Tej Adarkar
6.1K posts
Tej Adarkar
@TejAdarkar
Culture | History | Futurist | Thinker | Global Citizen | Aspiring Renaissance Man Follow/RTs ≠ endorsement Views my own & not any organisations I'm with
Please notice, that it is a very Eastern European perspective. We're white people, western & civilized. But our immediate neighbours we're fighting with are dirty subhuman savages whom no rules of engagement can apply to That's how *everyone* to the east of Berlin Wall thinks
Trump noticed [Munir] during the India-Pakistan standoff, according to Tohid, the journalist. “He emerges as the victorious general from the conflict and a man with strong nerves,” Tohid said. “Hence the contact between Munir and the White House got established.” - Politico Operation Sindoor was the biggest strategic error India has made in decades. Getting cut down to size by a foe 1/5th its size is what the world accepts as the turning point for how Pakistan has been viewed in regional context. politico.com/news/2026/04/1…
The Bollywood thriller is the latest in a series of box-office hits with overt nationalist messaging since India’s Hindu nationalist leader, Narendra Modi, took office in 2014. nbcnews.com/world/asia/aud…
The EU, despite having a Muslim population estimated at about 4% even when accounting for native Muslims, is often described as "overrun by islamists" by the very same people that regard Russia, a country where Islam accounts for 10% of the population, as "properly Christian".
First time seeing Shah Rukh Khan lose his calm like this… that Komodo dragon prank by Ramez Galal was insane 💀
The usage of Hindu symbolism for legitimacy has it's roots in & being masterfully employed by the British Raj. The Raj portrayed itself as saviors of the Hindu population from the Mughals and the local Nawabates. This was especially true in their propaganda in the Gangetic basin following the 1857 Revolt. This while the Raj interfered in Hindu religious institutions & affairs by taking over the management of temples, demilitarising Hindu society & institutions at large (the Arms Act & the Indian State's disdain for an armed citizenry is a legacy of this era) & subverting social institutions to create a loyalist class by eliminating native educational avenues via Gurukuls & trade schools run by various Sampradayas. This is not to say that there were those from the traditionalist camp who didn't partake in all of this. "Appropriation and Invention of Tradition: The East India Company and Hindu Law in Early Colonial Bengal" by Nandini Bhattacharya Panda is a good book that sheds light on the same. This was accelerated by the freedom struggle with the nationalist movement utilising heavy Hindu symbolism & misinterpreting the term Bharat & Bharatavarsha in Hindu scriptures (that refers to a civilization zone akin to Europe & not a nation state) making the faith itself subservient to Indian nationalism. Nationalist historians like RC Majumdar to paper over their inferiority complexes wrt colonisation created a theory of "Greater India" & "Indianisation" to distort Hindu religious missionary success in regions like Southeast Asia. Hinduism there reached as a native religion & not as a ethnocolonial project like that of the Iberians & the Inquisition in the Americas. The Colonial State also put forward the theory that Hinduism is unorganised, lacks structure, hierarchy & centralisation, merely represents totemic beliefs being incompatible outside the subcontinent & lacking a missionary impulse. This was adopted hook, line & sinker by the nationalist movement (as well as by someone like Gandhi who is generally viewed as a Hindu traditionalist). The primary motivation behind the same by the Raj probably was to prevent rebellion against the Raj & stabilise the polity. The nationalists otoh wished to give themselves a legacy & utilize that goodwill (Gandhi portrayed himself & was seen as a Hindu monk) to make their movement a success while ensuring it never went outside their control & they inherited the Raj's power over society intact. The modern Indian Republic used the goodwill that was generated by the nationalist movement utilising Hindu symbolism to completely steamroll the autonomy of Hindu civil society by ending the independence of Hindu religious autonomy seizing lands & wealth of temples & monasteries shutting down their social initiatives (leading to the Keshavananda Bharati case), abolishing privy purses & so on. The State right from the colonial era has sought to end Hindu civil society while simultaneously using Hindu symbolism for it’s legitimacy. Those who call themselves Hindu nationalists basically seek to extend the State's jurisdiction over faiths & want them to give up their religious autonomy the way the State has done to Hinduism. This is why their issues are UCC, Waqf etc rather than freeing temples. The Constitution of India also has it's issues with my understanding of the same guided by @MNageswarRaoIPS. Threads worth reading by him on this issue are: x.com/i/status/19736… x.com/i/status/19560… x.com/i/status/19884… x.com/i/status/19605… x.com/i/status/19602… x.com/i/status/19592… Amazon link for the book by Panda:amazon.in/Appropriation-… Another scholarly book that explains how nationalist leaders like Aurobindo, Tilak & Gandhi utilised the Mahabharata in their propaganda:orientblackswan.com/details?obsin=… A thread by Aunindyo2023 on nationalist leaders who used Hindu symbolism: x.com/i/status/20356… I have also been influenced by @upword_ & @infinitchy 's video: youtu.be/mZuVpHAhS0Q?si…
I read this book "Hindus in Hindu Rashtra" by Anand Ranganathan. He tries to make the case that Hindus are suffering the most in this so called "Hindu Rashtra". My take on the book:
Absolute unhinged meltdown by Indian nationalists in replies. I saw a comment claiming that since the Hindu Kingdom of Champa (now in Southern Vietnam) influenced Han culture, therefore China belongs to India. Another claiming that since Yunnan in Southern China was Hindu it belongs to India. On another post on the use of Sanskrit in Mongolia one said that "India" expanded till Mongolia. Okay what? Since when did Hinduism’s universalist global legacy become subservient to the Indian State: an entity created by the Anglican Protestant British? I have written about this duplicitous behavior of the Indian State before as well & will link the relevant posts in replies. Hinduism is a religion that is not bound by the territorial borders of the Republic of India. Thamizh Shaivism believes that Confucius & Lao Tzu are the Siddhas Kamalamuni & Bhogar respectively. Kashmir Shaivism viewed Tengri as an aspect of Shiva. If on the basis of these beliefs the Sinosphere or the Turko-Mongol world converted to Hinduism would these people start yapping that the Indian State should annex them like some Indian nationalists do about Nepal or Sri Lanka? Similarly if the USA got a bunch of Hindu Presidents & Governors does it automatically become a province of India? Isn't it such an absurd line of thought? As a Hindu the entire Earth is our mother not just Bharat Mata. Now coming to cultural influence. We should separate: i) Sanskritisation of any culture & global adoption of Sanskrit, ii) the idea of Bharatavarsha of the Hindu scriptures (the Indo-Iranian cultural zone from the Balkans to Bangladesh), iii) global Hindu missionary success & various Hindu kingdoms/nations that came up throughout history across the world, from the legacy of the modern Indian State. Both are two vastly different things. In many ways the Indian State has built its stability by destroying this legacy (my post on this in comments). Who does this legacy belong to then? It belongs to the Mathas, Mandirs & Sampradayas which built this legacy over millennia developing these sciences, linguistics & philosophies & aesthetically propagating them across the world leading to their adoption. Hence it's more than important that they're freed from the clutches of the State & develop their communities nurturing this legacy. Freedom of religion from the interference of the State should be the agenda going forward developing critical skills within Sampradaya linked civil society & institutions that operate at global scale. Organizations like the RSS-VHP tricked Hindus by portraying that they would do this only to promote Statism & Indian nationalism when they actually got power. The Indian State's idiotic foreign policy has also led to setbacks against Hindus in regions as diverse as Fiji to Sri Lanka to Uganda to Guyana. This makes it even more imperative to free our faith & cultural legacy from the clutches of the Indian State developing our own view of the world & foreign policy/approach to world power competition.
A Tamil rebel standing guard at a Hindu temple in Jaffna during the 1980s.
Absolute unhinged meltdown by Indian nationalists in replies. I saw a comment claiming that since the Hindu Kingdom of Champa (now in Southern Vietnam) influenced Han culture, therefore China belongs to India. Another claiming that since Yunnan in Southern China was Hindu it belongs to India. On another post on the use of Sanskrit in Mongolia one said that "India" expanded till Mongolia. Okay what? Since when did Hinduism’s universalist global legacy become subservient to the Indian State: an entity created by the Anglican Protestant British? I have written about this duplicitous behavior of the Indian State before as well & will link the relevant posts in replies. Hinduism is a religion that is not bound by the territorial borders of the Republic of India. Thamizh Shaivism believes that Confucius & Lao Tzu are the Siddhas Kamalamuni & Bhogar respectively. Kashmir Shaivism viewed Tengri as an aspect of Shiva. If on the basis of these beliefs the Sinosphere or the Turko-Mongol world converted to Hinduism would these people start yapping that the Indian State should annex them like some Indian nationalists do about Nepal or Sri Lanka? Similarly if the USA got a bunch of Hindu Presidents & Governors does it automatically become a province of India? Isn't it such an absurd line of thought? As a Hindu the entire Earth is our mother not just Bharat Mata. Now coming to cultural influence. We should separate: i) Sanskritisation of any culture & global adoption of Sanskrit, ii) the idea of Bharatavarsha of the Hindu scriptures (the Indo-Iranian cultural zone from the Balkans to Bangladesh), iii) global Hindu missionary success & various Hindu kingdoms/nations that came up throughout history across the world, from the legacy of the modern Indian State. Both are two vastly different things. In many ways the Indian State has built its stability by destroying this legacy (my post on this in comments). Who does this legacy belong to then? It belongs to the Mathas, Mandirs & Sampradayas which built this legacy over millennia developing these sciences, linguistics & philosophies & aesthetically propagating them across the world leading to their adoption. Hence it's more than important that they're freed from the clutches of the State & develop their communities nurturing this legacy. Freedom of religion from the interference of the State should be the agenda going forward developing critical skills within Sampradaya linked civil society & institutions that operate at global scale. Organizations like the RSS-VHP tricked Hindus by portraying that they would do this only to promote Statism & Indian nationalism when they actually got power. The Indian State's idiotic foreign policy has also led to setbacks against Hindus in regions as diverse as Fiji to Sri Lanka to Uganda to Guyana. This makes it even more imperative to free our faith & cultural legacy from the clutches of the Indian State developing our own view of the world & foreign policy/approach to world power competition.
Absolute unhinged meltdown by Indian nationalists in replies. I saw a comment claiming that since the Hindu Kingdom of Champa (now in Southern Vietnam) influenced Han culture, therefore China belongs to India. Another claiming that since Yunnan in Southern China was Hindu it belongs to India. On another post on the use of Sanskrit in Mongolia one said that "India" expanded till Mongolia. Okay what? Since when did Hinduism’s universalist global legacy become subservient to the Indian State: an entity created by the Anglican Protestant British? I have written about this duplicitous behavior of the Indian State before as well & will link the relevant posts in replies. Hinduism is a religion that is not bound by the territorial borders of the Republic of India. Thamizh Shaivism believes that Confucius & Lao Tzu are the Siddhas Kamalamuni & Bhogar respectively. Kashmir Shaivism viewed Tengri as an aspect of Shiva. If on the basis of these beliefs the Sinosphere or the Turko-Mongol world converted to Hinduism would these people start yapping that the Indian State should annex them like some Indian nationalists do about Nepal or Sri Lanka? Similarly if the USA got a bunch of Hindu Presidents & Governors does it automatically become a province of India? Isn't it such an absurd line of thought? As a Hindu the entire Earth is our mother not just Bharat Mata. Now coming to cultural influence. We should separate: i) Sanskritisation of any culture & global adoption of Sanskrit, ii) the idea of Bharatavarsha of the Hindu scriptures (the Indo-Iranian cultural zone from the Balkans to Bangladesh), iii) global Hindu missionary success & various Hindu kingdoms/nations that came up throughout history across the world, from the legacy of the modern Indian State. Both are two vastly different things. In many ways the Indian State has built its stability by destroying this legacy (my post on this in comments). Who does this legacy belong to then? It belongs to the Mathas, Mandirs & Sampradayas which built this legacy over millennia developing these sciences, linguistics & philosophies & aesthetically propagating them across the world leading to their adoption. Hence it's more than important that they're freed from the clutches of the State & develop their communities nurturing this legacy. Freedom of religion from the interference of the State should be the agenda going forward developing critical skills within Sampradaya linked civil society & institutions that operate at global scale. Organizations like the RSS-VHP tricked Hindus by portraying that they would do this only to promote Statism & Indian nationalism when they actually got power. The Indian State's idiotic foreign policy has also led to setbacks against Hindus in regions as diverse as Fiji to Sri Lanka to Uganda to Guyana. This makes it even more imperative to free our faith & cultural legacy from the clutches of the Indian State developing our own view of the world & foreign policy/approach to world power competition.
“When the most internationally visible fiction from a country of 1.4 billion people is written primarily by a handful of authors living in Brooklyn, London, and Rome, the version of that country that reaches the global reader is inevitably partial.” timesnownews.com/lifestyle/book…
Supriya Ganesh wrote a personal essay on gender dysphoria for New York Magazine 🤍 “Growing up in India, I never questioned my gender. When I moved to the U.S. at 18, I began to feel disconnected from my body.”
Bharatavarsha in Hindu scriptures refers to a cultural zone akin to Europe being analogous to Iranshahr stretching from the Balkans to Bangladesh. It's one of the 9 Varshas (subcontinent's) of Jambudweepa with Sumeru being in it's Center (more on Sumeru in comments).
This has been a longstanding stance: 🇨🇳China never recognized the so-called “Arunachal Pradesh” illegally set up by🇮🇳#India China rejects India's territorial claims over the illegal McMahon Line. "Zangnan is China's territory, and China has never recognized the so-called 'Arunachal Pradesh' illegally set up by #India. It is entirely within China's sovereignty to standardize the names of some places in Zangnan region, following China’s release on April 10 of the sixth batch of standardized names in the Zangnan region."