India and Israel Against Islamic Terror

CHAPTER 19 CIVILIZATIONAL FAULT LINES 325
same namby pamby approach was visible against Bangladesh,

vvhen the mutilated bodies of sixteen BSF jawans were returned

to our country.
What is the way out? After centuries of degradation in the

life of a civilization the worm has to turn. Israel had suffered for

centuries and rose back again from its ashes.
Indian civilization is even older. With the new archaeological

finds of a submerged town off the coast of Gujarat dating back

to eighth century B.C. which dates even earlier then the

Harappan culture, the life of our civilization now spans a longer

period. In such a long civilizational history, a mere four centuries

of Muslim rule, followed by one and half century of British, the

total span of foreign cultural influence amounts to a mere five

and half centuries of our history. But the last 54 years of national

degradation after independence is a very short span in the lifetime

of a nation and a mere comma in the textbook of human

history. We too shall rise again if we keep our heads straight.

First we should have a national leader of great consequence

with courage, character integrity who has a vision instead of

hankering after cheap popularity and appeasement. He should

have a bold and a well-defined road map of India in the days

to come. When such a leader who enjoys the trust of his people,

gives the clarion call, the multitudes shall follow his footsteps as

they did follow Gandhiji during the freedom movement. But we,

as Indians, too have a heavy responsibility. It is we who shall

throw up such a leader. Therefore, we should know our past,

take pride in our culture and civilization and strive for a better

future. We need to pull up our bootstraps, square our shoulders,

take a deep breath, straighten our spine and look to the future

with confidence. Struggle, struggle, struggle and to strive is the

motto for the future. To quote poetess Sarojini Naidu:
”Sons of Hind, why sit ye idle;
Wait ye for some Deva’s aid?
Buckle to, be up and doing;
Nations are by themselves made”
If we fail now history will never forgive us.
HI
C^ IOL SLJP it e ir
The Reckoning
The time has now come to remove the reading glasses, stretch

oneself and take a deep breath. We have scanned the panorama

of the history of the two oldest civilizations in the world - Israel

in detail and India that is Bharat through a study by exception.

Considering the mass of historical data and the weight of evidence,

brought out thus far, one can venture to suggest certain

prepositional constructs. History, which deals with the past, is

not a dead substance to be discarded into the dustbin. Past

determines the present and foretells the future. The events of

the past form a foundation on which one resets the edifice of

the present and the support for the future. The events of the

past are a plot on the space-time continuum as proved by

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Like the tape of a recorder the

past events lie buried in a corner of the tape and can be moved

to sight by switching the ’Rewind & Play’ button, the same way

as it can be stored back by pressing the ’Fast forward’ button.

Thus the past is never lost and can be retrieved through properly

documented records. Any civilization worth its name has its

roots buried deep in the past through which it draws its

sustenance and vitality. The origin and subsequent development

of a people like that of a plant depends on three factors. The

seed, the soil, and the DNA code. The seed, which has within
CHAPTER 20 THE RECKONING 327
itself the DMA code and the soil where it is sown, determine the

genus and species of a nation. These are basic characteristics,

which any external influence can alter only to a minor degree

but cannot totally erase.
We have observed that the Hindu Indian and the Judaic

Israeli civilizations are the oldest in the world. While the former

dates back to almost 8000 B.C. the latter can also be put around

2500 B.C., a period when most of the civilizations of the world

were unknown. Just as no archaeological discovery in Israel has

ever controverted a Biblical reference, so also the latest finds in

India have not contradicted the calendar of events starting from

early Vedic period (8000 B.C.) to Mahabharat (3100 B.C.). While

in Israel every single event and place in its long history has been

validated by textual and archaeological evidence, in India, though

there is abundance of textual evidence our archaeological efforts

have been extremely limited. Old monuments have decayed

and disappeared due to crass negligence and indifference to

their preservation. It was left to a British Viceroy Lord Curzon to

enact a law for the preservation of historical monuments, leading

to the creation of the Archaeological Survey of India. Being the

oldest, India and Israel could only give and not take, and as we

shall prove shortly we shall continue to give and lead in the

future as well.
There are striking similarities between Hindu and Judaic

civilizations. Just as Hinduism enlightened the world through its

profound philosophy and thought, Judaism too was commanded

by their Lord to act as a ’light unto the nations of the world’.

Both believe in a common God of the world and the universality

and brotherhood of man; put more succinctly in Hindu thought

by ”Vasudheva Kutumbkam”. The Jews like the Hindus have a

profound historic belief in a fusing of national redemption with

the redemption of all mankind. Their national movement will

not be shorn of universal implications. In the state of Israel as

in India there is no difference between the Jews or Hindus and

the other human beings. The moral code of their prophets and

sages seeks true justice and compassion for the human fraternity

in the belief that all men are created equal. Hinduism and
328 INDIA AND ISRAEL CHAPT
R20
: Judaism, like Christianity, believe that Cod created man jn k|
I, own image, and he makes no distinction between a white, black
|j ’ or yellow man. This concept is eternal, all encompassing with n ’
\ | beginning or end, neither body nor form. Just like Hindu seers
! ! from the Prophets to Einstein, Jewish genius has never accepted
! :| the duality of matter and spirit. In both civilizations there is a
’ healthy communion of material force with spiritual force. The
i ’ sages of Mishna, as those of Vedas, while stressing the spiritual
! mission never disregarded the body or its needs, a profound
thought so simply expressed in Hindu lore, ”Bhukhe Bhajan Na
Hoi Gopala”, is the same as in Hebrew thought ”if there be no
||jjl|| flour, there, can be no learning”. Toil and God; these words
Ullll occur both in Jewish and Hindu texts. Hinduism and Judaism
lUlli being the oldest religions known to mankind had their share of
HHI distortions, misinterpretations, malpractices and a rigid, often
HI . irrational adherence to rituals, at the cost of the spirit. Many
HI evils crept silently into the praxis of Hinduism as it did in Judaism
IIHIIll shearing away the spirit from the form. This led to a reformative
| HHII outgrowth of new sects in Hindu religion and the birth of a
Ullll completely new religion of Christianity out of Judaism.
IIIIIJI Both civilizations shun violence and are imbued with a deep
Ullll sense of tolerance, which in the past was sometimes
Illllll’ misinterpreted as weakness. The so-called militant Zionism, a
1111’ i: later day product of reaction against constant injustice and
Illl oppression, was a brief flicker in the long history of Judaism.
Illl ’ Similarly Hinduism took up arms only when attacked and pressed
l|l||| I ... to the wall by the marauding invaders. The emphasis on the
Ullll supremacy of the spirit does not disregard the importance of
Illl military might, but this might depends first and foremost on the
in spirit. Though Lord Krishna did teach the use of force against
’ | evil, the Hindus in their constant search for the highest form of
spiritualism often disregarded this maxim, and thereby invited
I alien attacks. None of the two coveted foreign lands outside
’ ’ ! what God had granted to them, nor did they indulge into wars
j of expansion, political or religious. Being the oldest, and endowed
’ with the rich heritage of their past, they developed a deep
, .: attachment to the land of their birth. This sentiment has been
CHAPTER 20 THE RECKONING 329
more visible among the jews than the Hindus. Since the Jews

could hardly stay in the land promised to them by their Lord

and were for historic reasons, scattered to almost all corners of

the world, their yearning for their homeland was both a subliminal

and existential impulse. On the other hand since the Hindus

were never exiled from their land, of which they had plenty and

never underwent an exodus, they could never develope the

same sense of deep attachment to their homeland as the Jews.

The stress that Judaism and Hinduism lay upon individual striving

for spiritual perfection and communion with God has over the

ages instilled a sense of highly individualised behaviour. As a

result, the Jewish tribes were constantly quarrelling among

themselves even when faced with foreign aggression. As such,

even when the invader was numerically inferior he inflicted a

heavy loss on the Children of Israel; so much so that their Lord

had to admonish them for their sins. A similar attitude plagued

the Indian people for a large part of their history when their

princes always warring against one another, fell easy victims to

the forces of invasion. So much so that one of them secretly

wrote to a Muslim invader to come to India and attack his rival

in Delhi. We had no dearth of our Jaichands. The same part is

being played today by our leftists and armchair secularists, who

openly espouse the cause of our hostile neighbour.
There is a strange domestic species in our country called the

”opinion makers”. These could more correctly be called ”opinion

givers”. This paranoid breed lives under the illusion that all of

God’s wisdom is stacked in them. These Resident Non-Indians,

a hopeless minority, has adopted India bashing as its main source

of income. They are the Television anchors, studio hoppers and

members of CPI (M) politburo, and they somehow, hog the

English print and visual media space out of all proportion to

their real worth. These assiduous beavers, gnaving at the very

roots of our culture and values, have a distinguished record of

weakening our national resolve at critical moments in the post

independence era. As the tension with Pakistan mounts and war

clouds thicken, the cry goes up ”war does not solve anything”.

Is it an acoplaytical discovery? Even a child knows that war is the
330 INDIA AND ISRAEL
CHAPTER 20
last resort, when diplomacy fails. The screaming and breast

beating brigade of these paid prophets of doom makes the

leadership waver, and weaken our strength when the moment

comes for decisive action against our hostile neighbour, who has

adopted cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy

These votaries of restraint are the biggest non-movable assets

that Pakistan can have in India.
The Indian culture does lay a great stress and high value on

family ties. Manu Samhita lays down in some details the duty of

family members to one another especially the love and regard

for the parents. This trait is not much in evidence in the Christian

society of the west in general and America in particular. But with

the Jews family solidarity and filial ties are almost sacrosanct.

The seed of Abraham though widely scattered retains its subliminal

unity and respect for family values.
Both nations suffered inequity oppression and torture for

centuries; Israel for most of its recorded history, and India from

1300 to 1700 A.D. by Islam and from the beginning of the 19th

century till its liberation from the British rule in 1947. Except

for a short period of monarchy under David and Solomon the

Jews had no kingdom of their own. Being in Diaspora, most of

the time in their living memory, they could only dream and

aspire for their Promised Land. Both people suffered indignities,

privations and miseries under foreign occupation, challenging

their very existence. But both rose, phoenix like from the ashes

of their past to achieve excellence when opportunity came.

Egypt, Babylon, Spain and the European nations tried to erase

the very existence of the Jews, just as the Muslims and the British

tried to destroy India and Hinduism. But it was the genius and

resilience of these people that prevented them from being

consigned to the dustbin of history. Both civilizations suffered at

the hands of Islam and Christianity; the Jews more from

Christianity of Europe and to a lesser extent from a resurgent

Islam of the Middle East. The Indian genius rooted in its immanent

’ culture and precious heritage withstood all onslaughts, and instead

of being destroyed, swallowed the destroyer in its womb. It was

their deep and abiding attachment to their roots that the two