Introduction

This book has emerged as a result of several experiences that have deeply influenced my research and scholarship over the past decade. In the 1990s, an African-American scholar at Princeton University casually told me that he had returned from a trip to India, where he was working with the ‘Afro-Dalit Project’. I learnt that this US-operated and -financed project frames inter-jati/varna interactions and the Dalit movement using American cultural and historical lenses. The Afro-Dalit project purports to paint Dalits as the ‘Blacks’ of India and non-Dalits as India’s ‘Whites’. The history of American racism, slavery and Black/White relations is thus superimposed onto Indian society. While modern caste structures and inter-relationships have included long periods of prejudice toward Dalits, the Dalit experience bears little resemblance to the African slave experience of America. But taking its cue from the American experience, the Afro-Dalit project attempts to empower Dalits by casting them as victims at the hands of a different race.

Separately, I had been studying and writing about the ‘Aryans’, as to who they were, and whether the origin of Sanskrit and Vedas was an import by ‘invaders’ or indigenous to India. In this context, I sponsored numerous archeological, linguistic and historical conferences and book projects, in order to get deeper into the discourse. This led me to research the colonial-era construction of the Dravidian identity, which did not exist prior to the nineteenth century and was fabricated as an identity in opposition to the Aryans. Its survival depends upon belief in the theory of foreign Aryans and their misdeeds.

I had also been researching the US Church’s funding of activities in India, such as the popularly advertised campaigns to ‘save’ poor children by feeding, clothing and educating them. In fact, when I was in my twenties living in the US, I sponsored one such child in South India. However, during trips to India, I often felt that the funds collected were being used not so much for the purposes indicated to sponsors, but for indoctrination and conversion activities.

Additionally, I have been involved in numerous debates in the US with think-tanks, independent scholars, human rights groups and academics, specifically on their treatment of Indian society as a sort of scourge that the west had to ‘civilize’. I coined the phrase ‘caste, cows and curry’ to represent the exotic and sensational portrayals of India’s social and economic problems and their interpretation these as ‘human rights’ issues.

I decided to track the major organizations involved in promulgating these various theories, as well as those spearheading political pressure, and eventually the prosecution of India on the grounds of human rights violations. My research included following the money trail by using the provisions of financial disclosure in the US, studying the promotional materials given out by most such organizations, and monitoring their conferences, workshops and publications. I investigated the individuals behind such activities and their institutional affiliations.

What I found out should sound the alarm bell for every Indian concerned about our national integrity. India is the prime target of a huge enterprise—a ‘network’ of organizations, individuals and churches—that seems intensely devoted to the task of creating a separatist identity, history and even religion for the vulnerable sections of India. This nexus of players includes not only church groups, government bodies and related organizations, but also private think-tanks and academics. On the surface they appear to be separate and isolated from one another, but in fact, as I found, their activities are well coordinated and well funded from the US and Europe. I was impressed by the degree of interlocking and cooperation among these entities. Their resolutions, position papers and strategies are well articulated, and beneath the veneer of helping the downtrodden, there seem to be objectives that would be inimical to India’s unity and sovereignty.

A few Indians from the communities being ‘empowered’ were in top positions in these Western organizations, and the whole enterprise was initially conceived, funded and strategically managed by Westerners. However, there are now a growing number of Indian individuals and NGOs who have become co-opted by them, and receive funding and mentorship from the West. The south Asian studies in the US and European universities invite many such ‘activists’ regularly and give them prominence. The same organizations had also been inviting and giving intellectual support to Khalistanis, Kashmir militants, Maoists, and other subversive elements in India. So I began to wonder whether the campaigns to mobilize Dalits, Dravidians and other minorities in India were somehow part of the foreign policy of certain Western countries, if not openly then at least as an option kept in reserve. I am unaware of any other major country in which such large-scale processes prevail without monitoring or concern by the local authorities. No wonder so much has to be spent in India after such a separatist identity gets weaponized into all out militancy or political fragmentation.

The link between academic manipulations and subsequent violence is also evident in Sri Lanka, where manufactured divisiveness caused one of the bloodiest civil wars. The same also happened in Africa where foreign-engineered identity conflicts led to one of the worst ethnic genocides ever in the world.

About three years ago, my research and data had become considerable. Moreover, many Indians are simply unaware of the subversive forces at work against their country, and I felt that it ought to be organized for wider dissemination and debate. I started working with Aravindan Neelakandan, based in Tamil Nadu, to complement my foreign data with his access to the ground reality in India’s backwaters.

This book looks at the historical origins of both the Dravidian movement and Dalit identity, as well as the current players involved in shaping these separatist identities. It includes an analysis of the individuals and institutions involved and their motivations, activities, and desired endgame. While many are located in the US and the European Union, there are an increasing number in India too, the latter often functioning like the local branch offices of these foreign entities.

The goal of this book is not to sensationalize or predict any outcomes. Rather, it is to expand the debate about India and its future. Much is being written about India’s rise in economic terms and its implications to India’s overall clout. But not enough is written on what can go wrong given the rapidly expanding programs exposed in this book and the stress they put on India’s faultlines. My hope is that this book fills this gap to some extent.

Rajiv Malhotra

Princeton, USA January 2011

Contents Introduction xi 1. Superpower or Balkanized War Zone? -1 2. Overview of European Invention of Races -8 Western Academic Constructions Lead to Violence -8

  1. Inventing the Aryan Race -12 Overview of Indian Impact on Europe: From Renaissance to Racism -15 Herder’s Romanticism -18 Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829) -19 ‘Arya’ Becomes a Race in Europe -22 Ernest Renan and the Aryan Christ -23 Friedrich Max Müller -26 Adolphe Pictet -27 Rudolph Friedrich Grau -28 Gobineau and Race Science -29 Aryan Theorists and Eugenics -31 Chamberlain: Aryan-Christian Racism -32 Nazis and After -34 Blaming the Indian Civilization -35
  2. Imperial Evangelism Shapes Indian Ethnology -37 Biblical Theory of Race and the Myth of Ham -39 William Jones Maps Indians onto Biblical Ethnology -42 One Hundred Years of British Indological Institutions -48
  3. Lord Risley Morphs Jati-Varna into Race -51 Building on Max Müller’s Work -52 Risley’s Race Science -54 Risley Freezes the Castes -56 Ambedkar Demolishes Nasal Index Racism -60
  4. Inventing the ‘Dravidian’ Race -61 Hodgson Invents ‘Tamulian’ -63 Caldwell: Transforming Linguistics into Ethnology -64 A Conspiracy Theory is Born: Cunning Aryan Brahmins Exploited Innocent Dravidians -66 De-Indianizing the Tamil Traditions -67
  5. Dravidian Racism and Sri Lanka -79 Outdated Geology Mixes with Theosophical Fantasy -81 Lemurian Origins Linkup with Bishop Caldwell -83 Theosophy – Buddhism Uses Aryans to Counter Evangelism -85 Clash of Colonial Constructs: Aryan-Buddhist-Sinhalese vs. Dravidian-Saivite-Tamil -86
  6. Digesting Hinduism into ‘Dravidian’ Christianity -88 The Myth of St Thomas -89 Evangelism and the Dravidian Movement -91 Christianizing Hindu Popular Culture -111
  7. Propagation of ‘Dravidian’ Christianity 125 2000: Seminar on ‘Dravidian Religion to Eradicate Casteism’ -127 2001: India Declared the Mother of International Racism -127 2004: ‘India is a Dravidian Christian Nation, and Christians Made Sanskrit’ -129 2005: New York Conference on Re-imagining Hinduism as St Thomas Dravidian Christianity -129 2006: Dravidian Christianity Becomes an International Movement -135 2007: Second International Conference on the History of Early Christianity in India -139 2008: First International Conference on the Religion of Tamils -142 Christian-Dravidianism vs Modern Archeology -148 Assessing the Robustness of the Thomas Myth -149 Dravidian Spirituality as Interim Stage for Christianizing -150
  8. Dravidian Academic-Activist Network Outside India -154 Oxford-Yale Origins of the Dravidian Linguistic Canon -157 Academic Discourse Drives Indian Politics: Annadurai -160 SARVA Project and Identity Politics -162 Academic Support for Tamil Separatist Conferences -166 The Berkeley Tamil Chair -167 Europe-based Tamil Studies -170
  9. Western Discourse on India’s Fragments -173 Deconstructing India Systematically -177 Atrocity Literature as a Genre -182 Atrocity Literature Feeds India’s Fragmentation -185 Indian Minorities Serving the Global Majorities -189 Identity Faultlines for Western Intervention -193
  10. The Afro-Dalit Movement -196 Aryan/Dravidian and Hutu/Tutsi Parallels -197 American History Defines the Afro-Dravidian Movement -200 Western Government-Church Axis influences Afro-Dravidian-Dalit -207 Ramayana interpreted as a Racist Epic -209
  11. India: A Neo-Con Frontier -212 Corporate Multinationals to Convert Hindus -213 Dalit Activism by the American Christian Right -220 Right-wing Think-tanks and Policy Centers -234 Sustained and Biased Perceptions -240
  12. India: A Left-wing Frontier -247 Example of Left-Right Collaboration in Washington -249 US-based Academic Deconstruction of India -251 Islamic Tint in the Secular Lens -266
  13. The US Government’s Direct Involvement -268 International Religious Freedom Act -268 US Commission on International Religious Freedom -271 Pew Trust Repackages and Spreads: ‘India is Next Only to Iraq’ -283 US Government Agency for International Development (USAID) -285 Obama and US Foreign Evangelism -287
  14. British Intervention in Present-day India -297 Anti-India Axis in the UK -299
  15. Continental European Interventions -307 Affiliates of Dalit Dissent in India -316 Network of Academic Dalit Studies -321 Individual Scholars Propagating Dalit Separatism -327
  16. India’s Christian Umma -334 US-based Expansion of Indian Christianity -337 Christian Media -356 Intelligence-gathering Operations -363 Effects on the Ground -370
  17. India in the Clash of Civilizations -377 The Cover Map -378 Maoist Red Corridor Through India -380 Nagaland Model in Nepal and India’s Red Corridor -381 Islamic Slice of Dravidistan -394 Tamil Nadu -397 Kerala -400 Abdul Nasser Madhani, Godfather of south Indian Jihad -401 Tamil Nadu–Kerala Jihad Nexus Madhani Released and Jihad Outsourced to Kerala -405 Karnataka -407 New Developments in 2010 -411 Appendices -423 Appendix A: A Short History of Racism from the Nasal Index to the Y-Chromosome -425 Appendix B: Ancient Tamil Religion in Sangam Literature -431 Appendix C: Parallel Developments in Africa -438 Appendix D: Thomas Hoax on Native Americans -449 Appendix E: Papers Presented at New York Conference 2005 -451 Appendix F: Case of the Disposable Epigraphist -459 Appendix G: Monitoring Foreign Funds -463 Appendix H: Lutheran World Federation Targets India -467 Endnotes -476 Glossary -551 Bibliography -560 Index of Schematic Diagrams and Figures -621 Acknowledgments -625 Index -626 --- Also see 1. Book website: www.BreakingIndia.com

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