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19 November 2010, 5:34 PM
It has been customary at the end of an astrological debate, actually a quarrel (these days about Jaimini dashas) -- astrologers come away claiming victory. Starting with a Sanskrit shloka or sutra, a fatuous rhetorical war path, they end up abusing each other. I have seen it so often, astrologers using very offensive language and uttering arrant nonsense. They spout ill-informed academic poison. They cannot overcome their obsessions. Involved in such quarrels, you find yourself between a precipitous rock and a deep sea.
23 November 2010, 6:15 AM
Sometime in 1983 or 1984 a young Sikh working in a bank came to me with a proposal for becoming the editor of an astrological magazine which he would start, he said, if I became its editor. I declined the offer on many grounds: first I was in government service and would have to take official permission to accept it which I would not seek. read more...
1 July 2009, 9:46 AM
For those who are interested in following the controversy relating to the the existence of Hindu temples, some of the thousands of arguments advanced before the government of India from time to time, particularly when the Shri late Sri Chandrasekhar was the prime minister here are some small pieces.
WHERE WAS EVIDENCE IN OTHER CASES ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD ?
No one in the world has demanded evidence for the sacred character of the mosques on the Temple Mound in Jerusalem. Is it proven that the Dome on the Rock or the Al-Aqsa mosque was built over Mohammed's footprint in the rock? Is it true that Mohammed landed there after a journey through heaven on a winged horse? No one has questioned the ground on which the Muslims hold these places to be sacred. And so, even the Israeli government upholds the right of the Muslims to their sacred places.
2. Similarly, the grotto in which Jesus is believed to have been born is protected as a place of pilgrimage for Christians. The belief that Jesus was born there is neither theologically important nor historically verified. Yet, the Christians' right to their sacred place is upheld without questioning. Like followers of other religions, we do not need to offer a justification for considering that very site sacred.
Did Babar visit Ayodhya ?
This seeming "argument from silence" has been conclusively explained by Mrs
Beveridge in her English translation (Babur Nama in English) Babar reached the Ayodhya area on March 28, 1528 and camped there for a short period to settle the affairs of Awadh. Unfortunately, in all known copies of Babar's diary, there is a break in the narrative between April 2 and September 18 of 1528 The loss of these pages could have occurred during the storm on May 17,1529, or during Humayun's stay in the desert after 1540 Any reference to the destruction of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple would logically have to be found in those missing pages.
Archaeological Discovery
Archaeologists have recovered variety of Islamic Glazed Wares, which are dated to different periods between the 13th and 15th centuries. Evidently, the temple belonged to the period immediately before the construction of the mosque. In the early 16thcentury when the mosque was built at this very place, the builders of the mosque used a number of black-stone pillars from the old temple existing here. Some of these pillars have been found used as load bearing pillars for the arches of the domes of the mosque. Art-historical studies of these pillars show that they bear a large number of images of gods and goddesses, such as Yakshas, Devakanyas, Dvarpalas and Ganas, and sacred motifs, such as the purnaghata, lotus, hansa and mala, all of which belong to the Hindu iconography.
Ayodhya Mahatmya
The existence of a Ram-Janmabhoomi shrine at Ramkot, marking what was believed to be birthplace of Rama, and held by the Hindus as one of their holiest spots on earth in the 12th-13th centuries, is well attested by its description in the Ayodhya Mahatmya, a sacred Hindu text forming part of the Vaishnava Khanda of the Skanda Purana. The Ayodhya Mahatmya narrates the supreme glory of the Ram Janmabhoomi shrine situated to the west of Lomash Ashram and north of Vasishtha Kund, specially for offering worship on this spot on Ram Navami day, Rama's birthday.
Astronomical\Astrological evidence
An inscription of 467 A.D. testifies to the installation by a devotee of the image of "Chitrakutsvami- Anantashayi" referring to both Rama & Vishnu. The same practice is indicated by an inscription found at Ayodhya which says that the Gahadval king Chandradev visited Ayodhya on 23rd Oct. 1093 on a pilgrimage on the occasion of a solar eclipse when he bathed in the Saryu and performed the worship of Vasudeva the protector of the three worlds. (see the horoscope for this day)
Historians do not know astrology or astronomy and those debating this issue either do not know this subject or do not use this most valid arrgument which can be checked astronomically. For instance, one English historian of the medieval history of India disputed the date of birth of Akbar, the moghul emperor even when the horoscope of the emperor cast by the Hindu astrologer Jyotik Rai is given in Akbar Nama. I had referred to it in my arguments in the Supreme Court of India when I was fighting the case for astrology.
If only on the basis of the planetary position given the English historian had cared to take the help of an astrologer he would easily have seen that the undisputed date of birth was 15 October 1542 and not some date of November of the same year as he stated.
WHERE WAS EVIDENCE IN OTHER CASES ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD ?
No one in the world has demanded evidence for the sacred character of the mosques on the Temple Mound in Jerusalem. Is it proven that the Dome on the Rock or the Al-Aqsa mosque was built over Mohammed's footprint in the rock? Is it true that Mohammed landed there after a journey through heaven on a winged horse? No one has questioned the ground on which the Muslims hold these places to be sacred. And so, even the Israeli government upholds the right of the Muslims to their sacred places.
2. Similarly, the grotto in which Jesus is believed to have been born is protected as a place of pilgrimage for Christians. The belief that Jesus was born there is neither theologically important nor historically verified. Yet, the Christians' right to their sacred place is upheld without questioning. Like followers of other religions, we do not need to offer a justification for considering that very site sacred.
Did Babar visit Ayodhya ?
This seeming "argument from silence" has been conclusively explained by Mrs
Beveridge in her English translation (Babur Nama in English) Babar reached the Ayodhya area on March 28, 1528 and camped there for a short period to settle the affairs of Awadh. Unfortunately, in all known copies of Babar's diary, there is a break in the narrative between April 2 and September 18 of 1528 The loss of these pages could have occurred during the storm on May 17,1529, or during Humayun's stay in the desert after 1540 Any reference to the destruction of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple would logically have to be found in those missing pages.
Archaeological Discovery
Archaeologists have recovered variety of Islamic Glazed Wares, which are dated to different periods between the 13th and 15th centuries. Evidently, the temple belonged to the period immediately before the construction of the mosque. In the early 16thcentury when the mosque was built at this very place, the builders of the mosque used a number of black-stone pillars from the old temple existing here. Some of these pillars have been found used as load bearing pillars for the arches of the domes of the mosque. Art-historical studies of these pillars show that they bear a large number of images of gods and goddesses, such as Yakshas, Devakanyas, Dvarpalas and Ganas, and sacred motifs, such as the purnaghata, lotus, hansa and mala, all of which belong to the Hindu iconography.
Ayodhya Mahatmya
The existence of a Ram-Janmabhoomi shrine at Ramkot, marking what was believed to be birthplace of Rama, and held by the Hindus as one of their holiest spots on earth in the 12th-13th centuries, is well attested by its description in the Ayodhya Mahatmya, a sacred Hindu text forming part of the Vaishnava Khanda of the Skanda Purana. The Ayodhya Mahatmya narrates the supreme glory of the Ram Janmabhoomi shrine situated to the west of Lomash Ashram and north of Vasishtha Kund, specially for offering worship on this spot on Ram Navami day, Rama's birthday.
Astronomical\Astrological evidence
An inscription of 467 A.D. testifies to the installation by a devotee of the image of "Chitrakutsvami- Anantashayi" referring to both Rama & Vishnu. The same practice is indicated by an inscription found at Ayodhya which says that the Gahadval king Chandradev visited Ayodhya on 23rd Oct. 1093 on a pilgrimage on the occasion of a solar eclipse when he bathed in the Saryu and performed the worship of Vasudeva the protector of the three worlds. (see the horoscope for this day)
Historians do not know astrology or astronomy and those debating this issue either do not know this subject or do not use this most valid arrgument which can be checked astronomically. For instance, one English historian of the medieval history of India disputed the date of birth of Akbar, the moghul emperor even when the horoscope of the emperor cast by the Hindu astrologer Jyotik Rai is given in Akbar Nama. I had referred to it in my arguments in the Supreme Court of India when I was fighting the case for astrology.
If only on the basis of the planetary position given the English historian had cared to take the help of an astrologer he would easily have seen that the undisputed date of birth was 15 October 1542 and not some date of November of the same year as he stated.
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