Was the Kaaba Originally a Hindu Temple? By P.N. Oak

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Was the Kaaba Originally a Hindu Temple? By P.N. Oak (Historian)
Glancing through some research material recently, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a reference to a king Vikramaditya inscription found in the Kaaba in Mecca proving beyond doubt that the Arabian Peninsula formed a part of his Indian Empire.The text of the crucial Vikramaditya inscription, found inscribed on a gold dish hung inside the Kaaba shrine in Mecca, is found recorded on page 315 of a volume known as ‘Sayar-ul-Okul’ treasured in the Makhtab-e-Sultania library in Istanbul, Turkey. Rendered in free English the inscription says:
"Fortunate are those who were born (and lived) during king Vikram’s reign. He was a noble, generous dutiful ruler, devoted to the welfare of his subjects. But at that time we Arabs, oblivious of God, were lost in sensual pleasures. Plotting and torture were rampant. The darkness of ignorance had enveloped our country. Like the lamb struggling for her life in the cruel paws of a wolf we Arabs were caught up in ignorance. The entire country was enveloped in a darkness so intense as on a new moon night. But the present dawn and pleasant sunshine of education is the result of the favour of the noble king Vikramaditya whose benevolent supervision did not lose sight of us- foreigners as we were. He spread his sacred religion amongst us and sent scholars whose brilliance shone like that of the sun from his country to ours. These scholars and preceptors through whose benevolence we were once again made cognisant of the presence of God, introduced to His sacred existence and put on the road of Truth, had come to our country to preach their religion and impart education at king Vikramaditya’s behest."
For those who would like to read the Arabic wording I reproduce it hereunder in Roman script:
"Itrashaphai Santu Ibikramatul Phahalameen Karimun Yartapheeha Wayosassaru Bihillahaya Samaini Ela Motakabberen Sihillaha Yuhee Quid min howa Yapakhara phajjal asari nahone osirom bayjayhalem. Yundan blabin Kajan blnaya khtoryaha sadunya kanateph netephi bejehalin Atadari bilamasa- rateen phakef tasabuhu kaunnieja majekaralhada walador. As hmiman burukankad toluho watastaru hihila Yakajibaymana balay kulk amarena phaneya jaunabilamary Bikramatum". (Page 315 Sayar-ul-okul). [Note: The title ‘Saya-ul-okul’ signifies memorable words.]
A careful analysis of the above inscription enables us to draw the following conclusions:
That the ancient Indian empires may have extended up to the eastern boundaries of Arabia until Vikramaditya and that it was he who for the first time conquered Arabia. Because the inscription says that king Vikram who dispelled the darkness of ignorance from Arabia.
1. That, whatever their earlier faith, King Vikrama’s preachers had succeeded in spreading the Vedic (based on the Vedas, the Hindu sacred scriptures)) way of life in Arabia.
2. That the knowledge of Indian arts and sciences was imparted by Indians to the Arabs directly by founding schools, academies and cultural centres. The belief, therefore, that visiting Arabs conveyed that knowledge to their own lands through their own indefatigable efforts and scholarship is unfounded.
An ancillary conclusion could be that the so-called Kutub Minar (in Delhi, India) could well be king Vikramadiya’s tower commemorating his conquest of Arabia. This conclusion is strengthened by two pointers. Firstly, the inscription on the iron pillar near the so-called Kutub Minar refers to the marriage of the victorious king Vikramaditya to the princess of Balhika. This Balhika is none other than the Balkh region in West Asia. It could be that Arabia was wrestled by king Vikramaditya from the ruler of Balkh who concluded a treaty by giving his daughter in marriage to the victor. Secondly, the township adjoining the so called Kutub Minar is named Mehrauli after Mihira who was the renowned astronomer-mathematician of king Vikram’s court. Mehrauli is the corrupt form of Sanskrit ‘Mihira-Awali’ signifying a row of houses raised for Mihira and his helpers and assistants working on astronomical observations made from the tower.Having seen the far reaching and history shaking implications of the Arabic inscription concerning king Vikrama, we shall now piece together the story of its find. How it came to be recorded and hung in the Kaaba in Mecca. What are the other proofs reinforcing the belief that Arabs were once followers of the Indian Vedic way of life and that tranquillity and education were ushered into Arabia by king Vikramaditya’s scholars, educationists from an uneasy period of "ignorance and turmoil" mentioned in the inscription.
In Istanbul, Turkey, there is a famous library called Makhatab-e-Sultania, which is reputed to have the largest collection of ancient West Asian literature. In the Arabic section of that library is an anthology of ancient Arabic poetry. That anthology was compiled from an earlier work in A.D. 1742 under the orders of the Turkish ruler Sultan Salim.
The pages of that volume are of Hareer – a kind of silk used for writing on. Each page has a decorative gilded border. That anthology is known as Sayar-ul-Okul. It is divided into three parts. The first part contains biographic details and the poetic compositions of pre-Islamic Arabian poets. The second part embodies accounts and verses of poets of the period beginning just after prophet Mohammad’s times, up to the end of the Banee-Um-Mayya dynasty. The third part deals with later poets up to the end of Khalif Harun-al-Rashid’s times.
Abu Amir Asamai, an Arabian bard who was the poet Laureate of Harun-al-Rashid’s court, has compiled and edited the anthology.
The first modern edition of ‘Sayar-ul-Okul’ was printed and published in Berlin in 1864. A subsequent edition is the one published in Beirut in 1932.
The collection is regarded as the most important and authoritative anthology of ancient Arabic poetry. It throws considerable light on the social life, customs, manners and entertainment modes of ancient Arabia. The book also contains an elaborate description of the ancient shrine of Mecca, the town and the annual fair known as OKAJ which used to be held every year around the Kaaba temple in Mecca. This should convince readers that the annual haj of the Muslims to the Kaaba is of earlier pre-Islamic congregation.
But the OKAJ fair was far from a carnival. It provided a forum for the elite and the learned to discuss the social, religious, political, literary and other aspects of the Vedic culture then pervading Arabia. ‘Sayar-ul-Okul’ asserts that the conclusion reached at those discussions were widely respected throughout Arabia. Mecca, therefore, followed the Varanasi tradition (of India) of providing a venue for important discussions among the learned while the masses congregated there for spiritual bliss. The principal shrines at both Varanasi in India and at Mecca in Arvasthan (Arabia) were Siva temples. Even to this day ancient Mahadev (Siva) emblems can be seen. It is the Shankara (Siva) stone that Muslim pilgrims reverently touch and kiss in the Kaaba.
Arabic tradition has lost trace of the founding of the Kaaba temple. The discovery of the Vikramaditya inscription affords a clue. King Vikramaditya is known for his great devotion to Lord Mahadev (Siva). At Ujjain (India), the capital of Vikramaditya, exists the famous shrine of Mahankal, i.e., of Lord Shankara (Siva) associated with Vikramaditya. Since according to the Vikramaditya inscription he spread the Vedic religion, who else but he could have founded the Kaaba temple in Mecca?
A few miles away from Mecca is a big signboard which bars the entry of any non-Muslim into the area. This is a reminder of the days when the Kaaba was stormed and captured solely for the newly established faith of Islam. The object in barring entry of non-Muslims was obviously to prevent its recapture.
As the pilgrim proceeds towards Mecca he is asked to shave his head and beard and to don special sacred attire that consists of two seamless sheets of white cloth. One is to be worn round the waist and the other over the shoulders. Both these rites are remnants of the old Vedic practice of entering Hindu temples clean- and with holy seamless white sheets.
The main shrine in Mecca, which houses the Siva emblem, is known as the Kaaba. It is clothed in a black shroud. That custom also originates from the days when it was thought necessary to discourage its recapture by camouflaging it.
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Kaaba has 360 images. Traditional accounts mention that one of the deities among the 360 destroyed when the place was stormed, was that of Saturn; another was of the Moon and yet another was one called Allah. That shows that in the Kaaba the Arabs worshipped the nine planets in pre-Islamic days. In India the practice of ‘Navagraha’ puja, that is worship of the nine planets, is still in vogue. Two of these nine are Saturn and Moon.
In India the crescent moon is always painted across the forehead of the Siva symbol. Since that symbol was associated with the Siva emblem in Kaaba it came to be grafted on the flag of Islam.
Another Hindu tradition associated with the Kaaba is that of the sacred stream Ganga (sacred waters of the Ganges river). According to the Hindu tradition Ganga is also inseparable from the Shiva emblem as the crescent moon. Wherever there is a Siva emblem, Ganga must co-exist. True to that association a sacred fount exists near the Kaaba. Its water is held sacred because it has been traditionally regarded as Ganga since pre-Islamic times (Zam-Zam water).
[Note: Even today, Muslim pilgrims who go to the Kaaba for Haj regard this Zam-Zam water with reverence and take some bottled water with them as sacred water.]
Muslim pilgrims visiting the Kaaba temple go around it seven times. In no other mosque does the circumambulation prevail. Hindus invariably circumambulate around their deities. This is yet another proof that the Kaaba shrine is a pre-Islamic Indian Shiva temple where the Hindu practice of circumambulation is still meticulously observed.
The practice of taking seven steps- known as Saptapadi in Sanskrit- is associated with Hindu marriage ceremony and fire worship. The culminating rite in a Hindu marriage enjoins upon the bride and groom to go round the sacred fire four times (but misunderstood by many as seven times). Since "Makha" means fire, the seven circumambulations also prove that Mecca was the seat of Indian fire-worship in the West Asia.
It might come as a stunning revelation to many that the word ‘ALLAH’ itself is Sanskrit. In Sanskrit language Allah, Akka and Amba are synonyms. They signify a goddess or mother. The term ‘ALLAH’ forms part of Sanskrit chants invoking goddess Durga, also known as Bhavani, Chandi and Mahishasurmardini. The Islamic word for God is., therefore, not an innovation but the ancient Sanskrit appellation retained and continued by Islam. Allah means mother or goddess and mother goddess.
One Koranic verse is an exact translation of a stanza in the Yajurveda. This was pointed out by the great research scholar Pandit Satavlekar of Pardi in one of his articles.
[Note: Another scholar points out that the following teaching from the Koran is exactly similar to the teaching of the Kena Upanishad (1.7).
The Koran:"Sight perceives Him not. But He perceives men's sights; for He is the knower of secrets , the Aware."
Kena Upanishad:"That which cannot be seen by the eye but through which the eye itself sees, know That to be Brahman (God) and not what people worship here (in the manifested world)."
A simplified meaning of both the above verses reads:
God is one and that He is beyond man's sensory experience.]
The identity of Unani and Ayurvedic systems shows that Unani is just the Arabic term for the Ayurvedic system of healing taught to them and administered in Arabia when Arabia formed part of the Indian empire.It will now be easy to comprehend the various Hindu customs still prevailing in West Asian countries even after the existence of Islam during the last 1300 years. Let us review some Hindu traditions which exist as the core of Islamic practice.
The Hindus have a pantheon of 33 gods. People in Asia Minor too worshipped 33 gods before the spread of Islam. The lunar calendar was introduced in West Asia during the Indian rule. The Muslim month ‘Safar’ signifying the ‘extra’ month (Adhik Maas) in the Hindu calendar. The Muslim month Rabi is the corrupt form of Ravi meaning the sun because Sanskrit ‘V’ changes into Prakrit ‘B’ (Prakrit being the popular version of Sanskrit language). The Muslim sanctity for Gyrahwi Sharif is nothing but the Hindu Ekadashi (Gyrah = elevan or Gyaarah). Both are identical in meaning.The Islamic practice of Bakari Eed derives from the Go-Medh and Ashva-Medh Yagnas or sacrifices of Vedic times. Eed in Sanskrit means worship. The Islamic word Eed for festive days, signifying days of worship, is therefore a pure Sanskrit word. The word MESH in the Hindu zodiac signifies a lamb. Since in ancient times the year used to begin with the entry of the sun in Aries, the occasion was celebrated with mutton feasting. That is the origin of the Bakari Eed festival.
[Note: The word Bakari is an Indian language word for a goat.]
Since Eed means worship and Griha means ‘house’, the Islamic word Idgah signifies a ‘House of worship’ which is the exact Sanskrit connotation of the term. Similarly the word ‘Namaz’ derives from two Sanskrit roots ‘Nama’ and ‘Yajna’ (NAMa yAJna) meaning bowing and worshipping.Vedic descriptions about the moon, the different stellar constellations and the creation of the universe have been incorporated from the Vedas in Koran part 1 chapter 2, stanza 113, 114, 115, and 158, 189, chapter 9, stanza 37 and chapter 10, stanzas 4 to 7.
Recital of the Namaz five times a day owes its origin to the Vedic injunction of Panchmahayagna (five daily worship- Panch-Maha-Yagna) which is part of the daily Vedic ritual prescribed for all individuals.Muslims are enjoined cleanliness of five parts of the body before commencing prayers. This derives from the Vedic injuction ‘Shareer Shydhyartham Panchanga Nyasah’.Four months of the year are regarded as very sacred in Islamic custom. The devout are enjoined to abstain from plunder and other evil deeds during that period. This originates in the Chaturmasa i.e., the four-month period of special vows and austerities in Hindu tradition. Shabibarat is the corrupt form of Shiva Vrat and Shiva Ratra. Since the Kaaba has been an important centre of Shiva (Siva) worship from times immemorial, the Shivaratri festival used to be celebrated there with great gusto. It is that festival which is signified by the Islamic word Shabibarat.Encyclopaedias tell us that there are inscriptions on the side of the Kaaba walls. What they are, no body has been allowed to study, according to the correspondence I had with an American scholar of Arabic. But according to hearsay at least some of those inscriptions are in Sanskrit, and some of them are stanzas from the Bhagavad Gita.
According to extant Islamic records, Indian merchants had settled in Arabia, particularly in Yemen, and their life and manners deeply influenced those who came in touch with them. At Ubla there was a large number of Indian settlements. This shows that Indians were in Arabia and Yemen in sufficient strength and commanding position to be able to influence the local people. This could not be possible unless they belonged to the ruling class.It is mentioned in the Abadis i.e., the authentic traditions of Prophet Mohammad compiled by Imam Bukhari that the Indian tribe of Jats had settled in Arabia before Prophet Mohammad’s times. Once when Hazrat Ayesha, wife of the Prophet, was taken ill, her nephew sent for a Jat physician for her treatment. This proves that Indians enjoyed a high and esteemed status in Arabia. Such a status could not be theirs unless they were the rulers. Bukhari also tells us that an Indian Raja (king) sent a jar of ginger pickles to the Prophet. This shows that the Indian Jat Raja ruled an adjacent area so as to be in a position to send such an insignificant present as ginger pickles. The Prophet is said to have so highly relished it as to have told his colleagues also to partake of it. These references show that even during Prophet Mohammad’s times Indians retained their influential role in Arabia, which was a dwindling legacy from Vikramaditya’s times.
The Islamic term ‘Eed-ul-Fitr’ derives from the ‘Eed of Piters’ that is worship of forefathers in Sanskrit tradition. In India, Hindus commemorate their ancestors during the Pitr-Paksha that is the fortnight reserved for their remembrance. The very same is the significance of ‘Eed-ul-Fitr’ (worship of forefathers).The Islamic practice of observing the moon rise before deciding on celebrating the occasion derives from the Hindu custom of breaking fast on Sankranti and Vinayaki Chaturthi only after sighting the moon.Barah Vafat, the Muslim festival for commemorating those dead in battle or by weapons, derives from a similar Sanskrit tradition because in Sanskrit ‘Phiphaut’ is ‘death’. Hindus observe Chayal Chaturdashi in memory of those who have died in battle.
The word Arabia is itself the abbreviation of a Sanskrit word. The original word is ‘Arabasthan’. Since Prakrit ‘B’ is Sanskrit ‘V’ the original Sanskrit name of the land is ‘Arvasthan’. ‘Arva’ in Sanskrit means a horse. Arvasthan signifies a land of horses., and as well all know, Arabia is famous for its horses.
This discovery changes the entire complexion of the history of ancient India. Firstly we may have to revise our concepts about the king who had the largest empire in history. It could be that the expanse of king Vikramaditya’s empire was greater than that of all others. Secondly, the idea that the Indian empire spread only to the east and not in the west beyond say, Afghanisthan may have to be abandoned. Thirdly the effeminate and pathetic belief that India, unlike any other country in the world could by some age spread her benign and beatific cultural influence, language, customs, manners and education over distant lands without militarily conquering them is baseless. India did conquer all those countries physically wherever traces of its culture and language are still extant and the region extended from Bali island in the south Pacific to the Baltic in Northern Europe and from Korea to Kaaba. The only difference was that while Indian rulers identified themselves with the local population and established welfare states, Moghuls and others who ruled conquered lands perpetuated untold atrocities over the vanquished.
‘Sayar-ul-Okul’ tells us that a pan-Arabic poetic symposium used to be held in Mecca at the annual Okaj fair in pre-Islamic times. All leading poets used to participate in it.
Poems considered best were awarded prizes. The best-engraved on gold plate were hung inside the temple. Others etched on camel or goatskin were hung outside. Thus for thousands of years the Kaaba was the treasure house of the best Arabian poetic thought inspired by the Indian Vedic tradition.
That tradition being of immemorial antiquity many poetic compositions were engraved and hung inside and outside on the walls of the Kaaba. But most of the poems got lost and destroyed during the storming of the Kaaba by Prophet Mohammad’s troops. The Prophet’s court poet, Hassan-bin-Sawik, who was among the invaders, captured some of the treasured poems and dumped the gold plate on which they were inscribed in his own home. Sawik’s grandson, hoping to earn a reward carried those gold plates to Khalif’s court where he met the well-known Arab scholar Abu Amir Asamai. The latter received from the bearer five gold plates and 16 leather sheets with the prize-winning poems engraved on them. The bearer was sent away happy bestowed with a good reward.On the five gold plates were inscribed verses by ancient Arab poets like Labi Baynay, Akhatab-bin-Turfa and Jarrham Bintoi. That discovery made Harun-al-Rashid order Abu Amir to compile a collection of all earlier compositions. One of the compositions in the collection is a tribute in verse paid by Jarrham Bintoi, a renowned Arab poet, to king Vikramaditya. Bintoi who lived 165 years before Prophet Mohammad had received the highest award for the best poetic compositions for three years in succession in the pan-Arabic symposiums held in Mecca every year. All those three poems of Bintoi adjudged best were hung inside the Kaaba temple, inscribed on gold plates. One of these constituted an unreserved tribute to King Vikramaditya for his paternal and filial rule over Arabia. That has already been quoted above.
Pre-Islamic Arabian poet Bintoi’s tribute to king Vikramaditya is a decisive evidence that it was king Vikramaditya who first conquered the Arabian Peninsula and made it a part of the Indian Empire. This explains why starting from India towards the west we have all Sanskrit names like Afghanisthan (now Afghanistan), Baluchisthan, Kurdisthan, Tajikiathan, Uzbekisthan, Iran, Sivisthan, Iraq, Arvasthan, Turkesthan (Turkmenisthan) etc.
Historians have blundered in not giving due weight to the evidence provided by Sanskrit names pervading over the entire west Asian region. Let us take a contemporary instance. Why did a part of India get named Nagaland even after the end of British rule over India? After all historical traces are wiped out of human memory, will a future age historian be wrong if he concludes from the name Nagaland that the British or some English speaking power must have ruled over India? Why is Portuguese spoken in Goa (part of India), and French in Pondichery (part of India), and both French and English in Canada? Is it not because those people ruled over the territories where their languages are spoken? Can we not then justly conclude that wherever traces of Sanskrit names and traditions exist Indians once held sway? It is unfortunate that this important piece of decisive evidence has been ignored all these centuries.
Another question which should have presented itself to historians for consideration is how could it be that Indian empires could extend in the east as far as Korea and Japan, while not being able to make headway beyond Afghanisthan? In fact land campaigns are much easier to conduct than by sea. It was the Indians who ruled the entire West Asian region from Karachi to Hedjaz and who gave Sanskrit names to those lands and the towns therein, introduce their pantheon of the fire-worship, imparted education and established law and order.
It may be that Arabia itself was not part of the Indian empire until king Vikrama , since Bintoi says that it was king Vikrama who for the first time brought about a radical change in the social, cultural and political life of Arabia. It may be that the whole of West Asia except Arabia was under Indian rule before Vikrama. The latter added Arabia too to the Indian Empire. Or as a remote possibility it could be that king Vikramaditya himself conducted a series of brilliant campaigns annexing to his empire the vast region between Afghanisthan and Hedjaz.
Incidentally this also explains why king Vikramaditya is so famous in history. Apart from the nobility and truthfulness of heart and his impartial filial affection for all his subjects, whether Indian or Arab, as testified by Bintoi, king Vikramaditya has been permanently enshrined in the pages of history because he was the world’s greatest ruler having the largest empire. It should be remembered that only a monarch with a vast empire gets famous in world history. Vikram Samvat (calendar still widely in use in India today) which he initiated over 2000 years ago may well mark his victory over Arabia, and the so called Kutub Minar (Kutub Tower in Delhi), a pillar commemorating that victory and the consequential marriage with the Vaihika (Balkh) princess as testified by the nearby iron pillar inscription.
A great many puzzles of ancient world history get automatically solved by a proper understanding of these great conquests of king Vikramaditya. As recorded by the Arab poet Bintoi, Indian scholars, preachers and social workers spread the fire-worship ceremony, preached the Vedic way of life, manned schools, set up Ayurvedic (healing) centres, trained the local people in irrigation and agriculture and established in those regions a democratic, orderly, peaceful, enlightened and religious way of life. That was of course, a Vedic Hindu way of life.
It is from such ancient times that Indian Kshtriya royal families, like the Pahalvis and Barmaks, have held sway over Iran and Iraq. It is those conquests, which made the Parsees Agnihotris i.e., fire-worshippers. It is therefore that we find the Kurds of Kurdisthan speaking a Sanskritised dialect, fire temples existing thousands of miles away from India, and scores of sites of ancient Indian cultural centres like Navbahar in West Asia and the numerous viharas in Soviet Russia spread throughout the world. Ever since so many viharas are often dug up in Soviet Russia, ancient Indian sculptures are also found in excavations in Central Asia. The same goes for West Asia.
[Note: Ancient Indian sculptures include metal statues of the Hindu deity Ganesh (the elephant headed god); the most recent find being in Kuwait].
Unfortunately these chapters of world history have been almost obliterated from public memory. They need to be carefully deciphered and rewritten. When these chapters are rewritten they might change the entire concept and orientation of ancient history.
In view of the overwhelming evidence led above, historians, scholars, students of history and lay men alike should take note that they had better revise their text books of ancient world history. The existence of Hindu customs, shrines, Sanskrit names of whole regions, countries and towns and the Vikramaditya inscriptions reproduced at the beginning are a thumping proof that Indian Kshatriyas once ruled over the vast region from Bali to Baltic and Korea to Kaaba in Mecca, Arabia at the very least.

Terrorism is a battle within the Muslim community

Till yesterday the debate was why and how Indian Muslims are free from the contagious effect of the so-called jehad sweeping the Islamic world, having no concern, barring some in Kashmir, with the business of Al Qaeda, the ISI and terrorism. Indeed, in 2003 security expert B Raman wrote, ‘‘The overwhelming majority of Indian Muslims are loyal, law-abiding citizens. They have not allowed their anger against the Indian government or the Hindus for any reason to drive them into the arms of terrorist organisations. India has the most modern, peaceful and forward-looking Muslim community in the world.’’

More recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh boasted that not even a single Indian Muslim is on the rolls of Al Qaeda. For this relative freedom of Muslims from the jehad ideology we credited our democratic system, the Sufi ethos of Indian Islam and a culture that discouraged any kind of extremism in thought and action.

After a series of blasts ripping through different cities of India and its religious places, however, it is now clear that Indian Muslim youths, however small in number, are working in India as foot-soldiers of international terrorist organizations. They still may not be fighting with the ranks of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, or in Iraq or Palestine, but doubtless some of them are colluding with the global jehadis in the latter’s mission to weaken and destabilise India.

It is estimated, for example, that at least 100 people participated in the execution of the July 11 Mumbai blasts. Without committed local Muslim support such a despicable act would not have been possible. Intelligence experts say that at least 25 Muslim organizations are working on Indian soil to breed alienation among the Indian Muslim youths and to suck them into the global whirl of jehad. And the response of the Muslim masses to these organizations is not that of complete apathy.

The collusion of local Muslims with the global jehadi enlarges the scope of the battle against terrorism. Because it is not just inimical to the existence of Indian state, and its stability, but also against the Muslim community itself, it becomes obligatory for every Muslim also to work actively to defeat this offensive. In a way, it is doubly perilous for the Muslims of India: first, as common citizens vulnerable to the risk of terrorist attacks and second, as a supposed culpable minority susceptible to majority communal backlash, prejudices, suspicion and harassment by security agencies. Because it is more sinister to the Muslim interest they will have to contribute at two levels, as citizens of India and as fellow community members, located at a vantage point, to understand the psychology and motive of terrorists and to subvert their operations.

Till now the response of the Muslim intelligentsia, activists and the community in general to this challenge has been absolutely lukewarm to say the least. After every act of terrorism, they chose to, at most, issue a muted condemnation and express disapproval from their safe confines. When the ideology of terrorism has invaded Muslim homes and seminaries, and it is drawing legitimacy from the Islamic faith, such a response from the community is by no account adequate.

The Muslim community must take the extremists’ act more seriously because the consequences of terrorism on Indian soil, in a multi-religious society, are enormous. An act of terrorism, even one perpetrated by Kashmiri militants or the ISI, throws peace and communal harmony out of gear across the country. It makes a Muslim’s Indian-ness less credible in the eyes of many. A situation where boys born and brought up in UP and Bihar plant explosives in temples and trains would certainly script a terrible destiny for over 140 million Indian Muslims.

To eradicate this ideology, the Muslims need to make serious, perceptible and relentless efforts. Counter-terrorism requires a systematic plan of action to insulate the general youth and de-toxicate those infected with the ideology. The thinking Muslims will have to go out of the comforts of homes and offices and work in gullis, seminaries, mosques and other public places to acquaint common Muslims of the consequences of terrorist acts for the community. For every one SIMI-like organisation perverting the minds of youths, they will have to raise 10 organisations alerting Muslims to the dangers of such an ideology. They will have to espouse the duty which the Koran assigns to every Muslim: ‘‘You are the best community that has ever been brought into being for the sake of mankind. You enjoin what is right and fair and you forbid what is wrong and unfair (3:110)’’.

Terrorism is also a battle within the Muslim community; a battle between the life instinct of the many and the death wish of a handful of lunatics. A Muslim has reason to fight and win this battle for the good of many of their brethrens, besides for the larger interest of India.

(The writer, an IPS officer, is SP, Lahaul-Spiti)

How to Protect Dharma?

How to Protect Dharma?

Protect your Dharma yourself

The solution of the problems and challenges before the Hindus, as enumerated in the preceding pages, is to face them and reverse their process as has been very clearly provided in our Shastras themselves. And the first basic principle is ''to act yourself to protect yourselves and your Dharma'.

In this context Manusmriti quotes ''Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitaha'' i.e. ''the Dharma protects those who protect the Dharma themselves.'' Hence the need of the hour is first to understand and realise the gravity of the situation confronting before the Hindus and Hindu Dharma. And each and every Hindu individual man, woman, youth etc. should take a pledge to understand and adopt the basic tenets of Hindu Dharma and take a vow to defend it, as ft is mandatory for each Hindu.

Further, as pointed out earlier that in ancient times, in Hindu monarchy system, the king used to defend the territory of the state, its people and their Dharma. And if need be, even the common people used to fight against the invaders along with the state army. But in the present democratic set up of our secular government, the same is not going to defend, particularly the Hindus and Hindu Dharma, in this period of crisis. Further, the existing political parties and their leaders will also not save the Hindus as they are afraid of loosing possible votes of the non-Hindus.

It should not be forgotten that the entire areas of the present Indonesia, Malayasia of South East Asia and Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Middle-east now under Islamic rule, were parts of Hindu Empires. And at present, in the remaining India, Islam is the greatest threat to the very survival of Hindus and Hindu Dharma under the name of 'pseudo-secularism' of our constitution, and all pseudo-secular political parties are actually working for the Islamisation of India.

It is therefore, the Hindus will have to exert themselves to defend themselves and their religion by their own possible means and rersources. It is the foremost duty of every Hindu towards his/her Dharma. It is because protection of one's own Dharma and motherland is much bigger than accumulating wealth alone which they may not be able to protect the same, if they failed to protect their Dharma and the motherland.

Revive Brahma�Kshatra Co-ordinative Vedic tradition

The Hindu Scriptures have also clearly laid out the 'action plan to face such a crisis and it is the pious duty of each and every Hindu to execute it. The action plan and policy is to create a well coordinated spiritual and political power by the people themselves at individual, social and political level.

In this context Yajur Veda (20 : 25) says, ''The people of a nation who acquire Brahmbal i.e. spiritual and worldly knowledge and Kshatrabal, i.e. physical, military and political power in a well coordinated manner, become prosperous, powerful and benevolent in all respect.''

So long as the Hindus followed this basic Vedic doctrine, they remained supreme, powerful, prosperous as well as spiritual leaders of the whole world and the humanity. And as soon as they neglected this principle of self-defense^ mechanism, they were overpowered, humiliated, destroyed and ruined. Therefore, the Hindus should re-adopt the same forgotten principle and acquire moral and spiritual knowledge from the Shastras and also gain all modern scientific and technological knowledge and also business management techniques; and be prosperous on one hand, and also acquire latest knowledge of military science, sophisticated war equipments and materials and practical training; and simultaneously gain control of political power of the state.

Further, these spiritual and political powers should be of high order and be well coordinated, because even excellence in one field of activity alone and negligence of the other, will not be able to serve the purpose of the people and the state. It will be like a stout blind man and a learned lame person.

Hence, the foremost need of the hour is first to understand and realise the gravity of the situation confronting before the Hindus. And then each and every Hindu should take a pledge to face the challenges and make all preparations to sacrifice everything and even one's own life, what to say of wealth and property. Let us take a vow not only to defend our Dharma, but also be powerful and make ourselves able to preach, propagate and promote our Dharma all around and protect ourselves through capturing political power which is supreme Mahabharat.

Moreover, the Hindus should reform their evil social practices, religious dogmas and complex rituals. Further, though our political parties and the Constitution, are dividing the Hindus on regional, religious, linguistic, caste and sub-caste, tribal-urban and reservation basis, but the Hindus should take advantage of the inspiring ancient cultural heritage which unites us, and make all possible efforts to unify the Hindus forgetting their religious sects, social and ethical groups etc. Strictly speaking, the Hindu Dharma does not discriminate its adherents on the basis of caste, colour, creed and sex; andthere are no traces of caste discrimination and untouchability in our Holy Scriptures.

So it is our moral and religious duty to discard casteism and untouchability as social evils developed as a part of degeneration of Hindu Dharma through thousand years of socio-political ups and downs. Hence, the first and foremost priority of the Hindus is to organise their own religious education, for all age groups, and in all different regional languages.

Moreover, for facing the challenges of Christianity and Islam, it is essential to equip ourselves with the knowledge of our religion as well as that of these Semitic religions on comparative basis.

I wish to warn each and every Hindu that they should not depend on various political parties which are committed for appeasing the minorities at the cost of the Hindus, and are working even against the national interest.

Further, in the democratic set up, the legal and administrative decisions of the government entirely depend upon the nature and composition of the governing group, and if it is pseudo-secular, it will act for the minorities, and against the Hindu cause as it has been for the last 55 years. Hence, the Hindus will have to device their own socio-religious-political setup so that they can save the Hindus and Hindu Dharma in the existing scenerio of multi-religious system.

Adopt 15 point Programme of Hindu awakening

In view of the serious challenges before the Hindus, we have already outlined an exhaustive 'action plae' for the Hindus in one of our publications viz. What Hindus Stoufct d* with; detailed therein. In this tS^point program, some are tor immediate action, while others are of tong range nature. In brief these are :�

(1) Be proud to be a Hindu.

(2) Unite yourself and be fearless.

(3) Regain ancient glory.

(4) Discard religious superstitions and; sociaJ evils, and adopt social reforms.

(5) Oppose pseudo-secularism.

(6) Discard family planning.

(7) Hinduise the politics.

(8) Consolidate Hindu vote bank.

(9) Capture Complete political power.

(10) Amend anti-Hindu Constitution.

(11) Expell foreign Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators.

(12) Check conversion of the Hindus.

(13) Bringback the Hindu converts.

(14) Organise the religious education, yourself.

(15) Control press and electronic media.

In view of the urgency of the situation, the short term projects like, creation of Hindu vote bank; control of press and electronic media, and capturing of political power should be taken on top most priority. However, projects like religious education and socio-religious reforms etc. could be continued on long term basis.

Though several Hindu social, religious and political organisations are working whole heartedly and independently at regional as well as national level with their plans and objectives for Hindu cause. But the urgent need of the hour is to consolidate and coordinate all that gigantic work by establishing an ''All India Federation of Hindu Organisations of the Hindus, for the Hindus and by the Hindus, irrespective of their caste, creed, language, region and religious sectisand political affiliations. This organisation should be stongly united for capturing political power in all the states, and each Hindu should participate in the elections and cast his or her precious vote for the welfare of the Hindus. They should elect their own political leaders of staunch Hindu faith at all levels of Municipal, State and Central government level elections.

The driving force behind this supreme goal should be the Vedas who exhort us for the amalgamation of spiritualism with vibrating spirit of nationalism, patriotrism, valourism and chivalerism. The sacrifice of millions of our brave ancestors and martyres should be the foundational inspiration in the life of each and every Hindu Each should take a solemn Vedic oath ''I am the son of my motherland'' and I will sacrifice myself for her and I will fight with all my resources and even sacrifice my life for the preservation and protecion of Hindu Dharma.''This selfless devotion and dedication, vibrating enthusiasm and assertive mass movement will automatically lay the foundation of a new Hindu Dharma and will generate a new wave of self confidence for gaining political power and supremacy, The top most priority of each Hindu youth at present is to protect, preserve and promote, Hindu Dharma by all possible means otherwise the names of the Hindus, Holy Hindu culture and Dharma will Vanish in oblivion.

The situation of DO or DIE has emerged before the Hindus, and there is no way left out, but to face the challenges of Islam and Christianity, as this is most important for your very survival with hounour, dignity and prosperity.

Options Against Pakistan...

Is hot pursuit an option? Targeted killings of jihadi terrorist leaders? Air strikes on training camps in Pakistan? US and Israel models? Why does US not act on evidence against Pakistan? And many more questions - is cover action the only practical option left?
B. RAMAN
- Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India

This paper seeks to answer a number of questions which I have received from the readers after the Mumbai blasts of 11/7 .

Is hot pursuit an option against Pakistan for continuing to sponsor jihadi terrorism against India?

No. It is not. The doctrine of hot pursuit acquired some prominence during the Vietnam war against the Americans. Taking advantage of the lack of government control over the border areas of Laos and Cambodia, the Vietcong set up its sanctuaries there. Vietcong groups used to cross into South Vietnam, attack American troops and withdraw into their sanctuaries in Laos or Cambodia. The Americans said they would exercise their right of hot pursuit, chase the Vietcong into Laotian or Cambodian territory and put an end to the sanctuaries and kill those who attacked the Americans.

A similar situation does not prevail with regard to Pakistan-sponsored jihadi terrorism. There is no part of Pakistani territory over which the Pakistani Army does not have effective control. The jihadi terrorists do not have de facto territorial control in the border areas. The Vietcong would start from a point, enter South Vietnam, attack American troops and go back to the point from where they started. Jihadi terrorists do not operate that way. They do not indulge in hit and run raids. They come into India from different points through different routes and disperse in different directions after their terrorist strikes. They rarely escape directly into Pakistan. Moreover, many jihadi terrorist strikes are acts of suicide terrorism.

To talk of hot pursuit of suicide terrorists would be absurd.

How about targeted killings of jihadi terrorist leaders based in Pakistani territory?

A policy of targeted killings of terrorist leaders may work in the case of a terrorist organisation such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and organised crime groups such as that of Dawood Ibrahim, but is unlikely to work in the case of jihadi terrorist organisations. Jihadi terrorists are taught that it is glorious to kill a non-Muslim and it is even more glorious to die while trying to kill a non-Muslim. They are dying to die. They believe in the glories of martyrdom while waging a jihad. Targeted killings would add to their martyrs' gallery. The killed leaders would be easily replaced.

Why don't we make an air strike on their training camps in Pakistani territory since we know where they are located?

These training camps are improvised structures. Mostly tents. The jihadi terrorists are like gypsies. They keep moving their training camps from place to place. Air strikes may temporarily put a training infrastructure out of action, but not permanently. The American Cruise missile attacks of October 1998, and their post 9/11 air strikes have not destroyed the training infrastructure of Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The terrorists did suffer some casualties, which they were able to absorb and move to other places.

How do the US and Israel act against state-sponsors of terrorism threatening the lives of their nationals and their national interests?

They follow a mix of the doctrines of passive and active defence. Passive defence is you tighten your physical security and keep your counter-terrorism operations confined to your territory. Active defence is you take your counter-terrorism operations outside your territory, if it becomes necessary. Active defence can be used against the terrorists operating against you from a foreign territory or against the state using terrorism against you or both. Active defence can be open through the conventional armed forces or covert through special forces.

Examples of open active defence: the US bombing of an alleged terrorist base in Libya in 1986, the Cruise missile attacks on Al Qaeda camps in Afghan territory in October 1998, the post-9/11 military action in Afghanistan and the current operations of the Israeli army in the Lebanon.

Examples of covert active defence: Israeli attacks on Palestinian leaders when the Palestine Liberation Organisation was based in Tunisian territory in the 1980s, their counter-terrorism operations in other places such as Malta, and France's alleged kidnapping of Carlos in Auguast 1994, from Khartoum.

Have the policies of the US and Israel succeeded?

Not so far.

Why have they not succeeded?

Because they have been targeting their action against the terrorists operating from foreign territory and not against the states sponsoring and using the terrorists. The US-led coalition is unlikely to succeed in Afghanistan so long as they do not end the Pakistani sponsorship of the Taliban and its complicity with Al Qaeda. Israel is unlikely to succeed against the Hezbollah and the Hamas so long as it does not end their sponsorship by Iran and Syria. The collapse of the ideological terrorist groups of West Europe after the collapse of the Communist states of East Europe shows how state-sponsored terrorist organisations find it difficult to survive when deprived of support from their state-sponsors. The international community will continue to face difficulty in prevailing over global jihadi terrorism unless and until it acts unitedly against the triumvirate of state-sponsors -- Pakistan, Iran and Syria.

Why are the US and Israel not acting against Pakistan, Iran and Syria?

In its war against terrorism spawned and nurtured in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, the US has four objectives:

to pre-empt the possibility of another 9/11 in US territory;
to prevent the jihadi terrorists from getting hold of Pakistan's nuclear assets;
to prevent a Talibanisation of Pakistan; and
to create normalcy and political stability in Afghanistan.
For achieving the first three objectives, it thinks it needs the support of the Pakistan army. But continued support for the Pakistan Army and the present military-controlled regime headed by Gen.Pervez Musharraf would come in the way of achieving the fourth objective. It has to choose between Musharraf and stability in Afghanistan. It has presently chosen Musharraf, but things could change if Al Qaeda carries out another 9/11 in the US homeland, which is proved to have been planned and executed from Pakistani territory.

Israel does not attack Iran and Syria because of fears that it could lead to a wider war in West Asia. It would need the political, moral, economic, diplomatic and military support of the US if it has to face the risk of such a wider war. Israel is, therefore, unlikely to attack Iran and Syria without a green signal from the US. But Israel may not hesitate to act unilaterally to wipe out Iran's military nuclear capability, even without approval from the US, if and when it decides that the international community is unlikely to act against Iran. Nuclear weapons in the hands of a state-sponsor of terrorism like Iran, which wants to destroy Israel, will not be tolerated by Israel.

What are the chances of the international community acting unitedly against Pakistan, Iran and Syria?

Very remote, at present. Things could change if there is an act of mass casualty terrorism involving the use of weapons of mass destruction material and Pakistan is found to have been the source of this material.


Why is the US repeatedly rejecting India's evidence regarding the Pakistani State sponsorship of jihadi terrorism directed against India despite the growing strategic relations between India and the US?
The reasons are partly strategic, partly tactical and partly historic. The strategic reason is that the US looks upon Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Indonesia as the moderate core of the Islamic Ummah. It wants to preserve and strengthen this core and expand its influence over the rest of the Ummah. The tactical reason is that, in the US perception, the co-operation of Pakistan is essential for preventing another 9/11 in US territory. Preventing another 9/11 is more important for the US than preventing any number of 11/7s in Indian territory. Pakistani co-operation helps save American lives. Indian co-operation does not. Only if and when it is proved that the Pakistani co-operation no longer helps save American lives, is the US likely to re-consider its policy towards Pakistan. If the US has to make a strategic choice between India and Pakistan, it would choose India. If it has to make a tactical choice between the two, it would choose Pakistan. The historic reason is the help extended by Pakistan to the US during the cold war in its efforts to defeat international communism.
Why then are we repeatedly going to the US with our evidence against Pakistan when we know the US is going to reject it?
Public diplomacy against Pakistan on its sponsorship of terrorism has to be an important component of our counter-terrorism policy. This public diplomacy has three sides:
first, to show to the international community that our repeated efforts to make Pakistan give up its sponsorship of terrorism have failed;
second, to tell the international community, particularly the US, that its repeated refusal to accept and act on our evidence against Pakistan has left us with no other option except to use other ways to deal with Pakistan's state-sponsorship of terrorism against India;
third, to repeatedly remind public opinion in other countries that their governments' short-sighted policy of refusing to act against Pakistan is going to boomerang on them in the form of more 9/11s, originating from the Pakistan-Afghanistan region.
The doctrine of the right of active defence against a state-sponsor was first enunciated by Mr George Shultz, who was Secretary of State in the Ronald Reagan administration, in a statement made by him after the death of nearly 200 US Marines in a car bomb attack in Beirut in the 1980s. This was further reinforced by Mr George Bush, the father of the present President, when he was the Vice-President under Reagan and chaired a Special Task Force on Counter-terrorism. Under this doctrine, the US would first try all conventional options against State-sponsors--political, economic, diplomatic etc-- but if these failed to produce results, it would not hesitate to resort to unconventional options to make it clear to the guilty states that their sponsorship of terrorism would not pay. This counter-terrorism road map is now generally accepted all over the world. Public diplomacy is an important stage in this road map.
We have to make it clear to Pakistan and the international community--particularly the US, which is the most important sponsor of this state-sponsor of terrorism--that we tried all reasonable and conventional means of putting an end to Pakistan's state-sponsorship. Since these have not produced results and the international community has failed to stand by India, we have no other option but to take to unconventional means.

What has been the state of our public diplomacy against Pakistan on the question of its sponsorship of terrorism against India?

It started under Rajiv Gandhi and continued under Shri V.P.Singh, Shri Chandrasekhar and P.V.Narasimha Rao. It was neglected under Shri Dev Gowda and Shri Inder Gujral. It was kept up in fits and starts under Shri A.B.Vajpayee and totally neglected since Dr.Manmohan Singh took over as the Prime Minister. Since September 2004, there has not been a categorical and direct criticism by him of Pakistan's continued state sponsorship. Even in his remarks after his visit to the scene of the Mumbai blasts of 11/7, he made only a soft, indirect allusion to Pakistan without clearly naming it. They appeared to be meant more to respond to domestic public opinion in India than to convey an unambiguous message to Pakistan.
If our own Prime Minister fights shy of calling a spade a spade, how can we expect the international community to do so? At some international seminars attended by me since September 2004, when I raised the issue of continued Pakistani sponsorship of terrorism, many in the audience remarked: "Your own Prime Minister is no longer talking of it. Why do you keep harping on it?" The policy of "See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Speak No Evil", which the Prime Minister seems to be following in respect of Pakistan and the US could prove counter-productive.

Why do we keep asking the US to declare Pakistan a state-sponsor of terrorism? Why can't we do it ourselves?

To my knowledge, the US is the only country in the world in which the concept of state-sponsorship of terrorism figures in the statute book. When the US declares a state as a state-sponsor of Terrorism, certain punitive consequences follow such as stoppage of military supplies, economic sanctions etc. Pakistan could be hurt by a US declaration. We had seen how the invoking of the Pressler Amendment on the nuclear issue against Pakistan in 1990 by the US halted the progress of the Pakistani economy, created difficulties for its Air Force and almost brought its economy to the verge of collapse in the 1990s when Mr Nawaz Sharif and Mrs Benazir Bhutto were Prime Ministers. An Indian declaration of Pakistan as a state-sponsor of terrorism will not have any impact on Pakistan.

Is military action against Pakistan an option?

It is no longer an option after 9/11. Pakistan is now declared as a major non-NATO ally of the US. There is a growing American presence in Pakistan. US intelligence agencies, particularly the National Security Agency (NSA) which is responsible for the collection of technical intelligence, have a strong presence in Pakistan to collect intelligence about Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The USA's and the NATO's top priority is their operations against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The Pakistan Army has deployed a large number of its troops in the Waziristan area to help the Americans operating in Afghanistan. As a quid pro quo, it would expect the US to ensure that India does not take advantage of this for counter-terrorism related military strikes in Pakistan. The US would try to prevent any military strikes by us . Even if we take the US by surprise and launch a military strike, the US and the other NATO countries would try to bring the strike to a premature conclusion before we had achieved our counter-terrorism objectives. In our planning, we have to take into consideration Pakistan's nuclear capability too.

Then how to make Pakistan pay a price for its state-sponsorship of terrorism against India?

Through covert action, which is deniable para-political and para-military action meant to make Pakistan's sponsorship prohibitively costly to it.

Such a covert action would be directed against the Pakistan state and society and not against the terrorists. Covert actions do not produce quick results. They are gradual in their impact. They have to be well-prepared, well-executed and kept sustained. The liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 was preceded by nearly a decade of covert action in the then East Pakistan at the political, para-political, cultural and other levels in order to create large pockets of alienation against the central government and generate feelings of separateness between the people of West and East Pakistan. If we had not prepared the ground carefully for 10 years, the success would not have come so decisively in 1971.

Why are we not doing it now?

Before 1971, our political leadership was determined that it was not in the national interests of India to let the two wings of Pakistan remain united. Once a political direction came that we should not allow the two wings to remain united, the intelligence agencies and the security forces took the follow-up action and facilitated the achievement of this objective by our armed forces in 1971. In 1981, Pakistan started its sponsorship of Khalistani terrorism in Punjab. Between 1981 and 1987, our political leadership tried to deal with it conventionally. When the conventional options had no impact on Pakistan, a decision was taken by the political leadership that Pakistan must be covertly made to pay a price for its meddling in Punjab.

The intelligence agencies implemented this directive effectively and the message went home to Pakistan. It started cutting down its support to the Khalistani terrorists, which tapered off by 1995. But, in 1997, the political leadership decided, despite the increase in the involvement of Pakistan in the sponsorship of jihadi terrorism, to stop the use of the covert action option. We are paying a heavy price for it since then.

The subsequent governments have been thoroughly confused in their mind about the advisability of resuming covert action. Moreover, before 1997, the American influence on our political leadership and policy-makers was very small. Our leaders and policy-makers rarely bothered about what the Americans would think of our actions. Since 2003 the American influence on us has increased so much that it has come in the way of an aggressive policy approach towards Pakistan.

One has the impression that so far as our policy towards Pakistan is concerned, the US is doing the back-seat driving. We have to rid ourselves of our inhibitions generated by our over-anxiety to keep on the right side of the US, decide what needs to be done to Pakistan and do it. We should decide now lucidly what kind of Pakistan will be in our national interest in the next 10 or 15 years and resolutely work towards it. Our intelligence agencies are capable of doing it provided they have behind them a resolute political leadership which would guide and back them without wavering all the time depending on the signals from Washington.