Foreign rulers redefined India’s economic, social and political landscape. As a result several misconceptions arose about the followers of Dharma for e.g. they are continuously criticized for the Dowry system and treatment of their women. But did you that –

a) Dowry system is a result of socio-economic changes brought about by the British in undivided Punjab (read “Dowry Murder, Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime” by Veena Talwar).

b) In 1661 the islands of Bombay were given in dowry to King Charles II of England when he married Catherine de Braganza of Portugal.

c) It was only in 1920 that women in the U.S. earned right to vote & contest.

However, women of India were accorded higher status long before. Some examples. The famous dialogue between Yajnavalkya and his wife Maitreyi and Gargi Vachaknavi show how enlightened (spiritual knowledge) the women intellectuals of that age were. In the recent past warriors like Rani of Jhansi & administrators like Ahilyabai Holkar (ruled over Indore from 1766 to 1795) have done womankind proud.

Indian identity & thought continues to be defined by erstwhile rulers. When a person’s identity is defined by another the person who defines calls the shots for eg the British gave us the concepts of secularism and minority rights without defining either of these terms. Many countries have, at various points of time, criticized India for its failure to protect secularism. Yet if we were to compare the practice of secularism in India with that in Britain, U.S.A. or Germany these countries could almost be labeled communal.

Muslims called the residents of India Hindu and the British divided them further into Hindus, Buddhist, Sikhs, Jains and so on. Not only did this weaken the followers of Dharma but it also stifled creativity. New age Guru Deepak Chopra has rightly pointed out the constraints of definitions & divisions: “Q. how you would define your work? A. Definitions by their nature have an imprisoning effect; they block your creativity and potential”. (Excerpt from an interview in the Times of India, 6/1/04).

Unfortunately the Congress took over from where the British left. Socialist policies after Independence made profit a dirty word. Yet a majority of Indians continue to worship Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth. In fact, wealth creation has always been important to us. “From times immemorial, the great aims of human endeavor have been classified in India as dharma, artha, kama and moksha roughly translated as moral behaviour, wealth, worldly pleasures and salvation”. (Kautilya the Arthashastra by L N Rangarajan published by Penguin). While Artha has a much wider significance than merely wealth, making profit was never a dirty word. What mattered was how the wealth was earned and spent.

For nearly fifty years after Independence we pursued inward looking socialist policies. Such an attitude hindered India’s progress in many ways. Notably, it reduced her share of world trade (1950: 1.29%, 1970: 0.68%, 1990: 0.52%, and 2000: 0.67%), increased poverty and created a shortage economy.  Yet historically we have always been global citizens. Symbols of Indian influence are visible and well known in South-East Asia, the Far East and the Middle East. Visit section Ancient India and the outside world.

When a nation or human being behaves in a manner that is contrary to her inner nature long-term progress is impossible. The day Indians decide to shed the baggage of the past & be guided by Indian thought is the day its people would be said to have achieved true freedom. The Information Technology sector has shown us the way.

I draw inspiration from the following words of Swami Vivekananda. “India must conquer the world and nothing less is my ideal. Our eternal foreign policy must be the preaching of the Shastras to the nations of the world. One of the reasons for India's downfall was that she narrowed herself, went into a shell, as the oyster does and refused to give her treasures and jewels to the other races of mankind outside the Aryan fold”. (Selections from The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda published by Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta pg 299).

Simply put Swami Vivekananda’s words imply that when we share we grow. Expansion is life, contraction is death.

The word Colonization is usually referred to British rule in India. I have chosen to expand the scope of this word to include Muslim & British rule over India.  Part one of the article refers to imported concepts and part two gives corresponding Indian thought. The chart below provides a summary.

Concepts

Part One
1. Our country has three names. Bharat meaning land of knowledge, Hindustan refers to the Urdu speaking areas of the Indian sub-continent, India is of Greek origin (The Greeks, who probably gained their first ideas of India from the Persians, dropped the hard aspirate, and called the Hindus ‘Indoi’ – Bramchari Siddheswar Shai v State of West Bengal, AIR Supreme Court 2089). India was called Bharat because for thousands of years India was home to knowledge about the inner self & its relationship to the external world.

2. Sri Aurobindo on Dharma vs. Democracy “It has been said that democracy is based on the rights of man; it has been replied that it should rather take its stand on the duties of man; but both rights and duties are European ideas. Dharma is the Indian conception in which rights and duties lose the artificial antagonism created by a view of the world, which makes selfishness the root of action, and regain their deep and eternal unity. Dharma is the basis of democracy which Asia must recognize, for in this lies the distinction between the soul of Asia and the soul of Europe”. (India’s Rebirth by Sri Aurobindo).

As a government model Democracy is here to stay but what is needed is a change in attitude. Most people interpret the meaning of the word “right” as what is in it for the individual. Dharma is about practicing Righteousness in all our actions. It is where rights and duties loose their relevance. Instead, there is a transformation from asking - what you can do for me to what I can do for you. When one removes ‘I and Me’ from one’s mind one eliminates ego and hatred towards fellow human beings. Then peace has a stronger chance of prevailing. 

3. Secularism – is referred to often to by politicians & media alike but few of us are able to define it clearly or tell us the manner in which it operates in Western democracies. Here are certain legal, practical aspects of secularism within India and worldwide.

The word ‘Secularism’ was not part of the preamble of the Constitution in 1950 but was inserted by Smt Indira Gandhi during the Emergency. The word, however, was not defined. This is how an ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Justice Ahmadi defined it, “Notwithstanding the fact that the words Socialist and Secular were added in the Preamble of the Constitution in 1976 by the 42nd amendment, the concept of secularism was very much embedded in our constitutional philosophy. The term ‘Secular’ has advisedly not been defined presumably because it is a very elastic term not capable of a precise definition and perhaps best left undefined. By this amendment what was implicit was made explicit”. (All India Reporter, 1995, S.C. 1-1376).

How can a word that forms part of the Preamble be elastic, capable of free interpretation? Secularism can be meant to be, “equal respect for all religions, separation of religion from state and not letting religion be the basis for any government expenditure”. Are we Secular? Based on this definition we are a communal state. A few examples.

At the Central level religion is a basis for different law. Such laws relate to women’s rights, funding of religious education such as madrassas and allowing minorities to manage their places of worship. Please read “A Looming Disaster” by Subhash Kak
http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/08kak.htm.

At a State level too religion plays an important part. The Maharashtra government passed an Ordinance recently for taking over the affairs of the Shirdi Sai Baba Trust near Nasik. Why must the government be involved in managing temples? Does it manage mosques & churches? In a recent article titled “Nationalization of Hindu Temples” Sandhya Jain wrote. “In 2002, Karnataka received Rs. 72 crores as revenue, returned Rs. 10 crores for temple maintenance, and granted Rs. 50 crores for madrasas and Rs. 10 crores for churches’. (Daily Pioneer, October 7, 2003.) Must not temple collections be used for the benefit of Hindus alone? Why must temple collections go to the State Treasury?

Now let us look what happens around the world! In Germany every Christian pays tax to the Church of up to 9%. If one is not a Christian, he can disclose it and this amount will not be charged. Even a Christian can decide not to pay this amount but then he might face social problems such as difficulty arranging his marriage in the church.
          
Some of the money collected by the Church in Germany appears to find its way into India. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs site http://mha.nic.in/fore.htm, of the Rs 4,535.23 crores (year 2000-2001) received under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1961 Rs 664.51 crores was received from Germany. In the absence of clear information, it would be reasonable to assume that money was received from Churches or Christian organizations there. So indirectly tax paid by German citizens is used for rural development, health care & family welfare etc or!

By virtue of payment of tax to the Church Germany is mixing religion & state. If every Hindu in India were asked to pay a tax to the Ramakrishna Mission it would be labeled a communal nation. However, no one calls Germany a communal state? In practice they are secular in many ways e.g. they have one law for all citizens unlike India which is called secular but does not have a uniform civil code.

“In England there is a close alliance between the church and state. The monarch of England is the head of the Church. Further a Catholic or anyone who marries a Catholic cannot be the monarch of England”. (Secularism Revisited by R.A. Jahagirdar published by Indian Secular Society, Mumbai). It is like President Kalam also being the President of a Hindu organization. Are the State & Church not one? Yet, no one can call England a communal state. However, in practice they are secular because they have one law for all citizens and do not, unlike India, make religion the basis for administrative expenditure e.g. they do not give a subsidy to those Muslims who go for the Haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

The concept of Secularism originated in Europe because the Church did not allow either individuals or rulers to function in ways that went against its dogmas & authority. Secularism meant taking away property away from the Church & giving it to the State.

4. Included in the definition of Secularism is the word Religion. But what is religion?  Sri Aurobindo wrote, “There is no word as plastic and uncertain in its meaning as the word religion. The word is European….”. (India’s Rebirth by Sri Aurobindo).

Religion is a Semitic concept and as a faith distinguishes by its belief in a historical prophet and a holy book. Thus the combination of Jesus and the Bible or Mohammed and the Quran establish the distinct identity of Christianity and Islam. According to these religions salvation is possible only if you accept the authority of their prophet and holy book. So each of these religions holds that theirs is the only true path.
As a concept Religion is alien to us. Neither does Hinduism have a prophet or holy book nor does not it say that only Hindus can achieve self-realization. Open-mindedness and simultaneous existence of various schools has been the hallmark of Indian thought.

Here is an example of how the followers of Jaina Darsana or the Jaina way to self-realization have become followers of a different religion Jainism. Now what does the term Jaina mean? “The term ‘Jaina’ is derived from the term ‘Jina’. And the term ‘Jina’ is the common name for the supreme souls who are totally free from all the feelings of attachment, etc that defile the soul. It is a noun from Sanskrit verbal root ‘ji’ meaning ‘to conquer’. Arhan (the Worthy) and Vitaraga (One free from attachment) and Paramesthi (the Supreme Divinity) are the synonyms of Jina. And devotees of Jina are called Jaina. And the Religion propounded by Jina is called Jaina Religion. Arhata Dharma (Religion propounded by the Worthy), Anekantadarsana (Philosophy of Non-one-sidedness), Nirgranthasasana (Teachings of the Knotless), Vitaragamarga (Path made and enlightened by one who is free from attachment) – these are the terms employed for Jaina Religion & Philosophy.

The term ‘darsana’ occurring in the title ‘Jaina Darsana’ of the original Gujarati work does not yield the sense of philosophy. It is employed in the sense of religious sect (dharma-sampradaya). The title, therefore means, ‘the work giving information about religious and philosophical thought of a religious sect known as ‘Jaina Dharma’. The tradition which rightly offers pure thought is called sampradaya (sam+pra+daya, meaning that which offers rightly.” (Jaina Darsana by Munisri Nyayavijayaji in Gujarati translated into English as Jaina Philosophy & Religion by Shri Nagin Shah published by Bhogilal Lehar Chand Institute of Indology).

Interestingly the English translator has converted the Gujarati title of Jaina Darsana into Jaina Philosophy & Religion and used the words religion and dharma as if they were synonymous. However, these two words have completely different meanings.

Are we suggesting that the term religion be removed from the Indian Constitution? Not at all. However, it is important for followers of Indian religions to understand that the concept of religion is alien to India. Instead they must understand and acknowledge the concept of Dharma. Religion divides but Dharma unites them.

5. Arising from the word Religion is our identity meaning Hinduism. This word has two components, Hindu & ism. Taking the latter, ism represents an ideology like socialism, Marxism and so on. Coming to the word Hindu. The Persians who came to the Indian sub-continent could not pronounce the word S in Sindhu and replaced it with H meaning Hindu. Ex-President Dr S Radhakrishnan wrote: “The people on the Indian side of the Sindhu were called Hindu by the Persian and the later western invaders (The Hindu View of Life by Dr Radhakrishnan pg 12). The term ‘Hindu’ according to Dr Radhakrishnan had originally a territorial and not a creedal significance. It implies residence in a well defined geographical area”. (Bramchari Siddheswar Shai v State of West Bengal, 1995 AIR Supreme Court 2089).

Some of my Sikh friends do not want to be called Hindus because of the definition of a Hindu in the Urdu English dictionary (Standard 20th century Dictionary by Educational Publishing House, Delhi). Here a Hindu is defined as slave, thief, and black.

What is the equivalent of Hinduism? Sanatan Dharma, more about that later.

6. The next symbol is our national language Hindi. “By Hindui we mean the modern idiom since the beginning of our century and as spoken as present. There is of course no essential difference between Hindui & Hindi as regards the significance of the two adjectives, hindui being derived from Hindu, a Hindu and Hindi from the Arab noun hind”. (Adi Granth by Dr Ernest Trump, 1877 published by Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers). What we call the national language is actually Khariboli form of Hindi that was spoken close to Delhi. It did not come into use before 1800 a.d. & its effective literary development started only after 1850. Prior to 1850 when we said Hindi literature it meant Brajbhasa the most important form of Western Hindi. Note that Persian was the official language of India till 1837.

Making Hindi the national language created numerous problems. For one the North South divide. The anti-Hindi agitation of the 60-70’s in Tamil Nadu might never have happened or with lesser intensity. Today a number of Indians whose mother tongue is not Hindi are uncomfortable or dislike speaking Hindi. If they do speak Hindi it is of the Bollywood TV variety, which is more Urdu than Hindi. Although Indian in origin, Urdu has mostly Persian / Arabic words. Only recently noted lyrists Gulzar said that what we call Hindi movies are actually 70 % Urdu.

The mother of Indian languages is Sanskrit. We aren’t even aware of the prevalence of Sanskrit words in Indonesian / Thai languages. Knowing Sanskrit might have enabled the average Indian to forge closer cultural ties with these countries. Sooner or later it would have resulted in greater trade between India & those countries besides bringing us closer to ASEAN. For e.g. how many of us know that the Indonesian President Meghawati Sukornoputri has a Sanskrit name. In 1947 Biju Patnaik visited Indonesia at a time when President Sukarno’s wife has just given birth to a baby girl. It was raining heavily when he met the Indonesian President so he suggested the name of “Meghawati” (Megha in Sanskrit means rain cloud).

Having said that the last decade has seen a wider acceptance of Hindi. It would be unwise and probably very difficult to change the national language now.

7. Calendar – “Another interesting point is the year the present-day Gregorian calendar commences from, the 'year of grace', which signifies the year in which Jesus was born, and the beginning of the Christian era. The year is followed by the initials 'AD' which stand for 'Anno Domini', Latin for 'in the year of our Lord'. But the Bible clearly gives reference to Jesus being born during the reign of King Herod, who died in 4 BC! All of Christendom now universally accepts that Jesus was born between 8-4 BC”.
http://www.swaminarayan.org/essays/2003/2207.htm.

Unlike the Christian calendar which is based on the birth of Jesus the Vikram Samvat calendar is based on the year from which King Vikramaditya established peace & prosperity over Malwa.

Part 2 gives you corresponding Indian thought.

1. Instead of Rights what we need is Selfless action. Let each one of us endeavor to do some good for the nation. It could be creating international brands, donating money for education & health, sharing positive aspects of our country with the world. Ask not what the country does for you but what you do for the country.

2. Our country must be renamed as Bharat (Land of knowledge) because knowledge about the Self is as intrinsic to us as fish is to water. Today India is increasingly being perceived as a Knowledge country. We have a long way to go but Indians are increasingly contributing to world progress. We can be said to have truly become the world’s Knowledge capital the day we develop an equivalent of Microsoft’s Windows, an Agni missile that has a range of over 5,000 kms with nuclear warheads and when India is amongst the world’s top three education / healthcare destinations. 

3. The teaching of a simplified form of Sanskrit must be encouraged through incentives to students. This would have numerous benefits. For one Indians living in North, West & East would be able to relate with South Indian languages since all of them are influenced by Sanskrit. Two it would enable Indians to understand better the languages of S.E. Asia for e.g. Thai / Indonesian Basaha have a number of Sanskrit words.

Some of you might ask, why learn Sanskrit? “The report of the Sanskrit Commission (set up by the Government of India) which was submitted in 1957 speaks eloquently about the importance of Sanskrit. At page 71 of the report has been mentioned that Sanskrit is one of the greatest languages of the world and it is a classical language par excellence not only of India but of a good part of Asia too. At page 73 the report states that the Indian people and the Indian civilization were born, so as to say, in the lap of Sanskrit and it went hand in hand with the historical development of the Indian people, and gave the noblest expression to their mind & culture which has come down to our day as an inheritance of priceless order for India for the entire world” (Supreme Court judgment of 4/10/1994). The report further speaks at page 74 about the great mental & spiritual link of Sanskrit and of it being the elder sister of Greek & Latin, and cousin of English, Russian & French. (Secularism: Supreme Judiciary vs. Hindu Baiters by Dina Nath Mishra appeared in Dialogue vol 5 no 2, October to December 2003).

A couple of years ago The Times of India carried an interview with Dr Raja Ramana, distinguished nuclear scientist & ex-head of BARC. He was asked whether he had any regrets in life. He said, ‘Yes, I did not learn Sanskrit’.

4. The Indian equivalent of Religion is Dharma but what is Dharma or Righteousness?  President Kalam said at the Global Dharma Conference, July 27,2003
http://presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/speecheslectures.jsp
Excerpts: “Righteousness - Recently, I heard a hymn in the divine campus which I would like to share with you. The name of the hymn is 'Peace in the World':

Where there is righteousness in the heart
There is a beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,
there is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.
There is a order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There is peace in the world.

Friends, we can see a beautiful connectivity between heart,
character, nation and the world. How to inject righteousness in the
human heart? This is indeed the purpose of human creation - that is
divinity”.

Swami Rama wrote, explanation to verse 31 and 32 of chapter 2, “Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna that one’s duty is of paramount importance, for it is the means to fulfill the purpose of life. That which supports the fulfillment of one’s duty is called Dharma. Dharma is not comparable to religion; it encompasses all the dimensions of life both within and without. It refers to duties done harmoniously, skillfully, selflessly and lovingly. It supports one in fulfilling the purpose of life and helps one to relate to others and to society in a harmonious way”. (Swami Rama is founder of the Himalayan International Institute in the “Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita pg 70”).

Simply put Dharma is selfless action. Dharma unites while religion divides us.

5. What is Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism? Pandit Vamdava Shastri wrote “It is the Eternal or Universal Dharma. Dharma means universal law, the fundamental principles behind this marvelous universe like the Law of Karma. Sanatana means perennial, referring to eternal truths that manifests in ever-new names and forms. Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world because it is based on the eternal origins of creation. But it is also the newest religion in the world because it adjusts to new names and forms to every generation and looks to living teachers not old books, as its final authority”. (Hinduism and the Clash of Civilizations published by Voice of India).

Essentials of Sanatana Dharma –
a) Sanatana Dharma is anadi (without beginning) and is apaurusheya meaning to say it has no historical founder. It is the quest for cosmic truth by ancient sages who tried to learn the truth about the universe in relation to man’s place in the cosmos. It has no founder like Christianity has Jesus & Islam has Prophet Muhammad. One cannot imagine these religions without them. In religions with a founder, their word must be accepted without question. This naturally leads to men exercising political power in the name of God. Conversely in Sanatana Dharma every individual is free to question any scripture or religious work. A person is considered great because of his teachings or message unlike historical religions where word of the founder is to be accepted without question.  

b) Sanatana Dharma recognizes the Freedom of the Individual. It recognizes no prophet’s claim as the possessor of the only truth or the only way meaning you can follow your own path. Conversely the Rigveda says: “ekam sat, vipra bahuda vadanti”, meaning “cosmic truth is one, but the wise express it in many ways”.

c) Further what governs Christianity & Islam is not God/Allah but the founder i.e. Jesus & Muhammad. They are supposed to be messengers of God but they have become more important than God.

d) I think the simplest and most important feature of Sanatana Dharma is the freedom of spirit. There are no dogmas or rules to say that you need to pay five times a day or go to the Church every Sunday. This freedom has allowed it to grow and evolve with time. This freedom of spirit has most concisely expressed in the famous Gayatri Mantra which prays: “dhiyo yo nah pracodayat” which means, “Inspire our Intellect”. So the greatest prayer is for clarity of thinking. (essence of paras a to d taken from Hindutva & The Nation by Pandit Vamadeva Shastri & N S Rajaram published by Naimisha Research Foundation Bangalore).

e) Law of Karma simply meant to be “we reap what we sow” distinguishes the followers of Dharma from Christianity & Islam.

f) Tolerance – “Naturally enough it was realized by Hindu religion from the very beginning of its career that truth was many-sided and different views contained different aspects of the truth which no one could fully express. This knowledge inevitably bred a spirit of tolerance and willingness to understand & appreciate the opponent’s point of view. That is how several views set forth in India are considered to be branches of the self-same tree”. (Bramchari Siddheswar Shai v State of West Bengal, 1995 AIR Supreme Court 2089).

g) Its principles and values are Universal in nature. Any human being can follow them. This means that a Christian can learn yoga/reikhi or study Vedanta philosophy without changing his religion.

No wonder Sri Aurobindo said the following words on 30/5/1909 “When it is said that India shall be great, it is Sanatan Dharma that shall be great”. (India’s Rebirth by Sri Aurobindo).

6. Secularism needs to be defined to mean equal respect for all religions meaning a Uniform Civil Code, economic / social status not religion to be a basis of government aid, no State Aid to institutions that impart religious education, followers of every religion be allowed to manage their religious & charitable institutions with no state interference, one man one wife to be the rule for all, family planning to be followed uniformly, every Indian women must have the same marriage and property rights and cow slaughter must be banned.

7. Vikram Samvat – http://www.swaminarayan.org/essays/2003/2207.htm “In addition to the natural reckoning of days, months, seasons, and the year, a continuously running era is required for the recording of dates. The era currently popular in the Indian calendar is the Vikram Era, or Vikram Samvat. The Vikram Era is ascribed to King Vikram, also known as Vikramaditya. It is generally accepted that Vikramaditya was born into the Gardabhilla royal family and grew up to be a noble and illustrious ruler of the Malwa region, its capital being the picturesque city of Ujjain. Inscriptions from 1st century BCE confirm that a 'Malav' people existed at that time, and that they had a brave leader named 'Vikram'. So brave was this Vikram, in fact, that the name has since become synonymous with bravery.

Earlier, ancestors of the Malav tribe had suffered grave defeats at the hands of invading Greeks. This had forced the tribe to push down to Malwa, where they settled and consolidated their hold. After Vikram came to the throne, he repulsed the Greek advance and established peace and prosperity over Malwa. And it was from that particular year, 57 BCE, that he began his own era - Vikram Samvat.
Vikram was respected as a very noble king, serving and giving refuge to all his subjects like his own progeny. He regularly disguised himself as a commoner and mingled with village-folk, in order to learn of their afflictions and thus serve them better”.

Establishment of peace & prosperity in Malwa not the birth of Christ is the basis for the Vikram Samvat calendar. I am not suggesting that we change to the Vikram Samvat calendar but it is important for us to know about it since our festivals etc are based on it.

8. Comparative meaning of words in West & East – as explained by Swami Rama (founder of the Himalayan International Institute) in the “Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita”.

Some of you might find the above thoughts revolutionary. It is my belief that if each one of us delves into them deeply, we might recognize their weight and see how they can become unifying factors.

Sri Aurobindo wrote: “Our first necessity, if India is to survive and do her appointed work in the world, is that the youth of India should learn to think, - to think on all subjects, to think independently, fruitfully, going to the heart of things, not stopped by their surface, free of prejudgments, shearing sophism and prejudice asunder as with a sharp sword, smiting down obscurantism of all kinds as with the mace of Bhima…”. (India’s Rebirth by Sri Aurobindo).

I believe that India’s future is intertwined with the status/respect accorded to Indian women. India will progress faster if her women are empowered at home and at work. 

A thinking outward-looking India that shares spirituality and knowledge with the world would help her become a global power again. 

Bibliography –

1. India’s Rebirth by Sri Aurobindo published by Mira Aditi Centre, Mysore.
2. Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Rama published by the Himalayan International Institute, Pennsylvania.
3. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda published by Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta.
4. Ministry of Home Affairs web site http://mha.nic.in/fore.htm.
5. Jaina Darsana by Munisri Nyayavijayaji in Gujarati translated into English as Jaina Philosophy & Religion by Shri Nagin Shah published by Bhogilal Lehar Chand Institute of Indology.
6. Bramchari Siddheswar Shai v State of West Bengal, 1995 AIR Supreme Court 2089.
7. Adi Granth by Dr Ernest Trump, 1877 published by Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers.
8. Urdu English dictionary (Standard 20th century Dictionary by Educational Publishing House, Delhi)
9. http://www.swaminarayan.org/essays/2003/2207.htm.
10. http://www.presidentofindia.nic.in/S/html/annouc.htm
11. Hinduism and the Clash of Civilizations by Pandit Vamadeva Shastri published by the Voice of India, Delhi.
12. Hindutva & The Nation by Pandit Vamadeva Shastri & N S Rajaram published by Naimisha Research Foundation Bangalore.
13. Dialogue vol 5 no 2, October to December 2003, A journal of Astha Bharati New Delhi.
14. Kautilya The Arthashastra by L N Rangarajan published by Penguin.
15. History & Culture of Indian People published by the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan.
16. Historic Ties India & Indonesia by Hidayat Atjeh, Vice-Consul, Socio-Culture & Information, Indonesian Consulate General, Mumbai.
17. Secularism Revisited by R.A. Jahagirdar published by Indian Secular Society, Mumbai.