The usual. I’m rather liberal for open threads, but let’s try to diminish the vitriol.
Also, I am appreciating the links some of you are putting out there. I’m actually learning a lot.
479 thoughts on “Open Thread – Brown Pundits – 7/11/2020”
Given the extra-judicial sentencing of Vikas Dubey and whats ailing our institutes in India and whether India can be a developed country. Here is Iyer Mitra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=outMIhNxFSA
The theme from his talk:
1. India lacks the strategic independence it desires
2. There is a web of issues (malnutrition, low spend on education, low skills, corrupt institutes and lower GDP)
3. Cant bring out people out of poverty without massive industrialisation, but we are already late to being a mass manufacturing power
3. Sees no way out of the web of issues
“Aatmanirbhar Bharat” is a joke.
We have a HUGE lack of skilled labour.
Take for example this article from 2019: India now imports skilled labour for infra projects
“contractors of infrastructure projects are now deploying welding and cutting operators from China, Russia and East European countries due to a huge shortage of domestic skilled welding workforce.”
“The Indian Institute of Welding has estimated a short supply of 1.2 million welding professionals including welders, cutters, fitters, equipment operators besides engineers and inspectors.”
It’s hilarious that we are importing workers from countries that have 4-5x our GDP/capita.
Each of those 1.2 million guys is potentially a lower middle class person who is right now near poverty.
“The Indian Institute of Welding has estimated a short supply of 1.2 million welding professionals including welders, cutters, fitters, equipment operators besides engineers and inspectors.”
There are other factors that affect this. A few years back there was a case in south India where lower-middle class teenagers ended up in programming cram schools even though the initial salary for a code monkey is significantly lower than that of a handyman (electrician, plumber, mechanic etc.). Now the question may be why so?
When asked these boys said that the perception of blue-collar or white-collar played a large role in the way they were treated by society. For example, many families in Indian homes would get uppity if they perceive someone from a significantly lower class sitting on the expensive furniture in their house. Whereas, if they’re perceived as white-collar then that automatically means they have notable upward mobility because their work ‘requires brains’ even if the reality may be otherwise.
It affects arranged marriages too, any guy working a white-collar job even if it pays less gets a few points above what a blue-collar person gets when it comes to compatibility scrutiny in the small town pecking order.
If there’s more respect shown to the working classes by the middle class in India, then things may gradually change. Until then, there will continue to be a dearth of talent in required professions seen as undesirable by upwardly mobile people due to societal reasons.
“A few years back there was a case in south India where lower-middle class teenagers ended up in programming cram schools even though the initial salary for a code monkey is significantly lower than that of a handyman (electrician, plumber, mechanic etc.)”
One of my friends works with the Tamil Nadu government and this has been his opinion as well.
TN government has now started a programme in partnership with private companies like TVS to provide training to individuals who want to learn iron-smithing, gold-smithing etc.
Most of the labour in TN is from outside the state, though.
One reason for the reluctance to get into blue-collar work as opposed to programming work might be the lack of a well defined career path.
Hagia Sophia has been turned into a mosque. And Pakistanis worldwide rejoice.
I feel bad for Greeks and Armenians. Fuck turks.
You don’t feel for Serbs? Both, Constantine, who founded Constantinople and Justinian, who built Hagia Sophia, were Serbs.
I commiserate with the Serbs my friend. You have my allegiance.
There was no such thing as a Serb back then. They were Illyrians. Constantine was also half Greek, and Justinian’s birthplace is today in FYROM not Serbia.
He posts things like this across everything by Razib. He has claimed the Indo-Aryans were an ancient Serbian tribe, that the Vinca culture was Serbia. Think of Ancient Aliens, but replace the aliens with Serbs, and you get most of Milan’s posts.
Serbs always existed. They are the chosen people of God.
Aryan Serbs Matter.
Живела Србија!
@StraightGay/Milan (probably the same)
Trolling on the anniversary of the Srebenica Massacre is beyond bad taste. Enough with the silliness, and stop with the childish nonsense.
“@StraightGay/Milan (probably the same)”
By the one in whose hand is my soul, I am not civilized enough to be an Aryan, let alone Serb.
However, it doesn’t change the fact that Serbia is the centre of the universe which pseudo-scientists have always tried to disprove.
No they weren’t. The Serbs, a slavic people, did not exist in that region prior to the migrations of late antiquity, and neither Justinian or Constantine would have even understood that word.
Your bizarre and pseudo-scientific “Serbs” invented everything posts are getting more than irritating.
Add other Balkan people and Russians.
Don’t forget the Assyrians. At least the Greeks and Armenians have a country they can call their own. Turks absolutely fucked the Assyrians and I think the community will just go extinct within this century.
Yea feel bad for them as well. Once again fuck Turks. All they’ve really done is ethnically replace people. So happy it didn’t happen in South Asia.
I don’t care too much about this issue, but seems like this is unnecessary.
I mean the blue masjid right across the street is so beautiful and historic, and there is no religious significance in Islam for this site, what is the point of using this particular site to pray aside from showing pride and a sense superiority stemming from conquest.
Wonder if they would be open to at least sharing the space with christians to meekly conduct some prayer on some holy days?
That might be a nice gesture of goodwill. Not sure if that would be allowed under Islamic law.
“there is no religious significance in Islam for this site, what is the point of using this particular site to pray aside from showing pride and a sense superiority stemming from conquest.”
That’s the same logic that applies to the mosque in Varanasi for example.
Which one?
The monstrosity Gyanvapi mosque is the semi demolished Kashi Vishwanath turned to a mosque.
The other scar that will forever remind us of the benevolence of wali-e-hind Alamgir Aurangzeb that is Alamgiri is also built on and using the demolished ruins of Beni Madhav temple.
Beni Madhav temple might not have been a top tier temple but Kashi Vishwanath most certainly was.
Damn. I only knew of Gyanvapi.
I think this action is more about undoing Kamal Ataturk’s secularism than anything else. Just as Modi wants to undo everything Pandit Nehru has done Erdogan wants to undo Ataturk’s secularism.
The reporting suggests that the only thing that will change is that people will be able to offer namaaz. No changes will be made to the interior or exterior of the site and tourists will continue to visit. It’s not like Babri where a mob destroyed the mosque. Hagia Sophia remains standing.
And those comparing this to Al-Aqsa being made into a synagogue are missing the very important point that East Jerusalem is Occupied Palestinian Territory while Istanbul is sovereign Turkish territory. This is a Turkish internal matter.
NYT – The leading paper of American liberals and globalists has published several related program articles. Some were written in the editorial office, and some are from the pens of cult leftists and progressives – economists, activists and businessmen
* The main points of the project “America as we need it” are: to forgive all debts to blacks, including debts on consumer loans; black people exempt from paying for all banking services; provide zero-interest mortgages to blacks; provide zero-interest loans to black business owners; significantly increase the inheritance tax (it is clear in advance that whites and `white property` will be hit)
* Added to this is a reform of the electoral system that will – if enacted – allow the American Liberal Democrats to rule the United States forever.
What’s the big deal with the Hagia Sofia being turned into a mosque again? As long as they don’t destroy the Christian architecture and paintings it’s not really a big deal. In fact it maybe in the buildings best interest to be a mosque since extremists won’t ever target it. I’m into history and the last thing I want is for any historical architecture or structure to be destroyed. The demolition of the Bamiyan Buddha’s in Afghanistan in 2001, now that was messed up and we may not get anything made like that ever again. In comparison the Hagia Sofia is a non issue.
I would have no issue too if the Dome of the Rock is turned into a Synagogue or the Great Mosque of Mecca is turned into the Great Cathedral of Mecca. As long as they don’t destroy the Islamic architecture that is. That’s where I draw the line.
The Dome of the Rock would never become a synagogue. It would probably be destroyed first and then a synagogue would be built on top of it as per the rebuilding of the Second Temple of Jerusalem. Same with the Kaaba if a Church was made. Be grateful that the Hagia Sofia was not demolished when the Turks conquered Constantinople.
“Be grateful”
Muslims always end up showing up their true colors when talking to dhimmis
You should get off your high horse. Grateful as in be grateful a 15th century conqueror didn’t do what many other conquerors did in the past. Which is destroy mosques, churches and synagogues. Enough with this victim complex.
And learn what the term dhimmi means before using it randomly.
Anyways I’m done with the Hagia Sofia topic.
Its not worth your energy man.
But seriously, Hagia Sophia is the spiritual capital of millions of Orthodox Christians worlwide. Not sure the equivalent for Sunni but it is like Karbala of Shia. The fact that it was a museum until now was a humiliating compromise. Now even that is gone. I won’t be surprised if there are retaliations from some Russian nationalist or Byzantiboos worldwide.
Europeans won’t do anything about it. Russians maybe.
Russians are based.
\In fact it maybe in the buildings best interest to be a mosque since extremists won’t ever target it\
It will happen in stages. When there is more fundamentalism in Turkish society, Ergogon will slowly tighten the screws. Suddenly a bunch of AQ/ISIS guys may blow themselves up in Hagia Sophia to remove the “stain of kuffar” and cleanse Turkish society of apostasy. . Erdogon’s action is only the first step
Question for Razib. My “caste” is Syed, specifically Bihari Syed. I have been researching my family tree and ancestry using some basic tests like ancestry.com and 23 and me and GED match. In terms of y haplogroups as per 23 and me, the males of my Bihari Syed caste have varying types of y haplogroups such as R1a, R2, H, L, I, J1, J2 with myself belonging to J-CTS5368 (J1a). Is the varying y haplogroups something that is usual within other caste groups in South Asia?
As well, when inputting my raw data into GED match, I seem to be closest to Bihari and UP Syeds with the next closest groups being UP, Bengali and Bihari Brahmins. Would that mean it is safe to say that a majority of my ancestry is Brahmin?
The Syed caste is something that was established during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal rules with Syeds not being a caste in the Middle East but a title for descendants of prophet Muhammed. But it seems to have evolved into a caste in South Asia in those times. Is it possible Brahmins converted to Islam and became Syeds and or mixed with Middle Eastern Syeds who came to South Asia and eventually these Syeds practiced endogamy?
I would appreciate your feedback.
Is the varying y haplogroups something that is usual within other caste groups in South Asia?
yes. though sometimes the frequency can be really skewed. eg bengali brahmins are 75% r1a. but kayastha gotras in w. bengal are all over the place. some are even east asian.
Is it possible Brahmins converted to Islam and became Syeds and or mixed with Middle Eastern Syeds who came to South Asia and eventually these Syeds practiced endogamy?
some syeds do have the ‘correct’ Y chromosome. but on the whole, I think most were upper caste converts, disproportionately brahmin.
Thank you for the feedback!
i have your genotype and another guy who is a patna syed. i should run them right now with my new framework.
What exactly is this new framework?
https://www.brownpundits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rplot05.png syed, you’re btwn the bihar babhan and kanjars, who were sampled from eastern UP (near bihar). i think your background is probably part-brahmin but also non-brahmin, and there is a suggestion of a shift to middle eastern populations, though very small.
I think there is a wider shift in world politics to lock in their gains, or at least go back to their original maximilist positions. Of course Hagia Sophia being a museum in the first place was not really needed, and there was a possibility that it remained a mosque, post 1931. Similarly the Chinese post 1962 did not need to recede from their claim lines post 1962 war. The US need not really need to help Europe post WW2 with marshall plan/NATO. All this were initiative which actually helped the host countries as well.
But the way the world is moving, there is this growing view that we need to go back what we had “given” as a sign of good faith or that we “gave” far too much. Perhaps i am overthinking it.
I’ve been to Hagia Sophia. It was really beautiful to see the calligraphic names of the Prophet and Imam Ali in the same space with the Savior and the Virgin. In my opinion, it should have remained a museum. However, it is Turkish sovereign territory and their right to do as they wish.
This is all part of Erdogan trying to undo Kemalism and create a neo-Ottoman Empire. He’s just the Turkish version of your own Hindu Hriday Samrat.
I mean look we can all be petty and argue it ad nauseam that Babri was on India’s Sovereign territory and what Indians did to the mosque was no one else business. I would argue that at the point where Modi/Erdogan are in terms of power they dont really need all this construction of Babri-Ram temple or Sophia conversion to mosque.
But making a larger point, we are moving away from the post WW2 consensus, back to a proto Great game era. Who knows what happens when the next corona virus hits. This time around at least the world was interconnected-interdependent enough. Next time a Pandemic hits , it could lead to a race b/w US vs Europe vs China to find a vaccine and then try to use it as leverage to gain concession some other front.
Babri was literally destroyed by a Hindu extremist mob. There are no changes being made to the interior or exterior of Hagia Sophia. Indians in particular have no business lecturing Turks.
If we’re going to have more pandemics, America might as well throw in the towel now, no point racing for a vaccine. This country has been derping from start to finish…we have a populace that wants to binge-drink and grope at bars, a media obsessed with political polarization rather than actually conveying information, a sclerotic legal-bureaucratic regime which dramatically retarded the production of masks and tests…and in our hospitals, we have shortages of medications and even pulse oximeters (as I found out the hard way.)
It’s a fool’s game to guess when the next pandemic will come around. But if it comes relatively recently…then America’s done. The Chinese system proved itself far superior this time around, and will do so again.
Entire galaxy is claimed by China. They held as much as they could have held. In the best of circumstances they might have managed to hold onto Tawang ftill winter came but India would have prevailed in the East. Now they are claiming non-contiguous parts of Bhutan. Chinese have been in the statecraft business for a very long time, they know people forget stuff with time, they will continue doing their thing no matter what we say or do. We should do our thing. Theirs is the brand of diplomacy that colonial empires employed. They want to perpetually keep us engaged, good! we should perpetually keep them engaged. They gave Pakistan nuclear bombs and missiles, good! we will give nuclear bombs and missiles to everyone from Taiwan to Vietnam to Indonesia. If they impinge our interests we should impinge their interests.
Agree especially about US not being acknowledged enough. Pakistan gulped 30+ Billion USD over a decade and didn’t even say thank you! When America will recede people who call them war-mongers currently will beg them to intervene.
Breaking it up will create newer political dispensations and uncertainty. Do not underestimate political stability, it is the first requirement for growth.
I feel mostly people from outside UP are more interested in breaking that state. There is hardly any sub regional movement AKA Telangana to break away from the state. States are not broken for “administrative efficiency” but on emotions/demand. There is no conclusive proof that the states which broke away did better. We have number of examples to suffice both conditions. And UP might become worse off with smaller states. Who would take the blame then?
Also any forceful breakup especially if seen 2 done by outsiders will create another revanchist movement which will make the state push back and become even more tight knit. Mumbai was a cosmopolitan city but even the chance of it becoming a union territory was enough for the rise of Marathi revanchism. You will see UP revanchism in the more prosperous Western UP then.
As a guy from Satna and a Bagheli language supremacist, I approve of the creation of a new state out of Baghelkhand. MP governments have long neglected the region, despite the BJP winning an MP from here since 1977 consistently.
There are enough demands of creation too, though not including any UP districts.
Recently I joined an online community (for a creative media course) that’s open to everyone but seems to be 95% women.
Honestly the least toxic most welcoming community I have been a part of online, couldn’t help but contrast it with the Jaat wars that took place on this forum which is 95% male.
With all this brinkmanship in world politics I am wondering if this would apply to politics. Guys are really good at my team vs your team type stuff, that has perhaps been historically necessary. But it seems technology and falling population numbers may remove basic resource scarcity for our species in the future.
And going forward we need more collaborative solutions, to solve global issues that face humanity beyond just simple jockeying for resources between teams to survive and reproduce.
A really intelligent guy I know once suggested to me once that he supported women taking over all global leadership positions for a couple of decades.
I was initially reflexively against the idea at the time, but now I am starting to come around to it.
They would have a chip on their shoulders and this added incentive to work hard, and could they really be that much worse than our current crop of world leaders?
I welcome many more women in top positions of the society. OTOH I don’t think it will change anything much on the ground.
maybe the worst case and most likely scenario is as follows:
1. on the ground status quo
2. some powerful men loosing out out on more power
3. women getting some representation they have missed out on since the neolithic started, and little girls get role models etc.
Best case scenario is women, have a desire to prove themselves, and turn out to be transformative to the culture of global leadership somehow and help solve issues that require global cooperation like climate change as their legacy.
I agree the best case is unlikely, but in poker terms seems like a ‘freeroll’.
They’re welcome to say what they like…at this point, they’re closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, and if they want to pursue a hawkish position against China…they’ll need all the help they can get tbh.
Sorry (American) Hindutvadi fascist, President Biden will not buy your “atoot ang” crap. Better make sure your fascist Trump wins in November (not likely).
There will be some low key clucking at Modi for form’s sake which both sides will have forgotten in three months. India is too big not to have on your side and no one cares about Kashmir apart from Pakistani Punjabis. Putin will get it well and hard in the shorts, he needs to be reminded he only runs Snow Nigeria.
traditionally the dems were the proindia party. no residual from that? also, lots of indian American (immigrants) are democrats who are promodi
“No one cares about Kashmir except for Pakistani Punjabis”–this is a false statement. Kashmiri Muslims care very much.
The Democratic Party is against the August 5 annexation of the Disputed Territory into India Proper. They are also against CAA and NRC.
Hindutvadis need Trump to win but (luckily) that is most probably not going to happen.
“traditionally the dems were the proindia party. ”
In India there is a view that Republicans are better for India. They are seen as less “noisy” while Democrats are seen more pro Pakistan ( pro Kashmir, HR) .
In Pakistan again Republican preferred by military, Afghan Jihad/BD war etc under Republican admin. While democrats are seen as pro India (Clinton-Kargil)
What does this have to do with what I said?
Dumb geopolitical move honestly. US could afford to play the neutral policeman role in the in the past but now it’s becoming increasingly irrelevant. Pretty much everyone wanted to be on the good graces of the US. The public also used to believe in America leading the democratic world or whatever. Now no one believes in the American pretenses. There are other big boys around. It needs to a pick a side and just stick with it otherwise you lose both sides.
I think Biden just keeps on saying whatever each constituency needs to here. Some days back he was saying some woke shit.
“There are other big boys around. It needs to a pick a side and just stick with it otherwise you lose both sides.”
The point is who will win this war though. As HM said we can clearly see the merits of the Chinese system.Not ideal but effective to certain extent. Right now both sides, seem to bring certain strength to the bear. The US still in the foremost power, and allying with it still bring clear benefits. While China the insurgent seems the bet for the future. At least the more coherent power here.
This remark was made by Biden’s foreign policy advisor, Antony Blinken at the Hudson Institute.
The point is that Democrats do not accept the August 5 annexation of the DISPUTED TERRITORY into India Proper. Neither would President Biden accept CAA. Sorry Hindutvadis.
Well we will see, won’t we. He is establishment candidate.
He will make the similar noises Obama would, about CAA,Kashmir, Human rights etc. India can live with it. On policy level there will hardly any change. The Indo-US alignment is far too strong for liberals of either country to put a spanner in the works. It might sound unfortunate , but this is how it will play out
On Twitter, it is fun to see Hindutva compatriots commiserating with Turkish secularists and Indian secularists siding with the Islamists.
Pakistanis, on a high from wanking to Esra Bilgic’s on-screen aura, ran into some threads with Babri and Paki-Chini Bhai Bhai sentiments. Then some HKérs jumped in and the whole thread is just sliding into dog’s vomit.
New short story: “How to Date a Hindu Fundamentalist” (haven’t read it yet but just the title will probably trigger the Hindutvadis on this site)
I started reading that and couldn’t go past the first few paragraphs. Skimmed the rest of the article.
It’s hilarious. Feels like a caricature of a short story.
Seems these literary fora will publish any tripe as long as it is woke.
It’s actually a really good story. The ending is surprising. But of course Hindutvadis won’t like it because you all are not depicted in a flattering manner.
“But of course Hindutvadis won’t like it because you all are not depicted in a flattering manner.”
Lol. Calling me a ‘Hindutvadi’ for rhetorical purposes is fine and I let it pass. But please don’t use that as an excuse for your terrible literary taste.
(In any case, you do not know my politics IRL. I could very well be one of you.)
From your comments on this blog, it is quite easy to gage your politics. You often complain about your dating experiences with “woke” women. If I remember correctly you told an anxious girl to read the “Gita”, which she found incredibly offensive. And you have used the word “Islamist” to describe me in the past, so no you are not an Indian left-liberal. Don’t pretend now.
Literary taste is subjective so your thinking mine is “terrible” is neither here nor there. In any case, I’m the one who actually has a degree in English Literature.
Do you think anyone who is not a fan of performative woke-ism is a kuffar?
I don’t know why you feel the need to deploy theological Islamic terminology like “kuffar”–certainly not something a secular left-liberal would do.
The point is you have a long record on this forum which allows one to sensibly guess that you are nowhere near the left of the political spectrum.
Niceties aside what hard stuff exactly does the US really help India with?
1) Tactical (obsolete b-rung stuff for Americans) weapons that India pays with hard cash and market rate.
2) Civilian nuclear deal: never understood the need for it. Again paid for in hard cash. Anyways we will not be building enough reactors and solar >> nuclear.
3) Trade: well if we couldn’t stop Chinese trade even after mutual butchering what could the US do to stop us?
4) Noise in US Senate/Congress/UN: I suppose it is time for Uma Bharati, Meneka Gandhi and Mayawati to hold a race relations in the US hearing and issue random statements that Americans can smirk and disrespectfully dismiss.
5) Visas: Indian middle class(~10 LPA) will find a way. There is immense appetite for good education in Indians. These people will always find a way. Job losses will be tragic for individuals but not for the Indian state. Of course with great action comes great reaction.
6) Newspaper/bad-press/propoganda-BS: No one really cares in India. Doesn’t really count as hard power.
US is a good perhaps even great friend to have. But it turning into a bitching acquaintance is still OK. And if it means that Trump leaves it is still a win.
Can’t get too worked up over Hagia Sophia. It’s a magnificent piece of architecture, among the best in the world and too good not to use as a place of worship. Can’t think of a building I have been to which gives the same sense of religious awe. Would be a good move to allow Christians to worship there too.
Frankly i dont know why it was converted to a museum in the first place. Was there some movement for that?
It just gave a rallying cry to Islamists, with questionable benefits to Kemal-ism.
Ataturk was a staunch secularist and I don’t think he personally liked Islam at all. This is the man who changed the script of the Turkish language from Arabic to Roman. Also, the man who abolished the Caliphate. Finally, Kemalism is what outlawed the wearing of hijabs. He wanted Turkey to be a modern Western European state and mosques weren’t really a part of that model.
There is now a pushback to that. Again, the parellel is with Pandit Nehru who wanted to modernize India and the Hindutva Regime which wants to go back to a mythical golden age.
Ataturk was a staunch secularist and I don’t think he personally liked Islam at all. This is the man who changed the script of the Turkish language from Arabic to Roman.
most biographers state he was personally an atheist.
the switching fo the script was a conscious attempt to destroy the historical continuity of the turks with their ottoman past. modern turks can’t read ottoman documents.
It is stunning. And to be honest it has a quality to it that the blue mosque (itself quite a beauty) just doesn’t even come close to.
Amazing what the Byzantines were capable of building in the sixth century. Romans(Eastern and Western) really killed the competition in architecture. The only extant Indian building of the period I could compare it with is the Mahabodhi temple (both 55m tall). God bless Wali-e-Hind Aurangzeb Alamgir and Ghazi Ghaznavi for not destroying it.
The first time I was told that the Roman Colosseum and Pantheon are about 2 millennia old, I was blown away. It is surprising (and tbh quite telling) that despite such tall claims in Hindu books nothing quite as spectacular as the terracotta army or the Pyramids has ever been found in India.
My sister says that we have intangible cultural heritage (stuff like vedic chanting, yoga, Buddhist nonviolence, our music etc) and that ancient Indians produced works of philosophical/spiritual depth that was unmatched. After looking at how lame and full of obvious divisive, petty propoganda books like Quran and Old testament are, I do think there is something admirable about what our people were busy doing in those days. But erecting a few more big buildings like Hagia Sophia, making beautiful porcelain pots and building a big ass army to take on the invaders would have been very cool too.
@Bhimrao – What your sister says is true. The whole of S.E Asia, China and the Far East (Japan) still sing paeans to a single cultural/philosophical export from Bihar. All those Romans and Byzantines did not have a practical numeral system until our contribution.
But Indians also have low cultural literacy. So generally they gloss over the Sanchi Stupa, Brihadisvara temple, Ajanta caves or the Kallanai Dam. Nalanda Mahavihara (30 acres) was supposed to be magnificent until it was destroyed.
You need big strong states that can extract a lot of revenue to be able to build those buildings. India often didn’t have that.
That’s one reason why so many of our large monuments are Mughal.
We do have a lot of public works architecture like step wells, which show that our priority was the welfare of the people.
I find that admirable (or maybe just looking for consolation.)
We had strong big states and we had multi-decadal construction projects in the historical record. Ajanta Caves is something that will put Hagia Sophia in the shade in terms of planning, execution and siting. You can see it for yourself and make a conclusion (at least via Google Images)
I am not saying we didn’t have them. Just not as often as the west and that our priorities were often different.
The Kailash temple in Ellora is truly a stunning marvel. It doesn’t have the aesthetic elegance as some other monuments in some ways, but it is an insane feat.
What about the Angkor Wat and the other extremely impressive buildings built under the influence of Indians all around SE Asia? They rank as impressive as any of those buildings to me.
Colosseum and Pantheon predate Brihadiswara, Angkor Wat, Borobudur by about a thousand years, Parthenon by 1500, that is a long time so not quite comparable.
@Bhimrao –
The real significant thing is that Brihadisvara is still a temple. So are the Ajanta caves for Buddhist monks. Neither has the Pantheon or Hagia Sophia continue to function as it’s makers intended. Indians have the magic ingredient!! Romans and Byzantines should learn something from us.
You could have made your point without being derisive towards the word of God. But of course Islamophobia will out.
Quran is NOT the word of God.
Muslims believe that it is. You are entitled to not believe that but there is no need to gratuitously insult our scripture. It’s extremely insensitive.
Any human who believes that Quran is the word of God is stupid, moronic and completely credulous.
It’s a religious belief. It has nothing to do with facts.
But you’re from the group that believes in monkey gods which is in your own words probably more “moronic and stupid” than believing in divine revelation.
Monkey Gods? You dont understand Hinduism my friend. Go read the words of your pedo prophet and stop posting here, my “ethnically Indian” friend. You guys are the same people that lie to others about being “Indian” when confronted about your failing state and noxious religion and ideologies.
You have even admitted to being guilty of this yourself. Mercurial hypocrites like you should introspect before lecturing others on their beliefs and identity. Incorrigible fool.
APthk,
You are no one to tell me where I can and cannot comment. You do not own this blog. I have been commenting here far longer than you.
Insulting the Prophet of God is completely unacceptable. You just reveal your islamophobia. As far as monkey gods go, isn’t that factually what lord Hanuman is? Hindus are entitled to whatever they want to be believe but you can’t claim it’s less “irrational” than belief in divine revelation. Don’t insult Islam if you don’t want Hinduism to be insulted.
It is impossible not to be swept off your feet especially with stuff from warring states period.
While examining the heritage of Europeans and others in their proximity, people make the mistake of treating the entire Western Hemisphere, especially the Western world, as a monolith, while only treating India as standalone country, devoid of its larger cultural and religious sphere of influence. When one examines the achievements of those cultures that were historically a part of “Greater India” it is easy to see that our heritage is no less impressive than theirs in any respect. And this is despite the fact that iconoclasts and tyrants have tried their best to destroy this ancient legacy by uprooting ideologies, razing monuments and beheading leaders and learned scholars. Our heritage has a resilience that is unmatched, for it has survived inordinate attempts of extinction.
The Western world has largely escaped the vagaries of constant invasions and iconoclasts, (because for large portions of history, Europe and most neighboring countries were at best backwaters, and held no interest to marauders and looters who were searching for untold wealth and prosperity as was found in South Asia) and as such preserves a greater portion of its cultural heritage. Even as recently as the British, foolish “archaeologists” were destroying priceless cultural artifacts, such as when they cut one of the musical pillars at Hampi to understand its acoustic properties. Of course, it didn’t amount to anything apart from forever damaging the structural stability of the monument. The gall that some people have in questioning the greatness of India’s tangible heritage is truly shameful. The “lack of evidence” doesn’t imply the evidence is lacking. Not only do we lack a complete historical record, we have yet to uncover as-yet undiscovered archaeological sites, and as aforementioned, we must consider our heritage as a part of a larger entity, which stretches far beyond the borders of current-day Hindustan for obvious reasons.
After looking at how lame and full of obvious divisive, petty propoganda books like Quran and Old testament are
the hewbrew bible in particular is a pretty great piece of prose literature for something that dates from the end of the bronze age/early iron age. the koran tbh is pretty derivative as prose (not really structured that way).
the ancient chinese knew some things about the romans. one of the primary aspects that was wonder inducing is that they build a lot of stuff in stone. in east asia it’s mostly wood, so very little ancient stuff (a buddhist temple from the 6th century is an exception).
@Razib
I do not have enough background and understanding to appreciate the quality of the literature itself.
Can you please recommend a few (budgeting no more than 40 hour read time for a moderate speed reader combined) good books that bring out the beauty/essence of HB/OT/NT/Bible and Quran. I had spent time on King James and found it unbearably bad to read and follow.
get alter’s translation of *genesis* and tell me what you think.
There is no stone in the Indo Gangetic plain. Bricks were used, and easily dismantled. I wonder if is there is any brick building surviving a 1000 years. Indian wonders before Muslim rule are where there was stone to build. Who can fail to be impressed by the Rameshwaram temple, or the caves at Ellora, so sadly defaced and destroyed as was Nalanda. The resplendent Martand temple in Kashmir, also in stone, stands sublime, though Sikander Butshikan went at it with hammer and crowbar. In Rajasthan the Jain temples in marble are a sight to behold.
What about possibility of undersea structures though? I know that Graham Hancock has gone Ancient Aliens way, but offshore structures near Lothal or Mahabalipuram do exist.
Also, Pyramids and Terracotta Army weren’t always known until archeological discoveries have been made. There could have been more things built and destroyed (going by myth and not only from Mahabharata but “tripurathaka” title to Shiva – destroyer of three cities) and we won’t even know that glory because nobody spends time looking for such things.
I support Hagia Sophia as a mosque. And Christians could always troll Turks by posting videos of services in Córdoba’s Mezquita-Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción 🙂
But wouldn’t that be trolling Berbers and Arabs rather than Turks
Everyone knows services have been conducted there in Cordoba since the reconquista. I sat through part of one during my last visit.
I know I shouldn’t but I always give out a juvenile chuckle when I hear ‘Hagia Sophia’. Sounds scatological in some Hindi dialects.
I hope I am not punished for this apostacy.
Almost any topic brings out the Islamophobes on BP. This week it happens to be Hagia Sophia. Next week it’ll be something else.
Can’t do without your weekly dose of Islamophobia (and anti-Pakistan rhetoric) can you? Hindutvadis are truly a pathetic group of people.
Some time back someone posted on Indian Americans settling in red-state suburbs, or areas where their neighbours were not half as educated and affluent as they were. They made the point that Indian Americans either could not tell the difference, or would resolutely act as though these were genuinely elite places.
The result of COVID, in my experience, has been that many Indian Americans are forced to face that facts about where they live. Either their state governments, or their local neighbours, are very anti-science and anti-mask. I know several Desis that have now been open about this, and are looking to sell their tract mansions, and move to more educated and affluent areas.
I also hope this finally leads Indians to ditch the carnivalesque wedding culture that has got out of hand. If Indians really want to claim to be good with money, they could better use that wedding money for other purposes that can advance themselves and their interests.
My wife did her PhD in the US, one of her classmates was an Indian girl whose parents were successful doctors working and living in an island in the state of Georgia. The girl had a pretty tough childhood due to being exposed to a lot of racism and ended up flunking out due to mental health issues. Per my wife other Indian origin people she knew in the US would complain about racism in flyover states and the ones who had taken faculty positions in southern colleges had a terrible time. You wonder how many scarred children that created.
Thank you for sharing that. That was actually the topic that was being discussed, and it is clear that it creates a certain worldview.
Until now, many Desis have kept asserting that their McMansion in the Suburbs at a low price meant that they were being smart about where they lived. They never addressed the fact that they had the resources to move to better places, and that their neighbours were far less affluent (mostly relying on borrowing to finance housing and lifestyles) or far less educated than they were.
COVID, and the reactions to it, are forcing these Desis to face the music. This the the hidden cost of their cheap large house, and the reactions of both the elected authorities and their communities show that their neighbours are the voting base and participants for anti-science policy.
Really sad that they are the victims of such bigotry. Whenever I watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee, I always am impressed at the fact that Desis dominate the field. The National Geographic Bee, which is much more difficult, is also crowned with a pantheon of Desis. To think that they face dsicrimiation simply because of an accident of birth is really appalling.
(Before someone accuses me of being a hypocrite, let me remind you that I never claimed other South Asians were inferior in any way, simply that our community had a distinct apperance, and I am not going to talk about this topic again, as Razib has asked us not to continue this conversation)
i think it depends on personality. i grew up eastern oregon and faced racism, and was physically attacked.
but i know i’m superior. my siblings too. it’s just in our nature to believe this. so racism has had no impact on me.
otoh, i know other people who are of softer constitution who were traumatized by being the outgroup.
this makes sense. i’m pretty sure i have a personality where i’m OK with being the outgroup anywhere. i’m a conservative with a lot of academic friends, outgroup there too. but this is not typical probably.
“i grew up eastern oregon and faced racism, and was physically attacked.”
Why were you attacked? What were the circumstances around it?
I grew up in small city in the south. Similar to your account, being different and occasional hostility didn’t scar me. frankly, i wouldn’t have chosen a different childhood. A lot of adversaries became friends in adulthood. People and places change. I’ve lived in big blue state cities for college and adulthood, and the street level racism can be far worse there than where I grew up to be honest.
Depends. I never felt like I was in an outgroup when I went to the major American cities.
In my current, monoracial/monocultural place? I definitely do.
Being in medical academia as a sorta-Righty? Lol I feel like I’m a deep cover agent no lie.
“The girl had a pretty tough childhood due to being exposed to a lot of racism and ended up flunking out due to mental health issues.”
Ali Chaudhary, you hit a big chord here. as someone who seen these incidents unfolding in front of my own eyes, I can only vouch for authenticity of your observation.
i moved to US as a grown up, so never faced serious racism personally. but i had the misfortune of living in a lily white small american town a few years ago, and had to witness first hand the horrendous racism and bullying suffered by my daughter in her school.
the whole thing left such a bitter taste, that it left me questioning the whole rationale of migrating to US in the first place. i mean, indian professionals like me study and work hard to realize their american dream, little do they realize that their dream is really a nightmare to their kids.
i had an ordinary middle class indian childhood, but it was such a happy childhood. we didn’t have a lot of material comfort that my daughter has, but at least we had the comfort of knowing that we are loved, respected and required by the society. no wonder lot of indian kids who grow up in american tend to acquire socially misfit and awkward persona.
the indian parents that i know are all equally disenchanted with america, and consciously moving to thickly indian towns and neighborhoods. (like fremont in cal, edison in NJ etc). i know this is ghettoization, but it is a necessary evil. the first requirement to grow up as a healthy adult to have a happy childhood. if you can’t even give that to your kids, then what is the worth of all the dollars and material comforts you may acquire?
School bullying (irrespective of race) seems to be a pretty American cultural phenomenon. I wasn’t even aware of the it till I grew up and learnt of it via social media.
Even today, you’d hear an odd case here and there in the media but not much more.
We do have ‘ragging’ in colleges, though, which can be pretty brutal.
If anyone here has seen schooling in both India and US, they can probably explain the difference and put the experience in context.
Scorpion:
and had to witness first hand the horrendous racism and bullying suffered by my daughter in her school.
I’m curious: what kinds of behavior was your daughter subjected to? Racial slurs? Ridicule about culture/name/food? General ostracism? (I’m guessing since she was a girl that bullying wouldn’t have been physical.)
I only went to grad school in the country, and I couldn’t imagine the people I met and hung out with behaving in this manner. But clearly some must have, given these reports, so I wonder what changes from childhood to adulthood and how.
@Numinous, thankfully my daughter was never bullied physically. also, i dont think anyone made fun of her because of her brown skin. mostly it was kids giving her hard time just because she was different. usually it came down to nobody socializing with her during lunch time and play time. white kids would just make her feel left out.
at times it was making fun of the food she carried in her lunchbox. she would plead with her mom not to pack her indian food in lunchbox, and ask for “american” food items like pasta, sandwiches etc. all that just to fit in.
“I only went to grad school in the country, and I couldn’t imagine the people I met and hung out with behaving in this manner. But clearly some must have, given these reports, so I wonder what changes from childhood to adulthood and how.”
nothing changes. mean white kids grow up to be mean white men and women. the only thing that changes when they reach adulthood is that they become smart enough to keep their feelings hidden inside them. that’s what i guess they call “cultural sensitivity”.
i hold an american passport, yet i don’t call myself american. the feeling of belonging is just not there. for me the US passport is just an economic tool. a tool that i earned by many years of working hard and paying into the system. that’s all there is to it.
“Shall I not tell you about the Dajjal a story of which no prophet told his nation? The Dajjal is one-eyed and will bring with him what will resemble Hell and Paradise, and what he will call Paradise will be actually Hell; so I warn you (against him) as Noah warned his nation against him.”(Sahih Bukhari 3338)
😉
I haven’t spoken much for the past few weeks but I’m tired of reading comments from a certain someone.
Let’s get one thing straight- no other religion is as backward and regressive as Islam (not saying that other religions are perfect, each one has its own flaws, but Islam is by far the most flawed) whether you like it or not. Sick and tired of reading all those baseless statements.
Stop whining like a little kid and calling everyone an “Islamophobe” in every other comment just because they don’t respect Islam.
Jews, Buddhists/Shinto, Hindus and atheists/agnostics are all much smaller in number than Muslims (especially Jews), and yet, when you take a look at the Nobel Prize in the sciences, the Fields Medal, Abel Prizes, Lasker Awards, Turing Award, Breakthrough Prizes etc., you can see that they’ve all won more prizes than Muslims (some awards don’t even have any Muslim winners).
Singapore used to be a part of Malaysia not so long ago, and today, Buddhist-majority Singapore is way ahead of Muslim-majority Malaysia (Singapore has a much higher GDP per capita and HDI score)
2 of the best universities in Asia are from Singapore too- https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2020
You can see a similar trend in people from the subcontinent-https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/articles/ethnicitypaygapsingreatbritain/2018
British Indians have the second highest median hourly pay in GB, and Pakistanis are one of the bottom-most earners.
Same thing in the US- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_the_United_States_by_household_income
Indian-Americans have the highest median household income, more than twice that of Pakistani-Americans.
And the Israelis you so love to cry about-
Israelis alone has won more Nobel Prizes in the sciences than your entire “Islamic Ummah” put together (I’m being generous by including Abdus Salam even though it doesn’t make a difference, and even though other Muslims would call him a non-Muslim), let alone their Arab neighbours.
What’s next? Gonna call me an Islamophobe for pointing out facts?
How many Nobel Prizes was Israel winning in the ninth century?
Why do you have to go several centuries back in time? Why can’t you speak about the present?
We both live in the 21st century, yes? What’s stopping you from talking about the present? Or do you always plan on hiding in the past?
The fact that you have to go way back to the 9th century alone shows that you’ve lost already.
Let me guess, you’re here to preach about the “Islamic golden age”? Where a lot of propagation of knowledge was being labelled as invention? There are tons of articles and sources that debunked several inventions Muslims claimed to come up with, I’m sure you’re smart enough to look them up (I don’t mind posting the sources here if you’re not).
Bertrand Russell sums it up best though-
“Arabic philosophy is not important as original thought. Men like Avicenna and Averroes are essentially commentators. Speaking generally, the views of the more scientific philosophers come from Aristotle and the Neoplatonists in logic and metaphysics, from Galen in medicine, from Greek and Indian sources in mathematics and astronomy, and among mystics religious philosophy has also an admixture of old Persian beliefs. Writers in Arabic showed some originality in mathematics and in chemistry; in the latter case, as an incidental result of alchemical researches. Mohammedan civilization in its great days was admirable in the arts and in many technical ways, but it showed no capacity for independent speculation in theoretical matters. Its importance, which must not be underrated, is as a transmitter.”
Hindus have a glorious heritage in the medical sciences, surgery, mathematics, logic, metaphysics, philosophy, astronomy, linguistics, theology, metallurgy and civic planning. Muslims have made no seminal contributions to these fields in comparison, with very, very few exceptions, and even these “Scientists” simply added their own observations onto a body of knowledge that was built up by non-Muslims. Anyone can read the actual historical record and come to this conclusion.
have*
And I don’t know if you’re the type of Muslim who actually believes the whole “Islam is a superior religion” or you merely defend Islam because you were born in a Muslim family, but whichever it is, I hope you can see why many people don’t respect Islam.
Just because someone on this blog doesn’t like Islam doesn’t automatically make them a Hindutvadi or Islamophobe or whatever else. Everyone has their own reasons and many of those reasons are very much valid.
Grow up.
It was a facetious comment to match yours.
You are comparing Indians and Pakistanis like they are Germans and Swedes. They are a collection of different castes, the castes lower down the totem pole in the sub-continent converted to Islam. Why is it a surprise that high IQ Brahmins in the West are performing well in cognitively demanding fields? Naipaul, Sen, Raman, Bannerji, Tagore, Raman and Chandrasekhar were all Brahmins. The only non-Brahmin Indian Nobel laureates are Khorana (Arora) and Mother Teresa.
The number of Nobel Prizes won by Dalits and OBCs Hindus who comprise 40 to 50% of the Indian population is zero. So please don’t crow about Indian\Hindu specialness and Pakistani inferiority. The relative performance was baked in by who their ancestors were.
What a foolish observation.
If we go by your logic, which implies that Brahmin ancestry in India lends itself to intellectual exceptionalism (a very tenuous claim for reasons I wont expand on here) then how do you explain the fact that Pakistanis are such lightweights in comparison? After all, they possess far more of the “West Eurasian” ancestry (on average) that makes Brahmins different from the OBCs and Dalits in the subcontinent. Also, many of those people that you claim are Brahmins, for all we know, are nothing more than Brahmins in title alone — even Razib touched on this in the past, when he posted a picture of Chandrashekhar as an ostensible “Brahmin” implying that caste dynamics aren’t as obvious as they seem. His autosomal profile could’ve easily been closer to that of the many hundreds of millions of OBCs that he resembles facially. Either way, your point is deeply flawed and incorrect.
no, iyers are iyers. they’re very distinct.
that being said, lots of tambrams look quite ‘dravidian’.
perhaps we need not go down the “what west eurasian %” direction on this thread again? it gets tiresome.
Absolutely, such discussions end up being redundant.
I also agree with your observation about some looking “Quite Dravidian” which ostensibly explains why Chandrasekhar himself, the genius that he was, still faced discriination in London when he was a scholar there. He believed Arthur Eddington’s public ridicule of his Chandrasekhar limit was partly racially motivated. His appearance certainly did him no favors, at least to those that are bigoted.
Is it really set in stone that high IQ people will prevail in academics. That way we are all screwed because Yellow people, Gora people and Yahoodis all have stunning IQs. And Brahmins are not producing enough babies themselves or in inter-caste/religion marriages to take all of us up. And obviously not many high IQ people are coming in to intermarry with us and settle here.
And if it is indeed a clear disadvantage, by how much is it possible to change the academic game in our (low IQ people’s) favor? i.e. more meat in diet, eradicating malnutrition, sanitisation, more intensive math-tutoring, inculcating-creativity. Indians already have the culture part figured out. I don’t think anyone in the world values academic achievement as much as Indians (especially Bengalis) do so we will never run out of people willing to put in the work.
Also, Is creativity even measured by IQ tests? I have seen pretty smart people (photographic memory, good at mathematical manipulation, abstraction etc) suck at research because they have no originality ,integrity… . Also tenacity is something that can be adopted as a cultural value. Keep repeating stories of how Indians never give up and perhaps in time they will believe and adopt it. Giving up meat (medieval equivalents of Chick-fil-A) must not have been easy or enjoyable but with enough propaganda people did make lasting life-style changes for their values (non-violence).
Indians seem to me a easily gullible people, tell them to worship XYZ god and they will do it unquestioningly, tell them gramodyog is good and they will start spinning charkha. Modi has shown how much people can be swung for good with his sanitation and subsidy-surrendering (where millions of people voluntarily gave up handouts) drive. So if we can somehow fake our way into making tenacity and creativity national values good things might come from it.
Again, I am not questioning IQ’s validity, it is ignorance to deny its predictive prowess nor am I being a racist (why would I?). I just want to know what how can a low-IQ society win at this game? How best can we make our moves? Our best (think Razib type people) are moving to the US in hordes what can we do to beat Yellow and Whites.
Once India’s malnutrition, endemic poverty and massive infrastructure problems are addressed, the Flynn effect should kick in and average IQs should rise considerably. At least, theoretically. Time will tell what actually transpires.
Our best (think Razib type people) are moving to the US in hordes what can we do to beat Yellow and Whites.
this is far less true in the past from talking to indian undergrads and grad students. don’t fuck this up.
also, the west/USA are looking a lot less good. i know NRIs who are quite successful in SV and such who are thinking of moving back.
Most IQ research is based on western (or at least non-Indian) datasets. Let’s not get too bogged down by it.
As Razib has pointed out, the genetic diversity in a single Indian village can be more than in Europe.
So how will the nation or civilization perform in aggregate is yet to be seen.
We have far far too many low hanging fruits before we start to worry about optimizing IQ.
As APthk said, let us focus on fixing basics like malnutrition and hygiene. And things like getting enough welders in India so that we can have a manufacturing eco-system.
These things matter in total intellectual output.
As an example, if you are doing research in solid state physics and your country doesn’t have the manufacturing eco-system to produce the equipment you need then you’ll have to import it at much cost.
This significantly increases cost of doing research. So you might have fewer people working on it resulting in less output.
This is apart from the significant R&D investment that large long established private companies themselves will do.
Dissing on Islam is alright but let’s first get our house in order.
@Razib
Somewhat old statistics: https://www.thequint.com/news/world/indian-students-in-america-favourite-universities#:~:text=An%20estimated%2056.3%20percent%20of,at%20the%20Under%2DGraduate%20level.
The numbers for brain drain have been continuously increasing. As more and more Indian guys start getting jobs ~10 lakh INR per annum they will save for 4-5 years and move to the US. You should see how easy arranged marriage prospects become for a guy settled in the US. How drastically the (relative) monetary position and quality of life improves for someone who was barely getting anything done in India to someone who is killing it at Adobe, Intel, FB, Google. I have known literally hundreds who were making less than 5 Lakh working half-assedly at a shit kpmg, capegemini etc consultancy job or third rate coding-testing etc who have made the move and now work half-assedly (though still better than Gora people) in bay area. This deluge is unstoppable and every Indian I have talked to says these ‘I am thinking about moving back’ nonsense but hardly any ever do.
IQ is driven by a lot of societal factors. But I think the more intresting question is why have certain groups been able to build societies that foster high IQs while others have not? I don’t think Indians are dumber than other groups but other groups have built the societies that allow us to thrive. We haven’t built them ourselves.
I agree with Ali.
Nice to see that the only that went through Ali Choudhury’s head is “India-Pakistan” and all he inferred was that I’m apparently trying to establish some “Indian/Hindu” supremacy thing here.
Is it really that hard to understand that I’m speaking about the lack scientific temper in the Islamic world?
Your whole argument is hilarious. You’re trying to say “most of your achievements are due to Brahmins”, while I’m pointing out that “you barely even have any achievements”.
And you answered the whole Brahmins (Tamil Brahmins to be exact) outperforming others rant yourself.
“The relative performance was baked in by who their ancestors were.”
Brahmins had better educational and job opportunities in the not-so- distant past and you can see the results now. And the reason why it’s especially Tamils that do well is because there’s a heavy emphasis on education in Tamil Nadu (there may or may not be genetic reasons but I have no idea, you guys are the biology/genetic experts). The main point is that religion isn’t holding anyone back.
Take a look at ISRO, there are tons of non-Brahmin Tamils, start with the chairam, if you will. There are several others in various different fields too, and naturally their numbers will only increase with time as more and more escape poverty and receive proper education.
You claim that Pakistanis are outperformed by Indian Brahmins because they’re Muslim converts who were mostly at the bottom-half of the caste hierarchy. Even if this was the true reason, how do you explain the lack of winners from other Islamic countries? I also mentioned Israel and Singapore, did I not? What’s stopping an Islamic country from developing a reputable space program?
“What’s stopping an Islamic country from having a Space Program?”
The Ummah needs to have a conference in a Bedouin tent to first determine whether or not Space Flight is “Halal”. Only then can they slaughter a Goat and drink Zam-Zam water before getting on with the proceedings. Maybe they’ll stone a couple infidels for entertainment as well.
This right here is an example of classic Islamophobia. All the cliched sterotypes (Bedouin tents, stoning infidels etc). You have already been called out on your racism once and threads have had to be closed because of you. Rarely have I seen such an obnoxious commenter on this forum.
And Mr. “White-Passing”, learn to read. I only brought up my English Lit degree in the context of a discussion about literaty taste. You completely spun that out of context.
And you keep bringing up your MCATS. My family has been producing doctors since the time of the British Raj. We’re not lower class parvenus like you. Fuck off.
The relative performance was baked in by who their ancestors were
The notion that Muslims of India are primarily descendants of lower caste converts is total BS. That is not how conversion worked. Shit loads of Pakistanis go by Rao, Rana, Raja, Rathore, Jaswal etc – clearly Rajput surnames (that Naipaul too commented on in his Among The Believers).
There has been conversion by Brahmins too and also Banias (Sethis). And in many cases people took fancy Islamicate surnames to blend in. This is esp true in Brahmins where conversion to Islam would’ve meant straight up excommunication.
There’s not much difference between Pakistanis / Indians / Bangladeshis in ingrained congenital ability (such as it is) to contribute to scholastic / academic pursuits. The difference is cultural.
this seems broadly correct
I think there is no challenge to “Muslims of India are primarily descendants of lower caste converts” in the discourse because it suits both right and left.
The right cannot fathom that the cream of their people broke ranks and joined the enemy. The left can hail the egalitarian values of Islam. Its, as the say, a convenient theory.
IsThisReal, you point to a real problem. part of it is that the person you are addressing isn’t interested in real history, just buzzwords learned in university to defeat people in arguments. basically, they’re a lexical bot.
that being said, the direction the conversation is going is not edifying.
i respect that hindus can have negative feelings toward islam and muslims grounded in real experiences and historical events. but that does not negate the fact that islam was not purely a destructive enterprise, and in its own time it was synthetic and generative.
the problem in the subcontinent it rejected synthesis, but did not have the power to swallow indian culture (as it did with iran turan egypt and mesopotamia). so we’re at an impasse.
p.s. APthk, traditionally hindu medicine still has a subsection for the study of the ‘yavannas’, which is basically islamo-galenic medicine.
Islam is the “most flawed”? The Hindu caste system is the most disgusting institution ever and has no place in the 21st century. There is no concept of “untouchability” in Islam.
As for Israel, winning Nobel prizes doesn’t absolve it of being a settler-colonial state and constantly stealing Palestinian land. Please learn some basic argumentation.
Finally, merely having certain stereotypes about Islam doesn’t automatically make someone a Hindutvadi but coupled with other things like defending the destruction of Babri and advocating for CAA, it’s enough to be able to gage someone’s political position.
Actually Islam and Judaism are very closely related in terms of elements,concepts and practices. But Judaism is directly related to having Jewish ancestry whereas islam does not have such things. Jews are an ethno-religious group whereas muslims are culturally,ethnically and racially very diverse. So comparing Jews with members of a universal global religion like islam/Christianity is improper.
Naipaul, Sen, Raman, Bannerji, Tagore, Raman and Chandrasekhar were all Brahmins.
Fazlur Khan AKA “The Einstein of Structural Engineering” and “The greatest structural engineer of the 20th century” was a Bangladeshi. His designs underly everything from the WTC to the Sears Tower to the Burj Khalifa. He wasn’t a Brahmin, and though he was a (converted) Muslim, he made seminal contributions to the discipline of structral engineering. The whole idea that only Brahmins are capable of intellectual genius is just hilarious. Even Islam hasn’t affected the ability of other subcontinentals to make an indelible impact on the course of history. Makes you wonder what is going on in the “Land of the Pure” — any ideas?
Forgot to add, Sal Khan of Khan academy (widely regarded as a pedagogical genius) thanks in large part to whom I was able to perform admirably on the MCAT, is also Bangaldeshi. Of course we can’t forget the greatest Khan himself, Razib. Intellectual heavyweights abound.
-Long time fan.
His father was Bangladeshi, mother is Indian.
His dad divorced his mother when he was quite young, he was raised by his mother. And he’s married to a Pakistani, if I’m not mistaken
South Asian or Bengali would be more appropriate.
Bengalis in general, along with Bangladeshis, are very, very smart from what I have observed personally in the diaspora. Some people in my extended family work at the World Bank, and they have had interactions with Koushik Basu, the chief economist there — they say he is perhaps the most humble yet smartest person they have ever met.
One of my best friends at the moment is also from Bangladesh, and is in a MD-PhD program at the instituion I am currently attending. He didn’t know about Razib until I introduced him to his work. He is also a fan. Reminds me of the Mandarin Oriental media campaign — perhaps we could something similar for Razib and his large fan base?
Seems like Baidya is an exclusive Bengali caste. Never came across doctors being a separate caste in N-India. Brahmins are the Baidyas of N-India.
Yes but Amartya Sen who specifically won the Nobel Prize comes from a group which self identifies as Brahmin.
I also agree with your observation about some looking “Quite Dravidian” which ostensibly explains why Chandrasekhar himself, the genius that he was, still faced discriination in London when he was a scholar there. He believed Arthur Eddington’s public ridicule of his Chandrasekhar limit was partly racially motivated. His appearance certainly did him no favors, at least to those that are bigoted.
both chandra and ramanujan were ‘wheatish’ and lacked ‘sharp features’ (these are not terms i knew growing up in usa so hope using them right). chandra talked extensively about racism faced in the USA, which was worse than UK i think (parts of the border states were still segregated and ppl tried to put him in black areas…they just had to not go to this part of the country).
of course, even if they were light-skinned khatris these tambrahms would have faced prejucide in the west of the time.
google what LBJ thought when he met the leaders of south asia in the 1960s. even the pakistanis he felt uncomfortable around because they were ‘white black men’ (i’m paraphrasing, basically brown skin + caucasian features).
my assessment of kabir is he’s basically a typical college graduate who deploys buzzwords to silence interlocutors. when it doesn’t work out here he is always in eternal shock.
my wife is reading about american education was destroyed by the fixation on teaching people ‘how to think’ rather than facts. kabir is a classic example of this. he just doesn’t evince much knowledge of many things, but he has lots of dumb Theories in his head, which he deploys in nonsensical ways.
but in his real life i’m sure this works, because most of his acquaintances are probably above average intelligence people who know ‘how to think’ (read: buzzwords) and just play that game. it doesn’t work when you meet someone who knows a lot of shit.
i know a lot of shit. don’t come at me with the light-saber you purchased with a $50,000 year tuition at a liberal arts college which will give you a gentleman’s B for bullshitting.
i read those books. and i read the books in the footnotes.
That was savage. And perfectly apt and accurate. Kabir is probably suffering from PTSD after that rout. Bet he will take some time to recover before he comes back with more of his BS. Don’t let us down Kabir, your “degree in English literature” will come in handy in your attempts to shit all over this blog. Please be my guest and show us how much you “learned” in college.
Was I even addressing you? Who the hell do you think you are personally attacking me? I have been here far longer than you. You are one of the most racist and obnoxious commenters I have encountered here yet.
Since you’re so impressed by the World Bank, my father had a long career there. I grew up in Bethesda.
If you don’t want hinduism to be disrespected, don’t attack Islam.
Also, I’m endlessly fascinated by the amount of time you people spend discussing me. I woke up this morning and looked at this thread and it’s all “kabir this, kabir that”. Glad to know I’m so important.
And the attacks from Mr “white passing” himself. That’s just pathetic.
I have zero interest in even discussing Hinduism. But if you come after my religion you can best believe I’m going to come after yours. Don’t bring up Pakistan or Islam and I won’t comment here.
Do you have a link to the article you mentioned your wife reading about how American education was changed to be focused away from facts?
also, in kabir’s ‘defense’, though he comes off gauche now and then, he is not a deep hinduphobe or anything like that. he can’t help the stuff he says cuz that’s deeply ingrained in muslim s. asian culture, and some of the stuff is reactive to his rather childish nominal islam.
i dislike it when he tries to be intellectual. but when his decency kicks in he has that there. so give the shaitan his due.
Bengalis in general, along with Bangladeshis, are very, very smart from what I have observed personally in the diaspora. Some people in my extended family work at the World Bank, and they have had interactions with Koushik Basu, the chief economist there — they say he is perhaps the most humble yet smartest person they have ever met.
we’re good talkers. makes us seem brighter tbh
one of the things i’m feeling right now is weary of the anti-islam stuff i’m one of them objectively (apostate). the thing is SJW-maoism is going back to year zero. all traditional civilizations are superior to year zero. all
Bengalis and Gujus are so similar but so different. Always fun talking to my Bengali friends
Gujju is the anti-bengali of the subcontinent and vice versa. Literally take everything which gujju hates and create an ethnicity, and that will be a bong and vice versa
explain?
eat more ilish and shrimp and it would all be good
Bengali food >>> Gujarati food. Kosha Mangsho is a prime example. Chingri Malai Curry and lucchi is heavenly. And who can forget Kati Rolls? All-time favorite.
as i said on the podcast with decruz my kids are totally whitewashed and i don’t care. except the food part. perhaps one day we’ll go to brownland and eat that stuff.
west bengal more likely than bdesh since i’m atheist
I’ve only eaten Bengali food at outlets in New Delhi, and these aforementioned dishes were some of the highlights I encountered. But I’m sure Kolkata has even more delicacies that I am not aware of. I definitely recommend a trip to brownland though, especially now that Oberoi, Taj and ITC have a plethora of hotels across the region that would satisfy the whims and desires of even the most discerning traveler. I plan on visiting the homeland later this year, once COVID-related travel restrictions are lifted. Its been a while since I ate the Skindari Raan at Bukhara and the Butter Chicken at Gulati. Or the Chilli Chicken at Ichiban, Pandara Road. Best food I’ve ever eaten. My palate misses that stuff on a daily basis.
It’s an interesting case of similar personalities different mindsets
re: brain drain, you need to see %. not absolute numbers. my understanding reading econ lit is that brain-drain is not a big thing for big countries (india, china) but is for small countries.
I think folks are being too tough on Kabir. Frankly i dont see much difference in his views on Hinduism and what lot of us have abt Islam, subconsciously or otherwise. Its in the same ballpark i would say.
There are around 15 regular commentators here. On any given day, there’s a high chance at least one would be bored and looking to troll.
Kabir falls for it every time – hook, line, and sinker.
That’s part of what makes him interesting.
But he doesn’t let go and replies to every single remark that has ‘Islam’ or ‘Pakistan’ mentioned in it. So much so that one has to tip toe around these keywords lest one invokes his wrath.
This becomes really spammy and I’ve developed a sort of selective blindness to his posts.
These past couple of weeks, I was extremely bored and engaged with him leading to some unsavoury comments and spam.
I’d like to desist from it in the future.
this seems plausible. i don’t read a lot of his comments closely anymore.
that being said, his demand (made a while back) that non-muslims do “PUBH” is obnoxious. also, he proactively made fun of taking hindu myths seriously for historical value. which is totally fair. but, he flips his shit when you do the same to islamic scripture.
i think over time he’s gotten more “fair” and even-handed here because of the blowback of casual anti-hindu things which even secular muslim subcontinentals will say privately.
Kabir reminds me of those “educated liberals” in America that cry foul about the dogmeat festival in Yulin, then turn around and lampoon most Indian Hindus for NOT eating Beef. The irony is palpable. And HILARIOUS.
Why Hagia Sophia, Turkey And The Charismatic Figure Of Erdogan Bristle With Resonances For India
“More fundamentally, the failing secularism of Turkey and India begs the question: is secularism even possible in non-Christian/non-Western societies? Without the Western experiences of Reformation and the Enlightenment, hard-fought victories as they were, can non-Western societies value the principles of freedom and secularism? Why is it that, unlike in the West where democratisation and secularism went hand in hand, greater democratisation has seemed to only bring religious chauvinism in India and Turkey?
The answers to these questions are perhaps disturbing, and cannot be obscured by the charge of ‘Eurocentrism’, which has long been used to justify reactionary leaders. But what is clear is that the modern ‘reconquests’ of religious structures are not being effected by sultans and generals, but by the democratic “will of the majority”. Historical wounds are being opened afresh, and nations being made anew. Both the processes are linked, of course, and values of liberal humanism are offering little resistance.”
More fundamentally, the failing secularism of Turkey and India begs the question: is secularism even possible in non-Christian/non-Western societies?
a bit on the stupid side. east asian societies can do secularism cuz they did it before the west. china korea and japan all beat down organized religions when they got too big for their britches.
the question is a real one in MENA & india because religion is constitutive of identity. it is not in NE asia.
Wasn’t it the same in pre Islamic India too? No organized religious institution exercised political power the way church did in Europe, or the way the the theologians exercised influence in Islamic period.
In my understanding, the state or the community in Indian society was never overawed by religious institutions. They were broadly only engaged in cultural conditioning.
“More fundamentally, the failing secularism of Turkey and India begs the question: is secularism even possible in non-Christian/non-Western societies?”
‘Secularism’ is a much abused term in India.
Hindutva seems a pretty materialist movement to me. It’s not really concerned with theological matters. One could say it is secular.
It just wishes to re-allocate material resources in a way that benefits a certain group of people.
We have seen this over and over in Europe and the west.
Btw Asim would make a good BrownCast guest. He’s seems to be an honest liberal.
I second Prats, Asim will be a good guest. Especially if Omar bhai is on the podcast as well. Pay-per-view 😛
Guju food is good when homemade. Not a fan of a lot of the restaurant stuff. I don’t eat meat, so I can’t have most bengali food.
Going back to genetics what are the ANI-AASI breakdowns for the extreme ends of the subcontinent? I feel like the difference is really not that big.
Jatt_Scythian – I think the differences are actually quite huge. A kerala/tamilnadu tribal is a very different person from a kalasha from chitral.
Yes technically both have all three of the source populations that make up a modern south asian, but the mix or percentages is skewed so massively at the extremes.
I wonder if europeans are as heavily skewed at the extremes? I.e. is a Portuguese person as different from a Swede as a south indian is from a jatt? Or are they more similar.
In either case, most outsiders think of both Portuguese and Swedes as “white” or “european” and most people think of south Indian tribals and Jatts as “brown” or “south asian”.
excluding iranian speakers 70% (pulliyar/paniay) to 15% AASI seems reasonable. but most populations are 40-60%
Thanks. That’s what I understood as well. I’ve spoken to Davidski (I’m a regular at his website), the Reich Lab members (by email) and some other people who actually know what they are doing and have the requisite credentials, along with published research in reputed journals, and they seem to share this notion. Amateurs (some of whom I spoke to here, and others at Anthrogenica, AKA Amateurgenica) who take an incomplete simulated model and then transpose their own amateur insights and analyses onto it just because “it shows a pattern” and suits their narrative, can just keep barking like rabid dogs, won’t change anything. Again, their results are meaningless, for they are mere amateurs with too much time.
Anyway, I’m done talking to self-proclaimed “experts” without any credentials and credibility, they can email each other and engage in circle jerks all day long, after taking a sound beating from me and others here. Their stubbornness, stupidity and low IQ won’t yield to the truth. I’m just here to listen to Razib. Good evening folks.
Its a parallel to Latin America in terms of West Eurasian % as well, especially for the most West Eurasian South Asian Biradri groups. White Brazilians, or Criollos, are also in the >80% West Eurasian range, and are around ~84-85% West Eurasian IIRC, just like Rors and Hindu Jats.
Also, it is fair to say that just like Latinos look like Indios, Mestizos, Harnizos, Castizos and Criollos (Pure Whites) in order of least to most West Eurasian ancestry, there is a parallel in South Asia/India where South Asians look like Indigenous Dravidians, Mestizos, Harnizos, Castizos and Criollos(Pure MENA/Central Asians) in order of least to most West Eurasian ancestry. This also comports with my experiences as one of these Criollos, and one can see this clearly in my two albums that I’ve posted. I find it fascinating that White Americans invariably always find it unbelievable that I’m from India, even though I always say that I am, because my face is like that of a “White guy” to them. Anyway, I’ve said enough. Glad to get more perspectives from Razib et al.
Regarding Ali Chaudhry’s comments about the lack of Dalit achievement in sciences compared to that of Brahmins.
Dalits have been doing increasingly better in India’s competitive exams. Some are studying CS at IIT Bombay, possibly the most competitive degree program in the whole world to get into. They are even starting companies before graduating college, ala Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.
Cmon, we know what Ali is talking about. And he is not wrong.
The lack of diversity in achievements of Indian origin folks should be worrying. We can all take solace that dalits are studying in IITs, I guess. The set of people who are champions of Indian industry also happen to be Noble prize winners. The day we really have a blue chip dalit entrepreneur AKA dalit Tata or Ambani we can say we have achieved. Till then its a long road ahead.
“The set of people who are champions of Indian industry also happen to be Noble prize winners.”
Brahmin and Kshatriya contribution to Indian industry is not very substantial. Indian industry is dominated by the mercantile castes, and in fact most of India’s unicorns are led by Vanias.
“In 2016, the most common surname of the directors of the companies listed in the National Stock Exchange of India was Agarwal (and its variations). The second most common surname was Gupta. Even in modern-day tech and ecommerce companies, they continue to dominate. It was reported in 2013, that for every 100 in funding for e-commerce companies in India, 40 went to firms founded by an Agrawal. Of a total of 4 startups out of India that have crossed $10 Billion valuation, all except Paytm were founded by an Agrawal.”
This list is pretty diverse, 3 Hindi Vanias, 1 Gujarati Patidar, 1 Bengali Kayastha from Gujarat (girl), 1 Marathi Brahmin, 2 Telugu Brahmins, 1 Telugu Reddy.
wwwDOTjagranjoshDOTcom/articles/jee-advanced-2019-toppers-list-name-marks-rank-statistics-1560491698-1.
Conversely, North Indian Brahmins are especially lacking in achievement, academic or industrial. There is a reason Kartik Tiwari changed his name to Kartik Aryan ….
Yeah u make it seem as that Vania, Brahmin, Kshartiya form 50 percent of India pops or something. If i start subdividing OBCs it might take me next week for it 2 end. Diversity within the same 15 percent is not diversity, i was referring to.
Again you know what i was referring to.
the issue is the % AASI in the IVC component. in moorjani et al. N indian brahmins are still 35% ASI.
we know ASI is .7 AASI. this gives a floor of 25% AASI. i’d say 30-35% AASI resaonable
Regarding the relative lack of science achievers from the core Muslim world in the recent years, this might be a consequence of the lack of a priestly caste in Islam. The Muslim country with the most apparent contribution to science today is Iran, and the Iranian Shia tradition differs from the Sunni in the presence of a priestly order.
Steppe ancestry don’t mean squat for IQ btw. If steppe ancestry and IQ had any correlation, we’d see jats and pashtuns running google and microsoft instead of tambrams.
Its clear that an upbringing focused on education is the biggest key to success. Brahmins simply have that as a part of their cultural package because that’s been their role in society for thousands of years. Tho to be fair, still doesn’t explain why south indian brahmins in particular are so dominant.
Asians have higher IQs. AASI = Asian ancestry, so it makes sense that more of it would make you smarter, no? Maybe there are diminishing returns after a certain admixture level, but I am not one to make speculations.
s indian brahmins = english.
west bengali elites do OK too. the bhadrolok
English also means access to world of the current knowledge.
Asians have higher IQs. AASI = Asian ancestry, so it makes sense that more of it would make you smarter, no? Maybe there are diminishing returns after a certain admixture level, but I am not one to make speculations.
1) NE asians
2) AASI diverged from NE asians (on average) more than 40,000 years ago
total ancestry is poorly predictive
I see. Thanks for clarifying that.
Here’s my contribution to the Hindu Muslim food fight in the thread.
There is actually a sect of muslims who are super ballers. They’re called Ismailis I think. I don’t know much about them, but they always come correct whether it’s education, entrepreneurship, or just being straight up classy people. These are my impressions from the interactions I’ve had.
Whatever it is they’re doing, in terms of culture, seems to be something that other muslims (maybe everyone) should aspire to. Genuine question, why doesn’t the broader islamic community just emulate them?
Non Ishmailis like Sunni Vohras, memons etc do pretty well also.
I don’t really see a link with religion, expect maybe if it closes people off to the modern body of knowledge.
I think maybe Christians outperform adjusted for starting socio economic status compared to other religions in India because they are most open to English and Western knowledge. (Not sure)
25-70% AASI makes sense. Indio to Castizo with most people mestizos and most upper castes harnizos 😉
So its what I thought. Most Indians are 50% to 75% West Eurasian (with some exceptions like the Paniya being 30% West Eurasian and the most western Haryana Jatts being 85% West Eurasian).
Its interesting what the Paniya look like. I can easily see a 100% AASI population being close to Onge.
Also a few points in IQ doesn’t really mean shit. NE Asia vs Europe.
this could be selection, but the onge have tightly curled frizzy hair. most indians have straight/wavy hair. even the paniya don’t seem frizzy haired.
(the onge are descended from ppl related to the hohabanian in SE asia, they came from burma)
Interesting they look quite different from the “Irula” people who are also very high AASI.
How much genetic diversity was there in within the AASI component in the Indian subcontinent ?
i don’t know.
there are way more irulas so way more pics. they don’t look THAT different than a lot of south indians tbh (a bit darker and less west eurasian looking)…wondering if jatt_scythian picked atypical paniya images?
It’s interesting how similar these people look like to Australian Aborigines (strongly defined brow ridges, depressed nasal roots and bridge, and some marked cases of alveolar prognathism), but in between AASI-India and Aboriginal Australia there are the Onge and the Papuans, both of whom are much more overtly “Negroid” looking (although Papuans in particular I think can look quite distinctive from African people, I still think on the whole they resemble more Africans than they do Australians).
I wonder if the original Out of Africa humans phenotypically would have resembled some cross-section of AASI-Onge-Papuan-Australian people.
people have to realize it isn’t as simple as.these components either. But as someone who clusters with S Indian Brahms, I’ll accept the pseudoscience based flattery
Like Mohan said, upbringing is the biggest factor.
As for South Indians (specifically Tambrahms) doing better: from what I’ve observed, people in Tamil Nadu put a lot more emphasis on quality education. In the north it’s more about somehow getting a high-paying job.
Knew a Mallu at school (he’s at IISER now) whose goal is to win a Nobel Prize, never heard anybody else speak of such an academically-oriented goal. Everyone else usually just says “doctor” or “engineer” because they either like the profession or just want to make good money.
IQ is driven by a lot of societal factors. But I think the more intresting question is why have certain groups been able to build societies that foster high IQs while others have not? I don’t think Indians are dumber than other groups but other groups have built the societies that allow us to thrive. We haven’t built them ourselves.
the peasant is the foundation of chinese society. there is no blood nobility. the theory in NE asia is that everyone could (not in practice) become a learned person.
is this true in india? i see ppl on youtube claim that ancient india had all these schools and universities. but were sudras and dalits (majority of population) allowed to learn the vedas and partake of learning?
There is a book by Dharampal called The Beautiful Tree which documents the percentage of school kids by caste during early colonial times, before the Macaulay introduced English education (1800s). It was documented that 52% of kids came from the broadly called BCs, 20% from Brahmins and the remaining from Kshatriyas and Vaishyas. I am not sure if Shudras were allowed to read Vedas (most likely not), because at the time of documentation, it looks like the medium of instruction was the local language, and sometimes even Farsi and Urdu.
I’ve heard of Chinese traveler stories who learned Sanskrit before coming to study in Nalanda. Given that Nalanda had a huge Buddhist influence, I am inclined to think Shudras were attending them.
Yea Buddhist and Jain schools of knowledge were open.
Within Hinduism Yogic Siddhas, Shaiva Nayanmars etc included lots of Dalits and shudras.
Orthodox Vedic and Vaishnavaite traditions (pre-Bhakti reforms) restricted to Brahmins. Who had asymmetric advantage as you could be a Brahmin and a Siddha and a Buddhist. And have access to all three traditions of knowledge. But one couldn’t get access to the Brahmin tradition unless born into the fold.
I don’t know how much this has to do with economics. Non caste ridden areas like Sindh, and Bangladesh aren’t significantly different in economic performance.
I can answer from a Kerala context. Shaankara smRti is a document outlining the customs and rituals unique to Kerala (smRtis are usually region-specific). A major part of this book is devoted to the conduct of Brahmins. However, there are a few references to the other communities. Under a chapter titled Education, it says that “even though Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas in other regions, after their thread-wearing ceremony, engage in Vedic studies, here in Kerala, only Brahmins are allowed to study Vedas”. In a different chapter, it says that “Shudras should be learned in Sanskrit, but not Shaastras”. I do not know how well this was followed by other communities, but the customs in the book were definitely followed by Brahmins. The book also, interestingly, lists 64 customs unique to Kerala (like, disallowing widow-burning).
To summarize, Brahmins seemed to have kept Vedas exclusively to themselves. But education seemed to have been encouraged for other varnas. In fact, as early as 15th century, we have the presence of non-Brahmin poets, medics, etc in Malayalam who had a good knowledge of Sanskrit.
I do have an e-copy of Saankara smRti. It is in Malayalam, though.
Asim Alim asks whether secularism is possible in non-Christian/non-Western countries.
More fundamentally, the failing secularism of Turkey and India begs the question: is secularism even possible in non-Christian/non-Western societies? Without the Western experiences of Reformation and the Enlightenment, hard-fought victories as they were, can non-Western societies value the principles of freedom and secularism? Why is it that, unlike in the West where democratisation and secularism went hand in hand, greater democratisation has seemed to only bring religious chauvinism in India and Turkey?
I’m personally interested in knowing how fast atheism is increasing in certain Islamic countries, however, since many of them are quite harsh on atheism and/or apostasy, we probably won’t get to know.
How do you make 80 year predictions? Anyhow as a general rule history is full of unpredictable things. Things which no one imagined may be around the corner
@Razib Khan,
You should follow New Discoveries. It is run by James Lindsay and Peter Boghossian.
They are two academics, who have make a project to examine and critique Critical Theory which is the engine behind the the New Left.
They have unique arguments and insights I have not heard anywhere else from people who oppose “Social Justice”.
Guess Razib is right when he says “part of it is that the person you are addressing isn’t interested in real history, just buzzwords learned in university to defeat people in arguments. basically, they’re a lexical bot.”
All I got was whataboutism, points that were already acknowledged being brought up, aggressiveness (because they think it’s some sort of superiority contest) and zero acknowledgement of my main point, which was about lack of scientific temper.
You can’t call Islam the “most backward” when your own faith (I assume you are Hindu) theologically justifies the caste system. Your “Laws of Manu” are utterly disgusting. And you have the gall to criticize the Holy Quran? And who gave you the authority to decide which religion is the “most backward” anyway?
Hinduism also justifies widow-burning and stuff like that. Muslim women can remarry after their husband’s death (after going through an “iddat” period in order to verify paternity).
Your argument about Jews and Nobel Prizes is completely ridiculous. As if Nobel Prizes justify settler-colonialism and breaking International Law.
You’re just a stupid Islamophobe. You people just want to trash Islam since that gives you jollies for some reason.
At least all of that is rather flexible.
“You can’t call Islam the “most backward” when your own faith (I assume you are Hindu) theologically justifies the caste system.”
Many people already acknowledged the caste part on this blog before and I VERY CLEARLY said that each religion has its own flaws.
I admit that caste is a huge problem in certain places and needs to be fixed, but you really need to stop acting delusional and get off your high horse. I personally don’t like discussing caste because talking about something that you want to get rid of seems very counter-intuitive.
If you’ve lived in the subcontinent for as long as I have, you would feel stupid about making that statement. You think only Hindus practice the caste system? Lol
I’ve seen many Muslims from northern India treat the Dravidian Muslims like they’re inferior time and again. Sikhism has quite a bit of casteism too (mostly the Jatts from what I’ve seen). Haven’t met a whole lot of Christians (even though my close friend is Christian) so can’t really say much about them.
The issues with caste are mainly societal/cultural rather than religious, if it were religious then I don’t see any reason for it to be present among other religions in the subcontinent. If you wanna blame Hinduism for it then maybe you should ask yourself why Muslims practice it too even today. No Hindu is forcing you to follow it.
And please don’t bring up your garbage “the Holy Quran doesn’t speak about caste” standard argument, everyone here knows that Muslims practice it too. And I’m sure I won’t have to remind you about the whole “sons of Muhammad” (Ashrafs) being called superior compared to “low-born people” (Ajlafs). Gonna blame Hinduism for this too? Or was Ziauddin Barani some sort of undercover Hindu trying to infiltrate Islam?
“Hinduism also justifies widow-burning and stuff like that. Muslim women can remarry after their husband’s death (after going through an “iddat” period in order to verify paternity).”
What’s next, somebody’s gonna bash the Church for burning people accused of “witchcraft”?
Ever heard of “reformations”? Do you see the majority modern-day Hindus practicing Sati?
Fun fact- Saudi Arabia is the only country today where “witchcraft & sorcery” is legally punishable by death.
And since you seem to care so much about marginalization and all, care to speak about Ahmadis and Shia (especially Ahmadis and Shia Hazaras )? Many of them flee from Pakistan and Afghanistan to India.
Hazars are already a persecuted group in Afghanistan, and being Shia only makes things worse-
“The extremist Sunni militia described the man as a Pakistani named Abu Asim who had attacked a gathering of “rejecter polytheists,” as the group describes followers of Shiite Islam.”
And I don’t think I even need to speak about how Ahmadis are treated, the overwhelming majority of the Islamic world treats them very harshly. There are loads and loads of cases of Ahmadis being killed mercilessly and having their mosques burned down. It’s so bad that they aren’t even completely safe in western places like the UK- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Ahmadis#United_Kingdom
Do you see such levels of anti-lower-caste stuff being actively published and circulated in the UK by upper-caste Hindus? When was the last time you heard about someone handing out leaflets that called for the killing of all lower-caste people?
“Your argument about Jews and Nobel Prizes is completely ridiculous. As if Nobel Prizes justify settler-colonialism and breaking International Law.”
No, you’re ridiculous, I can’t help but call you a dumb piece of shit at this point, sorry about that.
I was merely trying to point differences between Islamic and non-Islamic neighbours, I also pointed out Singapore and Malaysia, did I not?
I wasn’t using this as some territorial argument whatsoever, that’s an entirely different debate. I was comparing Israel with the rest of the middle-east in terms of scientific achievements, that is all. The fact that you can’t see anything beyond “Jew bad, Israel evil” is both sad and laughable.
South Asian Muslims practice caste because we were influenced by the larger Hindu society. South Asian Christians practice caste as well as Sujatha Gidla pointed out in her book “Ants Among Elephants”. However, Islam doesn’t THEOLOGICALLY justify caste. Our religion teaches us that all Muslims are equal in the eyes of Allah. Yours teaches you that Brahmins were born from god’s head and Shudras from his feet. Caste is the central feature of Hinduism (its original sin). It is not a central feature of Islam.
“Ashraf” doesn’t mean “sons of Muhammad”. I don’t know where you got that nonsense from. The word comes from “shurafa” meaning nobility.
You all were practicing sati up until the British banned it. Even afterwards, widows lived in ashrams and had miserable lives. We’ve all seen Deepa Mehta’s “Water”. Islam was revealed in the 7th century and widow remarriage was allowed from the very beginning. Islam gave women the right to divorce.
We’re not talking about sectarian violence here so bringing up Shia and Hazara is irrelevant.
Of course, there is a lack of scientific achievement in the Muslim world. However Nobel Prizes don’t whitwash Zionist crimes.
You are an incorrigible Islamophobe. Keep digging yourself into a hole.
“South Asian Muslims practice caste because we were influenced by the larger Hindu society.”
Blaming Hinduism for your own shortcomings as usual. Like I said, nobody is forcing any Muslim to follow the caste system. You obviously haven’t seen how Muslims in the subcontinent treat each other, no wonder you’re so deluded and what not. Even if they removed every mention of caste tomorrow from every article and piece of paper, people in the subcontinent, regardless of their religion, will still follow it to a certain extent.
“You all were practicing sati up until the British banned it. Even afterwards, widows lived in ashrams and had miserable lives. We’ve all seen Deepa Mehta’s “Water”. Islam was revealed in the 7th century and widow remarriage was allowed from the very beginning.”
You can’t possibly get any cheaper than this. Always living in the past and refusing to acknowledge the fact that modern-day Hindus don’t practice Sati, if you’re gonna bash Hinduism for this then I guess it’s fair that we all get to call your prophet a disgusting pedophile, don’t start whining about it now, you’re the one who set the tone here. Last time someone called him a pedophile on this blog you began whining like a little kid.
“We’re not talking about sectarian violence here so bringing up Shia and Hazara is irrelevant.”
Not at all. It’s very much relevant. Just because it’s sectarian doesn’t change jackshit. Stop trying to hide. You spoke about the mistreatment of a certain group of people and so did I, nobody said it can’t be sectarian.
You very well know that Ahmadis are treated in an extremely inhumane manner in tons of places, doesn’t matter if it’s a rural or urban area. Even though India provides them the freedom to call themselves Muslims (unlike certain other intolerant countries), Sunnis still try to harass them.
Go ahead and let me know when was the last time you saw a lower-caste wedding being bombed that led to 90+ people being killed, I’ll wait. Also, let me know if you ever came across leaflets asking for the death of lower-caste people being handed out in the UK.
“Of course, there is a lack of scientific achievement in the Muslim world. ”
Good to see you finally admit that Islam is a major obstacle in the way of science (compared to other religions at least).
“However Nobel Prizes don’t whitwash Zionist crimes.”
As I very clearly mentioned already, I’m not talking about the territorial dispute, that’s an entirely different topic, can’t understand why it’s so hard for you to get that through your head. Out of curiosity, are you parents cousins by any chance?
“You are an incorrigible Islamophobe. Keep digging yourself into a hole.”
I guess I finally understand why most people here just go around throwing the word pedophile and desert cult and don’t bother posting a whole lot of facts to get their point across, you’re deluded and stubborn as hell.
Are you stupid? It’s not that difficult to understand the difference between a religion that THEOLOGICALLY justifies Caste (as the disgusting “Laws of Manu” do) and one which explictly insists that all believers are equal in Allah’s eyes. All Muslims can pray together in mosques. We have no concept of “untouchables” polluting temples. South Asian Muslim culture has been influenced by the majority Hindu society. That’s simply a fact.
It’s not “bashing” Hinduism to point out that you all were treating women very badly up until fairly recently in History. Islam was revealed in thr 7th century yet there was no concept of widows being killed. Islam gave women the right to divorce in which case the husband had to pay back the “haq mehar”. It’s foolish to argue that it was not a progressive religion for its time.
Again, sectarian violence is not the topic. Don’t deflect.
Talking about my parents being cousins is completely below the belt and unacceptable (and no they’re not. We don’t do that in my family).
Settler-colonialism is not a “territorial dispute”. If you had any intelligence you’d understand that distinction. And arguing about Nobel Prizes is a bad argument.
You are an extremely stupid and bigoted asshole. I’m done with you. But don’t pretend to be some injured neutral party. You’ve revealed the depths of your Islamophobia.
So many comments!
You’re doing something special, Razib.
1. there is much more to south indian brahmin landscape than just tambrams. kannada and telugu brahmins are also good in many ways, but are not always vocal and ‘don’t sell themselves’ like tambrams.
in any case americans will have a half a tambram as their vp in 4 months time!!!.
2. me feels that north indians can improve their iq by eating curd rice with a small lemon pickle.
Add tamarind rice and coconut rice
And freshly cooked rice with tamarind pickle (chintakaaya tokku) and some curd! 🙂
Preferable to eat Illish and Chingri like the Bengalis.
Y’all need to be reminded of the contributions the South made to Hinduism as we recognize it today, including…
– Bhakti movements (so much literature)
– Shankara (the man), advaita philosophy
– Ramanuja, (vashishtadvaita philosophy)
– Madhva (dvaita philosophy)
– Vijayanagara Empire
– Sayana, in the Vijayanagara Empire, who gives us some of the latest medieval commmentaries
– Sarvadarshanasangraha, a great explication of all Indian philosophies
– Beautiful temples.
Just saying. Hindutva is working because of localization. Don’t get all chauvinistic.
In some ways, parts of South India feels the most Hindu. Unexpected parts, too.
I always felt more Hindu/Dharmic compared to my North Indian counterparts. I attended NIT-Calicut where top 1-2 percentile of India goes to school. You’ll get to meet people from every part of the country and a few Lankans, Bangladeshis also. Knowledge of Ithihaasas, Puranas of North Indian folk was abysmal at best. They were so disconnected to Dharma! However, they showed the attitude of a typical BJP supporter.
“ Knowledge of Ithihaasas, Puranas of North Indian folk was abysmal at best. They were so disconnected to Dharma! ”
People who own the religion, do not need to justify it. It’s like asking Arabs about Islam.
As Hoju said the south has “contributed”. The north birthed the religion
Agree with Hoju. Add Vallabhacharya from Telangana to the list – the man behind the Vaishnava transformation of Gujarat and Rajasthan(?)
When Trump throws us out we should all spend time working in UAE before reaching India. This little gem of a country rocks! May they find what they are looking for and more!
Best of luck to UAE’s mars mission, first Arab space mission.
It would be interesting to know the contribution of UAE/Arab states in this venture – is it simply buying off the shelf technology from another country , or was the major components like rockets, satellites, navigation system , etc designed in UAE etc
Acc to Wikipedia “According to an estimate by the World Bank, the UAE’s population in 2018 stands at 9.543 million. Expatriates and immigrants account for 88.52% while Emiratis make up the remaining 11.48%”
Sometimes I think small authoritarian arab sheikhdoms are interested in paying lip service to modernity by buying things off the shelf or Collect Trophy like ‘collecting’ M.F.Hussien at the age of 90 as he was an internationally known painter
However, UAE plays it’s part in the world economy in this way.
“The spacecraft orbiter is a planned mission to Mars to study the Martian atmosphere and climate built by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, University of Colorado, Arizona State University, and University of California, Berkeley.”
“The spacecraft was built at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, at the University of Colorado at Boulder and will be launched from Japan.”
Looks more like American universities built one for them. Not surprised in the slightest.
Honestly we (Indians) don’t have the strength or mandate to adjudicate on matters of allocating national prestige. I am in if for the sparkles and the fireworks and any opportunity that we can get out of it. After all it is their money to spend(or waste) and nothing we say or do will make them smarter or dumber so why even bother scrutinizing .
I am happy either ways, whether they learned something out of making it with Americans or if they hired Americans wholesale. I have met a few Emiratis and a lot of Egyptians that are world class at engineering so they might have trained their own(or other Arabs) and absorbed a lot of the skills. If not then there are always Indians to be hired. We should be simply grateful for any opportunities Emiratis will eventually give us.
@Bhimrao,
agreed. make the best use of opportunities available. I am for rich people spending as much money around the world on whatever strikes their fancy for a good Keynesian pump strategy
Unfair to beat up UAE for collaborating with the US for a Mars Mission. It is a tiny country – basically a collection of city states with a super limited human resource available. If they want to diversify into high-end engineering more power to them.
It is *always* a good thing when humans from diverse cultures come together to problem solve (whatever the optics of the situation).
Its’ Arab Singapore
\Arab Singapore\
Much worse; mostly a rentier state you can do any business as long as there is local Arab partner who naturally gets half the profit for being there and you do the heavy work. Workers have to live in 15 guys in a small shed with no rights. No questions asked as to how you make money or how much money you make as long as the local gets his cut.
I believe Singapore is less rentier with less brazen exploitation
Not really being harsh.
UAE has a higher GDP per capita than many space-faring nations and also a very good HDI score. Israel has a better HDI score but has a smaller population and a much lower GDP per capita, and they’ve done quite well in space, doesn’t see any reason for UAE to struggle. Nevertheless, better late than never, good for them.
I personally expect something from South-East Asia too, large population, better GDP per capita than India and somewhat varying HDI scores.
Have no clue about central Asian countries or what to expect though.
Some comments on buying off the shelf stuff.
I know for a fact that ISRO buys all the clever top tier stuff like Synthetic Aperture Radars for RISATs off the shelf from Israel Aerospace Industries and in case of perpetually delayed ISRO-NASA NISAR the radar is made by JPL+Northrop. Same is the case for top-tier imaging cameras that are bought off the shelf from the US. Our future rocket (for Unified Launch Vehicle) engines are Ukrainian and despite whatever lies people tell the cryogenic engines were ‘Made in India'(by Russians).
Emiratis are starting out in the big-ego-space-guys club let us hope that they will like us enough and hand us a lot of their money in exchange for our expertise.
ISRO/Antrix is more after the payload delivery market, rather than satellite making and such.
I come from a Tam Brahm background and I do believe the cultural values are more important than anything else. I think South Indian Brahmin’s basic values of honesty, integrity and hard work are the base layers and go beyond IQ. I grew up in Mumbai in the 1970s and early 80s and my parents would buy 2 newspapers (TOI and IE) and the family would fight for the newspapers every single day. We were avid readers of any reading material available including my grandmother who likely was born in the 1890s. If there were two Tam Brahms in a room, you had three opinions. So, it is not about schooling, it is what is going on outside the classroom. We will learn more about epigenetics in the next decades and we will recognize it’s importance in brain function and wiring – i.e. nurture is nature.
I think our genes are the same, it is what we do with it and how our brains ‘wire or rewire themselves’ that matters.
IsThisReal taking it back to 2012, with the, “I’m 15 and just watched a Sam Harris youtube video” takes.
Nice, another one.
Calling me 15 and assuming that I watch Sam Harris totally refuted everything I said.
Shows your level of maturity, grow up tbh.
Don’t know how many of you read about her abduction when the report came out last year, but it was her case where the Sindh High Court declared that if a girl has had her first menstrual cycle, she can be married (going against a law that was previously in place)-
I guess, soon enough, even the open thread might be closed 😛
If people are going to attack Islam, they best believe I’m going to go after their Hinduism. Other than that, I’m a very chill person. But don’t attack my country or my religion.
If one a Muslim attacks Hinduism. I doesn’t follow that I attack all of Islam.
It’s not one person. People on this site have a regular habit of trashing Islam.
If you’re going to trash my religion, you better be prepared for me to dish it out.
That’s up to you, but just know that you are then engaging in the same identitarian mudslinging you accuse the others of engaging in.
It’s the way of the world I suppose everyone feels attacked by other groups and wants to attack them back in return.
I am guilty of that sometimes too. But I don’t think that’s good for any of the people involved in the exchange. So I am trying to improve.
I just feel that u are going after Hinduism/India even b4 someone goes at Islam/Pak.
I know u are a chill person. Everyone i meet IRL is more saner than their online version. Just dont take all these things that seriously.
I don’t even discuss Hinduism until people decide to spout nonsense like Islam being the “most backward” religion. How does one even quantify “most backward”? And it was an Indian Hindu who called the Holy Quran “lame and primitive”. There is no need for such gratuituous disrespect. And the same people think “monkey god” is offensive (when that is how Wikipedia even describes Lord Hanuman. Is he not a monkey now?). People who believe in monkey gods and elephant gods really shouldn’t be criticizing the idea that the Holy Quran was divinely revealed to the Prophet of God. Purely on the basis of scientific rationality, both beliefs are irrational.
I have nothing against India. I am open about disliking the Hindutva Regime (as do many Indian citizens). The Regime is not India. But for some people here even the most liberal Pakistani is not good enough.
Some people here make every topic somehow about Islam and Pakistan. The Hagia Sophia thread had to be closed because somehow even that got on to Pakistan. It’s getting very tiresome actually.
Analysis | The Beijing-Islamabad equation of the 1960s
“We had good relations with India for several years. Then when we took Tibet back, India got annoyed… India not only infringed on 90,000 square kilometers of Chinese territory but they want all of Tibet as well…The Indian people are good, but capitalists like [Jawaharlal] Nehru are not good,” Mao added.
In Zhou’s view, India wanted to occupy the Aksai Chin region — namely, “their so-called Ladakh”. The Chinese Premier said that while Pakistan wanted China to support the right of self-determination of the Kashmiris, “in fact our actions already go beyond this”, a transcript of the November 1963 conversation, also available in the Wilson Centre Digital Archive, stated.
“We have settled the Sino-Pakistani border question with you; the people of the world understand this, and it indicates that we acknowledge that this region belongs to you. Even though there remains something left unsaid, this is only because of the stipulations of international law — [Pakistani] Ambassador [Agha Mohamed] Raza knows this; but we will talk again after the sovereignty jurisdiction issue has been settled,” Zhou added.”
“Islam is the “most flawed”? The Hindu caste system is the most disgusting institution ever and has no place in the 21st century. There is no concept of “untouchability” in Islam.”
As already explained above, there is no comparison between a religion which THEOLOGICALLY justies caste and one in which all believers are equal in God’s eyes. Your bigoted and disgusting “Laws of Manu” actually state that Brahmins were born from God’s head and Shudras from God’s feet. The Holy Quran says nothing of the kind.
Listen Hindutvadi, I’m not playing around. You come after my Islam again and I will absolutely destroy your Hinduism in such a way that you will go crying home to your mother. You’ve picked the wrong person to fuck with.
\here is no comparison between a religion which THEOLOGICALLY justies caste\
Hey Hey I like this pop theology. let me also do some pop theology
White skin is prized in The theology so much so that as a reward for good muslim life one gets 72 virgins who are white. Lot of people have written about racism and slavery in Islam and islamic societies; just an example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4KMOfN0Oeo
Islam offers a bogus equality combined with real social discrimination – otherwise why should Muslims vote with their feet against Islamic societies and immigrate to non-Muslim countries , either legally or illegally.
While Hinduism is relaxed about caste inequalities, laws of karma are applicable to all the people irrespective of caste
And we get the 72 virgins thing again.
Grow up Islamophobes. You people are pathetic.
Dalit Muslims are going to be the new Triple Talaaq for the Indian right in the coming decade.
Some modest proposals:
– Now that OTs are getting popular with lots of comments, it’s long past to reform/fix the comment system
– Let’s start with quoting, which is non-existent right now
– And while we’re at it, why not an ignore function? I don’t see the point of Milan’s endless “muh serb” spam in every single thread. Nor do I get why Kabir’s bottomless butthurt about his hyperfragile islamic identity needs to clog up all the threads.
– make the text smaller
– implement a way to minimise an entire thread
– in fact, implement a comment thread function to begin with.
The best commenting system I’ve seen thus far is on Unz. SSC, before Scott shut it down, also had a decent system. Hell, even a half-assed solution like Disqus is better than the mess we got now.
Peace.
Even highly offensive and inappropriate comments shouldn’t be removed because these will help us to know more and see the true face of humanity.
More comments=more popular website
But the texting limit should be reduced as too long comments are difficult to be read. Efforts can be taken so that reading threads and understanding threads become easy even for an outsider.
It’s very simple. Don’t attack my country or religion and I won’t attack yours back.
But I agree with you that the ability to block people would be very useful (especially our resident Serbian nationalist).
Yeah the Serbian stuff is an eyesore. Like one comment is great but seeing 10 of the same thing is too much.
Also on a side note the genetics and population topics are the best topics on the site.
I am a big fan of Milan. There are deep commonalities between Serbia and ancient historical greater India. You can disagree with Milan about WHY these deep similarities exist . . . but that does not change that these deep similarities exist.
There appears to have been deep extensive cultural/language/technology/civilizational exchange between Serbia and India several thousand years BC.
This requires far greater study.
Milan asserts that many great civilizations across southern, eastern Europe and the near east were closely interlocked with the Serbian civilizations. If this nomenclature bothers you so much . . . then please subtitute “East European” for Serb.
A good profile on someone who was far left growing up to now become a leading star for Torys
I had a Grad-mate who moved in the opposite direction. Its strange how this things happen
Good article. Also striking to me how the Conservatives in the UK are able to recruit and keep a significant non white talent pool in their ranks. The Tories do not seem to be seen as an anti-minority party in the way the Republicans are in the US. Any thoughts why?
Curious, there’s a lot of shared heritage between US and UK conservatives for sure, but certain distinctions might explain what you observe. Brexit populism notwithstanding, tories are still anchored to aristocratic values in certain ways (if watered down), in contrast, US conservatives since Reagan made a clean break in leadership from the east coast patrician establishment (cabot lodge, nelson rockefeller ect). Monarchism can accommodate cosmopolitanism better than the reaganite package. Furthermore, in a profoundly biracial society like the US, the dynamics of polarisation will always play on racial distinctions. Even fairly conservative people in the UK are surprisingly ok with non-assimilating minorities. There’s still a hangover colonial view which encourages things “remaining to type”. US populism requires a common ethos, in lieu of a symbolic figurehead.
I think we are reading 2 much into post Post Trump Republican party. Perhaps the Republican party has fundamentally changed, and can’t go back. But i dont think the pre Obama Republican party was as anti-minority as today. Or at least wasn;t perceived as such. And that was also as Reagan-esque as they come.
Also as much as we like it, to Boris is not Trump. So we can already see that the Tory;s haven’t moved as much as Republicans have shifted. So they are in pre tea party Republican phase in a way. Perhaps we are reading 2 much into Monarchism thing here.
Saurav, personally i wouldn’t call the current trumpian repubs or the pre-obama repubs anti-minority or racist. But the parochialism of us conservatism is a perception. In my experience, white american republicans want a minority like myself to be more like them socially, and they have no quarrel with me otherwise. In the UK, they don’t care if i am like them at all, but just that we honour the same things. Hence, the brits love their sikhs to keep the turban and religion, just pin a royal crest on the former, while americans want a nikki haley who’s like any other south carolina lady, but brown. US doesn’t have that court tradition of colonial subjects lined up in colourful native dress, aggrandizing the idea of a global empire.
LOL, so u mean UK’S Conservatives have some sort of benign racism (like benign dictatorship). Perhaps racism is a strong word for it. Like they love benign stereotypes. Got it.
Curious, remember that:
—in the 1992 US presidential election 55% of Asian Americans voted Republican (perhaps this was partly related to the 1992 riots in LA)
—in the 2000 US presidential election 78% of muslims voted Republican
—in the 2004 US presidential election 44% of Latinos voted Republican
Trump is currently seeing a surge in Latino support and a significant drop in caucasian support with respect to Joe Biden.
‘Real Ayodhya’ here, Lord Ram is Nepali not Indian’: Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli’s stunning new claim
“We have been oppressed a bit culturally. Facts have encroached. We still believe that we gave Sita to Indian Prince Ram. But we gave to the prince from Ayodhya, not India. Ayodhya is a village a little west to Birgunj, not the Ayodhya created now (sic),” Oli said at an event at his official residence in Baluwatar.”
Nepal doesnt have many options honestly. Landlocked, pretty populated, no native entrepreneurial communities. Depopulation is the only foreseeable future. Even in the vaunted tourism sector, its dollar earnings are merely 2% that of India’s.
I wonder what they could have done differently ? Pressed on India to connect Kathmandu to the rail network ? Worked with us to build more dams ? Been more open to business castes and sought more investment ?
“I wonder what they could have done differently”
It could have become China’s client state and enjoyed the goodies earlier. That’s what it feels it could have done differently. Since India’s goodies to relation ratio is not up to the mark.
This week Iran and China will sign on a 400B deal. Pakistan has CPEC. Sri Lanka has ports and stuff. All this could have been Nepal, had it moved out of India’s stranglehold some decades back. At least that the belief in Khatmandu.
When I was younger I would think why would Indian princes sign such stupid deals with the British? Why didn’t they do *fill in the blanks* differently? Why didn’t they think about the future?
When I see China pulling their tricks so successfully now (even now!) even on Islamic republics, I realize what the Ayatoolahs, Sharifs, Olis and Rajpakshas of the past were thinking.
We are in for another round of drubbing this time at the hands of yellow people brought to you by over-smart railway-line/port-to-nowhere loving princes.
PRC is East India Company combined with Her Proletarian Majesty’s govt.
Notwithstanding my criticism or other’s criticism , I admire China for their bold initiatives on a mega scale . Their industry, capital spending ‘ organization skills, engineering , science and technology are rising to the occasion.
I hope there is a competition between India and China like that of Germany and Britain in early 20th century – without ending in a Great War.
No one thinks about the future, all the S-Asian countries are under tremendous pressure and their leaders know they are in just one election away from being thrown out. Sometimes not even an election, in case of Nepal, SL, Pak.
So they try to maximize the “present” by burdening the “future”. Not unlike our own Indian leaders. And its no use crying colonization, colonization when u cant match the price (at the bare minimum).
@Saurav
You are a defeatist
Its one thing to have ambitions, and quite another to know one’s capability to achieve them. If the latter makes me a defeatist, perhaps i am.
Well, the OBOR is already faltering. China is not a reliable partner because it wont let anyone access its own markets.
The irony here is that Chinese investment into India, the one poor country which is not in the OBOR, is led by its businesses. This is the kind of investment developing countries should be seeking.
OBOR is not faltering because its aim is neither to increase trade nor military use, but increasing stake in those country politics, while guaranteeing ROI for Chinese enterprise who are bankrolling them, where other entities wont fund. If there are positive knock on effects , its great (for the recipient country) , anyhow Chinese are no Americans and will get their pound of flesh.
Look at Hambantota and CPEC. Chinese haven;t lost anything. On the contrary their returns are guaranteed.
The second link is very informative. It raises another question why did the Chinese buy such a loss making port?
Also any educated person can look at the stretch north of Karimabad with the tongues of Gulmit, Ghulkin, Pasu and Batura glaciers almost touching the Karakoram Highway and conclude that it is stupidity to think CPEC was about trade route.
On the money side of things ‘mian biwi razi toh kya karega kazi’, let the Chinese take a juicy pound of flesh.
On Hambantota, the Chinese equity is safe, there is no dilution on the Principle, only the interest charged has perhaps changed, which i guess is small mercies.
“On the money side of things ‘mian biwi razi toh kya karega kazi’, let the Chinese take a juicy pound of flesh.”
I think we Indians have a view that colonization has the same meaning and history for all nations. Its ins;t. Pakistan is a gr8 example.
Does everyone support shutting down all charter schools and defunding the police as a condition for reopening public schools?
“Listen Hindutvadi, I’m not playing around. You come after my Islam again and I will absolutely destroy your Hinduism in such a way that you will go crying home to your mother. You’ve picked the wrong person to fuck with.”
Enough of your nonsense, inbred retard.
Time and again you’ve refused to answer why Muslims still follow the caste system. Nobody asked how it began or anything, why do they still follow it if “everyone is equal in the eyes of allah” or whatever other bs you believe in? Why can’t you answer a simple question? Others have already posted links to reports about untouchability among Muslims. Why are they still following it? Who’s asking the everyday Muslim to treat Muslims from other caste differently? Are they being paid? Do they have a gun to their head?
“Again, sectarian violence is not the topic. Don’t deflect.”
And who in the whole wide world told you that you’re the one who gets to decide the topic here? Is there a written rule on this thread? Stop being a cowardly little bitch and don’t deflect when I speak about Ahmadis.
You brought up caste, I brought up sects. And now you hide like the coward you are.
Also, India has reservations for lower caste people and the Government is trying to help them rise up slowly but gradually. On the other hand, in Islam, it’s the other way around, people never miss a chance to kill and attack Hazara Shias and Ahmadis. “Intolerant Hindoo India” is actually safer for Ahmadis and Hazara Shias. You have zero guts to even acknowledge the presence of Ahmadis.
Someone who follows a cult that regularly kills people, burns their mosques down and even asks for violence against other groups (even in the west) shouldn’t be bitching about caste.
As for your holy quran being so high and mighty-
It LITERALLY asks husbands to beat their wives (and don’t you dare fucking say it asks them to “beat lightly” or that it’s “symoblic” or any other deceptive bullshit you western muslims come up with in order to sugarcoat shit and make it more acceptable) if they’re disobedient. And there’s a term for this in the civilized world- it’s called DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. Even muhammad hurt his child-bride Aisha in one of the hadiths, if I’m not wrong. Such a peaceful act.
Women are also not free to marry non-muslims men (“idolaters” to be exact) but muslim men can. What a shining beacon of equality. And I don’t think I need to point out how it speaks about sexual slavery, there are multiple quotes about it.
It calls women “tilth” and that men can do as they want. And I’m only speaking about the quran here, haven’t mentioned any hadiths (except for the Aisha one), which have far worse things. If I start mentioning the hadiths, there will be no end to how long my comments will go.
And quran is the holiest book in Islam, Hinduism has no such equivalent. So before you try blabbering “Hinduism says this, Hinduism says that”, just write it all down in a piece of paper and shove it up your ass, because it means nothing as long as all Hindus agree on one single book/scripture to be the most important.
And I don’t think I even have to say anything about the barbaric and inhumane way in which homosexuality and apostasy/atheism are looked at in large parts of the Islamic world.
And the biggest difference here is that Hinduism (you can try to talk shit all you want but the ground reality is that things are still changing) has undergone reforms and is still undergoing cultural changes (and Christianity underwent reforms too), whereas Islam has seen little to no changes for centuries and centuries, and there’s no reform in sight either. Anyone who even remotely deviates from the quran immediately comes under attack. And no other religion has caused more deaths than Islam in the 21st century (please don’t begin barking about the past again like some rabid dog). Why don’t I see ISIS, Boko Haram, equivalents of Christianity or Hinduism today? You can bitch about “but but isis and boko haram are not true islam” but the fact still remains that those people are using verses of the quran, the same quran that you so love to defend, and they’re killing and raping anyone that doesn’t agree with them.
Ridiculous that I have to point out so many things to put my point across. I thought the lack of Muslim presence in modern science and technology was more than enough to infer that most Muslims are caught up with religion. Their lives and personalities revolve around religion.
Listen Hindutvadi,
Your disgusting and primitive religion features a lady married to five men at the same time (and that too brothers). Even Muslims as “backward” as you think we are would never do such a disgusting thing. No man can marry his brother’s wife.
Your women used to run around bare chested until the British taught them to wear clothes. Muslim women have always been properly dressed because the Holy Quran tells them that there are certain parts of their body that only their husbands are allowed to see.
Whatever little culture North Indians have was brought to you by the great Indo-Islamic dynasties.
You are pathetic and digusting losers practicing a disgusting and primitive religion. Don’t ever fucking troll Islam again. Go to hell.
What’s wrong with allowing women to be topless in public?
They’ve passed rules in several Western jurisdictions (or case law has dictated) that permit women to be topless in public. Mostly on the grounds that it is discriminatory (men are allowed to be topless in public) and rooted in some rather puritanical values that are waning.
And let’s not talk about the “CIVILIZED WORLD”– Your India is a third world Hindu majoritarian shithole. People like you are certainly not part of the civilized world.
Go crawl back into your hole Hindu scum. If you come after me, I will fucking shove your balls so far up your mouth you will have no idea what happened to you.
IsThisReal,
Kabir appears not to be curious about or have studied the holy Koran, Kutub al-Sittah, Sira, Twelver Jafari Hadiths, Islamic scholars and jurisprudence contributors such as Gazali and Ibn Taymiyah, Islamic Auliyas, Pirs and Faqirs. Lot alone any other tradition/culture/civilization around the world. Kabir doesn’t appear to have a very serious daily religious practice other than his music. He is a very skilled singer and musician. It would be more productive to engage with Kabir on subjects that interest him and that he has studied.
Dialogue about Islam with people who are at least curious about Islam and have a daily spiritual practice of any sort (for example native American.)
I have a different perspective on some of your points on Islam. Remember that Islam has many strands full of love and light
would suggest ppl please hold back on trolling kabir too much. don’t want to deal with a psychotic break
I think that’s a part of the problem.
He keeps going on because most people here don’t bother correcting him much or speak back in his own language. And the whole “I only reply here because you speak about my religion and country” is just a bs excuse.
He wasn’t being challenged much so far and now that he is, he’s showing his true colours.
IsThisReal, are you questions about Islam for real and not rhetorical?
It would take some time to respond to all of them.
Do you think the Holy Koran that people read today on earth is completely identical in every way to the Holy Koran in heaven that Arch Angel Gabriel read from?
While you may assert that the vast majority of the holy Koran is not edited . . . how certain are you that there was zero editing?
The Holy Koran was compiled, assembled and written by Hazrat Aisha circa 650 AD (18 to 20 years after the passing of the prophet pbuh) as per official Sunni and Shia accounts.
We need to read these controversial verses in the holy Koran in this light and consider the circumstances around the prophet pbuh when he uttered said passages.
Several people around the prophet pbuh were trying to trap him into answering questions wrong so that they could kill him. The prophet pbuh was in continuous danger of being jumped by his nominal “followers.” The prophet pbuh said what he needed to say in each moment and circumstance.
Please talk to spiritual muslims and liberal muslims in private. There is a different discourse in private than in public.
The best way our species can deal with the existential Islamist threat is to support the freedom of art and thought of muslims and encourage dialogue. Dialogue allows the sweetness of love to melt hearts.
If you want to do more than the above, then talk to good muslims and ask them how you can help.
“While you may assert that the vast majority of the holy Koran is not edited . . . how certain are you that there was zero editing?”
Is a Browncast with the psychologist Rob Henderson possible? He has an unconventional history, and posts lots of reading stuff on twitter. Might be an interesting conversation.
rob is a friend. so sure
Razib was right again about you being a retard who takes every single Hindu book word for word and uses it as an argument. Goes to show what a dumb and weak little shit you are. Pretty much every argument you made is from the past.
I’m talking about the 21ST CENTURY, and you’re talking about an ancient Hindu epic. Totally a fair debate. Don’t even know who let inbred cunts like you use the Internet.
And modern-day Muslims practice polygamy to this day, even though it is known to have detrimental effects on society. Shithole religion is shithole. Treats women as sex slaves and nothing else. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy#/media/File:Legality_of_polygamy.svg
Do let me know how many polygamy or polyamory cases among Hindus you’ve come across in the 21ST CENTURY.
Let me guess, you also think western people are inferior because they cloth very revealingly, especially at the beach? Nothing else to be expected from desert cult gang, zero freedom whatsoever and tons of delusion and what not. Once again you’ve shown that desert cult gang really only cares about women as sex objects and has zero respect for them, thanks for proving my point you clown.
“Whatever little culture North Indians have was brought to you by the great Indo-Islamic dynasties.”
Thanks for saying that, guess that explains why Southern India performs better in most fields, goes to show what a shitty influence the barbaric and primitive religion of Islam has. No wonder Pakistan is the worst country in the subcontinent. Anyone can kidnap, rape and impregnate a Christian girl for 9 months and nobody does anything- https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/39994
In any other country (including India) this would’ve been all over the news and people would’ve been protesting in the thousands. But in the primitive shithole religion started by a pedophile, this is something very normal and a part of the religion.
“You are pathetic and digusting losers practicing a disgusting and primitive religion. Don’t ever fucking troll Islam again. Go to hell.”
Lol not even close. Islam is truly the shittiest and most vile, disgusting religion there ever is. And its followers are inbred as hell and you can’t expect anything useful from most of them, like I pointed in the beginning.
And even after almost half a dozen replies, you still don’t have the balls to acknowledge how Hazara Shias and Ahmadis are treated.
Cowardly piece of shit, enjoyed having your teeth kicked in? Or did you go home crying to your mother like the whiny little bitch that you are?
You also didn’t acknowledge the fact that your piece of crap quran is the one responsible for most acts of terrorism in the 21st century.
There’s a reason why it’s the most hated religion on the planet. It’s total fucking shit. It’s disgusting, barbaric and stupid as hell.
Who the legit fuck in their right minds would praise a war-mongering pedophile? I guess it doesn’t make a difference when your parents are cousins though.
My parents aren’t cousins. Neither are any of my grandparents. Don’t let that stop you from being a disgusting bigot though.
Your culture is the one which burns women to death for not bringing enough dowry. You Hindus have no business casting your dirty eyes on the Holy Quran.
Next time you feel like attacking a Muslim, remember that we ruled over you for centuries, married your women, converted them to Islam and produced Muslim heirs from them. It was the British who dislodged us from the Lal Qila, not you pathetic Hindu shits. If it hadn’t been for the Brits, the Mughal Dynasty would be ruling the entire subcontinent today.
Don’t even talk to your superiors. Stay in your lane.
And if you comment about me again, I will cut off your balls and feed them to you. Don’t fuck with me, you Hindu piece of shit.
Stfu Kabir, everyone can see that you’re clearly an inbred retard.
Hilarious that you have zero points other than ancient stuff like Sati. And you yourself admitted that Sati isn’t practiced anymore in 2 previous comments of yours. Why bring it up again? No more ammo?
“remember that we ruled over you for centuries, married your women, converted them to Islam and produced Muslim heirs from them”
Who is this “we”? lol
Your ancestors the ones who were raped and converted you clown, retarded cuck bragging about being cucked.
“If it hadn’t been for the Brits, the Mughal Dynasty would be ruling the entire subcontinent today.”
But they aren’t : ^)
What are you gonna do about it kabir? Whine about it as usual like the whiny little bitch that your mother raised you to be?
There are more muslims than Hindus today, what’s stopping your “brave” little group of people from taking over India?
Your inbred gang can’t even take down a tiny country like Israel lol, tight slap in the face of the entire ummah, nothing but a bunch of weaklings
And gotta love China for grabbing the entire ummah by the balls, you can’t even dare speak against them, let alone take action
Remember your “aukaat”, warmongering pedophile worshipper
: )
You clearly can’t read. Sati and dowry deaths are two different things. Dowry deaths are still being practiced today.
Learn English before arguing on the Internet.
You people take glory in honour killing and wanna talk trash about others who are trying to improve, lol.
India has 6 times the population of Pakistan and yet both countries have around 1000 honour killings a year (and Muslims are responsible for many of the honour killings in India too). http://hbv-awareness.com/regions/
“While in both India and Pakistan there have been a great deal of discussion around ‘honour’ killings, India has taken more assertive legal action, including awarding the death penalty to large numbers of persons who have colluded in murder. In Pakistan, there is more of a culture of impunity and while police reports may be filed, there is often little follow-up, particularly in rural areas.”
No wonder even popular celebs like Qandeel Baloch aren’t safe.
And you still haven’t acknowledged violence against Ahmadis, what a filthy, major coward. It’s out in the open for everyone to read about your cowardice.
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little mleccha? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Dronacharya’s ashram, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Abbottabad, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in dharmic warfare and I’m the top archer in the entire maratha army. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Loka, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, goatfucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of rishis across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with my mantras. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of Astras and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, kiddo.
Haha, your “rishis” are looking in the wrong place. If you really want to come after me, send them to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Hindu loser.
my rishi network has enough spiritual power to strike you anywhere in the world
also I’m not hindu, lol. You just need some help getting over yourself.
You used the word “mleecha”. I don’t think non-Hindus use that word.
I don’t need to “get over myself”. Having core aspects of one’s identity attacked over and over again by ignorant trolls gets tiresome after a while. It’s extremely toxic.
Parody and fun are lost on some
Lol, I just feel sorry that you wrote such a long parody comment and still ended up offending Kabir.
“don’t talk to your superiors” lmfao
Man we have pushed Kabir to Pakdefense. Indthings now sounds quite rational in comparison.
I wonder why this forum attracts so many people who take pride in ancestral cucking? They venerate their rapist grand daddies over everything and disown the majority of their indic aboriginal blood. At least 20% white Aframs still identify as Black. Kabir thinks his minor outside ancestry, relatively lighter skin sub continental ancestry, and islamic faith make him superior, especially compared to darker hindus?
Sounds more like General Bajwa and the “Dravidian Hindu oppression of Muslim Aryan Kashmiris.” Just remember, that if power was his, he might go genocidal at the scale of millions of raped and killed like a Niazi.
Weren’t you the one defending him. Saying how tolerant he is.
he proved me wrong.
According to Mr. Patel, when someone is a police suspect in a crime, witnesses at the scene will describe the suspect as a “proportion” of admixture levels and ancestry as opposed to an actual person with a racial identity.
“What did the suspect look like?”
“He looked like he was 85% White and 15% Asian.”
“No, what race did he look like?”
“He looked like he was a 85/15 member of the South Asian race.”
“What race is that? What does that even mean?”
“JAI SHREE KRISHNA! My Dhoklas are burning, sorry officer gotta go!”
Keep living your delusions. I’m done talking to wackos and insane people in denial. Good evening.
Can thewarlock and APthk please post their pictures here? Women posters (and gay males) can rate them both, and others can adjudicate their contesting claims.
For science
They already did, Žile. I’ve seen both.
“At least 20% White Afram still identify as black”
BINGO! This is indeed what I have been trying to explain to people here all along, and I’m glad Mr. Patel agrees. South Asians who have greater than 80% of their ancestry from West Asia/the Steppes are completely justified in not identifying as a generic “Brown” person or “Desi” and instead identifying as West Asian/Caucasian just like African Americans, who are anywhere from 15 to 20% White on average, and 80% to 85% Black, still identify as Black.
The other issue to keep in mind is, Hindu Jats and Rors are around 85-86% West Asian on average, so even more West Eurasian than African Americans, and Jats dont have any SSA admixture whatsoever, they have SE Asian admixture (SSA= Sub-Saharan-African)
This makes Hindu Jats even more similar to Western Eurasians, including many West Asians like Persians, peoples of the Caucasus, Turks (with the exceptions of Arabs, who often have SSA admixture) and Eastern Europeans, who also have some significant Asian admixture of some sort in most cases (ranging from 5% to 15-20%), just like Jatts have SE Asian admixture.
Hindu Jatts themselves look completely West Asian as well, due to ancient stabilized minor admixture, just like other West Asians who share a similar ethnogenesis. Therefore, Hindu Jatts/Rors are completely justified in identifying as West Asians living in South Asia. I’m glad some people here who had trouble understanding this simple idea, have finally come to their senses. Jai Shree Krishna!
IVC component is S Asian. it forms plurality of S Asian DNA. It is also West Eurasian in origin but a defining feature of S Asian genetics. Even some basal 10% or so steppe which is norm in N indians.
Again I am 65 35 west to east. You are 85 15. We aren’t as far apart as you would like and that bothers you. Get over it. Your DNA is quite indic. You have an extra say 20% that isn’t a big fucking deal. You are majority West Eurasian. Well so are most Indians. But you are also majority indic DNA (IVC+AASI). You can choose to identify as whatever and make whatever oddball phenotypic claims you want.
We have all seen Hindu Jatts. There is a reason no one believes your claims. They defy reality. Hindu Jats look like what they are, West shifted on average S Asians. There are some extremes sure but they are outliers.
Also, go ahead and identify as majority West Eurasian. I guess I do too because it is technically true. Neither of us are full West Eurasian. You just draw a line in the sand to say you magically qualify by your arbitrary standard. And who cares anyway? It’s not even a label anyone outside of this niche knows.
You are a S Asian. Your genetics show it. Your people look S Asian, just west shifted on average. You will live. Take a chill pill and accept it.
I also know your genica ID. People are sending me enough stuff about you. I’d still like to meet in real life to clear the air. Keyboard wars are redundant and boring.
Ah, I see. So the logic that applies to other ethnic groups and races doesn’t apply to people living in South Asia. African Americans that are only 15% White have every right to identify as Black, and are doing the right thing, but Hindu Jats who are 15% SE Asian AKA AASI, and 85% West Asian, are “Brown” and no different from Gujarati Patels that look like a different race in front of them. Even if Hindu Jats look West Asian, and even though other West Asians also harbor Asian ancestry in varying amounts. LMAO!
Of course, this is according to you, as you suspend all logic and reasoning skills and common-sense, and ignore the facts, when it comes to analyzing the racial diversity of South Asians. Because otherwise, it would result in the dismantling of your delusional framework and narrative that seeks to paint all South-Asians as a monolithic group that are simply “Brown people” — Haha! What an idiot. Anyone can see right through your foolish attempts at justifying your idiotic views. You contradict yourself, and when cornered spew the same BS over and over and over. What can I say? Arguing with idiots is truly a waste of time. But I’ll humor you one last time.
“IVC component is S Asian. it forms plurality of S Asian DNA. It is also West Eurasian in origin but a defining feature of S Asian genetics.”
How can the IVC component be “South Asian” when it is “West Asian” in origin, as you yourself state here? It is impossible for it to be fundamentally South Asian if it originates from West Asia, is shared with West Asians, and if it is a component that reaches max levels among modern-day West Eurasians like the Brahui and others. Furthermore, it is fundamentally alien to the subcontinent in true terms because it represents Caucasian ancestry, something that is invasive to the subcontinent from the very beginning.
You are just saying that it is “South Asian” because the majority of South Asians share the IVC component in varying amounts. That doesn’t make it “South Asian” my friend, because it still originates from West Asia and is a West Asian component. That would be like saying that the European ancestry in Latinos in general, including White and non-White Latinos, who share more than 60% of their ancestry with Europeans on average, is an “American” component that is indigenous to Latin America, when in reality, it originates from Europe. No, it is still European in origin, and the fact that most Latinos share this European ancestry as a major component doesn’t change that fact. The Asian/Native American ancestry in Latinos, on the other hand, is indigenous to the Americans (and is related to other East Asians distantly) and is a parallel to AASI in South Asians. Which is why White latinos are Caucasian and look like other Europeans, and non-White Latinos don’t. Just like NW Biradri groups look West Asian/European and other South Asians (like yourself) don’t. Why is this so hard for your brain to understand? You need to lay off the Slurpees and the Dhoklas.
Then you make the same repeated claim:
“Again I am 65 35 west to east. You are 85 15. We aren’t as far apart as you would like and that bothers you. Get over it. Your DNA is quite indic. You have an extra say 20% that isn’t a big fucking deal. You are majority West Eurasian. Well so are most Indians. But you are also majority indic DNA (IVC+AASI). You can choose to identify as whatever and make whatever oddball phenotypic claims you want.”
Again, no one gives a rat’s ass what your proportions are. The point is, whatever your genetic background may be, your race/phenotypic characteristics and appearance are NOT West Asian or Caucasian. You look like an admixed Latino, specifically a Mestizo. People in America will mistake you for a non-White Mexican or Hispanic or Latino and members of these communities will talk to you in Spanish. I wouldn’t even recognize you as an “Indian” if I saw you here, not only because it is not a race, but also because you are racially just like non-White Latinos who live in America. Of course, if I was in a 7-11, and heard a Gujju accent, well then I would have my suspicions.
Anyway, the point is, that beyond a certain level of West Asian admixture, IVC+Steppe, (which is what the IVC component originally is, West Asian, NOT “indic”) people are fully Caucasian/West Asian racially (and have fully Caucasian characteristics) and are 100% West Asian in appearance, and so belong to one race. This is unlike you, as you appear admixed/mixed race and are a Mestizo. Stating proportions doesn’t even matter one bit, as you can’t go around telling people, “Well I am 65% West Eurasian and only 35% SE Asian. That makes me closer to West Asians than to Asians” because people will laugh at you. Whether you like it or not, you have to identify as a non-White Latino or Gujarati Patel, because that is what people will ALWAYS take you as. No one cares about your proportions, people (and forensic science, which classifies race) only care about your appearance, which in turn is what is used to classify your race.
I am classified as a Caucasian or “White” in America and other countries, and you are classified as a “Mestizo” and non-White “Hispanic” or Latino in America and in other countries. In India you would be a Gujarati Vania, and I would be a Hindu Jatt. Its also funny how you think proportions, which again are not as important when examining phenotype, make you closer to me, when I could easily say that I am much closer to a Bandari Persian, many of whom share the same admixture levels as me, (85/15) than I am to people like you, who are 65/35. My claim would also hold more water as Bandari Persians and Hindu Jats are both Caucasian racially, and look fully West Asian, whereas Gujarati Vanias like you are mixed race and look nothing like West Asians. Also, I find it funny that you think 20% isnt a “big fucking deal” — LMAO — that 20% is what makes Hindu Jats like me West Asian/Caucasian racially, and Patels like you mixed race and not West Asian racially. I’d say that’s a HUGELY significant impact, and ergo, that 20% is a BIG fucking deal indeed, my Patel friend. (BTW, some estimates place it at 85/86% to up to 90% so it could be as high as 25%! GASP! Bet that gave you a TIA) Also, it doesn’t matter if most Indians are majority West Asian genetically, the fact is that they aren’t West Asian ENOUGH to be racially/phenotypically West Asian like Hindu Jats are. Again, you guys missed the cut, my Patel friend.
What’s even more hilarious is that using your logic, someone like Prince Harry’s son, who is also >10% Black/SSA, and around ~85% White, (his grandmother is ~50% black, and his mother is around ~75% White, making him ~85% White) would also be considered to be a Sub-Saharan African, or a “Black” person, when he is no different from a White NW European racially and looks fully White. Another, more relevant example, involving Asian admixture, would be Bruce lee. Bruce’s mother was half-Asian and his father was fully Asian. Despite the fact that Bruce was nearly a quarter White, around 23-24%, he still looked fully Asian and was/is considered to be an East Asian male role model.
In fact, he is considered to be the greatest example of Asian masculinity by the Asian world and the world at-large. He will forever be the male archetype for Asian machismo and bravado for the indelible impact he had on cinema and martial arts. But going by your logic, Bruce was not East Asian, but White/European and part of the “European world”, because he shared nearly a quarter of his DNA with Europeans. What a laughable idea!
Actually, according to you, Bruce should’ve walked around wearing a shirt that said “Im approximately ~75% East Asian genetically, and around 24%-25% White European genetically. So remember, I am not Chinese, I just look like one fully!”
What’s funny is that Hindu Jats are more than 10% more West Eurasian than Bruce is East Asian, and their admixture is stabilized ancient admix, which makes your claims absolutely invalid and appallingly stupid and incorrect.
You also keep saying that I can identify as whatever I want, as if that will pass muster. What world are you living in? I can identify as whatever I want? So if I identified as Black, you think I would pass the admissions screening or job screenings? You think people would let me identify as “black” and let me get away with it? What about non-White Hispanic/Latino? You think I can identify as one and get away with it like you can? No, its impossible my Patel friend, because you have to actually LOOK like a West Asian/Caucasian or for that matter, a Latino to pass as one and to be accepted as one. THe reason I identify as a White/Caucasian individual is because I look like it, and am considered to be one by other Americans and people that see me and know me or interact with me in any shape or form.
Finally, lets examine your last moronic claims:
“We have all seen Hindu Jatts. There is a reason no one believes your claims. They defy reality. Hindu Jats look like what they are, West shifted on average S Asians. There are some extremes sure but they are outliers. You are a S Asian. Your genetics show it. Your people look S Asian, just west shifted on average.”
Who is “we” here? The correct word(s) to use here are “I” and “me, myself and I” because we all know who the delusional one here is my Patel friend. Everyone knows the truth and has been receptive to my claims but you. These claims “defy” YOUR reality because you are an insecure Patel who can’t reconcile the fact that Hindu Jats pass among the broader population of Caucasians in the world.
Even Razib has stated repeatedly that Jatts have a distinct appearance in comparison to others in South Asia, as have others in this thread. In addition, he and others have also stated that many Hindu Jats are White passing and that they are Caucasian in appearance, something that is common in my experience in our community. This is impossible among Patels and Gujarati communities that you yourself belong to for obvious reasons.
Also, there is no such thing as looking like “West-shifted South Asians” because it is impossible to “look like” a region with different races and thousands of divergent ethnic groups in the first place. AASI admixture exists in Iran as well. Does that make them South Asian too? South Asian admixture is on a cline that stretches from Iran to South India and Bengal, that doesn’t mean that everyone on the cline belongs to some arbitrary race or group. It simply means that they share and have different levels of admixture (AASI), a type of Asian admixture, which in turn either does or doesn’t influence their phenotype, depending on the magnitude and levels of AASI. Applying a label like “South Asian” to it doesn’t change this fact. Hindu Jats are culturally South Asian and live in the geographic region, but are West Asians racially, just like Pashtuns. In light of this, your statement is laughably incorrect and HILARIOUS! Anything that doesn’t fit your made-up narrative and as such makes you uncomfortable automatically becomes an “outlier” LMAO. The truth is, you are the actual mental “outlier” my friend, because you are too dumb and too far in denial to accept and understand the facts that are plainly in front of us all to see.
“Also, go ahead and identify as majority West Eurasian. I guess I do too because it is technically true. Neither of us are full West Eurasian. You just draw a line in the sand to say you magically qualify by your arbitrary standard. And who cares anyway? It’s not even a label anyone outside of this niche knows.”
LMAO again with the same STUPID and INSANE claims. NO ONE identifies as “Majority West Asian”. Literally no one. They identify as their race and phenotype, which in turn defines their identity. You just don’t get it Mr. Patel. Also, even West Asians by and large are NOT “fully West Asian” genetically, they all have varying levels of admixture. From Turks to Iranians to Levantines to Arabs to people in the Caucasus to North African Arabs and Berbers to White Latinos to Russians and even Eastern and North Eastern Europeans, they ALL have different levels of East Asian admixture and in some cases, SSA Admixture.
Does this make them less West Asian or European? NO, because they are still FULLY West Asian/Caucasian/European in appearance and racially fully Caucasian as well, in spite of minor genetic admixture. They possess the threshold level of West Asian admixture needed to be FULLY West Asian and Caucasian racially, as reflected be their appearance, JUST like Hindu Jats do, and just like yours truly. Therefore, I am not drawing any “arbitrary lines”, or using any illogical “magic” to qualify by “arbitrary standards” (things that you do ALL the time) No, I am simply using the phenotype and race, which is far from arbitrary, to draw the line, which is what the ENTIRE world does to identify people and their racial classification. Just like other West Asians who are also “impure” and admixed are classified and identified as “White” or Caucasian based on their appearance, so are Hindu Jats a part of the same group of pure Caucasians/West Asians despite any minor ancient genetic admixture.
“You will live. Take a chill pill and accept it.”
Ironic that you are proferring advice that you should really be taking yourself. Only you have issues with accepting the facts and the logic as they are. You really need to relax and accept the truth, as opposed to living in denial. You said that these threads “consumed” you in the past — I can see that they still do, even in “Residency” — good, good, let the hurt flow through you my Patel friend. Living in denial won’t change people’s identities and race and appearance. You can continue living your lie, it makes no difference to me or to actual Hindu Jats. We will continue to look fully Caucasian/West Asian and you will continue to look like a Mestizo.
“I’d still like to meet in real life to clear the air. Keyboard wars are redundant and boring.”
Is that a veiled threat? The truth hurt you so much that you can’t take the heat? You’ve already said that you’d like to show me who the “real man” is if I met you in real life, and that you’re not some “pussy” LMAO. Real men never make such statements. What a loser. I’m not interested in discussing what is a self-evident point with you, in person, or anywhere else. I have far better things to do with my time. And have fun discussing me with your retinue of fools, and keep trying to use your amateur sleuthing skills to try to pinpoint my real-life identity. You will never be successful. Just accept the truth about Hindu Jats being West Asian/Caucasian racially, as opposed to wasting your time on this futile endeavor. From the very beginning, you have failed to suitably address and rebut any of my valid assertions. You are also too scared to post your pictures or to even compare them to mine, because you look nothing like them. Nor do Gujjus in general. Keep living in your delusions Mr. Patel. I won’t be responding to any more of your low-brow, false, inaccurate and delusional posts. I’ve wasted enough time here clearing the air and showing people the truth. Keep living your false narrative. Jai Shree Krishna!
lol stop spazzing. You just ranted and said a lot of nothing and refuted 0. post your pic bro. Let’s see what you look like. And keep being a coward. Meet me. Let’s see what you’d like to discuss. “real men” don’t hide behind a keyboard and rant like psychotics about how they are a different race. You are one confused and mentally unstable SOB. Lol better things to do with your time. Hence all the paragraphs to rebut nothing and pussyfooting
and lol not single person agrees with you on here. Hence your insecure novellas
lol post your pic Jatt king. you know what I look like. Let’s see you. I have a feeling you might look a lot like what you think you don’t. Let brownpundits witness your hypocrisy on full display uncle rukus.
You can also always meet me in person. Don’t be scared. The Jatt Whisperer will bot not hurt you.
No. Extreme free speech is very important to understand human psychology. People often show their true face when they get emotional.
Such research on human psychology can’t be done in real life. So internet is the perfect place to research on social psychology by letting people say whatever they want.
I will suggest free speech to the non-beloved of mine so that I can know them.
But I will neither practise free speech myself nor suggest practising free speech to my beloved ones as free speech can be very destructive.
no one is reading these comments. they’re just screeching at each other
@AnAn, I’ve met tons of Muslims from different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds (although pretty much all of them were under 30-40). There’s barely any scope for dialogue when it comes to religion even among the most moderate ones in the subcontinent. Maybe western Muslims are different, idk.
One of them at college actually praised ISIS fighters and called them “highly intelligent” (because killing and raping innocent people is apparently a sign of intelligence or something). He has nothing in common with those terrorists apart from religion, and even then he would rather call them intelligent than condemn them. He was the stupidest person in the class anyway, not much of a difference
Another one (he would tell you that he earned his degree thanks to me) idolizes Zakir Naik and told me that he wants to become like Naik when he grows up. He also tried to convince me that non-Muslims are going to hell and that the Quran is “scientific” and some other bs. I debunked whatever few quotes he brought up, he couldn’t refute anything at all and he never had the guts to talk about religion again, he only stuck to asking doubts related to studies after that.
I have many other anecdotes.
There’s a US consulate less than a km from where I grew up, it has a riot control vehicle and at least half a dozen cops surrounding it all times no matter what, and this has been in place since 2012? Know why? Because Muslims tried to attack it when “Innocence of Muslims” came out.
what part of india do you live in out of curiosity?
I’ve lived in Chennai for most of my life
LOL. Dark Madrasi troll daring to attack your North Indian Muslim superiors! Pathetic piece of shit.
LOL, what a dumbfuck.
Read carefully you inbred shitstain, I know your parents are cousins and thinking is hard, but Razib asked what part of India “DO YOU LIVE IN”, not what part of India you’re FROM
Also, “Dark Madrasi troll” people have achieved more than your islamic ummah put together, you primitive cavemen are superior to no one lol. Even a patch of fungus would laugh if you called yourself superior.
@IsThisReal
Are you an AASI shifted Black Dravidian South Indian/Tamil?
Or are you someone from ANI/steppe shifted upper caste?
Curious.
You’re the one with reading comprehension issues.
How many times do I have to state that neither my parents nor grandparents were related to each other? Are you incapable of reading English?
And Muslim dynasties ruled almost the entirity of what is today “India”. Fine we didn’t technically get as far as Tamil Nadu. But we gave you people the Taj Mahal, Urdu, Hindustani Classical music, Mughlai cuisine, shalwar kameez etc. You really should be thanking us instead of attacking us. Ungrateful wretches.
You truly are pathetic scum.
So the Taj Mahal has no “Hindu elements” now? What a ridiculous and foolish claim! You sound more deranged by the post. Let me appraise you of the “Hindu” elements in the Taj, my “knowledgeable” friend:
“The Taj Mahal incorporates and expands on many design traditions, particularly Hindu, Persian, and earlier Mughal architecture. While previous Mughal building had primarily been constructed of red sandstone, Shah Jahan promoted the use of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones. (Shah Jahan had Hindu Rajput Lineage, as both his mother and grandmother were Hindu Rajputs, and was the principal mind/designer and had the final say behind the design elements of the Taj)
“The red sandstone on the lesser buildings and white marble on mausoleum corresponds with the traditional Indian caste system, in which Brahmins had white buildings and the warrior caste had red. This aligned the Mughals with the two powerful castes.”
“Hindu craftsmen, particularly sculptors and stonecutters, plied their trade throughout Asia during this period, and their skills were particularly sought after by tomb builders… Indian buildings such as the Man Singh Palace in Gwalior were an inspiration for much Mughal palace architecture which can be seen on the Taj Mahal.”
It gets even more interesting as we dig deeper, for it is clear where Shah Jahan, who was given this title while in residence at the palace of the Maharana in Udaipur, got his inspiration for building monuments primarily in White Marble with pietra dura, and for the design of the Taj Mahal in general:
“Jag Mandir’s history begins with the Maharana Karan Singh’s benevolence shown to Emperor Shahjahan (1605–1627). Shahjahan, before he was crowned as Mughal Emperor, was known during his young days as Prince Khurram. As Khurram, he rebelled against his father Emperor Jahangir in 1623, because he wanted to be the heir to the Mughal throne. Faced with the danger of getting thwarted in his campaign, he sought refuge in the Mewar Kingdom at Udaipur where he was given safe haven by the then Maharana Karan Singh (it is said that this courtesy was extended because Khurram’s mother was a Rajput Hindu lady).
He was initially kept in the City Palace along with his wife Mumtaz Mahal and his two sons, Prince Dara and Prince Aurangzeb. Later they were shifted to the Gul Mahal, as a safe refuge, in the midst of the lake (this place since then has also been called Khurram’s Palace). Gul Mahal is a domed pavilion that was specially built for Khurram by Maharana Karan Singh. It was later enlarged by his son Jagat Singh into a huge palace and named as the Jag Mandir Palace. Khurram remained under Mewar’s protection during 1623–1624. Gul Mahal was the first structure built in 1551, during the reign of Maharana Amar Singh, which was further developed during the reign of Maharana Jagat Singh to house the Mughal Prince Khurram. It was initially a small sandstone (yellow sandstone) palace with an imposing dome (which gives the appearance of a crown). The crescent of Islam is fixed on top of this dome. The Gul Mahal has three circular domed chambers, one above the other. Entry to these chambers is from a columned hall. Two marble chhatris with sloping cornices rise above the main façade. The massive marble slabs affixed to the interior walls were inlaid with coloured rubies, onyx, jasper, cornelian and jade. This type of decoration is reported to have been replicated by the Mughals in their Tomb of I’timād-ud-Daulah at Agra, in 1626. The palace is also said to have housed a throne carved from a single block of serpentine, which has not been traced. The Mahal is surrounded by a roomy circular apartment built in white and black marble with murals and paintings considered an uncommon feature in Rajput architecture. On the western wing of the palace, this type of design has been repeated in three other pavilions.
The palace had such an impact on Prince Khurram who later became Emperor Shah Jahan that it went on to become the inspiration for one of the most magnificent Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal.”
So now we know what inspired the architecture of the Taj Mahal and the “Baby Taj”, Itmad-Ud-Daulah, including its building materials. Lets keep digging:
“Following the death of Jahangir in 1627, Khurram ascended the throne of the Mughal Empire. It is said that Khurram was bestowed the title of Shah Jahan at the Badal Mahal in Udaipur before he left Udaipur for his crowning as the Mughal emperor. As an act of reward, Khurram not only restored six districts to the Mewar kingdom, which had been earlier annexed by the Mughals, but also presented a unique ruby jewel to Jagat Singh, son of Rana Karan Singh. After Karan Singh’s death in 1628, Jagat Singh (1628–1652) became the Maharana. He was responsible for many additions to the Gul Mahal and called it the Jag Mandir, after himself. For building this remarkable structure, Maharana Jagat Singh was hailed as one of the best architects of the Mewar dynasty. Khurram, after becoming Emperor Shahjahan, particularly favoured the Maharana of Udaipur, which enabled the Mewar kingdom to regain its past glory.”
What about the finial?
“The main dome is crowned by a gilded spire or finial. The finial was made of gold until the early 1800s, and it is now made of bronze. The finial provides a clear example of the integration of traditional Persian and Hindu decorative elements. Because of its placement on the main spire, the horns of the moon and the finial point combine to create a trident shape—reminiscent of the traditional Hindu symbols of Shiva. Similarly, the spire is made up of a number of bulbous forms. The central form bears a striking resemblance to a Hindu sacred water vessel (kalash or kumbh).”
What about the inverted lotus on top of the dome?
“The lotus is a symbolic flower from the Hindu tradition, it is one of the elements proving the mix of culture of the Mughals.
In the Hindu imaginary it represents the knowledge, the opening on the world and in a more spiritual way the uniform and continual widening of the universe. This is due to its ability to deploy when in the water, Hindus believing that it has the opportunity to open to the world for it may be in a conducive environment, a metaphor for life on earth.”
What about the eight Chattris?
“Chhatri are elevated, dome-shaped pavilions used as an element in Indian architecture. Chhatris are commonly used to depict the elements of pride and honour in Rajput, Maratha and Jat architecture. They are widely used in palaces, in forts, or to demarcate funerary sites.
Originating in Rajasthani architecture where they were memorials for royalty, they were later adapted as a standard feature in all buildings in Maratha-ruled states, Rajasthan, and in Mughal architecture.
The most notable surviving examples today are to be found at Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi and the Taj Mahal in Agra.
The word literally means “canopy” or “umbrella.” In the context of architecture, the word is used to refer to two different things. The usual and more widely understood meaning is of a memorial, usually very ornate, built over the site where the funeral (cremation) of an important personage was performed. Such memorials usually consist of a platform girded by a set of ornate pillars which hold up a stone canopy.”
Even the Onion domes seen in the Taj Mahal independently originated in India, and are not found in Persia or other Muslim countries with few exceptions in Central Asia, all being built after the Taj Mahal. Russia is also thought to have independently developed the Onion-shaped dome, or to have been influenced by South Asian architecture.
As we can see above, The Taj Mahal is very much an Indian monument, for everything about it (with the exception of the Islamic calligraphy on its entrance and the shape of its arches) is Indian in origin. Even the main commissioner of the monument, Shah Jahan, had a Hindu Rajput Mother and Grandmother, and looked just like them as well. There are plenty more sources that go into further details about the Hindu and Indian origins of the Taj Mahal, but I’m sure you can look them up yourself, my “knowledgeable” friend.
As for Mughlai cuisine and Hindustani Classical Music being “given” to us by the “Muslims”? Just LMAO. That’s an even more ridiculous claim that I am not even going to bother addressing.
BTW, its telling that no country outside of South Asia has a building similar to the Taj Mahal, or cuisine similar to Mughlai food or music similar to Hindustani music. One would expect to find quite a few similarities, especially in the cultures and monuments of “Muslim” countries. Yet, such similarities don’t exist. I wonder why?
Perhaps because Kabir AKA “Jihadi Shakespeare” is a first-rate fool who doesn’t have the slightest idea of what he talks about. My friend, your time is better spent reading Tumblr blogs written by pre-pubescent girls, take a leaf out of the Prophets handbook, PBUH (Piss be upon his bearded face, that pedophile).
APthk,
Don’t argue with me about Hindustani music. Do you have a Masters degree in Ethnomusicology? No, then shut up.
There is no call to EVER insult the Prophet of God, you disgusting Islamophobe. Calling me a “Jihadi” is absolutely unacceptable. I have never advocated for Sharia law or anything like that.
And I am not your “friend”. I do not make friends with racists and Islamophobes. Fuck you.
IsThisReal isn’t a dark Dravidian “Madrasi” but there are some of us on here.
for the other commenters, there is a ‘moral’ in the spiral of back and forth btwn these two…
“Are you an AASI shifted Black Dravidian South Indian/Tamil?”
“Or are you someone from ANI/steppe shifted upper caste?”
on bp two ppl are having a shitfest, but a commenter has to interrupt and inquire admixture percentages
After all, i am a truth seeker and a researcher 😉
Thank you Hindutvadi trolls for making this space so toxic for Pakistani Muslims. Though I am perfectly capable of responding in kind to Hindu trolls (I will not be bullied by anyone), I don’t want to become that sort of person. So I will not be commenting here anymore. You Hindutvadis can go back to your circle jerks.
Razib, please delete the posts that I have written here. Thanks.
In the future you all should intrspect about why the audience of this site is the loony Hindu Right (and their Serbian nationalist friends) and why leftist people refuse to come on your podcasts. Why would sensible people want to be associated with this shit? If you ever want to engage in good faith dialogue with Pakistanis, attacking our country and religion is not the way to go.
bruh, all you have to do is just not give a shit
there will always be shitposting on the internet, chillax
What a funny person.
I was very factual in my first comment on this thread and only brought it up because I’ve been seeing you trashtalk for weeks. I held off replying for several days because I thought you were sensible (because Razib said so and he’s seen your comments longer than I have).
I don’t need to “act smart”. I’ve been educated in the United States.
And no you weren’t “factual”. Your every comment here drips with Islamophobia. Idiot.
“I don’t need to “act smart”. I’ve been educated in the United States.”
Eh, I don’t think that says all that much. I went to a better school than you in the US for a more challenging program and that doesn’t make me smart.
@StraightGay, I’m not ancestrally south-Indian. I can speak Tamil (or Tamizh as the natives like to call it) though, can’t read or write however.
IsThis Real, Kabir and others, cool off guys . Keep the forum free of bottomless pit of emotive bickering. We know each other’s position and let us leave it there. Truce and ceasefire for a foreseeable future
@AnAn, about expanding CAA-
I laughed when I read “LBGTQ plus muslims” and “Female femnist muslims”
I’m fine with atheist/agnostic ex-Muslims and maybe Hazara Shias being added to the list (because Hazaras have an ethnic angle to them too, although most persecution today is mainly because they’re Shias)
I don’t get why there are so many different Sufi sects on the list though. Are you a fan of Sufism?
now that iran has dumped india for china in charbahar port and railway, we can delink from the so called historical connection with it.
on the other hand, i feel, iran did not have any other choice.
I have been following reaction videos from Pakistani YouTube vloggers for over 2 years now. Yes, many of them are driven by YouTube’s views model and the ratrace for subscribers. However it offers a deep, undiscriminated and hitherto unseen look into the psyche of urban Pakistanis.
I have modified my own world view of Paki society in the past few months. It might be that I am reacting on a personal level to the vloggers, however I do see a commonality among many reactions.
1. Indian Street food reactions – many express surprise at the low prices of Indian servings. Even allowing for the exchange rate, there is still an element of disparity that I can sense.
2. Temples – I am quite mystified by the tremendous amount of interest in temple videos. A lot of them are women. Granted there is a subscriber dynamic at play, still…..I think there is something else going on
3. Bollywood movie reactions : Just so many to trip over. What’s interesting is that many subconsciously voice hinterland Hindi lingo while expressing their opinions. Somewhat like impressionable Indians putting on a fake West coast accent.
4. Modi : wow, this one is a Freudian classic. The reactions sometimes will stop your thoughts completely. Many of them suggest that he is the son of a housemaid/labourer parents and for a period of time, apparently he lived under a bridge (lol). There is some level of denial but acceptance complex building up.
5. Infrastructure: I can clearly see that Pakistani elites are in some kind of graduated disbelief to see the kind of infra across the border
wow someone brought out Kabir’s inner Pak ethnonationalism. I did not think I would see the day he would make a comment like “dark madarasi troll.”
Once again
Nothing in S Asia can be understood, except in the light of the Steppe:AASI.
Jai Shri Ameen
That was not my finest hour and I apologize. Don’t ignore the fact that the Islamophobic troll repeatedly called me “inbred”, “retard” etc and kept saying my parents were cousins (when I clarified that they are not and neither were any of my grandparents).
Anyway, I’m not going to be commenting here again. I don’t want to constantly take abuse. So you Hindutvadis can engage in fact-free rants about Pakistan as much as you like.
Kabir, disagreements aside, you do seem to take a lot of critique of pakistan and islam personally. Its not for me to question why you feel obliged to take that burden, but I would hope that you aren’t under undue stress because of all of this. Sometimes it seems like you are refuting a dozen people at once. I suppose this concern applies to all the readers here, but I hope we all take care of our mental health and realize the “abuse” is not meant to be personal. I doubt we’d all be so savage in real life.
Girmit,
Thanks for the concern. You’re one of the relatively few people here that hasn’t resorted to personal attacks.
Being Pakistani and Muslim are the core aspects of my identity. One can’t change the country one was born in (no matter what citizenship one acquires later) nor the faith of one’s ancestors. Having these characteristics being constantly attacked is toxic. There was a post a couple years back called “Pakistani psychosis”. Apparently this is OK but “Indian psychosis” offends people. Asides from things like country and religion, I have had my parents attacked on here (someone called them cousins and inbred) and my education etc. This is not on.
Of course, I can respond in kind, but I don’t want to become that kind of person. So I am not going to spend time on a forum where people like me are not wanted. But I will note that good faith discussions with Pakistanis cannot be had if people will insist on insulting the Prophet of God (pbuh). That is a redline for every believing Muslim. Of course, my experience on BP has shown me that no one really wants to discuss anything with Pakistani Muslims, they just want to vent out their anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam opinions. This is no longer fun for me.
Given the extra-judicial sentencing of Vikas Dubey and whats ailing our institutes in India and whether India can be a developed country. Here is Iyer Mitra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=outMIhNxFSA
The theme from his talk:
1. India lacks the strategic independence it desires
2. There is a web of issues (malnutrition, low spend on education, low skills, corrupt institutes and lower GDP)
3. Cant bring out people out of poverty without massive industrialisation, but we are already late to being a mass manufacturing power
3. Sees no way out of the web of issues
“Aatmanirbhar Bharat” is a joke.
We have a HUGE lack of skilled labour.
Take for example this article from 2019: India now imports skilled labour for infra projects
“contractors of infrastructure projects are now deploying welding and cutting operators from China, Russia and East European countries due to a huge shortage of domestic skilled welding workforce.”
“The Indian Institute of Welding has estimated a short supply of 1.2 million welding professionals including welders, cutters, fitters, equipment operators besides engineers and inspectors.”
It’s hilarious that we are importing workers from countries that have 4-5x our GDP/capita.
Each of those 1.2 million guys is potentially a lower middle class person who is right now near poverty.
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/india-now-imports-skilled-labour-for-infra-projects/article29657364.ece
“The Indian Institute of Welding has estimated a short supply of 1.2 million welding professionals including welders, cutters, fitters, equipment operators besides engineers and inspectors.”
There are other factors that affect this. A few years back there was a case in south India where lower-middle class teenagers ended up in programming cram schools even though the initial salary for a code monkey is significantly lower than that of a handyman (electrician, plumber, mechanic etc.). Now the question may be why so?
When asked these boys said that the perception of blue-collar or white-collar played a large role in the way they were treated by society. For example, many families in Indian homes would get uppity if they perceive someone from a significantly lower class sitting on the expensive furniture in their house. Whereas, if they’re perceived as white-collar then that automatically means they have notable upward mobility because their work ‘requires brains’ even if the reality may be otherwise.
It affects arranged marriages too, any guy working a white-collar job even if it pays less gets a few points above what a blue-collar person gets when it comes to compatibility scrutiny in the small town pecking order.
If there’s more respect shown to the working classes by the middle class in India, then things may gradually change. Until then, there will continue to be a dearth of talent in required professions seen as undesirable by upwardly mobile people due to societal reasons.
“A few years back there was a case in south India where lower-middle class teenagers ended up in programming cram schools even though the initial salary for a code monkey is significantly lower than that of a handyman (electrician, plumber, mechanic etc.)”
One of my friends works with the Tamil Nadu government and this has been his opinion as well.
TN government has now started a programme in partnership with private companies like TVS to provide training to individuals who want to learn iron-smithing, gold-smithing etc.
Most of the labour in TN is from outside the state, though.
One reason for the reluctance to get into blue-collar work as opposed to programming work might be the lack of a well defined career path.
Hagia Sophia has been turned into a mosque. And Pakistanis worldwide rejoice.
I feel bad for Greeks and Armenians. Fuck turks.
You don’t feel for Serbs? Both, Constantine, who founded Constantinople and Justinian, who built Hagia Sophia, were Serbs.
I commiserate with the Serbs my friend. You have my allegiance.
There was no such thing as a Serb back then. They were Illyrians. Constantine was also half Greek, and Justinian’s birthplace is today in FYROM not Serbia.
He posts things like this across everything by Razib. He has claimed the Indo-Aryans were an ancient Serbian tribe, that the Vinca culture was Serbia. Think of Ancient Aliens, but replace the aliens with Serbs, and you get most of Milan’s posts.
Serbs always existed. They are the chosen people of God.
Aryan Serbs Matter.
Живела Србија!
@StraightGay/Milan (probably the same)
Trolling on the anniversary of the Srebenica Massacre is beyond bad taste. Enough with the silliness, and stop with the childish nonsense.
“@StraightGay/Milan (probably the same)”
By the one in whose hand is my soul, I am not civilized enough to be an Aryan, let alone Serb.
However, it doesn’t change the fact that Serbia is the centre of the universe which pseudo-scientists have always tried to disprove.
No they weren’t. The Serbs, a slavic people, did not exist in that region prior to the migrations of late antiquity, and neither Justinian or Constantine would have even understood that word.
Your bizarre and pseudo-scientific “Serbs” invented everything posts are getting more than irritating.
Add other Balkan people and Russians.
Don’t forget the Assyrians. At least the Greeks and Armenians have a country they can call their own. Turks absolutely fucked the Assyrians and I think the community will just go extinct within this century.
Yea feel bad for them as well. Once again fuck Turks. All they’ve really done is ethnically replace people. So happy it didn’t happen in South Asia.
I don’t care too much about this issue, but seems like this is unnecessary.
I mean the blue masjid right across the street is so beautiful and historic, and there is no religious significance in Islam for this site, what is the point of using this particular site to pray aside from showing pride and a sense superiority stemming from conquest.
Wonder if they would be open to at least sharing the space with christians to meekly conduct some prayer on some holy days?
That might be a nice gesture of goodwill. Not sure if that would be allowed under Islamic law.
“there is no religious significance in Islam for this site, what is the point of using this particular site to pray aside from showing pride and a sense superiority stemming from conquest.”
That’s the same logic that applies to the mosque in Varanasi for example.
Which one?
The monstrosity Gyanvapi mosque is the semi demolished Kashi Vishwanath turned to a mosque.
The other scar that will forever remind us of the benevolence of wali-e-hind Alamgir Aurangzeb that is Alamgiri is also built on and using the demolished ruins of Beni Madhav temple.
Beni Madhav temple might not have been a top tier temple but Kashi Vishwanath most certainly was.
Damn. I only knew of Gyanvapi.
I think this action is more about undoing Kamal Ataturk’s secularism than anything else. Just as Modi wants to undo everything Pandit Nehru has done Erdogan wants to undo Ataturk’s secularism.
The reporting suggests that the only thing that will change is that people will be able to offer namaaz. No changes will be made to the interior or exterior of the site and tourists will continue to visit. It’s not like Babri where a mob destroyed the mosque. Hagia Sophia remains standing.
And those comparing this to Al-Aqsa being made into a synagogue are missing the very important point that East Jerusalem is Occupied Palestinian Territory while Istanbul is sovereign Turkish territory. This is a Turkish internal matter.
NYT – The leading paper of American liberals and globalists has published several related program articles. Some were written in the editorial office, and some are from the pens of cult leftists and progressives – economists, activists and businessmen
* The main points of the project “America as we need it” are: to forgive all debts to blacks, including debts on consumer loans; black people exempt from paying for all banking services; provide zero-interest mortgages to blacks; provide zero-interest loans to black business owners; significantly increase the inheritance tax (it is clear in advance that whites and `white property` will be hit)
* Added to this is a reform of the electoral system that will – if enacted – allow the American Liberal Democrats to rule the United States forever.
What’s the big deal with the Hagia Sofia being turned into a mosque again? As long as they don’t destroy the Christian architecture and paintings it’s not really a big deal. In fact it maybe in the buildings best interest to be a mosque since extremists won’t ever target it. I’m into history and the last thing I want is for any historical architecture or structure to be destroyed. The demolition of the Bamiyan Buddha’s in Afghanistan in 2001, now that was messed up and we may not get anything made like that ever again. In comparison the Hagia Sofia is a non issue.
I would have no issue too if the Dome of the Rock is turned into a Synagogue or the Great Mosque of Mecca is turned into the Great Cathedral of Mecca. As long as they don’t destroy the Islamic architecture that is. That’s where I draw the line.
The Dome of the Rock would never become a synagogue. It would probably be destroyed first and then a synagogue would be built on top of it as per the rebuilding of the Second Temple of Jerusalem. Same with the Kaaba if a Church was made. Be grateful that the Hagia Sofia was not demolished when the Turks conquered Constantinople.
“Be grateful”
Muslims always end up showing up their true colors when talking to dhimmis
You should get off your high horse. Grateful as in be grateful a 15th century conqueror didn’t do what many other conquerors did in the past. Which is destroy mosques, churches and synagogues. Enough with this victim complex.
And learn what the term dhimmi means before using it randomly.
Anyways I’m done with the Hagia Sofia topic.
Its not worth your energy man.
But seriously, Hagia Sophia is the spiritual capital of millions of Orthodox Christians worlwide. Not sure the equivalent for Sunni but it is like Karbala of Shia. The fact that it was a museum until now was a humiliating compromise. Now even that is gone. I won’t be surprised if there are retaliations from some Russian nationalist or Byzantiboos worldwide.
Europeans won’t do anything about it. Russians maybe.
Russians are based.
\In fact it maybe in the buildings best interest to be a mosque since extremists won’t ever target it\
It will happen in stages. When there is more fundamentalism in Turkish society, Ergogon will slowly tighten the screws. Suddenly a bunch of AQ/ISIS guys may blow themselves up in Hagia Sophia to remove the “stain of kuffar” and cleanse Turkish society of apostasy. . Erdogon’s action is only the first step
Question for Razib. My “caste” is Syed, specifically Bihari Syed. I have been researching my family tree and ancestry using some basic tests like ancestry.com and 23 and me and GED match. In terms of y haplogroups as per 23 and me, the males of my Bihari Syed caste have varying types of y haplogroups such as R1a, R2, H, L, I, J1, J2 with myself belonging to J-CTS5368 (J1a). Is the varying y haplogroups something that is usual within other caste groups in South Asia?
As well, when inputting my raw data into GED match, I seem to be closest to Bihari and UP Syeds with the next closest groups being UP, Bengali and Bihari Brahmins. Would that mean it is safe to say that a majority of my ancestry is Brahmin?
The Syed caste is something that was established during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal rules with Syeds not being a caste in the Middle East but a title for descendants of prophet Muhammed. But it seems to have evolved into a caste in South Asia in those times. Is it possible Brahmins converted to Islam and became Syeds and or mixed with Middle Eastern Syeds who came to South Asia and eventually these Syeds practiced endogamy?
I would appreciate your feedback.
Is the varying y haplogroups something that is usual within other caste groups in South Asia?
yes. though sometimes the frequency can be really skewed. eg bengali brahmins are 75% r1a. but kayastha gotras in w. bengal are all over the place. some are even east asian.
Is it possible Brahmins converted to Islam and became Syeds and or mixed with Middle Eastern Syeds who came to South Asia and eventually these Syeds practiced endogamy?
some syeds do have the ‘correct’ Y chromosome. but on the whole, I think most were upper caste converts, disproportionately brahmin.
Thank you for the feedback!
i have your genotype and another guy who is a patna syed. i should run them right now with my new framework.
What exactly is this new framework?
https://www.brownpundits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rplot05.png syed, you’re btwn the bihar babhan and kanjars, who were sampled from eastern UP (near bihar). i think your background is probably part-brahmin but also non-brahmin, and there is a suggestion of a shift to middle eastern populations, though very small.
I think there is a wider shift in world politics to lock in their gains, or at least go back to their original maximilist positions. Of course Hagia Sophia being a museum in the first place was not really needed, and there was a possibility that it remained a mosque, post 1931. Similarly the Chinese post 1962 did not need to recede from their claim lines post 1962 war. The US need not really need to help Europe post WW2 with marshall plan/NATO. All this were initiative which actually helped the host countries as well.
But the way the world is moving, there is this growing view that we need to go back what we had “given” as a sign of good faith or that we “gave” far too much. Perhaps i am overthinking it.
I’ve been to Hagia Sophia. It was really beautiful to see the calligraphic names of the Prophet and Imam Ali in the same space with the Savior and the Virgin. In my opinion, it should have remained a museum. However, it is Turkish sovereign territory and their right to do as they wish.
This is all part of Erdogan trying to undo Kemalism and create a neo-Ottoman Empire. He’s just the Turkish version of your own Hindu Hriday Samrat.
I mean look we can all be petty and argue it ad nauseam that Babri was on India’s Sovereign territory and what Indians did to the mosque was no one else business. I would argue that at the point where Modi/Erdogan are in terms of power they dont really need all this construction of Babri-Ram temple or Sophia conversion to mosque.
But making a larger point, we are moving away from the post WW2 consensus, back to a proto Great game era. Who knows what happens when the next corona virus hits. This time around at least the world was interconnected-interdependent enough. Next time a Pandemic hits , it could lead to a race b/w US vs Europe vs China to find a vaccine and then try to use it as leverage to gain concession some other front.
Babri was literally destroyed by a Hindu extremist mob. There are no changes being made to the interior or exterior of Hagia Sophia. Indians in particular have no business lecturing Turks.
If we’re going to have more pandemics, America might as well throw in the towel now, no point racing for a vaccine. This country has been derping from start to finish…we have a populace that wants to binge-drink and grope at bars, a media obsessed with political polarization rather than actually conveying information, a sclerotic legal-bureaucratic regime which dramatically retarded the production of masks and tests…and in our hospitals, we have shortages of medications and even pulse oximeters (as I found out the hard way.)
It’s a fool’s game to guess when the next pandemic will come around. But if it comes relatively recently…then America’s done. The Chinese system proved itself far superior this time around, and will do so again.
Entire galaxy is claimed by China. They held as much as they could have held. In the best of circumstances they might have managed to hold onto Tawang ftill winter came but India would have prevailed in the East. Now they are claiming non-contiguous parts of Bhutan. Chinese have been in the statecraft business for a very long time, they know people forget stuff with time, they will continue doing their thing no matter what we say or do. We should do our thing. Theirs is the brand of diplomacy that colonial empires employed. They want to perpetually keep us engaged, good! we should perpetually keep them engaged. They gave Pakistan nuclear bombs and missiles, good! we will give nuclear bombs and missiles to everyone from Taiwan to Vietnam to Indonesia. If they impinge our interests we should impinge their interests.
Agree especially about US not being acknowledged enough. Pakistan gulped 30+ Billion USD over a decade and didn’t even say thank you! When America will recede people who call them war-mongers currently will beg them to intervene.
Recent article on the print on breaking up Uttar Pradesh: https://theprint.in/national-interest/uttar-pradesh-is-indias-broken-heartland-break-it-into-4-or-5-states/458552/
I brought this up in a comment a couple of weeks back:
https://www.brownpundits.com/2020/05/07/open-thread-04-07-2020-brown-pundits/#comment-60920
It looks like a state devolution act for UP would be a necessity for things to improve in any significant way.
UP’s GDP grew at a CAGR of 10.59% over the past 10 years. Thats a good sustainable movement.
https://www.ibef.org/states/uttar-pradesh-presentation
Breaking it up will create newer political dispensations and uncertainty. Do not underestimate political stability, it is the first requirement for growth.
I feel mostly people from outside UP are more interested in breaking that state. There is hardly any sub regional movement AKA Telangana to break away from the state. States are not broken for “administrative efficiency” but on emotions/demand. There is no conclusive proof that the states which broke away did better. We have number of examples to suffice both conditions. And UP might become worse off with smaller states. Who would take the blame then?
Also any forceful breakup especially if seen 2 done by outsiders will create another revanchist movement which will make the state push back and become even more tight knit. Mumbai was a cosmopolitan city but even the chance of it becoming a union territory was enough for the rise of Marathi revanchism. You will see UP revanchism in the more prosperous Western UP then.
As a guy from Satna and a Bagheli language supremacist, I approve of the creation of a new state out of Baghelkhand. MP governments have long neglected the region, despite the BJP winning an MP from here since 1977 consistently.
There are enough demands of creation too, though not including any UP districts.
Recently I joined an online community (for a creative media course) that’s open to everyone but seems to be 95% women.
Honestly the least toxic most welcoming community I have been a part of online, couldn’t help but contrast it with the Jaat wars that took place on this forum which is 95% male.
With all this brinkmanship in world politics I am wondering if this would apply to politics. Guys are really good at my team vs your team type stuff, that has perhaps been historically necessary. But it seems technology and falling population numbers may remove basic resource scarcity for our species in the future.
And going forward we need more collaborative solutions, to solve global issues that face humanity beyond just simple jockeying for resources between teams to survive and reproduce.
A really intelligent guy I know once suggested to me once that he supported women taking over all global leadership positions for a couple of decades.
I was initially reflexively against the idea at the time, but now I am starting to come around to it.
They would have a chip on their shoulders and this added incentive to work hard, and could they really be that much worse than our current crop of world leaders?
I welcome many more women in top positions of the society. OTOH I don’t think it will change anything much on the ground.
maybe the worst case and most likely scenario is as follows:
1. on the ground status quo
2. some powerful men loosing out out on more power
3. women getting some representation they have missed out on since the neolithic started, and little girls get role models etc.
Best case scenario is women, have a desire to prove themselves, and turn out to be transformative to the culture of global leadership somehow and help solve issues that require global cooperation like climate change as their legacy.
I agree the best case is unlikely, but in poker terms seems like a ‘freeroll’.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1568227/biden-as-president-will-raise-kashmir-issue-with-india-says-his-adviser
They’re welcome to say what they like…at this point, they’re closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, and if they want to pursue a hawkish position against China…they’ll need all the help they can get tbh.
Sorry (American) Hindutvadi fascist, President Biden will not buy your “atoot ang” crap. Better make sure your fascist Trump wins in November (not likely).
There will be some low key clucking at Modi for form’s sake which both sides will have forgotten in three months. India is too big not to have on your side and no one cares about Kashmir apart from Pakistani Punjabis. Putin will get it well and hard in the shorts, he needs to be reminded he only runs Snow Nigeria.
traditionally the dems were the proindia party. no residual from that? also, lots of indian American (immigrants) are democrats who are promodi
“No one cares about Kashmir except for Pakistani Punjabis”–this is a false statement. Kashmiri Muslims care very much.
The Democratic Party is against the August 5 annexation of the Disputed Territory into India Proper. They are also against CAA and NRC.
Hindutvadis need Trump to win but (luckily) that is most probably not going to happen.
“traditionally the dems were the proindia party. ”
In India there is a view that Republicans are better for India. They are seen as less “noisy” while Democrats are seen more pro Pakistan ( pro Kashmir, HR) .
In Pakistan again Republican preferred by military, Afghan Jihad/BD war etc under Republican admin. While democrats are seen as pro India (Clinton-Kargil)
What does this have to do with what I said?
Dumb geopolitical move honestly. US could afford to play the neutral policeman role in the in the past but now it’s becoming increasingly irrelevant. Pretty much everyone wanted to be on the good graces of the US. The public also used to believe in America leading the democratic world or whatever. Now no one believes in the American pretenses. There are other big boys around. It needs to a pick a side and just stick with it otherwise you lose both sides.
I think Biden just keeps on saying whatever each constituency needs to here. Some days back he was saying some woke shit.
“There are other big boys around. It needs to a pick a side and just stick with it otherwise you lose both sides.”
The point is who will win this war though. As HM said we can clearly see the merits of the Chinese system.Not ideal but effective to certain extent. Right now both sides, seem to bring certain strength to the bear. The US still in the foremost power, and allying with it still bring clear benefits. While China the insurgent seems the bet for the future. At least the more coherent power here.
This remark was made by Biden’s foreign policy advisor, Antony Blinken at the Hudson Institute.
The point is that Democrats do not accept the August 5 annexation of the DISPUTED TERRITORY into India Proper. Neither would President Biden accept CAA. Sorry Hindutvadis.
Well we will see, won’t we. He is establishment candidate.
He will make the similar noises Obama would, about CAA,Kashmir, Human rights etc. India can live with it. On policy level there will hardly any change. The Indo-US alignment is far too strong for liberals of either country to put a spanner in the works. It might sound unfortunate , but this is how it will play out
On Twitter, it is fun to see Hindutva compatriots commiserating with Turkish secularists and Indian secularists siding with the Islamists.
Pakistanis, on a high from wanking to Esra Bilgic’s on-screen aura, ran into some threads with Babri and Paki-Chini Bhai Bhai sentiments. Then some HKérs jumped in and the whole thread is just sliding into dog’s vomit.
New short story: “How to Date a Hindu Fundamentalist” (haven’t read it yet but just the title will probably trigger the Hindutvadis on this site)
https://bostonreview.net/arts-society/aruni-kashyap-how-date-hindu-fundamentalist
“New short story”
I started reading that and couldn’t go past the first few paragraphs. Skimmed the rest of the article.
It’s hilarious. Feels like a caricature of a short story.
Seems these literary fora will publish any tripe as long as it is woke.
It’s actually a really good story. The ending is surprising. But of course Hindutvadis won’t like it because you all are not depicted in a flattering manner.
“But of course Hindutvadis won’t like it because you all are not depicted in a flattering manner.”
Lol. Calling me a ‘Hindutvadi’ for rhetorical purposes is fine and I let it pass. But please don’t use that as an excuse for your terrible literary taste.
(In any case, you do not know my politics IRL. I could very well be one of you.)
From your comments on this blog, it is quite easy to gage your politics. You often complain about your dating experiences with “woke” women. If I remember correctly you told an anxious girl to read the “Gita”, which she found incredibly offensive. And you have used the word “Islamist” to describe me in the past, so no you are not an Indian left-liberal. Don’t pretend now.
Literary taste is subjective so your thinking mine is “terrible” is neither here nor there. In any case, I’m the one who actually has a degree in English Literature.
Do you think anyone who is not a fan of performative woke-ism is a kuffar?
I don’t know why you feel the need to deploy theological Islamic terminology like “kuffar”–certainly not something a secular left-liberal would do.
The point is you have a long record on this forum which allows one to sensibly guess that you are nowhere near the left of the political spectrum.
Niceties aside what hard stuff exactly does the US really help India with?
1) Tactical (obsolete b-rung stuff for Americans) weapons that India pays with hard cash and market rate.
2) Civilian nuclear deal: never understood the need for it. Again paid for in hard cash. Anyways we will not be building enough reactors and solar >> nuclear.
3) Trade: well if we couldn’t stop Chinese trade even after mutual butchering what could the US do to stop us?
4) Noise in US Senate/Congress/UN: I suppose it is time for Uma Bharati, Meneka Gandhi and Mayawati to hold a race relations in the US hearing and issue random statements that Americans can smirk and disrespectfully dismiss.
5) Visas: Indian middle class(~10 LPA) will find a way. There is immense appetite for good education in Indians. These people will always find a way. Job losses will be tragic for individuals but not for the Indian state. Of course with great action comes great reaction.
6) Newspaper/bad-press/propoganda-BS: No one really cares in India. Doesn’t really count as hard power.
US is a good perhaps even great friend to have. But it turning into a bitching acquaintance is still OK. And if it means that Trump leaves it is still a win.
Can’t get too worked up over Hagia Sophia. It’s a magnificent piece of architecture, among the best in the world and too good not to use as a place of worship. Can’t think of a building I have been to which gives the same sense of religious awe. Would be a good move to allow Christians to worship there too.
Frankly i dont know why it was converted to a museum in the first place. Was there some movement for that?
It just gave a rallying cry to Islamists, with questionable benefits to Kemal-ism.
Ataturk was a staunch secularist and I don’t think he personally liked Islam at all. This is the man who changed the script of the Turkish language from Arabic to Roman. Also, the man who abolished the Caliphate. Finally, Kemalism is what outlawed the wearing of hijabs. He wanted Turkey to be a modern Western European state and mosques weren’t really a part of that model.
There is now a pushback to that. Again, the parellel is with Pandit Nehru who wanted to modernize India and the Hindutva Regime which wants to go back to a mythical golden age.
Ataturk was a staunch secularist and I don’t think he personally liked Islam at all. This is the man who changed the script of the Turkish language from Arabic to Roman.
most biographers state he was personally an atheist.
the switching fo the script was a conscious attempt to destroy the historical continuity of the turks with their ottoman past. modern turks can’t read ottoman documents.
It is stunning. And to be honest it has a quality to it that the blue mosque (itself quite a beauty) just doesn’t even come close to.
Amazing what the Byzantines were capable of building in the sixth century. Romans(Eastern and Western) really killed the competition in architecture. The only extant Indian building of the period I could compare it with is the Mahabodhi temple (both 55m tall). God bless Wali-e-Hind Aurangzeb Alamgir and Ghazi Ghaznavi for not destroying it.
The first time I was told that the Roman Colosseum and Pantheon are about 2 millennia old, I was blown away. It is surprising (and tbh quite telling) that despite such tall claims in Hindu books nothing quite as spectacular as the terracotta army or the Pyramids has ever been found in India.
My sister says that we have intangible cultural heritage (stuff like vedic chanting, yoga, Buddhist nonviolence, our music etc) and that ancient Indians produced works of philosophical/spiritual depth that was unmatched. After looking at how lame and full of obvious divisive, petty propoganda books like Quran and Old testament are, I do think there is something admirable about what our people were busy doing in those days. But erecting a few more big buildings like Hagia Sophia, making beautiful porcelain pots and building a big ass army to take on the invaders would have been very cool too.
@Bhimrao – What your sister says is true. The whole of S.E Asia, China and the Far East (Japan) still sing paeans to a single cultural/philosophical export from Bihar. All those Romans and Byzantines did not have a practical numeral system until our contribution.
But Indians also have low cultural literacy. So generally they gloss over the Sanchi Stupa, Brihadisvara temple, Ajanta caves or the Kallanai Dam. Nalanda Mahavihara (30 acres) was supposed to be magnificent until it was destroyed.
You need big strong states that can extract a lot of revenue to be able to build those buildings. India often didn’t have that.
That’s one reason why so many of our large monuments are Mughal.
We do have a lot of public works architecture like step wells, which show that our priority was the welfare of the people.
I find that admirable (or maybe just looking for consolation.)
We had strong big states and we had multi-decadal construction projects in the historical record. Ajanta Caves is something that will put Hagia Sophia in the shade in terms of planning, execution and siting. You can see it for yourself and make a conclusion (at least via Google Images)
I am not saying we didn’t have them. Just not as often as the west and that our priorities were often different.
The Kailash temple in Ellora is truly a stunning marvel. It doesn’t have the aesthetic elegance as some other monuments in some ways, but it is an insane feat.
What about the Angkor Wat and the other extremely impressive buildings built under the influence of Indians all around SE Asia? They rank as impressive as any of those buildings to me.
Colosseum and Pantheon predate Brihadiswara, Angkor Wat, Borobudur by about a thousand years, Parthenon by 1500, that is a long time so not quite comparable.
@Bhimrao –
The real significant thing is that Brihadisvara is still a temple. So are the Ajanta caves for Buddhist monks. Neither has the Pantheon or Hagia Sophia continue to function as it’s makers intended. Indians have the magic ingredient!! Romans and Byzantines should learn something from us.
You could have made your point without being derisive towards the word of God. But of course Islamophobia will out.
Quran is NOT the word of God.
Muslims believe that it is. You are entitled to not believe that but there is no need to gratuitously insult our scripture. It’s extremely insensitive.
Any human who believes that Quran is the word of God is stupid, moronic and completely credulous.
It’s a religious belief. It has nothing to do with facts.
But you’re from the group that believes in monkey gods which is in your own words probably more “moronic and stupid” than believing in divine revelation.
Monkey Gods? You dont understand Hinduism my friend. Go read the words of your pedo prophet and stop posting here, my “ethnically Indian” friend. You guys are the same people that lie to others about being “Indian” when confronted about your failing state and noxious religion and ideologies.
You have even admitted to being guilty of this yourself. Mercurial hypocrites like you should introspect before lecturing others on their beliefs and identity. Incorrigible fool.
APthk,
You are no one to tell me where I can and cannot comment. You do not own this blog. I have been commenting here far longer than you.
Insulting the Prophet of God is completely unacceptable. You just reveal your islamophobia. As far as monkey gods go, isn’t that factually what lord Hanuman is? Hindus are entitled to whatever they want to be believe but you can’t claim it’s less “irrational” than belief in divine revelation. Don’t insult Islam if you don’t want Hinduism to be insulted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_cultural_relics_forbidden_to_be_exhibited_abroad
It is impossible not to be swept off your feet especially with stuff from warring states period.
While examining the heritage of Europeans and others in their proximity, people make the mistake of treating the entire Western Hemisphere, especially the Western world, as a monolith, while only treating India as standalone country, devoid of its larger cultural and religious sphere of influence. When one examines the achievements of those cultures that were historically a part of “Greater India” it is easy to see that our heritage is no less impressive than theirs in any respect. And this is despite the fact that iconoclasts and tyrants have tried their best to destroy this ancient legacy by uprooting ideologies, razing monuments and beheading leaders and learned scholars. Our heritage has a resilience that is unmatched, for it has survived inordinate attempts of extinction.
The Western world has largely escaped the vagaries of constant invasions and iconoclasts, (because for large portions of history, Europe and most neighboring countries were at best backwaters, and held no interest to marauders and looters who were searching for untold wealth and prosperity as was found in South Asia) and as such preserves a greater portion of its cultural heritage. Even as recently as the British, foolish “archaeologists” were destroying priceless cultural artifacts, such as when they cut one of the musical pillars at Hampi to understand its acoustic properties. Of course, it didn’t amount to anything apart from forever damaging the structural stability of the monument. The gall that some people have in questioning the greatness of India’s tangible heritage is truly shameful. The “lack of evidence” doesn’t imply the evidence is lacking. Not only do we lack a complete historical record, we have yet to uncover as-yet undiscovered archaeological sites, and as aforementioned, we must consider our heritage as a part of a larger entity, which stretches far beyond the borders of current-day Hindustan for obvious reasons.
After looking at how lame and full of obvious divisive, petty propoganda books like Quran and Old testament are
the hewbrew bible in particular is a pretty great piece of prose literature for something that dates from the end of the bronze age/early iron age. the koran tbh is pretty derivative as prose (not really structured that way).
the ancient chinese knew some things about the romans. one of the primary aspects that was wonder inducing is that they build a lot of stuff in stone. in east asia it’s mostly wood, so very little ancient stuff (a buddhist temple from the 6th century is an exception).
@Razib
I do not have enough background and understanding to appreciate the quality of the literature itself.
Can you please recommend a few (budgeting no more than 40 hour read time for a moderate speed reader combined) good books that bring out the beauty/essence of HB/OT/NT/Bible and Quran. I had spent time on King James and found it unbearably bad to read and follow.
get alter’s translation of *genesis* and tell me what you think.
There is no stone in the Indo Gangetic plain. Bricks were used, and easily dismantled. I wonder if is there is any brick building surviving a 1000 years. Indian wonders before Muslim rule are where there was stone to build. Who can fail to be impressed by the Rameshwaram temple, or the caves at Ellora, so sadly defaced and destroyed as was Nalanda. The resplendent Martand temple in Kashmir, also in stone, stands sublime, though Sikander Butshikan went at it with hammer and crowbar. In Rajasthan the Jain temples in marble are a sight to behold.
What about possibility of undersea structures though? I know that Graham Hancock has gone Ancient Aliens way, but offshore structures near Lothal or Mahabalipuram do exist.
Also, Pyramids and Terracotta Army weren’t always known until archeological discoveries have been made. There could have been more things built and destroyed (going by myth and not only from Mahabharata but “tripurathaka” title to Shiva – destroyer of three cities) and we won’t even know that glory because nobody spends time looking for such things.
I support Hagia Sophia as a mosque. And Christians could always troll Turks by posting videos of services in Córdoba’s Mezquita-Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción 🙂
But wouldn’t that be trolling Berbers and Arabs rather than Turks
Everyone knows services have been conducted there in Cordoba since the reconquista. I sat through part of one during my last visit.
I know I shouldn’t but I always give out a juvenile chuckle when I hear ‘Hagia Sophia’. Sounds scatological in some Hindi dialects.
I hope I am not punished for this apostacy.
Almost any topic brings out the Islamophobes on BP. This week it happens to be Hagia Sophia. Next week it’ll be something else.
Can’t do without your weekly dose of Islamophobia (and anti-Pakistan rhetoric) can you? Hindutvadis are truly a pathetic group of people.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1568209
Pakistan Ulema Council announces support for construction of temple
Some time back someone posted on Indian Americans settling in red-state suburbs, or areas where their neighbours were not half as educated and affluent as they were. They made the point that Indian Americans either could not tell the difference, or would resolutely act as though these were genuinely elite places.
The result of COVID, in my experience, has been that many Indian Americans are forced to face that facts about where they live. Either their state governments, or their local neighbours, are very anti-science and anti-mask. I know several Desis that have now been open about this, and are looking to sell their tract mansions, and move to more educated and affluent areas.
I also hope this finally leads Indians to ditch the carnivalesque wedding culture that has got out of hand. If Indians really want to claim to be good with money, they could better use that wedding money for other purposes that can advance themselves and their interests.
My wife did her PhD in the US, one of her classmates was an Indian girl whose parents were successful doctors working and living in an island in the state of Georgia. The girl had a pretty tough childhood due to being exposed to a lot of racism and ended up flunking out due to mental health issues. Per my wife other Indian origin people she knew in the US would complain about racism in flyover states and the ones who had taken faculty positions in southern colleges had a terrible time. You wonder how many scarred children that created.
Thank you for sharing that. That was actually the topic that was being discussed, and it is clear that it creates a certain worldview.
Until now, many Desis have kept asserting that their McMansion in the Suburbs at a low price meant that they were being smart about where they lived. They never addressed the fact that they had the resources to move to better places, and that their neighbours were far less affluent (mostly relying on borrowing to finance housing and lifestyles) or far less educated than they were.
COVID, and the reactions to it, are forcing these Desis to face the music. This the the hidden cost of their cheap large house, and the reactions of both the elected authorities and their communities show that their neighbours are the voting base and participants for anti-science policy.
Really sad that they are the victims of such bigotry. Whenever I watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee, I always am impressed at the fact that Desis dominate the field. The National Geographic Bee, which is much more difficult, is also crowned with a pantheon of Desis. To think that they face dsicrimiation simply because of an accident of birth is really appalling.
(Before someone accuses me of being a hypocrite, let me remind you that I never claimed other South Asians were inferior in any way, simply that our community had a distinct apperance, and I am not going to talk about this topic again, as Razib has asked us not to continue this conversation)
i think it depends on personality. i grew up eastern oregon and faced racism, and was physically attacked.
but i know i’m superior. my siblings too. it’s just in our nature to believe this. so racism has had no impact on me.
otoh, i know other people who are of softer constitution who were traumatized by being the outgroup.
this makes sense. i’m pretty sure i have a personality where i’m OK with being the outgroup anywhere. i’m a conservative with a lot of academic friends, outgroup there too. but this is not typical probably.
“i grew up eastern oregon and faced racism, and was physically attacked.”
Why were you attacked? What were the circumstances around it?
I grew up in small city in the south. Similar to your account, being different and occasional hostility didn’t scar me. frankly, i wouldn’t have chosen a different childhood. A lot of adversaries became friends in adulthood. People and places change. I’ve lived in big blue state cities for college and adulthood, and the street level racism can be far worse there than where I grew up to be honest.
Depends. I never felt like I was in an outgroup when I went to the major American cities.
In my current, monoracial/monocultural place? I definitely do.
Being in medical academia as a sorta-Righty? Lol I feel like I’m a deep cover agent no lie.
“The girl had a pretty tough childhood due to being exposed to a lot of racism and ended up flunking out due to mental health issues.”
Ali Chaudhary, you hit a big chord here. as someone who seen these incidents unfolding in front of my own eyes, I can only vouch for authenticity of your observation.
i moved to US as a grown up, so never faced serious racism personally. but i had the misfortune of living in a lily white small american town a few years ago, and had to witness first hand the horrendous racism and bullying suffered by my daughter in her school.
the whole thing left such a bitter taste, that it left me questioning the whole rationale of migrating to US in the first place. i mean, indian professionals like me study and work hard to realize their american dream, little do they realize that their dream is really a nightmare to their kids.
i had an ordinary middle class indian childhood, but it was such a happy childhood. we didn’t have a lot of material comfort that my daughter has, but at least we had the comfort of knowing that we are loved, respected and required by the society. no wonder lot of indian kids who grow up in american tend to acquire socially misfit and awkward persona.
the indian parents that i know are all equally disenchanted with america, and consciously moving to thickly indian towns and neighborhoods. (like fremont in cal, edison in NJ etc). i know this is ghettoization, but it is a necessary evil. the first requirement to grow up as a healthy adult to have a happy childhood. if you can’t even give that to your kids, then what is the worth of all the dollars and material comforts you may acquire?
School bullying (irrespective of race) seems to be a pretty American cultural phenomenon. I wasn’t even aware of the it till I grew up and learnt of it via social media.
Even today, you’d hear an odd case here and there in the media but not much more.
We do have ‘ragging’ in colleges, though, which can be pretty brutal.
If anyone here has seen schooling in both India and US, they can probably explain the difference and put the experience in context.
Scorpion:
and had to witness first hand the horrendous racism and bullying suffered by my daughter in her school.
I’m curious: what kinds of behavior was your daughter subjected to? Racial slurs? Ridicule about culture/name/food? General ostracism? (I’m guessing since she was a girl that bullying wouldn’t have been physical.)
I only went to grad school in the country, and I couldn’t imagine the people I met and hung out with behaving in this manner. But clearly some must have, given these reports, so I wonder what changes from childhood to adulthood and how.
@Numinous, thankfully my daughter was never bullied physically. also, i dont think anyone made fun of her because of her brown skin. mostly it was kids giving her hard time just because she was different. usually it came down to nobody socializing with her during lunch time and play time. white kids would just make her feel left out.
at times it was making fun of the food she carried in her lunchbox. she would plead with her mom not to pack her indian food in lunchbox, and ask for “american” food items like pasta, sandwiches etc. all that just to fit in.
“I only went to grad school in the country, and I couldn’t imagine the people I met and hung out with behaving in this manner. But clearly some must have, given these reports, so I wonder what changes from childhood to adulthood and how.”
nothing changes. mean white kids grow up to be mean white men and women. the only thing that changes when they reach adulthood is that they become smart enough to keep their feelings hidden inside them. that’s what i guess they call “cultural sensitivity”.
i hold an american passport, yet i don’t call myself american. the feeling of belonging is just not there. for me the US passport is just an economic tool. a tool that i earned by many years of working hard and paying into the system. that’s all there is to it.
“Shall I not tell you about the Dajjal a story of which no prophet told his nation? The Dajjal is one-eyed and will bring with him what will resemble Hell and Paradise, and what he will call Paradise will be actually Hell; so I warn you (against him) as Noah warned his nation against him.”(Sahih Bukhari 3338)
😉
I haven’t spoken much for the past few weeks but I’m tired of reading comments from a certain someone.
Let’s get one thing straight- no other religion is as backward and regressive as Islam (not saying that other religions are perfect, each one has its own flaws, but Islam is by far the most flawed) whether you like it or not. Sick and tired of reading all those baseless statements.
Stop whining like a little kid and calling everyone an “Islamophobe” in every other comment just because they don’t respect Islam.
Jews, Buddhists/Shinto, Hindus and atheists/agnostics are all much smaller in number than Muslims (especially Jews), and yet, when you take a look at the Nobel Prize in the sciences, the Fields Medal, Abel Prizes, Lasker Awards, Turing Award, Breakthrough Prizes etc., you can see that they’ve all won more prizes than Muslims (some awards don’t even have any Muslim winners).
There are 49 countries in Asia, and 23 of them are Muslim-majority, and yet the 3 Asian space-powers are all non-Muslim majority ones (China, India and Japan)-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Asian_national_space_programs#Asian_space_powers
Singapore used to be a part of Malaysia not so long ago, and today, Buddhist-majority Singapore is way ahead of Muslim-majority Malaysia (Singapore has a much higher GDP per capita and HDI score)
2 of the best universities in Asia are from Singapore too-
https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2020
You can see a similar trend in people from the subcontinent-https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/articles/ethnicitypaygapsingreatbritain/2018
British Indians have the second highest median hourly pay in GB, and Pakistanis are one of the bottom-most earners.
Same thing in the US-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_the_United_States_by_household_income
Indian-Americans have the highest median household income, more than twice that of Pakistani-Americans.
And the Israelis you so love to cry about-
Israelis alone has won more Nobel Prizes in the sciences than your entire “Islamic Ummah” put together (I’m being generous by including Abdus Salam even though it doesn’t make a difference, and even though other Muslims would call him a non-Muslim), let alone their Arab neighbours.
What’s next? Gonna call me an Islamophobe for pointing out facts?
How many Nobel Prizes was Israel winning in the ninth century?
Why do you have to go several centuries back in time? Why can’t you speak about the present?
We both live in the 21st century, yes? What’s stopping you from talking about the present? Or do you always plan on hiding in the past?
The fact that you have to go way back to the 9th century alone shows that you’ve lost already.
Let me guess, you’re here to preach about the “Islamic golden age”? Where a lot of propagation of knowledge was being labelled as invention? There are tons of articles and sources that debunked several inventions Muslims claimed to come up with, I’m sure you’re smart enough to look them up (I don’t mind posting the sources here if you’re not).
Bertrand Russell sums it up best though-
“Arabic philosophy is not important as original thought. Men like Avicenna and Averroes are essentially commentators. Speaking generally, the views of the more scientific philosophers come from Aristotle and the Neoplatonists in logic and metaphysics, from Galen in medicine, from Greek and Indian sources in mathematics and astronomy, and among mystics religious philosophy has also an admixture of old Persian beliefs. Writers in Arabic showed some originality in mathematics and in chemistry; in the latter case, as an incidental result of alchemical researches. Mohammedan civilization in its great days was admirable in the arts and in many technical ways, but it showed no capacity for independent speculation in theoretical matters. Its importance, which must not be underrated, is as a transmitter.”
Hindus have a glorious heritage in the medical sciences, surgery, mathematics, logic, metaphysics, philosophy, astronomy, linguistics, theology, metallurgy and civic planning. Muslims have made no seminal contributions to these fields in comparison, with very, very few exceptions, and even these “Scientists” simply added their own observations onto a body of knowledge that was built up by non-Muslims. Anyone can read the actual historical record and come to this conclusion.
have*
And I don’t know if you’re the type of Muslim who actually believes the whole “Islam is a superior religion” or you merely defend Islam because you were born in a Muslim family, but whichever it is, I hope you can see why many people don’t respect Islam.
Just because someone on this blog doesn’t like Islam doesn’t automatically make them a Hindutvadi or Islamophobe or whatever else. Everyone has their own reasons and many of those reasons are very much valid.
Grow up.
It was a facetious comment to match yours.
You are comparing Indians and Pakistanis like they are Germans and Swedes. They are a collection of different castes, the castes lower down the totem pole in the sub-continent converted to Islam. Why is it a surprise that high IQ Brahmins in the West are performing well in cognitively demanding fields? Naipaul, Sen, Raman, Bannerji, Tagore, Raman and Chandrasekhar were all Brahmins. The only non-Brahmin Indian Nobel laureates are Khorana (Arora) and Mother Teresa.
The number of Nobel Prizes won by Dalits and OBCs Hindus who comprise 40 to 50% of the Indian population is zero. So please don’t crow about Indian\Hindu specialness and Pakistani inferiority. The relative performance was baked in by who their ancestors were.
What a foolish observation.
If we go by your logic, which implies that Brahmin ancestry in India lends itself to intellectual exceptionalism (a very tenuous claim for reasons I wont expand on here) then how do you explain the fact that Pakistanis are such lightweights in comparison? After all, they possess far more of the “West Eurasian” ancestry (on average) that makes Brahmins different from the OBCs and Dalits in the subcontinent. Also, many of those people that you claim are Brahmins, for all we know, are nothing more than Brahmins in title alone — even Razib touched on this in the past, when he posted a picture of Chandrashekhar as an ostensible “Brahmin” implying that caste dynamics aren’t as obvious as they seem. His autosomal profile could’ve easily been closer to that of the many hundreds of millions of OBCs that he resembles facially. Either way, your point is deeply flawed and incorrect.
no, iyers are iyers. they’re very distinct.
that being said, lots of tambrams look quite ‘dravidian’.
perhaps we need not go down the “what west eurasian %” direction on this thread again? it gets tiresome.
Absolutely, such discussions end up being redundant.
I also agree with your observation about some looking “Quite Dravidian” which ostensibly explains why Chandrasekhar himself, the genius that he was, still faced discriination in London when he was a scholar there. He believed Arthur Eddington’s public ridicule of his Chandrasekhar limit was partly racially motivated. His appearance certainly did him no favors, at least to those that are bigoted.
Is it really set in stone that high IQ people will prevail in academics. That way we are all screwed because Yellow people, Gora people and Yahoodis all have stunning IQs. And Brahmins are not producing enough babies themselves or in inter-caste/religion marriages to take all of us up. And obviously not many high IQ people are coming in to intermarry with us and settle here.
And if it is indeed a clear disadvantage, by how much is it possible to change the academic game in our (low IQ people’s) favor? i.e. more meat in diet, eradicating malnutrition, sanitisation, more intensive math-tutoring, inculcating-creativity. Indians already have the culture part figured out. I don’t think anyone in the world values academic achievement as much as Indians (especially Bengalis) do so we will never run out of people willing to put in the work.
Also, Is creativity even measured by IQ tests? I have seen pretty smart people (photographic memory, good at mathematical manipulation, abstraction etc) suck at research because they have no originality ,integrity… . Also tenacity is something that can be adopted as a cultural value. Keep repeating stories of how Indians never give up and perhaps in time they will believe and adopt it. Giving up meat (medieval equivalents of Chick-fil-A) must not have been easy or enjoyable but with enough propaganda people did make lasting life-style changes for their values (non-violence).
Indians seem to me a easily gullible people, tell them to worship XYZ god and they will do it unquestioningly, tell them gramodyog is good and they will start spinning charkha. Modi has shown how much people can be swung for good with his sanitation and subsidy-surrendering (where millions of people voluntarily gave up handouts) drive. So if we can somehow fake our way into making tenacity and creativity national values good things might come from it.
Again, I am not questioning IQ’s validity, it is ignorance to deny its predictive prowess nor am I being a racist (why would I?). I just want to know what how can a low-IQ society win at this game? How best can we make our moves? Our best (think Razib type people) are moving to the US in hordes what can we do to beat Yellow and Whites.
Once India’s malnutrition, endemic poverty and massive infrastructure problems are addressed, the Flynn effect should kick in and average IQs should rise considerably. At least, theoretically. Time will tell what actually transpires.
Our best (think Razib type people) are moving to the US in hordes what can we do to beat Yellow and Whites.
this is far less true in the past from talking to indian undergrads and grad students. don’t fuck this up.
also, the west/USA are looking a lot less good. i know NRIs who are quite successful in SV and such who are thinking of moving back.
Most IQ research is based on western (or at least non-Indian) datasets. Let’s not get too bogged down by it.
As Razib has pointed out, the genetic diversity in a single Indian village can be more than in Europe.
So how will the nation or civilization perform in aggregate is yet to be seen.
We have far far too many low hanging fruits before we start to worry about optimizing IQ.
As APthk said, let us focus on fixing basics like malnutrition and hygiene. And things like getting enough welders in India so that we can have a manufacturing eco-system.
These things matter in total intellectual output.
As an example, if you are doing research in solid state physics and your country doesn’t have the manufacturing eco-system to produce the equipment you need then you’ll have to import it at much cost.
This significantly increases cost of doing research. So you might have fewer people working on it resulting in less output.
This is apart from the significant R&D investment that large long established private companies themselves will do.
Dissing on Islam is alright but let’s first get our house in order.
@Razib
Somewhat old statistics:
https://www.thequint.com/news/world/indian-students-in-america-favourite-universities#:~:text=An%20estimated%2056.3%20percent%20of,at%20the%20Under%2DGraduate%20level.
The numbers for brain drain have been continuously increasing. As more and more Indian guys start getting jobs ~10 lakh INR per annum they will save for 4-5 years and move to the US. You should see how easy arranged marriage prospects become for a guy settled in the US. How drastically the (relative) monetary position and quality of life improves for someone who was barely getting anything done in India to someone who is killing it at Adobe, Intel, FB, Google. I have known literally hundreds who were making less than 5 Lakh working half-assedly at a shit kpmg, capegemini etc consultancy job or third rate coding-testing etc who have made the move and now work half-assedly (though still better than Gora people) in bay area. This deluge is unstoppable and every Indian I have talked to says these ‘I am thinking about moving back’ nonsense but hardly any ever do.
IQ is driven by a lot of societal factors. But I think the more intresting question is why have certain groups been able to build societies that foster high IQs while others have not? I don’t think Indians are dumber than other groups but other groups have built the societies that allow us to thrive. We haven’t built them ourselves.
I agree with Ali.
Nice to see that the only that went through Ali Choudhury’s head is “India-Pakistan” and all he inferred was that I’m apparently trying to establish some “Indian/Hindu” supremacy thing here.
Is it really that hard to understand that I’m speaking about the lack scientific temper in the Islamic world?
Your whole argument is hilarious. You’re trying to say “most of your achievements are due to Brahmins”, while I’m pointing out that “you barely even have any achievements”.
And you answered the whole Brahmins (Tamil Brahmins to be exact) outperforming others rant yourself.
“The relative performance was baked in by who their ancestors were.”
Brahmins had better educational and job opportunities in the not-so- distant past and you can see the results now. And the reason why it’s especially Tamils that do well is because there’s a heavy emphasis on education in Tamil Nadu (there may or may not be genetic reasons but I have no idea, you guys are the biology/genetic experts). The main point is that religion isn’t holding anyone back.
Take a look at ISRO, there are tons of non-Brahmin Tamils, start with the chairam, if you will. There are several others in various different fields too, and naturally their numbers will only increase with time as more and more escape poverty and receive proper education.
You claim that Pakistanis are outperformed by Indian Brahmins because they’re Muslim converts who were mostly at the bottom-half of the caste hierarchy. Even if this was the true reason, how do you explain the lack of winners from other Islamic countries? I also mentioned Israel and Singapore, did I not? What’s stopping an Islamic country from developing a reputable space program?
“What’s stopping an Islamic country from having a Space Program?”
The Ummah needs to have a conference in a Bedouin tent to first determine whether or not Space Flight is “Halal”. Only then can they slaughter a Goat and drink Zam-Zam water before getting on with the proceedings. Maybe they’ll stone a couple infidels for entertainment as well.
This right here is an example of classic Islamophobia. All the cliched sterotypes (Bedouin tents, stoning infidels etc). You have already been called out on your racism once and threads have had to be closed because of you. Rarely have I seen such an obnoxious commenter on this forum.
And Mr. “White-Passing”, learn to read. I only brought up my English Lit degree in the context of a discussion about literaty taste. You completely spun that out of context.
And you keep bringing up your MCATS. My family has been producing doctors since the time of the British Raj. We’re not lower class parvenus like you. Fuck off.
The notion that Muslims of India are primarily descendants of lower caste converts is total BS. That is not how conversion worked. Shit loads of Pakistanis go by Rao, Rana, Raja, Rathore, Jaswal etc – clearly Rajput surnames (that Naipaul too commented on in his Among The Believers).
There has been conversion by Brahmins too and also Banias (Sethis). And in many cases people took fancy Islamicate surnames to blend in. This is esp true in Brahmins where conversion to Islam would’ve meant straight up excommunication.
There’s not much difference between Pakistanis / Indians / Bangladeshis in ingrained congenital ability (such as it is) to contribute to scholastic / academic pursuits. The difference is cultural.
this seems broadly correct
I think there is no challenge to “Muslims of India are primarily descendants of lower caste converts” in the discourse because it suits both right and left.
The right cannot fathom that the cream of their people broke ranks and joined the enemy. The left can hail the egalitarian values of Islam. Its, as the say, a convenient theory.
IsThisReal, you point to a real problem. part of it is that the person you are addressing isn’t interested in real history, just buzzwords learned in university to defeat people in arguments. basically, they’re a lexical bot.
that being said, the direction the conversation is going is not edifying.
i respect that hindus can have negative feelings toward islam and muslims grounded in real experiences and historical events. but that does not negate the fact that islam was not purely a destructive enterprise, and in its own time it was synthetic and generative.
the problem in the subcontinent it rejected synthesis, but did not have the power to swallow indian culture (as it did with iran turan egypt and mesopotamia). so we’re at an impasse.
p.s. APthk, traditionally hindu medicine still has a subsection for the study of the ‘yavannas’, which is basically islamo-galenic medicine.
Islam is the “most flawed”? The Hindu caste system is the most disgusting institution ever and has no place in the 21st century. There is no concept of “untouchability” in Islam.
As for Israel, winning Nobel prizes doesn’t absolve it of being a settler-colonial state and constantly stealing Palestinian land. Please learn some basic argumentation.
Finally, merely having certain stereotypes about Islam doesn’t automatically make someone a Hindutvadi but coupled with other things like defending the destruction of Babri and advocating for CAA, it’s enough to be able to gage someone’s political position.
Actually Islam and Judaism are very closely related in terms of elements,concepts and practices. But Judaism is directly related to having Jewish ancestry whereas islam does not have such things. Jews are an ethno-religious group whereas muslims are culturally,ethnically and racially very diverse. So comparing Jews with members of a universal global religion like islam/Christianity is improper.
Naipaul, Sen, Raman, Bannerji, Tagore, Raman and Chandrasekhar were all Brahmins.
sens are mostly baidya or kayastha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sen_(surname)
Fazlur Khan AKA “The Einstein of Structural Engineering” and “The greatest structural engineer of the 20th century” was a Bangladeshi. His designs underly everything from the WTC to the Sears Tower to the Burj Khalifa. He wasn’t a Brahmin, and though he was a (converted) Muslim, he made seminal contributions to the discipline of structral engineering. The whole idea that only Brahmins are capable of intellectual genius is just hilarious. Even Islam hasn’t affected the ability of other subcontinentals to make an indelible impact on the course of history. Makes you wonder what is going on in the “Land of the Pure” — any ideas?
Forgot to add, Sal Khan of Khan academy (widely regarded as a pedagogical genius) thanks in large part to whom I was able to perform admirably on the MCAT, is also Bangaldeshi. Of course we can’t forget the greatest Khan himself, Razib. Intellectual heavyweights abound.
-Long time fan.
His father was Bangladeshi, mother is Indian.
His dad divorced his mother when he was quite young, he was raised by his mother. And he’s married to a Pakistani, if I’m not mistaken
South Asian or Bengali would be more appropriate.
Bengalis in general, along with Bangladeshis, are very, very smart from what I have observed personally in the diaspora. Some people in my extended family work at the World Bank, and they have had interactions with Koushik Basu, the chief economist there — they say he is perhaps the most humble yet smartest person they have ever met.
One of my best friends at the moment is also from Bangladesh, and is in a MD-PhD program at the instituion I am currently attending. He didn’t know about Razib until I introduced him to his work. He is also a fan. Reminds me of the Mandarin Oriental media campaign — perhaps we could something similar for Razib and his large fan base?
Seems like Baidya is an exclusive Bengali caste. Never came across doctors being a separate caste in N-India. Brahmins are the Baidyas of N-India.
Yes but Amartya Sen who specifically won the Nobel Prize comes from a group which self identifies as Brahmin.
I also agree with your observation about some looking “Quite Dravidian” which ostensibly explains why Chandrasekhar himself, the genius that he was, still faced discriination in London when he was a scholar there. He believed Arthur Eddington’s public ridicule of his Chandrasekhar limit was partly racially motivated. His appearance certainly did him no favors, at least to those that are bigoted.
both chandra and ramanujan were ‘wheatish’ and lacked ‘sharp features’ (these are not terms i knew growing up in usa so hope using them right). chandra talked extensively about racism faced in the USA, which was worse than UK i think (parts of the border states were still segregated and ppl tried to put him in black areas…they just had to not go to this part of the country).
of course, even if they were light-skinned khatris these tambrahms would have faced prejucide in the west of the time.
google what LBJ thought when he met the leaders of south asia in the 1960s. even the pakistanis he felt uncomfortable around because they were ‘white black men’ (i’m paraphrasing, basically brown skin + caucasian features).
my assessment of kabir is he’s basically a typical college graduate who deploys buzzwords to silence interlocutors. when it doesn’t work out here he is always in eternal shock.
my wife is reading about american education was destroyed by the fixation on teaching people ‘how to think’ rather than facts. kabir is a classic example of this. he just doesn’t evince much knowledge of many things, but he has lots of dumb Theories in his head, which he deploys in nonsensical ways.
but in his real life i’m sure this works, because most of his acquaintances are probably above average intelligence people who know ‘how to think’ (read: buzzwords) and just play that game. it doesn’t work when you meet someone who knows a lot of shit.
i know a lot of shit. don’t come at me with the light-saber you purchased with a $50,000 year tuition at a liberal arts college which will give you a gentleman’s B for bullshitting.
i read those books. and i read the books in the footnotes.
That was savage. And perfectly apt and accurate. Kabir is probably suffering from PTSD after that rout. Bet he will take some time to recover before he comes back with more of his BS. Don’t let us down Kabir, your “degree in English literature” will come in handy in your attempts to shit all over this blog. Please be my guest and show us how much you “learned” in college.
Was I even addressing you? Who the hell do you think you are personally attacking me? I have been here far longer than you. You are one of the most racist and obnoxious commenters I have encountered here yet.
Since you’re so impressed by the World Bank, my father had a long career there. I grew up in Bethesda.
If you don’t want hinduism to be disrespected, don’t attack Islam.
Also, I’m endlessly fascinated by the amount of time you people spend discussing me. I woke up this morning and looked at this thread and it’s all “kabir this, kabir that”. Glad to know I’m so important.
And the attacks from Mr “white passing” himself. That’s just pathetic.
I have zero interest in even discussing Hinduism. But if you come after my religion you can best believe I’m going to come after yours. Don’t bring up Pakistan or Islam and I won’t comment here.
Do you have a link to the article you mentioned your wife reading about how American education was changed to be focused away from facts?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._D._Hirsch
this guy’s books
also, in kabir’s ‘defense’, though he comes off gauche now and then, he is not a deep hinduphobe or anything like that. he can’t help the stuff he says cuz that’s deeply ingrained in muslim s. asian culture, and some of the stuff is reactive to his rather childish nominal islam.
i dislike it when he tries to be intellectual. but when his decency kicks in he has that there. so give the shaitan his due.
Bengalis in general, along with Bangladeshis, are very, very smart from what I have observed personally in the diaspora. Some people in my extended family work at the World Bank, and they have had interactions with Koushik Basu, the chief economist there — they say he is perhaps the most humble yet smartest person they have ever met.
we’re good talkers. makes us seem brighter tbh
one of the things i’m feeling right now is weary of the anti-islam stuff i’m one of them objectively (apostate). the thing is SJW-maoism is going back to year zero. all traditional civilizations are superior to year zero. all
Bengalis and Gujus are so similar but so different. Always fun talking to my Bengali friends
Gujju is the anti-bengali of the subcontinent and vice versa. Literally take everything which gujju hates and create an ethnicity, and that will be a bong and vice versa
explain?
eat more ilish and shrimp and it would all be good
Bengali food >>> Gujarati food. Kosha Mangsho is a prime example. Chingri Malai Curry and lucchi is heavenly. And who can forget Kati Rolls? All-time favorite.
as i said on the podcast with decruz my kids are totally whitewashed and i don’t care. except the food part. perhaps one day we’ll go to brownland and eat that stuff.
west bengal more likely than bdesh since i’m atheist
I’ve only eaten Bengali food at outlets in New Delhi, and these aforementioned dishes were some of the highlights I encountered. But I’m sure Kolkata has even more delicacies that I am not aware of. I definitely recommend a trip to brownland though, especially now that Oberoi, Taj and ITC have a plethora of hotels across the region that would satisfy the whims and desires of even the most discerning traveler. I plan on visiting the homeland later this year, once COVID-related travel restrictions are lifted. Its been a while since I ate the Skindari Raan at Bukhara and the Butter Chicken at Gulati. Or the Chilli Chicken at Ichiban, Pandara Road. Best food I’ve ever eaten. My palate misses that stuff on a daily basis.
It’s an interesting case of similar personalities different mindsets
re: brain drain, you need to see %. not absolute numbers. my understanding reading econ lit is that brain-drain is not a big thing for big countries (india, china) but is for small countries.
I think folks are being too tough on Kabir. Frankly i dont see much difference in his views on Hinduism and what lot of us have abt Islam, subconsciously or otherwise. Its in the same ballpark i would say.
There are around 15 regular commentators here. On any given day, there’s a high chance at least one would be bored and looking to troll.
Kabir falls for it every time – hook, line, and sinker.
That’s part of what makes him interesting.
But he doesn’t let go and replies to every single remark that has ‘Islam’ or ‘Pakistan’ mentioned in it. So much so that one has to tip toe around these keywords lest one invokes his wrath.
This becomes really spammy and I’ve developed a sort of selective blindness to his posts.
These past couple of weeks, I was extremely bored and engaged with him leading to some unsavoury comments and spam.
I’d like to desist from it in the future.
this seems plausible. i don’t read a lot of his comments closely anymore.
that being said, his demand (made a while back) that non-muslims do “PUBH” is obnoxious. also, he proactively made fun of taking hindu myths seriously for historical value. which is totally fair. but, he flips his shit when you do the same to islamic scripture.
i think over time he’s gotten more “fair” and even-handed here because of the blowback of casual anti-hindu things which even secular muslim subcontinentals will say privately.
Kabir reminds me of those “educated liberals” in America that cry foul about the dogmeat festival in Yulin, then turn around and lampoon most Indian Hindus for NOT eating Beef. The irony is palpable. And HILARIOUS.
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/opinion-why-hagia-sophia-turkey-and-charismatic-figure-of-erdogan-bristles-with-resonances-for-india/356503?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=tw&utm_campaign=amp
Why Hagia Sophia, Turkey And The Charismatic Figure Of Erdogan Bristle With Resonances For India
“More fundamentally, the failing secularism of Turkey and India begs the question: is secularism even possible in non-Christian/non-Western societies? Without the Western experiences of Reformation and the Enlightenment, hard-fought victories as they were, can non-Western societies value the principles of freedom and secularism? Why is it that, unlike in the West where democratisation and secularism went hand in hand, greater democratisation has seemed to only bring religious chauvinism in India and Turkey?
The answers to these questions are perhaps disturbing, and cannot be obscured by the charge of ‘Eurocentrism’, which has long been used to justify reactionary leaders. But what is clear is that the modern ‘reconquests’ of religious structures are not being effected by sultans and generals, but by the democratic “will of the majority”. Historical wounds are being opened afresh, and nations being made anew. Both the processes are linked, of course, and values of liberal humanism are offering little resistance.”
More fundamentally, the failing secularism of Turkey and India begs the question: is secularism even possible in non-Christian/non-Western societies?
a bit on the stupid side. east asian societies can do secularism cuz they did it before the west. china korea and japan all beat down organized religions when they got too big for their britches.
the question is a real one in MENA & india because religion is constitutive of identity. it is not in NE asia.
Wasn’t it the same in pre Islamic India too? No organized religious institution exercised political power the way church did in Europe, or the way the the theologians exercised influence in Islamic period.
In my understanding, the state or the community in Indian society was never overawed by religious institutions. They were broadly only engaged in cultural conditioning.
“More fundamentally, the failing secularism of Turkey and India begs the question: is secularism even possible in non-Christian/non-Western societies?”
‘Secularism’ is a much abused term in India.
Hindutva seems a pretty materialist movement to me. It’s not really concerned with theological matters. One could say it is secular.
It just wishes to re-allocate material resources in a way that benefits a certain group of people.
We have seen this over and over in Europe and the west.
Btw Asim would make a good BrownCast guest. He’s seems to be an honest liberal.
I second Prats, Asim will be a good guest. Especially if Omar bhai is on the podcast as well. Pay-per-view 😛
Guju food is good when homemade. Not a fan of a lot of the restaurant stuff. I don’t eat meat, so I can’t have most bengali food.
Going back to genetics what are the ANI-AASI breakdowns for the extreme ends of the subcontinent? I feel like the difference is really not that big.
Jatt_Scythian – I think the differences are actually quite huge. A kerala/tamilnadu tribal is a very different person from a kalasha from chitral.
Yes technically both have all three of the source populations that make up a modern south asian, but the mix or percentages is skewed so massively at the extremes.
I wonder if europeans are as heavily skewed at the extremes? I.e. is a Portuguese person as different from a Swede as a south indian is from a jatt? Or are they more similar.
In either case, most outsiders think of both Portuguese and Swedes as “white” or “european” and most people think of south Indian tribals and Jatts as “brown” or “south asian”.
excluding iranian speakers 70% (pulliyar/paniay) to 15% AASI seems reasonable. but most populations are 40-60%
Thanks. That’s what I understood as well. I’ve spoken to Davidski (I’m a regular at his website), the Reich Lab members (by email) and some other people who actually know what they are doing and have the requisite credentials, along with published research in reputed journals, and they seem to share this notion. Amateurs (some of whom I spoke to here, and others at Anthrogenica, AKA Amateurgenica) who take an incomplete simulated model and then transpose their own amateur insights and analyses onto it just because “it shows a pattern” and suits their narrative, can just keep barking like rabid dogs, won’t change anything. Again, their results are meaningless, for they are mere amateurs with too much time.
Anyway, I’m done talking to self-proclaimed “experts” without any credentials and credibility, they can email each other and engage in circle jerks all day long, after taking a sound beating from me and others here. Their stubbornness, stupidity and low IQ won’t yield to the truth. I’m just here to listen to Razib. Good evening folks.
Its a parallel to Latin America in terms of West Eurasian % as well, especially for the most West Eurasian South Asian Biradri groups. White Brazilians, or Criollos, are also in the >80% West Eurasian range, and are around ~84-85% West Eurasian IIRC, just like Rors and Hindu Jats.
Also, it is fair to say that just like Latinos look like Indios, Mestizos, Harnizos, Castizos and Criollos (Pure Whites) in order of least to most West Eurasian ancestry, there is a parallel in South Asia/India where South Asians look like Indigenous Dravidians, Mestizos, Harnizos, Castizos and Criollos(Pure MENA/Central Asians) in order of least to most West Eurasian ancestry. This also comports with my experiences as one of these Criollos, and one can see this clearly in my two albums that I’ve posted. I find it fascinating that White Americans invariably always find it unbelievable that I’m from India, even though I always say that I am, because my face is like that of a “White guy” to them. Anyway, I’ve said enough. Glad to get more perspectives from Razib et al.
Regarding Ali Chaudhry’s comments about the lack of Dalit achievement in sciences compared to that of Brahmins.
Dalits have been doing increasingly better in India’s competitive exams. Some are studying CS at IIT Bombay, possibly the most competitive degree program in the whole world to get into. They are even starting companies before graduating college, ala Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.
https://www.quora.com/profile/Kalpit-Veerwal
More than the Konkan Railway and Mangalyaan, I would consider these developments as independent India’s greatest achievements.
this is the model https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/world/asia/11caste.html
Cmon, we know what Ali is talking about. And he is not wrong.
The lack of diversity in achievements of Indian origin folks should be worrying. We can all take solace that dalits are studying in IITs, I guess. The set of people who are champions of Indian industry also happen to be Noble prize winners. The day we really have a blue chip dalit entrepreneur AKA dalit Tata or Ambani we can say we have achieved. Till then its a long road ahead.
“The set of people who are champions of Indian industry also happen to be Noble prize winners.”
Brahmin and Kshatriya contribution to Indian industry is not very substantial. Indian industry is dominated by the mercantile castes, and in fact most of India’s unicorns are led by Vanias.
“In 2016, the most common surname of the directors of the companies listed in the National Stock Exchange of India was Agarwal (and its variations). The second most common surname was Gupta. Even in modern-day tech and ecommerce companies, they continue to dominate. It was reported in 2013, that for every 100 in funding for e-commerce companies in India, 40 went to firms founded by an Agrawal. Of a total of 4 startups out of India that have crossed $10 Billion valuation, all except Paytm were founded by an Agrawal.”
This list is pretty diverse, 3 Hindi Vanias, 1 Gujarati Patidar, 1 Bengali Kayastha from Gujarat (girl), 1 Marathi Brahmin, 2 Telugu Brahmins, 1 Telugu Reddy.
wwwDOTjagranjoshDOTcom/articles/jee-advanced-2019-toppers-list-name-marks-rank-statistics-1560491698-1.
Conversely, North Indian Brahmins are especially lacking in achievement, academic or industrial. There is a reason Kartik Tiwari changed his name to Kartik Aryan ….
Yeah u make it seem as that Vania, Brahmin, Kshartiya form 50 percent of India pops or something. If i start subdividing OBCs it might take me next week for it 2 end. Diversity within the same 15 percent is not diversity, i was referring to.
Again you know what i was referring to.
the issue is the % AASI in the IVC component. in moorjani et al. N indian brahmins are still 35% ASI.
we know ASI is .7 AASI. this gives a floor of 25% AASI. i’d say 30-35% AASI resaonable
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3769933/
Regarding the relative lack of science achievers from the core Muslim world in the recent years, this might be a consequence of the lack of a priestly caste in Islam. The Muslim country with the most apparent contribution to science today is Iran, and the Iranian Shia tradition differs from the Sunni in the presence of a priestly order.
Steppe ancestry don’t mean squat for IQ btw. If steppe ancestry and IQ had any correlation, we’d see jats and pashtuns running google and microsoft instead of tambrams.
Its clear that an upbringing focused on education is the biggest key to success. Brahmins simply have that as a part of their cultural package because that’s been their role in society for thousands of years. Tho to be fair, still doesn’t explain why south indian brahmins in particular are so dominant.
Asians have higher IQs. AASI = Asian ancestry, so it makes sense that more of it would make you smarter, no? Maybe there are diminishing returns after a certain admixture level, but I am not one to make speculations.
s indian brahmins = english.
west bengali elites do OK too. the bhadrolok
English also means access to world of the current knowledge.
Asians have higher IQs. AASI = Asian ancestry, so it makes sense that more of it would make you smarter, no? Maybe there are diminishing returns after a certain admixture level, but I am not one to make speculations.
1) NE asians
2) AASI diverged from NE asians (on average) more than 40,000 years ago
total ancestry is poorly predictive
I see. Thanks for clarifying that.
Here’s my contribution to the Hindu Muslim food fight in the thread.
There is actually a sect of muslims who are super ballers. They’re called Ismailis I think. I don’t know much about them, but they always come correct whether it’s education, entrepreneurship, or just being straight up classy people. These are my impressions from the interactions I’ve had.
Whatever it is they’re doing, in terms of culture, seems to be something that other muslims (maybe everyone) should aspire to. Genuine question, why doesn’t the broader islamic community just emulate them?
Non Ishmailis like Sunni Vohras, memons etc do pretty well also.
I don’t really see a link with religion, expect maybe if it closes people off to the modern body of knowledge.
I think maybe Christians outperform adjusted for starting socio economic status compared to other religions in India because they are most open to English and Western knowledge. (Not sure)
25-70% AASI makes sense. Indio to Castizo with most people mestizos and most upper castes harnizos 😉
So its what I thought. Most Indians are 50% to 75% West Eurasian (with some exceptions like the Paniya being 30% West Eurasian and the most western Haryana Jatts being 85% West Eurasian).
Its interesting what the Paniya look like. I can easily see a 100% AASI population being close to Onge.
https://live.staticflickr.com/199/535724464_af9a55fa79_z.jpg
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/WB0RXY/portrait-of-paniya-tribe-in-wayanad-kerala-WB0RXY.jpg
https://oneeyeland.com/600/152100_one_eyeland_the_paniya_tribe_by_faiyaz_hawawala.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/1787/43483070422_7d6ac44edc_b.jpg
https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/vCr4DYUz_IEDWnEhQcttYG88wmM=/fit-in/1072×0/https://contest-public-media.si-cdn.com/0598044171986e81c2607a262a9d5046439c9f06.jpg
They look very different from the Vedas.
Also a few points in IQ doesn’t really mean shit. NE Asia vs Europe.
this could be selection, but the onge have tightly curled frizzy hair. most indians have straight/wavy hair. even the paniya don’t seem frizzy haired.
(the onge are descended from ppl related to the hohabanian in SE asia, they came from burma)
Interesting they look quite different from the “Irula” people who are also very high AASI.
How much genetic diversity was there in within the AASI component in the Indian subcontinent ?
i don’t know.
there are way more irulas so way more pics. they don’t look THAT different than a lot of south indians tbh (a bit darker and less west eurasian looking)…wondering if jatt_scythian picked atypical paniya images?
It’s interesting how similar these people look like to Australian Aborigines (strongly defined brow ridges, depressed nasal roots and bridge, and some marked cases of alveolar prognathism), but in between AASI-India and Aboriginal Australia there are the Onge and the Papuans, both of whom are much more overtly “Negroid” looking (although Papuans in particular I think can look quite distinctive from African people, I still think on the whole they resemble more Africans than they do Australians).
I wonder if the original Out of Africa humans phenotypically would have resembled some cross-section of AASI-Onge-Papuan-Australian people.
people have to realize it isn’t as simple as.these components either. But as someone who clusters with S Indian Brahms, I’ll accept the pseudoscience based flattery
Like Mohan said, upbringing is the biggest factor.
As for South Indians (specifically Tambrahms) doing better: from what I’ve observed, people in Tamil Nadu put a lot more emphasis on quality education. In the north it’s more about somehow getting a high-paying job.
Knew a Mallu at school (he’s at IISER now) whose goal is to win a Nobel Prize, never heard anybody else speak of such an academically-oriented goal. Everyone else usually just says “doctor” or “engineer” because they either like the profession or just want to make good money.
https://www.thenational.ae/uae/science/final-launch-preparations-under-way-for-uae-mars-mission-1.1047390
IQ is driven by a lot of societal factors. But I think the more intresting question is why have certain groups been able to build societies that foster high IQs while others have not? I don’t think Indians are dumber than other groups but other groups have built the societies that allow us to thrive. We haven’t built them ourselves.
the peasant is the foundation of chinese society. there is no blood nobility. the theory in NE asia is that everyone could (not in practice) become a learned person.
is this true in india? i see ppl on youtube claim that ancient india had all these schools and universities. but were sudras and dalits (majority of population) allowed to learn the vedas and partake of learning?
There is a book by Dharampal called The Beautiful Tree which documents the percentage of school kids by caste during early colonial times, before the Macaulay introduced English education (1800s). It was documented that 52% of kids came from the broadly called BCs, 20% from Brahmins and the remaining from Kshatriyas and Vaishyas. I am not sure if Shudras were allowed to read Vedas (most likely not), because at the time of documentation, it looks like the medium of instruction was the local language, and sometimes even Farsi and Urdu.
I’ve heard of Chinese traveler stories who learned Sanskrit before coming to study in Nalanda. Given that Nalanda had a huge Buddhist influence, I am inclined to think Shudras were attending them.
Yea Buddhist and Jain schools of knowledge were open.
Within Hinduism Yogic Siddhas, Shaiva Nayanmars etc included lots of Dalits and shudras.
Orthodox Vedic and Vaishnavaite traditions (pre-Bhakti reforms) restricted to Brahmins. Who had asymmetric advantage as you could be a Brahmin and a Siddha and a Buddhist. And have access to all three traditions of knowledge. But one couldn’t get access to the Brahmin tradition unless born into the fold.
I don’t know how much this has to do with economics. Non caste ridden areas like Sindh, and Bangladesh aren’t significantly different in economic performance.
I can answer from a Kerala context. Shaankara smRti is a document outlining the customs and rituals unique to Kerala (smRtis are usually region-specific). A major part of this book is devoted to the conduct of Brahmins. However, there are a few references to the other communities. Under a chapter titled Education, it says that “even though Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas in other regions, after their thread-wearing ceremony, engage in Vedic studies, here in Kerala, only Brahmins are allowed to study Vedas”. In a different chapter, it says that “Shudras should be learned in Sanskrit, but not Shaastras”. I do not know how well this was followed by other communities, but the customs in the book were definitely followed by Brahmins. The book also, interestingly, lists 64 customs unique to Kerala (like, disallowing widow-burning).
To summarize, Brahmins seemed to have kept Vedas exclusively to themselves. But education seemed to have been encouraged for other varnas. In fact, as early as 15th century, we have the presence of non-Brahmin poets, medics, etc in Malayalam who had a good knowledge of Sanskrit.
I do have an e-copy of Saankara smRti. It is in Malayalam, though.
Asim Alim asks whether secularism is possible in non-Christian/non-Western countries.
More fundamentally, the failing secularism of Turkey and India begs the question: is secularism even possible in non-Christian/non-Western societies? Without the Western experiences of Reformation and the Enlightenment, hard-fought victories as they were, can non-Western societies value the principles of freedom and secularism? Why is it that, unlike in the West where democratisation and secularism went hand in hand, greater democratisation has seemed to only bring religious chauvinism in India and Turkey?
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/opinion-why-hagia-sophia-turkey-and-charismatic-figure-of-erdogan-bristles-with-resonances-for-india/356503
in 24 hours 177 comments on the ‘open thread’. this blog is getting popular…
Hinduism is not going to last until the 22nd century. Only Islam and Christianity will make it.
Oh, don’t worry, every religion is gonna decline in the next few centuries as education and income levels improve. Nobody is safe.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/29/turkish-students-increasingly-resisting-religion-study-suggests
I’m personally interested in knowing how fast atheism is increasing in certain Islamic countries, however, since many of them are quite harsh on atheism and/or apostasy, we probably won’t get to know.
How do you make 80 year predictions? Anyhow as a general rule history is full of unpredictable things. Things which no one imagined may be around the corner
@Razib Khan,
You should follow New Discoveries. It is run by James Lindsay and Peter Boghossian.
https://newdiscourses.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9K5PLkj0N_b9JTPdSRwPkg
They are two academics, who have make a project to examine and critique Critical Theory which is the engine behind the the New Left.
They have unique arguments and insights I have not heard anywhere else from people who oppose “Social Justice”.
Guess Razib is right when he says “part of it is that the person you are addressing isn’t interested in real history, just buzzwords learned in university to defeat people in arguments. basically, they’re a lexical bot.”
All I got was whataboutism, points that were already acknowledged being brought up, aggressiveness (because they think it’s some sort of superiority contest) and zero acknowledgement of my main point, which was about lack of scientific temper.
You can’t call Islam the “most backward” when your own faith (I assume you are Hindu) theologically justifies the caste system. Your “Laws of Manu” are utterly disgusting. And you have the gall to criticize the Holy Quran? And who gave you the authority to decide which religion is the “most backward” anyway?
Hinduism also justifies widow-burning and stuff like that. Muslim women can remarry after their husband’s death (after going through an “iddat” period in order to verify paternity).
Your argument about Jews and Nobel Prizes is completely ridiculous. As if Nobel Prizes justify settler-colonialism and breaking International Law.
You’re just a stupid Islamophobe. You people just want to trash Islam since that gives you jollies for some reason.
At least all of that is rather flexible.
“You can’t call Islam the “most backward” when your own faith (I assume you are Hindu) theologically justifies the caste system.”
Many people already acknowledged the caste part on this blog before and I VERY CLEARLY said that each religion has its own flaws.
I admit that caste is a huge problem in certain places and needs to be fixed, but you really need to stop acting delusional and get off your high horse. I personally don’t like discussing caste because talking about something that you want to get rid of seems very counter-intuitive.
If you’ve lived in the subcontinent for as long as I have, you would feel stupid about making that statement. You think only Hindus practice the caste system? Lol
I’ve seen many Muslims from northern India treat the Dravidian Muslims like they’re inferior time and again. Sikhism has quite a bit of casteism too (mostly the Jatts from what I’ve seen). Haven’t met a whole lot of Christians (even though my close friend is Christian) so can’t really say much about them.
The issues with caste are mainly societal/cultural rather than religious, if it were religious then I don’t see any reason for it to be present among other religions in the subcontinent. If you wanna blame Hinduism for it then maybe you should ask yourself why Muslims practice it too even today. No Hindu is forcing you to follow it.
Deep Bhatnagar provided several sources that show the prevalence of the caste system among Muslims in the subcontinent-
https://www.brownpundits.com/2018/06/05/shudra-american-doctor-speaks-out/
And please don’t bring up your garbage “the Holy Quran doesn’t speak about caste” standard argument, everyone here knows that Muslims practice it too. And I’m sure I won’t have to remind you about the whole “sons of Muhammad” (Ashrafs) being called superior compared to “low-born people” (Ajlafs). Gonna blame Hinduism for this too? Or was Ziauddin Barani some sort of undercover Hindu trying to infiltrate Islam?
“Hinduism also justifies widow-burning and stuff like that. Muslim women can remarry after their husband’s death (after going through an “iddat” period in order to verify paternity).”
What’s next, somebody’s gonna bash the Church for burning people accused of “witchcraft”?
Ever heard of “reformations”? Do you see the majority modern-day Hindus practicing Sati?
Fun fact- Saudi Arabia is the only country today where “witchcraft & sorcery” is legally punishable by death.
And since you seem to care so much about marginalization and all, care to speak about Ahmadis and Shia (especially Ahmadis and Shia Hazaras )? Many of them flee from Pakistan and Afghanistan to India.
I remember you posted a report about a Dalit groom being beaten somewhere in India not so long ago for sitting on a horse or something like that. A Shia Hazara wedding was bombed less than a year ago-
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/bloody-suicide-attack-on-kabul-wedding-kills-at-least-63/2019/08/18/ace5f0d4-c17d-11e9-a5c6-1e74f7ec4a93_story.html
Hazars are already a persecuted group in Afghanistan, and being Shia only makes things worse-
“The extremist Sunni militia described the man as a Pakistani named Abu Asim who had attacked a gathering of “rejecter polytheists,” as the group describes followers of Shiite Islam.”
And I don’t think I even need to speak about how Ahmadis are treated, the overwhelming majority of the Islamic world treats them very harshly. There are loads and loads of cases of Ahmadis being killed mercilessly and having their mosques burned down. It’s so bad that they aren’t even completely safe in western places like the UK-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Ahmadis#United_Kingdom
Do you see such levels of anti-lower-caste stuff being actively published and circulated in the UK by upper-caste Hindus? When was the last time you heard about someone handing out leaflets that called for the killing of all lower-caste people?
“Your argument about Jews and Nobel Prizes is completely ridiculous. As if Nobel Prizes justify settler-colonialism and breaking International Law.”
No, you’re ridiculous, I can’t help but call you a dumb piece of shit at this point, sorry about that.
I was merely trying to point differences between Islamic and non-Islamic neighbours, I also pointed out Singapore and Malaysia, did I not?
I wasn’t using this as some territorial argument whatsoever, that’s an entirely different debate. I was comparing Israel with the rest of the middle-east in terms of scientific achievements, that is all. The fact that you can’t see anything beyond “Jew bad, Israel evil” is both sad and laughable.
South Asian Muslims practice caste because we were influenced by the larger Hindu society. South Asian Christians practice caste as well as Sujatha Gidla pointed out in her book “Ants Among Elephants”. However, Islam doesn’t THEOLOGICALLY justify caste. Our religion teaches us that all Muslims are equal in the eyes of Allah. Yours teaches you that Brahmins were born from god’s head and Shudras from his feet. Caste is the central feature of Hinduism (its original sin). It is not a central feature of Islam.
“Ashraf” doesn’t mean “sons of Muhammad”. I don’t know where you got that nonsense from. The word comes from “shurafa” meaning nobility.
You all were practicing sati up until the British banned it. Even afterwards, widows lived in ashrams and had miserable lives. We’ve all seen Deepa Mehta’s “Water”. Islam was revealed in the 7th century and widow remarriage was allowed from the very beginning. Islam gave women the right to divorce.
We’re not talking about sectarian violence here so bringing up Shia and Hazara is irrelevant.
Of course, there is a lack of scientific achievement in the Muslim world. However Nobel Prizes don’t whitwash Zionist crimes.
You are an incorrigible Islamophobe. Keep digging yourself into a hole.
“South Asian Muslims practice caste because we were influenced by the larger Hindu society.”
Blaming Hinduism for your own shortcomings as usual. Like I said, nobody is forcing any Muslim to follow the caste system. You obviously haven’t seen how Muslims in the subcontinent treat each other, no wonder you’re so deluded and what not. Even if they removed every mention of caste tomorrow from every article and piece of paper, people in the subcontinent, regardless of their religion, will still follow it to a certain extent.
“You all were practicing sati up until the British banned it. Even afterwards, widows lived in ashrams and had miserable lives. We’ve all seen Deepa Mehta’s “Water”. Islam was revealed in the 7th century and widow remarriage was allowed from the very beginning.”
You can’t possibly get any cheaper than this. Always living in the past and refusing to acknowledge the fact that modern-day Hindus don’t practice Sati, if you’re gonna bash Hinduism for this then I guess it’s fair that we all get to call your prophet a disgusting pedophile, don’t start whining about it now, you’re the one who set the tone here. Last time someone called him a pedophile on this blog you began whining like a little kid.
“We’re not talking about sectarian violence here so bringing up Shia and Hazara is irrelevant.”
Not at all. It’s very much relevant. Just because it’s sectarian doesn’t change jackshit. Stop trying to hide. You spoke about the mistreatment of a certain group of people and so did I, nobody said it can’t be sectarian.
You very well know that Ahmadis are treated in an extremely inhumane manner in tons of places, doesn’t matter if it’s a rural or urban area. Even though India provides them the freedom to call themselves Muslims (unlike certain other intolerant countries), Sunnis still try to harass them.
Go ahead and let me know when was the last time you saw a lower-caste wedding being bombed that led to 90+ people being killed, I’ll wait. Also, let me know if you ever came across leaflets asking for the death of lower-caste people being handed out in the UK.
“Of course, there is a lack of scientific achievement in the Muslim world. ”
Good to see you finally admit that Islam is a major obstacle in the way of science (compared to other religions at least).
“However Nobel Prizes don’t whitwash Zionist crimes.”
As I very clearly mentioned already, I’m not talking about the territorial dispute, that’s an entirely different topic, can’t understand why it’s so hard for you to get that through your head. Out of curiosity, are you parents cousins by any chance?
“You are an incorrigible Islamophobe. Keep digging yourself into a hole.”
I guess I finally understand why most people here just go around throwing the word pedophile and desert cult and don’t bother posting a whole lot of facts to get their point across, you’re deluded and stubborn as hell.
Are you stupid? It’s not that difficult to understand the difference between a religion that THEOLOGICALLY justifies Caste (as the disgusting “Laws of Manu” do) and one which explictly insists that all believers are equal in Allah’s eyes. All Muslims can pray together in mosques. We have no concept of “untouchables” polluting temples. South Asian Muslim culture has been influenced by the majority Hindu society. That’s simply a fact.
It’s not “bashing” Hinduism to point out that you all were treating women very badly up until fairly recently in History. Islam was revealed in thr 7th century yet there was no concept of widows being killed. Islam gave women the right to divorce in which case the husband had to pay back the “haq mehar”. It’s foolish to argue that it was not a progressive religion for its time.
Again, sectarian violence is not the topic. Don’t deflect.
Talking about my parents being cousins is completely below the belt and unacceptable (and no they’re not. We don’t do that in my family).
Settler-colonialism is not a “territorial dispute”. If you had any intelligence you’d understand that distinction. And arguing about Nobel Prizes is a bad argument.
You are an extremely stupid and bigoted asshole. I’m done with you. But don’t pretend to be some injured neutral party. You’ve revealed the depths of your Islamophobia.
So many comments!
You’re doing something special, Razib.
1. there is much more to south indian brahmin landscape than just tambrams. kannada and telugu brahmins are also good in many ways, but are not always vocal and ‘don’t sell themselves’ like tambrams.
in any case americans will have a half a tambram as their vp in 4 months time!!!.
2. me feels that north indians can improve their iq by eating curd rice with a small lemon pickle.
Add tamarind rice and coconut rice
And freshly cooked rice with tamarind pickle (chintakaaya tokku) and some curd! 🙂
Preferable to eat Illish and Chingri like the Bengalis.
Y’all need to be reminded of the contributions the South made to Hinduism as we recognize it today, including…
– Bhakti movements (so much literature)
– Shankara (the man), advaita philosophy
– Ramanuja, (vashishtadvaita philosophy)
– Madhva (dvaita philosophy)
– Vijayanagara Empire
– Sayana, in the Vijayanagara Empire, who gives us some of the latest medieval commmentaries
– Sarvadarshanasangraha, a great explication of all Indian philosophies
– Beautiful temples.
Just saying. Hindutva is working because of localization. Don’t get all chauvinistic.
In some ways, parts of South India feels the most Hindu. Unexpected parts, too.
I always felt more Hindu/Dharmic compared to my North Indian counterparts. I attended NIT-Calicut where top 1-2 percentile of India goes to school. You’ll get to meet people from every part of the country and a few Lankans, Bangladeshis also. Knowledge of Ithihaasas, Puranas of North Indian folk was abysmal at best. They were so disconnected to Dharma! However, they showed the attitude of a typical BJP supporter.
“ Knowledge of Ithihaasas, Puranas of North Indian folk was abysmal at best. They were so disconnected to Dharma! ”
People who own the religion, do not need to justify it. It’s like asking Arabs about Islam.
As Hoju said the south has “contributed”. The north birthed the religion
Agree with Hoju. Add Vallabhacharya from Telangana to the list – the man behind the Vaishnava transformation of Gujarat and Rajasthan(?)
In two days UAE is going to Mars!
https://www.emiratesmarsmission.ae/
Amazing! Just wow!
When Trump throws us out we should all spend time working in UAE before reaching India. This little gem of a country rocks! May they find what they are looking for and more!
Best of luck to UAE’s mars mission, first Arab space mission.
It would be interesting to know the contribution of UAE/Arab states in this venture – is it simply buying off the shelf technology from another country , or was the major components like rockets, satellites, navigation system , etc designed in UAE etc
Acc to Wikipedia “According to an estimate by the World Bank, the UAE’s population in 2018 stands at 9.543 million. Expatriates and immigrants account for 88.52% while Emiratis make up the remaining 11.48%”
Sometimes I think small authoritarian arab sheikhdoms are interested in paying lip service to modernity by buying things off the shelf or Collect Trophy like ‘collecting’ M.F.Hussien at the age of 90 as he was an internationally known painter
However, UAE plays it’s part in the world economy in this way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirates_Mars_Mission
“The spacecraft orbiter is a planned mission to Mars to study the Martian atmosphere and climate built by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, University of Colorado, Arizona State University, and University of California, Berkeley.”
“The spacecraft was built at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, at the University of Colorado at Boulder and will be launched from Japan.”
Looks more like American universities built one for them. Not surprised in the slightest.
Honestly we (Indians) don’t have the strength or mandate to adjudicate on matters of allocating national prestige. I am in if for the sparkles and the fireworks and any opportunity that we can get out of it. After all it is their money to spend(or waste) and nothing we say or do will make them smarter or dumber so why even bother scrutinizing .
I am happy either ways, whether they learned something out of making it with Americans or if they hired Americans wholesale. I have met a few Emiratis and a lot of Egyptians that are world class at engineering so they might have trained their own(or other Arabs) and absorbed a lot of the skills. If not then there are always Indians to be hired. We should be simply grateful for any opportunities Emiratis will eventually give us.
@Bhimrao,
agreed. make the best use of opportunities available. I am for rich people spending as much money around the world on whatever strikes their fancy for a good Keynesian pump strategy
Unfair to beat up UAE for collaborating with the US for a Mars Mission. It is a tiny country – basically a collection of city states with a super limited human resource available. If they want to diversify into high-end engineering more power to them.
It is *always* a good thing when humans from diverse cultures come together to problem solve (whatever the optics of the situation).
Its’ Arab Singapore
\Arab Singapore\
Much worse; mostly a rentier state you can do any business as long as there is local Arab partner who naturally gets half the profit for being there and you do the heavy work. Workers have to live in 15 guys in a small shed with no rights. No questions asked as to how you make money or how much money you make as long as the local gets his cut.
I believe Singapore is less rentier with less brazen exploitation
Not really being harsh.
UAE has a higher GDP per capita than many space-faring nations and also a very good HDI score. Israel has a better HDI score but has a smaller population and a much lower GDP per capita, and they’ve done quite well in space, doesn’t see any reason for UAE to struggle. Nevertheless, better late than never, good for them.
I personally expect something from South-East Asia too, large population, better GDP per capita than India and somewhat varying HDI scores.
Have no clue about central Asian countries or what to expect though.
Some comments on buying off the shelf stuff.
I know for a fact that ISRO buys all the clever top tier stuff like Synthetic Aperture Radars for RISATs off the shelf from Israel Aerospace Industries and in case of perpetually delayed ISRO-NASA NISAR the radar is made by JPL+Northrop. Same is the case for top-tier imaging cameras that are bought off the shelf from the US. Our future rocket (for Unified Launch Vehicle) engines are Ukrainian and despite whatever lies people tell the cryogenic engines were ‘Made in India'(by Russians).
Emiratis are starting out in the big-ego-space-guys club let us hope that they will like us enough and hand us a lot of their money in exchange for our expertise.
ISRO/Antrix is more after the payload delivery market, rather than satellite making and such.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign_satellites_launched_by_India
Hopefully they’ll improve and expand into other fields of research too.
Kudos to the UAE. We need all the investment in Space that we can get.
Their government that realizes the days of relying on oil are limited and are trying to build a more sustainable economy.
The crown prince also recently gifted land for the construction of a Hindu temple…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-teung6U8XQ
I come from a Tam Brahm background and I do believe the cultural values are more important than anything else. I think South Indian Brahmin’s basic values of honesty, integrity and hard work are the base layers and go beyond IQ. I grew up in Mumbai in the 1970s and early 80s and my parents would buy 2 newspapers (TOI and IE) and the family would fight for the newspapers every single day. We were avid readers of any reading material available including my grandmother who likely was born in the 1890s. If there were two Tam Brahms in a room, you had three opinions. So, it is not about schooling, it is what is going on outside the classroom. We will learn more about epigenetics in the next decades and we will recognize it’s importance in brain function and wiring – i.e. nurture is nature.
I think our genes are the same, it is what we do with it and how our brains ‘wire or rewire themselves’ that matters.
IsThisReal taking it back to 2012, with the, “I’m 15 and just watched a Sam Harris youtube video” takes.
Nice, another one.
Calling me 15 and assuming that I watch Sam Harris totally refuted everything I said.
Shows your level of maturity, grow up tbh.
Don’t know how many of you read about her abduction when the report came out last year, but it was her case where the Sindh High Court declared that if a girl has had her first menstrual cycle, she can be married (going against a law that was previously in place)-
Apparently she’s pregnant now and still no freedom in sight, she was kidnapped in October 2019-
https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/39994
I guess, soon enough, even the open thread might be closed 😛
If people are going to attack Islam, they best believe I’m going to go after their Hinduism. Other than that, I’m a very chill person. But don’t attack my country or my religion.
If one a Muslim attacks Hinduism. I doesn’t follow that I attack all of Islam.
It’s not one person. People on this site have a regular habit of trashing Islam.
If you’re going to trash my religion, you better be prepared for me to dish it out.
That’s up to you, but just know that you are then engaging in the same identitarian mudslinging you accuse the others of engaging in.
It’s the way of the world I suppose everyone feels attacked by other groups and wants to attack them back in return.
I am guilty of that sometimes too. But I don’t think that’s good for any of the people involved in the exchange. So I am trying to improve.
I just feel that u are going after Hinduism/India even b4 someone goes at Islam/Pak.
I know u are a chill person. Everyone i meet IRL is more saner than their online version. Just dont take all these things that seriously.
I don’t even discuss Hinduism until people decide to spout nonsense like Islam being the “most backward” religion. How does one even quantify “most backward”? And it was an Indian Hindu who called the Holy Quran “lame and primitive”. There is no need for such gratuituous disrespect. And the same people think “monkey god” is offensive (when that is how Wikipedia even describes Lord Hanuman. Is he not a monkey now?). People who believe in monkey gods and elephant gods really shouldn’t be criticizing the idea that the Holy Quran was divinely revealed to the Prophet of God. Purely on the basis of scientific rationality, both beliefs are irrational.
I have nothing against India. I am open about disliking the Hindutva Regime (as do many Indian citizens). The Regime is not India. But for some people here even the most liberal Pakistani is not good enough.
Some people here make every topic somehow about Islam and Pakistan. The Hagia Sophia thread had to be closed because somehow even that got on to Pakistan. It’s getting very tiresome actually.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/the-beijing-islamabad-equation-of-the-1960s/article31995172.ece
Analysis | The Beijing-Islamabad equation of the 1960s
“We had good relations with India for several years. Then when we took Tibet back, India got annoyed… India not only infringed on 90,000 square kilometers of Chinese territory but they want all of Tibet as well…The Indian people are good, but capitalists like [Jawaharlal] Nehru are not good,” Mao added.
In Zhou’s view, India wanted to occupy the Aksai Chin region — namely, “their so-called Ladakh”. The Chinese Premier said that while Pakistan wanted China to support the right of self-determination of the Kashmiris, “in fact our actions already go beyond this”, a transcript of the November 1963 conversation, also available in the Wilson Centre Digital Archive, stated.
“We have settled the Sino-Pakistani border question with you; the people of the world understand this, and it indicates that we acknowledge that this region belongs to you. Even though there remains something left unsaid, this is only because of the stipulations of international law — [Pakistani] Ambassador [Agha Mohamed] Raza knows this; but we will talk again after the sovereignty jurisdiction issue has been settled,” Zhou added.”
my contribution-
https://www.news18.com/news/india/untouchables-pervasiveness-of-caste-discrimination-in-marginalised-muslim-milieu-of-uttar-pradesh-2712483.html
“Islam is the “most flawed”? The Hindu caste system is the most disgusting institution ever and has no place in the 21st century. There is no concept of “untouchability” in Islam.”
Another delusion- please read…
https://www.news18.com/news/india/untouchables-pervasiveness-of-caste-discrimination-in-marginalised-muslim-milieu-of-uttar-pradesh-2712483.html
As already explained above, there is no comparison between a religion which THEOLOGICALLY justies caste and one in which all believers are equal in God’s eyes. Your bigoted and disgusting “Laws of Manu” actually state that Brahmins were born from God’s head and Shudras from God’s feet. The Holy Quran says nothing of the kind.
Listen Hindutvadi, I’m not playing around. You come after my Islam again and I will absolutely destroy your Hinduism in such a way that you will go crying home to your mother. You’ve picked the wrong person to fuck with.
\here is no comparison between a religion which THEOLOGICALLY justies caste\
Hey Hey I like this pop theology. let me also do some pop theology
White skin is prized in The theology so much so that as a reward for good muslim life one gets 72 virgins who are white. Lot of people have written about racism and slavery in Islam and islamic societies; just an example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4KMOfN0Oeo
Islam offers a bogus equality combined with real social discrimination – otherwise why should Muslims vote with their feet against Islamic societies and immigrate to non-Muslim countries , either legally or illegally.
While Hinduism is relaxed about caste inequalities, laws of karma are applicable to all the people irrespective of caste
And we get the 72 virgins thing again.
Grow up Islamophobes. You people are pathetic.
Dalit Muslims are going to be the new Triple Talaaq for the Indian right in the coming decade.
Some modest proposals:
– Now that OTs are getting popular with lots of comments, it’s long past to reform/fix the comment system
– Let’s start with quoting, which is non-existent right now
– And while we’re at it, why not an ignore function? I don’t see the point of Milan’s endless “muh serb” spam in every single thread. Nor do I get why Kabir’s bottomless butthurt about his hyperfragile islamic identity needs to clog up all the threads.
– make the text smaller
– implement a way to minimise an entire thread
– in fact, implement a comment thread function to begin with.
The best commenting system I’ve seen thus far is on Unz. SSC, before Scott shut it down, also had a decent system. Hell, even a half-assed solution like Disqus is better than the mess we got now.
Peace.
Even highly offensive and inappropriate comments shouldn’t be removed because these will help us to know more and see the true face of humanity.
More comments=more popular website
But the texting limit should be reduced as too long comments are difficult to be read. Efforts can be taken so that reading threads and understanding threads become easy even for an outsider.
It’s very simple. Don’t attack my country or religion and I won’t attack yours back.
But I agree with you that the ability to block people would be very useful (especially our resident Serbian nationalist).
Yeah the Serbian stuff is an eyesore. Like one comment is great but seeing 10 of the same thing is too much.
Also on a side note the genetics and population topics are the best topics on the site.
I am a big fan of Milan. There are deep commonalities between Serbia and ancient historical greater India. You can disagree with Milan about WHY these deep similarities exist . . . but that does not change that these deep similarities exist.
There appears to have been deep extensive cultural/language/technology/civilizational exchange between Serbia and India several thousand years BC.
This requires far greater study.
Milan asserts that many great civilizations across southern, eastern Europe and the near east were closely interlocked with the Serbian civilizations. If this nomenclature bothers you so much . . . then please subtitute “East European” for Serb.
Go Milan!!!
https://www.economist.com/britain/2020/06/27/munira-mirza-revolutionary-conservative
A good profile on someone who was far left growing up to now become a leading star for Torys
I had a Grad-mate who moved in the opposite direction. Its strange how this things happen
Good article. Also striking to me how the Conservatives in the UK are able to recruit and keep a significant non white talent pool in their ranks. The Tories do not seem to be seen as an anti-minority party in the way the Republicans are in the US. Any thoughts why?
Curious, there’s a lot of shared heritage between US and UK conservatives for sure, but certain distinctions might explain what you observe. Brexit populism notwithstanding, tories are still anchored to aristocratic values in certain ways (if watered down), in contrast, US conservatives since Reagan made a clean break in leadership from the east coast patrician establishment (cabot lodge, nelson rockefeller ect). Monarchism can accommodate cosmopolitanism better than the reaganite package. Furthermore, in a profoundly biracial society like the US, the dynamics of polarisation will always play on racial distinctions. Even fairly conservative people in the UK are surprisingly ok with non-assimilating minorities. There’s still a hangover colonial view which encourages things “remaining to type”. US populism requires a common ethos, in lieu of a symbolic figurehead.
I think we are reading 2 much into post Post Trump Republican party. Perhaps the Republican party has fundamentally changed, and can’t go back. But i dont think the pre Obama Republican party was as anti-minority as today. Or at least wasn;t perceived as such. And that was also as Reagan-esque as they come.
Also as much as we like it, to Boris is not Trump. So we can already see that the Tory;s haven’t moved as much as Republicans have shifted. So they are in pre tea party Republican phase in a way. Perhaps we are reading 2 much into Monarchism thing here.
Saurav, personally i wouldn’t call the current trumpian repubs or the pre-obama repubs anti-minority or racist. But the parochialism of us conservatism is a perception. In my experience, white american republicans want a minority like myself to be more like them socially, and they have no quarrel with me otherwise. In the UK, they don’t care if i am like them at all, but just that we honour the same things. Hence, the brits love their sikhs to keep the turban and religion, just pin a royal crest on the former, while americans want a nikki haley who’s like any other south carolina lady, but brown. US doesn’t have that court tradition of colonial subjects lined up in colourful native dress, aggrandizing the idea of a global empire.
LOL, so u mean UK’S Conservatives have some sort of benign racism (like benign dictatorship). Perhaps racism is a strong word for it. Like they love benign stereotypes. Got it.
Curious, remember that:
—in the 1992 US presidential election 55% of Asian Americans voted Republican (perhaps this was partly related to the 1992 riots in LA)
—in the 2000 US presidential election 78% of muslims voted Republican
—in the 2004 US presidential election 44% of Latinos voted Republican
Trump is currently seeing a surge in Latino support and a significant drop in caucasian support with respect to Joe Biden.
https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/real-ayodhya-here-lord-ram-is-nepali-not-indian-nepal-pm-kp-sharma-olis-stunning-new-claim/620957
‘Real Ayodhya’ here, Lord Ram is Nepali not Indian’: Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli’s stunning new claim
“We have been oppressed a bit culturally. Facts have encroached. We still believe that we gave Sita to Indian Prince Ram. But we gave to the prince from Ayodhya, not India. Ayodhya is a village a little west to Birgunj, not the Ayodhya created now (sic),” Oli said at an event at his official residence in Baluwatar.”
Nepal doesnt have many options honestly. Landlocked, pretty populated, no native entrepreneurial communities. Depopulation is the only foreseeable future. Even in the vaunted tourism sector, its dollar earnings are merely 2% that of India’s.
I wonder what they could have done differently ? Pressed on India to connect Kathmandu to the rail network ? Worked with us to build more dams ? Been more open to business castes and sought more investment ?
“I wonder what they could have done differently”
It could have become China’s client state and enjoyed the goodies earlier. That’s what it feels it could have done differently. Since India’s goodies to relation ratio is not up to the mark.
This week Iran and China will sign on a 400B deal. Pakistan has CPEC. Sri Lanka has ports and stuff. All this could have been Nepal, had it moved out of India’s stranglehold some decades back. At least that the belief in Khatmandu.
When I was younger I would think why would Indian princes sign such stupid deals with the British? Why didn’t they do *fill in the blanks* differently? Why didn’t they think about the future?
When I see China pulling their tricks so successfully now (even now!) even on Islamic republics, I realize what the Ayatoolahs, Sharifs, Olis and Rajpakshas of the past were thinking.
We are in for another round of drubbing this time at the hands of yellow people brought to you by over-smart railway-line/port-to-nowhere loving princes.
PRC is East India Company combined with Her Proletarian Majesty’s govt.
Notwithstanding my criticism or other’s criticism , I admire China for their bold initiatives on a mega scale . Their industry, capital spending ‘ organization skills, engineering , science and technology are rising to the occasion.
I hope there is a competition between India and China like that of Germany and Britain in early 20th century – without ending in a Great War.
No one thinks about the future, all the S-Asian countries are under tremendous pressure and their leaders know they are in just one election away from being thrown out. Sometimes not even an election, in case of Nepal, SL, Pak.
So they try to maximize the “present” by burdening the “future”. Not unlike our own Indian leaders. And its no use crying colonization, colonization when u cant match the price (at the bare minimum).
@Saurav
You are a defeatist
Its one thing to have ambitions, and quite another to know one’s capability to achieve them. If the latter makes me a defeatist, perhaps i am.
Well, the OBOR is already faltering. China is not a reliable partner because it wont let anyone access its own markets.
The irony here is that Chinese investment into India, the one poor country which is not in the OBOR, is led by its businesses. This is the kind of investment developing countries should be seeking.
OBOR is not faltering because its aim is neither to increase trade nor military use, but increasing stake in those country politics, while guaranteeing ROI for Chinese enterprise who are bankrolling them, where other entities wont fund. If there are positive knock on effects , its great (for the recipient country) , anyhow Chinese are no Americans and will get their pound of flesh.
Look at Hambantota and CPEC. Chinese haven;t lost anything. On the contrary their returns are guaranteed.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/pakistans-internal-report-indicts-china-for-corruption-in-cpec-power-sector/articleshow/75823762.cms
https://thediplomat.com/2020/01/the-hambantota-port-deal-myths-and-realities/
@Saurav
The second link is very informative. It raises another question why did the Chinese buy such a loss making port?
Also any educated person can look at the stretch north of Karimabad with the tongues of Gulmit, Ghulkin, Pasu and Batura glaciers almost touching the Karakoram Highway and conclude that it is stupidity to think CPEC was about trade route.
On the money side of things ‘mian biwi razi toh kya karega kazi’, let the Chinese take a juicy pound of flesh.
On Hambantota, the Chinese equity is safe, there is no dilution on the Principle, only the interest charged has perhaps changed, which i guess is small mercies.
“On the money side of things ‘mian biwi razi toh kya karega kazi’, let the Chinese take a juicy pound of flesh.”
I think we Indians have a view that colonization has the same meaning and history for all nations. Its ins;t. Pakistan is a gr8 example.
Does everyone support shutting down all charter schools and defunding the police as a condition for reopening public schools?
https://californiaglobe.com/section-2/l-a-teachers-union-says-schools-cant-reopen-unless-charter-schools-shut-down-and-police-are-defunded/
“Listen Hindutvadi, I’m not playing around. You come after my Islam again and I will absolutely destroy your Hinduism in such a way that you will go crying home to your mother. You’ve picked the wrong person to fuck with.”
Enough of your nonsense, inbred retard.
Time and again you’ve refused to answer why Muslims still follow the caste system. Nobody asked how it began or anything, why do they still follow it if “everyone is equal in the eyes of allah” or whatever other bs you believe in? Why can’t you answer a simple question? Others have already posted links to reports about untouchability among Muslims. Why are they still following it? Who’s asking the everyday Muslim to treat Muslims from other caste differently? Are they being paid? Do they have a gun to their head?
“Again, sectarian violence is not the topic. Don’t deflect.”
And who in the whole wide world told you that you’re the one who gets to decide the topic here? Is there a written rule on this thread? Stop being a cowardly little bitch and don’t deflect when I speak about Ahmadis.
You brought up caste, I brought up sects. And now you hide like the coward you are.
Also, India has reservations for lower caste people and the Government is trying to help them rise up slowly but gradually. On the other hand, in Islam, it’s the other way around, people never miss a chance to kill and attack Hazara Shias and Ahmadis. “Intolerant Hindoo India” is actually safer for Ahmadis and Hazara Shias. You have zero guts to even acknowledge the presence of Ahmadis.
This is the disgusting filth of a religion that you’re so proud about-
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-47654430
Someone who follows a cult that regularly kills people, burns their mosques down and even asks for violence against other groups (even in the west) shouldn’t be bitching about caste.
As for your holy quran being so high and mighty-
It LITERALLY asks husbands to beat their wives (and don’t you dare fucking say it asks them to “beat lightly” or that it’s “symoblic” or any other deceptive bullshit you western muslims come up with in order to sugarcoat shit and make it more acceptable) if they’re disobedient. And there’s a term for this in the civilized world- it’s called DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. Even muhammad hurt his child-bride Aisha in one of the hadiths, if I’m not wrong. Such a peaceful act.
Women are also not free to marry non-muslims men (“idolaters” to be exact) but muslim men can. What a shining beacon of equality. And I don’t think I need to point out how it speaks about sexual slavery, there are multiple quotes about it.
It calls women “tilth” and that men can do as they want. And I’m only speaking about the quran here, haven’t mentioned any hadiths (except for the Aisha one), which have far worse things. If I start mentioning the hadiths, there will be no end to how long my comments will go.
And quran is the holiest book in Islam, Hinduism has no such equivalent. So before you try blabbering “Hinduism says this, Hinduism says that”, just write it all down in a piece of paper and shove it up your ass, because it means nothing as long as all Hindus agree on one single book/scripture to be the most important.
And I don’t think I even have to say anything about the barbaric and inhumane way in which homosexuality and apostasy/atheism are looked at in large parts of the Islamic world.
These two images are more than enough-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_by_country_or_territory#/media/File:World_laws_pertaining_to_homosexual_relationships_and_expression.svg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy#/media/File:Map_of_countries_with_death_penalty_for_atheists.svg
And the biggest difference here is that Hinduism (you can try to talk shit all you want but the ground reality is that things are still changing) has undergone reforms and is still undergoing cultural changes (and Christianity underwent reforms too), whereas Islam has seen little to no changes for centuries and centuries, and there’s no reform in sight either. Anyone who even remotely deviates from the quran immediately comes under attack. And no other religion has caused more deaths than Islam in the 21st century (please don’t begin barking about the past again like some rabid dog). Why don’t I see ISIS, Boko Haram, equivalents of Christianity or Hinduism today? You can bitch about “but but isis and boko haram are not true islam” but the fact still remains that those people are using verses of the quran, the same quran that you so love to defend, and they’re killing and raping anyone that doesn’t agree with them.
Ridiculous that I have to point out so many things to put my point across. I thought the lack of Muslim presence in modern science and technology was more than enough to infer that most Muslims are caught up with religion. Their lives and personalities revolve around religion.
Listen Hindutvadi,
Your disgusting and primitive religion features a lady married to five men at the same time (and that too brothers). Even Muslims as “backward” as you think we are would never do such a disgusting thing. No man can marry his brother’s wife.
Your women used to run around bare chested until the British taught them to wear clothes. Muslim women have always been properly dressed because the Holy Quran tells them that there are certain parts of their body that only their husbands are allowed to see.
Whatever little culture North Indians have was brought to you by the great Indo-Islamic dynasties.
You are pathetic and digusting losers practicing a disgusting and primitive religion. Don’t ever fucking troll Islam again. Go to hell.
What’s wrong with allowing women to be topless in public?
They’ve passed rules in several Western jurisdictions (or case law has dictated) that permit women to be topless in public. Mostly on the grounds that it is discriminatory (men are allowed to be topless in public) and rooted in some rather puritanical values that are waning.
And let’s not talk about the “CIVILIZED WORLD”– Your India is a third world Hindu majoritarian shithole. People like you are certainly not part of the civilized world.
Go crawl back into your hole Hindu scum. If you come after me, I will fucking shove your balls so far up your mouth you will have no idea what happened to you.
IsThisReal,
Kabir appears not to be curious about or have studied the holy Koran, Kutub al-Sittah, Sira, Twelver Jafari Hadiths, Islamic scholars and jurisprudence contributors such as Gazali and Ibn Taymiyah, Islamic Auliyas, Pirs and Faqirs. Lot alone any other tradition/culture/civilization around the world. Kabir doesn’t appear to have a very serious daily religious practice other than his music. He is a very skilled singer and musician. It would be more productive to engage with Kabir on subjects that interest him and that he has studied.
Dialogue about Islam with people who are at least curious about Islam and have a daily spiritual practice of any sort (for example native American.)
I have a different perspective on some of your points on Islam. Remember that Islam has many strands full of love and light
BTW, do you support expanding CAA?:
https://www.brownpundits.com/2020/06/19/expanding-caa/
would suggest ppl please hold back on trolling kabir too much. don’t want to deal with a psychotic break
I think that’s a part of the problem.
He keeps going on because most people here don’t bother correcting him much or speak back in his own language. And the whole “I only reply here because you speak about my religion and country” is just a bs excuse.
He wasn’t being challenged much so far and now that he is, he’s showing his true colours.
IsThisReal, are you questions about Islam for real and not rhetorical?
It would take some time to respond to all of them.
Do you think the Holy Koran that people read today on earth is completely identical in every way to the Holy Koran in heaven that Arch Angel Gabriel read from?
While you may assert that the vast majority of the holy Koran is not edited . . . how certain are you that there was zero editing?
The Holy Koran was compiled, assembled and written by Hazrat Aisha circa 650 AD (18 to 20 years after the passing of the prophet pbuh) as per official Sunni and Shia accounts.
We need to read these controversial verses in the holy Koran in this light and consider the circumstances around the prophet pbuh when he uttered said passages.
Several people around the prophet pbuh were trying to trap him into answering questions wrong so that they could kill him. The prophet pbuh was in continuous danger of being jumped by his nominal “followers.” The prophet pbuh said what he needed to say in each moment and circumstance.
Please talk to spiritual muslims and liberal muslims in private. There is a different discourse in private than in public.
The best way our species can deal with the existential Islamist threat is to support the freedom of art and thought of muslims and encourage dialogue. Dialogue allows the sweetness of love to melt hearts.
If you want to do more than the above, then talk to good muslims and ask them how you can help.
“While you may assert that the vast majority of the holy Koran is not edited . . . how certain are you that there was zero editing?”
Interesting answer to an interesting question:
https://i.imgur.com/ZD3AGj6.png
Is a Browncast with the psychologist Rob Henderson possible? He has an unconventional history, and posts lots of reading stuff on twitter. Might be an interesting conversation.
rob is a friend. so sure
Razib was right again about you being a retard who takes every single Hindu book word for word and uses it as an argument. Goes to show what a dumb and weak little shit you are. Pretty much every argument you made is from the past.
I’m talking about the 21ST CENTURY, and you’re talking about an ancient Hindu epic. Totally a fair debate. Don’t even know who let inbred cunts like you use the Internet.
And modern-day Muslims practice polygamy to this day, even though it is known to have detrimental effects on society. Shithole religion is shithole. Treats women as sex slaves and nothing else.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy#/media/File:Legality_of_polygamy.svg
Do let me know how many polygamy or polyamory cases among Hindus you’ve come across in the 21ST CENTURY.
Let me guess, you also think western people are inferior because they cloth very revealingly, especially at the beach? Nothing else to be expected from desert cult gang, zero freedom whatsoever and tons of delusion and what not. Once again you’ve shown that desert cult gang really only cares about women as sex objects and has zero respect for them, thanks for proving my point you clown.
“Whatever little culture North Indians have was brought to you by the great Indo-Islamic dynasties.”
Thanks for saying that, guess that explains why Southern India performs better in most fields, goes to show what a shitty influence the barbaric and primitive religion of Islam has. No wonder Pakistan is the worst country in the subcontinent. Anyone can kidnap, rape and impregnate a Christian girl for 9 months and nobody does anything- https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/39994
In any other country (including India) this would’ve been all over the news and people would’ve been protesting in the thousands. But in the primitive shithole religion started by a pedophile, this is something very normal and a part of the religion.
“You are pathetic and digusting losers practicing a disgusting and primitive religion. Don’t ever fucking troll Islam again. Go to hell.”
Lol not even close. Islam is truly the shittiest and most vile, disgusting religion there ever is. And its followers are inbred as hell and you can’t expect anything useful from most of them, like I pointed in the beginning.
And even after almost half a dozen replies, you still don’t have the balls to acknowledge how Hazara Shias and Ahmadis are treated.
Cowardly piece of shit, enjoyed having your teeth kicked in? Or did you go home crying to your mother like the whiny little bitch that you are?
You also didn’t acknowledge the fact that your piece of crap quran is the one responsible for most acts of terrorism in the 21st century.
There’s a reason why it’s the most hated religion on the planet. It’s total fucking shit. It’s disgusting, barbaric and stupid as hell.
Who the legit fuck in their right minds would praise a war-mongering pedophile? I guess it doesn’t make a difference when your parents are cousins though.
My parents aren’t cousins. Neither are any of my grandparents. Don’t let that stop you from being a disgusting bigot though.
Your culture is the one which burns women to death for not bringing enough dowry. You Hindus have no business casting your dirty eyes on the Holy Quran.
Next time you feel like attacking a Muslim, remember that we ruled over you for centuries, married your women, converted them to Islam and produced Muslim heirs from them. It was the British who dislodged us from the Lal Qila, not you pathetic Hindu shits. If it hadn’t been for the Brits, the Mughal Dynasty would be ruling the entire subcontinent today.
Don’t even talk to your superiors. Stay in your lane.
And if you comment about me again, I will cut off your balls and feed them to you. Don’t fuck with me, you Hindu piece of shit.
Stfu Kabir, everyone can see that you’re clearly an inbred retard.
Hilarious that you have zero points other than ancient stuff like Sati. And you yourself admitted that Sati isn’t practiced anymore in 2 previous comments of yours. Why bring it up again? No more ammo?
“remember that we ruled over you for centuries, married your women, converted them to Islam and produced Muslim heirs from them”
Who is this “we”? lol
Your ancestors the ones who were raped and converted you clown, retarded cuck bragging about being cucked.
“If it hadn’t been for the Brits, the Mughal Dynasty would be ruling the entire subcontinent today.”
But they aren’t : ^)
What are you gonna do about it kabir? Whine about it as usual like the whiny little bitch that your mother raised you to be?
There are more muslims than Hindus today, what’s stopping your “brave” little group of people from taking over India?
Your inbred gang can’t even take down a tiny country like Israel lol, tight slap in the face of the entire ummah, nothing but a bunch of weaklings
And gotta love China for grabbing the entire ummah by the balls, you can’t even dare speak against them, let alone take action
Remember your “aukaat”, warmongering pedophile worshipper
: )
You clearly can’t read. Sati and dowry deaths are two different things. Dowry deaths are still being practiced today.
Learn English before arguing on the Internet.
You people take glory in honour killing and wanna talk trash about others who are trying to improve, lol.
India has 6 times the population of Pakistan and yet both countries have around 1000 honour killings a year (and Muslims are responsible for many of the honour killings in India too).
http://hbv-awareness.com/regions/
“While in both India and Pakistan there have been a great deal of discussion around ‘honour’ killings, India has taken more assertive legal action, including awarding the death penalty to large numbers of persons who have colluded in murder. In Pakistan, there is more of a culture of impunity and while police reports may be filed, there is often little follow-up, particularly in rural areas.”
No wonder even popular celebs like Qandeel Baloch aren’t safe.
And you still haven’t acknowledged violence against Ahmadis, what a filthy, major coward. It’s out in the open for everyone to read about your cowardice.
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little mleccha? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Dronacharya’s ashram, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Abbottabad, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in dharmic warfare and I’m the top archer in the entire maratha army. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Loka, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, goatfucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of rishis across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with my mantras. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of Astras and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, kiddo.
Haha, your “rishis” are looking in the wrong place. If you really want to come after me, send them to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Hindu loser.
my rishi network has enough spiritual power to strike you anywhere in the world
also I’m not hindu, lol. You just need some help getting over yourself.
You used the word “mleecha”. I don’t think non-Hindus use that word.
I don’t need to “get over myself”. Having core aspects of one’s identity attacked over and over again by ignorant trolls gets tiresome after a while. It’s extremely toxic.
Parody and fun are lost on some
Lol, I just feel sorry that you wrote such a long parody comment and still ended up offending Kabir.
“don’t talk to your superiors” lmfao
Man we have pushed Kabir to Pakdefense. Indthings now sounds quite rational in comparison.
I wonder why this forum attracts so many people who take pride in ancestral cucking? They venerate their rapist grand daddies over everything and disown the majority of their indic aboriginal blood. At least 20% white Aframs still identify as Black. Kabir thinks his minor outside ancestry, relatively lighter skin sub continental ancestry, and islamic faith make him superior, especially compared to darker hindus?
Sounds more like General Bajwa and the “Dravidian Hindu oppression of Muslim Aryan Kashmiris.” Just remember, that if power was his, he might go genocidal at the scale of millions of raped and killed like a Niazi.
Weren’t you the one defending him. Saying how tolerant he is.
he proved me wrong.
According to Mr. Patel, when someone is a police suspect in a crime, witnesses at the scene will describe the suspect as a “proportion” of admixture levels and ancestry as opposed to an actual person with a racial identity.
“What did the suspect look like?”
“He looked like he was 85% White and 15% Asian.”
“No, what race did he look like?”
“He looked like he was a 85/15 member of the South Asian race.”
“What race is that? What does that even mean?”
“JAI SHREE KRISHNA! My Dhoklas are burning, sorry officer gotta go!”
Keep living your delusions. I’m done talking to wackos and insane people in denial. Good evening.
Can thewarlock and APthk please post their pictures here? Women posters (and gay males) can rate them both, and others can adjudicate their contesting claims.
For science
They already did, Žile. I’ve seen both.
“At least 20% White Afram still identify as black”
BINGO! This is indeed what I have been trying to explain to people here all along, and I’m glad Mr. Patel agrees. South Asians who have greater than 80% of their ancestry from West Asia/the Steppes are completely justified in not identifying as a generic “Brown” person or “Desi” and instead identifying as West Asian/Caucasian just like African Americans, who are anywhere from 15 to 20% White on average, and 80% to 85% Black, still identify as Black.
The other issue to keep in mind is, Hindu Jats and Rors are around 85-86% West Asian on average, so even more West Eurasian than African Americans, and Jats dont have any SSA admixture whatsoever, they have SE Asian admixture (SSA= Sub-Saharan-African)
This makes Hindu Jats even more similar to Western Eurasians, including many West Asians like Persians, peoples of the Caucasus, Turks (with the exceptions of Arabs, who often have SSA admixture) and Eastern Europeans, who also have some significant Asian admixture of some sort in most cases (ranging from 5% to 15-20%), just like Jatts have SE Asian admixture.
Hindu Jatts themselves look completely West Asian as well, due to ancient stabilized minor admixture, just like other West Asians who share a similar ethnogenesis. Therefore, Hindu Jatts/Rors are completely justified in identifying as West Asians living in South Asia. I’m glad some people here who had trouble understanding this simple idea, have finally come to their senses. Jai Shree Krishna!
IVC component is S Asian. it forms plurality of S Asian DNA. It is also West Eurasian in origin but a defining feature of S Asian genetics. Even some basal 10% or so steppe which is norm in N indians.
Again I am 65 35 west to east. You are 85 15. We aren’t as far apart as you would like and that bothers you. Get over it. Your DNA is quite indic. You have an extra say 20% that isn’t a big fucking deal. You are majority West Eurasian. Well so are most Indians. But you are also majority indic DNA (IVC+AASI). You can choose to identify as whatever and make whatever oddball phenotypic claims you want.
We have all seen Hindu Jatts. There is a reason no one believes your claims. They defy reality. Hindu Jats look like what they are, West shifted on average S Asians. There are some extremes sure but they are outliers.
Also, go ahead and identify as majority West Eurasian. I guess I do too because it is technically true. Neither of us are full West Eurasian. You just draw a line in the sand to say you magically qualify by your arbitrary standard. And who cares anyway? It’s not even a label anyone outside of this niche knows.
You are a S Asian. Your genetics show it. Your people look S Asian, just west shifted on average. You will live. Take a chill pill and accept it.
I also know your genica ID. People are sending me enough stuff about you. I’d still like to meet in real life to clear the air. Keyboard wars are redundant and boring.
Ah, I see. So the logic that applies to other ethnic groups and races doesn’t apply to people living in South Asia. African Americans that are only 15% White have every right to identify as Black, and are doing the right thing, but Hindu Jats who are 15% SE Asian AKA AASI, and 85% West Asian, are “Brown” and no different from Gujarati Patels that look like a different race in front of them. Even if Hindu Jats look West Asian, and even though other West Asians also harbor Asian ancestry in varying amounts. LMAO!
Of course, this is according to you, as you suspend all logic and reasoning skills and common-sense, and ignore the facts, when it comes to analyzing the racial diversity of South Asians. Because otherwise, it would result in the dismantling of your delusional framework and narrative that seeks to paint all South-Asians as a monolithic group that are simply “Brown people” — Haha! What an idiot. Anyone can see right through your foolish attempts at justifying your idiotic views. You contradict yourself, and when cornered spew the same BS over and over and over. What can I say? Arguing with idiots is truly a waste of time. But I’ll humor you one last time.
“IVC component is S Asian. it forms plurality of S Asian DNA. It is also West Eurasian in origin but a defining feature of S Asian genetics.”
How can the IVC component be “South Asian” when it is “West Asian” in origin, as you yourself state here? It is impossible for it to be fundamentally South Asian if it originates from West Asia, is shared with West Asians, and if it is a component that reaches max levels among modern-day West Eurasians like the Brahui and others. Furthermore, it is fundamentally alien to the subcontinent in true terms because it represents Caucasian ancestry, something that is invasive to the subcontinent from the very beginning.
You are just saying that it is “South Asian” because the majority of South Asians share the IVC component in varying amounts. That doesn’t make it “South Asian” my friend, because it still originates from West Asia and is a West Asian component. That would be like saying that the European ancestry in Latinos in general, including White and non-White Latinos, who share more than 60% of their ancestry with Europeans on average, is an “American” component that is indigenous to Latin America, when in reality, it originates from Europe. No, it is still European in origin, and the fact that most Latinos share this European ancestry as a major component doesn’t change that fact. The Asian/Native American ancestry in Latinos, on the other hand, is indigenous to the Americans (and is related to other East Asians distantly) and is a parallel to AASI in South Asians. Which is why White latinos are Caucasian and look like other Europeans, and non-White Latinos don’t. Just like NW Biradri groups look West Asian/European and other South Asians (like yourself) don’t. Why is this so hard for your brain to understand? You need to lay off the Slurpees and the Dhoklas.
Then you make the same repeated claim:
“Again I am 65 35 west to east. You are 85 15. We aren’t as far apart as you would like and that bothers you. Get over it. Your DNA is quite indic. You have an extra say 20% that isn’t a big fucking deal. You are majority West Eurasian. Well so are most Indians. But you are also majority indic DNA (IVC+AASI). You can choose to identify as whatever and make whatever oddball phenotypic claims you want.”
Again, no one gives a rat’s ass what your proportions are. The point is, whatever your genetic background may be, your race/phenotypic characteristics and appearance are NOT West Asian or Caucasian. You look like an admixed Latino, specifically a Mestizo. People in America will mistake you for a non-White Mexican or Hispanic or Latino and members of these communities will talk to you in Spanish. I wouldn’t even recognize you as an “Indian” if I saw you here, not only because it is not a race, but also because you are racially just like non-White Latinos who live in America. Of course, if I was in a 7-11, and heard a Gujju accent, well then I would have my suspicions.
Anyway, the point is, that beyond a certain level of West Asian admixture, IVC+Steppe, (which is what the IVC component originally is, West Asian, NOT “indic”) people are fully Caucasian/West Asian racially (and have fully Caucasian characteristics) and are 100% West Asian in appearance, and so belong to one race. This is unlike you, as you appear admixed/mixed race and are a Mestizo. Stating proportions doesn’t even matter one bit, as you can’t go around telling people, “Well I am 65% West Eurasian and only 35% SE Asian. That makes me closer to West Asians than to Asians” because people will laugh at you. Whether you like it or not, you have to identify as a non-White Latino or Gujarati Patel, because that is what people will ALWAYS take you as. No one cares about your proportions, people (and forensic science, which classifies race) only care about your appearance, which in turn is what is used to classify your race.
I am classified as a Caucasian or “White” in America and other countries, and you are classified as a “Mestizo” and non-White “Hispanic” or Latino in America and in other countries. In India you would be a Gujarati Vania, and I would be a Hindu Jatt. Its also funny how you think proportions, which again are not as important when examining phenotype, make you closer to me, when I could easily say that I am much closer to a Bandari Persian, many of whom share the same admixture levels as me, (85/15) than I am to people like you, who are 65/35. My claim would also hold more water as Bandari Persians and Hindu Jats are both Caucasian racially, and look fully West Asian, whereas Gujarati Vanias like you are mixed race and look nothing like West Asians. Also, I find it funny that you think 20% isnt a “big fucking deal” — LMAO — that 20% is what makes Hindu Jats like me West Asian/Caucasian racially, and Patels like you mixed race and not West Asian racially. I’d say that’s a HUGELY significant impact, and ergo, that 20% is a BIG fucking deal indeed, my Patel friend. (BTW, some estimates place it at 85/86% to up to 90% so it could be as high as 25%! GASP! Bet that gave you a TIA) Also, it doesn’t matter if most Indians are majority West Asian genetically, the fact is that they aren’t West Asian ENOUGH to be racially/phenotypically West Asian like Hindu Jats are. Again, you guys missed the cut, my Patel friend.
What’s even more hilarious is that using your logic, someone like Prince Harry’s son, who is also >10% Black/SSA, and around ~85% White, (his grandmother is ~50% black, and his mother is around ~75% White, making him ~85% White) would also be considered to be a Sub-Saharan African, or a “Black” person, when he is no different from a White NW European racially and looks fully White. Another, more relevant example, involving Asian admixture, would be Bruce lee. Bruce’s mother was half-Asian and his father was fully Asian. Despite the fact that Bruce was nearly a quarter White, around 23-24%, he still looked fully Asian and was/is considered to be an East Asian male role model.
In fact, he is considered to be the greatest example of Asian masculinity by the Asian world and the world at-large. He will forever be the male archetype for Asian machismo and bravado for the indelible impact he had on cinema and martial arts. But going by your logic, Bruce was not East Asian, but White/European and part of the “European world”, because he shared nearly a quarter of his DNA with Europeans. What a laughable idea!
Actually, according to you, Bruce should’ve walked around wearing a shirt that said “Im approximately ~75% East Asian genetically, and around 24%-25% White European genetically. So remember, I am not Chinese, I just look like one fully!”
What’s funny is that Hindu Jats are more than 10% more West Eurasian than Bruce is East Asian, and their admixture is stabilized ancient admix, which makes your claims absolutely invalid and appallingly stupid and incorrect.
You also keep saying that I can identify as whatever I want, as if that will pass muster. What world are you living in? I can identify as whatever I want? So if I identified as Black, you think I would pass the admissions screening or job screenings? You think people would let me identify as “black” and let me get away with it? What about non-White Hispanic/Latino? You think I can identify as one and get away with it like you can? No, its impossible my Patel friend, because you have to actually LOOK like a West Asian/Caucasian or for that matter, a Latino to pass as one and to be accepted as one. THe reason I identify as a White/Caucasian individual is because I look like it, and am considered to be one by other Americans and people that see me and know me or interact with me in any shape or form.
Finally, lets examine your last moronic claims:
“We have all seen Hindu Jatts. There is a reason no one believes your claims. They defy reality. Hindu Jats look like what they are, West shifted on average S Asians. There are some extremes sure but they are outliers. You are a S Asian. Your genetics show it. Your people look S Asian, just west shifted on average.”
Who is “we” here? The correct word(s) to use here are “I” and “me, myself and I” because we all know who the delusional one here is my Patel friend. Everyone knows the truth and has been receptive to my claims but you. These claims “defy” YOUR reality because you are an insecure Patel who can’t reconcile the fact that Hindu Jats pass among the broader population of Caucasians in the world.
Even Razib has stated repeatedly that Jatts have a distinct appearance in comparison to others in South Asia, as have others in this thread. In addition, he and others have also stated that many Hindu Jats are White passing and that they are Caucasian in appearance, something that is common in my experience in our community. This is impossible among Patels and Gujarati communities that you yourself belong to for obvious reasons.
Also, there is no such thing as looking like “West-shifted South Asians” because it is impossible to “look like” a region with different races and thousands of divergent ethnic groups in the first place. AASI admixture exists in Iran as well. Does that make them South Asian too? South Asian admixture is on a cline that stretches from Iran to South India and Bengal, that doesn’t mean that everyone on the cline belongs to some arbitrary race or group. It simply means that they share and have different levels of admixture (AASI), a type of Asian admixture, which in turn either does or doesn’t influence their phenotype, depending on the magnitude and levels of AASI. Applying a label like “South Asian” to it doesn’t change this fact. Hindu Jats are culturally South Asian and live in the geographic region, but are West Asians racially, just like Pashtuns. In light of this, your statement is laughably incorrect and HILARIOUS! Anything that doesn’t fit your made-up narrative and as such makes you uncomfortable automatically becomes an “outlier” LMAO. The truth is, you are the actual mental “outlier” my friend, because you are too dumb and too far in denial to accept and understand the facts that are plainly in front of us all to see.
“Also, go ahead and identify as majority West Eurasian. I guess I do too because it is technically true. Neither of us are full West Eurasian. You just draw a line in the sand to say you magically qualify by your arbitrary standard. And who cares anyway? It’s not even a label anyone outside of this niche knows.”
LMAO again with the same STUPID and INSANE claims. NO ONE identifies as “Majority West Asian”. Literally no one. They identify as their race and phenotype, which in turn defines their identity. You just don’t get it Mr. Patel. Also, even West Asians by and large are NOT “fully West Asian” genetically, they all have varying levels of admixture. From Turks to Iranians to Levantines to Arabs to people in the Caucasus to North African Arabs and Berbers to White Latinos to Russians and even Eastern and North Eastern Europeans, they ALL have different levels of East Asian admixture and in some cases, SSA Admixture.
Does this make them less West Asian or European? NO, because they are still FULLY West Asian/Caucasian/European in appearance and racially fully Caucasian as well, in spite of minor genetic admixture. They possess the threshold level of West Asian admixture needed to be FULLY West Asian and Caucasian racially, as reflected be their appearance, JUST like Hindu Jats do, and just like yours truly. Therefore, I am not drawing any “arbitrary lines”, or using any illogical “magic” to qualify by “arbitrary standards” (things that you do ALL the time) No, I am simply using the phenotype and race, which is far from arbitrary, to draw the line, which is what the ENTIRE world does to identify people and their racial classification. Just like other West Asians who are also “impure” and admixed are classified and identified as “White” or Caucasian based on their appearance, so are Hindu Jats a part of the same group of pure Caucasians/West Asians despite any minor ancient genetic admixture.
“You will live. Take a chill pill and accept it.”
Ironic that you are proferring advice that you should really be taking yourself. Only you have issues with accepting the facts and the logic as they are. You really need to relax and accept the truth, as opposed to living in denial. You said that these threads “consumed” you in the past — I can see that they still do, even in “Residency” — good, good, let the hurt flow through you my Patel friend. Living in denial won’t change people’s identities and race and appearance. You can continue living your lie, it makes no difference to me or to actual Hindu Jats. We will continue to look fully Caucasian/West Asian and you will continue to look like a Mestizo.
“I’d still like to meet in real life to clear the air. Keyboard wars are redundant and boring.”
Is that a veiled threat? The truth hurt you so much that you can’t take the heat? You’ve already said that you’d like to show me who the “real man” is if I met you in real life, and that you’re not some “pussy” LMAO. Real men never make such statements. What a loser. I’m not interested in discussing what is a self-evident point with you, in person, or anywhere else. I have far better things to do with my time. And have fun discussing me with your retinue of fools, and keep trying to use your amateur sleuthing skills to try to pinpoint my real-life identity. You will never be successful. Just accept the truth about Hindu Jats being West Asian/Caucasian racially, as opposed to wasting your time on this futile endeavor. From the very beginning, you have failed to suitably address and rebut any of my valid assertions. You are also too scared to post your pictures or to even compare them to mine, because you look nothing like them. Nor do Gujjus in general. Keep living in your delusions Mr. Patel. I won’t be responding to any more of your low-brow, false, inaccurate and delusional posts. I’ve wasted enough time here clearing the air and showing people the truth. Keep living your false narrative. Jai Shree Krishna!
lol stop spazzing. You just ranted and said a lot of nothing and refuted 0. post your pic bro. Let’s see what you look like. And keep being a coward. Meet me. Let’s see what you’d like to discuss. “real men” don’t hide behind a keyboard and rant like psychotics about how they are a different race. You are one confused and mentally unstable SOB. Lol better things to do with your time. Hence all the paragraphs to rebut nothing and pussyfooting
and lol not single person agrees with you on here. Hence your insecure novellas
lol post your pic Jatt king. you know what I look like. Let’s see you. I have a feeling you might look a lot like what you think you don’t. Let brownpundits witness your hypocrisy on full display uncle rukus.
You can also always meet me in person. Don’t be scared. The Jatt Whisperer will bot not hurt you.
I’ll just leave this here:
https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-indian-grandfather-mr-patel
ok guys can we chill
No. Extreme free speech is very important to understand human psychology. People often show their true face when they get emotional.
Such research on human psychology can’t be done in real life. So internet is the perfect place to research on social psychology by letting people say whatever they want.
I will suggest free speech to the non-beloved of mine so that I can know them.
But I will neither practise free speech myself nor suggest practising free speech to my beloved ones as free speech can be very destructive.
no one is reading these comments. they’re just screeching at each other
@AnAn, I’ve met tons of Muslims from different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds (although pretty much all of them were under 30-40). There’s barely any scope for dialogue when it comes to religion even among the most moderate ones in the subcontinent. Maybe western Muslims are different, idk.
One of them at college actually praised ISIS fighters and called them “highly intelligent” (because killing and raping innocent people is apparently a sign of intelligence or something). He has nothing in common with those terrorists apart from religion, and even then he would rather call them intelligent than condemn them. He was the stupidest person in the class anyway, not much of a difference
Another one (he would tell you that he earned his degree thanks to me) idolizes Zakir Naik and told me that he wants to become like Naik when he grows up. He also tried to convince me that non-Muslims are going to hell and that the Quran is “scientific” and some other bs. I debunked whatever few quotes he brought up, he couldn’t refute anything at all and he never had the guts to talk about religion again, he only stuck to asking doubts related to studies after that.
I have many other anecdotes.
There’s a US consulate less than a km from where I grew up, it has a riot control vehicle and at least half a dozen cops surrounding it all times no matter what, and this has been in place since 2012? Know why? Because Muslims tried to attack it when “Innocence of Muslims” came out.
what part of india do you live in out of curiosity?
I’ve lived in Chennai for most of my life
LOL. Dark Madrasi troll daring to attack your North Indian Muslim superiors! Pathetic piece of shit.
LOL, what a dumbfuck.
Read carefully you inbred shitstain, I know your parents are cousins and thinking is hard, but Razib asked what part of India “DO YOU LIVE IN”, not what part of India you’re FROM
Also, “Dark Madrasi troll” people have achieved more than your islamic ummah put together, you primitive cavemen are superior to no one lol. Even a patch of fungus would laugh if you called yourself superior.
@IsThisReal
Are you an AASI shifted Black Dravidian South Indian/Tamil?
Or are you someone from ANI/steppe shifted upper caste?
Curious.
You’re the one with reading comprehension issues.
How many times do I have to state that neither my parents nor grandparents were related to each other? Are you incapable of reading English?
And Muslim dynasties ruled almost the entirity of what is today “India”. Fine we didn’t technically get as far as Tamil Nadu. But we gave you people the Taj Mahal, Urdu, Hindustani Classical music, Mughlai cuisine, shalwar kameez etc. You really should be thanking us instead of attacking us. Ungrateful wretches.
You truly are pathetic scum.
So the Taj Mahal has no “Hindu elements” now? What a ridiculous and foolish claim! You sound more deranged by the post. Let me appraise you of the “Hindu” elements in the Taj, my “knowledgeable” friend:
“The Taj Mahal incorporates and expands on many design traditions, particularly Hindu, Persian, and earlier Mughal architecture. While previous Mughal building had primarily been constructed of red sandstone, Shah Jahan promoted the use of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones. (Shah Jahan had Hindu Rajput Lineage, as both his mother and grandmother were Hindu Rajputs, and was the principal mind/designer and had the final say behind the design elements of the Taj)
“The red sandstone on the lesser buildings and white marble on mausoleum corresponds with the traditional Indian caste system, in which Brahmins had white buildings and the warrior caste had red. This aligned the Mughals with the two powerful castes.”
“Hindu craftsmen, particularly sculptors and stonecutters, plied their trade throughout Asia during this period, and their skills were particularly sought after by tomb builders… Indian buildings such as the Man Singh Palace in Gwalior were an inspiration for much Mughal palace architecture which can be seen on the Taj Mahal.”
It gets even more interesting as we dig deeper, for it is clear where Shah Jahan, who was given this title while in residence at the palace of the Maharana in Udaipur, got his inspiration for building monuments primarily in White Marble with pietra dura, and for the design of the Taj Mahal in general:
“Jag Mandir’s history begins with the Maharana Karan Singh’s benevolence shown to Emperor Shahjahan (1605–1627). Shahjahan, before he was crowned as Mughal Emperor, was known during his young days as Prince Khurram. As Khurram, he rebelled against his father Emperor Jahangir in 1623, because he wanted to be the heir to the Mughal throne. Faced with the danger of getting thwarted in his campaign, he sought refuge in the Mewar Kingdom at Udaipur where he was given safe haven by the then Maharana Karan Singh (it is said that this courtesy was extended because Khurram’s mother was a Rajput Hindu lady).
He was initially kept in the City Palace along with his wife Mumtaz Mahal and his two sons, Prince Dara and Prince Aurangzeb. Later they were shifted to the Gul Mahal, as a safe refuge, in the midst of the lake (this place since then has also been called Khurram’s Palace). Gul Mahal is a domed pavilion that was specially built for Khurram by Maharana Karan Singh. It was later enlarged by his son Jagat Singh into a huge palace and named as the Jag Mandir Palace. Khurram remained under Mewar’s protection during 1623–1624. Gul Mahal was the first structure built in 1551, during the reign of Maharana Amar Singh, which was further developed during the reign of Maharana Jagat Singh to house the Mughal Prince Khurram. It was initially a small sandstone (yellow sandstone) palace with an imposing dome (which gives the appearance of a crown). The crescent of Islam is fixed on top of this dome. The Gul Mahal has three circular domed chambers, one above the other. Entry to these chambers is from a columned hall. Two marble chhatris with sloping cornices rise above the main façade. The massive marble slabs affixed to the interior walls were inlaid with coloured rubies, onyx, jasper, cornelian and jade. This type of decoration is reported to have been replicated by the Mughals in their Tomb of I’timād-ud-Daulah at Agra, in 1626. The palace is also said to have housed a throne carved from a single block of serpentine, which has not been traced. The Mahal is surrounded by a roomy circular apartment built in white and black marble with murals and paintings considered an uncommon feature in Rajput architecture. On the western wing of the palace, this type of design has been repeated in three other pavilions.
The palace had such an impact on Prince Khurram who later became Emperor Shah Jahan that it went on to become the inspiration for one of the most magnificent Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal.”
So now we know what inspired the architecture of the Taj Mahal and the “Baby Taj”, Itmad-Ud-Daulah, including its building materials. Lets keep digging:
“Following the death of Jahangir in 1627, Khurram ascended the throne of the Mughal Empire. It is said that Khurram was bestowed the title of Shah Jahan at the Badal Mahal in Udaipur before he left Udaipur for his crowning as the Mughal emperor. As an act of reward, Khurram not only restored six districts to the Mewar kingdom, which had been earlier annexed by the Mughals, but also presented a unique ruby jewel to Jagat Singh, son of Rana Karan Singh. After Karan Singh’s death in 1628, Jagat Singh (1628–1652) became the Maharana. He was responsible for many additions to the Gul Mahal and called it the Jag Mandir, after himself. For building this remarkable structure, Maharana Jagat Singh was hailed as one of the best architects of the Mewar dynasty. Khurram, after becoming Emperor Shahjahan, particularly favoured the Maharana of Udaipur, which enabled the Mewar kingdom to regain its past glory.”
What about the finial?
“The main dome is crowned by a gilded spire or finial. The finial was made of gold until the early 1800s, and it is now made of bronze. The finial provides a clear example of the integration of traditional Persian and Hindu decorative elements. Because of its placement on the main spire, the horns of the moon and the finial point combine to create a trident shape—reminiscent of the traditional Hindu symbols of Shiva. Similarly, the spire is made up of a number of bulbous forms. The central form bears a striking resemblance to a Hindu sacred water vessel (kalash or kumbh).”
What about the inverted lotus on top of the dome?
“The lotus is a symbolic flower from the Hindu tradition, it is one of the elements proving the mix of culture of the Mughals.
In the Hindu imaginary it represents the knowledge, the opening on the world and in a more spiritual way the uniform and continual widening of the universe. This is due to its ability to deploy when in the water, Hindus believing that it has the opportunity to open to the world for it may be in a conducive environment, a metaphor for life on earth.”
What about the eight Chattris?
“Chhatri are elevated, dome-shaped pavilions used as an element in Indian architecture. Chhatris are commonly used to depict the elements of pride and honour in Rajput, Maratha and Jat architecture. They are widely used in palaces, in forts, or to demarcate funerary sites.
Originating in Rajasthani architecture where they were memorials for royalty, they were later adapted as a standard feature in all buildings in Maratha-ruled states, Rajasthan, and in Mughal architecture.
The most notable surviving examples today are to be found at Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi and the Taj Mahal in Agra.
The word literally means “canopy” or “umbrella.” In the context of architecture, the word is used to refer to two different things. The usual and more widely understood meaning is of a memorial, usually very ornate, built over the site where the funeral (cremation) of an important personage was performed. Such memorials usually consist of a platform girded by a set of ornate pillars which hold up a stone canopy.”
Even the Onion domes seen in the Taj Mahal independently originated in India, and are not found in Persia or other Muslim countries with few exceptions in Central Asia, all being built after the Taj Mahal. Russia is also thought to have independently developed the Onion-shaped dome, or to have been influenced by South Asian architecture.
As we can see above, The Taj Mahal is very much an Indian monument, for everything about it (with the exception of the Islamic calligraphy on its entrance and the shape of its arches) is Indian in origin. Even the main commissioner of the monument, Shah Jahan, had a Hindu Rajput Mother and Grandmother, and looked just like them as well. There are plenty more sources that go into further details about the Hindu and Indian origins of the Taj Mahal, but I’m sure you can look them up yourself, my “knowledgeable” friend.
As for Mughlai cuisine and Hindustani Classical Music being “given” to us by the “Muslims”? Just LMAO. That’s an even more ridiculous claim that I am not even going to bother addressing.
BTW, its telling that no country outside of South Asia has a building similar to the Taj Mahal, or cuisine similar to Mughlai food or music similar to Hindustani music. One would expect to find quite a few similarities, especially in the cultures and monuments of “Muslim” countries. Yet, such similarities don’t exist. I wonder why?
Perhaps because Kabir AKA “Jihadi Shakespeare” is a first-rate fool who doesn’t have the slightest idea of what he talks about. My friend, your time is better spent reading Tumblr blogs written by pre-pubescent girls, take a leaf out of the Prophets handbook, PBUH (Piss be upon his bearded face, that pedophile).
APthk,
Don’t argue with me about Hindustani music. Do you have a Masters degree in Ethnomusicology? No, then shut up.
There is no call to EVER insult the Prophet of God, you disgusting Islamophobe. Calling me a “Jihadi” is absolutely unacceptable. I have never advocated for Sharia law or anything like that.
And I am not your “friend”. I do not make friends with racists and Islamophobes. Fuck you.
IsThisReal isn’t a dark Dravidian “Madrasi” but there are some of us on here.
for the other commenters, there is a ‘moral’ in the spiral of back and forth btwn these two…
“Are you an AASI shifted Black Dravidian South Indian/Tamil?”
“Or are you someone from ANI/steppe shifted upper caste?”
on bp two ppl are having a shitfest, but a commenter has to interrupt and inquire admixture percentages
After all, i am a truth seeker and a researcher 😉
Thank you Hindutvadi trolls for making this space so toxic for Pakistani Muslims. Though I am perfectly capable of responding in kind to Hindu trolls (I will not be bullied by anyone), I don’t want to become that sort of person. So I will not be commenting here anymore. You Hindutvadis can go back to your circle jerks.
Razib, please delete the posts that I have written here. Thanks.
In the future you all should intrspect about why the audience of this site is the loony Hindu Right (and their Serbian nationalist friends) and why leftist people refuse to come on your podcasts. Why would sensible people want to be associated with this shit? If you ever want to engage in good faith dialogue with Pakistanis, attacking our country and religion is not the way to go.
bruh, all you have to do is just not give a shit
there will always be shitposting on the internet, chillax
What a funny person.
I was very factual in my first comment on this thread and only brought it up because I’ve been seeing you trashtalk for weeks. I held off replying for several days because I thought you were sensible (because Razib said so and he’s seen your comments longer than I have).
Don’t try acting smart tbh.
i call kabir bentwig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G1DnXs-Nb0
I don’t need to “act smart”. I’ve been educated in the United States.
And no you weren’t “factual”. Your every comment here drips with Islamophobia. Idiot.
“I don’t need to “act smart”. I’ve been educated in the United States.”
Eh, I don’t think that says all that much. I went to a better school than you in the US for a more challenging program and that doesn’t make me smart.
@StraightGay, I’m not ancestrally south-Indian. I can speak Tamil (or Tamizh as the natives like to call it) though, can’t read or write however.
IsThis Real, Kabir and others, cool off guys . Keep the forum free of bottomless pit of emotive bickering. We know each other’s position and let us leave it there. Truce and ceasefire for a foreseeable future
@AnAn, about expanding CAA-
I laughed when I read “LBGTQ plus muslims” and “Female femnist muslims”
I’m fine with atheist/agnostic ex-Muslims and maybe Hazara Shias being added to the list (because Hazaras have an ethnic angle to them too, although most persecution today is mainly because they’re Shias)
I don’t get why there are so many different Sufi sects on the list though. Are you a fan of Sufism?
now that iran has dumped india for china in charbahar port and railway, we can delink from the so called historical connection with it.
on the other hand, i feel, iran did not have any other choice.
I have been following reaction videos from Pakistani YouTube vloggers for over 2 years now. Yes, many of them are driven by YouTube’s views model and the ratrace for subscribers. However it offers a deep, undiscriminated and hitherto unseen look into the psyche of urban Pakistanis.
I have modified my own world view of Paki society in the past few months. It might be that I am reacting on a personal level to the vloggers, however I do see a commonality among many reactions.
1. Indian Street food reactions – many express surprise at the low prices of Indian servings. Even allowing for the exchange rate, there is still an element of disparity that I can sense.
2. Temples – I am quite mystified by the tremendous amount of interest in temple videos. A lot of them are women. Granted there is a subscriber dynamic at play, still…..I think there is something else going on
3. Bollywood movie reactions : Just so many to trip over. What’s interesting is that many subconsciously voice hinterland Hindi lingo while expressing their opinions. Somewhat like impressionable Indians putting on a fake West coast accent.
4. Modi : wow, this one is a Freudian classic. The reactions sometimes will stop your thoughts completely. Many of them suggest that he is the son of a housemaid/labourer parents and for a period of time, apparently he lived under a bridge (lol). There is some level of denial but acceptance complex building up.
5. Infrastructure: I can clearly see that Pakistani elites are in some kind of graduated disbelief to see the kind of infra across the border
wow someone brought out Kabir’s inner Pak ethnonationalism. I did not think I would see the day he would make a comment like “dark madarasi troll.”
Once again
Nothing in S Asia can be understood, except in the light of the Steppe:AASI.
Jai Shri Ameen
That was not my finest hour and I apologize. Don’t ignore the fact that the Islamophobic troll repeatedly called me “inbred”, “retard” etc and kept saying my parents were cousins (when I clarified that they are not and neither were any of my grandparents).
Anyway, I’m not going to be commenting here again. I don’t want to constantly take abuse. So you Hindutvadis can engage in fact-free rants about Pakistan as much as you like.
Kabir, disagreements aside, you do seem to take a lot of critique of pakistan and islam personally. Its not for me to question why you feel obliged to take that burden, but I would hope that you aren’t under undue stress because of all of this. Sometimes it seems like you are refuting a dozen people at once. I suppose this concern applies to all the readers here, but I hope we all take care of our mental health and realize the “abuse” is not meant to be personal. I doubt we’d all be so savage in real life.
Girmit,
Thanks for the concern. You’re one of the relatively few people here that hasn’t resorted to personal attacks.
Being Pakistani and Muslim are the core aspects of my identity. One can’t change the country one was born in (no matter what citizenship one acquires later) nor the faith of one’s ancestors. Having these characteristics being constantly attacked is toxic. There was a post a couple years back called “Pakistani psychosis”. Apparently this is OK but “Indian psychosis” offends people. Asides from things like country and religion, I have had my parents attacked on here (someone called them cousins and inbred) and my education etc. This is not on.
Of course, I can respond in kind, but I don’t want to become that kind of person. So I am not going to spend time on a forum where people like me are not wanted. But I will note that good faith discussions with Pakistanis cannot be had if people will insist on insulting the Prophet of God (pbuh). That is a redline for every believing Muslim. Of course, my experience on BP has shown me that no one really wants to discuss anything with Pakistani Muslims, they just want to vent out their anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam opinions. This is no longer fun for me.
Cheers.