'Mona Lisa does not smile anymore' vs 'The West and the Rest'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/10159147http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/10159147When words copulate with words they produce more words and a 'factual' but non-fecund history. But the history so encamped often leaves out the moral questions of righteousness and the 'historian' assumes that material winner is morally right for it is said 'victory itself is its own legitimacy.'
I rebut Niall Ferguson's book for presenting a fabric of fabrication. I quote but little from my book 'Mona Lisa does not smile anymore'(ISBN 978-81-8465-512-4) 
"The voyages of exploration were the dawn of Racialism and Colonialism. In the year 1600, the Indian economy amounted to 22.54 per cent of the world GDP, while Britain and Western Europe's combined economies amounted to 21.82 per cent. By 1870, India's share was down to 12.25 per cent, while in Western Europe it increased to 32.71%. At its prosperous best Mughal Empire produced 24.5% of world GDP in the year 1700. By the time British colonists occupied India and other nations their GDP rose to 23.8% of the world in 1870." (page  13 7)It is not essential to pick and choose examples that fit a prefixed thought structure. More important is do you see the 'other' humanity with same eyes as you wish to be seen.



"If I had to choose between an erudite Aristotle and an unknown ‘soulless’ black slave I would choose the latter. The ascendancy of the West was on a heap of bodies of slaves and trampled humanity through colonization." (page 135)
It is not essential to pick and choose examples that fit a        .    
important is do youSEEthe 'other' humanity with same eyes as you wish to be seen.
In Dresden as I stood in front of Otto Dix Triptych War, I could see the futility of the great ascent of the West in the hanging flesh from dead putrefied soldiers. Do not forget the ascent of the West culminated in 70 million dead. No Mr. Ferguson we do not desire such ascent either for West or East for that matter to humanity in general.
Viktor Vijay Kumar

The Art of India

Hinduism has one of the  longest continuing history of the faith of mankind. The practices of Hinduism so  freely demonized by the Colonists and the proselytizing Christian padre were drawn from the Nature. We know that the earliest religions of humanity were Nature based. The missionaries--the militant, business trading and property owning Jesuits included-- indulged in  marketing a much younger Christianity to the grand old man--Hinduism. They held the beautiful hybrid forms of gods and goddesses to be 'Monsters'. Partha Mitter in his Much Maligned Monsters discusses the roots of the perversion of European mind from the time of Pliny about India's culture, religion and people.

One of the dominant beliefs in Hinduism comes from the Mother worship practices common to all ancient faiths. Marija Gimbutas  did extensive research on Mother Goddess in Europe. In India Hinduism is replete with woman images of gods. Here I give you an image from the  8th century temples  of Ossian 75 km from Jodhpur in Rajasthan. She is the goddess of fertility.                      .

India crest of civilizations and leading economic superpower

Today like other days I woke up late and I ran through newspapers with my mandatory two cups of tea. Being  Sunday there are more serious writings to go through. As I shuffled pages of The Times of India to main Sunday articles I saw Minhaz Merchant's four-book review. The first book deals with West and its professed self-delusion of  grandeur and superiority vis-a-vis the rest of the world. The book written by Niall Ferguason is appropriately arrogantly called 'Civilization: The West and the Rest'.  I will juxtapose Merchant's unbiased analysis in a while, but let me give you what I have to say on West in a single but similar sentence  "Renaissance West butchered the Rest"
(Page 93 Mona Lisa does not smile anymore -the story of fake Humanism of 'Reanaissance' Europe in relation to arts of India). Merchant counters (Page 19 Title: What's the Big Idea Sunday Times of India 20th March 2011) Ferguason's Western superiority through "science,medicine,consumerism, competition, property rights and work ethics" with the real causes known to all of us as the profits of blood and tears of "The Rest" from  slavery, colonization, indentured labour, bringing diseases and deceipt from Europe to decimate the body and the spirit, art and culture, society and civilizations, intellect and wisdom, philosophy and spirituality. How people suffer from the racial grandeur of West is still beyond understanding. More than 30 millions killed by British-manufactured famines in India do not make for the glory of 'medicine' as the cause of West's upstart upstaging the Rest. About competition, British factory cloth was forced on Indians and killed millions of weavers through unemployment, the colonists forced the farmers in Malwa central India with very fertile grains and cotton growing black soil to cultivate poppy and forced  at the point of barrel of gun  the  Chinese to legalize the opium imports from  British colony India. What colonialism did to art and culture of India I have discussed in great detail in my book.  "The Mughals rejuvenated arts and culture of India while Portuguese excelled in conversions, Inquisition and atrocities on Hindu, Muslim and Jew populace." 

(page 159 from Mona Lisa ...)

It is not very surprising the kind of propagandist writings keep emerging from accolytes of West, but I have predicted in my book the new emerging horizons under a fresh sun and it is The Rest and not the West that will shine the brightest. 
Thank You Minhaz Merchant for removing the wool from the eyes of those who put wool on their own eyes in the first place.