[Assam] From Tehelka---Manu's Memorial

Fri Jul 6 07:53:45 PDT 2007

I know Moses looks like Charlton Heston, the Virgin Mary like the one I saw
in a grotto at a cathedral inShillong, and Jesus looks like that actor from
Passion of the Christ :)

Jesus!....:)

Ram


On 7/6/07, Dilip/Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> If you want to go further - How did the followers come up with the icons
> for Jesus, Buddha, Mahavir Jain?
> As you know there is no icon for prophet Muhammed because Muslims don't
> allow it. I was wondering if a movie was ever made where prophet
> Muhammed was a character.
> Dilip
> =========================================================
>
> *"Mohan R. Palleti" <mrpallet at ncsu.edu>* wrote:
>
> C' da:
> The same way I guess as they made statue's of Ram, Krishna or Siva....
> Hindu's identify the God's with the garb and paraphernelia of the idol.
>
> Same goes with Lady Liberty....
>
>
> Mohan
>
>
> >
> >> >I believe he is not one person, but many. There has
> >>been many manu's who contributed to the manu shastra.
> >
> >
> > I can believe that. But what I get more curious about, is how they
> > decided what this Manu looked like to make a statue of his?
> >
> > Perhaps it was an abstraction? Like a body without a face ? Or a
> > piece of stone with a nameplate at the bottom identifying it as Manu
> > :-)?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > At 8:41 AM -0400 7/6/07, Mohan R. Palleti wrote:
> >>You are right! A government office should not be putting up a idol
> >>pertaining to a particular religion.
> >>
> >>As regards to Manu. I believe he is not one person, but many. There has
> >>been many manu's who contributed to the manu shastra.
> >>
> >>A manu is a person who is supposed to be casteless. He is supposed to be
> >> a
> >>offspring of a manov and danov. In today's parlance he is the product of
> >> a
> >>intercaste or inter-state/community marriage. He was vested with the job
> >>of writing the hindu laws, because he was thought to be impartial, not
> >>belonging to any particular caste or creed.
> >>
> >>But like any humane person, he too was falible. If a Manu was to rewrite
> >>the manu smriti, he would definitely have written it differently.....
> -:)
> >>
> >>Mohan R. Palleti
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> Is there not a separation of State and Religion in the seculiar Indian
> >>> Constitution which prohibits such display of Hindu religeous figures
> >>> in
> >>> public place? How can the symbol of Manu harmless?
> >>> I think he is the cause of the overall deteriation of the Indian
> >>> civilization.
> >>> RB
> >>>
> >>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>> From: "Chan Mahanta"
> >>> To:
> >>> Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 2:01 PM
> >>> Subject: [Assam] From Tehelka---Manu's Memorial
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> **** Is it a simple, harmless symbol of cultural heritage? Or is
> >>>> there a whole lot more to it?
> >>>>
> >>>> cm
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS
> >>>>
> >>>>
> http://www.tehelka.com/story_main31.asp?filename=Cr070707shadow_lines.asp
> >>>>
> >>>> When a new building was constructed in Jaipur for the state High
> >>>> Court, the local Bar Association put forward a proposal for the
> >>>> installation of a statue of Manu to beautify the premises. From
> >>>> proposal to completion, the entire plan was kept a close secret,
> >>>> never made public until the statue was in place. Manu was the creator
> >>>> of the varna system under which Hindu society for centuries denied
> >>>> all basic human rights and dignity to Dalits. For us, a statue of
> >>>> Manu can only symbolise the unjust social structure imposed on us
> >>>> from time immemorial. All the oppression we continue to suffer is
> >>>> because of Manu and his treatise, the Manudharma Sastra.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> We turn to the courts when we are in trouble. Can we ever expect
> >>>> justice from a court which we enter looking at Manu's idol?
> >>>> The Constitution has attempted to improve the condition of Dalits
> >>>> through law, but Manu's words have been an unwritten stricture the
> >>>> law cannot touch. Had Manu's statue been installed anywhere else,
> >>>> perhaps we would not have cared to react. But to see such homage paid
> >>>> to a figure who represents all that is unjust in this society, and
> >>>> that too standing proud in the premises of the Rajasthan High Court,
> >>>> is shocking. It is beyond acceptance. We turn to the courts when we
> >>>> are in trouble, which for us is almost perennial. What worse message
> >>>> could we receive? Can we ever expect justice from a court which we
> >>>> enter looking at Manu's idol? It only tells us that even the High
> >>>> Court subscribes to Manu's ideology. On the other hand, the statue of
> >>>> Dr BR Ambedkar, the father of our Constitution, has been shunted to
> >>>> an invisible corner. It says a lot about the mentality of the
> >>>> judiciary and the government in Rajasthan. How is such a system to
> >>>> contribute to the constitutional ideal of a casteless society?
> >>>>
> >>>> The statue was installed on June 28, 1989, and we have been fighting
> >>>> it ever since. There were huge protests all over the state soon after
> >> >> it was put up, and a full bench of the High Court ordered that it be
> >>>> removed within 48 hours. We were all happy, but soon after that the
> >>>> Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Acharya Dharmendra filed a writ petition in
> >>>> the court of Justice Mahender Bhushan, who passed a stay order on
> >>>> July 27, 1989 - as a result the statue is there till date. There are
> >>>> many cases dating back to 1989 that have seen their final hearings,
> >>>> but not this one. Each time this case comes to a final hearing, the
> >>>> bench postpones it on the grounds that it is a very sensitive issue.
> >>>> But we will not give up easily - we haven't so far, and we will not
> >>>> in the future. We will continue to file applications asking for a
> >>>> final hearing in this case. We want to see how they will justify
> >>>> their deliberate delays.
> >>>>
> >>>> We install statues of Ambedkar because that's our way of reclaiming
> >>>> our lost dignity. But why is the government installing a statue of
> >>>> Manu? The very government which is supposed to have no biases towards
> >>>> any religion or caste. Let there be Manu statues wherever anyone
> >>>> pleases, but the government should not be a party to it.
> >>>>
> >>>> Mimroth is a Jaipur-based advocate
> >>>> As told to Praveen Donthi
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> assam mailing list
> >>>> assam at assamnet.org
> >>>> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
> >>>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
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> >
> >
>
>
>
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