CHARVAKA

Ram Puniyani Caste is a phenomenon deeply entrenched in Indian society and the struggle against it began in the late 19th century. Despite the social movements, initiated around the ideas of Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar and many such legendary figures, it continues to pervade in the Indian society like a malignant cancer, refusing to die easily. There…

B Kolappan Many decades before ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramsamy launched his self-respect movement (1925) and propagated atheism, the erstwhile Madras presidency had seen a well-organised atheist-reformist movement (1878-88), which later faded into oblivion. The Hindu Free Thought Union, a movement launched in 1878, took inspiration from the London-based Anti-Church Movement of Charles Bradlaugh. In the middle of 1886, it was renamed Madras…

Dr Paul Kurtz (December 21, 1925 Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A – October 20, 2012) was a prominent American skeptic and secular humanist. He has been called “the father of secular humanism”. He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, US. Kurtz founded the publishing house Prometheus Books in…

Ram Puniyani                                                                 Pakistan has been facing innumerable troubles, not entirely due to its own faults. The whole politics of oil, the designs of…

B Premanand In the 1980’s a godman from Jaffna in Sri Lank came to Kerala, broke 101 coconuts on his head, and distributed the coconut water as prasad to devotees.  He claimed that he lived only on coconut water Mathrubhumi Weekly published a cover page article with pictures of this godman and challenged our committee to…

B Premanand In 1980 a number of yajnas were conducted on behalf of our Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, for her long life. But the yajnas could not save her. She was assassinated in 1984. A yajna was performed at Delhi by one Sadachari Sai Baba, a youth with black beard and long hair. Millions of…

A N Moorthy Rao Ganapathi ranks between the deities just mentioned and the divine Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswarahe is not a force of nature but possesses certain unique characteristics  He is reverred and worshipped more than all the gods mentioned before. Not only this; He is close to us and dear to us; and…

B Premanand While on a vijnan yatra in Maharashtrn in 1981, Vilas Baba, a godman from Phelton, challenged us that if we proved that his miracle ia false he would pay us Rupees five lakhs. His challenge was published by many vernacular dailies in Maharashtra. We agreed to investigate his clim and fixed a day…

Ram Puniyani The spate of horrific rapes in Haryana in particular (Sept 2012) has drawn the national attention to this abominable phenomenon. Various diagnosis and prescriptions have also come forward about the causes and as to how to prevent these rapes is also being suggested by different people. Interestingly the world view of those advising…

Ramkrishna Bhattacharya Progressive circles in India have been late in remembering D. D. Kosambi in 2007, the centennial year. Of course Pune, where Kosambi lived and died, led the way to centenary celebrations. A committee was formed with R. P. Nene and Meera Kosambi, daughter of D. D. Kosambi, to pay homage to the savant…

B Premanand Once while in Bombay, a youth approached me to help him. His mother, a widow, was not able to get her daughter married without dowry and was approaching many godmen to bless her. At that time, a particular godman was visiting their home to conduct -prayers. The youth needed my help to expose…

Ram Puniyani The Union Rural development Minister’s remark that “toilets are more important than temples” (October 2012) was met with diverse responses. Ramesh was speaking at a launch of campaign to sensitize people about the ill effects of open defecation, a practice very common in rural areas and city slums, where sanitation facilities are poor…

Ramkrishna Bhattacharya D. D. Kosambi (1907-66) was trained as a mathematician and used to teach and research in mathematics till 1941. Then he wrote an ‘exasperating essay’ on the Sanskrit epigrams attributed to Bhartrihari. This essay, Kosambi says, ‘caused every godfearing Sanskritist to shudder’ and consequently ‘I fell into Indology, as it were, through the…

Ayatolah Khomenini’s fatwa sentencing Slaman Rushdie to death for writing the ‘blasphemous’ novel The Satanic Verses was perhaps the curtain raiser for the religious extremism, intolerance, and violence that would mark the dying decades of twentieth century and the birth of the next. The ugly, hydra-headed religious fanaticism of every variety continues to threaten the…

Ram Puniyani Putting on masks with changing times are the compulsions of electoral politics for many parties, more so with a party like Bhartiya Janta Party. BJP so far has been doing this with great amount of ease, but lately its dilemmas are increasing in intensity due to its track record in the political arena…

Ram Puniyani Religious identity has come to the bigger prominence in the social-political space during last few decades. The rise of communal and fundamentalist politics has vitiated the popular perceptions about ‘who are we’ and this in turn has deepened the divides in the society. Recently RSS supremo, Sarsanghchalak, Mohan Bhagwat stated (September 2012) that,…

Ram Puniyani India is facing lot of communal-ethnic strife where the place of origin and religion of people is the marker due to which they are attacked. Many a retrograde political ideologies are based on the ‘first comer’ assertions. The deeper problems related to social resources, economic deprivations and socio-political inequalities are being presented as…

A.N.Moorthy Rao    Thousands of years ago, when self-consciousness blossomed in man and he began to look at the world around him with curiosity, what did he see? Volcanic flames leaping into the sky: molten lava racing down, reducing to ashes everything in its way: blinding lightning: forests devoured by huge fires: turbulent oceans, and…

B Premanand On the night of Shivarathri, while the devotees are engaged in singing bhajans, Satya Sai Baba goes into labour. He squirms with pain, his right hand pressing on his stomach, heart and neck. While wiping the tears sweat and saliva with a towel, he suddenly “gives birth” to an oval gold or stone…

Ram Puniyani We are going through strange times. While the science, technology and rationalism has given us physical and intellectual tools to better the lot of humanity, we are witnessing the production of provocative material, literature and films in particular, which demonize the particular religion, Islam to be precise, and the prophet of Islam. On…

Nikhil Joshi We reproduce an email Dr. Nikhil Joshi sent (on 17 September 2012) to the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after witnessing the nauseating spectacle of none other than the ISRO Chairman himself carrying a replica of PSLV-C21 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle – C21) to a hill shrine at Tirupati and placing…

B Premanand Satya Sai Baba’s paternal uncle (father’s younger brother, Chinna Venkappa Raju) was a magician and it was he who taught him magic tricks. The first trick which Satya Sai Baba performed at his school was to take out pencils, rubber, sweets etc., from an empty bag and surprise his class-fellows and teachers. Then…

Ram Puniyani The verdict of magistrate Dr. Jyotsna Yagnik, sentencing Dr. Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi and others to long imprisonment (31 August, 2012) has come as a big relief to the victims of Naroda Patiya, for whom it was like return of Eid to their houses. Naroda Patiya had witnessed horrific carnage and acts of rape in…

R.A Jahagirdar For generations the Hindutvavadis have venerated Vinayak Sawarkar as Veer Savarkar. The writings of Savarkar, especially in Marathi, show great valour and heroic sentiments. In language that is both beautiful and brave, the writings of Savarkar – in prose and poetry – display heroic qualities but of Hinduism. Savarkar wrote an essay, “Hindutva”…