Hindu America - India's Cultural Link with Ancient America

Arun Chinchmalatpure

American Swastika

Right from the period of first Spanish historian Mr. Fray Shahaun (1515 AD) till today a number of scholars have worked over the life of native Americans and some of them came to the conclusion that in ancient times people from India and the Indian archipelago migrated to America and developed a great civilization there. In his book 'A Compact History of Mexico' Mr. Ignacio Bernall states that people from Asia entered America some thirty-five thousand years before, whereas Mr. Arcio Nuns, a Brazilian nuclear scientist, mentions about the Dravidians of Asia with America as old as eleven thousand years.

An article published in the 'Hindu' of 27th Sept. 1985 about the discovery made by Dr. Harry Fell, renowned epigraphist of USA goes to suggest that the early merchant settlers of South-East Asia had sailed to far off lands in pursuit of their profession, whose presence in Mexico is available in the form of inscriptions. Dr. Fell has deciphered the Indic inscription from Tihosuco which reads that merchant Vusaluna, the captain of the ship, sailing along the coast line, had got the inscription engraved on the stone slab in the month of July of the year 845. It is assumed that year mentioned is of Saka era.

Cultural Links:

Worship - The archaeologists found many Hindu deities like Shiva, Shiva linga, Ganesh, Kali, Sun, Buddha etc. (in similar or slightly different forms) which were worshiped in ancient America. The Hindu God of luck, Ganesh, was worshiped in Central-South America. Images of Ganesh have been excavated in plenty in Mexico. This god with the elephant's trunk is frequently depicted in Mexican manuscripts and in the temple ruins in Central America as the god with a proboscis-like horn, whence water is squirting and his head is most frequently portrayed on the corners of temple walls, which are always built with reference to the original points. And image of 'Ekadant Ganesh' was noticed in the temple at Kopan by great Indologist late Dr. W.S. Wakankar.

An image of Hanuman called by the name 'Wilka Huemana' and measuring 50 feet in height and 12 feet in breadth was found in Guatemala. Similar one was found during an excavation of an Aztec temple in Mexico City and was known as 'Euhectal', a wind God, a monkey God.

Buddhism also had a vast influence on pre-Colombian America. Professor F.W. Putnam found in the jungles of Honduras a sculpture which greatly resembles Buddha. According to the July, 1901 issue of American Harper's Magazine, it has been proved with evidence that five Buddhist monks had reached Mexico in ancient times, via Alaska.

Mexican Buddha

Ceremonies, Beliefs and Customs:

Hindu culture, civilization, custom and belief also dominated ancient America to some extent. Ancient Americans believed in legendary cataclysm, rebirth, four yugas and the concept of two planets like Rahu and Ketu causing solar eclipse. The Hindu doctrine of the ages is preserved in a stone monolith popularly known as the Aztec calendar. This remarkable piece of stone carving is in the form of an immense disc 12 feet in diameter and weights over 20 tons. A festival called Sita-Ram (Situa-Raimi) was celebrated in Mexico during Nav-Ratri or Dussehra period which has been described on page 5867 in the book 'Hamsworth History of the World'. Both in Central and South America, there are found Sati cremation, priesthood, gurukul system, yajna, birth, marriage and death ceremonies to some extent similar to the Hindus.

Social life:

The ancient American's dresses (male and female) were simple and similar to those of Hindu dresses. Mexican face types were found to be similar to those of Assam, Naga, Nepal and Haryana people. Even their reddish brown skin complexion bears distinct similarity with those of Nepalis and Nagas. If an Indian is shown a Maya lady of Yucatan province from Mexico, he will recognize her as a Jat Lady of Haryana. Ayar Inoa King used to wear a turban, earring and a trishul type trident in his hand.

Today native Indians of America live in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico who number only few lacs (lac = 100,000). These tribes are still vegetarians. Similarly, only two lacs natives are survived in Canada who are still called as 'Indians'. Their lifestyle, customs, and beliefs are similar to Bharatiya people.

Trade:

Goldsmiths from Peru and Mexico prevailed working style similar to Indian traditional goldsmiths. Mr. Michael Long of the National Geographic Society was surprised to see the back strap weaving method in handloom at Santa Rosa of Peru. This is used to separate thread. It is very well known that cotton is a gift given by Indians to the whole world.

Language:

Professor Raman Mena, curator of the National Museum of Mexico, said that the general appearance of Maya's writing is considered of oriental origin. According to scholar Orozco V. Berra, Maya and other languages are of Sanskrit origin. A few Sanskrit and Quichua words are given here to show their similarity and origin.

Quichua Sanskrit

A hina (also) ena (also) Killa (moon) Kil (shining) Illapi (chant) lap (to speak) Paksa (fortnight) Paksha (fortnight)

The word 'Wara', a unit of measurement, was also used by Maya people. They used to call Antyas as Antis. Professor Hug Fox of Michigan State University found a strange mix of Tamil and local American languages in use some millennia ago. For example, shasta, Indiana, Arevada, Utah, Guyana etc. Mr. Arcio Nuns from the Federal University of Brazil found evidence of our Gorani language in the form of Bruhi language during his long research work conducted in South America. 'Gorani' language was practiced thousands of years before in Tamilnadu as per Arcio Nuns. This language is still used in the Adi-Chandlur tribal area of Tamilnadu and shows similarity to the Bruhi language being practiced in South America.

It is also believed that Quichua's (language of Peruvians) characteristic of mouth transmission is derived from Indians. Writing mathematical figures by using vertical and horizontal straight lines was a system commonly practiced by Indians and Mayas.

Shilpa:

Southern and Central American excavations revealed ancient cities, forts, bridges, tanks, canals, houses and pyramids which indicated the high state of civilization and what is found that some sculptures of those archaeological remnants are similar in form and design to that found in Indian sculptural monuments. 'Supporting the buildings over the arms of Yaksha' is an Indian art. Similar types of construction was found in ancient Mexico. Similarly, sculptures of human figures with headgear similar to Tamils, sculptures of Indian style ornamentation of elephants were found in Kopan (Honduras) and Palenque. Thousands of ancient baked-clay bricks were found in Comalcalco in Mexico over which Pali scripts were engraved and these were used in the construction of pyramid temples which were similar to the pyramid temple in the Chidambaram village situated on the Coromandel coast in Southern India. In an article written by scholar Ronald Shiller named 'Unsolved Mysteries of the Incas' (published in Reader's Digest of August 1982) he claims to have seen the imprints of South-East Asian culture over the sculptures found in Peru dating to the second century BC.

I hope my findings will help the scholars to study the influence of Indian culture over the Meso-American culture, so as to bring before the world the universality of great Vedic culture in the past.

Courtesy : http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/connections/Americas.php#1

Hinduism - The Breeder Of World Religions? - All europeans were Hindu's (Vedic) at one point of time

This article is just a Critical Analysis, and in no way a fool proof claim. I haven't been to the past, so I use Logic.

Globally Accepted Facts

Hinduism - Factually accepted to be the Oldest Religion

Vedas - Factually accepted to be the Oldest Religious Script as well as the Oldest written Document (hence symbolising the most ancient literate society)

Aryans (Aryas') - The common race from which Europeans and Indians (also Irani's) are known to have been derived. Aryan is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Arya' meaning 'A Noble Person'. Unfortunately a psycho German tainted the term, but 'Arya' was never a race, but a society of people with one belief. But yes Indian race is just a tanned version of the caucassian race (genetically proved).

Proto-Indo-Europeans - The Aryans (Europeans and Indians) were known to be a single society at one distant point of time, which we cannot trace. Hence Philosophists call it Proto-Indo-European era.

Proto-Indo-European - The common language from which Latin/Greek/Sanskrit were derived, and in turn from which the modern day Languages have been derived. English is a very close derivative of Sanskrit, as we will see.

Aryan Invasion Theory - Max Muller, a British Linguist, bred a theory called the Aryan Invasion theory, after realising that the Language spoken in the Indian Subcontinent was very much similar to his. According to him, Aryans originated in eastern Europe/Central Asia (Southern Russian Steppes). A pack of them migrated south and formed the 'Vedic India'. (The theory is flawed, as we will see).


Now I begin a quest into what the old civilization might have been like. Assuming Hinduism was formed after one segment of Aryans moved south into Northern India, we will be admitting that the initial Proto-Indo-European (PIE) society didn't have an organised religion. But however we see that the one of the very core English words, MAN, is derived from a Hindu mythology of a person called "Manu". In hindi we call "man" Manav and in Sanskrit, Manushya (Manu + Shishya = Followers of Manu).

Hinduism existed in the PIE period

It is known that the word "Manu" is synonymous with the Vedas. Manu, the saviour of mankind, is hailed throughout all the four Vedas. Hence either Vedas were written prior to emmigration, or somehow the word travelled north back to the Northern residents and got in popular use. The latter case is straight away impractical. Every european culture has the word "Manu" as the root of the word "Man" but none provide a legend behind it. Also, the word never travelled north, since the Aryan invasion theory is flawed, as we see later. Hence Vedas were written prior to seperation. Hence the PIE society did follow Hinduism or Vedic Culture to be precise.

Indian's aren't Aryans migrated from the North

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A760240

Check that link, and look at the last Ice Age periods. Considering we still had 'Cold Snaps' till 3000BC, it's evident that the best place to inhibit (in Asia/Europe) was India for the past 20,000 years. Supporters of Aryan Invasion Theory claim that Veda's describe War with local inhabitants of India. Yes, true, and it also says that those local inhabitants (dursyaas) were eliminated in the battle. I agree that aryans did migrate into India from the North but they were the original tribal aryans that existed 15000 years back. 15000 years back man had just learned to cultivate crops and live a civilized life, form society and protect its existence. There may not even be a formal spoken language, let alone a written language or script. To explain that, suppose I have just learned to write and I sit down to write Indian History, I will write, "The greatest Indian King of all time was Ashoka, the sinner turned saint, the emperor who ruled from dawn to dusk (east to west)." Then I also go on to mention that the best modern day Prime Minister of India was "AB Vajpayee". What I miss is the time gap. There is a gap of 2300 years. Veda's describe everything in accurate detail, but fail to mention the Timeline. It seems everything is described in quick succession, but actually, a long span of time has been covered in "Past Tense". So when Historians analyse the Vedas, they are simply unable to decipher the time line codes.

So what's the proof that Aryan's didnt come from north? The fact that not even a Single European land is mentioned in the Vedas. Ofcourse, that place was uninhabitable for a long period. Veda's never speak of comming down from the North. It just mentions the capturing of land around the River Saraswati and killing of Dursyas. I had a speak with an Archeologist and he supported the Timeline misguidance concept. The killing of Dursyas and settling around river saraswati was an ancient History, when man had just learnt the art cultivation and civilization.

Flaw of the Aryan Invasion Theory

Aryan Invasion Theory has been contradicted all together with the Discovery of the Ancient City of Dwarka which is submerged in the sea as of now (and as described in Mythology). The city dates to be as old as 7000 years. The Aryans were known to have arrived in India only by 3000-1500BC. So how come a city 7000 years old, located at the exact spot where the Sacred Hindu text, Mahabharata describes it to be, was found? And above all, unlike most discovered ancient cities, this one is Submerged in the sea, exactly as happened in Mahabharata. The Mahabharata very clearly states that the city sank in the sea after the death of Lord Krishna. Not only does this discovery INTENSIFY the truth factor behind Mahabharata, it converts the Mythology factor to History factor.

The society described in Mahabharata was the PIE Society

Yes, now this would be the major claim. From here, I would like you to research a bit on Mahabharata, and judge for yourself. Mahabharata describes a Very Very advanced society with modern infrastructure. Any person well versed with the literature, would deem it to be fictional, due to the sheer amount of advancement described.
I believe that it was the PIE society that was described then. They spoke Sanskrit (what about Greek/Latin?), and believed in the Vedic Culture. Vedic culture was even more sophisticated than the present day Hinduism.

Why was Sanskrit the PIE Language? Why not Greek or Latin?

Study Sanskrit and you will know for yourself. It is the MOST ADVANCED AND MOST WELL DEFINED LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD. This is not a claim but a proven Fact. It is the ONE AND ONLY UNAMBIGUOUS GRAMMAR. If Artificial Intelligence in Natural Language Processing was developed, Sanskrit is the only Language that a computer would be able to understand without a single problem. Sanskrit is the OLDEST SPOKEN/WRITTEN LANGUAGE. The Devnagri script, in which Sanskrit is written, has this special property that when letters are made from hollow tubes with openings at the end, you pump air from any end, and the alphabet will make a sound as it does when spoken! Devnagri script is still in use in Hindi. And, like told before, there are certain words in Greek/Latin, which have no legend behind them, but have one in Sanskrit.

How did the society break up? How were new cultures ever formed?

The Vedas describe the cycle of evolution of life in four yugas (epochs/era)

1. Satya Yuga or Krita Yuga (Zero Vice, No one lies, every one is spiritual)

2. Treta Yuga (Vice is introduced, Ramayana happened in this Yuga)

3. Dvapara Yuga (Vice starts gaining popularity. Mahabharata was fought in this Yuga/era. With the end of Maharabharat, this Yuga ended.)

4. Kali Yuga (Vice at its height. Immorality everywhere, and evil will be at its such heights, that Lord Shiv - The destroyer, will himself take an incarnation and end the Yuga. After that the Satya yuga will prevail.)

Now as mentioned, the Mahabharata ends, and so does the Dvapara Yuga. It's an interesting read of how Mahabharata ended. It ended with the final use of a weapon called "Brahmastra".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmastra

This weapon has been speculated to be a nuclear weapon. The way devastation has been explained, is synonymous only with a Nuclear Weapon. Also the practical detail cannot be pure fiction. Like the author says, it had power of 1000 suns, there was an incandescent column of smoke, when the bomb exploded, pottery broke miles away. Soldiers who had come in contact of radiation removed their protections and dived into water/river. Nails and hairs of soldiers fell. No one survived within a radius of many cities. There would be a famine for 12 years and mankind would end.

Apart from that, if you google a bit, you will learn that there is sufficient evidence that Indus valley civilization was wiped out by a nuclear explosion.

Hence my straight forward, simple and logical explanation of how societies divided, and everything was re-initiated from scratch.

For those who would disagree saying that this much technology was not possible then, I say, where were we 500 years back? Horse drawn chariots and swords? When we talk of a span of 7000 years at the minimum, couldn't these 500 years have happened then?
Also if you read about the Nine Unknown Men (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Unknown_Men) you will see, how the Sinner turned Saint (Ashoka), tried to prevent misuse of technology. I also suggest reading about the Ancient Indian Vimaans. The Indo-Europeans were indeed very much ahead in technology.

Unique facts of Hinduism

It's a very scientific religion, and has never debarred anyone from scientific research. India invented modern Mathematics (Decimal system, algebra etc). India has had the best medical science, acknowledged even today, Ayurveda. The science of Breathing, Yoga, is simply revolutionary.

> Lord Krishna makes a very rare statement in the Gita: "Time is the seed of Universe" (If there is no time, there is no universe).
Einstein loved that.

> Moksha can be achieved by three (very logical) ways:
By submitting yourself to God
By Karma (Well doing for others)
By gaining Knowledge (This one is rare.)

> God is defined as 'Sarvagya' (The one who has unlimited knowledge)

> Everything is made up of five elements. Earth Fire Water Air and Ether. The five elements are basically the five states of matter. Earth = Solid, Water = Liquid, Air = Gas, Fire = Plasma
It is well evident that they put Ether = Empty space, also as a state of matter. And that is the most authentic part of it. By the statement of Lord Krishna, we know they knew about Space-Time. As we know today, anything that occupies space in Space-Time. is a form of matter. And hence so is Ether.

This is an ad-on

Lingual Similarities in English-Sanskrit

These are just a few of thousands of such words.
I will just list the core words of English and their Sanskrit/Hindi equivalents.

English / Sanskrit
-------- ----------
Mother / Maatru
Father /Pitra/Pither (Papa comes from this)
Brother /Bhraatu
Name/ Naam
I am/ Aham
That /Tat
is /Ah(uh)
My/ mum (Hindi: mera)
Young/ Yuv
so /so (so is same in both english and hindi/sanskrit e.g. Jo karna hai so karo)
Man/ Manav/Manushya
Create/ Kriya/Crea (In englishe we add 'ate' to whatever we want to convert into noun-verb, like elongate, deviate etc)

English has many vocubalary based words derived from languages like Latin/Greek, but the fact remains that the Core Words (the words learnt when you begin to grow) are from Sanskrit.

Some vocubalary based words:

Dexterity -Dakshta
Progress -Pragati
Existence- Astitva
Exist -Asti
Punch- Paanch/Punch (Punch is same in English and Sanskrit meaning 5)
juggernaut- JagannAth (Hindi), literally, lord of the world (right)- Massive inexorable force, or an object that crushes whatever is in its path.
Grammar based similarities:

I read many, but can't remember a lot except the suffix 'ic'. It is absolutely same in Hindi, Sanskrit and English.
In english we say Sporadic, Fantastic, Idiotic etc etc...
Similarly in Sanskrit we say Prodyougic, Kaalpanic, Aarthic etc etc
One word that emerges same from both the Languages (that I can remember) is Vedic. Its same in Sanskrit/Hindi and English.

Similarities between Sanskrit and other languages

Sanskrit

Om Sri Savitra Surya Narayanaaya Namah

Sanskrit, the language used long ago by religious scribes and wise men, nowadays conveying ancient messages to us from holy texts, is presently only a liturgical language like Latin. The Indian Vedas were written in Sanskrit. In addition to liturgical purposes, this language is spoken at some places even today, particularly in some institutions where people feel the need to reinvigorate it. In the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, there are villages where ordinary people speak Sanskrit. Sanskrit is used also in Mattur, a village in the Indian state of Karnataka.

Similarities between Sanskrit and other languages

Throughout their long but preserved existence, Hindu gods have taken other form than the one they had originally had in the Vedas. At early historical times, Surya was more important than Vishnu. Shiva, too, does not have His name (Shiva) in the Vedas. Scholars believe that a much older name represents Shiva instead - Rudra, which sounds like the word used for the most ancient Slavic god - Rod (primordial god) - creator of the universe.

You see Sanskrit letters on the picture on the left.

The origin of the word "red" (English), or "rot" (German) probably comes from the primordial adoration of the god of fire, most likely a deity like Slavic Rod, Hindu Agni, or Rudra. You will find many words with similar sounding (and spelling) both in European languages and Sanskrit - for example, the Sanskrit word "rakta" - English "red" ("rudy" in Czech, "rouge" in French, "rojo" in Spanish, etc.). The origin of the word "red" most probably dwells in fire, which was adored and personified by all ancient and tribal cultures.

Every religion, although surely partially based on real events, somehow deforms or changes over time. Slavic people have the following legend about the creation of the world:

In the beginning, there was only the great darkness and endless chaos. Its waves whirled in the empty space and flowed around the golden egg, which was in the middle. Rod - the originator of everything - was in the egg. When Rod uttered his first word, his son Svarog was born.

The Slavic creation legends slightly vary in dependence on the region they come from (Serbia, Slovenia, Russia, Poland, etc.). Swarog or Svarog is the Slavic sun and fire god. In the Slavic religion, Svarga is heaven. In Sanskrit, Svarga is heaven too.

You see Sanskrit numerals on the picture on the left.

Some Hindu gods have remarkable similarity with Slavic deities - both in pronunciation and in significance. Sanskrit and Slavic words may not be always entirely similar (in pronunciation and connotation), but may carry remarkable elements of similarities like in the case of the Slavic god Veles (god of shepherds and a great serpent), who bears a resemblance to Vedic Vala, a Hindu Naga (serpent) and Asura (mostly sinful and power-seeking deities) mentioned in Rig Veda over twenty times.

Lord Shiva's attributes are materialized in the Slavic female deity called Siwa, Ziva, or Zivena - goddess of fertility and love. A similarity with Sanskrit appears in the fact that the word "ZIVA" means (in Sanskrit) "the one who is kind". Unlike war or scorpion goddesses, goddesses of love are kind for most of the time.

There is yet another similarity between Shiva and Ziva - goddess Kali and Morena, the sister of Ziva. Both Kali (Hindu goddess) and Morena (Slavic goddess) are goddesses of death. In Hinduism, Kali is tightly associated with Shiva, as She is a form of Durga, the Shiva's consort. There is not a big difference between these two, as Shiva's association to Kali is as strong as Ziva's connection to Morena. If we look at similarity in pronunciation, Slavic Morena has its equivalent in the Sanskrit word maraNaanta (coming to death).

As concerns symbolism, lingam is a Hindu (Shiva's) symbol for fertility - the same dimension that ancient Slavs attributed to Ziva.

Vedic god Surya has his Slavic equivalent in goddess of beauty - Zora, Zarya, or Zori. There is also the word Zorya - it identifies less important goddesses - Slavic guardians of the dawn. The connection to the sun is indisputable.

Brief summary of Slavic gods

Rod (Creator) > Svarog (sun god and helper creator) > and his three sons > Svarozic, Dazhdbog, and Perun. Perun is most probably derived from Vedic deity Parjanya (the rain god).

Triglav is a Slavic word for someone (god) "with three heads" - the Divinity almost identical to the concept of Hindu Trinity (Trimurti). The oldest meaning of the word Triglav had most probably denoted the following three deities - Svarog, Perun, and Dazhdbog; however, Veles or Svantovit later replaced Dazhdbog. Triglav has its Hindu equivalent in Dattatreya - Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva (all as one God). Hindus believe that this form of God (Dattatreya) had once appeared here on Earth.

Slavonic svastika

Hindus use svastika as a symbol of good luck. Boreyko coat of arms is the Slavic symbol of svastika pointing to the left; it had been used in Poland. Svastika can also be found in symbolism of Svarog (picture on the left).

Christians destroyed almost all cultural heritage of the Slavs, so our knowledge about Slavic deities is not so comprehensive as in Hinduism, which has continued almost entirely preserved from the ancient times until today.

A few Sanskrit and Russian words: a comparison

Slavic languages are similar, so the comparison shown below is made of words that sound equally and mean the same thing in Russian, Czech and Slovak. If you want to find out more about Sanskrit words, visit this website.

The first words on the left are in Russian, then follow words in Sanskrit, and finally their meaning in English:

vsegda sadaA always
putnik pathika pilgrim (or traveler)
zit jiivati live (pronounced similarly in Russian and in Sanskrit)
kogda kada when
nebo naaka heaven
snežnij sahima snowy
mama maatR mom
brat bhraatR brother

We can also look at similarities in grammar. Slovaks and Russians use vocative, which is a term hardly explainable in English in one word, as English (and many other European languages) does not use it (Sanskrit does). Vocative is scarcely present in Slovak, but it still occurs. The Wordnet dictionary of synonyms describes the term "vocative" as the case (in some inflected languages) used when the referent of the noun is being addressed. In addition, English and possibly many other European languages, except for Russian and other Slavic languages, do not have, for example, other cases like the locative case.

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Exodus, 3:2

The Hebrew word for fire is Esh - the English word "ash" is derived from it. The English word "ashes" is "aasa" in Sanskrit.

Russian Swami Finds Forefather's Faith in Sanatana Dharma

source : Hinduism Today


"We are Russian Saivites," began the unexpected letter to Hinduism Today. "Our purpose is to unite all Russian worshippers of Lord Siva and of the Divine Mother; to translate the sacred text of Saiva Agama into Russian and to spread the nondual message of Siva around Russia." Behind this intriguing organization is Swami Sadasivachariya, who came to Berlin in June to meet our publisher Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami during his recent European tour. The 25-year-old his recent European tour. The 25-year-old swami is from Siberia, "The most beautiful place on earth," he affirms. He was initiated into Saivism by a teacher in Karnataka who was of Virasaiva origin, but did not teach that tradition. From swami's description, his tradition may be related to the Kalamukha or Pashupata sect of Karnataka, the likely predecessors to the Virasaivas. These swamis wear red robes with a black belt, carry a skull bowl, a trident and wear a Siva Linga around their neck (which they worship personally, as do the Virasaivas). His path is called the Rahasya Sampradaya "secret tradition." It teaches three ways to God: Pasu, the easy path, the path of sattva, Lingam and trident, the middle way; Vira, the hero path, tantric, represented by the counterclockwise swastika; and Divya, the divine path of freedom and liberation, represented by the clockwise swastika. Swami follows the first path, Pasu. Our art director and staff reporter, Natarajaswami, conducted this interview in Berlin:

Hinduism Today: Swamiji, how many centers do you have in Russia?

Swami Sadasivachariya: There are fifteen spiritual communities and satsang groups with 250 members in Moscow and other towns, but they are not yet registered officially. Only Moscow center has official recognition. We are followers of Hindu Tantric religion. We are devotees of Lord Siva and Divine Mother, of Saiva and Shakta traditions.

HT: What can you tell us about Hinduism in Russia?

Swami: The Russian soul and character is very specific. Russians as a people are not like westerners, and they are also not like Asians. Rather they are in the middle. After the communist rule in Russia was destroyed, many, many people wanted to return to religion, but not just to the traditional Orthodox Russian Christian church, or another Christian sect. Many people are deeply interested in oriental religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, but mostly Hinduism. The reason is that long ages ago, before Christianity, the ancient Russian religion was also Vedic. For example, the native Russian name of the Supreme Lord is Rod. That in Russian means the same as the Vedic Rudra or Siva. Siva is not only a Hindu Lord but also the ancient Russian Lord, God of our fathers, God of our great land of Russia.

HT: How will Hinduism evolve in Russia?

Swami: In Russia Hinduism will develop with some differences from the orthodox Hinduism in India. As I see it nowadays in Russia, the traditional sects of orthodox Hinduism cannot exist in Russia the same way they do in India, for the tradition of Russia is very specific. You may see in Russia a new branches of Hinduism--Russian Saivism, perhaps. In many ways we are followers of traditional orthodox Hindu Saivism, the tantric form.

HT: What form does your worship take?

Swami: We perform Vedic fire ceremonies under the open sky near rivers and forests according to orthodox Vedic Hindu rites adjusted for the Russian situation. We have in Moscow a small temple devoted to Shakti and Siva Linga worship. We have kirtan and a meditation hall. People come to daily and weekly worship in the temple. There is one person who knows the Vedic system very well. He teaches classes in meditation and yogic exercises. The Indian embassy in Moscow has an Indian cultural center. Sometimes someone comes from the center to teach yoga. In general, our worship is ritualistic. We are performing pujas and doing certain mantras. Many people are learning the Sanskrit language. Sanskrit in Russia is much more popular than other Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, because Sanskrit is mother of all Indo-European languages, of all Aryan people. When I was teaching Russians to sing in Kannada, they protested. Sanskrit is the Vedic language and is also the mother of our Russian language. We would like to know the language of our fathers and the great Vedic rishis.We are using the three principles of tantric worship--yantra, mantra and mudra.

HT: How do people get involved in Hinduism, and how does it influence their life?

Swami: Many people are starting to perform Hindu worship in Russia because they are deep believers in the Lord and true bhaktars. Their way of life becomes more pure, more spiritual. In a short time they become strong vegetarians. They start to do Vedic exercises, practice Ayurvedic medicine and use astrology. Hinduism for Russians is devotional, much more devotional than Christianity can be. Hinduism is a revival and renaissance of the ancient Russian religions that were in Russia before Christianity. I imagine that in a few years Hinduism in Russia will have many more followers than Hinduism in the West.

HT: How has Hinduism changed your life?

Swami: My life? As for my life, I am a simple monk. I don't like to speak about my own person. But as you have asked, I will give you an answer. Since childhood I was deeply religious. But neither Christian religion, nor Judaism, nor Buddhism could give me that spiritual truth that I sincerely searched for. Only in Hindu tantric worship to Lord Siva did I find the religion of my heart and soul. My wishes were fulfilled. I become a devotee of Lord Siva. Then I took sannyas because my devotion to Lord Siva was deep. Hinduism is my religion, but it is not only my religion. Siva is all for me.

Meet the Brahmins of ancient Europe, the high caste of Celtic society

By Peter Berresford Ellis


The Celtic people spread from their homeland in what is now Germany across Europe in the first millennium bce. Iron tools and weapons rendered them superior to their neighbors. They were also skilled farmers, road builders, traders and inventors of a fast two-wheeled chariot. They declined in the face of Roman, Germanic and Slavic ascendency by the second centuries bce. Here Peter Berresford Ellis, one of Europe's foremost experts of the Celts, explains how modern research has revealed the amazing similarities between ancient Celt and Vedic culture. The Celt's priestly caste, the Druids, has become a part of modern folklore. Their identity is claimed by New Age enthusiasts likely to appear at annual solstice gatherings around the ancient megaliths of northwest Europe. While sincerely motivated by a desire to resurrect Europe's ancient spiritual ways, Ellis says these modern Druids draw more upon fanciful reconstructions of the 18th century than actual scholarship.

The Druids of the ancient Celtic world have a startling kinship with the brahmins of the Hindu religion and were, indeed, a parallel development from their common Indo-European cultural root which began to branch out probably five thousand years ago. It has been only in recent decades that Celtic scholars have begun to reveal the full
extent of the parallels and cognates between ancient Celtic society and Vedic culture.

The Celts were the first civilization north of the European Alps to emerge into recorded history. At the time of their greatest expansion, in the 3rd century bce, the Celts stretched from Ireland in the west, through to the central plain of Turkey in the east; north from Belgium, down to Cadiz in southern Spain and across the Alps into the Po Valley of Italy. They even impinged on areas of Poland and the Ukraine and, if the amazing recent discoveries of mummies in China's province of Xinjiang are linked with the Tocharian texts, they even moved as far east as the area north of Tibet.

The once great Celtic civilization is today represented only by the modern Irish, Manx and Scots, and the Welsh, Cornish and Bretons. Today on the northwest fringes of Europe cling the survivors of centuries of attempted conquest and "ethnic cleansing" by Rome and its imperial descendants. But of the sixteen million people who make up those populations, only 2.5 million now speak a Celtic language as their mother tongue.

The Druids were not simply priesthood. They were the intellectual caste of ancient Celtic society, incorporating all the professions: judges, lawyers, medical doctors, ambassadors, historians and so forth, just as does the brahmin caste. In fact, other names designate the specific role of the "priests." Only Roman and later Christian propaganda turned them into "shamans," "wizards" and "magicians." The scholars of the Greek Alexandrian school clearly described them as a parallel caste to the brahmins of Vedic society.

The very name Druid is composed of two Celtic word roots which have parallels in Sanskrit. Indeed, the root vid for knowledge, which also emerges in the Sanskrit word Veda, demonstrates the similarity. The Celtic root dru which means "immersion" also appears in Sanskrit. So a Druid was one "immersed in knowledge."

Because Ireland was one of the few areas of the Celtic world that was not conquered by Rome and therefore not influenced by Latin culture until the time of its Christianization in the 5th century ce, its ancient Irish culture has retained the most clear and startling parallels to Hindu society.

Professor Calvert Watkins of Harvard, one of the leading linguistic experts in his field, has pointed out that of all the Celtic linguistic remains, Old Irish represents an extraordinarily archaic and conservative tradition within the Indo-European family. Its
nominal and verbal systems are a far truer reflection of the hypothesized parent tongue, from which all Indo-European languages developed, than are Classical Greek or Latin. The structure of Old Irish, says Professor Watkins, can be compared only with that of
Vedic Sanskrit or Hittite of the Old Kingdom.

The vocabulary is amazingly similar. The following are just a few examples:

Old Irish - arya (freeman),Sanskrit - aire (noble)
Old Irish - naib (good), Sanskrit - noeib (holy)
Old Irish - badhira (deaf), Sanskrit - bodhar (deaf)
Old Irish - names (respect), Sanskrit - nemed (respect)
Old Irish - righ (king), Sanskrit - raja (king)

This applies not only in the field of linguistics but in law and social custom, in mythology, in folk custom and in traditional musical form. The ancient Irish law system, the Laws of the Fénechus, is closely parallel to the Laws of Manu. Many surviving Irish myths, and some Welsh ones, show remarkable resemblances to the themes, stories and even names in the sagas of the Indian Vedas.

Comparisons are almost endless. Among the ancient Celts, Danu was regarded as the "Mother Goddess." The Irish Gods and Goddesses were the Tuatha De Danaan ("Children of Danu"). Danu was the "divine waters" falling from heaven and nurturing Bíle, the sacred oak from whose acorns their children sprang. Moreover, the waters of Danu went on to create the great Celtic sacred river--Danuvius, today called the Danube. Many European rivers bear the name of Danu--the Rhône (ro- Dhanu, "Great Danu") and several rivers called Don. Rivers were sacred in the Celtic world, and places where votive offerings were deposited and burials often conducted. The Thames, which flows through London, still bears its Celtic name, from Tamesis, the dark river, which is the same name as Tamesa, a tributary of the Ganges.

Not only is the story of Danu and the Danube a parallel to that of Ganga and the Ganges but a Hindu Danu appears in the Vedic story "The Churning of the Oceans," a story with parallels in Irish and Welsh mytholgy. Danu in Sanskrit also means "divine waters" and "moisture."

In ancient Ireland, as in ancient Hindu society, there was a class of poets who acted as charioteers to the warriors They were also their intimates and friends. In Irish sagas these charioteers extolled the prowess of the warriors. The Sanskrit Satapatha Brahmana says that on the evening of the first day of the horse sacrifice (and horse sacrifice was known in ancient Irish kingship rituals, recorded as late as the 12th century) the poets had to chant a praise poem in honor of the king or his warriors, usually extolling their genealogy
and deeds.

Such praise poems are found in the Rig Veda and are called narasamsi. The earliest surviving poems in old Irish are also praise poems, called fursundud, which trace back the genealogy of the kings of Ireland to Golamh or Mile Easpain, whose sons landed in Ireland at the end of the second millennium bce. When Amairgen, Golamh's son, who later traditions hail as the "first Druid," set foot in Ireland, he cried out an extraordinary incantation that could have come from the Bhagavad Gita, subsuming all things into his being [see sidebar right].

Celtic cosmology is a parallel to Vedic cosmology. Ancient Celtic astrologers used a similar system based on twenty-seven lunar mansions, called nakshatras in Vedic Sanskrit. Like the Hindu Soma, King Ailill of Connacht, Ireland, had a circular palace constructed with twenty-seven windows through which he could gaze on his twenty-seven "star wives."

There survives the famous first century bce Celtic calendar (the Coligny Calendar) which, as soon as it was first discovered in 1897, was seen to have parallels to Vedic calendrical computations. In the most recent study of it, Dr. Garret Olmsted, an astronomer as well as Celtic scholar, points out the startling fact that while the surviving calendar was manufactured in the first century bce, astronomical calculus shows that it must have been computed in 1100 bce.

One fascinating parallel is that the ancient Irish and Hindus used the name Budh for the planet Mercury. The stem budh appears in all the Celtic languages, as it does in Sanskrit, as meaning "all victorious," "gift of teaching," "accomplished," "enlightened," "exalted" and so on. The names of the famous Celtic queen Boudicca, of ancient Britain (1st century ce), and of Jim Bowie (1796-1836), of the Texas Alamo fame, contain the same root. Buddha is the past participle of the same Sanskrit word--"one who is enlightened."

For Celtic scholars, the world of the Druids of reality is far more revealing and exciting, and showing of the amazingly close common bond with its sister Vedic culture, than the inventions of those who have now taken on the mantle of modern "Druids," even when done so with great sincerity.

If we are all truly wedded to living in harmony with one another, with nature, and seeking to protect endangered species of animal and plant life, let us remember that language and culture can also be in ecological danger. The Celtic languages and cultures today stand on
the verge of extinction. That is no natural phenomenon but the result of centuries of politically directed ethnocide. What price a "spiritual awareness" with the ancient Celts when their culture is in the process of being destroyed or reinvented? Far better we seek
to understand and preserve intact the Celt's ancient wisdom. In this, Hindus may prove good allies.

The Song of Amairgen the Druid I am the wind that blows across the sea; I am the wave of the ocean; I am the murmur of the billows; I am the bull of the seven combats; I am the vulture on the rock; I am a ray of the sun; I am the fairest of flowers; I am a wild boar in valor; I am a salmon in the pool; I am a lake on the plain; I am the skill of the craftsman; I am a word of science; I am the spearpoint that gives battle; I am the God who creates in the head of man the fire of thought. Who is it that enlightens the assembly upon the mountain, if not I? Who tells the ages of the moon, if not I? Who shows the place where the sun goes to rest, if not I? Who is the God that fashions enchantments-- The enchantment of battle and the wind of change?

Amairgen was the first Druid to arrive in Ireland. Ellis states, "In this song Amairgen subsumes everything into his own being with a philosophic outlook that parallels the declaration of Krishna in the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita." It also is quite similar in style and content to the more ancient Sri Rudra chant of the Yajur Veda.

Peter Berresford Ellis is one of the foremost living authorities on the Celts and author of many books on the subject, including "Celt and Roman," "Celt and Greek," "Dictionary of Celtic Mythology" and "Celtic Women."
PETER BERRESFORD ELLIS, 30 GRESLEY ROAD, LONDON, N19 3JZ, ENGLAND

The New Great Game - Behind the scenes in Af-Pak-Ind, and places in-between

Osama’s gone, Pakistan drones on and Afghanistan and India are the biggest losers

by Leela JACINTO FRANCE 24’s

The meeting was fixed last month and would have gone unnoticed outside Af-Pak wonk circles. But then Osama bin Laden was found right under the Pakistani military’s nose and suddenly reporters on the ground were dashing for the post-meeting presser while their bosses were interrupting regular programming to go live to Islamabad.

Last month, we were told that Marc Grossman - the man who replaced the late Richard Holbrooke as US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan – would be in Islamabad May 3 to attend “the first-ever trilateral meeting” between US, Afghan and Pakistani reps to try to seek a joint resolution to the Afghan conflict.

In other words: snore.

But then barely 24 hours before the three-party talks, bin Laden was gunned down in his luxury Abbottabad lair (or haveli as it’s called in these parts) around the corner from the Pakistan Military Academy, the country’s West Point-meets-Sandhurst.

Suddenly, nobody was in the mood for the old discourse on diplomatic resolutions anymore.

US-Pakistani relations had hit an all-time low. The questions were deadly serious.
Was the Pakistani security- intelligence apparatus incompetent or duplicitous?

We’ve heard the Pakistani security incompetence spiel before. It goes like this: We’re doing our best, thousands of brave Pakistani troops have fallen in the fight against our common enemies, we just don’t know where your most-wanted man-of-the-moment is currently hiding because… you know… we have these tribal border badlands we barely administer …

But as shocked neighbors around the Abbottabad haveli told news teams that their IDs were routinely checked before they could enter the well secured neighborhood, the incompetence argument was starting to look flimsy.

Collusion between Pakistan’s famously shadowy spy network and its famously well-endowed extremist networks seemed more likely.

Three questions only

And so, the world’s attention was on Grossman - along with Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Javed Ludin – as they faced the news pack at the Pakistani Foreign Office Tuesday.




Given the time constraints, the three men will take only three questions please, announced the stern lady policing the conference.

First question to the Pakistani journalist at the back of the chandeliered room. It’s a “very specific question” on US drone strikes in Pakistan.

Grossman, the charm-challenged US envoy, replies with Washington’s customary, “I’m not going to discuss drone strikes” line.

Second question, a two-part query from another Pakistani journalist. First part: where’s the proof of bin Laden’s death? Second part: about US drone attacks violating Pakistani territorial integrity...

Drone on, drone strikes.

Grossman, the charm-challenged US envoy, replies with Washington’s customary, “I’m not going to discuss drone strikes” line.

Finally, the third question, by an Al Jazeera English correspondent, was about the trust deficit between the US and Pakistan. But then one opinionated hack somewhere in the room launched into a loud but indecipherable tirade, leaving an embarrassed Bashir to round up the presser with a quotable, but useless, “the issue of Osama bin Laden is history”.

How to win more US military aid by mobilizing the anti-drone campaign

I can’t calculate how many hours of my life have been spent listening to rants about US drone strikes targeting militants in Pakistan.

Don’t get me wrong, nobody in their right mind wants the nasty package deal of drone strikes that includes a collateral damage of civilian casualties that undermine US legitimacy in the region.

So, when my friends in the human rights community groan about drone strikes, I hear them out because they have a point.

But for the Pakistani press posse to drone on about US drone strikes a day after their military and their government have been exposed for their incompetent, possibly duplicitous role in their anti-extremist fight is particularly rich.

For Pakistani establishment figures to play the old sovereignty and territorial integrity card in a country where prime terrorist territory is barely controlled is a farce.



The divide between the anti-terror experts and the human rights community is particularly wide on the business of US drone strikes in Pakistan.

Expert after expert has told me that the strikes in Pakistan’s lawless tribal frontier regions have been effective in crippling militant networks.

Some maintain that behind-the-scenes, the Pakistani authorities are cooperating with the US on drone strikes although they loudly and publicly declare their opposition to it.

I’m not so sure if the Pakistani military establishment is pro-drone strikes and is cooperating with the US on it. Certainly after the bin Laden killing, I find US intelligence more actionable than Pakistani intel.

If, however, the Pakistani military establishment is cooperating behind-the-scenes while publicly decrying drone strikes, that’s just another case of official Pakistani failure to come clean.

But the biggest opposition to US drone strikes in Pakistan comes from the right wing religious parties and these are the ones who invariably do the military’s bidding.

The Pakistani mobilization against drone strikes has all the hallmarks of an organized campaign: exaggerated but widely disseminated civilian death figures, extensive media outreach and wait, here comes the clincher: a sweet military aid deal for the generals.

It’s not something you’re likely to come across too often, so sit up and pay attention.

The Pakistani military establishment has been so effective in drumming up the anti-drone campaign – especially during visits by senior US officials – that the US is contemplating providing the Pakistani military 85 small "Raven" drone aircraft as a palliative for being left out of the aerial loop in the tribal areas.



Yep, it’s the time-tested bedrock of US-Pakistani relations over the past six decades: Pakistan wants, Pakistan whines, the US concedes, the US pays. It goes through fits and starts and often involves a complicated dance, but in the end, as Steve Coll put it, Washington decides that Pakistan is like AIG – too big to fail.
And so US officials cough up another tax dollar gift for an unreliable partner.

Hopelessly failing to buy the love

In recent times, Washington has tried a different tack on an old theme: providing aid – a whopping $7.5 billion over five years – to buttress Pakistan’s civilian government.

That’s around $1.5 billion for 2010 alone and already the news sites are awash with aid-failure stories.

I’ve been on this path so many times before. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, there was much talk of developing the Pakistani education system so that poor families don’t have to pack their boys off to the local madrassas.

I interviewed ADB (Asian Development Bank) officials, World Bank officials – they’ve all been there, done that - and nothing changes.

It’s the sweet optimism of Americans – a naiveté the Pakistani establishment understands all too well – that compels US pundits to say that if we did this better, if we did not repeat past mistakes, we can make a difference this time.

In other words, US experts join Pakistani experts and non-experts in the favorite game on the subcontinent: blaming the US.

So far, the $1.5 billion earmarked for last year – only $179.5 million of which was disbursed due to chronic corruption and bureaucracy – has not done a damn thing to change Pakistani perception of the US.

It’s a long story, I’ve covered it before, I won’t get into now. Except for the latest conspiracy twist in how the bin Laden demise is being viewed in Pakistan.

Apparently many Pakistanis these days believe the whole bin Laden incident was just a ruse to portray the country in a bad light - that the al Qaeda chief was never in that Abbottabad compound in the first place, the operation was dreamed up so “the whole world can now point fingers at Pakistan.”



Seven-and-a-half billion US dollars for this bullshit.

Afghanistan neglected, manipulated in the mix - again

The most telling omission in this tale is the complete sidelining of Afghanistan in the latest fracas.

Tuesday’s news conference was about seeking a trilateral solution to end the Afghan conflict that has been fueled, funded and supported by Pakistan.

But not one question was posed to poor Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Ludin, who stood gamely on the sidelines, watching his country neglected and manipulated – once more – by Pakistani interests.

With bin Laden gone, there’s renewed talk of a US pullout from Afghanistan.
Among other talking points, the trilateral meeting nudged forward a harebrained solution to the Afghan conflict that’s being pushed by the erratic, unstable Afghan President Hamid Karzai, one that also happens to be particularly appealing to Pakistan: Negotiating with the Taliban.

Negotiating with whom? Mullah Omar? Does that mean the ISI will finally ‘fess up to where they’re shielding the Taliban chief?





Who else? Jalaluddin Haqqani, Islamabad’s favorite militant in Afghanistan? Or Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a man so untrustworthy he bumps off friends and foes as the mood takes him? Ol’ Gulbuddin is another Pakistan favorite. Islamabad after all handed him the chunk of the CIA Cold War budget to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Nothing like an old friend on the western front.

And so, while many experts are contemplating a game-changer in US-Pakistani relations after bin Laden’s death, I’m predicting nothing new.

Washington will continue to try to buy the love in a country that has turned US-bashing into a fine art. Pakistan will continue to try to undermine Afghan aspirations to secure a peaceful future for their war-torn country. The US will ultimately abandon Afghanistan because Washington has no will to question the very basis of US-Pakistani relations that were formulated during the Cold War. And everyone will blame the USA for the mess we’re in

BIN LADEN, TALIBAN & INDIA

The first reference by Osama bin Laden to India was made at his press conference at Khost in Afghanistan on May 26, 1998, at which he announced the formation of the International Islamic Front For Jihad Against the US and Israel. In response to a question from a journalist (only Pakistani journalists were invited), he said that he would have loved to join the jihad in Kashmir, but the Pakistani authorities would not permit him.

Thereafter, he has not referred to India in any of his statements or interviews. However, there have been references to his attitude to India in statements made by Pakistan-based mercenary elements and their organizations operating in Kashmir and other parts of India and in pamphlets and posters purported to have been issued by him, which keep periodically circulating in Peshawar in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. It would be difficult to vouch for their authenticity.

Significantly, neither Osama nor the Taliban of Afghanistan, which protects him, has ever made any comments which could be interpreted as anti-Hindu or as indicating their support for the designs of the Pakistan-based mercenary organisations to extend their jihad from Kashmir to other parts of India in order to "liberate" the Muslims of India from the control of the Hindus.

There have been many verified statements of Osama saying it was the sacred duty of the Muslims to kill the Americans, the British and the Israelis, but there has been no such call for killing the Indians or the Hindus.

The past anti-India comments of Osama and the Taliban were restricted to supporting the right of the Kashmiris to self-determination .The Taliban has been very critical of the alleged Indian assistance to the pre-1992 Afghan Government of Najibullah and to the troops of the Northern Alliance led by Mr.Ahmed Shah Masood.

It has repeatedly denied Indian allegations that its volunteers were active in Kashmir. It admits the presence of a large number of Afghan mercenaries in Kashmir, but contends that these are the followers of Gulbuddin Heckmatyar, of the Hizb-e-Islami, who is now reported to be living in Iran.

According to the Taliban, Heckmatyar's followers have been operating in Kashmir along with the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), the militant wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and they masquerade as members of the Taliban in order to have it discredited in the eyes of the world as a terrorist organisation.

The Taliban says that while it would have liked to assist the Kashmiri people, it would not be in a position to do so till it establishes control over the whole of Afghanistan.

The HM underwent a split last year, with an anti-Heckmatyar, pro-Taliban and pro-Osama group forming a separate organisation called Al Badr. This group was very active in assisting the Pakistani troops during the recent Kargil conflict and is estimated to have suffered the largest number of casualties among the Mujahideen groups.

The available information on the Al Badr is still scanty and one cannot say with certainty whether Taliban members are active in the organisation.

The past statements of Osama and the Taliban were remarkably free of any anti-India and anti-Hindu venom of the type one finds in the statements of the Pakistan-based mercenary organisations such as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), the Markaz Dawa Al Irshad and its militant wing, the Lashkar-e-Toiba .The Taliban is more strident in its criticism of Iran than of India.

The Taliban leaders, while strongly defending their Islamisation drive and their attitude to women and the Shias, have been taking pains to dispel the impression that the Taliban has been exporting armed Islamic fanaticism to India, China, the Central Asian Republics (CARs), Chechnya and Dagestan.

According to Taliban circles, Pakistan-based mercenary organisations such as the HUM, the Markaz and the Lashkar, which have been behind much of the violence in the Southern Philippines, India, Xinjiang in China, the CARs, Chechnya and Dagestan, are allies of the Taliban and Osama in the fight against the Northern Alliance of Mr.Masood, but this does not mean that the Taliban has been supporting their jihad in those countries.

In its most comprehensive statement to-date on this subject (September 20,1998), the Taliban stated as follows: " Afghanistan and India had friendly relations in the past. We don't have any diplomatic ties now, but we won't mind resuming relations with India as, at least, we won't have to contend with an enemy India. By backing the puppet communist regime in Afghanistan, India lost all sympathies of the majority of the Afghan people and it appears rather difficult to forget all that. We obviously support the jihad in Kashmir and sympathise with the Kashmiri people. It is also true that some Afghans are fighting against Indian troops in Kashmir. The Taliban has not sent them…We have no intention of exporting our jihad or revolution to any country."

In the context of this past attitude of the Taliban to keep open the possibility of a rapprochement with India, it is not surprising that it has hastened to deny the report disseminated in September by the "Jang", the anti-India Urdu daily of Pakistan, that Osama has declared a jihad against India.

After the Kargil conflict, the Pakistani authorities have launched a mischievous Psywar campaign that to secure the support of the administration of the US President, Mr.Bill Clinton, during the conflict, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government of India had offered its services to the US as its surrogate in the USA's campaign against Islamic revolutionary forces and that the US has been given facilities in the Kargil area from which it can mount a clandestine operation against Osama.

There have also been suggestions from the Pakistan-based mercenary organisations that in addition to the US, Israel and the UK (the UK was targeted by Osama after it joined the US in bombing Iraq in December), Osama should also target India which, according to them, has started collaborating with the US in its anti-Muslim policies.

Thus, there is an ill-disguised attempt by the Pakistani intelligence agencies and the mercenary groups supported by them to have India projected as a willing surrogate of the US which should be brought on Osama's hit list. Hence, despite the denial by the Taliban of any declaration of a jihad against India by Osama as alleged by the Pakistani media, a more effective monitoring of the activities of the already-identified and other likely sympathisers of Osama in India would be necessary.

Of the Pakistan-based organisations which are members of Osama's International Islamic Front for Jihad against the US and Israel, the HUM and the Lashkar are very active in Kashmir. The Lashkar also has a presence in other parts of India as far down South as Hyderabad. These organisations also have links with extremist organisations in Banglasdesh.The pro-Osama Al Badr is not a member of the Front, but is active in Kashmir.

Any threat from the pro-Osama elements in India could be not only against Indian interests and targets, but also against those of the US, Israel and the UK. Osama's men have in the past shown a marked preference for massive explosions outside infrastructure targets, such as Embassy buildings, military training establishments etc. Osama has also publicly announced in January ("Time", January 11) his interest in the procurement of weapons of mass destruction for possible use in his terrorist operations. These aspects have to be kept in view while planning counter-measures.

At the same time, India should test out the sincerity of the Taliban's interest in a non-adversarial relationship with India by maintaining a line of communication with the Taliban leadership through their office in New York. Its professions of innocence should be tested out and not dismissed out of hand.

The USA too, while taking strong action against the Taliban's support to Osama and its violation of human rights, has at the same time maintained a dialogue with the Taliban leadership through their New York office and during the visits of US officials to Islamabad.

We should not put all our eggs in the Burhanuddin Rabbani-Masood basket. It would be unwise to assume that the Taliban leadership is a Pakistani puppet and hence beyond redemption. After all, many Pakhtuns---of Pakistan as well as Afghanistan--- had been the traditional supporters of India and one should not rule out the possibility of there being many elements in the Taliban leadership which feel suffocated by the present too close an embrace with Pakistan.

India has had a long history of fruitful mutual counter-terrorism(CT) co-operation with the US in the form of exchange of information, expertise, visits of CT experts etc. The foundation for this was laid by Rajiv Gandhi during his visit to Washington in June,1985. The pre-1998 Governments of India had rightly kept this co-operation secret.

In an unwise departure from this policy, the present Government has been publicising such co-operation as was seen during the recent visit of some officials of the CT Division of the US State Department to New Delhi. This could act as a red rag to the bull and prove counter-productive. (29-9-99).

B.RAMAN

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India,and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai.
E-Mail:corde@vsnl.com )

OSAMA BIN LADEN'S DEATH : Q & A

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR--PAPER
by B.RAMAN

Question:Was the operation that was carried out by the US Special Forces against Osama bin Laden resulting in his death at Abbotabad in Pakistan on the night of May1 an exclusive US operation or was it a joint US-Pak operation?

A: Till now the indications are that it was an exclusive US operation. Since it involved the ingress of the US specal forces into Pakistani territory by air in helicopters, it was likely that Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Pakistan's Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), was informed before the helicopters with the special forces took off from Afghanistan for the raid even though US officials have reportedly been asserting that Pakistan was informed only after the helicopters had taken off at the end of the operation. When the Bill Clinton Administration launched the Cruise missile strikes on the traininmg camps of Al Qaeda in the Jalalabad area of Afghanistan in 1998 they followed a similar procedure. Gen Anthony Zinni, the then Commanding Officer of the US Central Command, flew to Islamabad from a US naval ship and informed Gen.Jehangir Karamat, the then COAS, about the impending raid. The US did so to make sure that Pakistan did not interpret that the missile had been launched by India and order a missile strike against India. A similar precaution was likely to have been taken this time too. Moreover, Abbotabad, an important military garrison town, has high air defence cover. It was important to prevent a messy air defence action by Pakistan against the US helicopters if its radars had detected their approach. The entire operation lasted a little over two hours. Durung this period, one of the helicopters crashed. It was blown up and destroyed by the special forces.A newsletter disseminated by a retired US naval officer says:"Source says actual crash sight was on Kakul Road, Abbottabod, Pakistan just down from the Pakistan Military Academy exercise grounds. See image for road, which was reportedly blocked off by local security after the incident. Folks in the city mentioned on Twitter at the time that the action was very, very close to the PMA." This would indicate that during the entire operation on the ground, which lasted over 90 minutes if one excludes the time taken by the choppers for their to and fro journey, the Pakistani security forces did not intervene and try to find out what was going on. The local police blocked the stretch of the road where the helicopter had crashed to prevent onlookers rushing there till the Americans had destroyed the chopper. All this clearly shows that the Pakistanis must have had advance knowledge of the operation and had instructions from above not to intervene.

Has the US undertaken similar operations deep inside Pakistan before?

A. Yes thrice before. Twice in 2002 in Faislabad and Karachi to capture Abu Zubaida and Ramzi Binalshibh respectively and once in 2003 in Rawalpindi to capture Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM).

How did those operations differ from the latest operation to kill OBL?

A. The three previous operations were joint US-Pakistan operations with the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) playing the leadership role. The raids were organised on the basis of technical intelligence (TECHINT) collected by the US agencies due to the careless use of mobile telephones by the three arrested persons. The latest operation against OBL seems to have been an exclusive US operation with the prior knowledge of Pakistan, but with no Pakistani role in its planning and execution. Since OBL was not using any communication equipment such as mobile telephone, Internet etc in his hide-out, no Technical Intelligence would have been possible. It seems to have been mounted purely on the basis of Human Intelligence (HUMINT). The success of the operation speaks very highly of the improvement in the HUMINT capability of the US agencies.

Wherefrom could the HUMINT have come?

A.Abbotabad is a Hazara town. The Hazaras are strongly against Al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban because of the massacre of the Hazaras, many of whom are Shias, in East Afghanistan when the Taliban was in power in Kabul. It is likely that the local Hazara community might have played a role in assisting the US in its OBL hunt. In fact, it is surprising that OBL took shelter in that town despite the strong presence of the Hazaras there. No explanation for this has been forthcoming so far.

Is it possible that the ISI might have played a role in the collection of the HUMINT?

A. Difficult to answer this question.

How come the huge mansion in which OBL was reportedly living did not attract suspicion as it was being constructed in 2005?

A.Difficult to explain it unless the mansion had been constructed by a retired senior General of the Army as his farm house and then given on rent to OBL's family with or without the knowledge that it was the family of OBL.

For how long OBL must have been living in the mansion?

A.According to US media reports, the house had been under watch by the US since Auguat last year. Obama gave the order for the operation on April 29 on the receipt of precise information that OBL was inside the mansion. This would give rise to the possibility that Osama's family had been living in the mansion at least since last August, that OBL had been visiting them off and on and that Obama gave the order for the operation after receiving information in the last week of April that OBL had come to visit his family. This is what happened in the case of Baitullah Mehsud, the Amir of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who was killed in a Drone strike. His wife and children were living with her father. Baitullah was visiting them off and on. The Americans had reportedly managed to find out the details of the car of Baitullah. One day they received information that Baitullah's car was parked outside his in-laws' house. They directed a missile strike at it. Baitullah was among those killed. In the case of OBL, they did not make a missile strike. Instead, they sent a spl. forces team to kill OBL in a fire-fight.

Was there an official Pakistani complicity in OBL's living in Abbotabad?

A.The evidence till now is circumstantial and not direct. Why did OBL choose to live in Abbotabad despite the presence of a large number of Hazaras there? The only possible answer is because he felt confident his security would be assured there. He could have got this confidence only if had the support of some sections of the local security agencies and/or the police and also of some local elements of the non-Hazara segment of the population. This is more speculative than of any evidentiary value. The direct evidence could come from the interrogation of those arrested alive from the mansion by the US spl forces.

What impact this will have on US relations with Pakistan?

The US already has considerable suspicion that Pakistan has been playing a double game by dragging its feet on the issue of action against Al Qaeda. This suspicion will now be further strengthened. The smoking gun in the form of OBL's dead body has clearly established that OBL was living in an urban town of Pakistan. Was he living there with the knowledge or collusion of the Pakistani security agencies? There is no smoking gun on this yet. Unless that becoms available, the US would find it difficult to act against the State of Pakistan. The relations will continue as before with ups and downs and with alternating praise for action taken and reprimands for actions not taken.

Will the death of OBL be the end of Al Qaeda?

A. No.Since 9/11, Al Qaeda is already a weakened organisation due to repeated Drone strikes on its hide-outs and capture of some of its leaders on the ground in Pakistan. This process of weakening that has been there since 2002 could acquire pace and strength as a result of the death of OBL. Despite this, Al Qaeda, by itself, will remain a potent force for some years to come until it suffers more attrition.

Will it have any impact on Obama's plans to start thinning out troops from Afghanistan? Will it enable or tempt Obama to accelerate the process?

A. No. Obama's decisions relating to Afghanistan will depend on the evolution of the ground situation in Afghanistan and on the proved ability of the Afghan National Army to withstand pressure from the Taliban.

What are the dangers of reprisal attacks by Al Qaeda and its affiliates?

A.High in the Af-Pak region. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al Qaeda affiliates like the Lashksar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) will presume that the Pakistani security forces must have co-operated with the US. Acts of suicide terrorism against the Pakistani security forces and US nationals and interests in Pakistan could increase.

High against US nationals and interests in other countries.

Medium to low in the US homeland. ( 2-5-11)

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )

Courtesy : http://ramanstrategicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/05/osama-bin-ladens-death-q.html