** What is in name?

What is in name? – Rajendra Chaddha

www.hvk.org

What is common between Daya Shankar, Dinesh, Sunil, Nirmala, Deepak, Kirti, Shakti Singh, Bhanu Pratap, Vivekenanda, Kapil, Manohar, Vidyadhar, Arvind, Shanti Prasad, Premchand, Vimla, Anand, Vinod Kumar, Jyoti, Rajni, Jai Shree, Yashwant, Shalini, Ajay Singh and Ajat Shatru?

These are Hindu names, seem to be the only common factor between the above mentioned words. Prem Chand was the great Hindi writer, Vivekananda the Hindu saint, Kapil (Dev) the cricket player, Bhanu Pratap (Shukla) a media commentator, Yashwant (Sinha) India’s Finance Minister and Ajat Shatru the Tourism Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. The rest names like Dinesh, Sunil, Deepak, Manohar, Arvind, Anand, Vimla, Vinod and Jyoti are the most popular Hindu names.

What else could be the common factor between the above mentioned names and hundreds of similar names? These are Christian names according to the book “Hindi Christian names“ published by the priests and brothers of the Society of St. Paul who “proclaim the Gospel through the modern means of communication”.

A team of Christian theologians under the Hindi Catholic Literature Committee has compiled the names.

These names have been meticulously selected by the Christian missionary organisations as the Hindi version of the Christian names to be used during their evangelicalisation process in the Hindi belt.

The existences of similar text for other regions of India like Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and the West Bengal could not be ruled out. “The present list of Christian names is not exhaustive; still care has been taken not to omit any name commonly used in northern India. Where this was not feasible, the translation has been made to sound as like an existing name as possible,” says the forward of the book published in 1990.

This the Christian whose name should have been Abraham becomes ‘Kulnath’ having the same meaning of “father of the multitude.”

Absolem meaning the father of peace is given the Hindi name of Dayashankar.

The Chrtistian name Adelbert meaning nobly bright becomes Dinesh in the Hindi heartland.

Deepak one of the most common names of this part of the country is the Hindi equivalent of Albert meaning illustrious.

Similarly a Christian having the name Agatho which literally means good and kind is popularly known as Sushil.

Adam, another Christian name, which means red earth, is known as Prithviputra.

The real name of Vir Singh, a Christian convert, is Amos meaning strong and courageous.

Bhanu Pratap is the Hindi convert of Apollonius, Kirti the Hindi of Augustina meaning Exalted and consecrated.

Rajendra and Bhupendra in fact really is Basil meaning Kingly.

The Christian missionaries have changed Bertram into Vivekenanda and Gyanachandra.

If Bruno, meaning brown, in Hindi has been given the name of Kapil and Bhurelal.

Callistus, meaning beautiful, becomes Manohar and Sudershan.

The names Vidyadhar, Budhi Chandra and Gyan Chandra has been chosen by the Christian missionaries as Hindi equivalent of Conrad, meaning bold in counsel.

A baptised Erasmus is named Lalit and Sunder, Justin becomes Sunita, Joseph becomes Buddhi Chandra, Joel becomes Anant Prakash, James becomes Vikrant, John becomes Anugrah, Josue becomes Mukti Sagar and Imelda becomes Dev Raksha.

The compilers of the book say that the Hindi names have been chosen with similar meanings. “In finding an Indian, or rather Hindi, equivalent the normal procedure has been to choose an existing Indian name having same meaning,” the forward of the book points out.

Thus Leander, meaning lion-man, is known as Shakti Singh; Lucy meaning light as Jyoti; Margaret meaning pearl as Mukta; Martin meaning dedicated to Mars as Mangala; Martha meaning ruler of the house as Malika; Matthew meaning gift of god as Ishwarprasad and Dev Prasad; Mercedes meaning ransom as Neha and Monica meaning lonely as Manika and Rani.

The Hindi name of Paula is Vinita and Anima; Peter becomes Shilalnanda or Shila Chandra; Philip becomes Ashwaghosh; Rebecca as Rupa or Manjula; Richard as Narendra; Rita as Swati; Roderick as Yashpal; Sabina as Manish; Samson as Surya Kant; Sarah as Rajkumari; Sabistian as Shradha Kumar and Silvia as Vipin Kumari.

The book has also tried to give a rough guideline about giving names. “Indian names ending in Anand should normally be taken by priests or religious only; wherever such names occur, another equivalent has been provided for general use,” it observes.

According to the book the real name of Muktimani’s should have been Stephen; Jugal Kishore and Yugal Kumar as Thomas; Dev Das as Timothy; Vijay Kumar as Victor, Jayanti as Victoria; Shanti Bala as Wilfred and Mukti Prakash as Xavier.

It is no surprise that Swami Mukti Prakash is a Christian leader.  

It is not totally baseless if Hindu leaders fear that ‘Indianisation of Christianity’ is meant to bring about ‘Christianisation of India’.  — Nitya Chaitanya Guru

Reader’s Comment:

Many Hindus are not aware that having a Hindu name does not
make one Hindu.Many Christians &  Muslims used Hindu names.
Film actor Dilip Kumar is Yusuf Khan, similarly actresses Meena
Kumari and Madhubala were also Muslims using Hindu names. A
lot of Christians also use Hindu names:Sadhu Sunder Singh, Ajit
Jogi, Yesudas, Vijay Amritraj, Mala Sinha, Pandita Ramabai etc.
all of these people are Christians using Hindu names. Obviously, they are using Hindu IDs to fool Hindus.
Now that they have started calling Biblical psalms as Shalokas, and Bishops as Swami, and Jesus as Satguru,more confusion is created. Its responsibility of each Hindu to educate his children & fellow men.

1) Slokas on Mount @ http://indiaview.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/slokas-on-the-mount/

2) Conversion Invasion – Video

3) Interview of Evangelist

4) Conversion of SIKHS   

Source: http://members.tripod.com/indowave/NAMES.html

** What is erotic & what is art?

What is erotic and what is art?

- Dr. Srinivasan Kalyanaraman 

India-Forum

What is erotic and what is art ? If s’ivalinga is seen as   an erotic representation of a human male reproductory organ, it will look erotic to the so-called purveyor of freedom of _expression who has a perverted notion of sex and sexuality. And, there are thousands of temples (devalaya) where s’ivalinga is worshipped by millions of Hindu. In the eyes of a person who understands the underlying cultural idiom of dharma, the s’ivalinga is a metaphor representing the summit of Mount Kailasa in the Himalayan glaciers which yield life-giving , purifiying and sacred waters of the Ganga emanating from the locks of S’iva in penance on the summit. It is all about metaphors and how one understands meanings of metaphors.

Hindu are outraged by MF Hussain’s paintings not because they have some artistic value in them but because they ridicule metaphors held sacred in the Hindu traditions. If he is a true artist and is muslim next, will he represent Aisha or Fatima in erotic postures with Mohammad? This is the test of his true identity as an artist, assuming that one can have multiple identities.

MF Hussain does NOT understand the meanings of Hindu metaphors. He is only caricaturing the Hindu faith. If is he a liberated artist, why does he not show Aisha or Fatima in erotic postures with Mohammad?   It is all in the eyes of the beholder to understand the meaning sought to be conveyed by a self-styled artist or even an art critic.

What is referred to as a temple (from templum, section of sky and ground used by Roman soothsayers) is a devalayam, an abode of divinities. In Hindu tradition, everyone and every phenomenon is an _expression of divinity. Artistic form is secondary, though s’ilpakaras of Bharatam have produced s’ilpa of breathtaking beauty, proportion and form as exemplified by that pinnacle of artistic _expression: Ellora kailasa mandiram. A devalayam thus becomes an extension of an individual’s body into the cosmos, a yoga or union of the atman with the paramatman. There is no hint of eroticism in such expressions, such metaphors of the divine to represent an adhyatmika journey from being to becoming.

In Agama kos’a, SR Ramachandra Rao explains a devalayam as divine and yogic representation of a human being.

If people like Hussain or self-styled ‘south asia scholars’ see eroticism in this metaphor, one should seriously question their claims to be artists or scholars. What is the meaning of art or scholarship if there is no attempt to understand the meanings of metaphors based on the cultural traditions and ethos?

In Hindu tradition, all expressions are manifestations of supreme divinity, paramatman. Will MF Hussain ever be able to understand the metaphor of the Cosmic dancer, Nataraja form of S’iva? Or, of Ravana lifting up and shaking the Mt. Kailasa, the abode of S’iva and Parvati  shown in exquisite sculptures of the breath-taking artistic _expression called Ellora Kailasa temple?

Eroticism or art is in the eyes of the beholder.  S’akti in Hindu tradition is a feminine force of creation and many tantra traditions evolved.   Sex was not viewed with any revulsion or perversion. It was simply viewed as a natural behavior. Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra exemplifies this approach even it as it lists 64 arts while expounding on the meaning of education, ‘vidyaasamuddes’a’.   These arts also included study of arts such as: des’a-bhasha-jnana (spoken dialects), akshara-mushtika-kathana (gestures as metaphors of _expression) and mlecchita vikalpa (cryptography or writing system). These are in addition to arts such as: singing, playing musical instruments, dancing, tattooing, adorning a murti with rice and flowers, c olouring the teeth, garments, hair, nails and bodies, i.e. painting, fixing stained glass into a floor and so on.

This is what Dr. K.L. Kamat had to say: “Many of the sculptures have the artists names carved under them and it is impossible for me to think that these creations were considered vulgar, if the sculptor felt compelled to claim artistic ownership.   Although Khajuraho is most famous for these sculptures, most Indian temples have them in one form or another. Belur, Halebidu, Somanathupura, and Nugguhalli temples of the Hoysala period have many such beautiful sculptures. The Badami and Banashankari temples of the Chalukya times, and the Vijayanagar temples of  Bhatkal, Lepakshi and Hampi have these too. The Meenakshi temple of Madurai and Veeraranarayan temple of Gadag has erotic sculptures on their Gopuram. Ancient Indians thought that the appropriate use of sex was an art. Perhaps that’s why they called pleasure girls as artists. Many of these pleasure girls treated their profession as a form of devotion to God, and refined it as an advanced fine art. If you observe the Khajuraho temples from this perspective, you will notice the real beauty of the sculptures. And then you can’t have enough of it! The parents who wish to teach their children the fine difference between sex and art should take their children to Khajuraho.” http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/erotica/khaju.htm

It is a matter of deep regret that there are scholars who call themselves experts in south asian studies who have not even cared to understand what a devalayam means to every Hindu. If they do, they would not have written a letter of the type they wrote to The Guardian, showing themselves to be Gungadins. -by  Kalyanaraman, Ph.D., Sarasvati Research Centre, Chennai 600015

Source: http://www.india-forum.com/articles/155/1/What-is-erotic-and-what-is-art%3F

Courtesy of: http://indiasecular.wordpress.com