INDIAN
INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH INTO TRUE HISTORY
Newsletter
No. 13 of
1. MAJOR EVENTS
1.1 Veer Savarkar Remembered in
Due to our persistent efforts Veer Savarkar Centenary Committee has been
formed in
(29 April) and
Our members would be delighted to know that due to efforts of Councillor
Norman Howard and Mr Pendse, former Lord Mayor of London Borough of Brent, the
Greater
London Council has agreed to put up a plaque on the house in Highgate
where Savarkar used to live during 1906-1910.
Hopefully this would be done by the end of this year.
However, it is a great pity that Caxton Hall,
1.2 Donation to Veer Savarkar’s Work and
Through "Escorts Ltd" of
100,000 Rs (£6,666) to Veer Savarkar's work; 80,000 Rs for the memorial
in Bombay and 20,000 Rs for Veer Savarkar Prakashan, which publishes his
literature (speeches, poetry, newsletters etc). This donation was given as a
token of gratitude for the help given by Mr Godbole in producing Dr Lalvani's
booklet "Hindu – Sikh conflict in
1.5 Koran and the Kafir
As expected Mr Ghosh's book "Koran and the Kafir" has been
banned by the Government of India. In
fact they banned it on 18 November 1985.
Copies are still available from Mr Godbole. A new and revised edition would probably be
published in October this year. We are
sending our suggestions for improvement, certain information and references.
While celebrating the centenary of India's war of Independence of 1857
Veer Savarkar said at the public meeting in Ramleela ground New Delhi "I
wish that every Hindu especially the young ones should study the Koran to
understand the mentality of the Muslims" (10 May 1957). Mr Ghosh has done well in trying to fulfil
Savarkar's wishes.
1.4 European Scholars are changing their mind
Dr Bedekar founded "Institute for Oriental Study" at Thane in
January this year. Dr L P Van den Bosch of
2. RESEARCH FINDINGS
2.1 The
Mahmood of Gazani attacked Sorti Somnath, the famous Shiva temple in
Gujrat, for the last time, in 1026. Mahmood Ghori attacked
- Miyya Rajab and Salar Saifuddin took Baharaich. Ameer Hasan Arab took
Mahoona, Malik Fazal took Banares. Sulutanu-s-Salateen and Mir Bakhatiar went
south to Kannor and there Mir Bakhtiar was killed during a fight with the
Hindus.
- Masood's father (King of
- On 14 June 1033 the entire Muslim army was wiped out at Bahraich
during a pitch battle with a combined army of 17 Hindu Kings. They were Rai
Raib, Rai Saib, Rai Arjun, Rai Bheekhan, Rai Kanak, Rai Kalyan, Rai Makaru, Rai
Savaru, Rai aran, Rai Birbal, Rai Jaypal, Rai Shreepal, Rai Harpal, Rai Hakru,
Rai Prabhu, Rai Deo Narayan and Rai Narsinha. They had 20 lakh (2 Million)
horsemen and 30 lakh (3
million) footmen. Rai Sahar Deo and Rai Hardev also joined (Note - The
figures of 2 million horsemen and 3 million footmen seem to be exaggerated).
After the defeat of Salar Masood, Muzzafarkhan also died at
Ref. - Tawarikh-e-Mahamood (of Mahmood of Gazani)
Tawarikh-e-Firozshahi
Muntkhabut - Tawarikh
etc.
It is astonishing that we Hindus should have forgotten this memorable
battle for 950 years;
(Original paper in Hindi by Vinod Kumar Mishra of Prayag).
2.2 Mughals and Tuladan
Hindu Kings have, since time immemorial, weighed themselves publicly
against gold, silver and other precious metals, and given them away to the
learned and the needy. Historians tell us that Akbar, Jahangir, Shahjahan and
even Aurangzeb (for 8 years) kept up this tradition. Is this true? Let us
examine the accounts of European travellers of those days.
Sir Thomas Roe
At Mandu, Roe saw the Emperor (Jahangir) being weighed on his birthday,
against a variety of precious metals and stones, a ceremony which he missed the
previous year at
Ref. - The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to
After the weighing which Roe attended, Jahangir scattered imitation
fruits made of silver, among his courtiers.
Roe was astounded both by the undignified scrambling on the floor which
ensued and by the extraordinary thinness, and therefore cheapness of the silver
- a detail which will be familiar to anyone who has eaten pure silver leaf on
ordinary sweets and ice creams in
Ref. - The Great Moghuls by Bamber Gascoigne, 1977, page 156.
Another author adds - Sir T Roe describes the scramble for thin pieces
of silver, made to resemble different fruits, in rather contemptuous terms. The
Mogul, Jahangir presented a basin full of them to him, but while he held them
to his cloak the nobles snatched most of them from him. He estimates that the
amount distributed did not exceed £100 in value. (Journal,
Ref. - Travels in
Tavernier
This famous French jewel merchant writes in November 1665 "... I
was a spectator of this grand festival which commenced on the 4th November and
lasted five days. It is on the anniversary of the King's birthday that they are
in the habit of weighing him, and if he should weigh more than in the preceding
year, the rejoicing is much greater on that account. When he has been weighed,
he seats himself on the richest of the thrones .... and then all the
nobility of the kingdom come to salute him and make him presents. The ladies of
the court send some also, and he receives others from all the Governors of
Provinces and other exalted personages. In diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls,
gold and silver, as well as rich carpets and horses, the king receives in
presents on this day is the value of more than 30,000,000 livres (£2.25m)".
Bernier
This French physician stayed at Aurangzeb's court for eight years
(1658-65). He says "....I recollect that all the courtiers expressed much
joy when it was found that Aurangzeb weighed two pounds more than the year
preceding. Similar festivals are held every year.......The expense incurred
by the Omrahs was considerable.... An ancient custom attends these
anniversary days of rejoicing not at all agreeable to the Ornrahs. They are
expected to make a handsome present to the king, more or less according to the
amount, of their pay......Some present fine pearls, diamonds, emeralds or
rubies others offer vessels of gold set with precious stones, others again give
a quantity of gold coins each worth about a pistole and a half (25 shillings
or double pistole worth £1.13s 3d).
Ref. - Travels in the Mughal Empire by F Bernier. Translated by A
Constable 1968
edition, pages 270-271.
Thevenot
This Frenchman was in
Ref. - Indian Travels of Thevenot and Cavreri, edited by Surendranath
Sen Director of Archives", Government of India, 1949, page 67.
Manrique
This Portuguese friar was at
All the articles included in the final weighing are, it is said, at once
distributed amongst poor Bramenes and Banias (But not to Mullahs and
Maulavis?) .... As soon as he is seated on it (throne), dish bearing eunuchs
advance with great trays of gold filled with artificial and imitation fruits in
silver representing almonds, nuts, hazel nuts and many other kinds and species
of fruit, all so delicately contrived that I do not believe that 1000 of these
artificial fruits would weigh 2 shillings or 30 pesos. Indeed, I tested it, as Mirza Abdul Hassen,
on that occasion gave me a great plentiful of them, and they only just weighed
eleven rupees, that is five and a half pesos of our money.
The Emperor distributed this fruit among the Princes and Nobles. He then
ordered that several dishes full of silver rupees, newly coined should be
divided among the lesser folk, which altogether may be taken to amount to from
ten to twelve thousand rupees, at the most equal to about 6,000 pesos or reals
of eight.
These gifts and expenditure on his part are far surpassed by the enormous
quantities of adias or gifts which he receives on such occasions from all the
Grandees and Princes at court".
Ref. - Travels of Fray Sebastian Manrique, translated by Luard and
Hosten, Hakluyt
Society 1927, Volume II pages 201 to 204.
Conclusion
From all the five accounts we summarise the following -
(A) Mughal Emperors were weighed against closed bags. No one saw the
contents of the bags.
(B) No one saw the contents of the bags, valuable or not, distributed to
the poor, needy or learned.
(C) Imitation fruits made of very thin silver were distributed in the
court but their total value was hardly £100 (at say 1665 prices).
(D) The occasions were used by Mughal Emperors to extract money from the
people by way of costly presents amounting to a total of £2.25m at 1665 prices and that is why they hated
them.
It is therefore preposterous to say that Mughals adopted the Hindu
tradition of Tuladan. Nizams continued the Mughal tradition of extracting money
from people. Even the last Nizam (deposed in 1948) would invite his officers
for his birthday party. They were of course expected to give costly presents to
him. Afterwards their dinner would start.
As soon as the first dish was finished Nizam would get up, forcing the
guests to do the same. We should not imagine that any food was wasted. The
cooks were ordered not to cook more than the first dish!
(Ref. - swaragangechya tiree - on
the banks of the Musical Ganga by G N Joshi,
Majestic Book Stall,
3. CURRENT AFFAIRS
3.1 Forgeries and Fabrications of Historical Documents
The discovery of Hitler's secret diaries caused much sensation in April
1985 -
"Stern" magazine of
Lord Dacre, formerly Professor Hugh Trevor Roper said on 23 April 1984
that he believed the documents were authentic. Other historians were sceptical
and expressed their doubts for various reasons, e.g. -
(A) Dealers had been offering similar documents allegedly from
(B) The diaries are in black ink. Hitler was unable to write in ink
after January 1943 because of a nervous shake and had to use pencil. All he
ever kept were notes about speeches and conferences.
(C) Heinrich Heim, the secretary of Martin Bormann, Hitler's closest
aide and Heinz Linge the head of Hitler's personal secretariat had never
mentioned any diaries.
(D) Hitler was running a war single-handed. He had an incredibly full
day. Herr Nicolaus von Below adjutant of Luftwaffe (German Air Force) said, “Hitler
and I frequently used to stay up until three or four in the morning before
going to bed. He had no time to write anything. The whole thing is a pack of
lies.'
(E) The diaries had been in the magazine's possession for three years
but no German historian or experts on Nazi era had been given the chance to
examine them.
(F) Tests were carried out on paper but not on the ink. And in any case
a clever forger would have no difficulty to find paper and ink that are 40
years old.
(G) Handwriting of Hitler in the diaries never varied during the 12
years he supposedly wrote them. A clear evidence of forgery.
By 26 April Lord Dacre admitted that he might be wrong. Asked if his
personal reputation was at stake, he said "If I am wrong, I am wrong. If I
am right I am right. I don't worry about these things (Why can't our
historians be so open-minded?) Two days later he said "I have been
forced to revise my opinion ....even experts can err. When I felt
that I was misled I insisted on seeing the documents on Hess and I must say
that having seen them, the essential documents are Forgeries." Meanwhile the magazine's collateral evidence
has crumbled. The Provisional Criminal office of Rhineland -
The Reasons
Why should people attempt such forgeries even today? Various reasons were put
forward –
(i) The magazine wanted to boost its falling circulation
(ii) Mr George Young, former deputy director of M.I.6 said "the
diaries could have been faked by East German intelligence to create mistrust in
Nato. Anything that sows doubts about the past may create mistrust about the
present."
(iii) New York Times said "there could be political motives behind
sudden appearance of these diaries. If they turned out to be forgeries experts
would say that they were concocted in Eastern Europe in an effort to undermine
(iv) Cottage industry is said to be flourishing in
Other Forgeries
BBC2 in their programme Timewatch (1 June 1983) discussed "Faking
History". The Drake Plate found near
Mussolini Diaries
Daily Telegraph of 3 May 1983 reported ".... Two women claimed they
had discovered Mussolini's diaries in 1957 and tried to sell them to an
American magazine for $ 150,000.
Their "find" caused an international furore. Mussolini and his mistress were shot by
Italian partisans in April 1945. His
memory was still fresh in the minds of most Italians in 1957. The forgers were Signora Rosa Panvini and her
daughter Amelia - nicknamed "Mimi" - who lived in
One publication demanded that a chemical and handwriting test be carried
out on the 'diaries' by an expert from
Italian counter-intelligence service decided to investigate. They too
said the documents were genuine. But former members of the Fascist hierarchy were
divided and after two years, police experts came to the conclusion that the
diaries were totally false. Mimi Panvini confessed and said she had spent years
writing the 'diaries' imitating Mussolini's handwriting.
Fabrications by Muslims
Sir Henry M Elliot warned us in 1867 about forgeries and fabrications of
various documents by Muslims in the 18th and 19th centuries. He says "For
instance, not many years ago there was published at Agra a useful set of
chronological tables of the Moghal dynasty, said to be founded on the authority
of several excellent works named by the author.
Having been long in search of many of these works, I requested from the
author a more particular account of them. He replied that some had been once in
his possession and had been given away; some he had borrowed; and some were lost
or mislaid; but the parties to whom he had given, and from whom he had borrowed
denied all knowledge of the works, or even of their titles. Indeed most of them contained nothing on the
subject which they were intended to illustrate, and they were evidently
mentioned by the author for the mere object of acquiring credit for the accuracy
and extend of his researches.
Again, a native gentleman furnished a catalogue of the manuscripts said
to compose the historical collection of his Highness of Nizam, but on close
examination I found that from beginning to end, it was a complete fabrication,
the names of the works being taken from the prefaces of standard histories, in
which it is usual to quote the authorities, - the very identical sequence of
names, and even the errors of the originals, being implicitly followed.
Against these impudent an6 interested frauds we must consequently be on
our guard, not less than against the blunders arising from negligence and
ignorance; the misquoting of titles, dates and names; the ascriptions to wrong
authors; the absence of beginnings and endings; the arbitrary substitution of
new ones to complete a mutilated manuscript; the mistakes of copyists; the
exercise of ingenuity in their corrections, and of fancy in their additions;
all these added to the ordinary sources of error attributable to the well-known
difficulty of deciphering oriental manuscripts, presents many obstacles
sufficient to damp even the ardour of an enthusiast..."
(History of India as told by its own historians by Elliot and Dou/son,
preface to Volume I, 1867)
We need to compile a detailed list of such muslim forgeries and
fabrications.
3.2 Impartial British
British always maintain that as far Hindus and Muslims are concerned
they have been perfectly neutral. Were
they?
Describing the horrors of jail life in the
There was extreme partiality on the part of the authorities as regards
their holidays. On a Mohamedan holiday the Musulman prisoner was allowed to spend the
whole day in idleness and free talk with his fellow-men. The Hindu prisoner, on
the other hand, got very few holidays in the first instance. Some holidays
were not even recognised as holidays for Hindu prisoners of that jail. And
when they got the holiday at all, their warders and jamadars gave them the
Hobson's choice of work or solitary confinement in their own cells. The
prisoners at this threat went quietly to work for they knew by experience what
the other alternative had meant for them.......
As a matter of fact there are thousands of Musulmans who do not do their
Namaz even once during the day. But just to spite the Hindu prisoners they
insist on that practice in this prison ...... If a party of prisoners were
sent out for work on the islands, the Muslim section in it did the Namaz five
to seven times during the day, for that obtained respite from the officers in
their day's work on grounds of religion, and Hindus were hard put to it to
finish the day's allotted labour; while the Muslims safely escaped all the
rigour of it. .........
They resorted to another trick in order to harass their Hindu brethren
in prison and to defy the prison regulation in the spirit of a goonda. That was
to cry 'bang' early at day-break. The term 'bang' meant a call to prayer from
the top of a minaret to the faithful ones in Islam. And it is to be uttered with the topmost note
of one's voice. In the prison this was
definitely an intolerable nuisance, for at that hour, all vi/ere fast asleep
after the day's exhausting work. The officers rebuked the Musulmans for
creating the noise but did not stop it. On the other hand they maintained
that it was a religious act and they must perform it.......
The incident of the bang had been as much an annoyance to the Burmese as
well as to the Hindus. But the officers would not give them any protection.
In these circumstances and as a counter-blast the Hindus started their prayers
early. As the Hindus began their prayers in a loud tone, the officers who
had maintained silence towards their rivals, launched prosecutions against the
Hindus. One by one they were charged and punished for the act. Their plea
was that to offer such morning prayers was not an essential part of Hindu
religion. To which the Hindu answered that if not prayer, at least blowing on
the conch early in the morning was an essential part of the Hindu worship. One
of our enthusiasts procured a conch and secreted it in his cell. The following
morning at dawn, just when the Muslims had begun their 'bang', this member
began to blow vociferously upon his conch. Muslims were angered and shouted
abuse. The enthusiast was punished for the offence. Thereafter the Burmese and Hindu prisoners
began to blow on their several conches. Muslim's protest with the officers had
gone in vain. The Hindu's right to blow on the conch as an act of worship was
recognised and they were asked to stop the 'bang' before the Hindus could be
asked to cease blowing on the conch. What was impossible for reason to do
that the sound of the conch could do for us. The goondas were subdued by the
conch, as they would never have been subdued by an appeal to commonsense.
The Baluchi, Sindhi and Pathan prisoners had warders belonging to their
own religion while Hindu prisoners were systematically denied that favour.
The Hindus suffered doubly. First from their fellow-prisoners, the Muslims, and
secondly from their Muslim warders.
Muslims were converting Hindus to Islam by force, coercion, inducement
and bribery. This was going under the very nose of British jail authorities,
but they always turned a blind eye. When Savarkar protested he was told
"Let alone those evil fellows, why should you bother with these derelicts.
You have no business to speak on behalf of others. In any case even to prevent
conversion would be a hard task for the authorities, for we are pledged to
the policy of non-interference". Savarkar retorted "The bulk of
the warders, petty officers and jamadars in this prison being Muslims by faith,
they can buttress up their action by any means they like. While the Hindus, on
the other hand, have to go unheard. For instance, if I were found talking with
a fellow-prisoner, he and I are at once punished for it. Your
non-interference reduced itself in plain terms to this: Muslim henchman will be
free to do what they like, while their Hindu victims will not be free to
complain against them. True there are Hindu warders and tindals. But you
are not lost in love with them as you are with the Muslim warders. You are partial to the latter and severe on
the former." Things changed only when he started re-conversion of Muslims
back to Hinduism.
A Hindu Brahmin Ramrakha was sent to Andaman. He was asked to surrender his sacred thread
(janeo), which he flatly refused. The officers did not trifle with the
sentiment of the Musulman in this respect, though they did not scruple to
trample under foot a similar demand by a Hindu prisoner. To protest against
this outrage on his religious sentiment Ramrakha went on hunger strike and
eventually died in the year 1919. The matter was taken up to the higher
officials, to the Indian press and before a special Commission appointed to
examine into the state of prison administration in
There was no limit to how low the Muslims would be allowed to sink, with
impunity. If a Musulman warder saw a Hindu prisoner helping himself to water in
the reservoir, he at once plunged in his feet into it and if the Hindu used the
dirty water, he would chaff at him to his heart's content. He went about
telling others what a fine thing he had done and often boasted about it.
(Muslims could never have been so insolent without the tactical approval of
British jail authorities).
(Ref. - My Transportation for life by Veer Savarkar, Veer Savarkar
Prakashan,
"Well" some may argue "that was before 1920. Surely
things have changed". Have they? Remember August 1965? Indian troops
crossed border with
Let us leave the politicians aside. As a matter of curiosity we looked
at 1952, 1962, 1972 and 1982 editions of the famous yearbook "Whitaker's
Almanac". We find Muslim New Year and Muslim Calendar alright but even
word Hindu is NOT to be found in their index since 1962. After the Muslim
calendar we find
We also looked at 1984 pocket diary published by the famous chain-store
W H Smith. Under "Festivals and Anniversaries 1984" we do find Muslim
New Year. But not a single Hindu event. Under "Calendar notes 1983-6"
we find Christian, Jewish and Muslim festivals but NO Hindu festival. We looked
at their 1981 diary. The picture is same. We have an old pocket diary of 1979
published by H Neale and Company Ltd / D Harper and Company Ltd of
Is it not high time to accept the fact u/hen it comes to Hindus and
Muslims the impartial British still wish to grind the Hindus to dust? Savarkar
in his book mentioned above (pages 360-361) says "...Indeed during the
last 150 years there has been no change whatever in these traits of British
character. They are born politicians, strong-willed administrators and tough fighters.
And we have not changed either. We have remained the same gullible people
incapable of appreciating British character and ignorant of the ways and means
to effectively confront them. The Britishers have not forgotten much during the
last 150 years. And we have not learnt very much from them". He wrote this
in 1923. It is never too late to mend.
4. NEWS
4.1 Mr Mohanlal Gupta from
4.2 Dr Ganeshi Lal Verma's article - "Kutub Minar was the
4.3 Sanskrit Teaching
Sanskrit is taught in many schools in
- In
- Illustrated Weekly of 27 February 1981 carried an article by Abdus
Salamwala, a
Pakistani, a Nobel prize winner. He has carried out research on
vibrations due to chanting of Vedic Mantras. We would not be surprised if
Sanskrit is taught in
4.4 The World of Islam
President Jaafar Nimeiri of
Nimeiri has made it clear that the adoption of the Islamic way of life
in
On 15 June a convicted thief was hanged in public in
(Financial Times 22 May and 16 June 1984)
Such barbarism will crop up at any time as long as Koran exists.
4.5 Prof. Subrahmanyan Chandrashekhar, 73, the Grand old Man of theoretical
astronomy received belatedly a Nobel Prize for Physics in October 1983. But when in 1920s he predicted the death of
the Sun some 5000 million years hence, he was considered insane by
contemporaries. (Daily Telegraph 24
October 1983). So Mr Oak is not the only one whose work is not recognised for a
long time;
4.6 Laudable Gesture
Dr Dilip Mukhtyar, a General surgeon and his wife Dr Mrs Usha Mukhtyar,
obstetrician Gynaecologist have shown willingness to offer free medical care to
the members of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Hindu community who might be in
distress due to loss of employment resulting in loss of Health Insurance
Benefits. Their address is:-
Corner
Brovix
N.Y. 10454
(Hindu Vishwa of America, February 1983)
If only other Hindus were just as practical minded I
4.7 David Attenborough has been awarded "Padmabhushan" title
by Government of India, for producing the film "Gandhi" - (Sunday
Mirror, 20 February 1983). We hope to
review that film in the next Newsletter.