Why Schools, Hospitals, Political Parties don’t work in India. At least upto user expectations
If the Government has to declare that the Parliament is supreme, maybe the Parliament is no longer supreme. Is there a rumble gathering in Indian polity?
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Clearly, the Indian has been less than a success in some fields. Notably health, education and producing venerable leaders. | A undated, unsigned RK Laxman cartoon.
India – Failed State?
In the last sixty-five years of Indian independence, India has seen many successes – and had its share of failures, too.
Modern India is tempted to romanticize or demonize the Western and Islāmic influences and legacies – depending on the personal bias and predilection. This bias is not only popular but also widely prevalent in academia and the media.
Of the significant Indian failures has been healthcare, education and the Indian Politician. While many imports into India have been successful – like democratic elections, smooth handover of power after elections, public-sector enterprises, the software and automotive industry, there are three institutions that India has not been able to make a success of.
- Health-care through hospitals
- Education through schools
- Venerable polity through political parties
Building an agenda
Yogendra Yadav, who is part of the 7-member panel that will guide the formation of Team Anna‘s political unit, makes some interesting points.
Will Party-Anna be significantly different. BJP had promised, falsely, that they will be different. | Cartoon by Shreyas Navare on Friday, August 3, 2012 at 8:35 pm in blogs.hindustantimes.com
Many of the Anna followers have had obvious difficulty in reconciling the strident anti-party rhetoric of the movement with its latest decision. Some have seen it as a betrayal. But if we step back from the specific context of the current discussion, both these assertions may not appear so incompatible with each other. There is no doubt a tension here, but this tension is necessary and perhaps even creative.
The dilemma of Team Anna provides a good lens to view our troubled relationship with the institution of the political party in the last 65 years. Political parties are both very robust and fragile, at once the magnet that draws people and pushes them away, ever-present and routinely hated. Hence the widespread ambivalence towards this institution. After all, founders and leaders of very different parties, such as Gandhi and M N Roy, ended up advocating party-less democracy. And it was Jayaprakash Narayan, an advocate of party-less democracy, who later formed the Janata Party.
The idea of the political party, an imported form of political organisation, has captured modern Indian political imagination. The institution of the party has acquired the same status in our political imagination as the institution of school in thinking about education or the institution of the hospital in thinking about disease and healing. The word ‘party’ is now used in almost every Indian language to refer not just to modern political parties that contest elections but also for any political grouping or faction in a local context. It is not uncommon to hear complains about ‘partybaji’, meaning groupism or factionalism, in a village.
This success is not confined to ideas and language. Very few other institutions can match political parties in the width and depth of their reach in this large and diverse country. Contrary to popular impression, fragmentation and proliferation of parties has actually contributed to deepening of their reach. The rise of regional and caste- or community- based parties has brought parties closer to the people. Between 1971 and 2004, the proportion of voting-age Indians who identified with a political party went up from 38% to 51%. During the same period, those who claimed to be a member of a political party went up three times, from 5% to about 15%.
In other words, the poli-tical party as an organisational format is here to stay. It has outlived proponents of party-less democracy and outpaced non-party political formations.
At the same time, the prevalent form of the political party does not enjoy much popular legitimacy. Even those who identify with a political party express an abstract disaffection with the nature and functioning of political parties in the country. Parties are held to be at the roots of all the problems in the country.
Some of the ills of the parties are nearly universal. Instead of being institutions that represent the peoples’ aspirations and demands, political parties have become election machines and patronage distribution networks that focus only on gathering votes by using all kinds of short cuts. While they talk about democracy and competition, most political parties in India lack even a modicum of internal democracy.
In our context political parties have acquired some special difficulties. The model of a centralised party does not easily fit with the scale and diversity of a county like India. As centralised ‘high command’ driven parties seek to reserve power for a coterie of leaders, if not a family, people do not experience parties as an entity that derives power from them. Greater number of parties does not necessarily mean greater political choice as different parties are effectively tied to the same policy. Party politics is not a nice word.
Having taken root in an alien soil, this tree has acquired a new shape. Its fruit tastes different from that of its counterpart in other parts of the world. Everyone consumes it, but few seem to like its taste.
This is the lesson Team Anna can learn from the experience of political parties since Independence. The political party is both inevitable and avoidable. While there is a need for a vehicle of political opinions and interests that seeks to direct state power, it is equally important that this vehicle be designed differently.
The new vehicle must not be focussed only on elections: struggle, constructive work and formation of ideas must be equally critical to a new kind of party. Instead of being the instrument of centralised power, it needs to recognise different levels of power at the regional and local levels. Instead of monopolising power, it needs to share power with other organisations and movements. It needs to build in norms of internal democracy. In other words it needs to build a political party that does not look or act like a political party.
Connecting with the media is illusory power. Connecting with this man will make the difference. | Ajit Nina cartoon posted on Monday, June 08, 2009 at 03:35:27 AM in Mumbai Mirror captioned, ‘The idea of ‘one-man-one-post’ was stolen by the Congress from us.’
Just no practice
Probably the one reason the Indian State has failed on health, education and political factionalism is tradition. The Indian State, governed by the traditional norms of भारत-तंत्र Bharattantra did not manage healthcare, education and factional politics.
European and Islāmic records are significantly silent on variations in legal systems and State policies. The only point of difference that British writers mention is the predisposition of the rulers towards various European factions and on the differences in social customs.
Standardization – without centralization
While there is a large body of European writing on the different social units, norms, groups, practices, there is little mention about the differences in polity. This points to a great degree of standardization in polity – yet, without a central authority. On most political issues there was national consensus, even though political control over the Indian geography was spread thinly among 1000 rulers.
This precedent goes right back to the Indus Valley-Saraswati Basin cities which were widely spread, highly standardized – yet there was no central authority.
This may seem strange, because according to our failed education system, the British Raj made the Indian nation. But the part that modern studies miss out completely, is how in भारत-तंत्र Bharattantra, Indian kings did not make laws. Indians kings could not even proclaim a different legal system for their ‘own’ kingdom. Their powers were severely proscribed.
So how did the extensive legal system of भारत-तंत्र Bharattantra that the Islāmic kings perverted, British Raj dehumanized, and modern India has forgotten, come into being.
Two men are what made the law
Much of modern Hindu Law, is based on the two major legal systems that existed in India at the start of the British Raj. This was the Vighneshwara’s Mitākṣarā and the Dāyabhāga system. Dāyabhāga based mainly on the Yajnavalkya-smrti, was updated by Jimutavahana sometime between the eleventh or thirteenth century. Widely used in Bengal, Odisha, Assam and North East, modern Bangladesh, Bihar, Nepal, it has significant overlap with the Mitākṣarā.
Mitākṣarā, criticized in Jimutvahana’s Dāyabhāga system, preceded the Dāyabhāga system. Also based on Yajnavalkya-smrti, Mitākṣarā is considered more classical – and Dāyabhāga as more synthetic. This is not to imply that Mitākṣarā and Dāyabhāga were the start of the Indian legal system. Both Mitākṣarā and Dāyabhāga, were based on Yajnavalkya-smrti – which itself is derived from Manusmriti. Vishnu-purana states that there were different ‘manus‘ for different eras.
So which Manu from which era wrote the Manusmriti is unclear – though it is usually believed that Vaivaswata Manu is the author.
Not that it helps.
Advent of Islāmic rule in India
Interestingly, both Mitākṣarā and Dāyabhāga texts are dated roughly around the time that initial Islamic rule began in India with the Slave Dynasty in Delhi – at the beginning of 13th century.
Were Vighneshwara and Jimutvahana major court figures – like Raja Todar Mal, whose writings on Indian Law helped Mughals to steer their way around the legal environment in India. Hardly anything is known about the individuals, except the extensive work that they left.
So, how did these anonymous, powerless Brahmins become law-makers – without armies, parliaments, courts, judges and lawyers. At least comparable to the Islāmic and European contemporaries.
Bombay-High & Y2K generations has not produced venerable political leadership. Instead we have a collusive democratic leadership, which conspires against us. Divide and rule continues. | Ajit Ninan caroon with a caption that reads ‘Today it’s a make-up artist who gets you votes, not your speech writer.’; posted on Friday, February 17, 2012 at 02:17:47 AM; source & courtesy – Mumbai Mirror
Parliament is Supreme
While there is thin evidence that these Brahmins did have royal patrons, their legal standing did not depend on that patronage. More importantly, how did their writings cross the boundaries of the resident-kingdoms. From areas, where their patrons had power to areas where these two Brahmins had no influence, power or patronage?
State-controlled and managed models of the West, are relatively new to India. In the entire Anna-Baba campaign, the Indian Parliament kept repeating The Parliament Is Supreme. Did these repeated statements imply doubts about the supremacy of the Parliament?
Will the Anna-Baba political movement see re-birth of non-parliamentary legal systems?
Is that the flow – and the direction?
Anna-Baba are Opposites
This is in contradiction to the Anna campaign that has focussed on More State. Baba Ramdev’s campaign speeches have been largely based on a Lesser State. Can this basic disagreement be bridged?
Can Anna-Baba come together?
Team Anna’s campaign made much about the fact that some of them were Magsaysay award winners – while Baba’s campaign is more rooted in the Indian political tradition – भारत-तंत्र Bharattantra.
Team Anna has usually got excellent media support – and allegedly ‘foreign support. In case of Baba Ramdev, the commercial success of his Ramdev products points toward a deeper connect to the Indian Voter. Baba Ramdev has been building his campaign for nearly ten years now – while Anna campaign has sputtered for little over 10 months.
Anna-Baba may seem like peas in a pod. But they are vastly different by the way of agenda, policies, inpiration. | Cartoon titled Anna Hazare Vs Baba Ramdev by MANJUL on 8.12.2012.
Anna’s campaign was able to make Indian polity sit up – and take note. Baba Ramdev has been largely ignored by India’s political leadership – and the media. While Anna’s campaign has been over-analyzed to death, the Baba-Ramdev-phenomenon has been buried under silence by the media.
While the Anna-campaign for all appearances is a single-point campaign, Baba Ramdev’s campaign has been across a broad front – with much work on building a unique agenda.
Many have claimed credit for Anna-campaign’s success, starting with the media and RSS having the last word. In case of Baba Ramdev, his movement has been based on his own work and agenda.
Electoral politics on the cusp of a major change? | Cartoon By Ajit Ninan (Times Of India) on March 26, 2009
Gimme, Gimme
How will the Indian Voter manage this divergence?
Will it give power to Anna-campaign – and make Baba Ramdev powerful enough to question the polity?
Early days …
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Bharattantra Break Out: Julian Assange is a Sign
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Even as Julian Assange was working on his break-out, there were signs. Take this, Captain Ahab.
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Julian Assange follows भारत-तंत्र Bharattantra.
It is a secret that even Wikileaks has not revealed. On his Julian Assange Show, while moderating a recent discussion, between competing Desert Bloc ideas, Assange consistently used भारत-तंत्र Bharattantra refutations.
This interesting discussion featured a communist-turned-conservative, David Horowitz and a communist-dissident-turned-Leftist, Slavoj Zizek (pronounced स्लावोए झिझेँक). (video embedded below).
Right-Wing-Horowitz, at an exquisite moment in the discussion, said,
David Horowitz: People are the problem, They are greedy. (hands waving for emphasis) They lie. They are deceitful, they manipulate. You know they are ego-centric. (nearly spitting in hate.).
We understand that. And people in Government are the just the same dangerous people with more power. So that’s why we have the checks and balances. And I am all for more scrutiny, and this and that. (Texts in italics supplied; Between: 9:08-09:38).
Adam and Eve were born in sin. Every human being is sinful. Human beings are dumb.
Indian thought however, keeps repeating how it takes 8.4 million stages of evolution (or species) before a man is born. Human life is precious. Find moksh, nirvana. Find freedom. Like four purusharth, of भारत-तंत्र Bharattantra.
They must follow the One God that is Allah and worship his one true messenger, Prophet Mohammed. भारत-तंत्र Bharattantra always portrayed one-man religions as Asuric – Prahlad and Hiranyakshipu.
Now see, how Julian Assange rebuts Right-Wing-Horowitz .
Julian Assange: David, the striving for towards utopia the striving for towards better position. Even if that position is liberty, it is more liberty. That is a striving, a direction that people wish to have.
That’s they can measure contemporary events by the direction of their hopes and ideals. Have we now abandoned that to religion, because, religion there is waiting in the gaps. Let’s just say that it is utopian vision. (Between: 15:00-15:30).
Julian, Desert Bloc never had liberty. They had ya fooled.
Having earlier laid the basis for concentration of power (man is evil), Right-Wing-Horowitz plays another ace. The Dissident-to-Communist Zizek fumbles and has no answer.
Look at how Julian Assange answers.
David Horowitz: War is the natural condition of mankind. There has always been wars, right? From the beginning. Ok and many of them. Peace occurs only when there is concert of powers or a single power that can intimidate would be aggressors. Now I ask you? Who would you like that power to be other than the United States? (triumphant).
Silence
Slavoj Zizek: I don’t know, but United States is no longer even the candidate for me.
David Horowitz: And the United States can … Well, that’s why we are facing such catastrophe. But you are contributing it by encouraging Leftists.
Julian Assange: Isn’t the way to keep the State accountable is to have a free market in States
Slavoj Zizek: You mean different political options
Julian Assange: Different political options … and then people who don’t like the conditions in one State can move to another State. They can move their businesses, they can move their assets they can move their families. (Between: 17:20-18:20).
Right-Wing-Horowitz is right. For the Desert Bloc, war is a natural condition.
Coming to भारत-तंत्र Bharattantra.
Now what Julian Assange is saying is exactly what Buddha meant. Have competing small kingdoms. Have many kings. When a bad king is replaced, by another, let non-violence or ahimsa be paramo-dharma. Which is why India does not feature on any major massacre list.
So this is what Buddha meant when he said have no attachments. Live lean and clean. That is how you can achieve moksh – liberty. If the misrule gets beyond you, just get up and go.
Keep all your wealth in gold. Now, see, what Kabir says 3000 years later.
चाह गई चिंता मिटी, मनुआ बेपरवाह। जिनको कछू न चाहिए, सोई साहंसाह॥
(Attachments gone, anxiety vanishes and the burden of responsibilities, lightens. To someone who does not need this and that, he is the Emperor).
For भारत-तंत्र Bharattantrato to become a credible option, a few Desert Bloc ‘concepts’ will need to be smashed. Julian Assange has done that – very well.
To many, भारत-तंत्र Bharattantra means ‘going back.’ Unfortunately, the world has never seen a ‘backward’ movement. Movement can only be forward – and each step towards भारत-तंत्र Bharattantra can only be based on context.
Take a breath. Go Julian.
You are the Whale of Hindu classical texts that will land us safely, while dharma is submerged and deep underwater.
Hopefully, Ecuador will be where you will come up for breath.
And this time too, Ahab will die trying, to kill this Moby Dick.
Alternate link to the video
Related Articles
- Julian Assange seeking asylum in Ecuadorian embassy in London (guardian.co.uk)
- Julian Assange requests asylum in Ecuador, foreign minister says (news.blogs.cnn.com)
- Julian Assange: WikiLeaks founder seeks political asylum from Ecuador – Telegraph.co.uk (telegraph.co.uk)
has to be geared
No Prisoners! Survivors? None
No prisoners ... No survivors | Extract from 'NATO as the Left Hand of God' By Slavoj Zizek; from an anthology of essays - Law, justice, and power: between reason and will By Sinkwan Cheng. | Pages 25-45
Neither fish … nor fowl
Slávoj Zizek, the writer of this extract above, cannot support the narrow Right-Wing Christian Democrat political constructs. The empty cupboard of Leftist ideology, leaves him with little choice. A status quo-ist like Gandhiji, is unacceptable to Slávoj Zizek. The ‘success’ of the Anglo-Saxon model of governance, has left no survivors or even prisoners.
His dilemma!
Having to choose between two दुरातन्त्रिक duratantrik systems (like socialism or communism), Slávoj Zizek’s is having a difficult time.
And Slávoj Zizek is not alone.
Staring down the barrel
With a global recession staring at the world, unemployment at record levels, gold prices in the stratosphere, there is need to understand where nations – and their country-models are going.
Communism has failed, Capitalism died with end of African slavery – and in a world made of socialist flavours, it may be worthwhile to understand what works – and for how long.
Does empty rage count as a reason to expose nations to unknown rulers and uncertainty? Unknown devils instead of known devils? Does a change in government without modifying governance-model make any difference?
Without a viable ‘reason’ for revolt, what made so many people come out in the open? Occupying Wall Street, in India at Ram Lila Maidan, at Tahrir Square in Egypt. And sometime back, at Tiananmen Square in China.
Global Problems … in a Globalized World
In the post-globalized world, political ideology, lack of leadership, economic crisis are all global problems – respecting no boundaries or territories.
Not just multinationals that have globalized. People living with a globalized form of socialistic governments also face the same globalized problems. Corruption is one of them.
From Wall Street to RamLila Grounds, from Tahrir Square to Athens, people are displaying a lack of faith in political leadership. Mainstream media is speculating if there is a global crisis of leadership. An end to political models. There is a crisis of leadership.
After having invested to much power in the hands of polity, after having moved in a linear direction – with Desert Bloc systems that progressively need more laws, more powers that limit freedom, there is global disaffection with current political and economic models.
What we need is less political power – and more intellectual leaders.
Post-British Raj, India had a difficult choice. Which political system to choose? (Cartoon by RK Laxman; courtesy - timesofindia.com). Click for larger image.
Many Disguises – One Result
It is worth remembering that the concepts of political Right and Left were defined, when European economies struggled with the end of slavery (1830-1860) and serfdom (1830-1910). Faced with a restive labour force, Europe adopted two distinct paths. Left and Right.
In both cases the end results were the same – concentration of wealth, power and land in the hands of the elite. To European citizenry, it finally was a choice between two elites – a Leftist coterie and Rightist cliques. These European concepts never worked well in India, where polity changes followed a different trajectory.
But Indian leaders are trying …
India’s ruling elite and the oligarchs ‘helping’ Indians to ‘integrate’ India with global system. Deliver us bound, gagged and powerless to international cartels. Oil, food, retail, entertainment, banking & currency, technology cartels.
Bankruptcy of ideology – ism, cracy and archy
Modern nation-States based on various ‘isms’ (Capitalism, Communism, Socialism) combine with various ‘archy’ (monarchy, oligarchy) and ‘cracy’ (democracy, plutocracy, bureaucracy) continue to ensure that power and wealth remains in the hands of very few. The Rest of Us have to be happy with illusion of being equal, of having power over leaders, etc.
In the last 250 years, just 4 countries succeeded with Republican democracy without a significant breakdown in their first 50 years. Of the four, Switzerland (pop. 80 lakhs), Israel (pop. 75 lakhs) are tiny countries to generate any valuable data, models, norms or precedents.
That leaves the world with just USA and India.
Democracy oversold
The West scorns the Chinese one party rule.
How does one more, collusive party in the national polity, in a ‘democratic set-up, become the paragon of political virtue. Two-party democratic polity is just a more polished and conniving way of exercising the same authority – in a more invisible manner? Instead of focusing on the behavior of rulers and politicians, democracy diverts our minds to replace one bad ruler with another. It creates a collusive polity where bad rulers conspire with each other, against us.
In India, with more than 70 crore voters, the winning party got less than 13 crore votes and the final difference between the winning party and the second largest party. Approximately 5 crore voters. This leaves people with little or no choice – much like the choice between one-party ‘dictatorship’ and two-party ‘democracy’.
Given a choice of two candidates, selected from some 2,000 collusive politicians, we have been lulled into believing that democracy is greatest thing since sliced bread. Can’t stand either.
Both give me indigestion.
Hoot – and ROFL
In any other day, age and society, the Republican-Democracy model would have been laughed off – and not studied by millions.
The political constructs of the West have hit a wall – and there is no way, but down! Since the West is busy hiding elephants in the room, the need for a different political ideology remains unaddressed. The development of the four Western political systems – i.e. Feudalism, Capitalism, Socialism and Communism, is related to two factors. Property (and loot of property) and slavery – the two elephants in the room of Western history.
Indians needs is start working on a exit route of this quagmire of Desert Bloc polity.
Thin Is In
A system that works on more freedom – not increased governance, as the solution.
India must work on more freedom, less governance model of polity – unlike Desert Bloc systems that need more laws, more powers that limit freedom. This thin governance model has been progressively diluted over the last 800 years of regression from भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra.
Instead we are stuck with a bloated State, an over-sized bureaucracy that controls every aspect of our life.
How 'isms' work. A popular cartoon on the internet. | Artist attribution missing at source. | Image source and courtesy - sodahead.com | Click for larger image.
Geometry of a Pyramid
Globally four major companies and government monopolies control a US$400 billion trade in cigarettes. These cigarette monopolies, directly or indirectly controlled by governments, take away US$1 from every US$175 that people earn. China and USA are leaders in this extortion game.
This concentration of power at the top, creates a collusive system, where Big People help each other – and the rest of us are statistics. This pattern has been seen in Communist China and Russia, Socialist countries everywhere (everyone is a socialist now) – and in Capitalist England and America earlier. Small business failures is statistics – but big business failure is in ‘national interest’.
Way out of this? Onward to भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra.
Crime and corruption
On one side, these States speak of freedom, liberty, human rights.
The reality is increasing prison populations and an expanding police State. With 2 crore (20 million) drug users in the USA, prisons overflowing with more than 70 lakh (7 million) people in prison, on parole or under prosecution, the American policy establishment is stuck for answers. If bullets or swords could solve problems, Saudi Arabia would have been free of crime. And China free of corruption.
Both these miracles have not happened.
The answer is less – and even less, power to the Government.
In India
We have these ‘thought-leaders’ who are saying that killing and shooting is the answer.
Any example where it is working?
Anna Hazare leads with an agenda that is thin – very thin. Clueless on why Indians expect corruption free governance, or how India’s traditional rulers using भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra delivered corruption-free regimes, these movements are trying failed Western solutions on a successful India. Has thirty years of killings in record numbers solved China corruption problem?
The industrialization model will fail the moment when 'clean-up' and recycling costs are imposed. 'Polluter cleans' principle must to apply | Cartoon by David Horsey; courtesy - indianinthemachine.wordpress.com. | Click for larger image.
Does Propaganda Work
Western propaganda has made us aware of atrocities, genocides, massacres in Islamic and Marxist regimes.
Strangely, writers like Arun Shourie have no objections to non-communist and non-Islamic atrocities, genocides, massacres – in India and the world. For instance, Shourie, in his book, Eminent Historians talks of 1400 years of Islamic atrocities, genocides, massacres, (page 222). But, not a word of Christian atrocities, genocides, massacres.
Is it ignorance – or just plain infatuation with the West, Arunbhai?
Arun Shourie effectively brings out how Indian-Leftist political parties looked towards Soviet Russia and China now, for direction, inspiration – and even instructions (Chapter 9). How different is that from Shourie’s own loyalty to ‘capitalist-Western’ ideology. His rose-tinted view of capitalist ideologues makes his thesis brittle (Chapter 18).
Indian Think Tanks, based on working out solutions based Desert Bloc constructs and systems, are proposing such bad ideas – that the only debate seems to be whether they are shallow tanks or empty tanks. The Indic model, has the solution. One Vighneswara, sitting in a small town in Karnataka, wrote a legal text. Later, the Mitakshara, Vighneswara’s treatise became the law of the land of Bharat-ah.
What we need is less political power – and more intellectual leaders.
Emperor’s Clothes
Fundamentally, the country model of the West has failed. The answer to this crisis in leadership is Indic polity – भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra.
The answer – from India
India has been a rich country for most of recorded history. Yet, after 1500 years of recorded history, Indian kings have not left behind fortunes, palaces or monuments. Unlike Rome, Greece, Egypt, China, Babylon, Persia – and everywhere else. Now that is clean administration. How did India get clean administration for 1500 years?
भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra gives you that. It was भारत-तंत्रwhich made Buddhist priests a force in the entire SE Asia.
But then, that begs a question
Is भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra alive? Even in India? Do Indians follow भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra? Modern Indian State has acquired Desert-Bloc-Platonic-Confucian authoritarian principles of State as parens patriae. The time for भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra draws near. In the last 200 years, भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra has gone into regression. But, in this period, the world has also learnt more about the limitations of the Desert Bloc ideology.
People get ready!
Go for भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra.
Related articles
- Occupy first. Demands come later | Slavoj Žižek (guardian.co.uk)
- Slavoj Zizek: ‘Now the field is open’ (alwaysquestionauthority.wordpress.com)
- Self-described communist, Slavoj Zizek: “Capitalism is the most productive social order in the history of humanity.” (fauxcapitalist.com)
- Slavoj Žižek: ‘What will replace capitalism?’ (dangerousminds.net)
Sexual Equations in Bharattantra
Desolate Wasteland
The anti-sex and anti marriage bias of the Desert Bloc has created a global population of nearly 1 crore prostitutes (10 million). Marriage is seen mostly as dysfunctional system across the West or exploitative as in the Islāmic world.
Sexual dynamics of Indian society does not stop at the explicit sculptures of Khajuraho, Konark or the Kamasutra. The most remarkable is the पंच कन्या panch-kanya pantheon.
Concept, Execution, Implementation
अहल्या द्रौपदी तारा कुंती मंदोदरी तथा ।
पंच कन्या स्मरेन्नित्य महापातकनाशनम् ।
Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara and Mandodari
Keeping in memory these five maidens will destroy greatest sins
All these 5 women, considered the ideals of womanhood, ‘knew’ multiple men. Unlike the 5 satis, whose sexual experience was limited only to their husbands. Even today, in classically minded households, the पंच कन्या panch-kanyapantheon is held as ideal in India.
This post extracted below technically examines in much detail, the significance of this shloka. Yet, the post below does not propose an alternate sexual equation – different from the Desert Bloc.
Walking The Talk
The relevance of this shloka was the sexual equation between the genders in भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra. This shloka proves how sexual liberty for women was guaranteed in भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra.
There is another traditional verse celebrating five satis, chaste wives: Sati, Sita, Savitri, Damayanti and Arundhati. Are then Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara and Mandodari not chaste wives because each has “known” a man, or more than one, other than her husband? If so, why should invoking them be extolled as redeeming? Moreover, why is the intriguing term kanya applied to them?
Of this group, three – Ahalya, Tara, Mandodari – belong to Ramayana, the epic composed by Valmiki, the first seer-poet. Draupadi and Kunti are celebrated inMahabharata, Harivamsa and the Markandeya, Devi Bhagavata and BhagavataPuranas. (via Panchkanya : Women of Substance by Pradip Bhattacharya).
भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra guarantees four freedoms – धर्म (dharma – justice), अर्थ (arth – wealth and means), काम (kaam – human desires) मोक्ष (moksha – liberty) and ensures three rights – ज़र (jar – gold), जन (jan – human ties) and जमीन (jameen – property) for all.
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Currency in Takshashila
Guilds in Takshashila (Taxiles/a in Greek) - Extract from A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century By Upinder Singh (Pages 405-406). Source and courtesy - books.google.com. Click on the image to go to source.
Docile Indians …
Till August 15th, 1947, no king or ruler was able to impose any kind of currency monopoly by fiat in India. A unique aspect in economic history.
A by-product of भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra, India has the largest private reserves of gold in the world – totalling to nearly 20% of global gold holdings.
Absence of fiat currency was one of the cornerstones of भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra– the classical system of polity, by which India was governed. भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra worked on four freedoms – धर्म (dharma – justice), अर्थ (arth – wealth and means), काम (kaam – human desires) मोक्ष (moksha – liberty) and three rights – ज़र (jar – gold), जन (jan – human ties) and जमीन (jameen – property) for all.
This multiple-currency system passed into common parlance with idioms – like in Hindi, उसका सिक्का चलता है ‘uska sikka chalta hai’. Meaning ‘abc’s coinage is commonly accepted’. This idiom is now used to indicate a man of position, authority and standing in local community.
Thus coinage and currency, which play such an important technical role in historical research, becomes less than important in India.
Crossroads of the world
Takshashila, (Taxiles/a in Greek) at the cross-roads of the उत्तरपथ Uttarapath (known today as the Silk Route) and दक्षिणपथ Dakshinapath, was crucial to world economy. Takshashila’s system of guild-banking, hundis, deposits, currencies, corpus kept the world economy oiled and moving. Takshashila, close to the ancient cities of Mohenjodaro and Harappa, also possibly retained the knowledge of alloying, maybe even extracting, nickel – which ‘modern’ science achieved in 1751.
But that is yet another puzzle in history.
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