Punjab Governor launches former DGP’s book on Hinduism

Published on: 16 Nov 2023 at 03:15 PM

Published by: The fact news

P .S.Walia

Chandigarh, November 16

Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit today launched a book today launched a book on Hindu, Hinduism and Hindutva-Bharat a Sanatana Rashtra Written by Punjab former DGP P .Lal in a brief ceremony in the Raj Bhavan here .

Earlier two years ago Governor had also launched the author’s book “ Gift of Life”. This is the author’s sixth book to-date.

In the book launched today, Lal has emphasized upon the importance of religion in one’s life which anchors a person to the moral and ethical values in the march towards material progress. He has , however, covered Hinduism only in great detail , a religion followed by a vast majority of people in India, and by some in other parts of the world, too .

While discussing Hindutva, Lal has dwelt upon the concept as defined in Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s 1922-pamphlet Essentials of Hindutva and compared it with the term used by Chandranath Basu in Hindutva-the Authentic History of the Hindus ( 1892). The former’s enunciation was nationalistic emphasizing upon unification through common land, race and culture ; the latter’s was religious , though Basu was the first to use the term Hindutva.

Lal has clarified , quoting excerpts from Savarkar’s pamphlet, that he never said , contrary to what is believed by many, that all residents in India from the Sindhu to the Indian Ocean were Hindus; he rather clearly excluded Indian Muslims and Christians from the fold of Hinduism on the ground that their holy-land was not in India. Lal has, however, not agreed with Savarkar’s view that followers of all other Indic religions- Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism- were Hindus. Lal has concurred with Savarkar’s impassioned plea to make India a strong country- militarily- to avoid being overrun by foreigners again.

Dealing with the different names for the country- Bharat, Hindustan and India- he has quoted ancient Hindu texts to argue that Bharat is the most ancient having Vedic origin, whereas India has Greek origin. He has also brought out the relationship between the Sanatana Dharma and the Hinduism, and has enumerated the eternal principles of the former such as the truthfulness, austerity, mercy and sacrifice etc. Mathematics and astronomy were quite advanced in ancient India but not as much as in the modern day, nor according to him , there were Vimanas( flying machines ) in India of yore.

Lal has recommended for a peaceful proselytization campaign for the Hindus all over the world. Further, that India ought to be declared a Sanatana Rashtra which would be legally sustainable, as against the Hindu Rashtra which would be against the Basic Structure doctrine enunciated by the Supreme Court.

Last year , Lal had come out with a book titled River Saraswati and the Aryans ( launched by Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya on 02 November 2022) in which he, inter alia, had argued that Vedic Civilization ( VC )commenced at least 7,000-6,000 years BCE , that the river Saraswati which finds mention 72 times in the Rig Veda and which is extinct now , in fact flowed and disappeared twice in the past 80,000 years , the last disappearance being about 1,900 years BCE, that the Indus Valley Civilization(IVC) which is normally thought to have preceded the arrival of the Aryans from the Central Asian region around 1,500 years BCE , in fact, was an urban interjection in the vast Vedic era, which had rural base and provided support to the urban IVC which perished but the VC survived being more resilient. Lal had also argued that Aryan Migration Theory was incorrect and that the spread was from India to the outside world. There were evidence to this effect in the Rig Veda itself, now supported by some genetic studies.

Gift of Life (2021) by Lal searched for deeper questions of life and death, and explored concepts such as soul, rebirth and God.

Lal says that the present book completes the trilogy with the two earlier ones – River Saraswati and the Aryans and Gift of Life – in as much as a fusion and synthesis have been attempted in all the three, between ideas contained in ancient Hindu texts and those of modern science on similar subjects. In the case of conflict, reason and rationality have been given precedence.

Lal has three other books also to his credit, and more than 118 articles in various newspapers.