial documentary The Exodus Decoded, there was an attempt to find the location of the place where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, a scene immortalized in Cecil B. DeMille‘s The Ten Commandments. After looking at a hieroglyphic which he says depicts the parting of the sea he concludes that Red Sea is not the Red Sea we know, but a small lake known as the El Balah Lake.

According to Dr. Zahi Hawass, the story of Exodus is a myth. No, Dr. Hawass is not an ASI official who makes judgement on religious scriptures without doing any work, but Egypt’s chief archaeologist who has been conducting excavations in the Sinai region. So far they have not found any evidence for the accounts in the Hebrew scriptures and there has been only one find which suggests the existence of Israel.

Then, Egypt is the supermarket of ancient history and tomorrow there could be a discovery which could change the status of Exodus from myth to history.

Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, the head of the excavation, seemed to sense that such a conclusion might disappoint some. People always have doubts until something is discovered to confirm it, he noted.

Then he offered another theory, one that he said he drew from modern Egypt.

“A pharaoh drowned and a whole army was killed,” he said recounting the portion of the story that holds that God parted the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to escape, then closed the waters on the pursuing army.

“This is a crisis for Egypt, and Egyptians do not document their crises.” [Did the Red Sea Part? No Evidence, Archaeologists Say]

Tags: Exodus, Jewish History, Zahi Hawass, Egypt, Israel