I'd rather not jump to conclusions or put words in your mouth. If you believe this is propaganda, then you believe that you know who is responsible for it, and why it benefits them. So, who is pushing this, and why?
Right wing hindu propaganda that "hindus/indians were better than other people but were subjugated by muslims and English". Current administration in India is part of the right wing.
Please don't take HN threads further into political and/or nationalistic and/or religious flamewar. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.
Time and again Indians prove themselves to be the most self-hating community of them all. Not everything has an agenda.
> Hindus were subjugated by Muslims and English
Which is historically true. All of North India has zero temples or structures of historic importance that are more than a few hundred years old. A Bihari Hindu should not have to go searching in Tamil Nadu for signs that his ancestors achieved things of significance.
> Indians were better
It doesn't come from a place of malice. But, as a people that have been beaten down. It does help to know that your civilization made significant contribution to shaping the world as we know it. A Muslim doesn't have to wonder, the Taj Mahal & Red fort are the 2 crowning jewels of India. India could vanish tomorrow & both Muslims + Christians would still have a flattering model of what their people had achieved in the rest of the world. Hindus are grounded in India, and (mostly) India alone. Great contributions of pre-invasion Indians do not have compete with the architectural wonders that later rulers built. Both can co-exist.
The large majority of Indian Muslims & Christians trace their cultural & ethnic origins to the populace that inhabited this land for the last (at least) 4000 years. There needn't be cognitive dissonance to acknowledge the achievements of of the common ancestor as part of a unified Indian identity.
Please don't take HN threads further into political and/or nationalistic and/or religious flamewar. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.
Yeah, I know it feels bad and that's not the intention - we just have to do what we can to try to prevent this place from experiencing the default internet outcome (self-immolation), or at least to stave that off for a little longer.
There is no self hate going on. What we are saying is that India was on par with rest of the world. Lets just have an objective assessment of its's past instead of white washing everything that is old.
For example, we (collectively) do not know anything about drawbacks of Nalanda university. All we heard since childhood is that it is great
India has a rich history than far pre-dates 'hindus' from Indus Valley Civilization to this day. On top of it Nalanda as Buddhist institution of learning is being highlighted here.
If you are going to define what is historical truth or propaganda based on who resides in the PMO of India, then you should just stay away from this subject.
Normally, I would agree with you, but in this context, I would say it's abad faith argument.
1. Hindus never claimed they were better than any race. They say they had an advanced understanding of science back in the days. which, in many cases, have archeological recorded evidence.
2. Northern India was plundered by invasions, which got looted of its wealth and knowledge, many temples were shut down. In those days temples played multiple roles. They played the role of banks, seed storage, schools, medical centers etc, and there were massive drives of indoctrination and destruction during that time. Which also has recorded evidence. Why do you think southern India has more Hindu cultural heritage than Northern India? There are multiple nations that have some kind of relation, ties or roots with Southern India.
3. There were several recorded attributions of scientific contributions made by Indian region scholars.
4. I read your other comment saying, we whitewashed Nalandas History, let me ask you this, why does a place of learning have drawbacks. Its a place of learning designed with a certain curriculum. You are always free not to join it if the curriculum doesnt suit you. Its like saying Havard has drawbacks because it doesnt offer Tamil Litterature degree.
5. There are several recorded interactions by scholars from foriegn regions for Nalanda.
Calling Nalanda university an attempt of propganda is self hate and self depreciation. I call out propoganda always, see my comment history against govt moves, but this aint it.
And what's funny is that not even this concept did the Indians invent themselves, it's just a blatant rip-off of the Arab tradition of blaming everything on the Mongols sacking Baghdad! /s
