Saturday, June 28, 2014

The Vatican a Shiva temple?


 

Quite frequently, my mailbox is hit by yet another product of the PN Oak-type  imagination. This one refers to a web article at

http://www.indiadivine.org/news/articles-on-hinduism/christian-vatican-originally-a-shiva-temple-r740 (datelined Dr. Subramanyam Swamy, 14 June 2014, though apparently poster without his knowing by one of his assistants). Its title: “Was the Christian Vatican Originally a Temple to Lord Shiva?”

 

It claims that “Rome’s church compound is in the shape of [a] Shiva Lingam”. It also suggests, citing as its source the “famous historian P.N. Oak”, that Vatican comes from Sanskrit vatika (“park, religious centre”), Christianity from Krishna-niti (“Krishna’s policy”, "the way of Krishna"), and Abraham from Brahma. Conclusion is that it’s all “plagiarism by the West”.

 

In fact, the shape of the church is standard, and therefore the claim implies that most classical churches, thousands of them, are really shaped like Shiva Lingams. If your eyes are very hazy, you might indeed get the impression of a similarity. This school is quickly satisfied with a mere semblance of similarity. Thus, a 3-shaped sign in the undeciphered Indus script is declared to be Om/Aum sign; as is a door ornament on the Red Fort, equally deemed to have been “originally a Hindu temple”. But even if a more perceptive look were to confirm this impression of similarity, it doesn’t prove a causal relation. The likeness between vatika and Vatican is claimed to “prove that the Vatican was a Hindu (Vedic) religious centre before its incumbent was forced to accept Christianity from 1st century AD”. No, this phrase merely shows the miserably low standards of proof applied by the Hindu history-rewriters. Also, no evidence is attempted, or known from elsewhere, for the momentous replacement or forcible conversion of this Vedic pontiff.

 

As for the etymologies, they are false. Vaticanus (collis) means “seers’ hill”, from vates meaning “seer, poet, inspired speaker”, related to the Germanic god-name Woden, meaning “fury, trance”. Christianity combines the Latin endings -(i)anus and –itas, meaning “follower of” and “the property/system/collectivity of”, with the Greek word Christos, “anointed”, as translation of the Biblical Hebrew word Mashiah, “anointed crown-prince, messiah”. Ab-raham is Hebrew and means “father of many ”, while Brahma originally means “great, growth”, related to Germanic berg, “mountain”. These Biblical words have nothing to do with their Sanskrit look-alikes.

 

Further, it claims that Amen really comes from Om/Aum. Amen is Hebrew for “certainly, reliably”, and has nothing to do with Om/Aum. For that matter, the frequent assertion in some yogic circles that Latin omnis, “all”, is also related, is equally untrue. Omnis is a phonetic adaptation from op-nis, with the root op-, “many”, related to the Latin-derived word opulence. The word amen is cognate to Arabic ‘amin, which also means “certain”. A well-known Urdu word derived from it is mo’min, “one who takes as certain”, “believer”, hence “Muslim”. So according to these history-rewriters, a Muslim really is an “Om-sayer”!

 

It further claims that “all religions are one and are derived from Vedic Sanatana Dharma” and that “both Christianity and Islam originated as distortions of Vedic beliefs”. This is flatly untrue, but nonetheless Padres and Mullahs will welcome it if it helps in reconciling Hindu parents to their daughter’s elopement with a Christian or Muslim and conversion to his religion: “Hey, mom and dad, don’t worry, it’s only a variation on the Vedic religion, as you yourselves always say!”

 

So, the very numerous PN Oak-party among the Hindus is not only an endless source of laughter for all enemies of Hinduism. It is also a useful fifth column within the crumbling fortress of Indian Paganism. For the sake of Hindu survival, it is vital that real history gets restored: against the secular anti-Hindu version, but also against the Hindu caricature. 

4 comments:

pro_scribe said...

This piece is clearly not Swamy's finest hour, although he has turned into something of an indefatigable campaigner for Hindu cause of late, and cheered lustily by his legion of followers on the social media.

Swamy's folly is his ego. He seems to think that just by turning up and saying what's likely to capture popular imagination of Hindus is sufficient. He clearly overreaches. For instance his prescription that Muslims and Christians in India recognise and respect their Hindu ancestry, something that Muslims at least are by Islamic injunction bound to consider as Jaahil. He has no long-term vision. He wants to go down in the history as something of a champion. While the cause he champions is clear; his goals aren't.

ysv_rao said...

How disappointing that the otherwise meticulous and scholarly Dr. Swamy publishes such garbage.
I hope that it is just tongue in cheek designed to only to irritate his arch nemesis Sonia Gandhi!

I find these ultra ambitious Hindu activists with their over covetous approach to misappropriating the heritage of other people cultures to be the mirror image of white Nordic supremacists whom they claim to loathe.
I see absolutely no difference in the mindset of Nordic racists who see the hand of blonde eyed people in creating the civilizations of Greeks,Romans, Egyptians,Israelites,Persians,Babylonians,Indians and even Chinese and Japanese and the Hindus who claim that the Kaaba, Vatican, Druids, Pythogaras,Jesus, Mayan and Egyptian pyramids were all of Hindu provenance

Supremacism is dishonest,sad and disgusting amongst any people. I am not about to subscribe to Hindu supremacism just because I am Hindu as many idiot Vadakayil acolytes have insisted I promote on my blog.

drsatyapraveen said...

Wtf! Everyone is confused. Dr. Swamy has nothing to do with Facebook page. He only manages his personal twitter acount. If you want , you can ask him a question there. No matter how many times he clarify , nobody listens. Facebook page is run by some team of self proclaimed patriots..

LiViNg a LiE said...

Typical response from a Bible thumping idiot educated beyond his intelligence .how does your passing judgement disproves any of those claims ? Read more books , all isn't found in hallucinations of scribes crossing desert stealing stuff from old testament. Read a little history beyond the 6 thousand year old creation bullshit. Ignorance isn't bliss. You guys are a joke