Saturday, August 28, 2010

TOI Article on Incest

Todays, nominee to Media hall of shame is this slanderous article published by TOI which claims that Incest is social heritage of Haryana! Even though, I have very serious issue with this article which is making sweeping claims based on few & Isolated instances, I will focus my attention to last section of this article which drags Hinduism also into it.



In the last section of the article, writer claims that details of incest in Hindu epics and mythological texts are very embarrassing. And then he cites following examples to back up his claim. He writes -
For instance, in the Mahabharata, Arjuna was married to Subhadra, the daughter of his aunt Rohini. Then there is the union of Yama with his twin sister Yami;Manu, son of Vivasvat, and his sister Sraddha;Prajapati and his daughter Ushas;Pushan and his sister Surya;Sukra and his three sisters;Satrajita and his 10 sisters;Nahusha and his sister Viraja. Purukutsa's queen Narmada after her husband's death obtained a son through her own brother
I was intrigued by such intimate knowledge of this writer on Hindu history and decided to conduct a bit of research. It was shocking to realize that his source of knowledge is a thread named INCEST (hinduism exposed) in a PAKISTANI forum.  Yes you heard it correct instead of referring to Hindu Literature or Seers he decides to cut and paste an entire section from an Pakistani Article whose objective is to expose Hinduism!
Following is what thread named INCEST (hinduism exposed) claims. Note he has even copied the punctuations
As examples of incestuous marriages in Hindu mythology may be cited the union of Yama and Yami; Manu son of Vivasvat and his sister Sraddha; Prajapati and his daughter Ushas; Pushan and his sister Surya; Sukra and his THREE sisters; Suka and Pivari; Satrajita and his TEN sisters; Nahusha and his sister Viraja. Purukutsa's queen Narmada after her husbands death, obtained a son through her own brother. 
Seems TOI is taking “Aman Ki Asha” to higher planes!
Now let me try to debunk some of the claims made by TOI and original Pakistani writer
Acceptability of first cousin marriage (arjun & Subhadara) depends upon prevalent customs of the region. In fact it accounts for more than 10% marraiges worldwide!  
Then relationship between Yama and Yami, According to Rig Veda, Yama and Yami were the first mortal twins born of the sun-god. Since there was no one else, she suggested that they produce children together and populate the world. Yama was horrified at the suggestion. He preferred death to incest. He died leaving no offspring behind and so was trapped forever in the land of the dead.
Cut and paste from TOI article. Since the article was  long I have just cut and paste Headline and relevant Portion
You can read the TOI article Incest: here Haryana's shameful social heritage
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Link to Pakistani Article which is exposing Hinduism and screen shot
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13 comments:

  1. GREAT JOB.
    MEDIA HALL OF SHAME WILL BE BEST MEDIA HOUSE WITHIN NO TIME.
    ARAB MONEY TALKING IN EVERY INDIAN MEDIA HOUSE.

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  2. Really good article. TOI-let paper must be banned

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  3. very good. we need such activism. now that the hindu civilization is threat by people who are its parts.

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  4. Thank you and other tweeters who brought the blasphemous article to the notice of all. I left the following comment on the ToI website. I suggest all of you post similar comments.

    “Does Sukhbir Siwach call himself an honest journalist?

    In the last section where he invokes sanction of incest from Hindu mythology his comments are not only erroneous and willfully mischievous but he simply plagiarized the material from a Pakistani website. For the benefit of your readers, I provide the relevant link here:

    http://www.paklinks.com/gs/religion-and-scripture/40836-incest-hinduism-exposed.html

    Sukhbir Siwach is undoubtedly an "investigative journalist", of the “Cntrl C Cntrl V” variety!

    If he has any decency and honesty left in him he should immediately apologize to the Hindu community for his blasphemous comments.”

    WRT to my tweet on ToI article I would like to thank:

    http://mediashame.blogspot.com/2010/08/toi-article-on-incest.html

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  5. Part-1

    LOL, I strongly suggest that you do post my rather longish comment as follows

    Sir about TOI - Let it be thrown into a dustbin where it belongs every morning.

    However your article is also pretty much half truth just like that of TOI. Both of you show less then you hide and both are skipping the main points only to raise side issues.

    Now I am forced to go into a long write up to clear up the matter. The said article is about some stupid talk show where Pseudo Secular crowd is out to show that Khaps are fighting the wrong battle. P-secs want the Sagotra marriages to be allowed and want the Khaps to focus on the crumbling Haryanvi Jat society where incest cases are rising rapidly (16% of all abortion cases per one UNICEF study). To this end the P-sec crowd in all its wisdom decides to invoke the Gods that they so much hate to love.

    The truth is that Haryanvi society has because of many different reasons been a society that unfairly prefers sons over daughters. This prelevance is pretty rampant. Witness the skewed sex ratio. This and the generally conservative society has resulted in higher then normal rates of criminal incest or incestous rape cases. Witness the rather small but still believable UNICEF study that the very same ToI article is quoting. This was only to be expected in a society where such unhealthy choices about sex of the baby are made.

    Now about the relevance of attack by the Pseudo seculars on the institution of sagotra. Sagotra identification of brothers and sisters is culturally meant to provide against the possibility of neighbours in a village going after the village belle. This is so accepted in all sub-systems where Sagotra concept is accepted. Law ideally should not have poked its nose in a purely socio-cultural issue. A gotra never changes since gotra is inherited from ones father. This ensures that brother-sister relationship stays as such. Earlier whole villages used to belong to the same lineage from the grand-father. Also pertinent is the fact that Gotra has nothing to do with Caste, unlike what the Pseudo seculars are saying. Anyone can change his or her caste but the Gotra remains forever. Also Gotras run across castes. That is to say, a brahmin may share the gotra with a Ksahtriya or with a other castes or sub-castes. That makes the brahmin a brother or sister of the other caste within Sagotra. In the light of this it becomes all the more important that the concept of Sagotra be encouraged. The problem with honour killings is not the concept of gotra but of inappropirate understanding of honour and of inappropirate understanding of the worth of human life. Anybody would feel safe in a society where ones daughter is not the target of ones neighbours lascivious behaviour. This is what is sought to be achieved by Sagotra.

    Now about the new found love of the Psuedo secular crowd for the Gods. Whether the pakistani site you mention is lying or not is only can be decided by all readers for themselves through some research. But the point remains that every religion when faced with the problem of explaining the inevitable incest that arises when everybody is said to decend from the same god has to come up with some cock and bull story about the first couple. Witness the Hen first or the Egg first paradox.

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  6. Part - 2
    Now mix the stupid understanding of ToI-Let it be so and what do you get. The nonsense peddled by Budhijibi and Jholawallas.
    GIST -
    1) ToI is giving out half truths.
    2) Sagotra is good socio-cultural concept. I follow it. I strongly suggest that those who dont should at least try to understand it.
    3) Sagotra is not Varna vyavastha (caste for P-secs), nor is it Jati (caste for P-secs), nor is it Casteism (caste for P-secs)
    4) Haryanvi society is wrong when they place unfair preference for boys. You just have to see/hear a Jat to understand that.
    5) Haryanvis who do read this please for god sake stop this stupid preference and if you are already a good Haryanvi please do something in your sub-system to rectify this.
    6) Khaps are not legal in India and should be done away with and a proper system of Panchyati Raj should be strengthened.
    7) Honour killers are merely quoting sagotra to support their stupidity. Rest of the society should not join them. ToI is an exception. ToI is not society. It is the Ayatollah of P-secs.
    8) Pakistanis are just indulging in equal-equal when they quote from Hindu mythology without providing context. That should also give an idea to those Hindus who are stupid enough to fall for their propaganda that is mainly designed to keep open a rift between good Hindus and good Muslims by redrawing a false battle line along Hindu-Muslim lines.

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  7. BTW I have posted on this site because TIMES OF INDIA had stopped accepting my comments after I challenged one of there resident P-sec jokers to explain Ekantvada which he would not because he wanted to peddle Anekantwada as response "Saffron Terror" (makes me laugh) to the exclusion of all else.

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  8. Thank you.

    Here is the letter I sent to the editor of Times of India:

    Dear Editor,

    You must have read this post by now: http://satyameva-jayate.org/2010/08/29/hindu-bashing-or-mistake/

    It is indeed a shocking eye-opener to the standards of journalism apparently prevalent at the Times of India - Reporters picking up bullshit without verification and publishing it straight off in a national daily!

    This probably is extremely shameful and now that the reporter has been caught red-handed, I guess, if you hold even an iota of responsibility (as and editor) and accountability (to your readers), Mr Sukhbir Siwach should be heading to your TimesJobs website!

    Regards,
    Dinesh Chanchalani
    77381-86893

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  9. It is a subject of deep social research as why Indian society produces so many traiters who are hell bent on destroying their own people culture by downgrading it..

    Probably we are unable manage our diversity effectively...

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  10. Nice work

    TOI is a piece of crap ...

    Should be avoided

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  11. I have stopped subscribing to TOI long back for the same reason. It is a crap.

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  12. TOI rightly also known as TOIlet. Good catch by the blogger.

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