Were Buddhists and Jains Persecuted in Ancient India? "Were Buddhists and Jains Persecuted in Ancient India?"

It was other way round. Mainstream India was persecuted by Buddhists as soon as some imporatnt warmongers became its followers. Buddhists were more into spreading their word rather than engage in any kind of dialogue with local people. It became religion of big people who were equivalent of today's bollywood stars. Even when wars were problem of the day they preached pacifism. More like Gandhi when violence was everywhere Gandhi was preaching non-violent methods. When Ashoka might have ordered his edicts to be made people must have talked in hushed voice: this is same man who killed many, now he is going about preaching pacifism. People must have sensed double talk-double think in their messages. Buddhism was Islam of past.

That does not mean its messages might have been completely rejected. There were Kshatriyas who protected land masses and masses and in those times of relative peace when they were successful some people might have found extra time and inclination to learn about them and convert into them. But it became one of many religious miscelleny that was floating about. Unlike Islam was not too anti-mainstream, so it survived.

But in present times there is clear message of distancing from mainstream and adopting anti-mainstream posturing. People who convert are low caste. They imagine that by just converting they can be more equal like many who convert to christianity. But without education and hard work you cannot grab the opportunities free and democratic India gives.

The Irreverent Hero Islam Forgot William, take your sophistry elsewhere.

Pakistan\'s Universities - Problems and Solutions What Pakistan needs is an Institute of Learning Disability and a Commission On Low IQ. The commission will investigate the causes of Low Pakistani IQ. The institute will research new ways to teach advanced topics to dumb people. India should do the same. Both countries need such institutes and commissions. India especially. Because it has a sizable Muslim and low caste population.

Mehrgarh...The Lost Civilization #140 Posted by mahfari

We Indians equate scientific facts known at some point in time as science itself. Partly because of the education system we inherited from British which merely accentuated already defective culture of Guru-Shishya tradition in which Guru is Pita-Samaan and therefore always right in some sense because you could not insinuate Guru to be wrong. This subverts tendentiousness to inquiry which almost invariably leads to challenge of an old and established idea. If thought process of Guru cannot be studied because it belonged to a Pita-Samaan Guru then old ideas cannot be challenged.

Science is not body of knowledge arrived at and frozen in some point in time. Science is how that body of knowledge was arrived at, the method that was used, the logic behind it, the epistemology behind it. Nothing is outside of ambit of scientific inquiry. Scientific inquiry itself can be subject matter a scientific inquiry. How scientific inquiry can be led astray by human propensity to denial and distortion, to pride and arrogance, to hypocrisy, to neurosis and psychosis, to errors in thinking -- all these can also be proper subject matter of scientific inquiry. In this inquiry a prophet could be a psychotic person. Or may be slow in admitting mistake. Or just plain and simply slow in thinking or outright wrong.

Mehrgarh...The Lost Civilization Sceintific study of Man could be key to future provided we are ready to pursue it in a very thoroughgoing manner eschewing all preconcieved ideas. People who think that they are very scientific are often themselves immersed in fixed beliefs they are unwilling to give up. Science demands open minded approach to everything. Open minded approach does not mean Broadminded approach. Broadminded means accepting any BS. Open minded means willingness to check every assumption again and again. Sceintific approach means being arrogant in belief that its methods always works at the same time being humble to challenge ones own most ardent deeply held beliefs.

Ananth07's #137 dream of soft boundries is Broadmindedness. It is not going to work. Unless Pakistan behaves responsibly. France and Germany have soft boundries but they have many treaties and systems of preventing cross-border crimes also. And by and large they adhere to those treaties honestly.

Mehrgarh...The Lost Civilization Bechare Paki people. They are in denial. Now they have to discover their roots in Indus and older Harappan civilizations and share their ancestry with Horrible Hing sniffing Hindus. They better have their First Tirthankar coming from Arabia. They must denigrate what Hinduss have become: Polytheistic, Polyglot, Polyethnic, Polyculinary (including some who consume loads of Hing, avoid Meat, Eggs, Potatoes, Onions and Lahsun), Polycasteic, Polyreligious, Plygamous, Polygynandrous. You name a Poly they have it. They tried very hard to change them and failed.

Now they are angry that umrika is threatening with bombing back to Harappan age. Tch, Tch, Tch, Tch, Tch.

Abdul Latif Khalid (1944-2007) Why Islamic types obsess with fictional stories like Mughal-e-Azam I will never understand. And Salim? Is he not the same person who later tortured some Sikh Guru? So Salim could not be sensitive type shown in Mughal-e-Azam.

The Holiday Season Why not let us all become atheist? Anyone talking irrationality will be killed. He or she will be given 50 years to prove that he or she was actually being rational when in fact he or she was sounding crazy irrational. Children will be exempt. Age of majority will be 60 years. This is Rationalistic Atheism. Anyone wants to join this brand new religion I founded 10 minutes back? I need Coffee and Sugar into my system.

Wise And Otherwise, A Salute to Life By Sudha Murthy sounds like a book worth buying

Feminism Under Veil Nikhat, Nikhat, Nikhat! You sure are screwed up in your head. And here is the proof:

"Why should a Muslim woman be subjugated to the compulsion of a dresscode? Isn’t this restraining her human rights and her freedom of choice?"

I am reproducing verbatim from dictionary.reference.com website the meanings of 5 words (sub·ju·gate, com·pul·sion, re·strain, free·dom and choice). Dont you find any contradiction or contrariness between these 3 words: "subjugate", "compulsion", "restrain" and the phrase "freedom of choice"? (And we have not even mentioned "human rights" yet. That can wait until English lesson #2). Nikhatbaby! You need serious education in English. Unless of course as I said in the beginning: you are totally screwed in your head!

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Entries from dictionary.reference.com follow...
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sub·ju·gate

–verb (used with object), -gat·ed, -gat·ing.
1. to bring under complete control or subjection; conquer; master.
2. to make submissive or subservient; enslave.

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com·pul·sion

–noun
1. the act of compelling; constraint; coercion.
2. the state or condition of being compelled.
3. Psychology. a strong, usually irresistible impulse to perform an act, esp. one that is irrational or contrary to one's will.

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re·strain

tr.v. re·strained, re·strain·ing, re·strains
1a. To hold back or keep in check; control: couldn't restrain the tears.
1b. To hold (a person) back; prevent: restrained them from going.
2. To deprive of freedom or liberty.
3. To limit or restrict.

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free·dom

–noun
1. the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint: He won his freedom after a retrial.
2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.
3. the power to determine action without restraint.
4. political or national independence.
5. personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery: a slave who bought his freedom.
6. exemption from the presence of anything specified (usually fol. by from): freedom from fear.
7. the absence of or release from ties, obligations, etc.
8. ease or facility of movement or action: to enjoy the freedom of living in the country.
9. frankness of manner or speech.
10. general exemption or immunity: freedom from taxation.
11. the absence of ceremony or reserve.
12. a liberty taken.
13. a particular immunity or privilege enjoyed, as by a city or corporation: freedom to levy taxes.
14. civil liberty, as opposed to subjection to an arbitrary or despotic government.
15. the right to enjoy all the privileges or special rights of citizenship, membership, etc., in a community or the like.
16. the right to frequent, enjoy, or use at will: to have the freedom of a friend's library.
17. Philosophy. the power to exercise choice and make decisions without constraint from within or without; autonomy; self-determination. Compare necessity (def. 7).

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choice
noun, adjective, choic·er, choic·est.

–noun
1. an act or instance of choosing; selection: Her choice of a computer was made after months of research. His parents were not happy with his choice of friends.
2. the right, power, or opportunity to choose; option: The child had no choice about going to school.
3. the person or thing chosen or eligible to be chosen: This book is my choice. He is one of many choices for the award.
4. an alternative: There is another choice.
5. an abundance or variety from which to choose: a wide choice of candidates.
6. something that is preferred or preferable to others; the best part of something: Mare's Nest is the choice in the sixth race.
7. a carefully selected supply: This restaurant has a fine choice of wines.
8. a choice grade of beef.

–adjective
9. worthy of being chosen; excellent; superior.
10. carefully selected: choice words.
11. (in the grading of beef in the U.S.) rated between prime and good.

—Idiom
12. of choice, that is generally preferred: A detached house is still the home of choice.

Feminism Under Veil "Among all the prevailing religions Islam is the only religion which addresses not only individuals but society as well. ‘Quran’ gives the infrastructure on which a Muslim state should formulate its family, civil and constitutional laws so that society functions normally and peacefully. And that includes the law of ‘Hijab.’ Does this mean that practicing ‘Hijab’ will enable societies to function peacefully? To some extent yes! Following are some statistics indicating proportional relationship of women’s clothing and incidence of sexual crimes against women."

Really? Have you studied Hinduism? If not how can you say that Islam is the only religion which addresses not only individuals but society as well? All religions address individuals therefore society also. If you have studied Hinduaism then probably you know the famous 4 Sanskirt lines which talk about "karma" and "phal". What makes you think that those lines do not do the job of "addressing" individuals and society much more effectively than any Islamic book? How can one objectively answer such questions?

sou bat ki ek bat. You Islamics are too immersed in your own thing. Which is okay. Everybody does that. But when you down two towers it is not okay. Islam! I give you 1 millenium maximum to diappear from face of earth. Of course now it seems the process has been quickened. Provoke west and you will get nuclear versions of Iraqs and Afghanistans. And good riddance sooner. Your only chance is changing Islam. Make it compatible with rest of humanity. Else be prepared to disappear. Admit it: Islam is not revelations. It is just ravings and rantings of a starved mad man.

Feminism Under Veil 2 corrections:

"Also are there equivalent data for other western countries."

should read as

"Also are there equivalent data for other western countries?"

"Does not mean rate rapes is any less in Pakistan"

should read as

"Does not mean rape rates are any less in Pakistan"

Feminism Under Veil "Another report from the web site of the [Department of Justice] indicates: On a given day in 1994 there were approximately 234,000 offenders convicted of rape or sexual assault. Of the 9,691 male sex offenders released from prisons in 15 States in 1994, 5.3 percent were re-arrested for a new sex crime within 3 years of release."

5.3 percent re-arrest is good or bad? Also are you suggesting dress as cause of recidivism or repeat crime is to be thought as tendency to same crime. When you are serial murderer you tend to repeat same MO. Repeated MO is a tendency of all criminals and normal humans.

So suppose if 5.3 percent humans persist in poking fingers in their anus while defecating even though as a child they were caught doing same and severely punished for doing such naughty thing. Then would you say that it is bad (or is good that percent is so low)? Would you then think that garam masala in their diet is the cause for it? Or is it plain and simple tendency to repeat same pleasure or same bad behaviour?

Also are there equivalent data for other western countries. Try to get data on other western countries. You will fail. Simple because USA gathers this data you are able to find them. Pakistan does not gather data so you will not find equivalent data. Does not mean rate rapes is any less in Pakistan. Objective study of rape rates and its relation to foods, dress, climate, ethnic and cultural background, social attitudes etc is tough.

The Sudanese Teddy Bear Saga I am so happy. Now may be terrorism in India will abate. So happy. Really

I thick therefore I am The article is a piece of art. How many of us felt the same way as author? 100%? Apart of some references to cultural specific things (to Paksitani school curricula and textbooks) almost entire article can be understood by virtually all English reading people. That is not a small achivement. And judging from crowd here at chowk either a reader would have gone through same schooling experience or would be interested in finding out more about it. That is dialogue. What more an article is supposed to achieve?

I thick therefore I am Ibrahim M Khalil: good article, I liked it.

Can you elaborate on "Akbari and Asghari" in peniltimate sentence: "We also had writers like Manto, Prem Chand, and Ismat Chugtai etc. but no, I had to read Akbari and Asghari"?