I am doing a round-up of the past 10 posts excluding my own since ordinarily I tend to write more. I try to judge the tempo of BP and when it’s moving on it’s own momentum I hum down and do other stuff. Incidentally I have excerpted the last twenty articles (the pages display ten articles at a time) and I was surprised that in 3 days we generated so much content.
Beyond cultural parochialism: Razib tells us what to read, which is a good thing because he reads alot. I don’t know how he does it!
Revisiting Somnath–A Review: Kabir revisits Somnath academically and I do agree that British historiography somehow intensified Hindu-Muslim political rivalry. Of course it was a complex equation but I’m surprised no one senses the nefarious hands of Imperialism!
Jaydeepsinh Rathod on the historocity of Sanskriti: AnAn compiles all of JR’s thoughts on the historocity of Sanskriti. In the Aryan threads there are some very knowledgeable comments; I remember Allama Iqbal ending his thesis that the reason Hinduism survived and Zoroastrianism did not was because the Brahmins obsessively discussed every detail of their philosopy and mythology whereas the Magis did not. I sometimes feel like my Magian ancestors and I like to hold on to my cherished notions..
Toxic textbooks and social engineering in Pakistan: AMA investigates how the Pakistani psychosis came to be. I myself of course thoroughly indoctrinate in the Pakistani psychosis; I am rather a bit too proud of my Hijazi camel trader ancestors (nos ancetres les Hijazis sounds a lot less glamorous than the Moghuls).
Madeeha Gauhar, Pakistan’s most famous Theatre Director passes away: Kabir mourns the passing of Madeeha Gauhar, I had remembered Ajoka Theatre coming to London for Dara Shikoh but I didn’t watch the play on principle. When I was in London I used to go to the theatre weekly (sometimes twice or thrice a week) but I got annoyed when I saw all the Pakis rushing to the National Theatre. I am quite white in my inclinations (I am a pretty good rock climber, love a good Oxbridge formal and enjoy the theatre – ergo I have to interact with far too many liberal Wasps). RIP Madeeha Khanum and thank you for your services to Pak Theatre!!!
Why do Indians care about OIT/AIT: Good question by Razib; 89 comments later in we don’t have a clear answer?
The water rises and Canute drowns: Razib writes a short piece touching on Genes, Aryans & India. Result, one of our viral threads. I don’t really know too much to comment on the matter; it’s sad how ill-informed I am about Indus Valley Civ and anything before Mo Bin Qasim. Pakistani psychosis and all that!
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: A Look into the Underbelly of Modern India: Kabir reposts his review of Ms. Roy’s latest novel. As an aside I think Kabir writes excellent reviews, a nod to his English Lit major.
Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles: The Aeon article essentially states that the Echo chamber is a “soft conditioning.”
Modern Love: AMA writes a Part Fiction, Part Memoir short story about Moving to America.
Race Stereotypes in Medieval Islam (and some lines on cousin marriage): Omar reproduces a short note from Irfan Muzammil about how medieval Muslims pondered over the various races they encountered. ZackThought: Race in Islam is a nebulous concept though colour is not.
Rajneesh and Sheela Ambalal Patel, a question by sbarrkum, on the new Netflex docuseries about the Rajneeshess cult. I’m shocked to realise that Osho is actually no more; I thought he was still alive! ZackThought: I was pondering over this that the older a religion, the more reliant it is on charismatic individuals (gurus, popes, Imams) to guide the religion. The younger the religion the more institutionalized it is (Protestantism, Mormonism, Ahmediyyah, Sikhism, Baha’i Faith).
Zachary, I love Zorastrianism and find a lot of wisdom in it. Many of the words have naad or sound power for me. When I hear old Avestan, it sounds like old Sanskrit. Extraordinary similarities. Some Indologists believe the pre Zorastrian Iranians use to worship the Daityas and Danavas. I think Iranians and the lands north of Iran were part of the same mother civilization as SAARC, Tibet and South East Asia.
Zorastrianism lives still inside India. If not for Umar and Uthman it probably would still be a large religion today.
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On Osho, I would be very curious to hear your perspectives on Osho and this particular clip Zachary:
http://dai.ly/x3hnem5
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Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles: The Aeon article essentially states that the Echo chamber is a “soft conditioning.”
This is a very good article about the dangers of group think and colonization of the mind that got overlooked by the flood of new articles. Hopefully this article helps those with minds captured by post modernism to break free. Kabir, do you like this article?
I haven’t read the article on echo chamber but I am perfectly happy with being “captured by post modernism”. Give me Edward Said any day and nothing would make me happier 🙂
“I was pondering over this that the older a religion, the more reliant it is on charismatic individuals (gurus, popes, Imams) to guide the religion. The younger the religion the more institutionalized it is (Protestantism, Mormonism, Ahmediyyah, Sikhism, Baha’i Faith).”
Aren’t all people (atheist, post modernist and religious) heavily influenced by charismatic individuals? Isn’t this a constant?
Eastern religions are by their nature not suppose to be institutionalized. The ten Sikh gurus tried to transcend organized religion. Isn’t organization a function of Adam-ic, Noah-ic, Abrahamic?
Why is the Baha’i faith organized? Could you invite any great Baha’i scholars or could you yourself post a series of articles on the faith? Do you think Baha’i fits well within the open architecture eastern system? I do; but am not as familiar with Baha’i as I would like to be.
Zachary, how would Baha’i react to this Osho clip?:
http://dai.ly/x3hnem5
I find it to be a good short summary of the entire corpus of eastern philosophy, civilization, and culture. [Or Aryanism if someone prefers that phrase.]
Good idea to do a periodic roundup, Zach. Sometimes, there is so much content on BP that things get missed (sometimes it’s relatively static. C’est la vie).
Madeeha Gauhar’s death is especially upsetting not just because she was a great artist but also because Ajoka (which was founded by her and her husband, whose plays I have reviewed in great detail) is a consistently progressive force in Pakistan. Their plays consistently take on fundamentalism. “Burqavaganza” was even banned by the State for being “offensive to Islam”. And this is not that long ago (2007). Even “Dara” was about the clash between the “liberal Sufi” brother Dara and the “puritan, Islamic” Aurangzeb. A reductive reading of history, perhaps, but you can’t over-complicate a two hour play.
I don’t know how Ajoka will go on without Madeeha but they will have to carry on her legacy in her honor.