Announcing HinduHistory.net
HinduHistory.net is a sister project of Hindu Voice UK. It aims to make learning about the history of Hindu civilization both accessible and fun. The site will combine serious research and scholarship, yet…
HinduHistory.net is a sister project of Hindu Voice UK. It aims to make learning about the history of Hindu civilization both accessible and fun. The site will combine serious research and scholarship, yet…
December 27th, 2007 at 3:32 am
This is fantastic news.
There is only one comment I have “please do not use “black” as the background of the website. I found it off putting for the Hindu Voice.
I clearly enjoy reading about the articles and discussions on this site.
We are colourful people show some colour.
Thank you
December 27th, 2007 at 8:52 am
I like to iknow where would you start, from which year. Because our knowledge about the ancient world is controversial. When the Vedas were formed , what was the time of Ramayana and Mahabharata, what about the Aryan emigration or immigration theory, what sources are you going to use. Is it only Anglo-Indian sources or also the European/Russian sources.
This is a battle ground now. You cannot get any help from the academic Indian historians in the British or Indian universities as they have all joined in to the anti-Hindu camp.
December 27th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
You should use as much videos and animations as possible. It keeps people interested and please dont use black. Good Luck
December 27th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Hindu civilisation is the mother of all civilisations. Sanskrit is mother of all languages. Hindu Math is the source of all modern science.
The white European has done all he could to sideline Hindu origin and appropriate all achievements to himself. This was done in the 17th and 18th centuries. He has fabricated a fictitious Greek ancestor who is projected as a geneous civilisation. It is significant that all so called Greek works in science are really medieval works of Arab origin translated into Turkish and clandestinely assigned to ancient times. This bubble needs to be exploded.
Evidence pointing to Hindu origin of civilisations is overwhelming and needs to be brought to the fore.
A history of Hindu civilisation, through the medium of English language cannot do full justice to this descipline. The medium has to be Sanskrit if not today then tomorrow. With the standard unicode now, available, our web sites need to move to Sanskrit and Indian language platform.
December 27th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
At least it will be a very good start and a stepping stone for future generations in search of knowledge and truth.With all my best wishes for something which has been long overdue.
December 27th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
All,
Great project. Please feel free to use my research as a resource for this upcoming effort:
http://www.indiahistoryonline.com/chron.html (download ‘Royal Chronology of India’ spreadsheet)
Thank you.
December 27th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
How come with so much of wealthy Indian billionaires around, there isn’t a single good Hindu Religious channel which can transmit all day long all the Nectar of BHAGWAT-GITA/ Ramyana/Mahabharat etc
E.g
Possibly from someone like Shri Shri Ravi Shankar
http://www.artofliving.org/
Morari bhapu http://www.iiramii.net/
Without any commercials, please!
December 28th, 2007 at 1:32 am
Nice to see this and wish you all the best for the website.
All too often we hear the negative side of Hinduism and so I started a website to spread good news related to Hindus.
Inform them of Events, News, Articles, Books, Videos etc etc
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hinduinfo/
I think together with all these different websites we will cover every aspect of Hindusim.
December 28th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Do one favour and add about the true hero history about Mangal pandey in the truest form..
December 28th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
Im soo happy to see this. I know it’ll prove useful to my knowledge of India’s past. I cannot wait for it to open up. Please keep us informed on it’s progress and when the site has opened, let us know!!
December 29th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Be sure to add every single truth since Muhammad bin qasim came to india…During islamic rule Buddhism was wiped totally out and replaced with sufism..
December 31st, 2007 at 3:02 am
I am eagerly awaiting to see this website - it is very good news, but please please do not feel oblige to conform to the prejudicial views in current history about our religion.
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:56 am
Excellent step, must become a Bible in every home.
The population growth during the last century was over 700 million, that were either illiterate in history or learned fabricated history. Even in the USA, most well to do and literates are ignorant of the true history of India or the world.
Best wishes.
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
wish all the best…
really interesting..
pls help to notify me when its release.. thnx alot..
makkal sakti!
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Lots of emphasis on Hindu warriors and military might please!…too many people (and unfortunately Hindus too) are duped into believing that we are an inherantly pacifist and benign religious community…and in doing so, we are treated like dogs the world over. Our lack of knowledge on our warriors and saviours and great men and women I feel directly affects our perseptions of our OWN people and our own religion. Tell yourself that you are a pacifict people for too long and you will act like it.
Sikhs have TONS of material online about their great deads and sacrifices…and one would imagine that Hindus have never sacrificed even once for our self determination and dharm…those who know enough…know that this is utterly fallacious and I sincerely hope that your upcoming website takes positive and massive steps in redressing the balance.
When we read..view…hear the websites information, we should not only be wisely informed of the truth…but we should also be instilled with pride and vigour.
Thank you Hinduvoice for pursuing this endevour and I wish you all the success in the world.
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
All,
Further to my Dec. 27th posting, please note that there are plenty of academic texts, archaeological, numismatic and genetic data from which to reconstruct 10,000 years of Indian history. The starting point should be around 8000 BCE with the first settlements at Mehrgarh. The Vedic period appears to begin around 4500 BCE (with antecedents perhaps from 6000 BCE) and end with the MBH War (around 1400 BCE). As I mentioned before, please feel free to use my timeline (http://www.indiahistoryonline.com/chron.html) as a reference.
The goal for any historical project should be not only to document the past as completely and accurately as possible, but also to provide a foundation for a more realistic vision of the future. In other words, the goal for the future is not merely to ’survive’, but rather to prosper and use the available tools to develop Bharatiya Civilization and expand its culture globally. After this website has been running for 1-2 years, physical museums and libraries can be created in large cities around the world where young people can see Hindu History in a more interactive environment.
Thank you.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Excellent! This will be a wonderful addition and the quality of this site (hinduvoice) shows the depth and clarity of the editors - they seem a good group to do this well.
History starts with time. But that is too far back to go. I think short articles not restricted to a sequential time line would be a lot of interesting reading.
hariaum and
Thanks
January 7th, 2008 at 11:21 am
First settle these disputes:
1) When exactly the ancient Indians started to emigrate out of India; according to the Russian archaelogists at about 8000BC.
2) When exactly Ram was born?
3) When exactly the war in Mahabharat took place. Is it 3700BC or 325-BC?
4) What had happened between Raghu dynasty and Bharat Dynasty
5) What had happened after the Bharat Dynasty
6) When Buddha was born?
7) What was the history of India from 700AD to 1100AD.8) What are the boundaries of the Pala Dynasty.
January 8th, 2008 at 7:16 am
A few more disputes:
1) Who built Taj Mahal?
2) What interpretations of the First War of Independence is correct: Karl Marx or Vincent Smith?
3) Was Akbar a Great Emperor or a terrorist?
4) What are the real role of the Marathas: freedom fighter or bandits employed later by the both Mughal Empire and the East India Company?
5) Who was Mahatma Gandhi: a freedom fighter or a British agent?
6) Was Satyagraha responsible for the freedom of India?
7) Who was Ambedkar: was he a British agent as declared by Mahatma Gandhi?
8) what role Nehru played in the freedom movement?
9) Where was Netaji after 18th August 1945?
January 9th, 2008 at 2:23 am
That video was amazing! The cannon explosions and the striking poses of equestrian Hindu heroes really boosts the message. High quality productions are what separate the home made from the commercial - keep thinking for the long run and for the big picture.
Jai Bhavani!
January 11th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
“An appreciation of our past provides a sound basis for moving forward into the future.”
I agree entirely. I hope therefore that this site will not be merely another ‘Hindu pride’ site, full of well-intentioned but amateur, highly dubious so-called ‘historical research’. Hindu civilisation through the centuries and even millennia has indeed contributed a great deal, both to itself and the rest of the world, and has achieved greatness in many forms. However, this is all belittled by shoddy research and ridiculous assertions which may make good soundbites, but actually have little or no historical validity.
It is also worth remembering that as well as celebrating successes, part of appreciating our past in order to understand our present and shape our future is also recognising where we have gone wrong. The story of Hindu history has not always been a proud and shining one. There have been dark moments in our history - it is in the nature of humanity that we have made mistakes, and will continue to do so. It is worth remembering the maxim that those who refuse to learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. Just as we hate to have our crowning glories buried, we should also be brave, honest and self-confident enough to admit to, and thereby learn from, aspects of our history that we are not so proud of.
Finally, amongst all the proud boasts (and hopefully, honest admissions), let there be some actual substantive history. It is not sufficient to say Rama Rajya was exemplary - in what way does that teach us anything at all? What exactly was Rama Rajya - from the historical evidence, how did the tax system work, how was the infrastructure set up, what form did law enforcement services take, what was the education system, etc.
This has the potential to be a highly useful and extremely positive step; I just hope those behind the project have the courage to take it forward in such a way as to fulfil that potential.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/YLyMR-g0vKrpz0Bfytxo99plFxPEim6v6HH0AQSqWdeR2nFQT-uYq_ft4IHe52UDlcnQQwmVFBoXOeF1JqYXEUXB-WuRDhvb/the_ruin_that_britan_wrought.pdf
Hello Satya and Hello All,
If you can access that link given above, try to read. This is with a lot of data.
This book is not likely to be available anywhere except may be in some library. I got only a photocopy of that book and then decided to scan it and sent it to our friends who are interested in Knowing more ….Learning
so enjoy
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Niraj Mohanka:
>>I’m also working with another person to write the first book of a 3-book set called ‘The Epic Trilogy of India’:
1- Dasharajnya Epic (King Sudas - 2900 BCE)
2- Ramayana Epic (King Rama - 2100 BCE)
3- Mahabharata Epic (Prince Krshna - 1400 BCE)
http://www.indiahistoryonline.com/chron.html
Are you writing books for western consumption or as mouth-piece of Indian communists? What are the basis of your dating for Sri Rama and Sri Krishna? Of course, your western colonial masters and ever anti-national Indian communist historians. I don’t see any real value of your website and reseach work at its present level. They are as spurious and irrelevant information as numerous other websites.
Bharat
====
January 24th, 2008 at 6:03 am
“anti-national Indian communist historians”
They are following the British historians and Muslim Historians. Thus, you should say they are “Western Oriented Muslim historians” i.e those who are from JNU, Delhi and Aligarh universities. A lot of themn are Muslims any way, the rest are just following what their teachers in british/American universities say.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:33 am
I think it is about time younger Hindus crave for true history of India. I am worried the history of India being taught in schools, mentiond in conversation and in media is still what the British have been writing and concocting for the last hundred years. And of course Muslims are happy about it as the British have been appeasing them. In a way it is a common psychology between the theives as they have somuch to hide about their loot.
This has been British policy throughout and proof of it is in Lord Macaughlay’s address to British Parliament as below:
Lord Macaulay’s address to British parliament
on 02 February 1835:
“I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not come across a single person who is a beggar, who is a thief.
“Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever be able to conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them a truly dominated nation”.
I think Hindus can still reverse this set process by good communication, Hindu brotherhood, trusting and helping each other and remaining socially active in communities from all the corners of India with common goal. Mud slinging is not the answer.
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:41 pm
With all due respect, and once again in the interests of intellectual and academic honesty, I would point out that the “proof” that you give here is actually a falsehood. Macaulay never said this, although somehow it has become part of the popular ammunition of the Hindutva brigade. I suggest that you check your sources, and if still not satisfied, feel free to browse through the archives of Hansard, that are freely available to the public. For further discussion of Macaulay, please see Koenraad Elst’s article at:
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/hinduism/macaulay.html
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Further to the above invented “proof”, I repeat what I said earlier in this discussion:
[Begin extract]
“An appreciation of our past provides a sound basis for moving forward into the future.”
I agree entirely. I hope therefore that this site will not be merely another ‘Hindu pride’ site, full of well-intentioned but amateur, highly dubious so-called ‘historical research’. Hindu civilisation through the centuries and even millennia has indeed contributed a great deal, both to itself and the rest of the world, and has achieved greatness in many forms. However, this is all belittled by shoddy research and ridiculous assertions which may make good soundbites, but actually have little or no historical validity.
[End extract]
Shoddy research, unfounded allegations and frankly (and demonstrably) incorrect assertions do nothing but harm to one’s overall case. When used in debate, such methods are an insult both to the opposition and to those who genuinely and honestly work for the cause that you profess to support. Granted, mistakes are easily made; after all, we are all human. Nevertheless, my warning stands - a website on Hindu “history” should focus on true “history” and not merely propaganda; again I urge the founders of this project to employ caution and ensure that they do not fall into this far too easy trap.
February 4th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Kumar:
Your quatation of Macauley is false; he never said that. McAuley’s writings and lectures are available in the Internet. There is a website, please verify before you quote something from N.S.Rajaram who is a fraud. That is also true about a number of people who writes for The Organiser.
McAuley went to India during 1840s, at that time British India under the East India company became very poor and exploited. Farmers were forced to cultivate Indigo, Opium and received peanuts in exchange. India was very poor, that was one of the reason people revolted in 1857.
February 4th, 2008 at 11:27 am
What I wrote above is one of the main problem. Anti-Hindus are of course do everything to denounce india and Hinduism. However, Hindutva historians are not any better. They also falsify history to promote only Rajputs, as the Marwaris are the financiers for the BJP and RSS.
February 5th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Satya,
I cannot believe it was Hindutwa propaganda about Macaulay. My source was from one book which I have no reason to disbelieve. I know there are some books by Hindutwa organisations, but I do not a single. I agree I should check the Hanssards of the day, which I will do. There is also research available on how the Victorians systematically destroyed village schools in India run by the temple Brahamins. Dalhousie was also responsible for lot of destruction.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:53 am
Alot of people might resent the question I am about to ask, but I will anyway. Is the history of Hindu Civilisation going to focuss soley on North Indian Hindu history or will there be a mention of the great civilisations from the South such as the Hoysala Kingdoms, Vijayanagara Empire etc!
-Muski
February 16th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Msuki27,
Good point.
As far as my knowledge goes Hindu Civilisation started from Indus valley and spread all over India. The Aryans did not come from the North , its a myth. Aryans were indeginous Hindus who took Vedas down south with them. Aryans were never a race. The Dravidian priests at one time were also Aryans, hence ardent followers and scholars of Vedas were from south. When they travelled to Eastern countries for trade right upto Japan they took Vedas and its teachings with them. Dravidians have always played an important role in maitaining Hindu philosophy.
Thousands of years before Christianity, Hindu rishis and moonies had established five centers of learning Vedas; starting from Vernasi, Kashmir, Medina, Baghdad and Rome. Many teachers in these centers were from south India. One can still trace Sanskrit words in the languages of these countries. There are some 120 words in Latin alone which have derived from Sanskrit. Many teachers of maths in the Mid-East came from Dravidian stock. All this record was played down and supressed by the British because of their ambitions especially in the south of India. The kingdom of Vijayanagara was devasted and ransacked by the Sultans and later by Brisith. To my knowlwdge the Hindu architecture of Vijayanagara had given birth to new thinking and modernity to Hindu architecture. There are some ancient dynestical buildings in that region which would have been impossible without strong mathematical base. So don’t worry we are all one.
February 16th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I don’t see why that question should arouse any resentment. I personally find South India a wonderful place, which is why I keep returning there again and again. Visiting and learning about the history of places like Halebidu and Belur, Hampi and so many others, is a breathtaking experience. I see no reason why any Hindu history would leave out such places - why would such a question even need to be asked?
February 17th, 2008 at 6:42 am
Kumar:
Maccauley wrote this: ” It would be, on the most selfish view of the case, far better for us that the people of India were well governed and independent of us, than ill governed and subject to us; that they were ruled by their own kings, but wearing our broadcloth, and working with our cutlery, than that they were performing their salams to English collectors and English magistrates, but were too ignorant to value, or too poor to buy, English manufactures. To trade with civilised men is infinitely more profitable than to govern savages.”
Victorians i.e after 1957 First War of Independence have established universities, first in Calcutta and then in many cities, many schools and the whole education system. Before them during the East India Company rule William Hastings has established Fort William College in Calcutta and collected a large number of scholars to translate everything from Sanskrit , Arabic and Persian ( then the official language of India during the Mughal rule) to English.
It is not true that they destroyed village schools, but they made English is the official language instead of Persian. Vilage schools used to depend on the local Zamindars, so they were there although the system was changed. For higher studies English became the language of instruction. Persian, not the Sanskrit, used to be the language of instruction before.
Yes, Macauley was against the maintenance of Persian as the language of instruction or introduction of Sanskrit as the language of instruction because just like most people in Britain at that time he wanted to impose his own language English ( although he was not an Englishman but a Scottish) on India. That had happened also in Ireland, Wales and Scotland where the local languages were forced out by the English language.
However, there is no truth that India was very prosperous when Macauley visited India in 1934. It became already very poor because of the exploitations by the East India Company and that was the reason for the revolt of 1857.
Rajaram, Subramanian Swamy etc are not historians; they write without reference, often write false history or give false quatations. That is the reason they are the laughing stock now.
However there are some historians like P.N.Oak, Ramesh Mazumdar, etc who try to find out what are unknown. It is wrong to put all of them, good and bad, together as Hindutva historians because a lot of them are not or were not in the Hindutva camp any way.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:03 am
Thanks Kumar Ji, that has cleared my misconceptions because I do not like to see Indian Culture/Hindu culture fragmenting into different pieces, which develops into Parochialism and I have seen alot of that in India when I last visited the place.
I am sidelining here but it would be good if Hindu Voice could address that topic in their next issue as it is and has lead to violence in Maharashtra!
-Muski
February 19th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
A couple of good points raised by Kumar (for example, the ‘Aryan invasion’ myth - of course, these days generally replaced by an almost equally implausible ‘Aryan migration’ theory), but unfortunately the post spoilt by some incredibly amateurish pseudo-history. To take just one example, take the comment, “Thousands of years before Christianity, Hindu rishis and moonies had established five centers of learning Vedas; starting from Vernasi, Kashmir, Medina, Baghdad and Rome.” Where is the evidence of this? As I had warned earlier, whilst it is all well and good to promote the many wonderful facets of Hindu history, and the many positive contributions that Hindus have made to the world, any project that claims (see the original article) to be offering serious scholarship on Hindu history and making that accessible to the wider public needs to avoid wild unsubstantiated claims that do nothing but bring ridicule on all the other very valid issues that may be raised.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I just saw a PBS documentary on the location of Atlantis. - Let us also be cautious in considering false a construct simply because it is our tradition that speaks of it.
hariaum
February 21st, 2008 at 9:25 am
About the myth of Aryan invasion of India even Richard Dawkins has found this theory nothing but ‘ridiculous’. If the theory has any credibility why the language of that region today is not Sanskrit or lots of words in their language today are not Sanskrit? Or are we supose to believe that all the Aryan men, women and children left their country lock stock and barrel to invade India?
Is it not true that thousands of years before BC only formulated language in the wolrd was Sanskrit? One finds the proof of it in the ancient languages of Europe and Middle East where one finds lot of words starting with Ram. There are some 120 words in Latin derived from Sanskrit. Again in Egypt the Sphinxes had man’s head and lion’s body similar to Narasingh, one of incarnations as we know?
February 25th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Navin, I agree absolutely - either attitude is to be avoided. My point is exactly that serious historical scholarship, which is what this article claims for this site, requires an open mind and a strict adherence to the rigours of scientific and academic method, meaning that all conclusions should be evidence-based. Unfortunately, both the outlandish claims of ‘Hindu pride’ pseudo-history and the ignorance and contortion of evidence displayed by ‘Hindu bashing’ pseudo-academia, fall down equally in terms of genuine and sincere academic study of history. This is why I think that a new project such as this one has the potential to introduce something completely fresh, and much needed, to the field - an honest, objective account of actual Hindu history.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Navin and Satya,
I agree, mention of any historical events has to be evidence based and scrutinised by scientific and academic method.
I am sure you also know ‘conquer by hook or crook, has been the motto of the British (especially English) for centuries. As one researches into Indian history, what one finds is deliberate British conspiracy, falcification and misrepresentation. Just to give few examples; Setu Bridge between India and Srilanka, buildings like Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Fatehpur Sikri and many others. The story of Setu is only in Ramayanan, does it mean we only believe because it is our tradition
February 28th, 2008 at 8:40 am
(sorry the above got submitted halfway through). To continue: to speak about it? People haven’t realised that if Setu was mentioned by the British as Adam’s Bridge’ there must be a bridge. Indian Gov. doesn’t want to know about it. For the British intellectuals if they accept Setu was built by Ram’s army they will be accepting Ram as a historical figure and his previous incarnations as history of Hindu religion. Which would mean end to their ‘Christianization of India’ program and ambitions of re-conquering it, this time from within? Now if you ask me, have I got scientific evidence of this, answer is no.
As I research I find there are many issues, buildings and events concocted by the British for their advantage it may take a life time to unfold them and they are confident by then India will be re-conquered and Hindus will not be able to do anything about it except keep arguing about between themselves. The history of India most of it written by British during Edwardian and Victorian periods was much based on books like ‘History of India’ by James Mill who never set foot in India and wrote this book by listening to stories from returning English from India. I was told this book is still being studied by students in Indian universities. Now who is going to correct this situation without getting accused of being a ‘Hindu basher’?
April 30th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Satya and Navin,
For the proof of my statement ‘every village in India had a school before the British and were systematically distroyed by people like Mcaughley’, please find item under title ‘Beautiful Tree’ in www.Google.com.