Viswanathan K's Thoughts

Farsi , the language of Iran (#15, 110 million speakers) is a very old language and Persia was a mighty ancient empire, says Gaston Dorren in Babel . You’d think Farsi must have expanded its coverage and influence on the back of the mighty Persian empire. But no, it didn’t. Why not? Because Farsi was not the language of the court. It was the language of the masses…   With the rise of Islam, the Arabs conquered Persia. Farsi’s script changed to the Arabic one, and a lot of Arabic words became part of the Farsi language. Yet Persian culture thrived since the “Persians had thousands of years of urban life and empire-building under their belt” whereas the Arabs were, er, just conquering tribals. And so: “Arabic remained the language of religion, but Persian (Farsi) became the language of fine culture throughout the Middle East.” When Islamic rulers, both Sunni and Shia, conquered more and more lands, the language of culture and the ruling class was Farsi. Which is why the infl...

As part of the verdict on the allowing women to the Sabarimala temple, the Supreme Court stated: “In Hindu dharma there is no denomination of a male or female. A Hindu is a Hindu.” Now, don’t get me wrong: I am in favour of the verdict and am opposed to all such discrimination against women by all religions. That said, is that statement true? Not according to the Vedas, says Gayatri Jayaraman : “The Vedas contain entire texts devoted to women… To say Hindus have no gender and are but Hindus, makes a mockery of much great philosophy.” And rightly points out: “The Supreme Court also seems to be reducing Hindu philosophy to a single absolute certainty. Something Hindu sages, the progenitors of the philosophy themselves, never did. ” So she pours her scorn on the judge: “He had clearly studied it, decoded all the caste links and structures, schools of knowledge, expounded it, and was only thus explaining it in open court. Which is an amazing feat, considering all comm...