Somanath Syndrome, 21st Century
This essay is condensed and updated from a more leisurely chat at Kreately.in [1]. For decades now, I always had better things to do than write it. But that IS the Somanath Syndrome: we Hindus always had “better things to do” than confront the rakshasas. And the rakshasas know it, since they first stole our Veda and abducted Mother Earth herself.
Figure 1: King Purushottaman presents a bejeweled, ornate, made in India Steel Sword to defeated invader Al Iskandar for his future genocides. Fortunately for Humanity, that genocidal maniac kicked the bucket shortly thereafter. Today powerful Hindu billionaires and rich parents shower money, provide national treasures, and endow Thrones at western universities so that they can install the worst anti-India, anti-Hindu conversionist/anarchist bigots to write hate-p0rn books on our most sacred beliefs, teach “history” glorifying genocidal sex-offenders, and throw poo at India, Hindus and all civilized humanity. And wonder why their children face such unreasoning hatred.
The civilization of Bharatavarsha, including today’s “South Asia” seems continuous from at least 10,000 years ago…. down to about 300 BCE[2]. Its people developed agriculture, industry, history, arts, sciences, medicine, law, transportation, social systems, and stable governments with top-down and bottom-up communications. Their technology grew to be amazing [3].
Today, only some metal artifacts of the international trade and commerce remain. Those are not “Imperial Edicts” or “Holy Stones,” but accounting ledgers, product-tracing, trademarks, and advertising artifacts — “Harappan Seals”.
Wealth grew. Society could afford to fund great thinkers and scholars who integrated and packaged knowledge bases for long-term travelers. A “Mission to Mars” looks daunting today – but how much worse was an expedition to Hanoi or Haifa or Samarkand or Bali in those days? But their “search for the truth” had a fatal flaw: it succeeded brilliantly. Their scholars were productive. They became CIVILIZED. They built grand monuments, and universities without parallel. Takshasila became the greatest technical university [4] in the world, and Nalanda the greatest intellectual/ philosophy center [5].
They were generous in acknowledging the powers that afforded them such a good life, and reserved their best monuments to excellence for their kshetrams, kovils, mandirs. The Shiva Mandir at Somanath (“Lord of the Moonlight” as per British and JNU historians, or Master of Soma, the Cosmic Fluid connecting the timeless Paramatman and temporal existence as per the Rig Veda) [6] was a shining symbol of that wealth. It was visible at the sea-shore where ships from the Sarasvati and the Sindhu went out to trade, and brought in riches [7] from the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and points east as far as Vietnam and beyond. Everyone heard about its fabled mountain of gold and jewels in the known world. Everyone. Including Ghazni and Sikandar and Ghori, and Ibrahim Lodhi and Babar and other genocidal sex-offenders as far away as England salivated about Somanath. While Hindus celebrated and sang and danced and worshipped and donated wealth, in blissful oblivion of the utter catastrophe building to their north and west: Somanath Syndrome.
The people of Bharatavarsha looked inward. And found deep insights. And yes, sadly, despite all contra-indications from their own Veda (knowledge base), scammed and killed each other. They neglected to look outward. They focused on the best of human nature – and on their petty quarrels. They ignored the worst: it was too petty and unclean for them to waste their brilliant minds on.
The line from ABBA‘s “Cassandra” comes to mind [8]: “And on the darkest of nights… nobody knew how to fight… And we were caught in our sleep…”
Those (like me) must have tried to direct attention to the outside world but as usual: “Sorry Cassandra, I didn’t believe… You really had the power. I only saw it as dreams you would weave… Until the final hour”.
And so goes the history of Somanath[9] (I use the Samskrtam version of the name, not the Urdu-ized version that truncates words. For a recent update on the temple, and a very large and far older structure found under the present site, please see the article by Shri Kishan Dubey [10].
| YEAR BPE (INTERVAL) | EVENT |
| 5000(20000?) | The first known Shiva Mandir perhaps was destroyed in the cataclysm that sank [11 ] Dwaraka. Perhaps there were many before that [10] — 10,000-20,000 years is a long time. |
| 2300 | Al Iskandar was probably headed to Somanath I when he turned back. |
| 1372 | Somanath III built by Yadava Vallabhi kings 649 CE. |
| 1296 (76) | Looted and destroyed in 725 CE by Al Junayd, Arab Governor of Sindh. |
| 1206 | Somanath # III built by Nagabhatta II in 815CE, and Chalukya King Mularaja, 997 CE. |
| 997 (209) | Mahmud of Ghazni looted the Mandir in 1024 but did not raze it. He knew a good deal when he saw one. Probably said: “I Shall Return!” Islamic texts brag that 50,000 “Hindoos” were massacred. |
| 852 | An inscription in 1169 brags that the temple was “rebuilt with excellent stone and studded with jewels,” validating Ghazni’s hope. |
| 722 (275) | Alauddin Khalji sacked Somanath in 1299. We spelled him Khilji. Now, they ask us to spell it “Khalji”. Whitewashing happens in many ways. |
| Rebuilt by Mahipala & Sons 1308-1351. | |
| 626 (96) | 1395: Zafar Khan, Mughal Governor of Gujarat, looted but did not destroy, following the Ghazni wisdom. Donations poured in. |
| 570 (56) | 1451: Mahmud Begada, Sultan of Gujarat, “desecrated” and looted it. |
| 356 (214) | 1665: Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb looted and destroyed – and prohibited rebuilding. Bigotry over economic sense. |
| The Maratha Ahilyabai Holkar built a mandir at Somanath. | |
| 1947 | Sardar V. Patel ordered today’s mandir. And may it never fall again! |
The British forced Hindu soldiers to drag some Persian-looted gates down to Somanath from Ghazni, said “Oops! Wrong Size!” and extorted more taxes. Their novel “The Moonstone” [12] recounts casually how the “hero” pried the huge precious stone out of the main idol from Somanath (hence the name), murdering Hindus by the dozen to rapturous applause from Britons.
Figure 2: Somanath Temple. Picture courtesy: Kartik Kumar, at Wkipedia.com
Note that the intervals between loots was quite long: the seventy-five years since the latest rebuilding is longer than only two of the build-to-loot intervals of the past. Much time can be wasted debating the implications. But today the loot of temples elsewhere in India appears to be proceeding at a much faster pace.
At least the first few times, our people did not bother to learn – that concentrating material resources in one place is an invitation to those who see robbery as E-Z Street. Perhaps they could have devoted a percentage to identifying and studying potential aggressors, and ensuring historically deterrent ripostes. And making sure said enemies could not gather without killing each other. Somanath Syndrome.
Once completely enslaved, options were few. The Mandir was one of the few points of hope that kept them going. No lack of courage or devotion!
The 21st Century
Look at the Indian diaspora, particularly Hindus, in America, and our relatives in India. Exemplary. Peaceful. “The most law-abiding”. Kids well-brought-up, well-behaved, though rather clueless about their history or its contemporary and urgent relevance.
Swami Vivekananda urged: “Awake! Arise! And stop not until the goal is reached”! He was not talking about “Getting to Unicorn Status” by age 25 and “Endowing a Throne at a Conversionist Bigot University” to attack “One’s Own People”. He was seeking to throw out the looters! The point of every Avataram.
I heard a recent presenter on India’s famed “Jaipur Dialogue” reel off the stuff [13] about the “Wealthiest and Most Highly Educated and Nicest and Most Law-Abiding and Least Demanding and Most Mouse-like Quiet and Peaceful and Harmless Ethnic Group in the US”, and shuddered. That’s exactly what Comrade St. Vijay Prashad of Trinity College, CT, said of us long ago as he counseled “Model Minority Suicide” – and strove towards that outcome.
So Why Do They Not Like Us?
In Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” [15] an aging, noble Russian Colonel rides out to a ridge near the front lines, and exclaims in shock: LOOK! LOOK! They are SHOOTING at ME! ME! Whom Everyone Loves!”
This insight came back to me as I watched a YouTube recording of a Congressional Hearing on Biases Against Hindu Americans [16]. It was a brilliant presentation. Superbly organized. The three speakers were articulate, personable, and sincere. One of them has a long history of fighting, mostly alone, at the frontlines for all of us. He would stand outside conventions of the Lashkar-e-Pinocchio [17] and hand out flyers with a factual summary. And pleasantly point out to enquiring Police (called by the anarchist organizers who scream about “Academic Freedom”) that he was peacefully exercising his freedom. The Bill of Rights. Getting a good laugh out of them.
If he ever wins an award from the “Pravasi Bharatiya Divas” organizers, please wake me up, like Marshal Kutuzov was woken up from his depressed nap in War & Peace: “The French are leaving Moscow, heading back”. The Marshal leaps out of bed (in the movie), drops to his knees, and prays: “Holy Mother of God, Thank You!” I too will give thanks. But I digress.
The Congressman from Georgia was obviously impressed with the presentation. And then he asked the simple, obvious question: So why are these people targeting Hindus? Why do they hate you? Sorry to say, this caught the team by surprise – or there was some reason why they did not want to give a thorough and convincing answer. They came across as waffling. The answer is absolutely not:
1.“Because we deserve to be hated”.
2. “Because we have done something very bad.”
The Congressman probably did not intend to “blame the victims”. He was trying to understand the genesis of the attacks. He asked again. Without success. So let me try to explain to these young people. It is BECAUSE there is nothing wrong with us.
1. Somanath was not looted or razed so many times because there was something evil about it. The looters decided to grab the wealth and kill or enslave the people. Because they COULD.
2. Takshashila was not razed because there was something wrong with their course syllabus or grading standards or they scrawled cartoons of “The Prophet” in the campus news-tablet. It was so far ahead of the civilization of the invaders that they HAD to destroy it. And because they COULD.
3. Napoleon did not invade Russia and race to Moscow [18] because he didn’t like Russians. He thought he COULD. And he did. Get to Moscow. Hitler thought he could, too.
4. Mohammed of Ghazni, Ghori, Ibrahim Lodhi, Al Sikandar, Taimurlane (Tamerlane) or all the rest of the genocidal goons did not invade India because Indians had done something wrong – or were somehow “anti-Muslim”. Haj pilgrims to Mecca stopped off for blessings at Somanath like millions of travelers before them. It was because (a) they COULD. Indians were militarily weak and poorly organized, and (b) they had no fear of massive, disproportionate retaliation.
And American Hindus are not being attacked because there is something wrong with them [19]. It is precisely because they are winners in civilized society. Exemplary. They even know how to spell “Terminological Exactitude”. Decent. Well-brought-up. Top of the class. Would pay Hahvahd University $80K/year so they can sponsor “Terrorist Conferences” and afford “Endowed Commodes” the spare time to host the Indo-Euracist Hysterics Forum [20]. Though Hahvahd discriminates against them, so they can use their stupid parents’ money to educate more of those who hate us [21]. Pleasant. Harmless. Easy Meat for the Predators?
And THAT is the problem. The perception that we will not retaliate massively and disproportionately. And are too absorbed in our work to look up and see the hate in their eyes, for instance, of the entities conducting the 9/11/2021 Terrorist Conference.
Notice how the great King Purushottaman, after defeating the invading Al Iskandar, decided to impress his fans by presenting the defeated goon with a Made in India sword. Exotic metal. Studded with precious stones. Ornate handle. Commercial Advertising. Buy Our Model 666 Swords! Kill Us Better Next Time. One swing does it all! No neck too big or small!
Just building moats and forts is not enough. There has to be the planning and credible threat of massive, disproportionate and if possible pre-emptive retaliation. Preferably, just deterrent superiority and threat.
The Afghan sackings of Somanath stopped when Alauddin Khilji/Khalji did what a few of his predecessors had done. This is one thing I really admire about an otherwise disgusting blot on homo sapiens with the social outlook of the coronavirus. He didn’t stop the invaders with a swat (at the Ravi River). He went straight for their caves, burned their capital, and utterly destroyed everything. No intent to steal. Just massive, disproportionate destruction. So that he and his successors could rob Somanath at leisure. To their credit, Afghans have generally made it a point to do the same to those who come marching into Kabul, since then.
Lesson conveyed. The rest was up to Karma, which still seems to be extracting a horrible payment from the descendants of those mighty conquerors in Afghanistan.
Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov did not declare ceasefire when Napoleon’s La Grande Armée withdrew from Moscow, their champagne and parfum stocks depleted. Kutuzov kept attacking them all the way to France. The loss of 300,000 men was enough to deter the French, without sacking Paris.
Like I said, this is something that has been burning me. I too am sure that “Blessed are the Meek” for “They shall inherit the Earth,” but only when the Not-Meek are done pillaging the Earth and need some suckers to unload it on. As the British did, even splitting India after 200 years of loot, to ensure no peace.
Hindus: The Jews of the 21st Century?
Study the destruction of the Temples of Solomon, and the scattering of Jewish people all over Europe. Persecution, pogroms, propaganda everywhere except in Kochi, Kerala where they were welcomed and nurtured to grow their skills and trade. We Indians do have a very long-ago tie to the people who became known as Jews. As we do to the “Roma” people, a.k.a., “Gypsies”. And Yazidis. And maybe even the Incas and their cousins in the north. Enough said.
In the 21st century, the Jewish State of Israel is feared for her military might – and propensity to use it almost daily with massive violence.
Look also at the former Yugoslavia. For about forty years after liberation in WW2, they held together, a reasonably advanced nation. Have you studied the horrors when their society broke down completely?
Or consider the Hindus of Bengal. East, including the genocide of 1947-1947 [23] and the bigger one of 1969-71 [24]. And now, West Bengal as well in 2021[25]. And all the lesser pogroms through the centuries and recent decades.
Where would we be if India as we know it today ceased to exist?
Do you understand that seemingly harmless “Academic Conferences” such as the “Dismantling Global Hindutva” circus of September 10-12, are EXACTLY about destroying India so that they can destroy Hindus? Having dutifully registered for the conference (I also drink a glass of Karela Juice every morning) I saw at least one potty-mouthed “Panelist” Scholar salivating about precisely that prospect.
But we are so many and have survived 20,000 Years!
Destroy Hindus? We have learned in our Communist-authored textbooks that “India assimilated all invaders” over 5,000 years. But do you know at what cost?
1. The notorious pest Taimurlane (Tamerlane) killed 100,000 captives BEFORE he attacked Delhi and murdered all inhabitants of Delhi. Mountains of severed heads.
2. Vijayanagaram (Victory City) had much to brag about, but again, they let their enemies live to gang up. Perhaps they had no choice. The enemies made no such mistake: The city was utterly razed [26], but even Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul was attacked when he pointed out the obvious. Genocide against Hindus must not even be mentioned today!
3. “Hundreds of thousands” of Hindus [27] were driven as slaves over the mountains of Afghanistan to the slave markets of the Middle East. If you have not seen the color painting from a photograph, titled “Rawalpindi 1948”, I am not going to show you.
4. The Yazidis, a tiny minority with clear links to Hindu culture, were brutalized and enslaved by perverts of the “Islamic State” – cousins of those who have now been presented with the keys to Afghanistan. You can read a very recent paper on contemporary versions and see the pictures there, but be warned that you may not sleep for a long time [28].
5. Must Hindus repeat the experience of Jews from the destruction of Solomon’s last temple, through the 20th century, to learn? The Bay Area of California is already well on its way to becoming another West Bengal. Fertile breeding ground of South Asia hate-mongers.
6. The looting of Hindu temples, as I hear it, may stop any day now in Modern India’s states ruled by Marxists and Conversionists – when everything has been emptied out.
Yes, empathy is essential: Learn to Think like a (fill in the blanks). You will see why they want to attack us, and will attack us. Unless massive, disproportionate retaliation, even pre-emptive destruction, are guaranteed. Study them as one would study the COVID-19 virus and all its cousins and distant relatives. Not to love them but to turn them to peaceful and harmless pursuits. Nothing so evil about this: All those Divinity Schools [29] were set up precisely to study and destroy ancient cultures like ours, from within and without.
The BBC show “Yes Minister” summarized Anglo-Saxon Wisdom into a superlative Rk [30]:
“If u have them by the (*****), their Hearts and Minds will Follow.”
Peace is great. Peace with security is awesome. And that takes constant vigilance, imagination, and very hard work.
Mind you, other than national defense systems, I am most certainly NOT advocating that citizens resort to physical violence. I am asking why we hear of so few good lawyers kicking butt, even in wealthy, powerful, supposedly “majoritarian” India or the even wealthier Indian-American diaspora? Perhaps some objective scholarly studies (that would rule out the “South Asia” departments and JNU) should be undertaken on the following as starters:
1. The Endowment of the Reliance-Dhirubhai Ambani Throne and related funding at Stanford University.
2. Endowments and donations from Infosys/ the Narayan Murthy family at Columbia University.
3. The connection of The Hindu group of newspapers with the People’s Republic of China.
4. Connections, if any, between Oberlin College/Oberlin Foundation/Oberlin Xanxi/The PRC/Tamil Nadu/CPI(M/L/M) in India.
5. The tenure and accomplishments of Preeti Bansal on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
6. Hostility faced by Indian/Hindu faculty at American universities.
7. Hostility faced by Hindu faculty at Indian universities.
8. Reactions/attitudes of Indian American / Hindu faculty in American universities during attacks against Hinduism/India.
9. Legal actions taken by Hindu/Indian American attorneys in the US against attacks on Indians/ Indian Americans.
That is a long-enough list for now.
SOMANATH SYNDROME.
Satyam Eva Jayate.
References
1] Komerath, N., Somanath Syndrome. Kreately, September 11, 2021. https://kreately.in/somanath-syndrome/
2] Kalyanaraman, S. Sarasvati Civilization. Samudramanthan: The Emergence of Sarasvati. January 12, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqujleC4siM
3] Komerath, N. “A Technology Countdown Approach to Historical Timelines”. Proceedings of WAVES 2020, World Association for Vedic Studies, January 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353714693_A_Technology_Countdown_Approach_To_Historical_Timelines
4] Sanskriti, Takshashila: The World’s First and Oldest University! https://www.sanskritimagazine.com/history/takshashila-the-worlds-first-and-oldest-university/
5] Anon. Nalanda University. https://nalandauniversity.wordpress.com/about/
6] Damodaran, K.A., and Komerath, N. Pavamana Soma. Proceedings of WAVES 2018, the 13th International Conference of the World Association for Vedic Studies. July 2018.
7] Kalyanaraman, S. Sarasvati Civilization. Part 3: Trade. January 26, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv0MiSuFbmg
8] Andersson, B., Ulvaeus, B. Cassandra. ABBA group rendering and lyric, 1982. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os_bSwg02J4 May 2, 2008.
9] Wikipedia. Somnath Temple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnath_temple
10] Dubey, K.J. The Somnath Temple. Kreately, December 30, 2020. https://kreately.in/the-somnath-temple/
11] Anon. The Lost City of Dwarka. History or Mythology. Mahabharatha Research, http://mahabharata-research.com/about%20the%20epic/the%20lost%20city%20of%20dwarka.html
12] Collins, W. The Moonstone. 1871. Penguin Classics, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/30206/the-moonstone-by-wilkie-collins/
13] Singha, P., Singh, R., Jha, V. Dismantling Hindutva Globally. Jaipur Dialogues, August 22, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewkzNYcEcXU
14] Caswell, M. Smashing the Myth of the Model Minority. V. Prashad’s “The Karma of Brown Folk,” Asia Society, https://asiasociety.org/smashing-myth-model-minority
15] Wikipedia. War and Peace. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace. Leo Tolstoy’s 1225-page book was first translated into English in 1899. The BBC movie was made in 1972-73.
16] “Official Congressional Briefing on Biases against Hindu Americans,” Coalition of Hindus of North America, September 9, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe_eChjK6Vg
17] Komerath, N. “The Lashkar-e-Pinocchio Rides Again: The Wild Bunch: They’re Only a Hundred – But they ride as if they were a Thousand,” https://narayanankomerath.wordpress.com/2018/09/18/the-lashkar-e-pinocchio-rides-yet-again/ September 28, 2003. Updated September 18, 2018
18] Wikipedia. French invasion of Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia
19] Hindu American Foundation. History of Anti-Hindu Bias and Hinduphobia in the United States, https://www.hinduamerican.org/hinduphobia-history
20] Anon. Indology Researchers’ FanClub. February 2006. http://irffanclub.blogspot.com/2006/02/prof-witzel-wins-dharma-debate.html
21] Wikipedia. Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_Fair_Admissions_v._President_and_Fellows_of_Harvard_College
22] Komerath, N. Background of the 9/11/2021 Terrorist Conference: Implications for India & USA. Kreately, August 23, 2021. https://kreately.in/some-background-of-the-9-11-2021-terrorist-conference-implications-for-india-the-usa-and-all-free-democracies/
23] Markovits, C. The Calcutta Riots of 1946. SciencesPo, November 5, 2007. https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/calcutta-riots-1946.html
24] Hindu American Foundation. 1971 Bengali Hindu Genocide. https://www.hinduamerican.org/1971-bangladesh-genocide
25] Ranjan, A. More than 40,000 affected in violence, says VHP as it appeals to help violence-hit Hindus in Mamata’s State. India TV, May 18, 2021. https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/more-than-40-000-affected-in-bengal-violence-says-vhp-as-it-appeals-to-help-violence-hit-hindus-in-mamata-s-state-705419
26] Times News Network. Naipaul’s Musings on Vijayanagar Misleading. The Times of India, Sep. 12, 2012. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/naipauls-musings-on-vijayanagar-misleading/articleshow/16358501.cms
27] Wikipedia. Hindu Kush. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_Kush
28] Stratcepts Team. Of Warmongers, Fake News and the Deep State. Stratcepts Paper 20200103, January 3, 2020. http://www.stratcepts.com/Papers/OfWarmongers.pdf
29] Komerath, N. Protestant Pedagogues (Still!) Peeved at Protests over Porn-Peddling. August 11, 2015. http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2015/08/princeton-presbyterian-still-peeved-at_10.html
30] Anon. Nigel Hawthorne: Sir Humphrey Appleby. Yes, Minister Series. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751827/characters/nm0001329
