Judges From India

"Such was the terrible beginning of the eventual conquest of India by the Muhammadans, Debal being its first victim. The male population was mostly massacred, the town was completely plundered, many willing and unwilling people were converted, and beautiful females were carried away into capturity. .....Neru, the next city, ......... submited without fighting .... The Buddhist governor tendered his allegiance. He also gave plentiful to the army. Neru was therefore spared. (But) Muhammed Qasim enter ed the town and built a mosque in place of a temple and made arrangements for the government of the place."

"The critics who resolutely deny the existence of the art in Ancient India on the plea that none of the productions of the art are to be found, will do well to consider the fact that even the Vedas would have been lost had the Mohamedan rule continued a century or so longer without giving birth to a Dayanand. When such has been the lot of their most adored possession, what better ‘handling could the poor Art of History have aspired to obtain ?"

"In the first chapter (Fargard) of the part which bears the name Vendidad of their sacred book (which is also their most ancient book), Hurrnuzd or God tells Zapetman (Zoroaster): “I have given to man an excellent and fertile country. Nobody is able to give such a one. This land lies to the east (of Persia), where the stars rise every evening.” “When Jamshed (the leader of the emigrating nation), came from the highland in the east to the plain, there were neither domestic animals nor wild, nor men.” “The country alluded to above from which the Persians are said to have come can be no other than the North-west part of ancient India—Afghanistan and Kashmir—being to the east of Persia, as well as highland compared to the Persian plains.”‘"

"Among the earliest Indic scholars was Har Bilas Sarda, whose book Hindu Superiority, which was published in 1906, apart from being relevant to his times, was way ahead of its time when seen through a decolonial lens. Throughout the book, Sarda uses the term ‘Hindu civilisation’ while referring to ‘ancient India’. In his discussion on the defining feature of the Hindu/Indic civilisation, Sarda underscores the integral and indispensable role of nature in the schema of ‘ancient Indians’, which formed the basis of Hindu laws and institutions. This brings out two significant aspects: (a) that the native identity of Bharat being the Indic/Hindu identity never appeared to be a matter of contestation in Sarda’s discussion, and (b) that a harmonious relationship with nature defines the Hindu/Indic consciousness, from which emanate its worldview and institutions."

"Colonel Tod supposed that the building was a Jain temple which was converted into a mosque by the early Mussalman invaders, while General Cunningham supposed that it was built in two and-a-half days, as its name implies, of the spoils of Hindu temples demolished by the bigotry of the conquerors."

"The courtyard between Buland Darwaza and the inner courtyard covers underneath it, cellars of old Hindu temples of which many rooms remain intact. In fact, the whole of the Dargah appears to have been built, as was usual in the times of the early Mussalman rulers, on the ruins of old Hindu temples, partly by converting and partly by adding to the structures already existing."

"Sultan Alla-ud-din Khilji burnt the famous library at Anhalwara Patan. The Tarikh Firoz Shahi says that Firoz Shah Tughlak burnt a large library of Sanskrit books at Kohana."

"During his short stay, the Sultan, “ destroyed the pillars and foundations of the idol temples.” Visaldeva's College ’was destroyed, a portion of it converted into a mosque, to which Shamsuddin Altarnash (1211-1236 A.D.) added the present screen of seven arches."

"Jahangir, after he came to the throne in 1605 A.D built Daulat Bagh, and put up palaces in it, which have disappeared. In 1615 A.D., he had the Visla, which he called Bil Tal, repaired. He is said to have built a palace on the Visla Lake. The same year he broke the temple of Varahji at Pushkar, and built a residence for himself on the Lake which still stands, though in ruins, behind the Jodhpur Ghat."

"Practically the whole of our Muslim military and police has either deserted or has not behaved in a proper manner. The help that you kindly promised has not arrived and we are surrounded on all sides."

"Generally, the death of a judge, in what seem to be mysterious circumstances, while presiding over a case against the second most powerful person in the country, and the closest associate of the head of the government, would be make prime-time television in a democracy. Similarly, the allegations of corruption against the family of the same person would have garnered media attention. But recent events in India prove otherwise. [...] Despite the explosive nature of the story and its potentially unprecedented implications for Indian democracy (in independent India's history, to my knowledge, there is no instance of a judge being assassinated) there was a stunned silence in the mainstream and big media, especially, the English-language television channels that have a disproportionate influence in the setting of the political . [...] But the more damaging development has been the role of the mainstream media in the face of government attempts to muzzle it. Just as in the judge story, there was silence about the corruption story in the media. Even when there was coverage, it was more about the defamation case filed by Mr. Shah rather than the merits of story itself. The rare television channel that has sometimes been critical of the Modi government and faced its wrath for doing so, succumbed, pulling down reportage about the Shah story. This is an extraordinary level of submissiveness displayed by the media. This must also be read in the context of the largest democracy’s abysmal ranking in the World ."

"Law is not a mausoleum. It is not an antique to be taken down, dusted, admired and put back on the shelf. It is like an old but vigorous tree, having roots in history, yet continuously taking new grafts and putting out new sprouts and occasionally dropping dead wood. It is essentially a social process, the end product of which is justice and hence it must change with changing social values. Otherwise there will be estrangement between law and justice and law will cease to have legitimacy."

"The word "Sanskrit" means "prepared, pure, refined or perfect". It was not for nothing that it was called the "devavani" (language of the Gods). It has an outstanding place in our culture and indeed was recognized as a language of rare sublimity by the whole world. Sanskrit was the language of our philosophers, our scientists, our mathematicians, our poets and playwrights, our grammarians, our jurists, etc. In grammar, Panini and Patanjali (authors of Ashtadhyayi and the Mahabhashya) have no equals in the world; in astronomy and mathematics the works of Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta and Bhaskar opened up new frontiers for mankind, as did the works of Charak and Sushrut in medicine."

"No doubt the media should provide some entertainment also to the people, but if 90% of its coverage is devoted to entertainment, and only 10% to all the socio-economic issues put together, then the sense of priorities of the media has gone haywire."

"When I said that 90 per cent Indians are fools I spoke an unpleasant truth. The truth is that the minds of 90 per cent Indians are full of casteism, communalism, superstition."

"With the aid of science we had built mighty civilizations thousands of years ago when most people in Europe (except in Greece and Rome) were living in forests. We had made outstanding scientific discoveries e.g. decimal system in mathematics, plastic surgery in medicine, etc. However, we subsequently took to the unscientific path of superstitions and empty rituals, which has led us to disaster. The way out of the present morass is to go back again to the path shown by our scientific ancestors, the path of Aryabhatta and Brahmagupta, Sushrut and Charak, Panini and Patanjali, Ramanujan and Raman."

"I strongly condemn this crime, and am of the opinion that those who are found guilty by a court of law should be given harsh punishment. At the same time, I would like to know whether the same hue and cry which has been raised about it in the media and in Parliament would have been raised had this incident happened in some other part of India, particularly in rural India. I am sure it would not. But surely Delhi is not the whole of India."

"I am a Hindu, and I have eaten beef, and will again eat it. There is nothing wrong in beef eating. 90% of the world eats beef. Are they all sinners? And I refuse to believe that cow is sacred or our mother. How can an animal be a mother of a human being? That is why I say 90% Indians are idiots, Mr. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi included."

"Are those people across the world who eat beef are bad and only we (in the country) who don’t eat are saints and seers, whats harm in it when people eat beef, I too eat and will even continue to eat further."

"Many T.V. channels show astrology. Astrology is not to be confused with astronomy. While astronomy is a science, astrology is pure superstition and humbug. Even a little common sense can tell us that there is no rational connection between the movements of the stars and planets, and whether a person will die at the age of 50 years or 80 years, or whether he will be a doctor or engineer or lawyer."