ASHA: Blast From The Past

The first Head of the Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University was Professor K M Panicker.

After a period as a professor at Aligarh Muslim University and later at University of Calcutta, he became editor of Hindustan Times in 1925. He then was appointed Secretary to the Chamber of Princes. Later he moved to Patiala State and then to Bikaner State as Foreign Minister later becoming the latter’s Prime Minister.

After India gained independence, Sardar Madhava Panicker represented the country at the 1947 session of the UN General Assembly. Two years later, in 1950, he was appointed India’s (the first non-Socialist country to recognize People’s Republic of China) Ambassador to China. After a successful tenure there, he went as Ambassador to Egypt in 1952.

He was also appointed a member of the States Reorganisation Commission set up in 1953 and was also India’s Ambassador to France and a member of Rajya Sabha. He also served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kashmir and the University of Mysore.

His interests stretched into diverse fields such as, art, notably novels, poetry and Kathakali and he wrote equally well in both Malayalam and English and published over 50 books and numerous articles. At Aligarh he wrote and completed his celebrated work in Harsha, the ruler of Kannauj. During the same period he also composed a work on Indian Nationalism.

Panicker’s interest in European influence on Asia was reflected in his studies of the Portuguese and the Dutch in Malabar (in South India) and especially in his Asia and Western Dominance (1953). In Two Chinas (1955) revealed his sympathy with Communist China.

Amongst his notable works in English the following can be included:

• 1920: Essays on Educational Reconstruction in India

• 1922: Sri Harsha of Kanauj: a monograph on the history of India in the first half of the 7th century A. D.

• 1923: Indian Nationalism: its origin, history, and ideals

• 1928: The Working of Dyarchy in India, 1919–1928

• 1929: The Evolution of British Policy towards Indian States, 1774–1858

• 1929: Malabar and the Portuguese: being a history of the relations of the Portuguese with Malabar from 1500 to 1663

• 1930: The Founding of the Kashmir State: a biography of Maharajah Gulab Singh, 1792–1858

• 1930: Federal India

• 1932: Indian States and the Government of India

• 1934: The New Empire: letters to a Conservative Member of Parliament on the future of England and India

• 1936: The Indian Princes in Council: a record of the chancellorship of His Highness, the Maharaja of Patiala, 1926–1931 and 1933–1936

• 1937: His Highness the Maharaja of Bikaner: a biography

• 1938: Hinduism and the modern world

• 1942: The States and the Constitutional Settlement

• 1943: Indian States

• 1944: The Strategic Problems of the Indian Ocean

• 1945: India and the Indian Ocean: an essay on the influence of sea power on Indian history

• 1947: India through the Ages

1953: Asia and Western Dominance: a survey of the Vasco Da Gama epoch of Asian history, 1498–1945

• 1954: A Survey of Indian History

• 1954: In Two Chinas: memoirs of a diplomat

• 1956: The Principles and Practice of Diplomacy

• 1957: Voice of Truth, a topical symposium: replies to attacks on Christians and missionaries in India

• 1957: India and China: a study of cultural relations

• 1958: The Determining Periods of Indian History

• 1960: A History of Kerala, 1498–1801

• 1960: The State and the Citizen

• 1961: Hindu Society at Cross Roads

• 1961: Essential Features of India Culture

1962: In Defence of Liberalism

• 1963: Studies in Indian History

• 1963: The Ideas of Sovereignty and State in Indian Political Thought

• 1963: The Foundations of New India

• 1963: The Himalayas in Indian Life

• 1964: A Survey of Indian History

• 1964: Hinduism & the West: a study in challenge and response

• 1964: The Serpent and the Crescent: a history of the Negro empires of western Africa

• 1965: Lectures on India’s Contact with the World in the pre-British Period

• 1966: The Twentieth Century

• 1967: Caste and Democracy & Prospects of Democracy in India

• 1969: Geographical Factors in Indian History

• 1977: An Autobiography

For further light on his contributions visit the following blog:

KM Panikkar

Meha Dhondiyal sends a free lesson in History for the illiterate Bhakt:

“I read that the CM of Uttar Pradesh, a much touted graduate, said this today: “Akbar, Aurangzeb and Babar were invaders. The sooner we accept the truth, all the problems of our country will vanish.”

I guess he slept through history in school so here is a history lesson for him and his Hindutva brigade:

Babur was the only one of the three who came with a conquering army to India. But he didn’t defeat the Great Hindu Empire. You know why? Because the Great Hindu Empire of India didn’t exist. He defeated a Muslim, Ibrahim Lodhi, at the Battle of Panipat.

Akbar, his grandson, was no invader. He was born in India – at the Rajput fortress of Umerkot, where his parents were refugees. He was married to the daughter of a Rajput Hindu King of Amber Raja Bharmal, and he never converted his wife to Islam. He celebrated Holi and Eid and all Indian festivals. His son from his Hindu wife became his successor, Emperor Jahangir. His son also married a Hindu princess whose half Rajput-half Hindu son became the next Emperor Shah Jahan.

                     Akbar wearing dhoti

Aurangzeb was the quintessential Indian, you could say. Stark, ruthless, staunchly religious bordering on the fanatical person but perhaps that makes him the closest Indian, truly comparable to the Hindutva fanatic of today, I think. Though he was not Indian enough to lynch as far as recorded history shows.

The Mughal Kings were as much Indian as you and me. They were not invaders. The were the Emperors of Hindustan, not looters. They were all probably more Indian than most of the NRIs kids for sure.

Lastly, do you know who were the most celebrated invaders? The early Aryans! Can the Dravidians blame all the problems of the country on the Aryans?

So please keep your ignorance to yourself. Either educate yourself or kindly keep quiet…”

🙂

We stand divided in our Bigotry and Hatred of even the ‘Other’ amongst us!

https://blastfferomthepast.wordpress.com/2018/05/10/we-stand-divided-in-our-bigotry-and-hatred-of-even-the-other-amongst-us/
— Read on blastfferomthepast.wordpress.com/2018/05/10/we-stand-divided-in-our-bigotry-and-hatred-of-even-the-other-amongst-us/

Well here is a letter of a pious “Muslim”. Look at his language and import. Is his bias and line of argument any different from any Hindutva exponent?

He forgets, Arif Muhammad Khan, Shahnawaz Husain, MJ Akbar, Najma Heptullah and a host of others (including the Abdullah’s and Mufti’s of Kashmir who for their own vested interests would sleep / slept with Hindutva and hand over Kashmir on a platter to the fascists), who are active proponents of Moditva! None to my knowledge (and in their own dreams) a Shi’a.

Is Azam Khan today silent because he too had converted to Shiism?

Where will these petty biases and hatred take us? It is all the more saddening that this letter is written by an Old Boy of AMU!

Does he reveal only his own personal ignorance and wickedness or is he representative of a larger malaise! For an answer to this simple question, I will wait for the responses which this letter would receive on the mailing group where it has been posted. At the moment I would give a benefit of doubt to those who allowed such a letter to be posted in the first place!

Till such thinking and communal and sectarian views persist, Moditva will go on succeeding and decimating you one by one!

Here is the text of the letter on an Aligarh forum inhabited by teachers and alumni of AMU:

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“What is so curious about this Shia Hindu bonhomie. It’s a known reality since times. Brush up your history.

Nothing new, nothing surprising,nothing to be worried about.

From Al Qhemi, the father of treachery, betrayal, double speak and backstabbing. Who was vizier to the last Abbasid Caliph Muttasim Billah and  invited Halagu to Baghdad resulting in the historic destruction of the city and end of the Abbasids Caliphate(1258) to Jaffer of Deccan and Sadiq of Bengal, Shia political history is full of treachery and betrayal.

Their educational and intellectual excellence is superb producing some of  the greatest poets, writers educationist and thinkers.

However, their deviancy is based on a doctrine that till the coming or appearance of the hidden Imam all forms of governments are false and unacceptable. Hence their betrayal and treachery to bring down Caliphs, kings and rulers. The Nizam of Hyderabad is also reported to be victim of Shia courtiers. Who betrayed him to the Indian government and were accordingly rewarded with positions and governorship after merger of the state.

The exception to this doctrine was the late Ayatulla Khomeini, the architect of Iranian Islamic revolution of 1970’s.

He defended his leadership by promoting counter doctrine, that of Vilatayal Faqhi. (the governance of jurist) till the appearance of the righteous Imam.

They are very compatible to any system, isms and other religions that can enable them to maintain status quo till the appearance of the Imam.

I have some very good and kind hearted Shia friends. I am only putting facts to ink objectively.”

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This was in response to an equally debatable column published on 9 May 2018 in the daily Indian Express

A Curious Friendship

Sad and curious state of Affairs!

Garundhwaj Singh the grandson of the Jat king and an old boy and ‘donor’, Raja Mahendra Pratap (1 December 1886 – 29 April 1979) reached the gates of AMU on 5th May 2018 with his grandfather’s portrait and demanded that the same be displayed at AMU since “he had donated the land to the institution”.

In 1895 Pratap was admitted to the Government High School in M.A.O. College, Aligarh. He could not complete his graduation and left the college in 1905. He was a freedom fighter, journalist and a Marxist revolutionary who hated the Hindu Maha Sabha and stood for secular ideals. He also took part in the Balkan War in the year 1911 along with his fellow students of MAO college.

He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1932. His nominator NA Nilsson, said about him:

“Pratap gave up his property for educational purposes, and he established a technical college at Brindaban. In 1913 he took part in Gandhi’s campaign in South Africa. He traveled around the world to create awareness about the situation in Afghanistan and India. In 1925 he went on a mission to Tibet and met the Dalai Lama. He was primarily on an unofficial economic mission on behalf of Afghanistan, but he also wanted to expose the British brutalities in India. He called himself the servant of the powerless and weak.”

In 1977, AMU, under V-C Prof A M Khusro, felicitated Mahendra Pratap at the centenary celebrations of MAO.

According to the AMU website, the Jat king who defeated former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1957 Lok Sabha polls from Mathura, did lease 3.04 acres of land to AMU in 1929 at a rate of Rs. 2/- per annum.

This tall man’s grandson has been misled by the BJP and Hindutva propaganda! We at AMU cordially invite him to come over to Maulana Azad Central Library to witness for himself the photograph of his revered father hanging on the walls of the library along the photographs of the other luminaries, and benefactors of AMU!

Photo Credit: Lubna Irfan

Date of click: 8 May 2018

Note: The Maulana Azad Central Library is open from 8:00 am to late night. All are welcome to see the photograph for themselves.

Amidst the row over Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s portrait in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), a Hindutva group, Hindu Jagran Manch, on Sunday 5th May 2018, demanded renaming of the varsity after Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, who had “donated land” for it.

Poor Raja Mahendra Pratap will be sad in heavens today: as he had donated whatever he had, selflessly for the cause of education!

Mahendra Pratap Singh (1886-1979), freedom fighter and social reformist, had received education in MAO and was also one of the donors to his alma mater.

According to the AMU website, the Jat king who defeated former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1957 Lok Sabha polls from Mathura, did lease 3.04 acres of land to AMU in 1929 at a rate of Rs. 2/- per annum.

If “donations” were a criteria for naming or re-naming a University, then there are actually thousands of claimants, of which hundreds were non-Muslims, as far as Aligarh Muslim University is concerned!

For his Mohammadan Anglo Oriental (M.A.O.) College, which later grew into Aligarh Muslim University, Sir Syed took donations from all categories of men or women, who were rich and the poor, zamindars and traders, noblemen and prostitutes, Hindu or Muslims: all who could pay for his cause were approached.

A committee was formed by the name of foundation of Muslim College and asked people to fund generously. The, then, Viceroy and Governor General of India Lord Northbrook gave a donation of Rs 10000 and the Lt. Governor of the North Western Provinces contributed Rs 1000 and by March 1874 the fund for the college stood at Rs 153492 and 8 anas.

Later funds were collected for a “dārul ulūm Musalmanān”, a Muslim University in which many generously contributed.

His Highness Sri Maharao Raja Mahamdar Singh Mahamder Bahadur, G.C.S.I., the late Maharaja of Patiala contributed Rs.58,000.

Maharaj Rameshwar Singh (1860-1929) of Darbhanga donated Rs. 20,000/- in June 1912. His successor Maharaj Kameshwar Singh (1907-62) donated a further Rs 50,000/-. He gave the money for the establishment of a Medical College.

His Highness the Maharaja of Vizianagaram, K.C.S.I also donated. Shambhu Narayan, Raja of Benares donated Rs 60. There were many many more.

Evidence of Sir Syed asking for donations exist not only in the form of cartoons lampooning him, but also via a large number of epigraphs: inscribed stones giving the names of the donors!

A Cartoon in Awadh Panch, 1881

I reproduce here some of the names of Hindu donors who gave money for the establishment of the M.A.O. College. Let us decide who amongst them deserves to be the one on whose name the University be renamed. Some of the representative names of non-Muslim donors whose plaques inscribed in Persian script on stone slabs adorn various buildings of the University (Stratchey Hall, Nizam Museum, Victoria Gate etc) are: