Friday, September 29, 2006

An article from timesonline about hindu temples

sept 29th, 2006

another white-boy limey says rude things about hindus. and hurtful, incorrect things. but then of course he's a believer in the aryan invasion fairy tale, so he must be one of witzel's 'experts' on india.

i wonder why he carefully avoids saying anything about mohammedan harems. answer: he is scared shitless about mohammedans cutting his nuts off. this is the sort of cowardly bully who deserves a couple of threatening phone calls and other 'encouragement' to behave.

i also wonder if his university and his church are brothels, too. after all, they are being used as such by british mohammedans. white girls are sluts, they scream, while gang-raping them.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Raj

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2362622,00.html

and this is the author's profile

http://www.buck.ac.uk/publicity/dofe/kealey.html

Why is a Hindu temple like a Soho phone box? Must I draw you a picture?

Science Notebook by Terence Kealey
THE HINDU temples of central and southern India can be startlingly erotic. The temples of Khajuraho are the most explicit, being encrusted with statues of naked females — big-breasted and narrow waisted — doing naughty things with rampant men (see them on Google images). How can a religion be so pornographic?

The standard explanation is that Hinduism harnessed sex in the service of mysticism, but we scientists are materialists and we distrust spiritual accounts. How would anthropologists explain pornographic temples?

*

The first clue was provided by Robert Carneiro in his paper A Theory of the Origin of the State. There, Carneiro noted that the first states were created by despots, who exploited the introduction of agriculture some 10,000 years ago. Human tribes, Carneiro observes, have fought each other for millennia, but when human beings were still hunter-gatherers a battle led only to the dispersal of the defeated, who melted away.

After agriculture was invented, some 10,000 years ago, a defeated tribe could not afford to disperse: it had become dependent on the food of its farms. So, if defeated in battle, agricultural tribes would collude with their victors, producing food in exchange for quarter: "Ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food" (Genesis 47). The first states, therefore, were cruel places, which exploited men — and women.

In her book Despotism and Differential Reproduction: A Darwinian View of History, Laura Betzig noted how similarly the early emperors — whether in Africa, Asia or America — behaved, suggesting that traditional empires can best be understood not historically but biologically, having been moulded by coalitions of dominant males to propagate their genes. All the emperors had harems, for example, and the Indian Udayama's 16,000 women were used similarly to the thousands owned by the Inca Sun King or the Chinese Emperor.

Consequently, DNA testing has confirmed that upper- caste females in India are genetically indistinguishable from lower-caste females, because pretty hoi polloi girls have always been imported into the palaces. But the upper-caste males of India — who are the descendants of the Aryan conquerors of 5,000 years ago — have never allowed male proles to marry their daughters, and they remain genetically distinct. They have, therefore, retained the spoils of conquest for themselves and their sons.

One aspect of imperial despotism is the restriction of trade. It was Charles Darwin who noted that trade is a human instinct. In Voyage of the Beagle Darwin described the natives of Tierra del Fuego as primitive, yet: "They had a fair idea of barter. I gave one man a large nail (a most valuable present) without making any signs for a return; but he immediately picked out two fish, and handed them up on the point of his spear."

Traditional empires, being despotic, restricted trade to the palaces and temples, forbidding hoi polloi from trading or travelling. Only priests and princes and certain privileged merchants (who were closely regulated) traded and travelled. And one lucrative trade that the priests and princes often monopolised was the oldest and most despotic of all, prostitution.

Temple prostitution was, therefore, a feature of Hinduism and other imperial cultures — and a profitable one too. There were, for example, some 400 women on the payroll at the Rajarajesvara temple in Tanjore in the 11th century. They were procured by priests who roamed the land in search of pretty young girls.

Doubtless the girls were seduced by a theology of mysticism, just as the widows who, as suttees, threw themselves on their dead husbands' funeral pyres believed they were attaining spiritual purity, but the sexual economics of female exploitation provide a candid explanation of what was happening.

As do the statues on the temples. Frankly, they are arousing, even in these jaded times, being more explicit than the photos in today's telephone booths. In short, a millennium ago the temples of India were brothels — they may have been more than that, but they were brothels too — and they advertised their wares as brothels always have. The erotic temple statues of India remind us, therefore, that kings and priests — like politicians today — have always been despots.


6 comments:

siva said...

A rebuttal from Hinduvoice.co.uk

http://www.hinduvoice.co.uk/Issues/9/Soho.htm

Why a Hindu temple is NOT like a Soho phone booth

Recently, an article in The Times (a supposedly quality newspaper), carried a story provocatively titled 'Why is a Hindu temple like a Soho phone box? Must I draw you a picture?' The article was written by one Terence Kealy, and was perhaps the single most vulgar Hindu-bashing article that has been carried by a mainstream British newspaper since colonial times.

What is worse is that the piece had been written as part of the newspaper's 'Science Notebook' column, and was therefore paraded as a rational and objective analysis, despite the fact that the article was written in a rather disorientated manner, and drew far-fetched conclusions based on thoroughly unscientific methodology.

Kealey began his article by drawing the reader's attention to the fact that there are some Hindu temples that have erotic sculptures. "How can a religion be so pornographic?" Kealey asks in the closing sentence of the paragraph.

The counter-question arises as to how can the example of a few medieval sculptures characterise the Hinduism as a whole? The author fails to point out is that these erotic temples account for a very tiny proportion of Hindu temples as a whole. But in writing his article, he creates the impression that the vast majority of temples are like these. It is very poor 'science' to take a minority and use it to draw conclusions of the whole.

The way the article is written, a lay British reader would think that the average Hindu temple is like a brothel, including the hundreds of mandirs present in the UK. In fact, none of the numerous Hindu temples in Britain are particularly erotic, but as a result of Kealey's misinformation, many Britons will see these Hindu temples as possible centres of erotic cults, thus contributing to prejudice and misinformation.

Kealey then goes on to state that upper caste males in India are descendents of Aryan invaders 5000 years ago, and are genetically different from Indian males of lower castes. The theory of the Aryan invasion of India is a highly debated topic, and volumes have been written both for and against it (please see 'Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate'). Many researchers believe that no such invasion ever happened. To parade the Aryan Invasion theory as undisputed fact in a 'science column' shows severe incompetence.

In the closing paragraphs, Kealey briefly mentions temple prostitution and 'suttee', the self-immolation of widows on their husband's funeral pyre. These practices, shameful as they were, were not common even a thousand years ago, yet Kealey writes as if they were a universal phenomenon, and as if they are part and parcel of Hinduism. (Please see previous Hindu Voice articles for clarification on these issues).

When I come across misinformation about Hinduism, there are times when I just shrug it off. After all, in our modern, supposedly secular society, people have the right to criticise and even mock religions.

However, there are times when the line of decency is crossed so deliberately and grossly, that to stand back and not make oneself heard is the not just unwise, but cowardly.

I strongly suggest that all Hindus read the article by Terence Kealey, and write to The Times as a mark of protest against such a poorly written, haphazard and insulting article passing their Editorial policies.


To write to The Times, email: letters@thetimes.co.uk

iamfordemocracy said...

The London Times seems to have discovered what Indian papers already knew. Write provocative articles about Hindus and get more Hindu eyeballs. That is what the Hindus will do. Protest peacefully. Times would not dare to publish anything 1/1000 times as provocative as this on Islam.

The way to counter this is to write tell Hindu boys and girls not to go to bukingham Univ; write to the Univ to get this guy fired, and to stop reading TIMES. After all, Times surely has many Hindu readers. Mind you, don't post comments on TIMES website. It is only more revenue and eyeballs for london times.

Ghost Writer said...

Britain is the original home of the India and specifically the Hindu-bashers. The reason of course is not too hard to guess - when you lord over the richest colony in the world, you have a responsibility to extend the pillage and rapine.
Of course - then these fellows come along - look at nationalists starting with Swami Vivekananda to Tilak to Shri Aurobindo to Gandhi - Hindus all of them . Then these nationalists say that we are a nation - and the basis of our nationhood is the Hindu heritage - what would be the British response? Well easy to guess - it would be the discrediting of Hinduism. How come they do not hold Islam as suppresive and violent? Well - easy to guess again - because the Islamists like Sir Syed Ahmed were all too ready to be their stooges

habc said...

IamForD,
" to write tell Hindu boys and girls not to go to bukingham Univ; "
" don't post comments on TIMES website. "

Are you a mozie practicing taqqiya? Why the heck should Hindus stop attending the Univ? Let him leave the Univ - NOT US
There is nothign wrong with posting comments - it not like a few hundred comments are going to make a big difference to their total traffic.

I saw this article a few days ago and wrote a comment - which has not been allowed by their moderator ;) I did not save the comment, but here is the gist of it.

Sir Winston Churchill said the British Navy was about "Rum, the BUM and the Lash" - this would imply that the primary purpose of the British Navy Ships was buggery. If in fact the sailors exchanged money we could say that the British Navy was a center of buggery prostitution. We cannot blame those poor British sailors for it though because of the following "genetic theory" that I just pulled out of my Musharraf. When the French speaking Normans conquered England they took all the women and the poor British peasants were left alone with their horses - that is why the men look like scrawny peasants and the women look like horses. After spending a few hundred years buggering each other they got bored and decided to bugger the whole planet up. This "Norman Invasion Theory" would explain everything.

iamfordemocracy said...

Some of the posters here have a megalomaniac notion of themselves and Hindus. Further, personal vendetta is often their prime concern; not Hindu faith.

I fail to understand habc's comment that refers to Churchill's observations about British Navy. What was he trying to suggest? How does it relate to the article in Times?

"Few hundred comments are not going to make a difference to their traffic" is a mere opinion. I suggest Habc chooses to post it here just to score a point..not as a considered thought.

Please note that Bukingham university is the only fully private university in England. It seems to have a good number of Pak and Nigeria students, but has students from all over. "We" are not really in a position to influence the university. (Not that we are in a position to influence many universities, however, I am aware many top universities do respect students from India - mostly Hindus - and some on the borderline of recognition can ill afford losing Hindu students.)

"Let him leave the Univ, NOT US" comment by Habc is a wide kick. I urge habc and others not to post things without thinking, and please not to consider the posts here as personal attacks. I am merely thinking about Hindu existence. Individuals don't really matter much.

habc said...

IamForD
"I suggest Habc chooses to post it here just to score a point..not as a considered thought."

I already posted it to their web site several days ago - their moderator did not post it. - read my comment again

"I fail to understand habc's comment that refers to Churchill's observations about British Navy."
Here is how it works
Hindu temples are for prostitution
British Navy is for prostitution (male) - I just pointed out that Sir Winston Churchill said this

" Some of the posters here have a megalomaniac notion"
Obviously the perpetrator is never to be blamed in your scheme of things

"personal vendetta is often their prime concern"
there was no "personal" vendetta - he insulted Hindus - I insulted British back - if the Times does not like it maybe they could think twice and maybe do a couple of google searches before publishing garbage badmouthing Hindus.

"Individuals don't really matter much."
Ha Ha Ha - move over to the CPM website.

you kept saying dont do this, dont do that - ou forgot to tell the Hindus to GUBO properly.

How about giving me some credit for the Norman Invasion Theory.