Colonialism - "[...] if Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their selfesteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation." NOTE: This is not a direct quote of Lord Macaulay, but is documented as a description of his general views.
'"It saddens Mehrotra that a visit to the Taj Mahal “is reduced to a one-liner” about a gigantic mausoleum built by a Mughal emperor in memory of his favorite wife. Charming as that story may be, the monument has “a hundred untold stories,” he says, adding, “[...] For example, flanking the main structure are red sandstone buildings that few tourists enter; these are tombs for the emperor’s other wives and the favored wife’s favorite servant."' (Berfrois)
"These Arabs, the man Mahomet, and that one century, - is it not as if a spark had fallen, one spark, on a world of what proves explosive powder, blazes heaven-high from Delhi to Granada! I said, the Great man was always as lightning out of Heaven; the rest of men waited for him like fuel, and then they too would flame..." --- Thomas Carlyle, 'Heroes, Hero Worship, and the Heroic in History'
"He pointed out that if nationalism was accepted in the sub-continent, Muslims would have two wrong ways before them: "The Muslims as a nation can be other than what they are as a 'millat'" and "Muslims would have to forget Islam as a complete system of life." Iqbal then pointed out how the leaders of the Hindu majority community persuade Muslims to believe that religion is a private affair. According to those leaders, Muslims "should not regard themselves as a separate nation: they should rather lose themselves in the majority." Iqbal asserted that accepting such a viewpoint would reduce Islam to a private affair, and that this would have dangerous implications for the subcontinent's Muslim community." --- Zeenath Kauser
"When Columbus set out on his momentous journey to what he thought was Asia, the significance of the year, 1492, was not lost on him. He wrote at the head of the first journal of his travels:
In this present year 1492, after your Highnesses have brought to an end the war against the Moors ... in this very month ... your Highnesses ... determined to send me ... to the said regions of India ... This after having driven all the Jews out of your realms and dominions, Your Highnesses ... commanded me to set out with a sufficient Armada to... India.
The year that is often regarded as marking the birth of Western modernity was one symbolized by the expulsion of Internal Others and the beginning of the conquest and pillage of those beyond the Christian, 'civilized' world." --- Ali Rattansi, Racism, Oxford
A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life. --- James Allen
"You might wonder how people can deliberately turn away from a thing that they believe not to exist. But God is in intimate relationship even with those who reject him. [...] God is unavoidable, or avoidable only by creating a void. This void opens before us when we destroy the face [...]. But there is more than one motive underlying the atheist culture of our times, and the desire to escape from the eye of judgement is one of them. You escape from the eye of judgement by wiping away the face." --- Roger Scruton, The Face of God
History of the Jews in India The history of the Jews in India reaches back to ancient times. Indian Jews are a religious minority of India. Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in India in recorded history. The better-established ancient communities have assimilated a large number of local traditions through cultural diffusion. The Jewish population in India is hard to estimate since each Jewish community is distinct with different origins; some arrived during the time of the Kingdom of Judah, others are seen by some as descendants of Israel’s mythical Ten Lost Tribes. Of the total Jewish population in India, about half live in Manipur and Mizoram and a quarter live in the city of Mumbai. Unlike many parts of the world, Jews have historically lived in India without any instances of antisemitism from the local majority populace, the Hindus. However, Jews were persecuted by the Portuguese during their control of Goa. The Jews settled in Kodungallur (Cranganore) on the Malabar Coast, where they traded peacefully, until 1524. Jews have held important positions under Indian (Hindu) princes in the past and even after independence from British Rule, have risen to very high positions in government, military and industry. In addition to Jewish expatriates and recent immigrants, there are five native Jewish communities in India: 1. The Cochin Jews arrived in India 2,500 years ago and settled down in Kerala as traders. Large numbers became a part of the Syrian Malabar Nasrani people. 2. The Bene Israel arrived in the state of Maharashtra 2,100 years ago. 3. The Baghdadi Jews arrived in the city Mumbai from Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, and Arab countries about 250 years ago. 4. The Bnei Menashe are Mizo and Kuki tribesmen in Manipur and Mizoram who claim descent from the tribe of Manasseh. 5. The Bene Ephraim (also called “Telugu Jews”) are a small group who speak Telugu; their observance of Judaism dates to 1981. Source: semasahin
The writer [Joseph Hell] goes on to show how the audience, which included learned men as well as students, were the judges of the teacher’s competence and how a man who did not know his subject or could not support his thesis with convincing arguments could not survive their criticism for an hour, but was at once discredited. These teachers of the Arab universities [Muslim universities with Arabic as the medium of instruction] were the foremost men of learning of their age; they were the teachers of modern Europe. [...] --- Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, Causes of Rise and Decline, 1927
"Sherif Ali, so long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people, greedy, barbarous, and cruel as you are." --- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
If intellection and knowledge were mere passion from without, or the bare reception of extraneous and adventitious forms, then no reason could be given at all why a mirror or looking-glass should not understand. --- Ralph J. Cudworth, 1617–1688. British theologian, philosopher. (Image: Sheesh Mahal / Palace of Mirrors, India)
Taj Mahal
