Poets From India

"Mohammad Karim Chagla was born, raised, and educated in Bombay. He became famous as a lawyer and earned goodwill and respect as a man of integrity. He went on to become the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court and retired from the position. He recounts in his autobiography, Roses in December that he was desirous of contesting the Lok Sabha elections. He wrote to Nehru requesting him to give a ticket from a constituency in Bombay. The Congress High Command acceded to his request. In its reply, it said that he would be given a ticket to contest from the Aurangabad constituency. In turn, he replied with, “I was born, raised, and I have served the public in Bombay. People know me well here. Why have you given me a ticket in faraway Aurangabad where I know nobody and about which I know nothing?” Nehru’s High Command retorted, “Aurangabad has a large Muslim population. Because you are a Muslim, you contest from there.”"

"I was a small boy when the country achieved freedom and held its initial general elections. However, I’ve witnessed Congress leaders discussing the relative strengths and reach of castes in a particular constituency, and caste-based leaders who needed to be nominated for elections."

"When the Leftists began to occupy the Government’s Education department, the History department, and the departments of history, sociology and literature, the media adopted a studied ignorance. When Murli Manohar Joshi, the NDA’s HRD Minister began to introduce changes that emphasized Indianness in our education, these Leftists raised a shrill cry. His changes included things like teaching the contribution of ancient India to science, and beginning classes with the Saraswati Vandana. The media projected this as a major calamity. Congress party workers and social-equality champions took out rallies and raised slogans predicting doomsday for India. Now, when the UPA Government’s Arjun Singh has embarked on a project of severely re-Marxifying education, none of these worthies have raised a word of protest. The media, especially the English media, has been highly supportive of this. The Congress party, whose only aim is to remain in power, has completely lost even the semblance of intellectualism. It remains in blissful slumber content and secure in the knowledge that it can borrow intellectualism from the Left if and when required. However, it has followed the policy of economic liberalization because of its realization that its past experiment with socialism brought India to the brink of bankruptcy. However, the Communists who have accepted this have been unable to break away from Marxism from which they derive their very identity."

"The tactics of Marxists to capture power in all spheres and at all levels is no different from that of caste politics, which has proved to be a curse upon India. They appoint people sympathetic to their ideology in universities, infiltrate print and television media with their fellow travelers, write glowing reviews of books written by authors loyal to their ideology, sideline authors who hold opposing or alternate views, organize ideologically-motivated seminars and camps to attract young minds to their side, exert influence on the Government to give out awards to people who follow their ideology…they have done this in a systematic manner. Critiquing a literary work by using ideology as the yardstick is the method of literary criticism that Marxists introduced in India. By doing this, they feel they have destroyed traditional measures and conceptions of literary criticism such as Rasa (Feeling or Emotion), Dhwani (Suggestion), and Auchitya (Appropriateness)."

"However, taking war hostages was a tradition practiced by Muslim rulers who ruled India. Either Girish Karnad is ignorant of the fact that the British merely followed this existing tradition or he has deliberately suppressed it. Mir Jumla, a general under Aurangzeb defeated and looted the entire treasury of the king of Assam. And he didn’t stop there. He demanded more money and took the king’s sons and a daughter as ransom till the king brought him the money. Mir Jumla also took the sons of the king’s feudatories, Burha Go Hen, Baar Go Hen, Gad Gonia Pukhan, and Bad Patra Pukhan as war hostages. This fact is recorded by Saqi Mustad Khan in Masir-i-Alamgiri, which is Aurangzeb’s authorized biography (5th Al Hijra 1072, which corresponds to 5 January, 1663). During the Mughal rule, every Rajput king had to station at least one son in the Badshah’s court as a sign of respect. The undertone of this arrangement was clear to both parties—the son was a glorified hostage ensuring obedience from Rajput kings. This custom was inaugurated by Akbar and continued thereafter. A Rajput ruler defeated in war had to marry his daughter off to the Mughal king—a wife but nevertheless a permanent hostage. Most Rajput kings agreed to this because of their vanquished status. Maharana Pratap was the lone exception. He refused to send his son to Akbar’s court. When Khurram, who later styled himself as Shahjahan, rebelled against his own father and failed, the father Jahangir, took his son’s sons—his own grandsons—Dara and Aurangzeb as war hostages. But Cornwallis who took Tipu’s sons as hostages treated the boys with the care and propriety that befitted royal heirs, something that none of the Muslim rulers did under similar circumstances. If Muslim war hostages were non-Muslim, they were compulsorily converted to Islam. Now, what was the condition laid down for taking Tipu’s sons as hostages? After he was defeated in the war, Tipu agreed to pay a certain sum of money to the British according to the terms of surrender. But his treasury was nearly empty. Neither did he have anything he could pledge until he could obtain the money. However, could the British merely believe his verbal promise? The British didn’t originally intend to take the young boys as hostages. And once throughout the time they held the boys hostages, they were treated with care and courtesy."

"The voice is not his, he is not the singer. The Raag has chosen his throat to reveal itself in its purest element. Seated in that pose with his eyes closed, he has completely surrendered himself to the Raag. He has no role in the singing. The man sitting before me is a Rishi of Swara… The absolute command he exercised over all the octaves, the ease with which he traversed from the lowest octave to the highest without a frisson in the Swara reminded me of the Matsya-Avatar. It elicited the picture of the Cosmic Fish, the very embodiment of Bhagavan. It could effortlessly leap from the oceanic depths to the earth’s surface and beyond, touching any point in the journey as if it had placed a target. But all this was just a sport for the Fish."

"After forty years, I read Karnad’s The Dreams of Tipu Sultan. I felt that Karnad had completely whitewashed the Tipu Sultan I had read about and instead, had portrayed him as some kind of a valiant but tragic hero. I say this as someone hailing from the Old Mysore region, as someone who knows more about Tipu Sultan. In the interim, I had also observed Girish Karnad’s statements, activities, and agitations, and had concluded that he was a committed Leftist. But those were his personal beliefs. I had therefore maintained a respectful distance giving credence to the fact that everybody has a right to their own beliefs and convictions. However, after I read The Dreams of Tipu Sultan and Tughlaq again, I decided to research in depth about these two historical characters to understand Girish Karnad’s affinity to historical truths. History has always been one of the areas of my interest. Specifically, I’ve researched Indian history to an extent."

"The fact that some politicians in their speeches, praise Tipu as the “son of Kannada” is nothing new. Kannada was the official language of the state when the Wodeyar dynasty ruled the Mysore kingdom. However, Tipu replaced it with Farsi. However, as someone who hereditarily hails from a family of village accountants that reported to the Old Mysore State’s Revenue department, I am well-versed with the tax paperwork. Thus, Farsi administrative terms like “Khata,” “Khirdi,” “Pahani,” “Khanisumari,” “Gudasta,” “Takhte,” “Tari,” “Khushki,” “Bagaaytu,” “Banjaru,” “Jamabandi,” “Ahalvalu,” “Khavand,” “Amaldaar,” and “Shirastedaar” that are still in vogue were introduced during Tipu’s time."

"Tipu also changed the original names of entire cities and towns: Brahmapuri became Sultanpet, Kallikote became Farookabad, Chitradurga became Farook yab Hissar, Coorg became Zafarabad, Devanahalli became Yusufabad, Dindigal became Khaleelabad, Gutti became Faiz Hissar, Krishnagiri became Phalk-il-azam, Mysore became Nazarabad (today’s Nazarbad is the name of a locality in Mysore city), Penukonda became Fakrabad, Sankridurga became Muzaffarabad, Sira became Rustumabad, and Sakleshpur became Manjarabad. Does all this reflect Tipu’s nationalism, his religious tolerance, and his love for the Kannada language?"

"Vijaya Gupta, one of the eulogists of Husain Shah, gives a gruesome detailed description of the outrage on Hindus by the Muslim qazis, Hasan and Husain. These two made a pastime of baiting the Hindus in all possible ways. Anyone found with the sacred Tulsi leaf on bis head (an obligatory Vaishnava custom) was taken to the qazi with hands and feet bound, and heavy blows were administered to him. The piyada () tore away the sacred thread from a Brahman and spat saliva in his mouth. On one occasion a Muslim mulla happened to pass by a hut in a wood where some shepherd, boys were worshiping the goddess Manasa with the symbol of sacred earthen pots to the accompaniment of music. In righteous indignation the mulla made an attempt to break the pots, but was severely trounced. The mulla brought it to the notice of the two qazi brothers who exclaimed: “What! the scoundrel (haramzadah) Hindus make so bold as to perform Hindu rituals in my village! The culprit boys should be seized and made outcast by being forced to eat Muslim bread.” So the two brothers gathered a large number of armed Muslims and proceeded towards the shepherd’s hut. The mother of the qazis, a Hindu girl forcibly married by the former qazi, vainly tried to dissuade her sons; they demolished the shepherd’s hut, broke the sacred pots into pieces, and threw away the offerings to the goddess. The affrighted shepherd boys had concealed themselves in the wood, but some of them were hunted out and seized."

"The blurb of Tughlaq explicitly states that although the plot of the play is historical, its intent is not to portray history. However, wherever this play has been staged, both the audience and the performers have invariably felt that the Tughlaq of Karnad’s play was the real, historical Tughlaq. ‘A Brahmin was wronged by my officers. You all have seen that I am committed to erasing this injustice and that I’m devoted to walk in the path of justice. This is an unforgettable moment in the history of our kingdom, a kingdom which is splintered due to religious strife. I want equality in my kingdom. I want progress. I want justice that is based on logic. It is not merely enough to have peace; I want the spark of life.’ ‘The most important fact is that Daulatabad is a city where the majority is Hindus. I want to shift my capital to Daulatabad in order to foster greater harmony between Hindus and Muslims.’ Thus goes the Sultan’s words. Further, the statement that ‘the Sultan lapses into ecstasy whenever he witnesses the sight of a Brahmin who is with a Muslim friend’ is intended to evoke a feeling in the audience that Tughlaq was far more tolerant and religiously fair minded than Akbar whom he preceded by about 230 years. But then as per Ibn Battuta, this is the same Sultan who renamed Devagiri to Daulatabad. This is the same Sultan who imprisoned and forcibly converted to Islam, the 11 sons of the southern king of Kampili who rebelled against him (Ibn Battuta, The Rehla of Ibn Battuta, Eng translation by Dr. Mahdi Hussain, 1953, pg 95. Ishwari Prasad’s Qaaunah Turks in India, Vol 1, Allahabad 1936, Pg 65-66. Mahdi Hussain, Tughlaq Dynasty, Calcutta 1963, pg 207-208, quoted in “Muslim Slave System in Medieval India” by K.S. Lal, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1994). This same Tughlaq didn’t refrain from demolishing Hindu temples and building mosques on the same spot. A mosque named Bodhan Deval exists in the Nizamabad district in Andhra Pradesh. As the name itself suggests, this is a mosque built after demolishing a preexisting temple on the site. Two inscriptions—that are still available—state that this mosque was built during the reign of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq. G.Yazdani, author of Epigraphia IndoMoslemica 1919-20, states on page 16 that “as the name itself suggests, the Deval mosque was a Jain temple, which was converted to a mosque when Muhammad Bin Tughlaq became victorious in his raid of the Deccan.” The original temple’s architecture was star-shaped. However, the Muslims (Tughlaq) replaced the sanctum sanctorum with a pulpit. This apart, the temple was not significantly modified. The original pillars remain intact till date. The carvings of the Tirthankaras on the pillars too, remain intact till date (Sitaram Goel, Hindu Temples What happened to them? Vol II, page 67)."

"What is the purpose of teaching history? History is seeking the truth about our past events and learning about ancient human lives by studying the inscriptions, records, literary works, relics, artefacts and so on. Historical truths help us understand and learn the noble qualities that our ancestors adopted during their times.. I strongly reiterate: teaching history that is not based on truth is dangerous. ... The method adopted by the communists, who were unable to come out of the clutches of Marxism, the very basis of their identity, was to systematically appoint people in the universities who were loyal to their theories. They were expected to present their theories through newspapers, television and other media, get appreciative critiques for the books written by their ‘favourite’ authors, devise plans to dispel the writers from the opposite group."

"The Muslims in the Malabar speak, read and write Malayalam even today. The same applies to Muslims in Tamil Nadu. However, Muslims in Karnataka speak only Urdu and have remained distant from mainstream Kannada. This is the direct result of Tipu’s imposition of Farsi and Urdu as the only permitted mediums of instruction."

"The Aryan Invasion Theory was disproved eventually by several researches, which showed plenty of evidence against the occurrence of such an invasion. However, nobody had written a comprehensive work on Indian history from the Indian perspective. In this backdrop, the freedom fighter, Gandhian, distinguished lawyer, member of the Constituent Assembly, eminent scholar, and founder of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kanhaiyalal Munshi conceived of a project to write a comprehensive history of India. He invited the towering History scholar and researcher, R.C. Majumdar to become the editor. The two entered into an agreement. It was Munshi’s responsibility to provide equipment and money that Majumdar asked for. Additionally, Munshi would have no say in the selection of scholars (who would be invited to write on specific areas of history) and other editorial tasks. Munshi honoured this agreement. Thus came to be written the History and Culture of the Indian People in 11 volumes written by scholars who were specialists in various themes and sub-themes of history. No other work in comparable scope or depth or fidelity to truth has been attempted either singly or jointly in the last fifty years. I had read all the volumes. If one reads a specific section or period as it is classified in these volumes, it provides the complete and up-to-date research done on it including references to primary sources. All that remains is adding contemporary research—if any—and republishing a new edition. My personal collection contains all these 11 volumes."

"Tipu, who embarked on a long campaign of the Malabar and Coorg and left a brutal trail of forcible conversion of Hindus in its wake, refrained from trying a similar stunt in the Mysore region. He needed the support of Hindus after his financial humiliation in the Third Mysore War of 1791, which was when he had to submit his two sons to the British apart from surrendering a large portion of his empire. Therefore, in a move to placate Hindus, he gave a large donation to the Sringeri Shankaracharya Mutt. Our secularprogressives project this incident as an instance of Tipu’s nonsectarianism and religious tolerance."

"When Tipu looted the Mysore Palace in 1796, he ordered to burn all the valuable and rare books and manuscripts, palm leaves that contained priceless handwritten notes to cook horse gram for his horses, and other files kept in the palace library. There are plenty of references in, for instance, the Malabar Manual by William Logan about the cruel military operations and Islamic atrocities of Tipu Sultan in Malabar—forcible mass circumcision and conversion, large-scale killings, looting and destruction of hundreds of Hindu temples, and other barbarities like gang-raping helpless women. There are hundreds of such incidents mentioned in various documents. It is impossible to reinforce nationalism based on the false picturization of History."

"Truth, not logic, is the cornerstone of history."

"Girish Karnad has taken the title of his play, “ The dreams of Tipu Sultan” from a collection of leaflets written by Tipu in his own handwriting in Farsi. Major Beatson, a Britisher who edited the English edition of this collection gave it the name “The dreams of Tipu Sultan.” I have read this work. Tipu used to be anxious about the fact that he had to have absolute privacy when he was writing this, and later, while reading it. This collection was found in the royal latrine in the Srirangapattanam palace. Tipu’s most loyal servant, Habibulla identified and confirmed that these were indeed written by his master. Today, both the original and the translation are at the India Office in London. When one reads it, the true extent of Tipu’s religious fanaticism becomes clearer. He always refers to Hindus as Kaffirs and the British as Christians. A long-bearded Maulvi frequently appears in his dreams; Tipu goes to Mecca on a pilgrimage; Prophet Mohammad tells a long-bearded Arab, “Tell Tipu that I shall not enter Heaven without Tipu;” Tipu is then on a mission to convert all non-Muslims to Islam and Islamizes all non-Islamic nations. Tipu never talks about modernizing India and is furious that the Christians (British) are the biggest obstacles in his path; he desires to drive them out."

"According to Abu Nassir Aissi, Sultan Muhammad Bin Tughlaq planted the flag of Islam in corners that had never been conquered before, and had the verses of the Quran recited in places that had never heard them recited before. He put an end to the fireworshipping verses and replaced them with the verses of the Azaan (S.A.A Rizvi, India in Tughlaq’s Time, Aligarh, 1956, Vol I, pg 325). What basis does the playwright have to depict this Sultan as tolerant, other than that of the Marxist propaganda?"

"Whether they are minority or majority, if the education does not impart the character to face the truth with emotional maturity, such education is meaningless and also dangerous."

"They can see for themselves the huge mosques built using the walls, pillars and columns that once belonged to demolished temples... They can also see a recently built cowshed like shack in a corner, behind the mosque, that serves as their temple. All these pilgrims are distressed to witness such awful structures. They describe the plight of their temples to their relatives after they return home. Can this create national integration? You can hide such history in the school texts. But can we hide such facts when these children go on excursions and see the truth for themselves? Researchers have listed more than thirty thousand such ruined temples in India. Can we hide them all?"

"But it should be said in fairness to Vijay Gupta that his work has not come down in its entirety or purity. It should also be said that some of his passages describing contemporary life, e.g. the oppression of Brahmans by Muhammadan Kazis, are remarkably graphic and have considerable historical value."

"Westerners do not know as yet, that Tamil is a highly developed classical language of Lemurian origin, and has been, and is being still, suppressed by a systematic and coordinated effort by the Sanskritists both in the public and private sectors, ever since the Vedic mendicants migrated to the South, and taking utmost advantage of their superior complexion and the primitive credulity of the ancient Tamil kings, posed themselves as earthly gods (Bhu-suras) and deluded the Tamilians into the belief that their ancestral language or literary dialect was divine or celestial in origin."

"Assam is a Hindu-dominant state, and the Assamese will make Assam a Hindu-centric society. That is why from the moment India was brought under the domination of the Britishers, we have been waging a struggle for the last 30 years against the import of Bengal’s Muslim Mymensinghia immigrants through the Sangrakshini Sabha and Jatiyo Mahasabha."

"The entire Assamese nation is dismayed and anguished by a Mymensinghia procession in Barpeta where in front of two prominent Assamese Muslims,so-called Mymensinghia leaders in their speeches had lambasted Assamese people, their tradition, language and culture in inexplicable languages.The saddest part is that as Muslims they had surrendered in front of the Mymensinghia Muslims; and as Assamese Muslims, they could not make them accept Assamese culture. I truly believe the common Mymensinghia Muslims would not adhere and endorse such communal utterances of their leaders who are immersed in the idea of East Pakistan."

"India is not a country; it is a continent—a totality of many countries.According to their own social systems, customs everyone is a nationality—­and as a result of combination of all these nationalities is growing the great Indian Mahajati—therefore India is the Mahadesh of the Indian Mahajati.Though the people of various provinces may be of same ideology yet they have distinct customs, dresses, eating habits, social norms and distinct natures, system of thoughts are different, literature and culture are different. None of them want to disappear."

"In his essay titled ‘An Appeal to the People of India and Constitution of Atma Rakshi Bahini’ Ambikagiri Raichaudhury gave details of how the Muslim League through its Direct Action programme indulged in property looting, arson, murders, killing and forcible conversion of Hindu girls in places such as Calcutta, Dhaka and Noakhali."

"In all beings as Hari I dwell; regard everyone as Vishnu in them dwell."

"The Muslim league members declared war against the eviction policy of Congress government and had started forcible encroachment of reserved land. Their main aim is to create lawlessness and anarchy and in the process settle such imported people in the rural areas of Assam. They have brought hooligans from neighbouring areas and have started disturbing the peaceful plural character of the state and society."

"For creeds, devotion has bias for none; love for Krishna is meant for everyone."

"When on me devotion do women and folks flippant shower, then know they are in wisdom’s bower."

"While we slave for food as clerks. Our hearts bleed for Persians and Turks."

"فلسفی کو بحث کے اندر خدا ملتا نہیں ڈور کو سلجھا رہا ہے، پر سِرا ملتا نہیں"

"The philosopher deep in debate cannot find God, He is untangling the string but cannot find where to begin!"

"The current ways of life will soon depart from earth, New culture, new modes of life will now take their birth. The beauty will adore itself in a new style, The coiling locks and curling hair will now fall in dearth. The women will discard the robes that confine and bind, No longer the beauteous main behind the veil shall lurk. The wind that blows indicates the birth of seasons new, New flowers will bloom on earth, nightingales forget their mirth. Imitators of Western music will reign supreme, Their songs will be out of tune, a cacophonous burst. Past glories will fine a mention nowhere on earth, Glorious tales of name and fame inside the books will rust. But why are you perturbed, Akbar, about the changing times? You and I will cease to be, and mingle with the dust."

"‘Wicked kings began to rule, and they exploited their subjects like thieves. Themselves worse than Shudras they converted people of all castes. Such being the condition ( sinful and sacrilegious) Brahmans gave up studying the scriptures; they became drunkards, served the ignominious, and fed themselves like dogs...on the leavings from the Turks’ table.’"

"Ramdas was one of the greatest saints of the world. He was the inspirer of Shivaji. Like the Sanskrit Gita and the Tamil Kurul, the Dasabodh is one of the greatest classics of world literature. Ramdas was a contemporary of Sant Tukaram. As makers of Maharastra and remakers of Hindus tan, Ramdas and Shivaji will always go together as one ideological complex in the historical scholarship of future generations."

"To prepare for this consummation, Ramdas preached in the living present: 'Places of pilgrimage have been destroyed, homes of the Brahmans have been desecrated, the whole earth is agitated; Dharma is gone. Therefore, Marathas should be mobilized; Maharashtra Dharma should be propagated. The people should be rallied and filled with a singleness of purpose; sparing no effort, we should crash upon the Mlencchas."

"Ramdas, to be fair to him, also recommended moderation:'Extremes should be always avoided, one should act according to situations. The wise should never be fanatical.. Times change, rigid rules do not always help; in politics theoretical consistency is misleading.’"

"Dhanna was born in the village of Dhuan, in Tank, Rajputana.*¢ He was a simple peasant and taught Bhakti to the people through his simple songs. Pip& was the Raja of Gagraungarh, but being of saintly temperament, became the disciple of Ramananda. “Pipaji Ki Bani’ has not been published, but a hymn in the Adigranth shows the same tendency as is found in other contemporary saints, that is, worship must be internal and discipleship of Guri helps one to attain God. Sain was a barber. His hymns are both in Mara- thi and Hindi, which shows that his message influenced both the south and the north. Ravidas or Raids belonged to Varanasi. He was a worker in leather and the people of his family used to do the work of removing carcasses.” It was in consonance with the spirit of the fifteenth century that such a very low caste reformist came to be known as a saint (sant). It is said that Jhali Rani, a princess of Mewar, became his disciple. His poems, retailed in stray publications, show his heart completely saturated with the love of God."

"Ramananda brought to northern India the religious revival which Ramananda had initiated in the south. This movement was “in part a reaction against the increasing formalism of the orthodox ‘cult, in part an assertion of the demands of the heart as against the intellectualism of the Vedanta”,’ and was kept alive by a number of famous saints in the direct line of descent from Ramanuja to Ramananda... Ramananda travelled widely and studied deeply. At Varanasi he joined in philosophical discussions with learned Muslims and Brahmans.” It was there that he passed most of his years, teaching and preaching... Thus, although born and bred in the old conservative Brahman atmosphere, he broke the shackles of orthodoxy and admitted into his new sect of Bhakts all men without distinction. His disciples came from all castes, from both sexes and even from among the Muslims. Thus he gave absolute social equality to all, even the privilege of study- ing the scriptures. All previous thinkers, more or less, had accepted the institution of Caste. But Ramananda had nothing to do with it. Indeed he may be said to have begun what is known as the religious renaissance in Medieval India."

"Iswar Chandra Gupta, for whom Bankim had great respect, reacted sharply against the Sepoy Mutiny and wrote in his Sanghad Prahhakar that among those evil- minded people who were the main enemies of the Govern¬ ment, the Muslims were in the majority. He complained that though the Muslims had been given equal rights to sit with the Hindus in the same class rooms of schools established by the Government yet they had not been able to develop a sense of loyalty to the Crown. The editorial comments of Iswar Gupta’s Samhad Prahhakar give us a picture of the Hindu orthodox intelligentsia’s reaction to the Sepoy Mutiny. Though it may be conceded that the Mutiny was not a revolt for national emancipation and that if it had succeeded, it would have put the clock of India’s progress back, it should be noticed that the ortho^ dox Hindu literati reacted adversely to the Mutiny not because it was a retrograde step taken by the mutineers but because, if it succeeded, it would have put the Muslims back in power as, according to Iswar Gupta, the Muslims were in the majority among the mutineers. On the 20th June, 1857 Sambad Prahhakar wrote that “under the Mus¬ lim rule we did not get any freedom to practice religion, there was always tyrannical rule.” After this it wrote about the British rule."

"Hariram Vyas did not recommend open resistance to the Mughals, and instead counselled Madhukar Shah to bide his time as divine retribution was sure to come. In one poem he avowed that those “seated between the lion and lioness” (that is, Krishna and Radha) need not “fear the jackal” (Akbar?) ."

"Cultures may be said to have overall tendencies to idealize, and think in terms of, either the context-free or the context-sensitive kind of rules. Actual behavior may be more complex, though the rules they think with are a crucial factor in guiding the behavior. In cultures like India's, the context-sensitive kind of rule is the preferred formulation."

"Various taxonomies of season, landscape, times, gunas or qualities (and their material bases), tastes, characters, emotions, essences (rasas), etc., are basic to the thought-work of Hindu medicine and poetry, cooking and religion, erotics and magic. Each jati or class defines a context, a structure of relevance, a rule of permissible combinations, a frame of reference, a meta-communication of what is and can be done … Even the Kama-Sutra is literally a grammar of love, which declines and conjugates men and women as one would nouns and verbs in different genders, voices, moods and aspects. Genders are genres. Different body-types and character-types obey different rules, respond to different scents and beckonings."

"Whatever his context — birth, class, gender, age, place, rank, etc. — a man is a man for all that. Technology, with its modules and interchangeable parts, and the post-Renaissance sciences, with their quest for universal laws (and 'facts') across contexts, intensify the bias towards the context-free.'"

"Like many of the north-Indian ashraf classes, Hali too considered Muslims to be the descendants of foreign conquerors... 'We were fire O Hind', he exclaimed, 'you've turned us into ash.'..."

"Just as the army of Alexander marched back after reaching your border, I wish we also had returned unsuccessful from your gates."

"Farewell, Hindusthan, land of eternal spring, for long have we, as foreign guests, stayed here and enjoyed your hospitality."

"Vadirajatirtha, of the Uttaradi Madhva Matha, visited Kolhapur in the latter half of the sixteenth century. In his Teertha Prabandha, he wrote, What is so surprising with the fact that goddess ramaa (mahalakshmi) is residing in kolhapura kshetra, a place which is full of numerous lakes each of which have numerous lotuses?.... May goddess mahalakshmi ... be the reason for me having abundant prosperity!"