Below is the mail i had posted in the bulletin board of my company. i posted it as an offshoot of a discussion on whether Indian literature should be included in our school curriculum, along with Keats and Wordsworth and Shakespeare. The response was pathetic. But i thought this very much relevant to our group and its intentions. So, please provide your views on this.
I will check them vijay. But, when Ashoka was able to refer to cholas and pandyas, why are the people who decide the curriculum for history reluctant to even provide a passing reference to anything south of the vindhyas?
Yes vijay. Your observation is correct. I was sharing chandra's concern that seldom people attend the uzhavarapanis, let alone contribute financially to those. I was also guilty to some extent, in that, i was traveling most of the time, almost always abroad. But i would contribute something financially to Reach, whenever it was possible. I was not able to contribute physically, and i accept that and am guilty of that. Now coming to the subject, i agree that we need action and not mere words. We should compile our case with supporting facts, truth and the need for the change. With the number of scholars in our group, we can give it a try, to put forth our point to alteast our state government and lets see if we can see a change, if not now, atleast later.Lets start this right now vijay. we will try to come up with some ideas soon.
We all know the Mahabharata has references to Cholas (besides Pandiyas and Cheras). They all took part in the great war, and were on the Pandava side (thank god for that). I was looking for some info, and I found this ISKCON article that says the Chola ran the kitchen at the war, for the Pandiyas (would you thank god for that?).
The article, by itself is very interesting. But I was wondering, were RRC's forefathers good cooks (Thala's thondars are going to rip me apart)? And were later-day Pandiyas so antagonistic to the Cholas because of the imperfect culinary skills the Cholas possessed during Mahabharat times?
Jokes apart, the article says there are references to this fact (hundreds of verses, the article claims), in Tamil literature. Any Tamil Ilakkiya Expert here who can provide more clues?
BTW, I found this great post on the PS group, dated Apr 2004, that talks about references to south indian kings in the Mahabharata:
Sorry there is a mistake (as usual) in my post.... Cholas ran the kitchen for the Pandavas (and not Pandiyas as I had written). My obsession with PS possibly made me read Pandiyas for Pandavas.
Another off-shot of this email. Kings of Tripura claim to be the second longest line of kings that have ruled any part of the earth. Their geneaology begins in the year 100AD with almost 186 known rulers.
in which there is a mention about the war between aivar and Iraibathinmar, is this a reference to Pandavar and Kouravar? If so that chEramAn king has provided them food.. "perunchotRu migupatham varaiyAthu koduthOi"
if this is true then Chera kings contibution also was there in the Baratha war.
I just want to point out tha many iskcon articles are extremely poorly researched and based on convenince based logic. If mumudi kings lived during mahabhrat it would be pertinent to look into timelines for any justification . There are lots of puranic fables that liberally use their names but not historically true.
Dear Vijay, As far as I know, the Asoka's inscriptions refer Chola as friends and mentions many Pandiyas and Cholas existed. (Asokas inscriptions by Hoolsh and T.R.Pandarkar) . In Royal Asiatic Society(London)1898 by Kennedy, the trade between South Indians and Greeks were before 6 or 7 B>C> K.A. Neelakanda Sastri has made a detailed research, and I am searching for the book. The book was with me and misplaced somewhere in my chennai house, but it will be traced out soon. I will detail the ancient tamils. Vishwak
Dear Member, The song refers only the Mahabharatha Por. Eraimbadhu - 2 x 5 x 10 = 100 (Gouravas) vs Pandavas. This song tells the Udhiyan Cheraladhan was the Great King, who helped the Kings of Northern India, during their wars. Particularly "Ivarodu (Pandavas) ...............Eeraim Pathinmarum (Gouravas). It is clear enough to understand, that his kingdom was extended upto the limit of Northern Region. Gouravas are 100 only. (If you want their names, I will furnish) Vishwak
'Indian History' is an active topic, discussed in several groups. The coming decade is sure to change our perception.
Sampath
De-falsification of India's history -- Dr. Subramanian Swamy
Before departing to India after a two month teaching stint at Harvard University, the Janata Party President Dr.Subramanian Swamy today addressed the inaugural meeting of the scholars of the newly established Center for Indic Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. The Center in which the University's Professor Balram Singh and Rajiv Malhotra of the Infinity Foundation are it's driving force, has already received an initial grant of US $ 1 million to conduct research on all aspects of India's civilisation.
In his address titled "De-Falsification of India's History" Dr.Swamy said that at present Indian history text books used in universities in India and in US were first written by British imperialist-sponsored foreign historians and their Indian tutees. These books are completely and mischievously distorted, and since Independence these books have been updated by Communist-controlled scholars. Hence a complete re-writing of these text books is necessary for Indians to develop an healthy Indian identity.
Dr.Swamy urged the Center's scholars to consciously be aware, at every stage of research, the difference between propaganda and scholarship. Scholarship, he said, must recognise ambiguity in data and be transparent in sourcing inferences by adequate references. He gave the example of Megasthenes writing in his Indica that the king in the capital city of 'Palimbothra' was 'Sandrocottas'. Later British historians identified these names as Patliputra and Chandragupta, and declared Megasthenes to have been at the Mauryan dynasty capital. But in Indian history there are two Chandraguptas, one of Maurayan and another in the Gupta dynasty, and they were 1200 years apart. Moreover Sandracottas could be Samudragupta Gupta, the son of Chandragupta. Further, the Mauryan capital was Rajgriha and not Patliputra.Recently, he said, in the Supreme Court in the Rama Setu matter, a whole host of bogus translations of the Puranas and Ramayana was off-loaded by the government. When the translations were challenged by him, the government had no answer. Translation from Sanskrit texts have to be done by spiritually evolved scholars and pandits since every sanskrit word has many meanings.Dr.Swamy said, Indian historians have consistently refused to consider this ambiguity or go against their Imperialist mentors and foreign benefactors.He recalled that in 1968 he had sent a paper on this subject to the Indian History Congress but the organisers not only would not list his paper for discussion but even refused him entry into the auditorium. Let us not have this fascist approach when we de-falsify history, he urged. Let us challenge the Marxist historians by debating with them and exposing their ignorance and propaganda to the world academia, Dr.Swamy added.
Tamilnadu Janata Party Office 15.8.2008 Press Release