Kamban's Aryan

[Aditya, the ]-[indu $kepti¢]

On 23 Dec 98,  Ashish Chandra wrote:

> 1. What does the term "semiticization of Hinduism" mean and how have
> Vivekananda and Ramakrishna missions promoted it ? Could you provide
> instances ?

No doubt Gita is the only text is which god  talks to a man like
Messiahs of semitic religions. Gita itself is a very insignificant chapter
in a vast fictional epic of Mahabharat. Hinduism as it occurs in Vedas is neither
monotheistic  nor messianic.

> 2. As far as I understood the term "In the desperate search for an
> equivalent to Bible and Quran, Hindus found their answer in Gita. In the
> constructs of Indian nationalism

It is incorrect to say that Hindus found the answer in Gita but rather it is the
christians who found the answers in Gita as a text which supports their faith
in revealed religions. Rightly or wrongly, Vedas were restircted to study
only by  a priviledged class of Hindus and it was considered one of highest
crime to disclose its content to unauthorized people, as the story of Sudrak
illustrates. However, even after German scholars got hold of the Vedas,
they did not support the western tradition of revealed truths. I am not sure
of how it came about but many missionaries were  not happy with what they
found in Vedas and must have jumped with joy on finding Gita.

Of course, many Hindus started accepting Gita when many western
scholars started talking about it.