Port Blair Training Camp on Developing Scientific Temper Concludes

The five day training program to create scientific temper among children by explaining the scientific principles behind many of the so called miracles has concluded on 30^th May 2013. 

Science Centre, Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Prof Narendra Nayak addressing the participants

Participants observing with  rapt attention

Burning camphor on tongue

Exposing the miracle of Kamrali Darvesh Darga

Explaining the Yogic stunt of stopping one’s pulse

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Science Centre, Port Blair to Organize Summer Camp-2013 for Students

The Science Centre, located at Goodwill Estate, Corbyn’s Cove Road, Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, is organizing “Holiday Camp” for the benefit of students from 1st May to 30th May 2013. Students can have practical experience on trades like Ship Building from May 02 to 06, Fun Mathematics / Fiber Glass Modeling from May 07 to 10, Aero modeling from May 13 to 16, Model Rocketry from May 17 to 23, Creative Science /Science versus Miracles from May 24 to 28, 2013.

The camp has ear marked five days for each subject during which the subject will be dealt in details with hands on experiments. Classes shall be conducted from 10.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.

Prof Narendra Nayak, former Professor of Medical Biochemistry, Kasturba Medical College, Managalore, Karnataka, and President, Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, will be giving training on the subject Science versus Miracles from May 24 to 28, 2013.

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My Encounters with Healing In The Name Of Jesus!

Narendra Nayak

My first public encounters as a rationalist were with evangelists - the crusading ones claiming to heal the sick, the blind and the lame. It was in 1975 or so when I was a student at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. I used to come to Mangalore on Saturdays and Sundays. One of these weekends when I had come home and was relaxing with friends, we got the news that there was a miracle healer called Chris Panos having his sessions on one of biggest maidans of Mangalore. One of our friends who is now no more was gushing about him having restored hearing to two of his cousins and he was a medical student! So, that leant all the more credibility to the claims and some of us rushed to the place. There was a high podium there with a well dressed man in a three piece suit, holding a microphone in his hand and shouting at the top of his voice- Heal in the name of Jesus and was exhorting the audience to shout halleluiah praise the lord which they were doing at the top of their voices. One of those on the dais was a familiar figure- he was the retired chief engineer of Mangalore Harbour project and his name was Panditaradhya. He was lead to the stage holding a walking stick and was ordered in the rolling baritone of Chris Panos throw away that walking stick and walk in the name of Jesus and the stick was snatched from his hands. The poor man somehow managed to reach the sides of the stage and held on to the ropes hanging on for dear life and then came shout from the hero- look Jesus has healed him! Again there was a big shout from the audience- praise be to the lord! Then was the turn of a girl whose arm was paralysed since birth- again the voice took over- Chris Panos said bend your hand and she bent it. At this I saw the arms of the girl - both were of the same size. So, I went to the stage and asked him how come both her hands appear the same since you claim that one of them was paralysed since birth! He was flummoxed and told me that it was a miracle.

www.atheistcartoons.com

There were hundreds of people waiting to be cured some of them in very pathetic conditions and my temper was slowly rising. On the sides I saw a quadriplegic beggar who was crawling on all four limbs and a begging bowl on a wooden trolley. I bribed him with 50 paise( which was a good amount in those days) and asked him to come with me. I took him near the stage and requested the volunteers to take him on the stage and get him cured. They told me that cures do not happen on stage but only the cured are allowed there. I told them that this man was deaf also and his deafness was cured and hence he was to be taken on the stage to let all know about it! But, the volunteers could sense a trap in that and said no, I told them why not and there was a commotion. Disturbed by this the great healer came to the side of the stage and demanded to know as to what was happening. I told him that this man should be cured. He said I don’t cure. I asked him then who does? He replies Jesus. I told him in that case-ask Jesus to cure him! There was a commotion and a policeman asked me what was happening and why I was creating a disturbance. At this, the healer came to the side of the stage and kicked the railings and shouted go back. When I looked around there was no one and I was the only one left! I told the policeman that I just want to check the healing powers of this guy and he said fair enough go ahead! At this Chris Panos called me to him asked for my hand pulled me close to him and whispered go away peacefully my friend in the name of god! I said I am an atheist and god is a dirty word to me. Then he told me go my friend otherwise something may happen to you. I replied don’t worry if something happens to me twice that or probably more is going to happen to you. Just at that moment somebody threw a wire at the power cables and the lights went off. Then there was a disturbance and the healing session came to an end! I was furious and started shouting at all the helpless people who had come in search of a miraculous cure there! In the meanwhile some of the saffron gang who had come there to try and disturb his meeting asked me whether anything happened when he kept his hand on my head- I told them nothing.  Their reaction was that they had all been scared that he had some sort of a power and that is why they did not have the courage to disturb him and that they now knew that nothing happened to me despite he keeping his hand over my head, they would come next day and teach him a lesson!

     

Teaching him a lesson is something that they really did the next day! They waited until it was dark and then tripped the electricity connection by short circuiting the wires and started molesting the girls when they raised their hands shouting halleluiah which resulted in a stampede and the cancellation of the proposed one week healing program in two days! Then followed the mutual recriminations the Catholics said he had been invited by the protestants and they said the opposite! Any way the whole thing ended in a fiasco and Chris Panos had to stop his healing sessions.

      

In 1977, he came once more to Mangalore and this time we were well prepared, we had printed pamphlets asking why this man from Greece had to come to India to heal when there were enough number of patients there itself. We had also questioned as to why the police were not taking action against him for practicing medicine without a license etc. These pamphlets were distributed in such a bold manner even to those who were in the audience that many thought that it was something being handed over by the organizers themselves! We had also challenged him that we would show him patients to be cured and if he did that we were ready to admit that he had the healing powers. At that time something really surprising happened- the program was cancelled. We were summoned by the police who asked for our pamphlets. Later on we came to know that the police inspector who was in charge of the security had called this man Chris Panos shown him the pamphlet  and had told him that we had complained that he was practicing medicine without a license. He was also told that the Inspector would take him to the nearby hospital and show him a few patients to be cured. If he did that he was assured nothing would be done to him but if he did not he would be arrested for fraud! Chris Panos told the police that he was just conducting prayer meetings and he was not curing people. He was asked to give that in writing and was let off. Later on we came to know that many of the so called cures were stage managed affairs with paid people first acting as if they were handicapped and then appearing normal when summoned to the stage as an evidence of being healed. In the case of the ex chief engineer it was said that he had had a brain hemorrhage and was slowly recovering. When he was called to the stage and his walking stick pulled away he had not alternative but somehow try to reach to the side of the stage as he did not want the public embarrassment of falling down as there was nothing to hold on there!     

The next day the ads about blind seeing, deaf hearing, and the lame walking were off and instead there were announcements of prayer meetings. The show was a flop and was wound up earlier than planned. So, that was the end of our session with this man Chris Panos. A few years later another healer called Peter Youngren appeared on the scene and his ads were too of the same type. This time we were ready with our pamphlets and had repeated the same challenges. But, here there were the police in full strength and we were not allowed to go into the venue but were asked to distribute our pamphlets at a distance from it. I had the time to visit it and it was quite apparent that the whole thing was an attempt at proselytizing in the name of healing and probably a few psychosomatic cases would have got some relief.

     

But, as the protests against these so called healing sessions started, the modus operandi of these people also changed. They started calling their meetings as prayer meetings and claimed that the ill would be prayed for. The venue of the meetings was also shifted to a place called as mission compound which was an enclosed area surrounded by the houses of Christians and would be easily protected from the attacks from outsiders. The process of saffronisation had also started and the Hindu groups were gaining strength. Around the end of the 20th century as rumors started about the end of the world, there was the big ‘prayer meeting’ of Dinakaran organized at Mangalore where large crowds of Christians-both Roman Catholics and protestants were supposed to gather ad pray, There were some feelers from the Hindu outfits that we should protest against that and I realized then that they wanted to use our shoulders to fire at them and told them that if they wanted to do that they could do it on their own. A few years later there was this man from Philippines- Alex Orbito who was supposed to perform psychic surgery- operating with his bare hands and removing what was called as bad elements from the body. He used to plunge his hand into the patients abdomen and a pink liquid would ooze out- an obvious case of palming! At the time when he was in Bangalore, his first session was in the Karnataka Legislative assembly and his first ‘patients’ were the ministers of the Karnataka govt.! This got him publicity and the next day there were long lines of ‘patients’ waiting to be operated by him outside the hotel where he was ‘operating’ it was estimated that he had collected several millions of rupees in one day charging a sum of Rs.3000 for a 3 minute session of ‘operation’. I could not visit that place as I had already fixed programs at a nearby place for three days. But, he was spirited away by organizers of his program as one lawyer from Kolar had filed a case against him at the Karnataka High court and the court had ordered his arrest. He was allowed to escape as some of the top police officials were his supporters and had arranged for his going out of the country. Later on it was revealed that he had been jailed in USA for practicing medicine without a license.

          

But our campaign against his healing went on full swing and I went to Bangalore to demonstrate this ‘psychic surgery’ at a TV studio along with a panel discussion which was supposed to be attended by one of the members of the Karnataka cabinet who had subjected herself to this ‘surgery’. It was not a surprise that the lady did not turn up! Along with this we demonstrated this in a few medical colleges including the Bangalore Medical College. It was here that I came to know that a pediatric surgeon was one of the supporters of this Alex Orbito and had arranged for his program. I also met one Dr.Rao who was the Chairman of the anti quackery cell of the Karnataka State Branch of the Indian Medical Association he informed me that when he had gone to a meeting at a very prestigious venue where Alex Orbito was giving a public lecture he was ridiculed by a supposedly upright policeman called Sangliana that what he was doing protesting when his President was on the dais. That was a fact that the meeting had the state President of the Indian Medical Association on the dais! This clearly shows the hypocrisy of the medical profession. Anyway, this Dr.Rao had taken a list of the names and addresses of the ‘patients’ who had been treated by Alex Orbito and was trying to follow up on that. The ‘psychic surgery’ performed by me for the TV channel was broadcast and I got a number of invitations to demonstrate that. I was told that a number of religious maths had invited Alex Orbito to do his treatment which he could not as he had to run away! Anyway, some of the top cops of Karnataka had helped him to escape.       

Then was the Benny Hinn episode-that was a year after the tsunami had struck the shores of India. He was supposed to come to Bangalore, conduct his prayer meetings for the peace for the souls of the affected people and also conduct the healing sessions. We were the first group to protest against his coming and had challenged him to demonstrate his healing powers on patients shown by us. At that time the congress party was in power and probably to please their ‘madam’ they rolled out a red carpet welcome for this man. The protests against his visit turned violent and there was quite some damage to public property due to the protests of the saffron gangs and the Bharatiya Janatha Party which was in the opposition at the time. The meeting was at a airport which was no longer in use and was attended by millions of people and was taken as a show of strength by the Christian community! The meeting was attended by the Chief Minister and some ministers of the central govt. too! However, the tough  ex cop Sangliana who was then a member of the parliament of the Bharathiya Janata Party issued advertisements in the local press asking people to attend the meeting when the rest of his party colleagues were busy protesting against that!

   

There was supposed to be an encounter with a healer called as Jira Ma in Jamshedpur which did not take place! She was supposed to be a very famous faith healer of the area drawing thousands to her sessions. Her healing sessions would start with her going into a trance and reading the bible. Her devotees who by then would be seated would have two bottles with them one of water and the other of oil. At the appointed time they would remove the caps of these bottles and pray along with her. After that they were to put on the caps and take them home for use- the water was for internal use and the oil was for external use! There was a regional meet of FIRA at Jamshedpur and the very next day her session was at a nearby stadium. So, we wanted to attend that and check on her powers and decided to so after discussions. But, we had not been aware of a reporter of a local daily around when these were going on. The very next day the newspaper carried on its front page our photographs with a bold headline- Jira ma is going to be exposed by the top rationalists of India. The element of surprise was gone and we were advised by the locals not to go there and get attacked by her devotees and we had to drop our plans. However, within a few years her nemesis came. At one of her meetings a heart patient who was waiting to be healed by her collapsed and died on the spot. She was arrested and imprisoned. These supposed healing sessions are called Changai Sabhas in the North and we have some of these ads. Our Nagpur groups have been successful in getting the Drugs and magic remedies (objectionable advertisements) act applied to them as they claim to cure disease. But, some of the Christian groups rally behind these so called healers, treating our questioning their powers as an attack against their religion. There are some of their activities going on in places on a permanent basis like in Potta in Kerala.

This was my last encounter with these groups in December, 2011 and the result of that is also mentioned along with. Since this was an attack on healing in the name of Jesus Christ most of the local papers which would be reluctant to publish anything against such claims from the groups linked with cow’s urine, exorbitant claims of yoga and Ayurveda were keen to publicise this. This was the statement

Healing disease by Chosen Generation of Ministries!

    

For those who may be having problems with married life, parents and children. Financial, health etc. etc. including things like satanic bondage the solution is well at Hand as Jesus is coming soon!

   

I am in possession of a pamphlet by an organization called as Chosen Generation of Ministries® which states that all these problems and more can be solved by them and two cell numbers have been provided when I called them and informed that I was suffering from cancer of the prostate and was told by one Mr.John that they could heal it, I was asked to come to Suratkal( a suburb of Mangalore) on the coming Monday and their god would heal anything!

Funnily enough this issue was brought to my attention by a Roman Catholic who was angry with this group for ‘baptising’ people and giving them communion again thereby converting them to their sect. I was also told that they were seeking donations for their cause and were mesmerizing people. While we have a Minister who claims that rolling on leaves on which Brahmins have had their meals, these people have gone one step ahead and have claimed that their god can heal all diseases!

In fact this hand bill attracts the provisions of the Drugs and magical Remedies (objectionable) advertisements ct, 1954 under which claiming cures for certain diseases is a cognizable offence. The authority for taking action under this is the drugs controller of Dakshina Kannada. Because, when one claims all disease, those under the provisions of this act are also covered.

  

The address of this organization is Chosen Generation of Ministries® Church Post box no 76 Udupi -576 101 and the founder and senior pastor is one Peter Quadros. Well one can claim the freedom to profess ones religion and also practice it. But, how about the claims made herein?

       

Of course however much I was keen to get my prostate healed by their prayers it was not to be. Not only I was busy that day, but the Hindutwa brigade was far busier. There was an attack by them on the premises where these ‘healings’ were going on and the usual violence followed!

     

This is an account of our encounters with those who heal with the power of Jesus. Thouigh I have been quite keen about exposing these frauds we have to be a bit on the careful side due to the propensity of the Hindutwa brigade to use our shoulders to fire at them. Not that they are exclusively dependent on us for that, but even our little bit helps! Of course we have such with those who heal with the power of many such gods, goddesses and spirits and what have you. More about that, some other time.

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India’s Blasphemy Law: Section 295A of IPC

Narendra Nayak

Section 295A. Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs

[295A. Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.— Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of [citizens of India], [by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise], insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to [three years], or with fine, or with both.]

This section of the IPC pertains to insulting religions and religious beliefs. Made by our colonial masters to divide and subjugate their vassals, like many other provisions of the archaic laws made by them, this section too has been carried over into our laws and is being used now mainly to persecute and hound people who may have points of view contrary to those of the powers that be. The rationalist movement and other progressive forces have been mostly at the receiving end of persecutions under this but the others have been no exception. The word 'persecution' has been deliberately used here as most of the cases booked under this section have resulted in acquittals of the accused and all they have had as punishment is the period of the 'due process of law' which can take several years to couple of decades to complete.

Sanal Edamaruku

The recent one in this issue is the attempt to prosecute a rationalist from Delhi, Sanal Edmaruku. He has been quite active on the TV channels denouncing superstitions and god men on them and has been a regular feature on many of them. The most recent controversy in which he has been involved is the one of a cement crucifix of Jesus Christ in Bandra, Mumbai dripping water from its feet. There were hot discussions of some TV channels about the veracity of this so called miracle and there were some hot exchange of words in between him and others leading to complaints against him under the above mentioned section 295A of the Indian Penal Code for deliberate and malicious acts leading to outrage religious feelings of any class here read as the Roman Catholic community. Again, the act does not pertain to the miracle of the dripping cross but other words used in the course of the discussions which have outraged the religious feelings of a group of people called as The Organisation of Concerned Catholics (OCC) and the Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) who had lodged complaints against Sanal at the Juhu and Andheri police stations. It was said that Sanal’s contentions that the so called 'miracle' was promoted by the church to fleece gullible people and the prefix used for the head of the Roman Catholic church by calling him Mr. Pope had angered these Catholics who chose to file this complaint. It was in the newspapers that the Mumbai have summoned Mr. Edamaruku for questioning on this complaint. A committee to defend him under the leadership of the eminent Supreme court lawyer Mr.N.D,.Pancholi has been formed and funds are being collected from all over the world for his defense.

Karantikar (left) with Telugu Revolutionary Folk Singer Gaddar

It is not the first time that this section is being used or that Sanal Edamaruku is the first one to be hauled up under this. A couple of years back Krantikar, State President of Andra Pradesh Rationalist Association and Executive Committee Member of Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations had been hauled up under the same sections and had been in prison for quite some time as he had refused to apply for bail. His crime - he had translated some write ups of Taslima Nasreen which had been published more than decade back and were available to the world at large on the web into Telugu and had published that in book form, which had again angered the local fundamentalist Muslims who were after his blood. The ruling congress party in the state had brought all these sections upon him to please their so called 'minority vote bank'! The way it was done it was pretty obvious that the case would be thrown out by the court but the 'persecution' part of it was more important for the govt.!

Just at the time of the Sanal case hitting the headlines a student of Hyderabad, Kartik had been arrested on the same grounds for reacting that there is no god to someone who had greeted him on Hanuman Jayanthi day. He had been arrested and was in police custody for having expressed his convictions and exercising his constitutional right! Again, the same law was used by a right wing student organisation to target a member of a rival organisation. The saffron gangs are experts in using this law to harass those who do not see eye to eye with them. In fact, they used it to file complaints against those who organised and participated in a 'beef festival' on the campus of Osmania University recently. Though one's dietary habits are one's personal business, one mans food can be another one's religious sentiment! So, people could file complaints under section 295A for eating beef (Hindu religious sentiments), Pork (Muslim religious sentiments), any non vegetarian food (Jain religious sentiments) and so on ad infinitum! It could be also argued that even the menus of hotels are publications which are deliberately and maliciously composed to hurt them and so on.

Like many of the archaic laws made by our colonial masters have been relegated to the dust bin in their country, this law too deserves the same fate. In fact it has been advised by them that we should do so! Yet, we choose to have these which are an affront to the very concept of human rights. If a person has the right to propagate one's religion we should also have the right to question the same. All the religions thrive by striking the fear of the unknown into the minds of people and by spreading superstitious beliefs and questioning any of them would be construed as hurting the religious sentiments and cases filed under section 295A! If those who do so are members of a movement like ours then it could be added that the intent was 'malicious and deliberate'!

I can recall some instances from the past when we have been threatened with this. About a decade ago, I had made a public statement about cows urine being the urine of animal like any other- for instance a dog! At that time a campaign was started by the peddlers of the concoctions containing cow’s urine that it was an attack on the religious sentiments and I should be booked under this section. A big debate went on for weeks and finally a legal luminary concluded it by saying that though I deserved to be punished under that it could not be done as I was born in a Hindu family! If I were to be born in a family professing some other religion then I could have been prosecuted! He also added that criticism and reform was a salient feature of Hinduism! So, the whole controversy died a natural death. We have been threatened with the same when we questioned faith healers of Christianity- the excuse was that they were just conducting prayer meetings! The same was threatened when we exposed one Aslam Baba who was supposedly conducting surgical operations with tailor’s scissors! A couple of years ago when we had tried to investigate Mary's flex prints shedding tears we had to struggle very hard to keep out any such allegations of 'hurting religious sentiments' !

Does this law have a role in our society? Well let us take a look at article 51 A H of the constitution of India which deals with the duties of the citizen it states that-51A. Fundamental duties It shall be the duty of every citizen of India (h)to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform. With a constitution which states this and with a section of the IPC which is contrary it is the article of the constitution which should prevail.

Hulikkal Nataraj

This has been also stated in the Hulikal Nataraj vs Govt of Karnataka judgment of the Karnataka High court. In this case a case was filed against him for making a statement at a placed called Madikeri in Kodagu district of Karnataka. He had stated in a public lecture that the so called miracle at Sabarimala at the Aiyappa temple area was man made. It was about a flame called as Makara vilakku from a hill called as Ponnambala Medu which was opposite the temple. The locals who wanted to hound him and harass him had filed a complaint with the local police station and the station house officer had straightaway filed an FIR and a charge sheet and tried to arrest Nataraj who had gone to the High Court for quashing the case. After a couple of years the judgment came as an indictment of the whole system. In fact the judge called the Home secretary to the court and also withheld the increment of the Sub Inspector who had attempted to arrest Nataraj.

A couple of years back when we had tried to investigate the phenomenon of flex prints of Mary shedding ‘tears’ at the church in Aluva, Kerala there were attempts to convert that too as clash between various sections and to convert it into a outraging religious sentiments issue as in the case of Sanal mentioned above. But, we were very careful in our approach that nothing much could be done.

Such laws like section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code have no place in a civilized society and need to be consigned with many of such to the trash bins of history. Finally after mulling over the legal issues and the secular aspects of the law, a philosophical question needs to be addressed- why does an omnipotent deity need the services of a mundane law made by puny human beings to set right alleged infractions of divine laws made by a higher force? This is for the religious whose feelings are ‘offended’ to answer! 

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Women's Day Musings

Narendra Nayak

When I was asked by the lady of the house(not to say that of my life too!) to go and speak to  students, in her place  about women's rights on the 6th March, it was partly my responsibility to do so! When the NSS officer of a college had telephoned the previous evening, I had received the call to inform the officer that my better half had a sore throat and would call back the next day. However, when there was no improvement in her voice even the next day, I asked her how she would give a talk to the students and she told me that I would- in her place! She was confident as I have spoken to thousands of the female gender in hundreds of interactions in women's educational institutions and other organizations till date. In fact when I am asked to give a talk, I ask for a minimum of two hours but generally it goes on longer and most of my interactions with women's groups have had to be stopped by the exigencies of time.

Here were a group of women’s college students, all members of the NSS (National Service Scheme for the uninitiated) willing to listen and interact and how could I refuse? So, I started my talk with telling them I am a man who is broadminded and has given full independence to his wife and treats her as an equal. They were very appreciative of that and applauded. Then came my standard query -why? They all replied - for my great job of giving her independence! Then I reminded them that independence and equality are their birth right and many times it is taken away! That is a surprise for these girls because they have always thought themselves as subservient.

Then I told them that it is religion which has made them so. That was news to them as they have never linked the two. Then I explained to them how Manu has branded women as those who never can be independent, how Islam treats women and all Abrahamaic religions blame Eve for the downfall of mankind. Then I told them about the concept of heaven in which the Muslim who dies for his religion in Jihad gets dozens of virgins, how the virtuous Hindu goes to heaven and watches the dance of the divine beauties and drinks somaras in heaven. I told them that their place would be only that of these dancers as there was no concept of any female heaven after death in any religion! It was an exclusive male preserve. Then came the talk of loyalties to the spouse- the concept of being a pativrata! There was the mention of this story of Sati Anasuya who was carrying her leprosy and syphilis stricken husband to his paramour's house on her head and on the way his foot touched a Sanyasi and he cursed him and said that he would die at sunrise. The sati laid a curse on the sun and said that it would not rise and her curse came true. This caused havoc and then the gods rushed to her and asked to withdraw her curse and she did that under the condition that her husband would be restored his youth and health! Again, the supposedly equality encouraging religion Islam talks about the universal brotherhood of man- but the woman is out of the picture. There are instances where a woman who was raped was stoned to death for adultery, sometimes coerced into marrying the rapist etc.

This led us into a discussion of marriage and its implications. I mentioned about the ad of an insurance company which exhorts men to save ' for their daughter’s marriage and son’s education'. I asked them why not the other way round? Since the college was an arts and science one I asked those girls about the hypocrisy of their parents who would have sent their brothers to better places for education and the better off people who would have sent their daughters for professional courses. The so called institution of marriage and the ceremonies are meant to keep the woman subservient to the male. The very fact of handing over the girl or kanyadaan implied that the girl was an object or chattel to be handed over to someone else like an act of transfer of ownership. The Hindu marriage rites have mantras handing over the bride to the various gods and then to the bride groom! I also told them that I had not tied the tali (the black ornament round the married woman's neck) to my wife as I felt that it was a sign of bondage. Probably, many of them would have wondered why she was not having it around her neck as well as the other signs of marriage like the bindi or the earrings which she wears only if she feels like! The other hypocrisy is about the wearing of flowers and bangles. Widows are not supposed to wear any of these. In the olden days their heads were shaven and their only apparel was a coarse red sari and their very sight would be considered as inauspicious. They were not allowed to enter temples or attend any ceremonies. But, none of these were applicable to widowers! There were no restrictions on them whatsoever, in fact they were encouraged to remarry as soon as possible to enable some father to a kanyadaan and get rid of his burden.

I brought up the points of the reproductive cycle of the women being an object of public information. I brought up the narrative of my presentation to the Nepal women's commission in which I was told to do some of the so called miracles on women during their periods to demonstrate that they too were like anyone else! But, I told them it would be an impossible for a male to have such a demonstration with a woman from among the public. Of course, some of our women activists may dare say so in public but that would not carry much weight as other women may say that they are our specially trained activists! So, I proposed that I would train some women to perform these and they could go and do the demonstrations at exclusively women’s meetings! The issue of misogynist gods was also discussed. There is the god called as Ayyappa allegedly born out of the union between Vishnu and Shiva (two male gods!) who is supposedly a misogynist, particularly at his abode at Shabarimala in Kerala! Though women are allowed at other Ayyappa temples, they are specifically prohibited from entering a radius of several kilometers from the main temple at Shabarimala. It is not that all women are prohibited but those of the child bearing age. The younger and older ones are allowed. There was this controversy of a Kannada film actor who claimed that she had gone on a visit to the shrine and a criminal case was booked against her! The custom of women having their periods being treated as outcastes and prohibited from entering religious places was also brought up. In fact in some of the houses where the elders were very orthodox, women having their periods were supposed to sit outside with a pot of water by their side as they were considered as untouchable at this time. The girls like all people who have heard or seen me- expect some demonstration of some so called miracle! So, I told them about chastity and its implications for women. In India it is always the woman who is supposed to be chaste and demonstrate that too. So, I asked them whether anyone would come forward to undergo any of these 'tests'! When none volunteered I had to coax two of them to come forward to have burning camphor put on their tongue! They were too scared to do that and so, I did it. Then reluctantly one of them agreed and when it was seen that nothing untoward happened, the other one too agreed for it. I explained to them how it was possible to keep burning camphor on one's tongue and not get burnt and it was comparatively easier for me to persuade two others to come forward for another test- keeping a burning flame on one's forearm! I explained to them how these are done and also that only the woman is expected to prove that she is chaste! Such tests are never demanded from men!

I raised the issue of the hypocrisy of religions in dealing with the sexuality of women- some of the religions making compulsory the practice of circumcision for the male which is supposed to enhance the pleasure of sexual intercourse while performing female genital mutilation which takes way all the pleasure of sex for the female and makes the sexual intercourse a very painful experience for them. The hypocrisy of the chauvinist male was highlighted by their experiences at home- how their brothers were given precedence in many things and how their father would tell his wife when something good happened that his son/daughter had accomplished that and how if something untoward occurred he would say- see how your son/daughter behaves!

   One very important question that was asked about the attitudes of the male as one young woman pointed out, she said even when the wife is more educated, well employed, earns more than the husband, her behaviour is always looked upon with suspicion. I replied to her that such an attitude comes because of the inferiority complex of the male. The men feel insecure when their wives earn more/are better educated/better placed than them. Some of these girls brought up the issue of 'moral policing' which is very rampant in this district. I told them that this was restricted to women! The moral police never dared to do that with men. What an adult woman does and who she goes with is her personal business and none had any right to interfere with that.

On the Women’s Day my message to these young women was only one- you are equal to all! You have the same rights as a man. Be aware, organize yourselves and fight for your rights. You have nothing to lose but your bonds. That is possible only when there is no suppression of rights. In a secular democracy, religion is an individual’s personal business and does not interfere with the human rights of any section of the population.

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The Rise of Intolerance

Narendra Nayak

As we progress in material terms and with the rise of technology one would expect the society to become more tolerant, liberated and open to all points of view however much they differ from what we hold. But, we see that the opposite is happening.  The success of a democracy is measured by the extent of freedom of expression of the citizens and the protection given to exercise this right. The right to dissent and that to blasphemy are fundamental human rights.

But. what is happening today in our country as well as some other parts of the world runs quite contradictory to this. The rising intolerance to the contradictory point of view is now becoming a great danger to democracy and the freedom of expression of the individual. This could be anything from preventing a marriage between two consenting adults to preventing some one from speaking his point of view to trying to restrict the freedom of the press. This has gone to extent of  attempts at curbing the rights of individuals to speak out their minds on the so called 'social web sites', that too by the judiciary which is supposed to uphold the fundamental rights of the citizen. We in Karnataka have been increasingly subjected to such attacks by all sorts of outfits belonging to various religious and political denominations. The same has been now observed at the national level. While these outfits tend to support individuals who have points of view inconvenient to those which have a conflicting interest, when it come to their own their attitude becomes totally different. For example the saffron outfits which prima facie support Salman Rushdie's freedom of expression have attacked journalists for writing things about some historical individuals who they feel are their exclusive property though they lived long before these came into existence! Again, we can see the defenders of freedom of expression belonging to some religions who act like supporters of democratic rights in countries where they are in minority while in those in which they are in majority have been converted to Islamic republics where their primitive tribal laws hold sway! Some of them even claim that Islamic rights are superior to human rights as proposed by the United nations organisation!

The rise of this intolerance has reached such depths that we have had ministers commenting on how what women wear invites rape! In fact, this is an indirect support for those who can say they were provoked into rape by the way women dress! This could be also an indirect way of strengthening the gender stereotypes of the religious beliefs in which women are looked upon as chattels. In fact this has been happening in some places where there are claims of 'love jihad' as if women are some commodities who can be easily hoodwinked or traded. This attitude is particularly reflected when a marriage takes place. Instead of looking at that as a decision of two individuals to live together, it is viewed as a reflection on the status of castes and religious beliefs of the families of these individuals. Many times, even murders have taken place to preserve the 'family honour'! The revulsion is more in the case of interreligious marriages and those which occur between those of a 'touchable' and untouchable caste! Having assisted hundreds of such youngsters in love to get married, I have noticed the maximum opposition when one of them is a dalit! It does not matter whether it the male or the female! the very thought of a caste Hindu marrying a dalit is anathema to the families of the 'upper caste' partner of the marriage.

The funniest part of this intolerant society is their selective support to the victims of intolerance of their perceived enemies. the saffron groups for example have condemned the attack on Salman Rushdie by the Muslims. the most recent one in this has been the protest against Rushdie attending the Jaipur literature festival and speaking there. This has been condemned by some of the saffron gangs as a infringement of right to freedom of expression. All this while one of the victims of their attack, the artist Hussain was protected by islamists! It is but natural that ones enemy's victim is a friend to be supported! This intolerance has now been extended to literature too.

The most recent protest in this respect has been about a book called Gandhi Banda which has been a prescribed non detailed one for the degree classes of the Mangalore University. While this has been in the syllabus for quite some time, it is only very recently fund to be offensive to one particular community- the gold smiths! Though the person referred to is a carpenter called as Achari in Tulu the local language, the community of goldsmiths who are also called Achari had threatened to go on protest. however, nothing much actually materialised out of this threat! However, the moving forces behind this so called protest are actually the Shivalli brahmins about whom is this work of fiction! Though based on a true story of a brahmin widow marrying a Muslim, The book depicted the cruelty to widows and a young woman rebelling against it in the back ground of the freedom struggle in the district. Though the attempts to get it removed from the prescribed list of text books has not succeeded so far, we do not know when it will be proscribed.

The reaction to a write up in a popular Kannada daily, the Prajavani by a student organisation is another example of this hooliganism. The write up pointed out that Swami Vivekananda whose 150th birth anniversary is being celebrated all over the country as a mortal with all his shortcomings. He was described as a dull student, his history in service that of being removed from hsi post for not being very good in teaching etc were mentioned and the author took pains to explain that despite all these he managed to build up a strong movement, revived the reformist streak in the Hindu society and emphasised on the eradication of many social evils including the caste system. he was also portrayed as a non vegetarian with a fondness for cooking good food and also suffering from many ailments. This had perhaps punctured the egos of certain elements who had imagined him to be of a strong muscular build and a vegetarian too. More than anything it must have been an attempt to hog the lime light. While the choice of some words to describe him could be called uncomplementary though not defamatory the reaction was an act of total intolerance to anything that does not conform to the what the protesters thought was right.Even a protest could be justified as it is everyone's democratic right to protest but it cannot be done by violence and destruction of property!

The level of this expression of intolerance has been fine tuned to such an extent that they are conflicts even among the upper castes themselves about their degrees of purity! For example GSBs (Gowd saraswath brahmins) have been physically removed from the rows of Shivalli brahmins who fancy themselves as those with a higher degree of ;purity'. It has come to the extent of even boycott of a swami from one of their own maths for having committed the 'sin' of crossing the seas which climaxed into high drama with one of seers going on a fast to protest this injustice to him and the most senior one of them going on a counter fast!

Culminating this series of localised acts of intolerance come the attempts at the national level to curb all dissent and freedom of expression. Under the guise that certain statements or pictures may offend the 'religious sentiments' of particular communities the central govt. is thinking of enacting legislation to 'filter out'  what is called as 'objectionable content' from the internet. While it is powerless to act against against individuals and organisations which incite communal sentiments and even exhort the listeners to commit even murders, the action is being contemplated against those peacefully express their views of the net! The culture if it can be called as so of intolerance is on the rise in our society. It is coming to such levels that the freedom of expression is being curtailed and human rights are being trampled upon. matters have come to such a head that some citizens have become authorities by themselves and hold their self made 'constitutions' to be superior to that applicable to all other citizens. If the superiority of the constitution of this country is not asserted by those whose responsibility it is to do so than this country has a very bleak future. the silent majority as to be expected from them are keeping up their tradition of being silent while the vocal microscopic minority professing their own laws have the ears and eyes of the media and that of the nation. Unless we the silent majority break our silence and make ourselves heard we can be sure that a time will come when we are going to be silenced for ever and it will be too late to repent.

Bearing the risk of repetition I once again quote the great parliamentarian Edmund Burke-

All it takes for the dark forces of evil to take over this world is enough number of good people who want to donothing.let us stop being those good people who want to nothing.

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Time to Move On

Narendra Nayak

While Ajitha's death was a very sad one and there are no reasons to suspect any foul play, it is time for us to introspect and move on.

Ajita Kamal with James Randi

I have been associated with Nirmukta before the site was started and I think I have been the most prolific of the contributors to the site. Ajita had contacted me about Premanand at the time when he was seriously ill and was not to survive for long. We wanted to build up the movement and involve the younger generation too. So, this web site was his brainchild. I was sceptical about it but wanted to give it a try. So, I started sending him reports regularly and also involved many others too. So, the group grew. We also started the freethinker groups. He had plans to support FIRA (Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations) and join my tours etc.

Though he came to India and it did not happen. But, he was in touch and the posting continued. I have had some telephonic conversations with him and have met him personally only once at the Chennai Thinkfest. He said he would attend Mukti the program we planned for Mangalore but did not turn up. I had sent him a write up about Madesnana which was not put up. I had sent it to him again thinking that it was perhaps missed. There was no reply and I had the first inkling that there could be something wrong. This was confirmed when I had calls from Prabhakar, Aravind, Bala, Ganesh, Geetha and others.


As I have already said it is time for us to introspect why this has happened. The grass root level movement will not be affected in any way as most of these organisations are not e savvy and are more into working with the people. The web community and the freethinker groups may be shocked and may be some are dazed. But, it is time to move on. We have to think of effective ways to keep Nirmukta going and build up the movement. That would be the best tribute to him. Many groups have many ideas and we should have discussions on these things as to how to achieve this objective and also perpetuate his memory.

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Made Snana: Extraordinary Claims Need Extraordinary Evidence

Narendra Nayak

Loosely translated into English, Made Snana means taking bath on leftovers but a detailed one would mean rolling over the leaves on which others have eaten and discarded. .Again, a lengthier one would be lower caste people rolling on the leaves on which Brahmins have eaten! This has been taking place since hundreds of years if some are to be believed. Again, if some others are to be believed, it is a time honored tradition which has sanction of 'scriptures'. This happens in quite a few places and as a child I have observed the same when I used to go to temples with my mother. But, I am told that it was and is still an affair which happens between people of the same caste that is GSBs performing this act on leaves on which the members of their own community have eaten. But, what happened at the Kukke Subrahamanya Temple is something totally different. Here the scheduled tribe people performed this act on leaves on which Shivalli Brahmins have partaken food. This again brings to the fore many issues which have to be discussed in detail. 

Rationalists and  other progressive activists in Bangalore staged a protest
against Made Snana on December 3, 2011

This temple is, to put it mildly, not as popular as the one nearby at Dharmasthala. The latter being owned by a Jain has drawn more people particularly from the other side of the Western Ghats and subsequently has higher collections. The owner of this temple has been also running many capitation fee colleges and businesses. In order to compete with it, the management of the Subrahmanya Temple has been trying its best to get publicity. Its speciality is providing solutions for naga dosha which in loose translation means problems due to cobra or serpent trouble! These problems could be anything from sterility to skin diseases. Once diagnosed the performance of proper prescribed rituals could result in relief from the associated problems. So, any one going there could be diagnosed with that. Since the dosha or the fault can carry on to several generations it could be said that your grandfather or great grandfather could have performed some act which would have caused harm or angered some serpent. So, that could be set right by performing some rituals which could expiate these sins and hence relieve the victim of the associated problems.

One usually sees a large number of people alighting from the train from Bangalore to Mangalore at the Subrahmanya road railway station which is the nearest one to this temple. So, the whole place thrives on the business of ridding people of the sarpa dosha! As already said it has been competing for popularity with the temple of Manjunatha at Dharmasthala which is paradoxically a Hindu temple owned by a Jain! Though the latter is far ahead in popularity, the former cannot be blamed for not trying its best! In fact they have provided 'relief' from the serpent affliction to quite a few VVIPs like Sachin Tendulkar, Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bachan to name a few. But despite all these the former remains far ahead in terms of popularity (in other words collection of cash).

So, the word has gone around that the ritual of rolling over the leaves on which Brahmins have eaten can cure a number of skin diseases and also other things like bestowing children on sterile couples. But, if one goes by the history of such practices, it looks more like a rite for the downtrodden to perform to demonstrate their loyalty to the upper castes who have partaken food on these leaves. In this temple which is run by Shivalli Brahmins, their community is served separately and the others have to eat outside like all such places.

Surendra Rao of Samudaya speaks at the protest meet in front of Town Hall, Bangalore

There are instances where people have been forcibly evicted from the places reserved for this community! It has been done not just to the supposedly lower castes but even to Gowda Saraswath Brahmins who though call themselves so are held in low esteem by these so called upper castes! So, behind these practices lies a simmering cauldron of caste politics. In fact these castes like Koragas have been subjected to inhuman practices like what was called as Ajalu. They were served meals on leaves on which Brahmins have eaten along with a clipping of a nail or hair, dancing before the procession of deities etc, which have now been banned. These things were done ostensibly to transfer the 'bad luck' caused by some inauspicious combination of planets to these people!

The reactions to this practice of made snana were diametrically opposite. The Dalit activists who opposed it were manhandled by the very people indignities against whom were being protested - malekudiyas who belong to scheduled tribe, attacked the Dalit activist Shivaram who was submitting a memorandum against this practice to the administrator of the temple and police were silent spectators to this outrage.

The volte face of the government on this issue of first banning the ritual and then permitting it left much to be desired. More strange were the attitudes of the ministers. Some of the Dalit ministers opposed the ritual while those like Dr.V.S.Acharya supported it! There are many strong reasons why the latter is supporting it. Firstly, it is a temple belonging to Shivally Brahmins the community to which he belongs. Then again there is a strong Hindutwa lobby supporting these primitive barbaric rituals which he wanted to please. He also puts forward many theories to support his contentions which deserve to be analysed in detail as Dr.V.S.Acharya is an MBBS graduate who has been trained to and is expected to follow evidence based, scientific system of medicine.

So, if he justifies such a practice on medical grounds as he did he owes a lot of explanations to the scientific community which should be forthcoming. In any scientific system of medicine any practice associated with the process of diagnosis or treatment should be subjected to proper scrutiny before being followed. So, statements like practicing made snana may cause formation of antibodies, have to be justified with proper evidence. The long winded explanation for this is that saliva may contain some bacteria, viruses or some such which could stimulate the production of antibodies and boost the immune system of those who roll on the leaves which have been used. Hahnemann, the father of Homoeopathy has been also quoted here. Well, if something has to be accepted for treatment on the basis of scientific system of medicine it should be supported by evidence. So, we should advocate clinical trials to validate these claims and these could be as follows:

1. Making Brahmins roll over leaves on which Dalits have eaten
2. Making Dalits roll over leaves on which Dalits have eaten
3. Making Dalits do the same on which Brahmins have eaten
4. And lastly, do it with Brahmins on leaves on which they have eaten and then compare the anti body levels.

As for his resort to Homeopathy, he should understand that it is not an indigenous system of medicine and that a number of double blind trials have shown that it does not work and it has been removed from the National Health Service in UK.

Again many other practices which have been now banned could have been given such justification like nude worship being needed to expose the skin to sunlight to get more vitamin D, child marriage helping to develop deeper bonds between the couples, widow burning being needed to protect them from misery, shaving their heads would protect them from lice etc. All these were well accepted practices at one time and have been now banned. If Dr.Acharya is a firm believer in this theory of antibodies being formed by this ritual he should start this practice himself and boost his own immune system too. Though one cannot agree with the arguments of those who oppose this- like it helps to spread diseases or transmits HIV virus, the practice has to be opposed if it is degrading a particular community that too one like the Malekudiyas who are a scheduled tribe. This system of performing the ritual on the leaves on which only one community have eaten is again violation of human rights of others who profess the same religion.

More to be condemned is the violence perpetrated on the activists who had gone to investigate the happenings. The perpetrators of this were honored as if they were heroes. These attempts to perpetuate the caste divide were supported by the victims themselves who allegedly threatened to stop their annual duty of decorating the temple chariot unless they were allowed to perform this degrading ritual of rolling over eaten leaves. This shows that either they must have been instigated or that their deep rooted superstitions must have scared them of the divine repercussions that would ensue if they ceased to perform this ritual. It is a pity that even during these times where science has progressed to the level of identifying the micro organisms which cause leprosy that there are those who still believe that it is caused by the curse of a serpent and doing meaningless rituals like this can cure it. It is worse that there are 'educated' people in positions of power who keep trotting out excuses for these without a shred of evidence. For those who argue that it is for us to disprove such claims we quote “extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence” and that what can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

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