80 Questions To Understand India: History, Mythology And Religion

by Baig

This does not question the importance of faith but outlines how all religions have been captured by the vested interests of professional priests claiming to be God's sole selling agents leading to distortions, superstitions and religiosity that the founding sages would have abhorred. The five creators of religion are covered: The founding prophets, the apostels, priests, the rulers and the rich as patrons and finally the common people whose offering and sacrifices make the places of worship so rich. Also outlined is how people the world over have been influenced by geography, sources of food, technological and social change, trade and by political and religious forces.

Genres: India, Nonfiction

197 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Delhiite · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the book interesting and finished it in a single long session. Compared to other history books which can be drab and chronological listing of events, author was creative in covering 80 questions which broke the monotony of the subject. He has researched well and discussed with eminent people like romila thapar.

Why I gave it 2 stars - author is obviously very upset with the babri masjid demolition episode by Hindu fundamentalists and mentions that incident after every 20 pages or so. He almost sounds like a lawyer defending Muslim conquerors and tries to prove that Muslim invaders committed no atrocities. Root cause of all evils in India is brahmins, caste system....how Brahmins destroyed Buddhism. Fails to mention destruction of nalanda university by one of Islamic generals. He also attributes filth and lack of sanitary conditions in india to caste system. Howcome areas where large populations embraced Islam and got out of caste system like Bangladesh are even worse. Why is Pakistan a failed nation? Author explains how Rajputs, Marathas were poor at planning for wars compared to Islamic warriors. He sees establishment of warrior Sikh gurus as a deviation from guru nanak's beliefs and again defends any atrocities on the later gurus.

I am also reading A. L. Basham's "wonder that was India", and found the tone of murad Ali baig sharply contrasting with the respect that professor Basham has shown in his masterpiece. It's ironic that baig commits the same mistake of twisting facts that he is blaming the religious priests of.

Author writes about tribal people having great respect for nature and also mentions about American Indian tribe sharing the same values. Little does he know that it is a myth in itself. Matt Ridley has covered this topic well in his book "origins of virtue" and talks about how American Indians hunted large animals to extinction in a short period.

I found the history of Jats interesting as well as references to central Asian regions and rivers. Will have to research more on the suggestion that Ram may have been born in Andijan province in Uzbekistan where Babur was born. My hunch is that author is rather trying to disprove Ayodhya as his birthplace. He also seems to firmly believe in Aryan invasion theory while eminent historians continue to debate.

Not sure about India but this book will surely be a best seller in Pakistan.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

A screed to end al screeds, written by a dude who usually writes about automobiles, mostly against BJP fundamentalist ideology. A fun mixture of EB Tylor and Nehruvian nostalgia.