The Peace Pagoda at Dhauli
Bhubaneswar: The 45th foundation day of Dhauli Peace Pagoda was celebrated by Kalinga Nippon Buddha Sangha today in the presence of a number of Monks who have come from all the way from Japan, America, England, Thailand, Nepal, Shillong etc. Dr. Prasanna Patasani, MP, Bhubaneswar, Govt. of Odisha attended as Chief Guest of the programme. Among other dignitaries Dr Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT and KIIS and Founder International Centre for Buddhist Studies and Research, Dr. Bimalendu Mohanty, Convenor of the celebration committee and former Vice-Chancellor, Utkal University of Culture, Rev. T. Okonogi, Chief Monk, Rajgir, Rev. M Asai, Chief Monk, Wardha,K Yoda, Chief Monk, Dhauli, Senior academician Dr. Surya Narayan Mishra, Dr. Arya Kumar Jnanendra, Dr. Hari Prasad Patnaik, Mr. Achyutananda Patnaik, Dr. Bedabati Mohanaty also graced the occasion.
On this occasion a book entitled “Dhauli Past and Present” authored by Dr Bimalendu Mohanty was released by the dignitaries.
Speaking on the 45th foundation day of Dhauli Peace Pagoda, Dr. Prasanna Patasani, MP, Bhubaneswar said “State Government gives importance for the development of Buddhist destinations of Odisha. Dhauligiri, the major tourist destination and one of the historical places where Emperor Asoka took the path of non-violence preached by Lord Budhha after the Kalinga world war is always been in priority.”
The Dhauli Shanti Stupa has a special significance because a piece of Budha bone was installed in the Stupa on 18th Oct 1972 by the then Chief Minister of Odisha Smt. Nandini Satapathy. The formal inauguration of the Stupa was performed by Shri Gatikrushna Mishra, the then acting Governor of Odisha and the Chief Minister had unveiled the four images of Lord Budha installed on the four sides of the Shanti Stupa. Dr Radhanath Rath, Editor, The Samaja, Shanti Shugei and many other dignitaries were presence at that occasion.
Shanti Stupa Dhauli was constructed by Japanese Monk led by Ven. Nichidatsu Fuji Guruji who was closely associated with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. It is heartening to note that Rev. Shanti Shugei under whose leadership the Shanti Stupa was constructed and he was the second Chief at the time of construction the Stupa was present in the gathering today. The Shanti Stupa construction was started on 25th Aug 1971 and completed on 8th Nov 1972.
It may be noted here that, the idea of construction of Peace Pagoda in India was first conceived by Most Ven. Nichidatsu Fujii Guruji, founder President of Nipponzan Myohoji during the course of his 5th visit to India in the year 1956. He sent his proposal for construction of the Stupa at Ratnagiri hill, Rajgir to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and De. Rajendra Prasad, the President of India in 1958. They agreed to the proposal and the construction of the Stupa was taken up in March 1965 and completed in October 1969. Sri Nityananda Kanungo was then the Governor of Bihar. He suggested that another peace pagoda should be constructed at Dhauligiri in Odisha where Emperor Asoka after the Kalinga War renounced the cult of violence and took the path of non-violence preached by Lord Budhha. The message of Lord Buddha was first preached and propagated by Emperor Asoka through his edicts and inscriptions. Ven. Guruji Fujii decided to take up the matter of construction of a Peace Pagoda at Dhauligiri with the consent of Govt. of Odisha and the stupa was constructed.
Ashoka and the spread of Buddhism in India
The Kalinga War and the battle that legend says took place at Dhauli are shrouded in a past that is still being explored. Assumptions about Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism following this battle are questionable and are being questioned, but the legacy of Ashoka remains, a powerful national narrative.
Ashokavadana
The Aśokāvadāna is a 2nd-century CE text related to the legend of Ashoka. The legend was translated into Chinese by Fa Hien in 300 CE. It is essentially a Hinayana text, and its world is that of Mathura and North-west India. The emphasis of this little known text is on exploring the relationship between the king and the community of monks (the Sangha) and setting up an ideal of religious life for the laity (the common man) by telling appealing stories about religious exploits. The most startling feature is that Ashoka’s conversion has nothing to do with the Kalinga war, which is not even mentioned, nor is there a word about his belonging to the Maurya dynasty. Equally surprising is the record of his use of state power to spread Buddhism in an uncompromising fashion. The legend of Veetashoka provides insights into Ashoka’s character that are not available in the widely known Pali records.
The Wheel of Dharma
Gautama, from then on, was known as "The Perfectly Self-Awakened One," the Samyaksambuddha. Buddha found patronage in the ruler of Magadha, emperor Bimbisāra. The emperor accepted Buddhism as personal faith and allowed the establishment of many Buddhist "Vihāras."
They, together with the Buddha, formed the first Saṅgha, the company of Buddhist monks, and hence, the first formation of Triple Gem (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) was completed.
The teachings of the Buddha existed only in oral traditions
Before his death Buddha did not appoint any successor, but simply asked his followers to work toward liberation.
The Sangha held a number of Buddhist councils in order to reach consensus on matters of Buddhist doctrine and practice.
The Early Buddhist Schools were the various schools in which pre-sectarian Buddhism split in the first few centuries after the passing away of the Buddha (in about the 5th century BCE). The earliest division was between the majority Mahāsāṃghika and the minority Sthaviravāda. Some existing Buddhist traditions follow the vinayas of early Buddhist schools:
Theravāda: practised mainly in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Bangladesh.
Dharmaguptaka: followed in China, Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan.
Mūlasarvāstivāda: followed in Tibetan Buddhism.
The early appeal and spread of Buddhism amongst mercantile social groups
Jerry Bentley is quoted on the Wikipedia History of Buddhism in India page, from his Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993):
"During the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E. (Before Common Era), commerce and cash became increasingly important in an economy previously dominated by self-sufficient production and bartered exchange. Merchants found Buddhist moral and ethical teachings an attractive alternative to the esoteric rituals of the traditional Brahmin priesthood, which seemed to cater exclusively to Brahmin interests while ignoring those of the new and emerging social classes." [page 43]The Brahmin priesthood
"Furthermore, Buddhism was prominent in communities of merchants, who found it well suited to their needs and who increasingly established commercial links throughout the Mauryan empire."[page 46]
"Merchants proved to be an efficient vector of the Buddhist faith, as they established diaspora communities in the string of oasis towns-Merv, Bukhara, Samarkand, Kashgar, Khotan, Kuqa, Turpan, Dunhuang - that served as lifeline of the silk roads through central Asia."[pages 47-48]
The Brahmin were and are a 'varna', that is a class, in Hinduism specialising as priests, teachers (acharya) and protectors of sacred learning across generations.
The traditional occupation of Brahmins was that of priesthood at the Hindu temples or at socio-religious ceremonies and rite of passage rituals such as solemnising a wedding with hymns and prayers. Theoretically, the Brahmins were, and are, the highest ranking of the four social classes, although in practice, Indian texts suggest that Brahmins were also agriculturalists, warriors, traders and would have held a variety of other occupations in India over the centuries until the present.
The earliest inferred reference to "Brahmin" as a possible social class is in the Rigveda, occurs once, and the hymn is called Purusha Sukta. According to this hymn in Mandala 10, Brahmins are described as having emerged from the mouth of Purusha, being that part of the body from which words emerge.
This verse is probably a deliberate later addition
This Purusha Sukta varna verse is now generally considered to have been inserted at a later date into the Vedic text, possibly as a charter myth. (A charter myth is a myth that serves to justify the status quo in a society, proving why institutions must support those in power.)
Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton, a professor of Sanskrit and Religious studies, say,
"there is no evidence in the Rigveda for an elaborate, much-subdivided and overarching caste system", and "the varna system seems to be embryonic in the Rigveda and, both then and later, a social ideal rather than a social reality"According to Abraham Eraly, "Brahmin as a varna hardly had any presence in historical records before the Gupta Empire era" (3rd century to 6th century CE), and "no Brahmin, no sacrifice, no ritualistic act of any kind ever, even once, is referred to in any Indian text" dated to be from the first century CE or before. Their role as priests and repository of sacred knowledge, as well as their importance in the practice of Vedic Shrauta rituals grew during the Gupta Empire era and thereafter. However, the knowledge about actual history of Brahmins or other varnas of Hinduism in and after 1st-millennium is fragmentary and preliminary, with little that is from verifiable records or archeological evidence, and much that is constructed from a-historical Sanskrit works and fiction. Michael Witzel writes:
Toward a history of the Brahmins: Current research in the area is fragmentary. The state of our knowledge of this fundamental subject is preliminary, at best. Most Sanksrit works are a-historic or, at least, not especially interested in presenting a chronological account of India's history. When we actually encounter history, such as in Rajatarangini or in the Gopalavamsavali of Nepal, the texts do not deal with brahmins in great detail.— Michael Witzel, Review (1993)
According to 2007 reports, Brahmins in India are about five percent of its total population. The Himalayan states of Uttarakhand (20%) and Himachal Pradesh (14%) have the highest percentage of Brahmin population relative to respective state's total Hindus. Also, the participation of Brahmins in present government is very high. According to a Wall Street Journal report, an estimated 65 percent of the Brahmin households in India, with about 40 million people, lived on less than $100 a month in 2004; this number dropped to about 50% in 2007. Brahmins have also included wealthier and politically successful members.
The spread of Buddhism under the Maurya Empire
The Maurya Empire was a geographically-extensive Iron Age historical power founded by Chandragupta Maurya which dominated ancient India between 322 BCE and 180 BCE. Comprising the majority of South Asia, the Maurya Empire was centralized by conquering the Indo-Gangetic Plain in the eastern extant of the empire and had its capital city at Pataliputra (modern Patna). The empire was the largest to have ever existed in the Indian subcontinent, spanning over 5 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) at its zenith under Ashoka.
Chandragupta Maurya raised an army, with the assistance of Chanakya (also known as Kauṭilya), and overthrew the Nanda Empire in c. 322 BCE. Chandragupta rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western India by conquering the satraps left by Alexander the Great, and by 317 BCE the empire had fully occupied Northwestern India. The Mauryan Empire then defeated Seleucus I, a diadochus and founder of the Seleucid Empire, during the Seleucid–Mauryan war, thus gained additional territory west of the Indus River.
The Maurya Empire was one of the largest empires of the world. At its greatest extent, the empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the Himalayas, to the east into Assam, to the west into Balochistan (southwest Pakistan and southeast Iran) and the Hindu Kush mountains of what is now Afghanistan. The Empire was expanded into India's central and southern regions by the emperors Chandragupta and Bindusara, but it excluded Kalinga (modern Odisha), until it was conquered by Ashoka. It declined for about 50 years after Ashoka's rule ended, and it dissolved in 185 BCE with the foundation of the Shunga dynasty in Magadha.
Under Chandragupta Maurya and his successors, internal and external trade, agriculture, and economic activities all thrived and expanded across India thanks to the creation of a single and efficient system of finance, administration, and security. After the Kalinga War, the Empire experienced nearly half a century of peace and security under Ashoka. Mauryan India also enjoyed an era of social harmony, religious transformation, and expansion of the sciences and of knowledge. Chandragupta Maurya's embrace of Jainism increased social and religious renewal and reform across his society, while Ashoka's embrace of Buddhism has been said to have been the foundation of the reign of social and political peace and non-violence across all of India. Ashoka sponsored the spreading of Buddhist missionaries into Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and Mediterranean Europe.
The story and legend, a propaganda coup?
As a young prince, Ashoka (r. 272–232 BCE) was a brilliant commander who crushed revolts in Ujjain and Takshashila. As monarch he was ambitious and aggressive, re-asserting the Empire's superiority in southern and western India. But it was his conquest of Kalinga (262–261 BCE) which proved to be the pivotal event of his life. Ashoka used Kalinga to project power over a large region by building a fortification there and securing it as a possession. Although Ashoka's army succeeded in overwhelming Kalinga forces of royal soldiers and civilian units, an estimated 100,000 soldiers and civilians were killed in the furious warfare, including over 10,000 of Ashoka's own men. Hundreds of thousands of people were adversely affected by the destruction and fallout of war. When he personally witnessed the devastation, Ashoka began feeling remorse. Although the annexation of Kalinga was completed, Ashoka embraced the teachings of Buddhism, and renounced war and violence. He sent out missionaries to travel around Asia and spread Buddhism to other countries.
The historical evidence and political contexts for this story raises some critical questions.
Whatever the real reasons for attracting Ashoka’s ire, a large Mauryan army marched into Kalinga around 262 BC. The traditional view is that the two armies met on the banks of the river Daya at Dhauli near modern Bhubaneswar. It is possible that Dhauli was the site of a skirmish but recent archaeological excavations point to a place called Yuddha Meruda being the site of the main battle followed by a desperate and bloody last stand at the Kalingan capital of Tosali.
The remains of Tosali were discovered only recently by a team of archaeologists led by Debraj Pradhan, a humble and affable man who has made some extraordinary discoveries about Odisha’s ancient past. The site is at a place called Radhanagar, a couple of hours’ drive from Cuttack. It is situated in a broad fertile plain watered by the Brahmani river and surrounded by low hills. Surveying the beautiful valley from one of the hills, one is overwhelmed by a feeling of eternity — rice fields, fish ponds, coconut palms, mango trees, and thin wisps of wood smoke rising from village huts. Other than a few power transmission towers, the scene is perhaps close to what it would have looked to Mauryan generals planning their final assault.
The remains of the city’s earthwork defences suggest that Tosali was built in the middle of the plains; arguably a poor choice as the city’s defences would have been better served if they were wedged more closely to one of the hills. Archaeologists have only excavated a small section of the walls but have found it riddled with arrowheads; a blizzard of arrows must have been unleashed by the Mauryan army. The Kalingans never stood a chance. Ashoka’s own inscriptions tell us that a 100,000 died in the war and an even larger number died from wounds and hunger. A further 150,000 were taken away as captives.
According to the official storyline, Ashoka was horrified by his own brutality and became a Buddhist and a pacifist. But, as we have seen, he was already a practicing Buddhist by then, and from what we know of his early rule, he was hardly a man to be easily shocked by the sight of blood. The main evidence of his repentance comes from his own inscriptions. It is very curious, however, that this ‘regret’ is mentioned only in locations far away from Odisha (such as in Shahbazgarhi in north-western Pakistan). None of the inscriptions in Odisha express any remorse; any hint of regret is deliberately left out.
The Ashokan inscriptions at Dhauli are engraved on a rock at the base of a hill. Almost all tourists drive right past it to the white coloured modern stupa at the top of the hill. So I found myself alone with the inscriptions and the translations put up by the Archaeological Survey of India. What will strike anyone reading them is how they specifically leave out any sign of regret. The silence is deafening.
"The silence is deafening"
The stupa, which contained the relics of Buddha, at the center of the Sanchi complex was originally built by the Maurya Empire, but the balustrade around it is Sunga, and the decorative gateways are from the later Satavahana period.
Magadha, the centre of the empire, was also the birthplace of Buddhism. Ashoka initially practised Hinduism but later embraced Buddhism; following the Kalinga War, he renounced expansionism and aggression, and the harsher injunctions of the Arthashastra on the use of force, intensive policing, and ruthless measures for tax collection and against rebels. Ashoka sent a mission led by his son Mahinda and daughter Sanghamitta to Sri Lanka, whose king Tissa was so charmed with Buddhist ideals that he adopted them himself and made Buddhism the state religion. Ashoka sent many Buddhist missions to West Asia, Greece and South East Asia, and commissioned the construction of monasteries and schools, as well as the publication of Buddhist literature across the empire. He is believed to have built as many as 84,000 stupas across India, such as Sanchi and Mahabodhi Temple, and he increased the popularity of Buddhism in Afghanistan, Thailand and North Asia including Siberia. Ashoka helped convene the Third Buddhist Council of India's and South Asia's Buddhist orders near his capital, a council that undertook much work of reform and expansion of the Buddhist religion. Indian merchants embraced Buddhism and played a large role in spreading the religion across the Mauryan Empire.
Ashoka implemented principles of ahimsa by banning hunting and violent sports activity and ending indentured and forced labor (many thousands of people in war-ravaged Kalinga had been forced into hard labour and servitude). While he maintained a large and powerful army, to keep the peace and maintain authority, Ashoka expanded friendly relations with states across Asia and Europe, and he sponsored Buddhist missions. He undertook a massive public works building campaign across the country. Over 40 years of peace, harmony and prosperity made Ashoka one of the most successful and famous monarchs in Indian history. He remains an idealized figure of inspiration in modern India, as the legend of Ashoka is highly functional in the context of politics, culture and ideology in modern India.
The Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, are found throughout the Subcontinent. Ranging from as far west as Afghanistan and as far south as Andhra (Nellore District), Ashoka's edicts state his policies and accomplishments. Although predominantly written in Prakrit, two of them were written in Greek, and one in both Greek and Aramaic. Ashoka's edicts refer to the Greeks, Kambojas, and Gandharas as peoples forming a frontier region of his empire. They also attest to Ashoka's having sent envoys to the Greek rulers in the West as far as the Mediterranean. The edicts precisely name each of the rulers of the Hellenic world at the time such as Amtiyoko (Antiochus), Tulamaya (Ptolemy), Amtikini (Antigonos), Maka (Magas) and Alikasudaro (Alexander) as recipients of Ashoka's proselytism.[citation needed] The Edicts also accurately locate their territory "600 yojanas away" (a yojanas being about 7 miles), corresponding to the distance between the center of India and Greece (roughly 4,000 miles)
The population of the empire has been estimated to be about 50–60 million, making the Mauryan Empire one of the most populous empires of Antiquity. Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era of Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW). The Arthashastra and the Edicts of Ashoka are the primary sources of written records of Mauryan times. The Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath has been made the national emblem of India.
World Peace?
A fascinating look at one of the pillars of King Ashoka, on to which are inscribed some of his Edicts. Great short video from BBC show The Story of India. Watch more high quality videos on the BBC Worldwide YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/bbcworldwide
Or, is it a case of the BBC perpetuating a myth, and one of the many possible foundation narratives suitable to a modern identity for India?
The pillars of Ashoka are a series of columns inscribed with edicts by the Mauryan king Ashoka during his reign from c. 268 to 232 BC. They are important monuments of the Architecture of India, and exhibiting the caracteristic Mauryan polish. Of the pillars erected by Ashoka, twenty still survive including those with inscriptions of his edicts. Only a few with animal capitals survive.
However, it is this Lion Capital of Ashoka from Sarnath that has been adopted as the National Emblem of India and the wheel "Ashoka Chakra" from its base was placed onto the centre of the flag of India.
The white stripe on the flag of India
The design was then modified to include a white stripe in the centre for other religious communities, and provide a background for the spinning wheel.
Subsequently, to avoid sectarian associations with the colour scheme, saffron, white and green were chosen for the three bands, representing courage and sacrifice, peace and truth, and faith and chivalry respectively.
A few days before India became independent on 15 August 1947, the specially constituted Constituent Assembly decided that the flag of India must be acceptable to all parties and communities. A modified version of the Swaraj flag was chosen; the tricolour remained the same saffron, white and green.
This is the motive taken up by Ashoka and portrayed on top of his pillars.
However, 12 out of the 24 spokes represent the twelve causal links taught by the Buddha and paṭicȧcasamuppāda (Dependent Origination, Conditional Arising). The first 12 spokes represent 12 stages of suffering. Next 12 spokes represent no cause no effect. So, due to awareness of mind, formation of mental conditioning stops. This process stops the process of birth and death i.e. nibbāna.
The philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who later became India's first Vice President and second President, clarified the adopted flag and described its significance as follows:
“Bhagwa or the Saffron denotes renunciation or disinterestedness. Our leaders must be indifferent to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work. The white in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct. The green shows our relation to (the) soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends. The "Ashoka Chakra" in the centre of the white is the wheel of the law of dharma. Truth or satya, dharma or virtue ought to be the controlling principle of those who work under this flag. Again, the wheel denotes motion. There is death in stagnation. There is life in movement. India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward. The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change.”Religious diversity and national identity in modern India
While the white stripe on the Flag of India represents the diversity of religious culture and belief in modern India, if you are a member of either the Muslim community or the Christian community in India it make sense to vote for a political party that is secular in its political project and identity. The rise of nationalism in modern India and an identification of national identity with Hinduism as a cultural and religious belief system has resulted in minority communities being subject to a violence that is both politically motivated and sectarian in its manifestation.
Religious violence
India historically touts itself as a secular state, one where all religions are recognized and can peacefully co-exist. Well, at least in theory, it is. Unfortunately, the reality is much different.
An April 11 Pew Research Center analysis of 198 countries ranked India as fourth worst in the world for religious intolerance. In the country of 1.3 billion, the incidence of hostility related to religion trailed only Syria, Nigeria and Iraq, all places where sectarian violence is widespread.
India is not alone in seeing more religious unrest. Globally, Pew says, government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion increased in 2015 for the first time in three years.
Pew analyzed cases that involved hate crimes, mob violence, communal violence, religion-related terror, the use of force to prevent religious practice, the harassment of women for not conforming to religious dress codes, and violence over conversion or proselytizing.
The Hindu vs. Muslim history
Tensions between religious groups—especially Hindus and Muslims—has long divided India, but the rifts have intensified. “[In 2015,] Muslims in India at times experienced attacks by Hindus because of alleged cow slaughter, while Hindus were also sometimes the targets of hostilities by Muslims as well,” Katayoun Kishi, the study’s lead author, told Quartz. “In addition, there were multiple incidents of rioting and mob violence involving the two groups.”
Lynchings of beef-eating Muslims have compromised India’s status as a secular country. But a re-burgeoning Hindutva nationalist agenda has not made even the majority Hindus immune to discrimination, in India or elsewhere. Around the world, Hindus were harassed in 18 countries, fewer places than some other groups. “But the vast majority of the world’s Hindus—95%—live in India, where harassment of Hindus by both government and social groups was reported in 2015,” the study’s authors note. Dalits, the lowest-caste Hindus, were especially ill-treated in society. (Dalits are often secluded from basic government institutions and services, such as education and health care, too.)
National crime statistics in India also indicated that, compared with other caste affiliations, assailants most often perpetrated rape against Dalit women, according to the US State Department’s human-rights country report. Many of the assailants are not prosecuted. On June 24, 2015, attackers beheaded Dalit engineer V. Gokulraj in Pallipallayam, Tamil Nadu, reportedly because of a romantic relationship with an upper-caste Hindu classmate. The primary suspect, local caste leader S. Yuvaraj, absconded for months after the incident. (He later surrendered.)
Real life vs. the law
India’s constitution provides for religious freedom, but the country does not always practice it.
Overall, the Pew study criticizes India for having “high” levels of government restrictions on religion, defined as interference in religion practice or proselytizing, hostility to minority religions and inaction on complaints of discrimination.
“Non-Hindus were particularly impacted by government restrictions in India in 2015,” Kishi said, citing a Chattisgarh high-court ruling that banning non-Hindu religious “propaganda,” prayers and speeches was not a violation of non-Hindus’ constitutional right to preach and propagate their religion.
“Officials of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at both the central and state government levels made statements that India should be exclusively Hindu,” Kishi added. “Minority communities, including Muslims, Christians and Sikhs, complained of numerous incidents of harassment by Hindu nationalist groups.”
The national government may not have issued any official nationwide diktats about religion, but events leading up to and in 2015 have sparked controversy throughout India. In the western state of Gujarat state anti-conversion laws do not allow people to adopt a religion without permission from the district magistrate, also hampering religious autonomy (paywall). In the north, Haryana decided to include the Hindu holy text, the Bhagwad Gita, in its school curriculum. Mass ghar wapsi (return to Hinduism) ceremonies, organized by a Hindu nationalist wing of the governing BJP, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), are viewed as an attempt to dismantle minority religions.
The history of religious violence in India
According to Wikipedia the history of religious violence goes back to ancient times:
Ancient texts Ashokavadana and the Divyavadana mention a non-Buddhist in Pundravardhana who drew a picture showing the Buddha bowing at the feet of Nirgrantha Jnatiputra (identified with Mahavira, the founder of Jainism). On the complaint from a Buddhist devotee, Ashoka, an emperor of the Maurya Dynasty, issued an order to arrest him, and subsequently, another order to kill all the Ajivikas in Pundravardhana. Around 18,000 followers of the Ajivika sect were executed as a result of this order. Sometime later, another Nirgrantha follower in Pataliputra drew a similar picture. Ashoka burnt him and his entire family alive in their house. He also announced an award of one dinara (silver coin) to anyone who brought him the head of a Nirgrantha heretic. According to Ashokavadana, as a result of this order, his own brother, Vitashoka, was mistaken for a heretic and killed by a cowherd. Their ministers advised that "this is an example of the suffering that is being inflicted even on those who are free from desire" and that he "should guarantee the security of all beings". After this, Ashoka stopped giving orders for executions. According to K.T.S. Sarao and Benimadhab Barua, stories of persecutions of rival sects by Ashoka appear to be a clear fabrication arising out of sectarian propaganda.
The Divyavadana (divine stories), an anthology of Buddhist mythical tales on morals and ethics, many using talking birds and animals, was written in about 2nd century AD. In one of the stories, the razing of stupas and viharas is mentioned with Pushyamitra. This has been historically mapped to the reign of King Pushyamitra of the Shunga Empire about 400 years before Divyavadana was written. Archeological remains of stupas have been found in Deorkothar that suggest deliberate destruction, conjectured to be one mentioned in Divyavadana about Pushyamitra. The existence of religious violence between Hinduism and Buddhism, in ancient India, has been disputed. It is unclear when the Deorkothar stupas were destroyed, and by whom. The fictional tales of Divyavadana is considered by scholars as being of doubtful value as a historical record. Moriz Winternitz, for example, stated, "these legends [in the Divyāvadāna] scarcely contain anything of much historical value".
From medieval times historical accounts support stories of religious violence:
Historical records of religious violence are extensive for medieval India, in the form of corpus written by Muslim historians. According to Will Durant, Hindus historically experienced persecution during Islamic rule of the Indian subcontinent. There are also numerous recorded instances of temple desecration, by Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist kingdoms, desecrating Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples.
Historian K. S. Lal in his book Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India claims that between the years 1000 AD and 1500 AD, the population of the Indian subcontinent decreased from 200 to 170 million. He stated that his estimates were tentative and did not claim any finality. These population estimates, however, have been questioned by Simon Digby and Irfan Habib. Will Durant calls the Muslim conquest of India "probably the bloodiest story in history". During this period, Buddhism declined rapidly while Hinduism faced military-led and Sultanates-sponsored religious violence. Even those Hindus who converted to Islam were not immune from persecution, which was illustrated by the Muslim Caste System in India as established by Ziauddin al-Barani in the Fatawa-i Jahandari. While Alain Danielou writes that, "From the time Muslims started arriving in 632 A.D., the history of India becomes a long monotonous series of murders, massacres, spoliations, destructions."
Sociologist G. S. Ghurye writes that religious violence between Hindus and Muslims in medieval India may be presumed to have begun soon after Muslims began settling there. Recurrent clashes appear in the historical record during the Delhi Sultanate. They continued through the Mughal Empire, and then in the British colonial period.
During the British period, religious affiliation became an issue ... Religious communities tended to become political constituencies. This was particularly true of the Muslim League created in 1905, which catered exclusively for the interests of the Muslims ... Purely Hindu organizations also appeared such as the Hindu Sabha (later Mahasabha) founded in 1915. In the meantime Hindu-Muslim riots became more frequent; but they were not a novelty: they are attested since the Delhi sultanate and were already a regular feature of the Mughal Empire ... When in 1947 he [Muhammad Ali Jinnah] became the first Governor General of Pakistan and the new border was demarcated, gigantic riots broke out between Hindus and Muslims.— Marc Gaborieau, Anthropology Today
Muslims persecute Hindus, Hindus persecute Buddhists, Buddhists persecute Hindus, Christians persecute Hindus, Hindus and Moslems persecute Christians . . .
Hindu, Buddhist and Jain kingdoms (642–1520)
Muhammad bin Qasim (early 8th century)
Minor dynasties (late 8th through 10th century)
Mahmud of Ghazni (11th century)
Mohammed Ghori (1173–1206)
Delhi Sultanate
Qutb-ud-din Aibak (1206–1210)
Alauddin Khalji (1296–1316)
Tughlaq Dynasty (1321–1394)
Timur's massacre of Delhi (1398)
Sikandar the Iconoclast (1399–1416)
Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451)
Lodi dynasty (1451–1526)
Mughal Empire
Maratha Empire
Sikh Empire
Colonial Era
Goa Inquisition (1560–1774)
Tipu Sultan (1782–1799)
Indian Rebellion of 1857
Partition of Bengal (1905)
Moplah Rebellion (1921)
Partition of British India (1947)
and so it continues . . .
Large-scale religious violence and riots have periodically occurred in India since its independence from British colonial rule. The aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947 to create a separate Islamic state of Pakistan for Muslims, saw large scale sectarian strife and bloodshed throughout the nation. Since then, India has witnessed sporadic large-scale violence sparked by underlying tensions between sections of the Hindu and Muslim communities.
These conflicts also stem from the ideologies of hardline right-wing groups versus Islamic Fundamentalists and prevalent in certain sections of the population. Since independence, India has always maintained a constitutional commitment to secularism. The major incidences include the 1969 Gujarat riots, 1984 Anti-Sikh riots and the 1989 Bhagalpur riots.
The aftermath of the Gujarat communal riots of 1969
1969 Gujarat riots
Religious violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims during September–October 1969, in Gujarat. It was the most deadly Hindu-Muslim violence since the 1947 partition of India.
The rioting started after an attack on a Hindu temple in Ahmedabad, but rapidly expanded to major cities and towns of Gujarat. The violence included attacks on Hindu chawls by their Dalit Muslim neighbours. The violence continued over a week, then the rioting restarted a month later. Some 660 people were killed (430 Hindus, rest Muslims), 1074 people were injured and over 48,000 lost their property.
1971 Bangladesh genocide
POLITICAL ANIMALS: The horror next door
Mrityunjay Devvrat’s ‘The Bastard Child’ puts the spotlight on the 1971 Bangladesh genocide
This is historical fiction with the promise of wide appeal. The has a searing, unflinching gaze on violence, and opens up a part of South Asian history that remains surprisingly unchronicled. West Pakistani militia tried to thwart the Bangladesh war for liberation spearheaded by Sheikh Mujib’s Awami League in 1971 with brutality as dehumanizing, if not more, than in Nazi Germany. Yet we do not read about it in our school textbooks. Besides stray brilliant reportage by Western journalists and a few memoirs, this genocide of staggering scale has not received the world’s attention the way it should. This is just the official statistics: 400,000 women were raped, 3 million people were killed and 10 million refugees sought refuge in India.
The genocide in Bangladesh began on 26 March 1971 with the launch of Operation Searchlight, as West Pakistan began a military crackdown on the Eastern wing of the nation to suppress Bengali calls for self-determination rights. During the nine-month-long Bangladesh war for independence, members of the Pakistani military and supporting Islamist militias from Jamaat-e-Islami killed up to 3,000,000 people and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bangladeshi women, according to Bangladeshi and Indian sources, in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape.
In December 2011, a BBC News report cited unnamed "independent researchers" as claiming that between 300,000 and 500,000 people were killed. The actions against women were supported by Muslim religious leaders, who declared that Bengali women were gonimoter maal (Bengali for "public property"). As a result of the conflict, a further eight to ten million people, mostly Hindus, fled the country at the time to seek refuge in neighbouring India. It is estimated that up to 30 million civilians became internally displaced. During the war, there was also ethnic violence between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking Biharis. Biharis faced reprisals from Bengali mobs and militias and from 1,000 to 150,000 were killed. Other sources claim it was up to 500,000.
The International Crimes Tribunal set up by Bangladesh in 2009 to prosecute surviving collaborators of the pro-Pakistani militias in 1971 has been the subject of strong criticism in Pakistani political and military circles. On 30 November 2015, the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif retreated from earlier positions and said that it denies any role by Pakistan in atrocities in Bangladesh.[208] A statement of the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, after summoning the Acting Bangladeshi High Commissioner, said that "Pakistan also rejected insinuation of complicity in committing crimes or war atrocities. Nothing could be further from the truth". The statement marked a growing trend of genocide denial in Pakistan, which picked up pace after controversial Indian academic Sarmila Bose accused the Mukti Bahini of war crimes. Bose has claimed that there is greater denial in Bangladesh of war crimes which were committed by Bengalis against Biharis.
Many in Pakistan's civil society have called for an unconditional apology to Bangladesh and an acknowledgement of the genocide, including noted journalist Hamid Mir, human rights activist Asma Jahangir, former Pakistan Air Force chief Asghar Khan, cultural activist Salima Hashmi, and defence analyst Muhammad Ali Ehsan. Asma Jahangir has called for an independent United Nations inquiry to investigate the atrocities. Jahangir also described Pakistan's reluctance to acknowledge the genocide a result of the Pakistani Army's dominant influence on foreign policy. She spoke of the need for closure on the 1971 genocide. Pakistani historian Yaqoob Khan Bangash described the actions of the Pakistani Army during the Bangladesh Liberation war as a "rampage".
Anti-Sikh Riots (1984)
In the 1970s, Sikhs in Punjab had sought autonomy and complained about domination by the Hindu. Indira Gandhi government arrested thousands of Sikhs for their opposition and demands particularly during Indian Emergency. In Indira Gandhi's attempt to "save democracy" through the Emergency, India's constitution was suspended, 140,000 people were arrested without due process, of which 40,000 were Sikhs.
After the Emergency was lifted, during elections, she supported Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a Sikh leader, in an effort to undermine the Akali Dal, the largest Sikh political party. However, Bhindranwale began to oppose the central government and moved his political base to the Darbar Sahib (Golden temple) in Amritsar, demanding creation on Punjab as a new country.
In June 1984, under orders from Indira Gandhi, the Indian army attacked the Golden temple with tanks and armoured vehicles. Thousands of Sikhs died during the attack. In retaliation for the storming of the Golden temple, Indira Gandhi was assassinated on 31 October 1984 by two Sikh bodyguards.
The assassination provoked mass rioting against the Sikh community. During the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms in Delhi, government and police officials aided Indian National Congress party worker gangs in "methodically and systematically" targeting Sikhs and Sikh homes. As a result of the pogroms 10,000–17,000 were burned alive or otherwise killed, Sikh people suffered massive property damage, and at least 50,000 Sikhs were displaced.
The 1984 riots fueled the Sikh insurgency movement. In the peak years of the insurgency, religious violence by separatists, government-sponsored groups, and the paramilitary arms of the government was endemic on all sides. Human Rights Watch reports that separatists were responsible for "massacre of civilians, attacks upon Hindu minorities in the state, indiscriminate bomb attacks in crowded places, and the assassination of a number of political leaders". Human Rights Watch also stated that the Indian Government's response "led to the arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial execution, and enforced disappearance of thousands of Sikhs". The insurgency paralyzed Punjab's economy until peace initiatives and elections were held in the 1990s. Allegations of coverup and shielding of political leaders of Indian National Congress over their role in 1984 riot crimes, have been widespread.
In the Kashmir region, approximately 300 Kashmiri Pandits were killed between September 1989 to 1990 in various incidents. In early 1990, local Urdu newspapers Aftab and Al Safa called upon Kashmiris to wage jihad against India and ordered the expulsion of all Hindus choosing to remain in Kashmir. In the following days masked men ran in the streets with AK-47 shooting to kill Hindus who would not leave. Notices were placed on the houses of all Hindus, telling them to leave within 24 hours or die.
Since March 1990, estimates of between 300,000 and 500,000 pandits have migrated outside Kashmir due to persecution by Islamic fundamentalists in the largest case of ethnic cleansing since the partition of India. The proportion of Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley has declined from about 15% in 1947 to, by some estimates, less than 0.1% since the insurgency in Kashmir took on a religious and sectarian flavour.
Many Kashmiri Pandits have been killed by Islamist militants in incidents such as the Wandhama massacre and the 2000 Amarnath pilgrimage massacre. The incidents of massacring and forced eviction have been termed ethnic cleansing by some observers
Violence against Muslims
The history of modern India has many incidents of communal violence. During the 1947 partition there was religious violence between Muslim-Hindu, Muslim-Sikhs and Muslim-Jains on a gigantic scale. Hundreds of religious riots have been recorded since then, in every decade of independent India. In these riots, the victims have included many Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Christians and Buddhists.
On 6 December 1992, members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal destroyed the 430-year-old Babri Mosque in Ayodhya - it was claimed by the Hindus that the mosque was built over the birthplace of the ancient deity Rama (and a 2010 Allahabad court ruled that the site was indeed a Hindu monument before the mosque was built there, based on evidence submitted by the Archaeological Survey of India). The resulting religious riots caused at least 1200 deaths. Since then the Government of India has blocked off or heavily increased security at these disputed sites while encouraging attempts to resolve these disputes through court cases and negotiations.
In the aftermath of the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya by Hindu nationalists on 6 December 1992, riots took place between Hindus and Muslims in the city of Mumbai. Four people died in a fire in the Asalpha timber mart at Ghatkopar, five were killed in the burning of Bainganwadi; shacks along the harbour line track between Sewri and Cotton Green stations were gutted; and a couple was pulled out of a rickshaw in Asalpha village and burnt to death. The riots changed the demographics of Mumbai greatly, as Hindus moved to Hindu-majority areas and Muslims moved to Muslim-majority areas.
The Godhra train burning incident in which Hindus were burned alive allegedly by Muslims by closing the door of a train, led to the 2002 Gujarat riots in which mostly Muslims were killed. According to the death toll given to the parliament on 11 May 2005 by the United Progressive Alliance government, 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, and another 2,548 injured. 223 people are missing. The report placed the number of riot widows at 919 and 606 children were declared orphaned. According to hone advocacy group, the death tolls were up to 2000. According to the Congressional Research Service, up to 2000 people were killed in the violence.
Tens of thousands were displaced from their homes because of the violence. According to New York Times reporter Celia Williams Dugger, witnesses were dismayed by the lack of intervention from local police, who often watched the events taking place and took no action against the attacks on Muslims and their property. Sangh leaders as well as the Gujarat government maintain that the violence was rioting or inter-communal clashes — spontaneous and uncontrollable reaction to the Godhra train burning.
Anti-Christian violence
A 1999 Human Rights Watch report states increasing levels of religious violence on Christians in India, perpetrated by Hindu organizations. In 2000, acts of religious violence against Christians included forcible reconversion of converted Christians to Hinduism, distribution of threatening literature and destruction of Christian cemeteries.
From 1964 to 1996, at least 38 incidents of violence against Christians were reported. In 1997, 24 such incidents were reported. Since 1998, Christians in India have faced a wave of violence. In 1998 alone, 90 incidents were reported.
In 1999 an Human Rights Watch (HRW) report stated that Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (the sister organisations of the Bharatiya Janata Party) are the most accused Hindu organizations for violence against Christians in India. The National Commission for Minorities has stated that the State governments ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies provided support to the perpetrators.
Although anti-Christian violence is routine in India, it is underreported by the media. In most reported cases the named perpetrators are members of the Sangh Parivar organizations. The Sangh Parivar are small subgroups that formed under the umbrella of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an umbrella organization whose roots date back to 1925.
The RSS, who promote a form of Hindu nationalism called Hinduvata, oppose the spread of "foreign religions" like Islam and Christianity. According to Human Rights Watch, Sangh Parivar and local media were also involved in promoting anti-Christian propaganda in Gujarat. Mainstream Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians are targeted far less frequently than Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians.
Police in the Indian capital, Delhi, have detained dozens of people who were protesting against recent attacks on churches in the city.
The persecution of Christians in India increased sharply in the year 2016, according to a report by Open Doors. India was ranked 15th in the word in terms of danger to Christians, up from 31st four years earlier. According to the report, it is estimated that a church was burnt down or a cleric beaten on average 10 times a week in India in the year to 31 October 2016, a threefold increase on the previous year. According to the All India Christian Council, there was an attack on Christians recorded every 40 hours in India in 2016. There were 26 documented cases of violence against Christians in the country between January and March 2016, while the central government refrained from speaking out against it.[20] There were incidents of anti-Christian violence in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan around Christmas in December 2016.
In Orissa, starting December 2007, Christians have been attacked in Kandhamal and other districts, resulting in the deaths of two Hindus and one Christian, and the destruction of houses and churches. Hindus claim that Christians killed a Hindu saint Laxmananand, and the attacks on Christians were in retaliation. However, there was no conclusive proof to support this claim. Twenty people were arrested following the attacks on churches. Similarly, starting 14 September 2008, there were numerous incidents of violence against the Christian community in Karnataka.
In a well-publicised case, Graham Staines, an Australian Christian missionary, was burnt to death along with his sons Timothy (aged 10) and Philip (aged 6), while they were sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa in January 1999. He was running the Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj, an Australian missionary society. In 2003, Dara Singh was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of leading the gang responsible.
In August 2008, Swami Lakshmanananda, a Hindu swami and VHP anti-conversion and reconversion activist, was attacked and killed, along with four associates by Maoist guerrillas. The violence that followed resulted in the death of some Christians. The violence later spread to more than 600 villages in 14 of the 30 districts in the state, resulting in 5,600 Christian houses burnt and 54,000 homeless. 38 Christian people were murdered, while 18,000 were injured. Human rights groups estimated 100 deaths, including women, disabled and children. 295 churches and places of worship were destroyed, along with 13 schools and colleges and 5 non-profit organisation offices. As of 2015, the Christian victims were still awaiting justice and rehabilitation.
On March 16, 1999 a Hindu mob of 5,000 attacked Ranalai in Gajapati District and set houses on fire and engaged in looting. Three people were injured. The CM of Odisha, Sri Giridhar Gamang, visited the next day.
During the Kandhamal riots of 2008, some small villages in rural areas were targeted by extremists. They killed the pastor of Mukundapur, a small village in Gajapati District
"Untouchables" turn to Buddhism
Untouchable, also called Dalit, officially Scheduled Caste, formerly Harijan, in traditional Indian society, the former name for any member of a wide range of low-caste Hindu groups and any person outside the caste system.
The use of the term and the social disabilities associated with it were declared illegal in the constitutions adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India in 1949 and of Pakistan in 1953.
Mahatma Gandhi called untouchables Harijans (“Children of the God Hari Vishnu,” or simply “Children of God”) and long worked for their emancipation. However, this name is now considered condescending and offensive.
The term Dalit later came to be used, though that too occasionally has negative connotations. The official designation Scheduled Caste is the most common term now used in India.
The Greatest Indian was a Dalit
The Greatest Indian was a poll sponsored by Reliance Mobile and conducted by Outlook magazine, in partnership with CNN-IBN and The History Channel.
Unlike other editions of Greatest Britons spin-offs, The Greatest Indian did not include people from all time periods of history. Two reasons were given for this choice. The first was that "the pre-independence history of India is dominated by Mahatma Gandhi and it is impossible for anyone to come close to the Father of the Nation when it comes to Leadership, Impact and Contribution. [...]
The panel of experts felt that if Gandhiji were to be included in the list, there would be no competition for title of The Greatest Indian". Secondly, The Greatest Indian chose to focus on India as a modern nation: "India today is unrecongnizable from the India that got independence in 1947. This nation has achieved this stature in the world thanks to contribution from millions of Indians. This is an effort to recognise one who has made the maximum contribution and impact in the surge of independent India".
The poll was conducted from June to August 2012, with the winner, Babasaheb B.R. Ambedkar, announced on 11 August. A program associated with the poll aired from 4 June until 15 August.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956), popularly known as Babasaheb, was an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement and campaigned against social discrimination towards Untouchables (Dalits), while also supporting the rights of women and labour. He was Independent India's first law minister, the principal architect of the Constitution of India and a founding father of the Republic of India.
Ambedkar was a prolific student, earning doctorates in economics from both Columbia University and the London School of Economics, and gained a reputation as a scholar for his research in law, economics and political science. In his early career he was an economist, professor, and lawyer. His later life was marked by his political activities; he became involved in campaigning and negotiations for India's independence, publishing journals, advocating political rights and social freedom for Dalits, and contributing significantly to the establishment of the state of India.
In 1956 he converted to Buddhism, initiating mass conversions of Dalits.
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Untold Truth, by Jabbar Patel This is one of the finest historical film made in Independent India. The movie is a refreshing antidote to the way we have looked at INDIA in this century.
A work of cinematic scholarship. This film takes place between the years 1901 to 1956, a period of great social upheavals and revolutionary movements around the world. In India during this time, there were two struggles being fought simultaneously; the first, which is well known throughout the world, was India's fight for independence spearheaded by Mahatma Gandhi, against the British colonial powers.
The second struggle, much less well known but no less important was an internal struggle. Seventy million Indian untouchables, led by Dr. Ambedkar were fighting for their rights against upper caste Hindu society. This film holds its significance due to the fact that, though the ethos contained is Indian, it has its equation in the political and social disparity all over the world.
The basic aim of the social revolution is to uphold the meaning of humanity in its truest sense. Born in an 'untouchable' family at a time when untouchables were forbidden education, Ambedkar bore many insults and humiliations at the hands of his fellow students and became the first graduate of his community.
Later, while studying at Columbia University, New York, Ambedkar was able to rid himself of the stigma of untouchability and breathe the air of freedom. But at the same time living next to Harlem he could equate the fate of his people with that of the Afro-Americans.
Though this story is particular to India, it is also universal.
While Dr Ambedkar was rooted in India, he also had an international outlook. There will always be people like him who struggle to better the lot of the exploited, the downtrodden, and the forgotten. His was the universal fight of the underdog, to gain his people a rightful place in the sun.
The film evolved from the documentary film he made on the life of Dr Ambedkar for Films Division in 1989. Shooting for this documentary was also done part in the US and the UK and mainly in India when Patel met people who were in actual contact with Dr Ambedkar. "The incidents related to me by these people, their fond memories of the learned visionary were so touching and exciting that I thought, the only true tribute to the great man would be a lifesize sketch of Dr Ambedkar on the silver screen." According to director Jabbar Patel, it is important for every Indian to see the film because "we don't often read this chapter of our history. As we can see from events around us today, the social struggle of Dr. Ambedkar is important to know because it helps us better understand the present".
Quit hate movement 2017
The Quit Hate Movement is a people's movement against hate, bigotry & communal violence.
The Quit Hate Movement timeline
and so a spirit of universalism lives on . . .
IndiaToday. New Delhi June 8, 2015
"Men should not petition for rights, but take them." Thomas Paine
One of the founders of the United States, Thomas Paine, died this day in 1809. He contributed a great deal in initiating a public debate on independence which had earlier been muted.
On his death anniversary, we have gathered few life facts about the man who influenced the Americans to fight for their independence:
- He authored one of the most influential pamphlets at the starting of the American revolution that inspired rebels to fight for independence from Britain. The pamphlet was called Common Sense
- Approximately 120,000 copies of "Common Sense" were distributed throughout the colonies in America which made it the most-read work that day in America
- The pamphlet, Common Sense, was so leading that John Adams, second President of the United States, said, "Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain."
- He was elected to the French National Convention in 1792, despite the fact that he was not able to speak French
- Paine introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income
- Condemned for his radical views, Paine was declared an outlaw and forced to leave England in 1792
- Thomas believed in the existence of a supreme being, but not in the orthodoxies of any church. "My own mind is my own church" is what he believed in
- It is said that only six people attended his funeral and most of them were former slaves
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
and one more . . .
"Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good."Thomas Paine Chapter III Rights of Man Part 2 1792
No comments:
Post a Comment