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	<title>RAJAN SINGH</title>
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		<title>&#8220;MY LIFE MY VOICE&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://rajansingh.blog.com/2009/02/21/my-life-my-voice/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rinku </dc:creator>
		
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		<description><![CDATA[<h4 class="posttitle" style="margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-left: 0px;padding-top: 0px;padding-right: 0px;padding-left: 0px;padding-bottom: 10px;color: #32a7d2"><span style="font-family: Georgia;font-size: 12px"><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/4047586.jpg"><img src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/4047586.150.188.c.tn.jpg" style="width: 150px;height: 188px" /></a></span></h4>
<h4 class="posttitle" style="margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-left: 0px;padding-top: 0px;padding-right: 0px;padding-left: 0px;padding-bottom: 10px;color: #32a7d2"><span style="font-family: Georgia;font-size: 12px"><br /></span></h4>
<h4 class="posttitle" style="margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-left: 0px;padding-top: 0px;padding-right: 0px;padding-left: 0px;padding-bottom: 10px;color: #32a7d2"><span style="font-family: Georgia;font-size: 12px"><span style="color: #000000;font-size: 13px"><span style="color: #8000ff"><span style="text-decoration: underline">The True Story of the Taj Mahal</span></span></span></span></h4>
<br />
<div class="posttext">
<div><span><span style="color: #407f00">T</span></span><span><span style="color: #407f00">he story of the Taj Mahal that most of us have known about may not be the real truth. Herein Mr. P. N. Oak presents an interesting set of proofs that show a completely different story. Contrary to what visitors are made to believe the Tajmahal is not a Islamic mausoleum but an ancient Shiva Temple known as Tejo Mahalaya which the 5th generation Moghul emperor&#160;</span><img height="124" alt="Shahjahan" hspace="1" src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/images/shahjehan.gif" width="86" align="left" vspace="1" border="1" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /><span style="color: #407f00">Shahjahan commandeered from the then Maharaja of Jaipur. The Taj Mahal, should therefore, be viewed as a temple palace and not as a tomb. That makes a vast difference. You miss the details of its size, grandeur, majesty and beauty when you take it to be a mere tomb. When told that you are visiting a temple palace you wont fail to notice its annexes, ruined defensive walls, hillocks, moats, cascades, fountains, majestic garden, hundreds of rooms archaded verendahs, terraces, multi stored towers, secret sealed chambers, guest rooms, stables, the trident (Trishul) pinnacle on the dome and the sacred, esoteric Hindu letter "</span><strong><span style="color: #407f00">OM</span></strong><span style="color: #407f00">" carved on the exterior of the wall of the sanctum sanctorum now occupied by the cenotaphs. For detailed proof of this breath taking discovery, you may read the well known historian Shri. P. N. Oak's celebrated book titled "&#160;</span><strong><em><span style="color: #407f00">Tajmahal : The True Story</span></em></strong><span style="color: #407f00">". But let us place before you, for the time being an exhaustive summary of the massive evidence ranging over hundred points:</span></span><span style="color: #407f00"><br /></span></div>
<div><span><span style="color: #407f00"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">NAME</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">1.The term Tajmahal itself never occurs in any mogul court paper or chronicle even in Aurangzeb's time. The attempt to explain it away as Taj-i-mahal is therefore, ridiculous.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">2.The ending "Mahal"is never muslim because in none of the muslim countries around the world from Afghanistan to Algeria is there a building known as "Mahal".</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">3.The unusual explanation of the term Tajmahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal, who is buried in it, is illogical in at least two respects viz., firstly her name was never Mumtaj Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani and secondly one cannot omit the first three letters "Mum" from a woman's name to derive the remainder as the name of the building.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">4.Since the lady's name was Mumtaz (ending with 'Z') the name of the building derived from her should have been Taz Mahal, if at all, and not Taj (spelled with a 'J').</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">5.Several European visitors of Shahjahan's time allude to the building as Taj-e-Mahal is almost the correct tradition, age old Sanskrit name Tej-o-Mahalaya, signifying a Shiva temple. Contrarily Shahjahan and Aurangzeb scrupulously avoid using the Sanskrit term and call it just a holy grave.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">6.The tomb should be understood to signify NOT A BUILDING but only the grave or centotaph inside it. This would help people to realize that all dead muslim courtiers and royalty including Humayun, Akbar, Mumtaz, Etmad-ud-Daula and Safdarjang have been buried in capture Hindu mansions and temples.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">7.Moreover, if the Taj is believed to be a burial place, how can the term Mahal, i.e., mansion apply to it?</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">8.Since the term Taj Mahal does not occur in mogul courts it is absurd to search for any mogul explanation for it. Both its components namely, 'Taj' and' Mahal' are of Sanskrit origin.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">TEMPLE TRADITION</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">9.The term Taj Mahal is a corrupt form of the sanskrit term TejoMahalay signifying a Shiva Temple. Agreshwar Mahadev i.e., The Lord of Agra was consecrated in it.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">10.The tradition of removing the shoes before climbing the marble platform originates from pre Shahjahan times when the Taj was a Shiva Temple. Had the Taj originated as a tomb, shoes need not have to be removed because shoes are a necessity in a cemetery.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">11.Visitors may notice that the base slab of the centotaph is the marble basement in plain white while its superstructure and the other three centotaphs on the two floors are covered with inlaid creeper designs. This indicates that the marble pedestal of the Shiva idol is still in place and Mumtaz's centotaphs are fake.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">12.The pitchers carved inside the upper border of the marble lattice plus those mounted on it number 108-a number sacred in Hindu Temple tradition.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">13.There are persons who are connected with the repair and the maintainance of the Taj who have seen the ancient sacred Shiva Linga and other idols sealed in the thick walls and in chambers in the secret, sealed red stone stories below the marble basement. The Archaeological Survey of India is keeping discretely, politely and diplomatically silent about it to the point of dereliction of its own duty to probe into hidden historical evidence.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">14.In India there are 12 Jyotirlingas i.e., the outstanding Shiva Temples. The Tejomahalaya alias The Tajmahal appears to be one of them known as Nagnatheshwar since its parapet is girdled with Naga, i.e., Cobra figures. Ever since Shahjahan's capture of it the sacred temple has lost its Hindudom.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">15.The famous Hindu treatise on architecture titled Vishwakarma Vastushastra mentions the 'Tej-Linga' amongst the Shivalingas i.e., the stone emblems of Lord Shiva, the Hindu deity. Such a Tej Linga was consecrated in the Taj Mahal, hence the term Taj Mahal alias Tejo Mahalaya.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">16.Agra city, in which the Taj Mahal is located, is an ancient centre of Shiva worship. Its orthodox residents have through ages continued the tradition of worshipping at five Shiva shrines before taking the last meal every night especially during the month of Shravan. During the last few centuries the residents of Agra had to be content with worshipping at only four prominent Shiva temples viz., Balkeshwar, Prithvinath, Manakameshwar and Rajarajeshwar. They had lost track of the fifth Shiva deity which their forefathers worshipped. Apparently the fifth was Agreshwar Mahadev Nagnatheshwar i.e., The Lord Great God of Agra, The Deity of the King of Cobras, consecrated in the Tejomahalay alias Tajmahal.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">17.The people who dominate the Agra region are Jats. Their name of Shiva is Tejaji. The Jat special issue of The Illustrated Weekly of India (June 28,1971) mentions that the Jats have the Teja Mandirs i.e., Teja Temples. This is because Teja-Linga is among the several names of the Shiva Lingas. From this it is apparent that the Taj-Mahal is Tejo-Mahalaya, The Great Abode of Tej.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">18. Shahjahan's own court chronicle, the Badshahnama, admits (page 403, vol 1) that a grand mansion of unique splendor, capped with a dome (Imaarat-a-Alishan wa Gumbaze) was taken from the Jaipur Maharaja Jaisigh for Mumtaz's burial, and the building was known as Raja Mansingh's palace.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">19. The plaque put the archealogy department outside the Tajmahal describes the edifice as a mausoleum built by Shahjahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal , over 22 years from 1631 to 1653. That plaque is a specimen of historical bungling. Firstly, the plaque sites no authority for its claim. Secondly the lady's name was Mumtaz-ulZamani and not Mumtazmahal. Thirdly, the period of 22 years is taken from some mumbo jumbo noting by an unreliable French visitor Tavernier, to the exclusion of all muslim versions, which is an absurdity.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">20. Prince Aurangzeb's letter to his father,emperor Shahjahan,is recorded in atleast three chronicles titled `Aadaab-e-Alamgiri', `Yadgarnama', and the `Muruqqa-i-Akbarabadi' (edited by Said Ahmed, Agra, 1931, page 43, footnote 2). In that letter Aurangzeb records in 1652 A.D itself that the several buildings in the fancied burial place of Mumtaz were seven storeyed and were so old that they were all leaking, while the dome had developed a crack on the northern side.Aurangzeb, therefore, ordered immediate repairs to the buildings at his own expense while recommending to the emperor that more elaborate repairs be carried out later. This is the proof that during Shahjahan's reign itself that the Taj complex was so old as to need immediate repairs.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">21. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur retains in his secret personal `KapadDwara' collection two orders from Shahjahan dated Dec 18, 1633 (bearing modern nos. R.176 and 177) requestioning the Taj building complex. That was so blatant a usurpation that the then ruler of Jaipur was ashamed to make the document public.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">22. The Rajasthan State archives at Bikaner preserve three other firmans addressed by Shahjahan to the Jaipur's ruler Jaising ordering the latter to supply marble (for Mumtaz's grave and koranic grafts) from his Makranna quarris, and stone cutters. Jaisingh was apparently so enraged at the blatant seizure of the Tajmahal that he refused to oblige Shahjahan by providing marble for grafting koranic engravings and fake centotaphs for further desecration of the Tajmahal. Jaising looked at Shahjahan's demand for marble and stone cutters, as an insult added to injury. Therefore, he refused to send any marble and instead detained the stone cutters in his protective custody.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">23. The three firmans demanding marble were sent to Jaisingh within about two years of Mumtaz's death. Had Shahjahan really built the Tajmahal over a period of 22 years, the marble would have needed only after 15 or 20 years not immediately after Mumtaz's death.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">24. Moreover, the three mention neither the Tajmahal, nor Mumtaz, nor the burial. The cost and the quantity of the stone also are not mentioned. This proves that an insignificant quantity of marble was needed just for some supercial tinkering and tampering with the Tajmahal. Even otherwise Shahjahan could never hope to build a fabulous Tajmahal by abject dependence for marble on a non cooperative Jaisingh.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">EUROPEAN VISITOR'S ACCOUNTS</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">25. Tavernier, a French jeweller has recorded in his travel memoirs that Shahjahan purposely buried Mumtaz near the Taz-i-Makan (i.e.,`The Taj building') where foriegners used to come as they do even today so that the world may admire. He also adds that the cost of the scaffolding was more than that of the entire work. The work that Shahjahan commissioned in the Tejomahalaya Shiva temple was plundering at the costly fixtures inside it, uprooting the Shiva idols, planting the centotaphs in their place on two stories, inscribing the koran along the arches and walling up six of the seven stories of the Taj. It was this plunder, desecrating and plunderring of the rooms which took 22 years.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">26. Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra recorded in 1632 (within only a year of Mumtaz's death) that `the places of note in and around Agra, included Taj-e-Mahal's tomb, gardens and bazaars'.He, therefore, confirms that that the Tajmahal had been a noteworthy building even before Shahjahan.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">27. De Laet, a Dutch official has listed Mansingh's palace about a mile from Agra fort, as an outstanding building of pre shahjahan's time. Shahjahan's court chronicle, the Badshahnama records, Mumtaz's burial in the same Mansingh's palace.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">28. Bernier, a contemporary French visitor has noted that non muslim's were barred entry into the basement (at the time when Shahjahan requisitioned Mansingh's palace) which contained a dazzling light. Obviously, he reffered to the silver doors, gold railing, the gem studded lattice and strings of pearl hanging over Shiva's idol. Shahjahan comandeered the building to grab all the wealth, making Mumtaz's death a convineant pretext.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">29. Johan Albert Mandelslo, who describes life in agra in 1638 (only 7 years after mumtaz's death) in detail (in his `Voyages and Travels to West-Indies', published by John Starkey and John Basset, London), makes no mention of the Tajmahal being under constuction though it is commonly erringly asserted or assumed that the Taj was being built from 1631 to 1653.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">SANSKIRT INSCRIPTION</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">30. A Sanskrit inscription too supports the conclusion that the Taj originated as a Shiva temple. Wrongly termed as the Bateshwar inscription (currently preserved on the top floor of the Lucknow museum), it refers to the raising of a "crystal white Shiva temple so alluring that Lord Shiva once enshrined in it decided never to return to Mount Kailash his usual abode". That inscription dated 1155 A.D. was removed from the Tajmahal garden at Shahjahan's orders. Historicians and Archeaologists have blundered in terming the insription the `Bateshwar inscription' when the record doesn't say that it was found by Bateshwar. It ought, in fact, to be called `The Tejomahalaya inscription' because it was originally installed in the Taj garden before it was uprooted and cast away at Shahjahan's command.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">A clue to the tampering by Shahjahan is found on pages 216-217, vol. 4, of Archealogiical Survey of India Reports (published 1874) stating that a "great square black balistic pillar which, with the base and capital of another pillar....now in the grounds of Agra,...it is well known, once stood in the garden of Tajmahal".</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">MISSING ELEPHANTS</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">31. Far from the building of the Taj, Shahjahan disfigured it with black koranic lettering and heavily robbed it of its Sanskrit inscription, several idols and two huge stone elephants extending their trunks in a welcome arch over the gateway where visitors these days buy entry tickets. An Englishman, Thomas Twinning, records (pg.191 of his book "Travels in India A Hundred Years ago") that in November 1794 "I arrived at the high walls which enclose the Taj-e-Mahal and its circumjacent buildings. I here got out of the palanquine and.....mounted a short flight of steps leading to a beautiful portal which formed the centre of this side of the `COURT OF ELEPHANTS" as the great area was called."</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">KORANIC PATCHES</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">32. The Taj Mahal is scrawled over with 14 chapters of the Koran but nowhere is there even the slightest or the remotest allusion in that Islamic overwriting to Shahjahan's authorship of the Taj. Had Shahjahan been the builder he would have said so in so many words before beginning to quote Koran.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">33. That Shahjahan, far from building the marble Taj, only disfigured it with black lettering is mentioned by the inscriber Amanat Khan Shirazi himself in an inscription on the building. A close scrutiny of the Koranic lettering reveals that they are grafts patched up with bits of variegated stone on an ancient Shiva temple.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">CARBON 14 TEST</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">34. A wooden piece from the riverside doorway of the Taj subjected to the carbon 14 test by an American Laboratory, has revealed that the door to be 300 years older than Shahjahan,since the doors of the Taj, broken open by Muslim invaders repeatedly from the 11th century onwards, had to b replaced from time to time. The Taj edifice is much more older. It belongs to 1155 A.D, i.e., almost 500 years anterior to Shahjahan.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">ARCHITECHTURAL EVIDENCE</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">35. Well known Western authorities on architechture like E.B.Havell, Mrs.Kenoyer and Sir W.W.Hunterhave gone on record to say that the TajMahal is built in the Hindu temple style. Havell points out the ground plan of the ancient Hindu Chandi Seva Temple in Java is identical with that of the Taj.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">36. A central dome with cupolas at its four corners is a universal feature of Hindu temples.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">37. The four marble pillars at the plinth corners are of the Hindu style. They are used as lamp towers during night and watch towers during the day. Such towers serve to demarcate the holy precincts. Hindu wedding altars and the altar set up for God Satyanarayan worship have pillars raised at the four corners.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">38. The octagonal shape of the Tajmahal has a special Hindu significance because Hindus alone have special names for the eight directions, and celestial guards assigned to them. The pinnacle points to the heaven while the foundation signifies to the nether world. Hindu forts, cities, palaces and temples genrally have an octagonal layout or some octagonal features so that together with the pinnacle and the foundation they cover all the ten directions in which the king or God holds sway, according to Hindu belief.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">39. The Tajmahal has a trident pinncle over the dome. A full scale of the trident pinnacle is inlaid in the red stone courtyard to the east of the Taj. The central shaft of the trident depicts a "Kalash" (sacred pot) holding two bent mango leaves and a coconut. This is a sacred Hindu motif. Identical pinnacles have been seen over Hindu and Buddhist temples in the Himalayan region. Tridents are also depicted against a red lotus background at the apex of the stately marble arched entrances on all four sides of the Taj. People fondly but mistakenly believed all these centuries that the Taj pinnacle depicts a Islamic cresent and star was a lighting conductor installed by the British rulers in India. Contrarily, the pinnacle is a marvel of Hindu metallurgy since the pinnacle made of non rusting alloy, is also perhaps a lightning deflector. That the pinnacle of the replica is drawn in the eastern courtyard is significant because the east is of special importance to the Hindus, as the direction in which the sun rises. The pinnacle on the dome has the word `Allah' on it after capture. The pinnacle figure on the ground does not have the word Allah.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">INCONSISTENCIES</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">40. The two buildings which face the marble Taj from the east and west are identical in design, size and shape and yet the eastern building is explained away by Islamic tradition, as a community hall while the western building is claimed to be a mosque. How could buildings meant for radically different purposes be identical? This proves that the western building was put to use as a mosque after seizure of the Taj property by Shahjahan. Curiously enough the building being explained away as a mosque has no minaret. They form a pair af reception pavilions of the Tejomahalaya temple palace.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">41. A few yards away from the same flank is the Nakkar Khana alias DrumHouse which is a intolerable incongruity for Islam. The proximity of the Drum House indicates that the western annex was not originally a mosque. Contrarily a drum house is a neccesity in a Hindu temple or palace because Hindu chores,in the morning and evening, begin to the sweet strains of music.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">42. The embossed patterns on the marble exterior of the centotaph chamber wall are foilage of the conch shell design and the Hindu letter "OM". The octagonally laid marble lattices inside the centotaph chamber depict pink lotuses on their top railing. The Lotus, the conch and the OM are the sacred motifs associated with the Hindu deities and temples.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">43. The spot occupied by Mumtaz's centotaph was formerly occupied by the Hindu Teja Linga a lithic representation of Lord Shiva. Around it are five perambulatory passages. Perambulation could be done around the marble lattice or through the spacious marble chambers surrounding the centotaph chamber, and in the open over the marble platform. It is also customary for the Hindus to have apertures along the perambulatory passage, overlooking the deity. Such apertures exist in the perambulatories in the Tajmahal.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">44. The sanctom sanctorum in the Taj has silver doors and gold railings as Hindu temples have. It also had nets of pearl and gems stuffed in the marble lattices. It was the lure of this wealth which made Shahjahan commandeer the Taj from a helpless vassal Jaisingh, the then ruler of Jaipur.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">45. Peter Mundy, a Englishman records (in 1632, within a year of Mumtaz's death) having seen a gem studded gold railing around her tomb. Had the Taj been under construction for 22 years, a costly gold railing would not have been noticed by Peter mundy within a year of Mumtaz's death. Such costl fixtures are installed in a building only after it is ready for use. This indicates that Mumtaz's centotaph was grafted in place of the Shivalinga in the centre of the gold railings. Subsequently the gold railings, silver doors, nets of pearls, gem fillings etc. were all carried away to Shahjahan's treasury. The seizure of the Taj thus constituted an act of highhanded Moghul robery causing a big row between Shahjahan and Jaisingh.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">46. In the marble flooring around Mumtaz's centotaph may be seen tiny mosaic patches. Those patches indicate the spots where the support for the gold railings were embedded in the floor. They indicate a rectangular fencing.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">47. Above Mumtaz's centotaph hangs a chain by which now hangs a lamp. Before capture by Shahjahan the chain used to hold a water pitcher from which water used to drip on the Shivalinga.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">48. It is this earlier Hindu tradition in the Tajmahal which gave the Islamic myth of Shahjahan's love tear dropping on Mumtaz's tomb on the full moon day of the winter eve.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">TREASURY WELL</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">49. Between the so-called mosque and the drum house is a multistoried octagonal well with a flight of stairs reaching down to the water level. This is a traditional treasury well in Hindu temple palaces. Treasure chests used to be kept in the lower apartments while treasury personnel had their offices in the upper chambers. The circular stairs made it difficult for intruders to reach down to the treasury or to escape with it undetected or unpursued. In case the premises had to be surrendered to a besieging enemy the treasure could be pushed into the well to remain hidden from the conquerer and remain safe for salvaging if the place was reconquered. Such an elaborate multistoried well is superflous for a mere mausoleum. Such a grand, gigantic well is unneccesary for a tomb.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">BURIAL DATE UNKNOWN</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">50. Had Shahjahan really built the Taj Mahal as a wonder mausoleum, history would have recorded a specific date on which she was ceremoniously buried in the Taj Mahal. No such date is ever mentioned. This important missing detail decisively exposes the falsity of the Tajmahal legend.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">51. Even the year of Mumtaz's death is unknown. It is variously speculated to be 1629, 1630, 1631 or 1632. Had she deserved a fabulous burial, as is claimed, the date of her death had not been a matter of much speculation. In an harem teeming with 5000 women it was difficult to keep track of dates of death. Apparently the date of Mumtaz's death was so insignificant an event, as not to merit any special notice. Who would then build a Taj for her burial?</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">BASELESS LOVE STORIES</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">52. Stories of Shahjahan's exclusive infatuation for Mumtaz's are concoctions. They have no basis in history nor has any book ever written on their fancied love affairs. Those stories have been invented as an afterthought to make Shahjahan's authorship of the Taj look plausible.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">COST</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">53. The cost of the Taj is nowhere recorded in Shahjahan's court papers because Shahjahan never built the Tajmahal. That is why wild estimates of the cost by gullible writers have ranged from 4 million to 91.7 million rupees.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">PERIOD OF CONSTRUCTION</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">54. Likewise the period of construction has been guessed to be anywhere between 10 years and 22 years. There would have not been any scope for guesswork had the building construction been on record in the court papers.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">ARCHITECTS</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">55. The designer of the Tajmahal is also variously mentioned as Essa Effendy, a Persian or Turk, or Ahmed Mehendis or a Frenchman, Austin deBordeaux, or Geronimo Veroneo, an Italian, or Shahjahan himself.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">RECORDS DON'T EXIST</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">56. Twenty thousand labourers are supposed to have worked for 22 years during Shahjahan's reign in building the Tajmahal. Had this been true, there should have been available in Shahjahan's court papers design drawings, heaps of labour muster rolls, daily expenditure sheets, bills and receipts of material ordered, and commisioning orders. There is not even a scrap of paper of this kind.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">57. It is, therefore, court flatterers,blundering historians, somnolent archeologists, fiction writers, senile poets, careless tourists officials and erring guides who are responsible for hustling the world into believing in Shahjahan's mythical authorship of the Taj.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">58. Description of the gardens around the Taj of Shahjahan's time mention Ketaki, Jai, Jui, Champa, Maulashree, Harshringar and Bel. All these are plants whose flowers or leaves are used in the worship of Hindu deities. Bel leaves are exclusively used in Lord Shiva's worship. A graveyard is planted only with shady trees because the idea of using fruit and flower from plants in a cemetary is abhorrent to human conscience. The presence of Bel and other flower plants in the Taj garden is proof of its having been a Shiva temple before seizure by Shahjahan.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">59. Hindu temples are often built on river banks and sea beaches. The Taj is one such built on the bank of the Yamuna river an ideal location for a Shiva temple.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">60. Prophet Mohammad has ordained that the burial spot of a muslim should be inconspicous and must not be marked by even a single tombstone. In flagrant violation of this, the Tajamhal has one grave in the basement and another in the first floor chamber both ascribed to Mumtaz. Those two centotaphs were infact erected by Shahjahan to bury the two tier Shivalingas that were consecrated in the Taj. It is customary for Hindus to install two Shivalingas one over the other in two stories as may be seen in the Mahankaleshwar temple in Ujjain and the Somnath temple raised by Ahilyabai in Somnath Pattan.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">61. The Tajmahal has identical entrance arches on all four sides. This is a typical Hindu building style known as Chaturmukhi, i.e.,four faced.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">THE HINDU DOME</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">62. The Tajmahal has a reverberating dome. Such a dome is an absurdity for a tomb which must ensure peace and silence. Contrarily reverberating domes are a neccesity in Hindu temples because they create an ecstatic dinmultiplying and magnifying the sound of bells, drums and pipes accompanying the worship of Hindu deities.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">63. The Tajmahal dome bears a lotus cap. Original Islamic domes have a bald top as is exemplified by the Pakistan Embassy in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, and the domes in the Pakistan's newly built capital Islamabad.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">64. The Tajmahal entrance faces south. Had the Taj been an Islamic building it should have faced the west.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">TOMB IS THE GRAVE, NOT THE BUILDING</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">65. A widespread misunderstanding has resulted in mistaking the building for the grave.Invading Islam raised graves in captured buildings in every country it overran. Therefore, hereafter people must learn not to confound the building with the grave mounds which are grafts in conquered buildings. This is true of the Tajmahal too. One may therefore admit (for arguments sake) that Mumtaz lies buried inside the Taj. But that should not be construed to mean that the Taj was raised over Mumtaz's grave.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">66. The Taj is a seven storied building. Prince Aurangzeb also mentions this in his letter to Shahjahan. The marble edifice comprises four stories including the lone, tall circular hall inside the top, and the lone chamber in the basement. In between are two floors each containing 12 to 15 palatial rooms. Below the marble plinth reaching down to the river at the rear are two more stories in red stone. They may be seen from the river bank. The seventh storey must be below the ground (river) level since every ancient Hindu building had a subterranian storey.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">67. Immediately bellow the marble plinth on the river flank are 22 rooms in red stone with their ventilators all walled up by Shahjahan. Those rooms, made uninhibitably by Shahjahan, are kept locked by Archealogy Department of India. The lay visitor is kept in the dark about them. Those 22 rooms still bear ancient Hindu paint on their walls and ceilings. On their side is a nearly 33 feet long corridor. There are two door frames one at either end ofthe corridor. But those doors are intriguingly sealed with brick and lime.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">68. Apparently those doorways originally sealed by Shahjahan have been since unsealed and again walled up several times. In 1934 a resident of Delhi took a peep inside from an opening in the upper part of the doorway. To his dismay he saw huge hall inside. It contained many statues huddled around a central beheaded image of Lord Shiva. It could be that, in there, are Sanskrit inscriptions too. All the seven stories of the Tajmahal need to be unsealed and scoured to ascertain what evidence they may be hiding in the form of Hindu images, Sanskrit inscriptions, scriptures, coins and utensils.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">69. Apart from Hindu images hidden in the sealed stories it is also learnt that Hindu images are also stored in the massive walls of the Taj. Between 1959 and 1962 when Mr. S.R. Rao was the Archealogical Superintendent in Agra, he happened to notice a deep and wide crack in the wall of the central octagonal chamber of the Taj. When a part of the wall was dismantled to study the crack out popped two or three marble images. The matter was hushed up and the images were reburied where they had been embedded at Shahjahan's behest. Confirmation of this has been obtained from several sources. It was only when I began my investigation into the antecedents of the Taj I came across the above information which had remained a forgotten secret. What better proof is needed of the Temple origin of the Tajmahal? Its walls and sealed chambers still hide in Hindu idols that were consecrated in it before Shahjahan's seizure of the Taj.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">PRE-SHAHJAHAN REFERENCES TO THE TAJ</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">70. Apparently the Taj as a central palace seems to have an chequered history. The Taj was perhaps desecrated and looted by every Muslim invader from Mohammad Ghazni onwards but passing into Hindu hands off and on, the sanctity of the Taj as a Shiva temple continued to be revived after every muslim onslaught. Shahjahan was the last muslim to desecrate the Tajmahal alias Tejomahalay.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">71. Vincent Smith records in his book titled `Akbar the Great Moghul' that `Babur's turbulent life came to an end in his garden palace in Agra in 1630'. That palace was none other than the Tajmahal. 72. Babur's daughter Gulbadan Begum in her chronicle titled `Humayun Nama' refers to the Taj as the Mystic House.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">73. Babur himself refers to the Taj in his memoirs as the palace captured by Ibrahim Lodi containing a central octagonal chamber and having pillars on the four sides. All these historical references allude to the Taj 100 years before Shahjahan.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">74. The Tajmahal precincts extend to several hundred yards in all directions. Across the river are ruins of the annexes of the Taj, the bathing ghats and a jetty for the ferry boat. In the Victoria gardens outside covered with creepers is the long spur of the ancient outer wall ending in a octagonal red stone tower. Such extensive grounds all magnificently done up, are a superfluity for a grave.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">75. Had the Taj been specially built to bury Mumtaz, it should not have been cluttered with other graves. But the Taj premises contain several graves atleast in its eastern and southern pavilions.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">76. In the southern flank, on the other side of the Tajganj gate are buried in identical pavilions queens Sarhandi Begum, and Fatehpuri Begum and a maid Satunnisa Khanum. Such parity burial can be justified only if the queens had been demoted or the maid promoted. But since Shahjahan had commandeered (not built) the Taj, he reduced it general to a muslim cemetary as was the habit of all his Islamic predeccssors, and buried a queen in a vacant pavillion and a maid in another idenitcal pavilion.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">77. Shahjahan was married to several other women before and after Mumtaz. She, therefore, deserved no special consideration in having a wonder mausoleum built for her.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">78. Mumtaz was a commoner by birth and so she did not qualify for a fairyland burial.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">79. Mumtaz died in Burhanpur which is about 600 miles from Agra. Her grave there is intact. Therefore ,the centotaphs raised in stories of the Taj in her name seem to be fakes hiding in Hindu Shiva emblems.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">80. Shahjahan seems to have simulated Mumtaz's burial in Agra to find a pretext to surround the temple palace with his fierce and fanatic troops and remove all the costly fixtures in his treasury. This finds confirmation in the vague noting in the Badshahnama which says that the Mumtaz's (exhumed) body was brought to Agra from Burhanpur and buried `next year'. An official term would not use a nebulous term unless it is to hide some thing.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">81. A pertinent consideration is that a Shahjahan who did not build any palaces for Mumtaz while she was alive, would not build a fabulous mausoleum for a corpse which was no longer kicking or clicking.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">82. Another factor is that Mumtaz died within two or three years of Shahjahan becoming an emperor. Could he amass so much superflous wealth in that short span as to squander it on a wonder mausoleum?</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">83. While Shahjahan's special attachment to Mumtaz is nowhere recorded in history his amorous affairs with many other ladies from maids to mannequins including his own daughter Jahanara, find special attention in accounts of Shahjahan's reign. Would Shahjahan shower his hard earned wealth on Mumtaz's corpse?</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">84. Shahjahan was a stingy, usurious monarch. He came to throne murdering all his rivals. He was not therefore, the doting spendthrift that he is made out to be.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">85. A Shahjahan disconsolate on Mumtaz's death is suddenly credited with a resolve to build the Taj. This is a psychological incongruity. Grief is a disabling, incapacitating emotion.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">86. A infatuated Shahjahan is supposed to have raised the Taj over the dead Mumtaz, but carnal, physical sexual love is again a incapacitating emotion. A womaniser is ipso facto incapable of any constructive activity. When carnal love becomes uncontrollable the person either murders somebody or commits suicide. He cannot raise a Tajmahal. A building like the Taj invariably originates in an ennobling emotion like devotion to God, to one's mother and mother country or power and glory.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">87. Early in the year 1973, chance digging in the garden in front of the Taj revealed another set of fountains about six feet below the present fountains. This proved two things. Firstly, the subterranean fountains were there before Shahjahan laid the surface fountains. And secondly that those fountains are aligned to the Taj that edifice too is of pre Shahjahan origin. Apparently the garden and its fountains had sunk from annual monsoon flooding and lack of maintenance for centuries during the Islamic rule.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">89. The stately rooms on the upper floor of the Tajmahal have been striped of their marble mosaic by Shahjahan to obtain matching marble for raising fake tomb stones inside the Taj premises at several places. Contrasting with the rich finished marble ground floor rooms the striping of the marble mosaic covering the lower half of the walls and flooring of the upper storey have given those rooms a naked, robbed look. Since no visitors are allowed entry to the upper storey this despoilation by Shahjahan has remained a well guarded secret. There is no reason why Shahjahan's loot of the upper floor marble should continue to be hidden from the public even after 200 years of termination of Moghul rule.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">90. Bernier, the French traveller has recorded that no non muslim was allowed entry into the secret nether chambers of the Taj because there are some dazzling fixtures there. Had those been installed by Shahjahan they should have been shown the public as a matter of pride. But since it was commandeered Hindu wealth which Shahjahan wanted to remove to his treasury, he didn't want the public to know about it.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">91. The approach to Taj is dotted with hillocks raised with earth dugout from foundation trenches. The hillocks served as outer defences of the Taj building complex. Raising such hillocks from foundation earth, is a common Hindu device of hoary origin. Nearby Bharatpur provides a graphic parallel.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">Peter Mundy has recorded that Shahjahan employed thousands of labourers to level some of those hillocks. This is a graphic proof of the Tajmahal existing before Shahjahan.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">93. At the backside of the river bank is a Hindu crematorium, several palaces, Shiva temples and bathings of ancient origin. Had Shahjahan built the Tajmahal, he would have destroyed the Hindu features.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">94. The story that Shahjahan wanted to build a Black marble Taj across the river, is another motivated myth. The ruins dotting the other side of the river are those of Hindu structures demolished during muslim invasions and not the plinth of another Tajmahal. Shahjahan who did not even build the white Tajmahal would hardly ever think of building a black marble Taj. He was so miserly that he forced labourers to work gratis even in the superficial tampering neccesary to make a Hindu temple serve as a Muslim tomb.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">95. The marble that Shahjahan used for grafting Koranic lettering in the Taj is of a pale white shade while the rest of the Taj is built of a marble with rich yellow tint. This disparity is proof of the Koranic extracts being a superimposition.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">96. Though imaginative attempts have been made by some historians to foist some fictitious name on history as the designer of the Taj others more imaginative have credited Shajahan himself with superb architechtural proficiency and artistic talent which could easily conceive and plan the Taj even in acute bereavement. Such people betray gross ignorance of history in as much as Shajahan was a cruel tyrant ,a great womaniser and a drug and drink addict.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">97. Fanciful accounts about Shahjahan commisioning the Taj are all confused. Some asserted that Shahjahan ordered building drawing from all over the world and chose one from among them. Others assert that a man at hand was ordered to design a mausoleum and his design was approved. Had any of those versions been true Shahjahan's court papers should have had thousands of drawings concerning the Taj. But there is not even a single drawing. This is yet another clinching proof that Shahjahan did not commision the Taj.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">98. The Tajmahal is surrounded by huge mansions which indicate that several battles have been waged around the Taj several times.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">99. At the south east corner of the Taj is an ancient royal cattle house. Cows attached to the Tejomahalay temple used to reared there. A cowshed is an incongruity in an Islamic tomb.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">100. Over the western flank of the Taj are several stately red stone annexes. These are superflous for a mausoleum.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">101. The entire Taj complex comprises of 400 to 500 rooms. Residential accomodation on such a stupendous scale is unthinkable in a mausoleum.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">102. The neighbouring Tajganj township's massive protective wall also encloses the Tajmahal temple palace complex. This is a clear indication that the Tejomahalay temple palace was part and parcel of the township. A street of that township leads straight into the Tajmahal. The Tajganj gate is aligned in a perfect straight line to the octagonal red stone garden gate and the stately entrance arch of the Tajmahal. The Tajganj gate besides being central to the Taj temple complex, is also put on a pedestal. The western gate by which the visitors enter the Taj complex is a camparatively minor gateway. It has become the entry gate for most visitors today because the railway station and the bus station are on that side.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">103. The Tajmahal has pleasure pavilions which a tomb would never have.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">104. A tiny mirror glass in a gallery of the Red Fort in Agra reflects the Taj mahal. Shahjahan is said to have spent his last eight years of life as a prisoner in that gallery peering at the reflected Tajmahal and sighing in the name of Mumtaz. This myth is a blend of many falsehoods. Firstly,old Shajahan was held prisoner by his son Aurangzeb in the basement storey in the Fort and not in an open,fashionable upper storey. Secondly, the glass piece was fixed in the 1930's by Insha Allah Khan, a peon of the archaelogy dept.just to illustrate to the visitors how in ancient times the entire apartment used to scintillate with tiny mirror pieces reflecting the Tejomahalay temple a thousand fold. Thirdly, a old decrepit Shahjahan with pain in his joints and cataract in his eyes, would not spend his day craning his neck at an awkward angle to peer into a tiny glass piece with bedimmed eyesight when he could as well his face around and have full,direct view of the Tjamahal itself. But the general public is so gullible as to gulp all such prattle of wily, unscrupulous guides.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">105. That the Tajmahal dome has hundreds of iron rings sticking out of its exterior is a feature rarely noticed. These are made to hold Hindu earthen oil lamps for temple illumination.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">106. Those putting implicit faith in Shahjahan authorship of the Taj have been imagining Shahjahan-Mumtaz to be a soft hearted romantic pair like Romeo and Juliet. But contemporary accounts speak of Shahjahan as a hard hearted ruler who was constantly egged on to acts of tyranny and cruelty, by Mumtaz.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">107. School and College history carry the myth that Shahjahan reign was a golden period in which there was peace and plenty and that Shahjahan commisioned many buildings and patronized literature. This is pure fabrication. Shahjahan did not commision even a single building as we have illustrated by a detailed analysis of the Tajmahal legend. Shahjahn had to enrage in 48 military campaigns during a reign of nearly 30 years which proves that his was not a era of peace and plenty.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">108. The interior of the dome rising over Mumtaz's centotaph has a representation of Sun and cobras drawn in gold. Hindu warriors trace their origin to the Sun. For an Islamic mausoleum the Sun is redundant. Cobras are always associated with Lord Shiva.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span><span style="color: #407f00"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></span></p>
<p><span><strong><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><span style="color: #407f00">FORGED DOCUMENTS</span></font></strong></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">109. The Muslim caretakers of the tomb in the Tajmahal used to possess a document which they styled as "Tarikh-i-Tajmahal". Historian H.G. Keene has branded it as `a document of doubtful authenticity'. Keene was uncannily right since we have seen that Shahjahan not being the creator of the Tajmahal any document which credits Shahjahn with the Tajmahal, must be an outright forgery. Even that forged document is reported to have been smuggled out of Pakistan. Besides such forged documents there are whole chronicles on the Taj which are pure concoctions.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">110. There is lot of sophistry and casuistry or atleast confused thinking associated with the Taj even in the minds of proffesional historians, archaelogists and architects. At the outset they assert that the Taj is entirely Muslim in design. But when it is pointed out that its lotus capped dome and the four corner pillars etc. are all entirely Hindu those worthies shift ground and argue that that was probably because the workmen were Hindu and were to introduce their own patterns. Both these arguments are wrong because Muslim accounts claim the designers to be Muslim,and the workers invariably carry out the employer's dictates.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">The Taj is only a typical illustration of how all historic buildings and townships from Kashmir to Cape Comorin though of Hindu origin have been ascribed to this or that Muslim ruler or courtier.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">It is hoped that people the world over who study Indian history will awaken to this new finding and revise their erstwhile beliefs.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span style="color: #407f00">Those interested in an indepth study of the above and many other revolutionary rebuttals may read this author's other research books.</span></span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="font-family: Arial"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: Arial"><img src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" width="600" height="10" alt="horizontal rule" style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" /></span></p>
</div>
</div>

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<h4 class="posttitle" style="margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-left: 0px;padding-top: 0px;padding-right: 0px;padding-left: 0px;padding-bottom: 10px;color: #32a7d2"><span style="font-family: Arial"><img style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" alt="horizontal rule" width="600" height="10" /></span></h4>
<h4 class="posttitle" style="margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-left: 0px;padding-top: 0px;padding-right: 0px;padding-left: 0px;padding-bottom: 10px;color: #32a7d2"><span style="font-family: Arial"><span style="font-family: Georgia;font-size: 12px"><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/4047586.jpg"><img style="width: 150px;height: 188px;border: black 3px solid" src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/4047586.150.188.c.tn.jpg" alt="" /></a></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial"><img style="margin-top: 4px;margin-right: 10px;margin-bottom: 4px;margin-left: 10px" src="http://www.stephen-knapp.com/_themes/inmotion/inmhorsa.gif" alt="horizontal rule" width="600" height="10" /></span></h4>
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		<title>SHOULD WE LOVE THOUGHTS!</title>
		<link>http://rajansingh.blog.com/2005/08/31/should-we-love-thoughts/</link>
		<comments>http://rajansingh.blog.com/2005/08/31/should-we-love-thoughts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 31 Aug 2005 11:32:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rinku </dc:creator>
		
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		<description><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="background-color: #a0ff40;">YES WE SHOULD&#160; LOVE THOUGHTS</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><strong><span style="background-color: #ff8080;"><span style="font-size: 17px;">JUST FOR&#160;A SIMPLE REASON</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: ±¼¸²" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: ±¼¸²" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span></span>
<p style="text-align: justify"></p>
<hr style="width: 735px; background-color: red; outline-color: red; outline-style: solid; outline-width: 3px" id="postbreaker" />
<span style="color: #0060bf;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">WE SHOULD BE LOVING GREAT THOUGHTS BY GREAT PEOPLES, AND SHOULD ALSO TRY TO GIVE FEW FROM OUR CONCIOUSNESS. AS THIS IS THE ONLY PRICELESS CONTRIBUTION WE CAN MAKE FOR OUR SOCIETY. REST ITS UPON INDIVIDUAL MIND TO DECIDE, WHETHER HAVE TO OR HAVE NOT TO CONTRIBUTE IN SUCH A WAY.................<br />
<br />
<br />
"No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world "<br />
<br />
"There is a time for daring and a time for caution, and a wise man knows which is called for "<br />
<br />
"I thought the purpose of education was to learn to think for yourself " 'BUT THAT WASN'T TRUE'<br /></span></span>
<div><br />
<span style="color: #c00000;"><br /></span>
<div><span style="color: #c00000;">Everything that's coming into your life you are attracting into your life. And it's attracted to you by virtue of the images you're holding in your mind. It's what you're thinking. Whatever is going on in your mind you are attracting to you.</span></div>
<span style="color: #c00000;"><br /></span>
<div><span style="color: #c00000;">"Every thought of yours is a real thing-a for<span style="color: #000000;"><span style="color: #c00000;">ce".</span></span></span></div>
<div><span style="color: #c00000;">by PRENTICE FULFORD (1834-1891).</span></div>
</div>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<p style="text-align: center"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="background-color: #a0ff40;">YES WE SHOULD&#160; LOVE THOUGHTS</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><strong><span style="background-color: #ff8080;"><span style="font-size: 17px;">JUST FOR&#160;A SIMPLE REASON</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: ±¼¸²" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: ±¼¸²" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify">
<hr style="width: 735px; background-color: red; outline-color: red; outline-style: solid; outline-width: 3px" id="postbreaker" />
<span style="color: #0060bf;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">WE SHOULD BE LOVING GREAT THOUGHTS BY GREAT PEOPLES, AND SHOULD ALSO TRY TO GIVE FEW FROM OUR CONCIOUSNESS. AS THIS IS THE ONLY PRICELESS CONTRIBUTION WE CAN MAKE FOR OUR SOCIETY. REST ITS UPON INDIVIDUAL MIND TO DECIDE, WHETHER HAVE TO OR HAVE NOT TO CONTRIBUTE IN SUCH A WAY&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..</p>
<p>
&#8220;No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world &#8220;</p>
<p>&#8220;There is a time for daring and a time for caution, and a wise man knows which is called for &#8220;</p>
<p>&#8220;I thought the purpose of education was to learn to think for yourself &#8221; &#8216;BUT THAT WASN&#8217;T TRUE&#8217;<br /></span></span></p>
<div>
<span style="color: #c00000;"><br /></span></p>
<div><span style="color: #c00000;">Everything that&#8217;s coming into your life you are attracting into your life. And it&#8217;s attracted to you by virtue of the images you&#8217;re holding in your mind. It&#8217;s what you&#8217;re thinking. Whatever is going on in your mind you are attracting to you.</span></div>
<p><span style="color: #c00000;"><br /></span></p>
<div><span style="color: #c00000;">&#8220;Every thought of yours is a real thing-a for<span style="color: #000000;"><span style="color: #c00000;">ce&#8221;.</span></span></span></div>
<div><span style="color: #c00000;">by PRENTICE FULFORD (1834-1891).</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div></div>
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		<title>MY SELECTED SNAPS</title>
		<link>http://rajansingh.blog.com/2005/05/19/my-selected-snaps/</link>
		<comments>http://rajansingh.blog.com/2005/05/19/my-selected-snaps/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2005 02:52:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rinku </dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/1758271.jpg"></a><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/3984560.jpg"><img src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/3984560.479.639.c.tn.jpg" style="margin-top: 5px;margin-right: 5px;margin-bottom: 5px;margin-left: 5px" /></a><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166719.p.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166719.105.p.tn.jpg" alt="046" style="width: 200px;height: 200px" /></a><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166721.p.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166721.105.p.tn.jpg" alt="047.JPG" style="width: 200px;height: 200px" /></a><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166726.p.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166726.105.p.tn.jpg" alt="265.JPG" style="width: 200px;height: 200px" /></a><img border="0" src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166727.105.p.tn.jpg" alt="048.JPG" style="width: 250px;height: 250px" /><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/4047564.jpg"><img src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/4047564.275.257.c.tn.jpg" style="width: 275px;height: 257px" /></a><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166728.p.jpg"></a>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/1758271.jpg"></a><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/3984560.jpg"><img style="margin-top: 5px;margin-right: 5px;margin-bottom: 5px;margin-left: 5px" src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/3984560.479.639.c.tn.jpg" alt="" /></a><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166719.p.jpg"><img style="width: 200px;height: 200px;border: black 3px solid" src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166719.105.p.tn.jpg" border="0" alt="046" /></a><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166721.p.jpg"><img style="width: 200px;height: 200px;border: black 3px solid" src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166721.105.p.tn.jpg" border="0" alt="047.JPG" /></a><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166726.p.jpg"><img style="width: 200px;height: 200px;border: black 3px solid" src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166726.105.p.tn.jpg" border="0" alt="265.JPG" /></a><img style="width: 250px;height: 250px;border: black 5px solid" src="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166727.105.p.tn.jpg" border="0" alt="048.JPG" /><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/4047564.jpg"></a><a href="http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/75089/166728.p.jpg"></a> </div>
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		<title>INDIA &#38; THE RELATED MISCONCEPTION</title>
		<link>http://rajansingh.blog.com/2005/05/09/india-the-related-misconception/</link>
		<comments>http://rajansingh.blog.com/2005/05/09/india-the-related-misconception/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 May 2005 04:06:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rinku </dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[can you see a new world order!]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[<h1 align="center" style="margin: auto 0cm; word-break: keep-all; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-align: center" class="MsoNormal"></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><font size="4"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Õ" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><font face="바탕"><font size="4"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">INDIA &#38; THE RELATED MISCONCEPTION</span></span></span></strong></font></font></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">I wanted very earlier to clear some misconception about India in everyones mind,</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;"><br />
but I was unable to do so. Now by this column I am supposed to do&#160;it.</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">Actually India is always misunderstood, though it's true that some popular writers have written that India is what you make out of it. Unless one opens his or her mind they can't understand real India.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">After learning the Korean mind, as it is the only foreign country I know better than</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">any other country, the reason is my know how of their society and the language. Right now I am in Korea and though I have to learn so many things, I believe that I have</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">understood much of Korean mind since 7~8yrs of my carrier. The thing, which I will learn, is nothing but the day-to-day life of Koreans. In first place I want to discuss, the concept of caste divide in a foreigners mind, especially Koreans.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">If Koreans has to understand the caste divide of India in a real sense then they should first understand what "Confucianism" has to do with the Korean mind. In India life is in fast pace, alike it is</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">in any</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">part of the world, and yet it also differs at several levels. Although Indians do have a daily life running at much pace in the metro cities,</span></span></span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;yet it's unlike in most of the places. Indian mind is evolving at a fast rate in all type of business industry.</span></span></span></strong><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">Part-2.&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">In this part I want to</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">express the</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">story behind the caste divide in India. There was a time when there was a need to divide the people to work according to their ability, else the development was not possible. So in those days a man of high order (i.e. Mannu) made the caste system according to the ability. He placed the brain at the top, so he named the people with the intelligence</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">as "Brahmins", then second were those people who had the guts of steel, hence they were called as "Kshatriyas" or the warriors. At third level he placed those who were good at doing business and other related works which needs transaction and all, they were classified as "Vaishyas", at the last/ fourth level he placed those who were weak and knew only those work which needs no brain or power, they were called as "Shudras", they were the labor class. It continues in the society even now, but it's well understood that one can change his/ her caste by the ability of work. In general when a person is best at that work which he or she can do according to the inborn talents, then it</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">’</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">s but obvious that one can be placed even now by the ability of work. In this context one can also understand the reason why several religions clustered out the Hinduism.</span></span></span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-indent:40.0pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">I just want to take the readers mind to one thing which has been common in every religion is the quest for power by the religious leaders sitting at the high end. Brahmins were the reason behind the birth of several religions in India. When I talk about Brahmins, I want to make it clear that</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">in present day,</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">Brahmins are in every religion.</span></span></span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1; text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1; text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">A NEW WORLD ORDER!</span></span></span></strong><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">One may ask the reason why it’s so?&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">Why India will rise as a Superpower, for that I will say, kindly have a look of the whole India, in terms of History, Geography, Culture, &#38; Civilization etc.&#160;Then have a look of the changes in the present world order, which was needed but not the way it&#160;looks to someone. I'll certainly ask to have a look of the world after Sept.11 incident, if you want to broaden your thought then Michael Moore's movie is a worth watch. I totally believe that it was designed in a very ugly way. If&#160;we are&#160;putting&#160;our finger on terrorists only&#160;then we should&#160;also be aware of the zeal&#160;thing inside every nation, which can't evaporate unless the mass living in every nation should understand the need&#160;of what is&#160;right&#160;for our planet and the present civilization. Only India has the every reason to multiply its pace of development, to conquer this world unlike it was&#160;tried in many centuries by other nations. We Indians have started everything at first, whether it is civilization or giving Zero or Decimals to the world&#160;we should make it easier for other nations&#160;to understand this, so that they&#160;should&#160;keep away from our path, and let it be our turn once again my brothers and sisters of India to show a new path to this world.&#160;</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">By RAJAN SINGH.......</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><font color="#FF007F" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><font color="#FF007F" size="4"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#6000BF;background:#E2F1F4;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">HINDUISM</span></span></strong><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:black;background:#E2F1F4;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US"><br /></span></strong></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;background:#E2F1F4;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">This religion is called:-</span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Sanatana Dharma, "immortal religion," and</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Vaidika Dharma, "religion of the Vedas," and</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Hinduism</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">- commonly used name in North America.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:2; text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:black;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Various origins for the word "Hinduism" have been suggested:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><font color="#FF007F" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><font color="#6000BF" size="6"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 굴림; color: #8000ff;" xml:lang="EN-US">It may be derived from an ancient inscription translated as: "The country lying &#160;between the Himalayan mountain and Bindu Sarovara is known as Hindusthan &#160;by combination of the first letter 'hi' of 'Himalaya' and the last compound letter &#160;'ndu' of the word `Bindu<em>.</em>'" Bindu Sarovara is called the Cape Comorin Sea in &#160;modern times.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><font color="#6000BF" size="6"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">It may be derived from the Persian word for Indian.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><font color="#6000BF" size="6"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">It may be a Persian corruption of the word Sindhu (the river Indus).<br />
<span style="color: #6000bf; font-family: 바탕; font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">It was a name invented by the British administration in India during colonial times.<br />
<span style="color: #6000bf; font-family: 바탕; font-size: 32px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Early history of Hinduism</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<br />
There are many beliefs about the early development of Hinduism:<br /></span></span></span></span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The classical theory</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">traces the religion's roots to the Indus valley civilization &#160;circa 4000 to 2200 BCE. The development of Hinduism was influenced by many &#160;invasions over thousands of years. The major influences occurred when &#160; &#160;nomadic "Aryan" Indo-European tribes invaded Northern India (circa 1500 BCE) from the steppes of Russia and Central Asia. They brought with them their &#160;religion of</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Vedas</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">. These beliefs mingled with the indigenous Indian native &#160;beliefs, often called the "Indus valley culture<em>.</em>" This theory was initially &#160;proposed by Christian scholars in the 19th century. The classical theory is now &#160;being rejected by increasing numbers of archaeologists and religious &#160;historians. The originators of the theory were obviously biased by their prior &#160;beliefs about the age of the earth and the biblical story of the flood of Noah.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Emerging theory:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Archaeological digs have revealed that the Indus Valley culture lasted from about 3500 to 1800 BCE. It was not "destroyed by outside invasion, but... by internal causes and, most likely, floods<em>.</em>" A series of cities in India have been studied by archaeologists and shown to have a level of civilization between that of the Indus culture and later more highly developed Indian culture, as visited by the Greeks. Finally, Indus Valley excavations have uncovered many remains of fire altars, animal bones, potsherds, shell jewelry and other evidences of Vedic rituals. "In other words there is no racial evidence of any such Indo-Aryan invasion of India but only of a continuity of the same group of people who traditionally considered themselves to be Aryans</span><em><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:">…</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">"</span><sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">"There was no invasion by anyone."<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font>During the first few centuries CE, many sects were created, each dedicated to a specific deity. Typical among these were the Goddesses Shakti and Lakshmi, and the Gods Skanda and Surya.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Sacred texts</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font>Hindu sacred texts are perhaps the most ancient religious texts still surviving today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The primary sacred texts of Hinduism are the Vedas: the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. The Vedas contain hymns, chants, and rituals from ancient India.</span><sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The</span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Rig Veda</span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">is said to be the oldest of the four. Estimates of its date of composition in oral form range from 1500 BCE to 4000 BCE.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;The Sama Veda is a collection of hymns used by the priests during the Soma sacrifice.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The Yajur and Atharva Vedas refer to the vernal equinox (Either of the two times during a year when the sun crosses the celestial equator and when the length of day and night are approximately equal)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">having occurred in the Pleiades constellation - an event dating from about 2500 BCE.&#160;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The date when the Vedas were placed in written form is unknown. Various dates from 600 to after 300 BCE have been suggested.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The Upanishadas (108 in number) deal with Vedic philosophy and form the conclusions of each of the Vedas,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">and were written between 800 and 400 B.C.</span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">"</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">They elaborate on how the soul can be united with the ultimate truth through mediation, as well as the doctrine of Karma - the collective effects of a persons' actions."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">An important text is the Ramayana<em>,</em></span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">written by the poet Valmiki. Various sources have dated it to:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The first century CE in written form.<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font>4th century BCE in written form.<br />
4000 BCE in oral form.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">The</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Mahabharata</span></em><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">is a group of books attributed to the sage Vyasa. They have been variously dated as having been composed between 540 and 300 BCE, between 200 BCE and 2000 CE, the to the 15th century BCE. They record the legends of the Bharatas, one of the Aryan tribal groups<em>.</em></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">The Bhagavad Gita is the sixth book of the Mahabharata. It is a poem describing a conversation between a warrior Arjuna and the God Krishna. It is an ancient text that has become a main sacred text of Hinduism.<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Other texts include the Brahmanas, the Sutras, Puranas, and the Aranyakas. The Yoga Sutras</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; background:white;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">of Patanjali</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;describes an early stage in the philosophy and practise of Yoga. Dating from about 150 B.C., the work shows dualist and Buddhist influences.&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF;background:white; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">The Puranas are post-Vedic texts, which typically contain a complete narrative of the history of the Universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of the kings, heroes and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology and geography. There are 17 or 18 canonical Puranas, divided into three categories, each named after a deity: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. There are also many other works known as 'Upapuranas.'</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Hindu beliefs and practices</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Hinduism has commonly been viewed in the west as a</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">polytheistic</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">religion - one that worships multiple deities: gods and goddesses.&#160;But this is not particularly accurate.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Some have viewed it as a</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">monotheistic</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">religion, because it recognizes only one supreme God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Some view Hinduism as</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Trinitarian</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">because Brahma is simultaneously visualized as a triad -- one God with three persons:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Brahma</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">the Creator who is continuing to create new realities<br />
Vishnu, (Krishna) the Preserver, who preserves these new creations. Whenever dharma (eternal order, righteousness, religion, law and duty) is threatened, Vishnu travels from heaven to earth in one of the ten incarnations.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Shiva, the Destroyer, is at times compassionate, erotic and destructive.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Most forms of Hinduism are</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">henotheistic; they recognize a single deity, and recognize other gods and goddesses as facets, forms, or aspects of that supreme God.<br />
Most urban Hindus follow one of two major divisions within Hinduism:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Vaishnavism: which generally regards Vishnu as the ultimate deity.<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Shaivism: which generally regards Shiva as the ultimate deity.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">However, many rural Hindus worship their own village goddess or an earth goddess. She is believed to rule over fertility and disease, and thus over life and death. In rural Hinduism, non-Brahmins and non-priests often carry out ritual and prayer there.<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Hindus believe in the repetitious Transmigration of the Soul. This is the&#160;transfer of one's soul after death into another body. This produces a continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth through their many lifetimes. It is called samsara. Karma is the accumulated sum of one</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt; font-family:">’<span lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">s good and bad deeds. Karma determines how you will live your next life. Through pure acts, thoughts and devotion, one can be reborn at a higher level. Eventually, one can escape samsara and achieve enlightenment. Bad deeds can cause a person to be reborn at a lower level, or even as an animal. The unequal distribution of wealth, prestige, suffering are thus seen as natural consequences for one's previous acts, both in this life and in previous lives.<br />
Hindus organize their lives around certain activities or "purusharthas." These are called the "four aims of Hinduism," or "the doctrine of the fourfold end of life." They are:</span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The three goals of the "pravritti," those who are in the world, are:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Dharma<em>:</em></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">fairness in their religious life.<br />
Artha: success in their economic life.<br />
Kama: gratification of the senses; pleasure; sensual, sexual, and mental&#160;enjoyment.<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The main goal for the "nivritti," those who renounce the world is:<br />
Moksa: Liberation from "samsara." This is considered the supreme goal of mankind.<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Meditation is often practiced, with Yoga being the most common. Other activities include daily devotions, public rituals, and puja<em>,</em></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">a ceremonial dinner for a God.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Hinduism is highly tolerant of other religions.<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 32px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">The caste system</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Although law abolished the caste system in 1949, it remains a significant force throughout India.&#160;Each follower of Hinduism belonged to one of the thousands of Jats (communities) that existed in India. The Jats were grouped into four Varna (social castes), plus a fifth group called the "untouchables." A person's varna determined the range of jobs or professions from which they could choose. Marriages normally took place within the same varna. There were rules that prohibited persons of different groups from eating, drinking or even smoking with each other. People were once able to move from one Varna to another. However, at some time in the past, the system became rigid, so that a person was generally born into the Varna of their parents, and died in the same group. Almost every local unit of a caste has its own peculiar customs and internal regulations<em>.</em></span><sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The Rig Veda defined four castes. In<br />
decreasing status, they are normally:</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Brahmins (the priests and academics)<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Kshatriyas (rulers, military)<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Vaishyas (farmers, landlords, and merchants)<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Sudras (peasants, servants, and workers in non-polluting jobs)<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The Dalit were outcasts who did not belong to one of the castes. Until the late 1980's they were called Harijan (children of God). They worked in what are considered polluting jobs. They were untouchable by the four castes; in some areas of the country, even a contact with their shadow by a member of the Varnas was considered polluting.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Practicing untouchability or discriminating against a person because of their caste is now illegal. The caste system has lost much of its power in urban areas; however its tradition is largely unchanged in some rural districts. The government has instituted positive steps in order to help the Dalit and lower castes.<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font> Many Dalit have left Hinduism in recent years. This has sometimes been motivated by a desire to escape the caste system. On 2001-NOV-4, one million low-caste Dalits were scheduled to meet in Delhi, India, for a mass conversion to Buddhism. Mass conversions to Christianity have also occurred.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Hindu sects and denominations</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 19px;">About 80% of Hindus are Vaishnavites. Others follow various reform movements.<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Various sects of Hinduism have evolved into separate religious movements, including Hare Krishna, Sikhism and Theosophy (Religious philosophy or speculation about the nature of the soul based on mystical insight into the nature of God)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Transcendental Meditation was derived from a Hindu technique of meditation.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Misconceptions related to Hinduism</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 19px;">A popular misconception is that Hinduism promotes idol worship. Hinduism does not promote idol worship. To the contrary, Hinduism urges us to transcend all physical aids to worship. Realizing that it is impossible for the human to visualize the Infinite and instead of sustaining false hopes of such achievements, the religion urges us to slowly and steadily continue our progress in search of the Truth. For such steady progress, the religion asks us to start with physical aids such as temples and idols, and through practice and devotion, ultimately succeed in visualizing God without the aid of temples and idols. We are asked not to worship idols, but worship God in the form of idols.<br />
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Another popular misconception is that all Hindus are vegetarians and Hinduism prohibits meat eating. Kshatriyas are allowed to eat meat, as long as it is offered to the Almighty first. At the same time, a Brahmin's Dharma is education and pursuit of knowledge. He is asked to refrain from killing and is encouraged to eat simple food in order to maintain equanimity.<br />
<span style="color: #8000ff;"><font color="#6000BF"><br /></font>From a philosophical perspective, a "Yogi" or one who has known and seen the Infinite cannot and will not kill to eat meat because he sees God in every form of life.</span></span></span></p>
<div>IF SOMEONE WANTS TO HAVE ANY INFORAMTION UPON ANY RELIGION, MY SUGGESTION WOULD BE&#160;</div>
<div><a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_budd.htm">http://www.religioustolerance.org</a></div>

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<h1 align="center" style="margin: auto 0cm; word-break: keep-all; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; text-align: center" class="MsoNormal"></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><font size="4"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Õ" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><font face="바탕"><font size="4"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">INDIA &amp; THE RELATED MISCONCEPTION</span></span></span></strong></font></font></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">I wanted very earlier to clear some misconception about India in everyones mind,</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;"><br />
but I was unable to do so. Now by this column I am supposed to do&#160;it.</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">Actually India is always misunderstood, though it&#8217;s true that some popular writers have written that India is what you make out of it. Unless one opens his or her mind they can&#8217;t understand real India.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">After learning the Korean mind, as it is the only foreign country I know better than</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">any other country, the reason is my know how of their society and the language. Right now I am in Korea and though I have to learn so many things, I believe that I have</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">understood much of Korean mind since 7~8yrs of my carrier. The thing, which I will learn, is nothing but the day-to-day life of Koreans. In first place I want to discuss, the concept of caste divide in a foreigners mind, especially Koreans.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">If Koreans has to understand the caste divide of India in a real sense then they should first understand what &#8220;Confucianism&#8221; has to do with the Korean mind. In India life is in fast pace, alike it is</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">in any</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">part of the world, and yet it also differs at several levels. Although Indians do have a daily life running at much pace in the metro cities,</span></span></span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;yet it&#8217;s unlike in most of the places. Indian mind is evolving at a fast rate in all type of business industry.</span></span></span></strong><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">Part-2.&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">In this part I want to</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">express the</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">story behind the caste divide in India. There was a time when there was a need to divide the people to work according to their ability, else the development was not possible. So in those days a man of high order (i.e. Mannu) made the caste system according to the ability. He placed the brain at the top, so he named the people with the intelligence</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">as &#8220;Brahmins&#8221;, then second were those people who had the guts of steel, hence they were called as &#8220;Kshatriyas&#8221; or the warriors. At third level he placed those who were good at doing business and other related works which needs transaction and all, they were classified as &#8220;Vaishyas&#8221;, at the last/ fourth level he placed those who were weak and knew only those work which needs no brain or power, they were called as &#8220;Shudras&#8221;, they were the labor class. It continues in the society even now, but it&#8217;s well understood that one can change his/ her caste by the ability of work. In general when a person is best at that work which he or she can do according to the inborn talents, then it</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">’</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">s but obvious that one can be placed even now by the ability of work. In this context one can also understand the reason why several religions clustered out the Hinduism.</span></span></span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-indent:40.0pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">I just want to take the readers mind to one thing which has been common in every religion is the quest for power by the religious leaders sitting at the high end. Brahmins were the reason behind the birth of several religions in India. When I talk about Brahmins, I want to make it clear that</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">in present day,</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">Brahmins are in every religion.</span></span></span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1; text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1; text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">A NEW WORLD ORDER!</span></span></span></strong><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">One may ask the reason why it’s so?&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">&#160;</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">Why India will rise as a Superpower, for that I will say, kindly have a look of the whole India, in terms of History, Geography, Culture, &amp; Civilization etc.&#160;Then have a look of the changes in the present world order, which was needed but not the way it&#160;looks to someone. I&#8217;ll certainly ask to have a look of the world after Sept.11 incident, if you want to broaden your thought then Michael Moore&#8217;s movie is a worth watch. I totally believe that it was designed in a very ugly way. If&#160;we are&#160;putting&#160;our finger on terrorists only&#160;then we should&#160;also be aware of the zeal&#160;thing inside every nation, which can&#8217;t evaporate unless the mass living in every nation should understand the need&#160;of what is&#160;right&#160;for our planet and the present civilization. Only India has the every reason to multiply its pace of development, to conquer this world unlike it was&#160;tried in many centuries by other nations. We Indians have started everything at first, whether it is civilization or giving Zero or Decimals to the world&#160;we should make it easier for other nations&#160;to understand this, so that they&#160;should&#160;keep away from our path, and let it be our turn once again my brothers and sisters of India to show a new path to this world.&#160;</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="color: #ff007f;"><span style="background-color: #e2f1f4;">By RAJAN SINGH&#8230;&#8230;.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><font color="#FF007F" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all">
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><font color="#FF007F" size="4"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#6000BF;background:#E2F1F4;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">HINDUISM</span></span></strong><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:black;background:#E2F1F4;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US"><br /></span></strong></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;background:#E2F1F4;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">This religion is called:-</span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Sanatana Dharma, &#8220;immortal religion,&#8221; and</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Vaidika Dharma, &#8220;religion of the Vedas,&#8221; and</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Hinduism</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">- commonly used name in North America.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:2; text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:black;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;margin-left:20.0pt;text-align:left;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level: 2;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other;word-break:keep-all"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Various origins for the word &#8220;Hinduism&#8221; have been suggested:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan;mso-outline-level:1;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; word-break:keep-all"><font color="#FF007F" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><font color="#6000BF" size="6"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 굴림; color: #8000ff;" xml:lang="EN-US">It may be derived from an ancient inscription translated as: &#8220;The country lying &#160;between the Himalayan mountain and Bindu Sarovara is known as Hindusthan &#160;by combination of the first letter &#8216;hi&#8217; of &#8216;Himalaya&#8217; and the last compound letter &#160;&#8217;ndu&#8217; of the word `Bindu<em>.</em>&#8216;&#8221; Bindu Sarovara is called the Cape Comorin Sea in &#160;modern times.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><font color="#6000BF" size="6"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">It may be derived from the Persian word for Indian.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><font color="#6000BF" size="6"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">It may be a Persian corruption of the word Sindhu (the river Indus).<br />
<span style="color: #6000bf; font-family: 바탕; font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">It was a name invented by the British administration in India during colonial times.<br />
<span style="color: #6000bf; font-family: 바탕; font-size: 32px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Early history of Hinduism</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<br />
There are many beliefs about the early development of Hinduism:<br /></span></span></span></span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The classical theory</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">traces the religion&#8217;s roots to the Indus valley civilization &#160;circa 4000 to 2200 BCE. The development of Hinduism was influenced by many &#160;invasions over thousands of years. The major influences occurred when &#160; &#160;nomadic &#8220;Aryan&#8221; Indo-European tribes invaded Northern India (circa 1500 BCE) from the steppes of Russia and Central Asia. They brought with them their &#160;religion of</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Vedas</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">. These beliefs mingled with the indigenous Indian native &#160;beliefs, often called the &#8220;Indus valley culture<em>.</em>&#8221; This theory was initially &#160;proposed by Christian scholars in the 19th century. The classical theory is now &#160;being rejected by increasing numbers of archaeologists and religious &#160;historians. The originators of the theory were obviously biased by their prior &#160;beliefs about the age of the earth and the biblical story of the flood of Noah.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Emerging theory:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Archaeological digs have revealed that the Indus Valley culture lasted from about 3500 to 1800 BCE. It was not &#8220;destroyed by outside invasion, but&#8230; by internal causes and, most likely, floods<em>.</em>&#8221; A series of cities in India have been studied by archaeologists and shown to have a level of civilization between that of the Indus culture and later more highly developed Indian culture, as visited by the Greeks. Finally, Indus Valley excavations have uncovered many remains of fire altars, animal bones, potsherds, shell jewelry and other evidences of Vedic rituals. &#8220;In other words there is no racial evidence of any such Indo-Aryan invasion of India but only of a continuity of the same group of people who traditionally considered themselves to be Aryans</span><em><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:">…</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#8220;</span><sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#8220;There was no invasion by anyone.&#8221;<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font>During the first few centuries CE, many sects were created, each dedicated to a specific deity. Typical among these were the Goddesses Shakti and Lakshmi, and the Gods Skanda and Surya.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Sacred texts</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font>Hindu sacred texts are perhaps the most ancient religious texts still surviving today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The primary sacred texts of Hinduism are the Vedas: the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. The Vedas contain hymns, chants, and rituals from ancient India.</span><sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The</span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Rig Veda</span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">is said to be the oldest of the four. Estimates of its date of composition in oral form range from 1500 BCE to 4000 BCE.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;The Sama Veda is a collection of hymns used by the priests during the Soma sacrifice.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The Yajur and Atharva Vedas refer to the vernal equinox (Either of the two times during a year when the sun crosses the celestial equator and when the length of day and night are approximately equal)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">having occurred in the Pleiades constellation - an event dating from about 2500 BCE.&#160;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The date when the Vedas were placed in written form is unknown. Various dates from 600 to after 300 BCE have been suggested.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The Upanishadas (108 in number) deal with Vedic philosophy and form the conclusions of each of the Vedas,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">and were written between 800 and 400 B.C.</span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#8220;</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">They elaborate on how the soul can be united with the ultimate truth through mediation, as well as the doctrine of Karma - the collective effects of a persons&#8217; actions.&#8221;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">An important text is the Ramayana<em>,</em></span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">written by the poet Valmiki. Various sources have dated it to:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The first century CE in written form.<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font>4th century BCE in written form.<br />
4000 BCE in oral form.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">The</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Mahabharata</span></em><em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">is a group of books attributed to the sage Vyasa. They have been variously dated as having been composed between 540 and 300 BCE, between 200 BCE and 2000 CE, the to the 15th century BCE. They record the legends of the Bharatas, one of the Aryan tribal groups<em>.</em></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">The Bhagavad Gita is the sixth book of the Mahabharata. It is a poem describing a conversation between a warrior Arjuna and the God Krishna. It is an ancient text that has become a main sacred text of Hinduism.<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림; color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">Other texts include the Brahmanas, the Sutras, Puranas, and the Aranyakas. The Yoga Sutras</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF; background:white;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">of Patanjali</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family: 굴림;color:#8000FF;mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;describes an early stage in the philosophy and practise of Yoga. Dating from about 150 B.C., the work shows dualist and Buddhist influences.&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;font-family:굴림;mso-bidi-font-family:굴림;color:#8000FF;background:white; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt" xml:lang="EN-US">The Puranas are post-Vedic texts, which typically contain a complete narrative of the history of the Universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of the kings, heroes and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology and geography. There are 17 or 18 canonical Puranas, divided into three categories, each named after a deity: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. There are also many other works known as &#8216;Upapuranas.&#8217;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Hindu beliefs and practices</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Hinduism has commonly been viewed in the west as a</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">polytheistic</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">religion - one that worships multiple deities: gods and goddesses.&#160;But this is not particularly accurate.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Some have viewed it as a</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">monotheistic</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">religion, because it recognizes only one supreme God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Some view Hinduism as</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Trinitarian</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">because Brahma is simultaneously visualized as a triad &#8212; one God with three persons:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Brahma</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">the Creator who is continuing to create new realities<br />
Vishnu, (Krishna) the Preserver, who preserves these new creations. Whenever dharma (eternal order, righteousness, religion, law and duty) is threatened, Vishnu travels from heaven to earth in one of the ten incarnations.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Shiva, the Destroyer, is at times compassionate, erotic and destructive.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Most forms of Hinduism are</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">henotheistic; they recognize a single deity, and recognize other gods and goddesses as facets, forms, or aspects of that supreme God.<br />
Most urban Hindus follow one of two major divisions within Hinduism:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Vaishnavism: which generally regards Vishnu as the ultimate deity.<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Shaivism: which generally regards Shiva as the ultimate deity.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">However, many rural Hindus worship their own village goddess or an earth goddess. She is believed to rule over fertility and disease, and thus over life and death. In rural Hinduism, non-Brahmins and non-priests often carry out ritual and prayer there.<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Hindus believe in the repetitious Transmigration of the Soul. This is the&#160;transfer of one&#8217;s soul after death into another body. This produces a continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth through their many lifetimes. It is called samsara. Karma is the accumulated sum of one</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt; font-family:">’<span lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">s good and bad deeds. Karma determines how you will live your next life. Through pure acts, thoughts and devotion, one can be reborn at a higher level. Eventually, one can escape samsara and achieve enlightenment. Bad deeds can cause a person to be reborn at a lower level, or even as an animal. The unequal distribution of wealth, prestige, suffering are thus seen as natural consequences for one&#8217;s previous acts, both in this life and in previous lives.<br />
Hindus organize their lives around certain activities or &#8220;purusharthas.&#8221; These are called the &#8220;four aims of Hinduism,&#8221; or &#8220;the doctrine of the fourfold end of life.&#8221; They are:</span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The three goals of the &#8220;pravritti,&#8221; those who are in the world, are:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Dharma<em>:</em></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">fairness in their religious life.<br />
Artha: success in their economic life.<br />
Kama: gratification of the senses; pleasure; sensual, sexual, and mental&#160;enjoyment.<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The main goal for the &#8220;nivritti,&#8221; those who renounce the world is:<br />
Moksa: Liberation from &#8220;samsara.&#8221; This is considered the supreme goal of mankind.<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Meditation is often practiced, with Yoga being the most common. Other activities include daily devotions, public rituals, and puja<em>,</em></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">a ceremonial dinner for a God.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Hinduism is highly tolerant of other religions.<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 32px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">The caste system</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Although law abolished the caste system in 1949, it remains a significant force throughout India.&#160;Each follower of Hinduism belonged to one of the thousands of Jats (communities) that existed in India. The Jats were grouped into four Varna (social castes), plus a fifth group called the &#8220;untouchables.&#8221; A person&#8217;s varna determined the range of jobs or professions from which they could choose. Marriages normally took place within the same varna. There were rules that prohibited persons of different groups from eating, drinking or even smoking with each other. People were once able to move from one Varna to another. However, at some time in the past, the system became rigid, so that a person was generally born into the Varna of their parents, and died in the same group. Almost every local unit of a caste has its own peculiar customs and internal regulations<em>.</em></span><sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></sub><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The Rig Veda defined four castes. In<br />
decreasing status, they are normally:</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Brahmins (the priests and academics)<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Kshatriyas (rulers, military)<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Vaishyas (farmers, landlords, and merchants)<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Ø</span><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span></strong><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Sudras (peasants, servants, and workers in non-polluting jobs)<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">The Dalit were outcasts who did not belong to one of the castes. Until the late 1980&#8217;s they were called Harijan (children of God). They worked in what are considered polluting jobs. They were untouchable by the four castes; in some areas of the country, even a contact with their shadow by a member of the Varnas was considered polluting.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Practicing untouchability or discriminating against a person because of their caste is now illegal. The caste system has lost much of its power in urban areas; however its tradition is largely unchanged in some rural districts. The government has instituted positive steps in order to help the Dalit and lower castes.<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font> Many Dalit have left Hinduism in recent years. This has sometimes been motivated by a desire to escape the caste system. On 2001-NOV-4, one million low-caste Dalits were scheduled to meet in Delhi, India, for a mass conversion to Buddhism. Mass conversions to Christianity have also occurred.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Hindu sects and denominations</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 19px;">About 80% of Hindus are Vaishnavites. Others follow various reform movements.<br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Various sects of Hinduism have evolved into separate religious movements, including Hare Krishna, Sikhism and Theosophy (Religious philosophy or speculation about the nature of the soul based on mystical insight into the nature of God)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">&#160;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">Transcendental Meditation was derived from a Hindu technique of meditation.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;">&#160;</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="margin-left: 20pt; text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Misconceptions related to Hinduism</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt; font-family:" xml:lang="EN-US">:<font size="5"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: 800;"><br /></span></font><span style="font-size: 19px;">A popular misconception is that Hinduism promotes idol worship. Hinduism does not promote idol worship. To the contrary, Hinduism urges us to transcend all physical aids to worship. Realizing that it is impossible for the human to visualize the Infinite and instead of sustaining false hopes of such achievements, the religion urges us to slowly and steadily continue our progress in search of the Truth. For such steady progress, the religion asks us to start with physical aids such as temples and idols, and through practice and devotion, ultimately succeed in visualizing God without the aid of temples and idols. We are asked not to worship idols, but worship God in the form of idols.<br />
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Another popular misconception is that all Hindus are vegetarians and Hinduism prohibits meat eating. Kshatriyas are allowed to eat meat, as long as it is offered to the Almighty first. At the same time, a Brahmin&#8217;s Dharma is education and pursuit of knowledge. He is asked to refrain from killing and is encouraged to eat simple food in order to maintain equanimity.<br />
<span style="color: #8000ff;"><font color="#6000BF"><br /></font>From a philosophical perspective, a &#8220;Yogi&#8221; or one who has known and seen the Infinite cannot and will not kill to eat meat because he sees God in every form of life.</span></span></span></p>
<div>IF SOMEONE WANTS TO HAVE ANY INFORAMTION UPON ANY RELIGION, MY SUGGESTION WOULD BE&#160;</div>
<div><a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_budd.htm">http://www.religioustolerance.org</a></div>
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