The Ram

The Ram. As you may think it is grammatically incorrect as ‘The’ as such never used before a name. But really, is Ram just a name? (Of course, I don’t mean the memory one). Shall we explain someone who is alien to Ram as ‘who is Ram’ or ‘What is Ram’? Why I want to confuse a simple thing as the name of a person as an object? How can the name convert to an entity? Let’s find out.

The name of our country is ‘Bhaarat’ [Double ‘a’ just to ensure you read correctly]. It is an entity. But we have people named “Bhaarat.” So, we can convert an entity to a name. Why not a name to entity? As a matter of fact, our country is named “Bhaarat” after a tribe whose name was the same “Bhaarat”. The entity, which is the land mass from Himalaya to Hind sagar, was named after a clan. So, when exactly a name becomes an entity?? The “Bhaarat” tribe has achieved, accomplished such things that its greatness has transcended geographies, and their impact was so relevant and important that the whole area influenced by them is happened to be named as “Bhaarat”.

Getting confused?? Getting any clarity where I am heading? The point I want to make is the name converts to an entity when the greatness of it overcomes a threshold, where it no longer associates with a person, clan, area, class, or creed. Ram has ascended everything. It is at the top of everything. It transcends everything, even it transcends judgement, logic, belief everything. This was well understood by Indians since ages. If you look into 2 generation before us, almost 80% of names were named after Ram. They just don’t think of any fancy names, any logic, and astrology before giving their kid’s name as Ram. Whenever a name is decided, first there should be ‘Ram’ then you add whatever you want. You will find every name will certainly have something like these, “Ramasamy”, “Ramachandra”, “Ramarao”, “Raghuram”, “Ramnarayan”, “Ramlal”, “SitaRam”, “Shreeram” etc. 

Why is so?? Why is Ram so great for us Indians? Here is the thing. Bhaarat has many great sons who have dedicated their life to unite the country from Mountains to the Ocean. It is often the Kings who are remembered in History as they have the most pivotal role to unite the country. Taking of some names, Raja Bharat of Kuru clan, Raja Raghu after which Raghukula is named, Raja Chandragupt who founded the Mauryan empire, Raja Vikramaditya who had the biggest empire ever of whom we read Vikram Betal stories. All these kings have united India by conquering the whole land mass and ruling them from one place and have instilled a sense of Bhaaratiyata, a sense of unity among all Indians by their benevolent rule.

All these kings have united the country while they have power. What makes Ram so unique is, he united the country as a king with no power. Although, he was the king of Ayodhya symbolically, but he was living the life of a hermit. He did not win the hearts of the people by his rule as a king. He won the hearts as simple human being. Be it traveling on the daily ferry of the boatman, be it eating the left-over fruit of the Sabri (tribe women), or taking along an army of people from the jungles (Vanvasis, the Vanaras (Va- other, Nara- Man, the other type of Man). Ram just could not be despised or hated. Only thing Ram got in his whole journey of life is Love. No one, no one can say a word against him, even his biggest nemesis Ravan did not utter a single word against the character of Ram. So great a person he was. What makes things more interesting is this guy lived 9000 years ago and till now not a single book, manuscript, booklet or even an article you can find which can put a finger on the Character of this one person. Piousness unmatched.

Just imagine the mind of the person. The man who always regarded as Maryada Purusottom, killed a King named “Vali” treacherously from behind the back. Just after he shot the arrow and Vali was about to die, Ram goes to him as a show of humanity and on his lap breathing his last, Vali asks “Hey Ram, you could have asked me for help to find your wife. That Ravan has fled away from my empire after I defeated him soundly. I could have brought him to your feet and returned your wife. Why did you take the side of Sugriv and killed me, that too from the behind??” Ram, who is still the king of Ayodhya replies, “Hey Vali. You are the strongest man on the earth. I could have never defeated you in a straight fight. But it was my dharma to kill you. You know why?? Every sin is pardonable, but you have taken the wife of your brother forcefully. A sin of attack on the dignity of women is unpardonable. Our King, the King of Jambu dweep (Indian Subcontinent), King Bharata (Brother of Ram) has given me orders as per Raghukul Neeti, that wherever you see any attack on the dignity of an women it is your responsibility to eradicate the cause. Hence according to his order, I am duty bound to kill you and Help Sugreeva.” This one incident made the entire Vanara Sena submitting itself to Rama and fight for him to bring Sitamata from the clutches of Ravana.

Hence, Rama unites classes, varnas, genders, ages, creatures everything. Yet he is not all about only compassion. He is an epitome of a person who categorically generates fear among the people who don’t side with Dharma. When even after doing Tapasya for 7 days and 7 nights, Samudradev did not help Rama in crossing the Ocean, Rama was about to shoot an arrow to the Ocean. People often describe these as Rama lost his cool. No, it isn’t. Rama just depicts here when you use the shastra(weapon) if someone is not helping in the cause of Dharma Raksha. As per Tulsidas “Bhay bin preet na koi”. No body loves you if they don’t fear you. Everybody loved Rama, everyone who is against the Dharma or more importantly everyone who does not contribute to upholding Dharma must fear him. And rightfully so.

The greatest trait of Rama was his response to the situation. His perseverance is a source of inspiration to everyone. Imagine, the person who is about to be crowned as the King of the greatest empire of the greatest civilization the next day, instead of getting the crown had to go to Jungle not for a day or two, but for 14 long years. Then, when he is about to finish his vanvas with just one year left, he loses his wife with absolutely no knowledge of where she is. Then again, when he was just some miles away from her, the ocean does not allow him to go her for 7 long days. When, everything else is finished, He won the war, he defeated the most powerful and knowledgeable person ever born on the earth, he must put his wife into the fire against his wish. The person was an embodiment of mental strength. No one can ever match his mental strength. As they say “Maryada” is not an easy thing.

Hence, Ram is above a name, it is an idea, it is the symbol of the greatest virtues a human can have. Ram may not be there for you to believe, Ram may be not your respect, Ram may be not for your worship, but Ram is your responsibility. The entire civilization of Bharat draws its inspiration from the name Ram. The definition of moral and immoral is judged based on the deeds of Ram. He shaped our ideology, he shaped our culture, more importantly he shaped our character. Ram is Bharat, Bharat is Ram. Till there is the idea of Ram in our country, it can’t be divided based upon region, language, belief, faith, worship, culture, food, dress, or anything. Everyone builds a country; Ram built the nation. The nation who stood everything, good, bad, worse only because it drew inspiration from Ram. As wisely said, Bhaarat without Ram is a Body without Soul. Therefore, the temple of Ram in that very place of Janmabhoomi is uncompromisable as it represents the Idea of India. It represents the soul of Indians. It represents the perseverance of our ancestors. It represents the tears of our foremothers. It represents the lights of our hope. It represents the father of our nation. The Ram.

 

Jai Shree Ram

A Cancer that need to be Cured Urgently

There is a thing called "Conversion". For a society it means convert from one religion to another. Literally that means you as a person change your belief. I always wondered, what the heck is that belief which changes as soon as you change your religion. What is the difference between the belief of a Hindu or a Christian or a Muslim? Is there any difference? Nothing. Every human just have 2 beliefs, one self belief and second is a belief that someone powerful has impact in his life, which is otherwise known as God/Allah/Lord etc. etc. If you go one step further to the analysis of Adi Shankaracharya, he just says the self belief and the belief of someone else being all powerful are the same, it is you who is all powerful or it is the all powerful which generate beliefs on yourself. The two belief system is Dvaitavad and one belief system is called Advaitavad in India. Just think, can you imagine any other belief? That is difference based upon the so called term Religion????

If every single human believe in one single thing apart from him ,which is called God, then why are there religions?? How are they different from each other, What exactly is that? What exactly you change when you convert? Previously it was not a serious thing to contemplate. But today it is more than serious. I will limit this conversion topic only to the Indian perspective. A teenage girl just killed herself in Tamilnadu, otherwise branded as most religiously tolerant state in India, because she was forced to convert to Christianity from Hinduism. As she was not obeying the diktat of the hostel warden (Appointed by obviously a missionary school) , she was discriminated, mentally tortured and harassed. So she decided to kill herself. Is it true or not I don't know. But the fact is this is not the main headline of the newspapers is what is more disappointing. But yeah no one is surprised as victim in Hindu which is considered as everyday normal in India. 

But what exactly is this conversion? What it converts? Since last 4-5 years, there is a tremendous awakening among the Hindus about this. But reaction to this is not what is meant to be. Earlier, the secular propaganda of "it is personal choice to choose and propagate his/her religion" was dominated among the educated Hindu psyche but this has changed quite a lot now. Todays Hindu denounces conversion, understands it is a cheating, not scientific, non democratic and illogical. They understand it is a hollow thing, it is a false thing, but what they don't understand that though it is a false thing, it is not a hollow thing. It is a menace, it is a threat. The reaction to it should not be limited laughing and sharing the  Abra ka Dabra kind of videos of the Christian preachers or some illogical hinduisation of Jesus photos or sharing of some ladies dancing in absolutely ugly way to some fake tunes in some sermon sessions. The reaction should not be limited to denounce, the reaction should be much more than that.

The reason why this is so serious is actually there is nothing that is being converted in conversion that is related to belief (As I have already said there is only one kind of belief), also as far as Abrahamic religions like C(Christian) and M(Muslims) are concerned, it has nothing to do with spirituality too. When you convert an H to C or M, you actually convert the culture of that person. And culture is a native thing. You take him away from his roots. That's it. And Culture is the only thing that binds a nation. You destroy the culture you destroy the nation. When one converts to M, he starts wearing a skull cap. Now what skull cap can change a person from H to M? You just infused Arabic culture to an Indian by converting him to M. A H whose forefathers never had Beef, suddenly starts eating beef without hesitation after being converted to M or C. Seriously. are you changing his belief? No, beef is being eaten in the Europe and middle east and not in India or south east Asia. So by changing the food on a plate you are changing the faith of the person? No way, Again what you are changing is culture. He slowly stops wearing a saffron cloth, he deliberately goes to a church and ask the God the same thing that he used to Ask when he used to go to Temple. He stops, Chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai once he converts to M. Seriously, Can anyone find any logical change in a person who converts from H to C or M?

You can't. It is absolutely not possible. Because the Abrahamic religions are nothing but set of rules you should follow to maintain social order as well as structure in the society for humans. That's it. Is there any difference between C and M? Are their or for that matter anyone's God is different from another? Not at all, For all of them the God is same. Now secular people will say the path to reach God is different? Oh is it?? I reach God By forbidding beef and he reaches God by eating it?? I reach God by Chanting Vande Mataram and he by Saying I wont say Vande Matram? I reach God by Shouting Jai Shri Ram and he by saying Prophet is the last Messenger. I reach God from India by praying in Jagannath temple where C and M are not even allowed and that C guy reaches God by Praying in a Church which constantly propagates H Gods as Vultures?? Is this what the phrase means "Ekam sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti"? Common! what can be more ridiculous than this? The fact is every religion which is nothing but a set of rule is some kind of a constitution of some civilization, prepared by some gyani people over a period of time. Ok not some civilization, It is the vedic civilization, it is the source of "Code of Conduct" for every religion because all the people that are spreaded over the world are civilized one way or the other by the vedic people. The simple rules like " dont kill an innnocent", "Dont Marry among siblings", "Respect Parents", "Help others", "Give food to needies", "Sacrifice is the greatest virtue", etc etc are the over all summary of every religion. There is a reason it is called in India that all people are family (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) because we have set same standard for a society , just mention the source as different some say Ramayan, some say Upnishad, Some say Quran or BIble. It does not alter the basic fundamentals of rules of the society. That's it, that is where religion ends.

Everything that differentiate H from C and M is not belief or faith or spirituality, but the culture. It changes your idols, your history, it changes your dressings, your food, your relations, your emotions towards your native, your story, your likes/dislikes. It changes your personality to a small extent and to a large extent it changes your identity. You are just lost in your life, you dont know what to live for, whom to love for, you are detached of your history, So you start afresh. You chose your motive differently, You start hating the previous notions. You start denouncing the Ram, The Krishnas. You start mocking the Ganesh. You suddenly start love for your enemy countries. The conversion is nothing but a Hate brewing factory, utilizes the economic aspirations of some greedy people to bring the history of the nation into shambles. Its only motive is to detach the person from the root so that some greedy or self proclaimed religious fanatics far away from your country can suck your resources as much as they can for their benefit.

It is a cancer for the society with sole objective of to make it hollow within. The guy who asks you to convert has no fusking belief in his exclusive lord, rather he is just an employee with x number of target like an LIC agent to get his additional year end bonus which he needs to pay his EMI, or an employee who is brainwashed to do anything in this life as he is a greedy sucker who expects "What not" after he goes to Jannat in his afterlife. The Time has come not just to denounce it but to suppress and eradicate it in whatever way possible. 

Last but not the least, let no more girl die because of this cancer.

Jai Shri Ram

Reclaiming Indian heritage - Ram Setu

Ram Setu.. If you hear this name what things come into your mind??
Nal, Neel? Who built it? Ram in his quest to get his wife back built it to crossover to Lanka.. This story has been there since ages.. Thousand years ago.. Atleast the written manuscript is found at least 2000 years ago.

Now search Ram Setu in Google.. What will you see?? You will see an Wikipedia page named "Adam's Bridge". Surprised?? You know who is Adam? Yes the same whom God has sent as first man on this Planet. Why it is Adam's bridge. All Abrahamic religions like Christianity.. Islam.. Judaism will know it as Adam's Bridge as they consider him as first prophet. Will give a brief intro in one paragraph about these religions before coming to the topic.

The thing is Islam.. Christianity and Judaism(Jews) all believe in same god and also almost same prophets. For all of them Prophet Adam was the first prophet and all believe in the same Adam and Eve tale. You will find many relatable names in Christianity and Islam like Joseph-Yusuf, Moses-Musa, Abraham-Ibrahim, Solomon-Salman. Then why do followers of these religions fight with each other for so long. Acc to Christianity after Prophet Jesus no other prophet has come on earth but acc to Islam after Jesus, Prophet Muhammad came as messenger of God. Not only this, Islam says he is the last prophet and nobody else will come here after. So his words are final. Whole reason for conflict, all those stories of knights coming from Europe fighting for Jerusalem, then an arab king takes it back later, the whole conflict between Christians and Islam is this. In fact those who have slightest knowledge of middle east must be aware of Israel and Arab conflict. Do you know how this started. Jews who are followers of Prophet Moses(Who came just before Jesus) were not exactly stayed in the present day israel. They actually were spread throughout the Arab like Saudi, Yemen, Siriya, Lebanon, Jordan. Even Europe. So when Muhammad conquered the Arab land..jews were also there in his kingdom. Jews normally pray to Lord by facing towards Jerusalem, the birthplace of Moses. Muhammad actually told to pray facing towards Mecca instead of Jerusalem. This is the spark that created trust issues and later exploded into a religious war which is still continuing after 1500 years. Astonishing isn't it? Will elaborate this later sometime. Very interesting as well as heartbreaking stories.

So let's come to the topic.. The Adam Bridge. According to the Islamic texts (I don't know about other religious texts) Adam when sent by God first landed in Srilanka. Then he wanted to go to India. But there was an ocean in between. So he climbed upto a tall mountain near the shore in Lanka and jumped onto India. Such was the force that the Mountain fell forward into the sea and we see the present Adam's bridge. Some also say he alone built the bridge and some also say there was a bridge already and he crossed through this. In fact the big big footmarks that you see on the rocks of Lanka which you all believed to be of Hanuman is actually of Adam's.

The point here is how cunningly the heritage of ours is snatched right under our nose and we keep mum. You go to a secular guy he will say.. Haan bhai for them their belief.. For us our belief.. All religions are same.. But can you allow this Ramsetu to be hijacked by anyone else? If not you aren't a certified secular. If yes then you are a certified fool

What should be done? Ram Setu is Ram Setu.. No other entity has any right on it. This is history and this is ours heritage. It has to be told loud and clear. It has to be conveyed boldly and bravely by all of us. Without any intention of doing a crime to demean any achievement of Prophet Adam, we can't let Ramsetu be named after him. Sorry.

P. S. Itne choti choti chizon pe 1500 saal ladhne wale... Bharat me aakar 1000 saal se kese samahit hokar jee rahe hain?? Jabki so called Hinduism and Islam me toh itna farak he ki Heaven and Hell ki duri bhi kam padjaye. Answer - Doston ye Bharatvarsh he. Yeah punya bhumi he. Bhagwan ka sabse priya bhumi. Ye toh sagar he.. Yahan jo bhi ata he isi sagar me sammilit ho jata he.

Ram Setu ke raksha ke naam par ek Jai Shri Ram

The Saga of Kalinga

April 1st. For many, it's a fool day but for us Odias, it is our foundation day. This day is celebrated widely as Utkal Divas. This day we Odias who were represented by Madhusudhan Das successfully convinced the British that Odia is a separate language of its own, having its own history and culture and not an offshoot or dialect of Bengali. For your info, Odia is the only North Indian Non-Sanskrit Language to have the status of classical language as per the Govt of India(Not Gujrati, nor Hindi, Nor Marathi, Bengali). Irony died a thousand times when we had to prove some firangis that we are not Bengalis which was nowhere in the picture when our language, art, and culture flourished.

Coming to our specialty. When I was staying in Delhi, people called me south Indian. Now when I am staying in Chennai people call me North Indian. So we are the Pure Indians. More Indian than anyone else 😊. Having said that Odias are more of nationalists than regionalists unlike some of the southern people. We never boast about our culture-language to others unnecessarily, never even cared to do so. Easily mixing, chilled out guys, always ready to travel, never say no to games and sports, not so serious (rarely you will find a Nerd among Odias) and high-class foodies.

That's it. I am not going to tell about the same boring things on our statehood days like art, dance, clothes, Geography, tourist place, some freedom fighters, etc. and certainly not going to explain about the Rath Yatra or legends of Lord Jagannath. Here I will only focus on the importance of this land and only talk about historically how Odisha, the erstwhile Kalinga played a key role in shaping our nation.

Part- I

Who are we and who are our noted heroes? The first mention of Kalinga is found in Mahabharat. It has fought along with Kauravas in the battle of Mahabharat. As once Chanakya said to the Janpads while preparing them for the invasion of Alexander " Paradhin Rashtra tabtak Parajit nahi hota jabtak wo apni sankriti aur mulyon ki raksha kar sake". Hence I always say unlike other ancient civilizations of Egypt and Iran whose culture itself was lost, India still remains as it is and hence the land can never be conquered. So, whoever ruled this part of the land, primarily from Mahanadi to the Godavari without any malicious intent to destroy our culture or rather helped in updating and flourishing our art, language and culture all are our heroes. All are Kalingadhipatis. This post is going to be very long. It's about my language and my state. Can't shorten it.

Importance-1-:

Fast forward to 500 BCE. During this time Odisha was numero uno in maritime trading in the entire world. People of Odisha can relate it to "Kartika Purnima". It was a highly rich kingdom because of its merchants. This is the time Odia language was just about to evolve. The technology was not much advanced that you can go to the Java-Sumatra (South Asian) region on a straight path on the Bay of Bengal. The maritime route was from coast of Odisha to south up to Srilanka and from there turn westwards to reach to Bali Island of Indonesia. The famous Bali Jatra that happens in Cuttack every year is to celebrate the return of our merchants from Bali.

Once so happened that the daughter of King of Vanga(Bengal) was kidnapped by a Lion (Most likely a man who is so powerful that they call him lion). This man was a Kalinga Man and notorious too. Their son whose name was Singha Bahu killed his father and freed along with his mother and established a kingdom in and around Odisha. His Son, Prince Vijaya again turned out to be like his grandfather, violent clout, a disgrace to the king. The king banished him from the empire.

So Vijay along with 700 companions started sailing South and reached Srilanka. He defeated the native people there and became its King. He married a Pandyan princess and had considerable influence on the Tamil kings. Vijaya became very benevolent and ruled Srilanka for thirty years and hence the Sinhalese tribe started. Sinhalese- After the name of his father Singhabahu or may be based on his Grandfather the LION. Srilankans consider Vijaya as their founding father and no need to mention Srilanka's national flag carries a Lion symbol on it though Srilanka never had any lion on its soil. So Srilankans are not Dravidian and they are basically Odias (So-called Aryans). Shocking. Isn't it?

Importance-2-:

This will hurt many people but I am not gonna mince my words. Most of the Indians know Odisha or Kalinga from the famous or rather infamous Kalinga war which is fought between the Magadha (Bihar) and Kalinga. Kalinga at that time was a democratic state with no crowned King. It has a strong maritime link with the southeast and has sophisticated ship technology. The Mauryan empire was giant(See picture 1) and Kalinga never had a chance against the Ashoka. Neither Chandragupta under the advice of Chanakya nor his son Bindusara attacked Kalinga. Because Chanakya understood the importance of Kalinga and he respected its administration. He did not see any threat to his dream of the unification of India from Kalinga.

Why did Ashoka, the Son of Bindusara, attack it? This could be an entire article but very briefly, Ashoka was a lunatic as well as fanatic and barbaric. Chandashoka as we know him. He was not the crown prince chosen by Bindusara. He killed the crown prince after the king's death on the advice of Buddhist monks who wanted to expand their influence. He killed every male of his cousins and stepbrothers to establish himself as the Mauryan empire. When finally Ashoka became the king, he had trust issues with Kalinga because Kalinga has a favorable view of the crown prince. He also was scared about its much sophisticated Navy and also a little bit attracted by its money. One of the bloodiest battles was fought in 262 BCE and lakhs were killed. Virtually the entire Kalinga population was wiped off. And did he becomes Dhramashok after that and became a Buddhist? Lol, you must be kidding. That guy was still the same. He did not even express his remorse in his inscriptions that are found in Odisha's Dhauli temple, the war site. He killed many Jains even after this war as it was Buddhists who helped him become the king. Hence he was a religious fanatic too. He never changed.

The Mauryan Empire

Hence whenever some Bollywood guys portray Ashoka as in love with some Kalinga princess, or Any TV serials which portray Kalinga people as barbarians who were liberated by Ashoka, it pains each and every Odia. Still, We accept Ashoka Chakra and Ashoka Stambha. Not because it has Ashoka in it but because these are our national flag and national emblem. Why? As I have said we are nationalists and not regionalists. So what is the importance of Kalinga in it? Ashoka could never recover his image after the Kalinga war. His image was tarnished throughout his empire and the Mauryan empire disintegrated into pieces during his later days. The Wicked form of Buddhism was stopped being a prominent religion in India and the Vedic religion attained its prominent status. All Hindus should thank us for that.

Importance 3- :

After the disintegration of the Mauryan Empire, two powerful empires emerged, one the Satavahan Empire in south-central India and one in the eastern Coast, the Mahameghavahana Empire. The Mauryan Empire was reduced to just present-day Bihar and parts of Bengal. Much of North India divided into small kingdoms. This was an ample opportunity for the Greeks who were subjugated by the Mauryas. They started attacking the Mainland India. This was the 2nd invasion after Alexander. One such invader was Demetrius. He Conquered all of Northwest India from the Mauryas notably present-day Iran, Pakistan Afganisthan and almost won most parts of North India. Due to the presence of Vindhyas the invaders normally don't attack south India directly. Rather the usual path is to conquer India from west to east up to Bihar and then turn southwards on the plains of Odisha.

When Demetrius attacked Magadh (Around 180 BCE)which then has been reduced to a very weak kingdom, the King sought the help of Kalinga. And who was the King at that time? The greatest Kalinga Emperor, Mahameghavahana Aira Kharavela. See the turn of events. The same Mauryan empire which wiped off Kalinga 80 years ago is now seeking the help of it to fight an Invader.

Demetrius was no match to Kharavela. He lost the battle. So Kharavela secured the nation from the most severe invasion attempt to date by defeating Demetrius and Greeks never attacked India afterward. They were restricted to Present-day Mathura. The Kharavela inscriptions in Hatigumpha describes this battle as " A Yavana King ran away with his demoralized army towards Mathura after the defeat by the Kalingadhipati ". Kharavela conquered the Tamil kingdoms and defeated the Satavahans too. The extent of the influence of his empire can be seen in Picture 2.

Did he stop here? No. After the invasion threat was gone, he conquered Mauryans and the now the battle of Kalinga was avenged. He freed the Jains and brought back all the wealth and Idols that has been taken away from the Kalinga by Ashoka. He described his expedition of Magadh in the Udayagiri hills situated in Bhubaneswar. If one climbs up this hill and stands in front of Hatigumpha, you can see the Bhubaneswar town. And if you look straight you will see the Dhauli temple built by Ashoka after his victory in the Kalinga war. Mr. Sanjeev Sanyal in his book "The Ocean of Churn" describes this as " It is unmistakable how Kharavela had his inscriptions placed directly looking out at those of Ashoka at Dhauli. It is as if to tell Ashoka that he, Kharavela of Kalinga, had sacked Pataliputra and caused the end of Mauryan rule which once created a bloodbath in Kalinga."

Influence of Kharavela Empire

Very proud feeling as an Odia. Isn't it?

Sadly, The Delhi Centric Historians never gave any prominence to such a Magnificent Emperor. At least we as an Odia should know it and tell it to every Indian that how glorious our past is and how important we are in shaping and securing our nation the " BharataVarsha" and the Vedic culture.

Part-II

"Utkal Divas", the name so-called because Utkal literally means Utrkrist Kala ka Desh. Odisha's art, handicraft, architecture, etc are second to none. The Magnificent temples like the Jagannath temple in Puri, The Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar and the Sun temple in Konark are some of the finest examples of architectural marvels. The temple design, as well as the structure of Odisha, are completely different from the other temples in any other part of the world. It has its own uniqueness. Whichever dynasty from any part of the world may rule here, he followed this pattern. I would request everyone to come, have a visit to Odisha.

Having said that let's move on to the subject.

Importance-: 4

After the great Kharavela, the Mahameghavahan Empire was still ruling a vast part of the country. Kharavela had successfully repealed the Greeks from the mainland India. But thereafter another force was emerging in northwest India. The Sakas(Present-day Iranians). They have successfully captured the territory in the northwest country from the Greeks and were on a mission to expand their empire into mainland India. A similar pattern was followed. Win the northwest capture Gujrat & Rajasthan, then move from west to east up to Bihar and then look towards the south. Approximately 100 years after Kharavela won over the Greeks, the Sakas has successfully captured Pataliputra. See the figure for the Saka Empire.

Saka Empire-: Green- Direct control of Sakas, Yellow- Expanded Territory of Sakas

According to Yuga Puran (Source-Wiki), the Sakas have killed one-fourth of the population of Pataliputra until they faced the Kalinga King on the battlefield. History was being repeated. And Yes History was repeated. The Kalinga king defeated the Sakas and killed the Saka king. The name of the Kalinga King is said to be Shata but this is ambiguous as not much is known about him. But it is quite certain that the Sakas were defeated in the battle by a Kalinga king and Kaling played a pivotal role in foiling another foreign invasion.

Most of the period in the first Millenium AD Kalinga was not an influential kingdom in the mainland of India. During this period we have come across many great Indian kings like Vikramaditya, Rajaraja Chola, Gautamiputra Satakarni, etc who had successfully fought against the invaders. Most of the period Kalinga was under the Gupta Empire which was otherwise called the Golden age of India.

Fast forward to 1192. This is one of the most important years of Indian history because the first time the Islamic invasion successfully captured Delhi after Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan in the battle of Tarain. It took almost 600 years for Islamic invaders after Prophet Muhammad to capture Delhi. That too not by the Arabs(to which Muhammad belonged to) but by the Turks(Not a pure race). This is the prime reason why India did not become an Islamic nation. The first blow is always the ultimate blow and the most effective blow. The whole nation owes to the Rajputs/Gujratis of western India and Gurjara-Pratiharas of North India to have resisted Islamic invasion for so long and saved the country. Now we have reached Medieval India.

Importance 5-

After the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan, Delhi Sultanate was established under its first sultan Qutbuddin Aibak which is otherwise known as the Mamluk dynasty. India was a hunting ground for them and the commanders of the Delhi sultanate were winning one after another battle in northern India. One of them was Bakhtiyar Khiliji, a tyrant you can't imagine. Bakhtiyar Khilji captured Bihar and Bengal. His Bihar expedition was one of the most inhumane incidents in Indian history. He destroyed all the temples and universities. Nalanda was completely destroyed and the library was burnt. Hundreds of Scholars and professors were killed. Almost all Buddhist monuments have been raged. The irony is we still have a town named after him in Bihar, Bakhtiyarpur. He captured Bengal (both West Bengal and Bangladesh) killed thousands. Then he started his expedition towards Tibet. While on his Tibet expedition he met the Assamese King Pritthu and lost the battle miserably and later died. Hence northeast was saved from the Islamic Conquest.

Bengal is now captured by the Delhi sultanate. See Picture 2. The extent of the Mamluk empire followed a similar pattern to other invaders. Conquer Northwest then march from West to East. Their next target was Kalinga. History was repeating Again. The Bengal governor of the Delhi Sultanate who was the successor to Bakhtiyar Khiliji, Ghihas-Ud-din attacked Kalinga.

Mamluk Empire-1260 AD

Kalinga was then ruled by Eastern Ganga Dynasty. The King was Anandabhima Deva. He did not opt for any settlement with Ghihas-ud-din but rather defeated the Muslim forces and chased them out of the Kalinga. The battle was fought under the commander of Odisha Army, Vishnu Mahapatra.

This battle was a very important battle in the Kalinga as well as Odisha's history. The Kalinga king was attacked by a powerful Delhi sultanate and defeated him. This was a bloody blow to the Islamic expansion in Odisha.

Importance 6-:

Anaga Bhimdev's Son was Narasingha Dev. This guy was not like his forefathers who believed in defending but rather believed is finishing the game at once. After becoming King he marched towards Bengals to secure Odisha permanently from the Islamic invasion.

In Picture-2, what can be seen is not the maximum extent of the Mamluk dynasty. You can clearly see most parts of the present-day West Bengal was not under the Mamluk dynasty. Narasingh Dev Marched towards the Bengal Sultan, defeated them and captured Bengal. Repulsed them to the east of Padma river to present-day Bangladesh.

The blow was so severe that for the next 400 years no Sultan from Delhi could dare to invade Kalinga. Not even the most powerful rulers like Allauddin Khiliji (Padmavat wala, Picture 3) or Tuglaq (Picture 4). In Picture 4 you can clearly see the Delhi sultanate conquered almost all of India barring the Kalinga.

Khiliji Empire, Dark Green- Core Empire, Light Green- Vassals

To commemorate his victory over the Sultanate Narasingh Deva Built the most wonderful temple I have ever seen, the KONARK SUN TEMPLE. He had done the Sadhana of Sun before going for the battle and after the battle, as it was so close to his heart he appointed 1200 laborers to build the magnificent temple ever built. Most of us only know the story of Bishu Maharana (The chief Engineer) and his son Dharmapada when we read about Konark Temple. The background as you can see was entirely different

Tuglaq Empire-1410 AD

The powerful Eastern Ganga Dynasty ensured that the first and effective Islamic invasion could not succeed in India. This was carried forward by another powerful dynasty, the Gajapati Dynasty. Not until 1568 the Sultanate captured Odisha and Akbar in 1592 Consolidated power in Odisha. Till then it was ruled by Hindu Kings. While temples were destroyed in other parts of the country and virtually all temples were wiped out in the Sultanate and Mughal stronghold of UP, Bihar, Bengal, in Odisha Sky touching magnificent temples like Jagannath temple, Konark temple was being built. Apart from that all previous temples like Lingaraj Temple, Rajarani temple all were standing tall reminding the invaders about the strength of Kalinga. When Akbar captured Odisha the severity and threat of the expansion of Islam were almost zero as Akbar then became quite liberal and had got to know that it is not possible to win by imposing Islam to every Indian. That is why the first invasion is always the most significant.

It took 200 years for Islam to capture Pakistan, 600 years to capture Delhi and Bengal, 1000 years to Capture Odisha. You can clearly see it from the Muslim population in the different states. (UP-20%, Bihar-18%,Bengal including Bangladesh -60%, Odisha- 2%). Not only it saved Odisha but also all the areas under Kalinga Empire, notably Chattishgarha and Present Andhrapradesh. In 1742 it came under the Maratha Empire. So contrary to what we are told that India was was ruled by Muslims for 1000 years before the British came, Odisha was only ruled hardly 200 years.

Importance 7-

It's gonna hurt many but it's my personal opinion. Fast forward to the 1960s. India is now an independent country. Odisha and Bengal are the most backward and poor states of India. The main reason for this was the Zamindari system(implemented only in eastern India) where there was no regulation on the Zamindar to collect tax from the peasant farmers. Odisha and Bengal were severely affected and most of the people had finally lost their land to some tiny portion of the population to the Zamindars.

Here comes the entry of the Communists to Indian politics (Kerala-Exception). Odisha and Bengal are the most suited states for the communists as they were self-declared champions of the poor and the flag bearer of the Robinhood Method. Take the money and land from the rich by hook or crook and distribute among the poor. Communists had very high hopes from these two states.

Communists enjoyed an astonishing success in Bengal. They could successfully communicate the people of Bengal about this and through widespread violence took over the lands once owned by Zamindars and distributed to some extent among the poor. This generated tremendous goodwill among the Bengali common man about the Communist party and it ruled uninterruptedly for 35 years in West Bengal. However, this is not all about communism. They are one of the deadliest creatures on earth. Stalin, Lenin, Mao all are tyrants, autocrats and ruthless. And we know them better now.

Their next hope was Odisha. They were almost certain that Odisha will fall under their radar. But alas, it was never going to be. Odia people very well understood the trap of Communists which is basically an ideology based upon fighting with one another. This ideology is based on a revolution where there is no space for peace. This ideology is fully materialistic and has no spiritualism in it. The land of Jagannath can never accept it. Communism severely failed in Odisha despite the best efforts of communists and even after most of the Odia intellectuals fell for it, the people never accepted it.

This was a bloody blow to the expansion of communism in other parts of the country. It got some initial success in UP and Bihar but failed eventually. It could not spread in the central parts because it did not find out yet why they could not succeed in Odisha. Hence we should be thanked for stopping communism as an electoral force in India.

That's it. Sorry for very very long posts. I don't know how many of you find all this information useful or not. But As an Odia which is often neglected by all sections of the national entities, I tried to put forward a voice of how important we are for the nation. How we have contributed to shaping, securing and building our great nation. We were always there though most likely an invisible entity. And finally to all my Odia brothers and sisters, never bluff about being an Odia without knowing our own achievements And never concede to anyone if someone takes us lightly.

Vande Utkala Janani

The Empty Rhetoric of Being Anti Religion

Please Note-: This article is written in Hinglish and focused on Indian cultural perspective.

Just came across a recent news that is widely circulated on the social media platforms and got wide media coverage which says " As much as 1.2 lakh Kerala students left religion column blank during admissions."  This was widely received or to be precise widely propagated as a trendsetting action in the Indian history that will wipe off inequality and bring peace to the country. Well, sounds fascinating, isn't it? Wow, what a heavenly place that would be without religion, only peace and prosperity, complete Ram Rajya; Oops, Sorry; No religion stuff. No wonder India is always considered as a very good market because we buy things more easily like this.

Let's analyze a bit more. There are two aspects to this news; Firstly, Frankly speaking, there is nothing new about it given the state from which it came out; and we are still a country that sees numbers in Lakhs as a very big number. We often compare the bigness or shortness of any quantities based on money and not on the parameter that is required for that particular quantity to be compared with. This quantity is 0.01% of total population of India(1.3 bn) and 0.035% of the total student population of India(315 mn), i.e, one out of 3500 student says he does not have any religion. Well, who cares then. Scientifically it does not have any relevance in the country nor as politically or even from the religious perspective. Since it is mentioned in numbers of Lakhs it looks like so big; as we still consider 1 lakh rupees is a big money. Isn't it?? No wonder the figures are in numbers contrary to the percentage which could have been an ideal parameter. So the conclusion is this number is irrelevant and there is always a population in India that always challenges the existence of God, you know God is not a Monarch,  you need to have some persons to question you always.

Although the theory does not have much relevance, the way it is sold and more importantly the way it is received is a bit of concern. So let's see what the hell this Religion is. Well, I don't know, but from my little experience what I know is; a set of guidelines or rulebook preached by some person and followed by a group of persons is what a  religion is. We identify religions with Hindu, Muslim, Christian etc. I am not going to get into Islam and Isai, will be more focused on Hinduism as we always know out of those 1.2 lakh atheists how many will be from otherwise Hindus; barely any Muslim or Christian you will find in these type of rhetorics especially from an Indian perspective.

The first arguments that atheists say " You can't brand a person with his religion on the day he born, It is his own choice." That's okay, it shows how materialistic we are and how shortsighted we always have been. The day you born you have a country with you, you have a mother with you, you have a mother tongue with you but only and only you can't have a religion with you. We only see the tangible things and compromise with it, the country as a Land as we can see it seems obvious, the mother as a person we can see it seems obvious and as a language, we can hear it seems obvious. But the most obvious thing is what we feel and we tend to ignore it, and that is what is Religion.

Chanakya has told once " Agar koi baccha janam leta he toh wo apni Maa ki garv se aur Matrubhumi ke garv ke saath ek Sanskrtiti ke garv se bhi janam leta he".  This culture and religion are synonymous for Hinduism.The day you born your parents first and foremost thank the Almighty, It comes naturally; even the stringent of atheists can never restrict himself to thank the God in this situation. Religion represents happiness. Your mother put a "KALA TIKA" on your face so that you will be kept away from the sights of evil spirits before even you realize this person is your mother. Hence religion represents Love. In an Indian society you start going to school you touch the feet of your parents, some person comes to your home, you welcome him saying " Namaste"; Religion represents respect. Just imagine a there will be no Diwali, no Holi, no color, no light. Can you sustain in that environment?? Religion represents Joy. People always say have the utmost respect for your country. But just put your hand on your heart and ask for which day you are more excited " For an August 15 or for a Diwali? For a Jan 26 or for a Holi?". Religion is excitement. You just don't slap anybody like this, just say some bad words like this, just don't go on a rampage and hit others like this, don't go and commit a crime. Although there is law that prevents us doing any crime, still we think twice before slapping a person, scolding anybody, speak harshly on elders. What's that? Religion represents fear. After everybody fails you the only hope you keep is, well atheists say not God, but on whatever you keep your faith, that person is the one who is your hope. Religion is hope. And please don't say you are so strong that you never cared for this, then it's like you are so lucky that you never get into that situation rather than boasting yourself as a mentally strong guy. There are numerous festivals or Pujas that vary from state to state, we find many of these pujas like Karwa Chauth, Sabitri, Bhaiduj, Rakha Bandhan etc, are more or less are just designed to keep your relatives close and have a strong bonding with them. Religion is an attachment. So you are relinquishing your religion means what the hell you are left with?? Don't you have any feelings in you? You better not to be called as human.

Now comes the question, how come God is related to religion?? How come believing or not believing the God relates to religion. Well everything that you feel is a belief. Just sit for a moment and think. You will get to know that whatever you believe you gonna feel it to believe it. And that belief is on some anonymous some unknown that's called GOD. There are many other ways to describe more spirituality, but I am not a big fan of spirituality but a fan of Politics. Now let's analyze the political aspects of Religion.

Religion being a feeling also contains the feeling of pride. You feel proud of your religion just like you feel proud of your country, your parents and your teachers or whatever it is and Why you should not be?? Anything that affects your pride you have to vanish it by hook or by crook. You can't deny that fact. It's a natural tendency of human and much-required one for maintaining the balance. You don't tolerate if somebody attacks your country or your mother by saying that there should not be any land boundary of countries, No countries should exist, no mother should exist, Sounds idiotic, right. Your country is unique to you, your mother is unique to you so as your religion. There must be some faces to represent your religion as humans attach themselves better with tangible and visible things. Ram, Krishna, Durga, Hanuman, Bhagwad Gita, Ramayan, Puran all these are those essentials that keep the feeling intact in us. These are the things that make us express ourselves that keep us behaving like a human. We need to respect them, not necessarily follow them blindly but at least we can't discard them.

Finally, how this anti-religion propaganda machine works. It comes with different levels. I will Explain in descending order

Level 5- These kind of guys are anti-nationals. They will say filthy words to Gods. Will put slippers on God's image. Scold them and raise questions on the dignity of our Women Gods like Durga, Saraswati etc. They only target Hindu Gods.

Level 4- This kind of guys are use and throw guys. They will use your caste, gender, region, color, language to keep you away from religion. Just like Men worship Ram, Ram tortured Sita, Women should not worship Ram. Ram is north Indian, Ravan is south Indian; Hence Ramayan is an oppression of North guys on South. Durga is fair in complexion and Mahisasur is black, Hinduism says fair is god and black is evil etc.

Level 3- These guys are most dumb ones. They are called Neither Nor guys. They will paint everything in emptiness. Just like, Na Hindu Na Islam, Humanity is the greatest religion. LOL, Humanity is humanity, not religion. Similarly, Na mandir Na masjid, let's make a hospital. You say that when a goon destroys your house and tell him neither yours nor mine we will build a hospital here. Similarly Na Hindu Na Muslim be an Indian, Hum log apne religion column me INDIAN likhte hain. With no disrespect you are mentally unstable, there is always a column for nationality and you should feel that there.

Level 2- These guys are still in the era of pre independence. Hum mandir bhi jaate hain hum masjid bhi. Hum hindu bhi he aur hum musalman bhi. Well then you will be called a Bahurupiya with no identity of yourself. Another sect still follows the Gandhian dialouge of " Hindu Muslim Bhai Bhai".Need less to shout like this, religion should not be criteriea for choosing firends or brotherely friends. You will never find visionaries like Bhagat Singh , Subash Bose etc giving this irritating Naras. If you are identifyig yourself with multiple identities then you don't have any identity. You are atheist.

Level 1- These guys just love to be called as atheists. It's strange but it's a mentality to do what the majority don't. If these people go to China then they will undoubtedly say we are highly religious. Just for the sake of doing the opposite, they will do.

So beware of this kind of propaganda.
There is a popular saying in India " Aap Kahin bhi Jate ho, Apna kismat saath leke chalte ho". Religion is similar to this. You take your religion with you whatever you do and wherever you go.


Jai Shri Ram

We need radical transformation in the Educational Sector

As we are still debating about the authenticity and effectiveness of Macaulay Education imposed upon India during the colonial period, we should now move on from this for not to repeat the mistakes we did during the previous Industrial Revolutions. With a large young population and an aging China, India is nicely poised to widen the scope of its demographic dividend in the era of third and fourth industrial revolution (The revolution of information & communication and automation).

What favors us?

The high number of young population is an inherent advantage that we have as this allows our economy to grow because the large working population is there to feed the lesser non-working population. This is otherwise called as the demographic dividend or in simple words the advantage of having higher young population. China once had this advantage and they had fully utilized it for their development and growth. However, with an increase in aging population in China as well as with a saturated industrial growth combined with already aged western countries, India is the only productive country to which the world is looking at for manpower which is what " Make in India" is asking for. Though Artificial intelligence and Automation lead to a reduction of human workforce in the industries; it is strongly believed that the demand for skilled workers is still high and it is going to stay even in the era of automation.

Where are we lagging?

India has a severe shortage of skilled blue collar as well as white collar workers. While the blue collar workers are important for sustaining the economy, the white-collar workers are needed to drive the economy ahead. Without having a skilled workforce we will lose the advantage of the working population that we have. The education system and lack of vision combined with the rigidity of our society are affecting adversely the skill improvement of the youth. Though various skill improvement schemes are undertaken by the government they are more or less addressed to the current unemployment of the country by empowering them with skill. While these are welcome steps for short-term development; for sustained development we need to address the root cause, i.e., Education and limitations surrounding it.

The Phobia of 99.5%

Indians are obsessed with marks. So much so that in long run it is affecting the very ownness of the student. The immense pressure along with intense competition among 1.3 billion population leaves very little scope for other extracurricular activities, especially sports. Lack of sports affects every individual adversely; though there are many negative impacts of this, the most important one is
"Creativity". A society can not progress with creativity. Our lack of creativity should be dealt as soon as possible. A simple measure could be the encouragement of sports with various rewards and create an environment to infuse trust among the people for accepting sports as a career. The grading system should be introduced in the education system instead of providing percentage and admission for higher education should solely be based on competitive examinations. This has three significant advantages. First, it will reduce the day to day competition to a large extent thereby significantly reducing the inferiority complex and keep the confidence of individual on track. Secondly, it will reduce the pressure on student significantly. In the current situation, a student takes pressure with the sole motive of not to take any pressure once he achieved something like getting a seat in IIT or AIIMS and getting a reputed Govt. job or working in Big MNCs. However, once they reach there, it is widely seen they lose the enthusiasm after the perceived success as they are exhausted with running in a race. Thirdly, it will encourage skill improvement rather than glorify academic records with fancy numbers.

Moving towards Skill Based Education

Data is the new Oil. Data processing, Data analysis, and Data Science are the fundamentals of the era of information technology and communication as well as for AI. Why make it out of reach from the students for 20 long years till he reaches the end of his graduation or completes his graduation. Data management is the new mathematics and should be learned to start at the primary education. Data processing, Data analysis, Data Science should be analogous to Algebra, Calculus, and Algorithm of mathematics in the current education system. Other significant steps could be to start teaching basic algorithm at the primary level and introducing skills in the graduation level itself. For example, C programming should be introduced at the secondary education level and basic programming with important language learnings should be completed before intermediate level. The intermediate level should be restructured so as to justify its name. It should really help the student to prepare for skill learning to be taught in the graduation level. It may be harsh or difficult seeing the current scenario but waiting for 25 years to start learning a skill is absolutely absurd. In a country where one of the best ever ruler Chandragupta Maurya became an emperor at the age of 20 and had defeated the Greeks at the age of 18 clearly shows there is no point of delaying the actual learning to 25 years. Skill should contain significant weight in the graduation grading. This will help focused and advanced learning and adaptability in higher education as well as corporate life. The skill-based innovation is more important for our economy than academic invention.

Way Ahead

The primary challenge in restructuring the education system would be infrastructure development and capacity building of teachers and instructors.Because advancing of the education is very difficult task unless it is done smoothly. The government obviously cannot spend on this. PPP (Public Private Partnership) model is absolutely necessary for this purpose. Rather than focusing on the digital mode of education focus should be on digital education itself; otherwise, we will be lured by the fantasy of reading in tabs, laptops, projectors without actually gaining anything. Except for the end service in the priority sector like agriculture pricing, food distribution, rural electrification every other service should either be privatized or should be remodeled in PPP style. There should be adequate regulations in the labor law to avoid exploitation of employees in the private sector.Special provisions should be in place for rural sector outreach and their involvement.  Rather than criticizing the reservation system in the govt job which is hardly one percent of the working population we should focus on skill building and entrepreneurship because India is itself a large market and unemployment can only be reduced with skill development and not with job creation. Standardisation of the syllabus for every entrance examination as well as post-secondary school level education is absolutely necessary for the overall and equitable development of the students. Egalitarian society along with an Egalitarian education will lead the path to a prosperous India.