A Christmas Story

 

Though Christmas is over and one is surfeit with cakes and biriyani and of course wine, the season with its carol songs and Merry Christmas greetings still lingers in the air and rings in the ear. So I think it is quite alright to write a Christmas story for my blog. I haven’t written for a long time and I think it is good to write one before the aroma of biriyani wafts into the air and disappears!

Can you imagine a Christmas story that starts with ghosts? Yes, this one does. I am referring to the novel, “A Christmas Carol” written by Charles Dickens in the year 1843. Quite inappropriate that I read this story meant for children only now, after retirement! They say in old age one behaves like a young child. May be I am in that stage!

This is the story of a businessman by name Scrooge, who with his partner Marley, had been running his business of a counting-house, in today’s parlance, a sort of bank in England. After the death of his partner some seven years back, Scrooge is running the business on his own, without changing the name of the firm, “Scrooge and Marley.” Scrooge is a miser, tight-fisted and a covetous old man. He is also self-contained and solitary. He didn’t like anyone greeting him or sticking a conversation with him in his office or on the road. Nobody dared to do so too. In his office, even in winter, he wouldn’t spend money for warming himself and his clerk, who had to warm himself at the candle.

One Christmas season his nephew came wishing him Merry Christmas. Scrooge’s response was “Bah! Humbug!” His principle was a person as poor as his nephew had no business wishing anyone Merry Christmas. What is merry about Christmas for a poor man like him in any case? Then his nephew asks him, why is he not happy and celebrate Christmas cheerfully when he is rich! His uncle would have none of that. The nephew goes off saying Christmas is a kind, forgiving, charitable and pleasant time and his uncles is missing the whole Christmas spirit. But Scrooge refuses his nephew’s dinner invitation and dismisses him off grumpily.

Another two men come seeking some contribution from Scrooge for the poor and destitute during Christmas time. You think Scrooge would open up his purse or heart? No way! He tells them to advice the poor to go the workhouses and get benefits under the Poor Law. His policy again is not to make idle people happy. If the poor die, then in his opinion, it is good because it will reduce the surplus population. Well, what do you think? The two gentlemen quietly withdrew. He even refused paid-holiday to his clerk for Christmas. Next he chased off a boy singing Christmas Carol at his door. Now you know what sort of man Scrooge is. Well, someone ought to do something for him – may be smack him on his behind!  

As Scrooge returns home and warms up some food and starts to eat it, he discerns another figure in his bedroom, Marley, his dead partner’s ghost! It strikes a conversation with Scrooge. Trembling Scrooge asks why he is visiting him now. The ghost regrets that while he lived he was similar to Scrooge, unkind to the poor and the people and now he is in chains and roaming the world for the sins he had committed. He warns Scrooge not to continue these mistakes and become like him at his death. He can still correct himself. Marley’s ghost says three more ghosts will visit him, one after the other, sharp at twelve at night.

First ghost promptly appears at 12 midnight. It calls itself the “Ghost of Christmas Past.” It takes Scrooge for a ride outside to the place where Scrooge was born and brought up. Scrooge recognises the place and the school he studied. A boy was sitting alone in the school, Scrooge! Then they went in to a dilapidated, cold but big mansion. Scrooge was there as a small boy all alone shivering in the cold reading a book. Scrooge had tears in his eyes when he saw himself so lonely and neglected as a boy. Now he wishes he had not chased the boy who came singing Carol to his place. Then the ghost takes him to the shop keeper where Scrooge had worked as an apprentice. He saw how the master invited him and other boys and how they all had a wonderful and merry Christmas party in his home. Then he sees himself as a young man in love, but his ambition was to make money. The girl releases him from the commitment, because she realizes that he is after money and not love. Later she was married, though poor yet lived a happy life. On Christmas day her husband comes in bringing lot of small Christmas gifts to her and their children. This also the ghost shows him. Scrooge is heart-broken seeing all these, realizing how miserable he had been, thinks he has learnt a lesson. Has he, really?

Next night the next ghost appears, and introduces itself as the “Ghost of Christmas Present.” This ghost takes Scrooge to the streets where boys are running around delightfully and homes are celebrating Christmas with friends and families. Even in that winter cold people were happy and cheerful. They both went to the suburbs – to the house of Scrooge’s clerk. Even they had a good Christmas dinner and were rejoicing, in spite of having a boy who was crippled. They even drank to the health of Scrooge! Everywhere people were wishing each other Merry Christmas and the spirit of Christmas and cheer were overflowing. Then they visited the home of Scrooge’s nephew. They also were enjoying with one another Christmas dinner.

Next comes the third ghost, the “Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.” It is about the future. It takes Scrooge to a group of businessmen, who were talking about the dead Scrooge, who had died alone in his bed! They spoke so ill of him! It would be a cheap funeral they said! No one said one good or kind word about him. Unloved, unsung, unattended he had died. On seeing this, the horror of it strikes Scrooge, who vows that he will become a changed man, so that he wouldn’t meet such a lonely and despicable end. Good for him!

At home he sobbed violently, then he got up, ran out and wished a boy on the street Merry Christmas. In one night Marley’s ghost and the three other ghosts had really done a great job and Scrooge was a changed man. He went to the church, smiled at people, visited his nephew, raised the salary of his clerk, and generally became a kind and helpful gentleman.

So ends the story. Charles Dickens beautifully shows the transformation of a miser into a liberal and kind man, who helped everyone. This is a simple story, emphasizing the importance of Christmas spirit of sharing, and loving, and wishing peace and happiness to all. Didn’t the angels sing,  “Glory to God in the highest heaven, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Is any one of us like Scrooge? Better change for good, or else one might get a visitation from the Christmas ghosts!

Wishing you all Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. God bless you all.

Is Christianity losing out in the world today or may be not?

 

Is Christianity losing out in the World Today or may be not?

This is a serious question. Till the mid 19^th century, Christianity was ruling high as the only faith in the West. But by the end of 18^th century this scenario had changed. Many people in the West lost faith in Christianity, the church and even the Bible. This could have happened because of rationalism, fostered by the writings of people like Carlyle, Voltaire, etc. It could be because of science triumphing over religion, starting with the Theory of Natural Selection or Darwinism. Biblical criticism contributed to people losing faith in miracles and the supernatural and led to liberalism and modernist theology. Or it could be the false religious lives that Christians lived, and the obvious hypocrisy of it all as we saw in the story narrated in the previous blog, based on the book by Samuel Butler. The conduct of nefarious bishops and pastors, the co-called God’s servants made many to be skeptical of the truths preached by them and the Bible. More importantly the religious wars after the Reformation and the spirit of tolerance that followed it, among the various sects or divisions of Christianity, contributed to this loss of faith in Christianity in the West. The trend was towards secularism and liberal Christianity. The knowledge of the existence of various other religions in the world by the 20^th century and the desire to be at peace with them respecting their religious sentiments also contributed to these trends.

Does all this mean that Christianity has lost its flavor and is dying out in the world today? On the contrary, there are signs that Christianity is thriving and growing in the world, albeit slowly. It is not dying but is shifting from the North to the South of the world! According to the “Report of Status of Global Christianity, 2022,” it is seen that Christianity is growing at 1.17% in the world. Some of the other religions that are growing faster are Islam (1.95%), Sikhism (1.66%) and Hinduism (1.30), but Christianity is still doing quite well, thank you! Among Christians, the Pentecostals or Charismatic are growing at the rate of 1.88% and evangelicals at 1.8%.

In a population of 7.7 billion in the world today, 2.56 billion are Christians. It might be declining in the Western countries, but it is growing faster in the southern countries. The centre of Christianity has moved from the global North to the global South. It is growing at a rate of 1.18% in Latin America, 2.77% in Africa and 1.5% in Asia. South is bearing the full weight of Christianity!

Surprisingly atheism is losing flavor and less number of people today call themselves atheists. Moreover lot more non-Christians have the opportunity of hearing about Christ today than ever from someone whom they know. The population of people who have not heard about Jesus Christ or the un-evangelized people form only 28.4% of the world’s population. This year it is expected that 93 million copies of Bible are getting printed and distributed in the world. Six billion copies of the Bible have been sold up until now! Daniel had said in his prophecy, “Many shall be running back and forth, and knowledge will increase.”[1] Yes, the world has become small, a global village and knowledge has spread, along with the good news of the gospel has also spread.

So who says Christianity is dying? Not at all! It has just shifted from the North to the South.

It doesn’t mean that we can relax and let things be as they are. Every Christian has a duty and a service to render by spreading the good news of Jesus Christ to all we know. When many disciples stopped following Jesus and went back because his teachings were difficult, Jesus asked his twelve disciples, “Do you also wish to go away?” Then Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe that you are the Holy One of God,” (Christ or the Son of the living God in some ancient authorities).[2] Christ is the Son of God and he has the authority to forgive our sins because of his sacrificial death on the cross and those who believe in him will inherit eternal life. This is the sum and substance of the gospel, the good news and it is our duty to give this message of life to people with whom we interact, both family and friends, secular and religious.  

My God bless the readers of this blog and enable us to live up to the expectation of Christ, the Savior of humanity, sent by God to the world to save the world.

---

[1] Daniel 12:4

[2] John 6:60, 66-69

A Story and critique of Christian way of life in the end of 19th Century in the West.

 

A Story and critique of Christian way of life in the end of 19^th Century in the West

A book which I had read long time back, I happen to reread now. It is amazing to realize how many things that escaped my notice then, have come to my mind now! By the end of 19^th century Christianity in the Western world was in disrepute. The veracity of the Bible was being questioned, especially after the release of the book “On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection” by Charles Darwin in 1859. The creation of the world and all there is in it as narrated in Genesis chapter 1 was doubted and evolution of the species by the survival of the fittest, including that of human beings came as the alternative theory to creation. If the beginning itself was wrong, then how to believe the other matters written in the Bible? That became the skeptic's question. Many novels and books were written describing the morals and daily life of those professed Christianity, especially in high positions in the churches and elsewhere deepened these questions. Sigmund Freud’s theory of Psychoanalysis written in 1905 also shook the world to its foundation with regard to how we looked at the mental and psychological disorders.

The book I am talking about is “The way of all flesh,” by Samuel Butler, written in 1882. The story is about three generations of Pontifexes. John Pontifex (1727-1811) was just a carpenter, poor and ordinary, who also used to build organs and played the organ in the local church in Paleham. His only son George Pontifex when he was only 15 years old was taken by his aunt (mother’s sister) and uncle to live with them in London and assist him in his business of publication. He worked hard, earned the trust of his uncle and on their death, he inherited the publication business and became rich at a very young age. He married well and had four children, three girls and two boys. When his wife died in child birth, he did not marry again. John was his eldest son, then was born Theobald in 1802, two elder girls Eliza and Maria and the last girl was Alethea.  

George Pontifex was rich but loved money. His way of controlling the children, especially the boys was to throw at their face how hard he had to work to make his riches and how he is not going to throw away it on them unless they proved worthy of it. He thrashed both his boys at least twice a week if not more. I suppose that is what all the fathers did during that time! You are never to spare the rod and spoil the child. What is written in the Bible was never questioned. The first sign of self-will in a child was to be broken in the childhood itself so that he or she grows to be an obedient child. They are to be obedient till their 21^st year and thereafter they are free to do what they pleased as long as they did not want the money of their father, if he happened to be rich. That was the philosophy of life then. George gave his boys expensive education and expected them to make their own living and not be a drag on him and his money. The Damocles’ sword over their heads was if they didn’t do well, their father will not leave a single penny to them.  

John the eldest was smarter and managed to do well and took to George’s business. Theobald was shy and timid and was not very smart, with the result though he was educated at Cambridge, George wanted him to become a clergyman. He could only mildly protest to the father and with the threat of disinheritance, he quietly became ordained as a clergyman in 1825, though he disliked the profession. He married after a long engagement Christiana, the daughter of the Rector whom he helped in the church activities, only after he got employment as Rector in Battersby in 1831. George had objected to him marrying a penniless girl four years elder to him, but reconciled and settled him in life with 10,000 pounds. They settled down and beget children of their own. 

Theobald was not fond of children, but he had three children, Ernest the first born, Joey and then Charlotte. He started to teach Ernest to read and write at the age of two and when the child made mistakes he was whipped. When he was three years old, Ernest couldn’t pronounce ‘c’ so kept saying ‘tum,’ for ‘come,’ and scolding him that he was deliberately doing this Theobald whipped him soundly. Christina never interfered in these punishments saying her husband is an exemplary father and that he is taking this trouble over the child only for the child’s good. Then they had family prayers, regularly every day, after the daily whipping and screaming and the crying. Again the idea was self-will must be destroyed in childhood itself so that they boy grows up as an obedient and manageable son. The boy suffered like this every day till he was 12 years old when he was sent to a school.

The grandfather, George being happy to get the first grandson in Ernest left him 2500 pound, which he had taken from his father Theobald’s share, to be given to Ernest on his 21^st birthday. This angered Theobald even more. George on his death left 20,000 pounds each to his three girls and 17,250 pounds to Theobald and the rest to the eldest son John. While he was in the school his unmarried aunt Alethea took interest in him and wanted to adopt him as her own. But she died early and left some 20,000 pound for Ernest but under the management of the narrator of the story, to be given to the boy only on his 28^th birthday, as she was not sure he would have learnt to manage the money wisely before that. The narrator happens to be a friend of Theobald, having born in the same year and an admirer of Alethea, and also the god-father of Ernest.

Having been under the thumb of the father, Ernest was not developed in his personality, but was weak and was pleased with anyone who said a few good words about him and preferred the company of the servant class and the poor whom he considered equal to him. He had been told umpteen times by his parents that he was worth nothing and that it was his luck or grace of God that he got such a good father who looked after him and educated him. With such deep insecurity and low-self esteem, the boy took up vows as a clergy man when he completed his studies and went and lived in a poor locality to bring the poor and the suffering to Christ. His grandfather’s deposit of 2500 pounds had grown into 5000 by the time he became 21 years old, but he lost it all by entrusting it to a friend who duped him and disappeared with the money. He also got embroiled in a case of assault of a girl living in that place in a shackle, and was sent to jail for six months for no fault of his own.

By then he had become so angry with his father that when he came out of the prison penniless, he wanted to have no dealings with him at all. However nemesis caught up with him. Immediately after his release he met the pretty servant girl who had worked in his house when he was a boy and by the end of an hour, had proposed to her and married her soon after. They started to live in another poorer tenement and started to sell second hand books and clothes to make a living and got two children also. It took him some time to discover that his wife was an alcoholic and that she was spending up his hard earned money for liquor without his knowledge. He was shattered when he came to know of this; for once more he had been taken for a ride. Fortunately for him he came to know that she was legally married to the coachman of his father a few years before his own marriage to her and got her to admit it and got out of his marriage to her, which was in any case can not be legally recognized. He made arrangements for some money to be granted to her weekly and left the children under the care of a couple who were willing to bring them up along with their own kids for a small amount.

In all these debacles it was the narrator and the friend of his aunt who had stood by him and helped him out. On his 28^th birthday, the amount of 20,000 pounds deposited by his aunt had grown into 70,000 by wise investments and was transferred to him by the narrator, as was desired by his aunt. Bitten not twice but thrice, that too seriously, our hero Ernest decided not to marry again and not to mingle with people of any class, low or high, and took to writing and travelling, safe occupations. His daughter married her childhood friend in the family where she grew up, and Ernest settled her well and bought motorized boats to both his son and his son-in-law to set them on their livelihood. He was even blessed with a grandson. When his mother was ill and dying he went and stayed in their Battersby house for a week till she died. He also visited his father at least once a year till he died, overcoming his hatred for his father.  

So all is well that ends well? I am not so sure. I have just narrated the story so far. We are yet to get onto the criticism of the life of Christians, especially the clergy, and its effect on the children, the next generation. We will do that in the next episode. So till then, read the story, enjoy it and keep mulling over it in your mind.

Good bye and God bless you.

The Story of Civilizations

 

In his unique book “A Study of History,” Toynbee undertakes an amazing study of 21 civilizations of our world formed of societies. He traces the origin of these civilizations, studies the growth, analyses the causes of their breakdown and explains their disintegration. Such a wide coverage of world civilizations blows your mind! Let us delve into this study.

The present day Western civilization, affiliated to the dead Greco-Roman or Hellenic (Greek) society, is a living civilization, along with the Orthodox Christian society in South East Europe and Russia, which can be divided into Orthodox Byzantine consisting of Anatolia and Balkans and Orthodox Russian societies; Islamic society of North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia up to China, which includes Iranic and Arabic societies; Hindu society in the sub-continent of India and the Far Eastern society in Japan, form the five living societies. Far Eastern society can be divided into Chinese and Japanese-Korean societies. The dead civilizations include Minoan, Hellenic, Syriac, Sumeric, Hittite, Babylonian, Andean, Yacatac, and Mayan. Monophysite Christians of Armenia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Abyssinia; Nestorian Christians of Kurdistan and ex-Nestorian who are the relics of Syriac society and the Jews and Parsees are seen as the fossilized relics of now extinct civilizations. Another set of fossilized relics are Lamistic Mahayanian Buddhist of Tibet and Mongolia; Hinayanian Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Cambodia and Jains of India, relics from Hindu society which itself is from Indic society.  

While engaging in a comparative study of these societies, Toynbee traces four stages: 1). Time of trouble: eg. Persian wars on the Greek society during 480-479 BC and Barbarian’s attack on Roman Empire in 415 AD. 2). Formation of a Universal State: eg. Roman Empire. 3). Interregnum: the stage between the fall of a civilization and the emergence of another civilization in its place; eg. after the fall of Roman Empire and the disappearance of Hellenic civilization, Western society emerged. During this interim period, there appears (1) a Universal church, (2) dominant minority that might turn more violent to hold on to power and (3) a chaotic stage of wandering barbarians, the former two products of the internal and the latter a product of the external proletariat of a dying civilization.

Of these 21 civilizations, 15 are affiliated to previous but dead civilizations. Six emerged directly from primitive societies, these being Egyptiac, Sumeric, Monoan, Sinic, Mayan and Andean; Minoan, Sumeric and Egyptic go back to the dawn of history itself. How does a primitive society transform itself into a civilization? If we examine the last 6000 years, when human civilizations have been on earth, it is seen that neither race nor environment are the decisive factors in the genesis of a civilization. The important factor could be the encounter between two superhuman personalities (Toynbee gives the encounter of Jesus and Satan in the desert as an example for it led to the genesis of Christian society. I do not agree with this, for it is a very simplistic explanation of the rise of Christianity and the Western society shaped by it!).

Suffering seems to be another major factor in evolving a successful civilization. When faced with adversity, humans took on risks to improve their situation and this process of adjusting themselves to a harsh environment led to growth. Ice ages when some humans with pluck travelled in search of food, tropical climate and shelter; they became the pioneers. Response to challenges is definitely the most important factor in such advancement of a civilization. From food-gatherers, they became hunters and then cultivators.

In Nile River delta and Mesopotamian river deltas of Euphrates and Tigris were drained by digging canals and river swamps converted into fertile fields. Nile valley produced Egyptian civilization and Mesopotamian valley gave birth to Sumerian society of the Land of Shinar. Similar factor brought in the Sinic civilization in the delta of Yellow river. Crossing of Atlantic Ocean was the challenge that gave birth to Minoan civilization in Crete which in turn gave birth to Greek society. Colonist groups on North America faced severe challenges, but built the most powerful country. Only those who took up the challenge of harsh climatic and geographic obstacles got the toughness to emerge as living societies. So the stimulus to growth is difficulties. Greater the difficulty, greater is the stimulus and stronger the civilization that resulted.  

Some civilizations are born but do not grow to adulthood and maturity, but get stuck in their state, eg. Polynesians, Eskimos and Nomads. Of the living societies, Toynbee’s perception is almost all are now in death throws, except the Western Civilization, because all the others are getting absorbed by the Western civilization, as every society is adopting the Western culture. We may not agree with this, for he had written this in 1933-39. Today the Western culture is on decline and we do not know which civilization will replace it; may be Sinic or Indic or a new civilization that will arise from the breakup of the Western civilization.

When a civilization disintegrates, a horizontal schism splits the society to three factions: the dominant minority who are the elite ruling class; internal proletariat, the people of the society and the external proletariat, who act as pressure group on the dying society. Each of these leave institutions, a Universal State, a Universal Church and barbarian war bands. Hellenic society produced Roman Empire as its State; its dominant minority became Roman administrators and Greek philosophers. Hindu society’s State was produced by outsiders, the Mughal Empire and later British Raj. Brahmins, the dominant minority became administrators of both these empires. Syriac civilization created Christian Church; Iranian Mithraism; Egyptians Isis; Anatolians the Great Mother Cybele and Sumeric Ishtar.

The causes for such a breakdown of civilizations could be due to the normal pattern of birth, growth, disease and death, which we see in human life, but a society is not an organism and hence we cannot allude to this reason. External aggression or failure to master the environment, impact of religion, etc, is discarded as the causes. It could be because the creative dominant minority is not able to carry the uncreative majority to their heights of achievements. In such a case the society loses its capacity for self-determination, which causes degeneration. When old institutions fail to carry on the creative force of the new ideas, breakdown happens and revolution results, as in French Revolution, which put back the clock of development by many decades. When new challenges come, the society that faced and overcame challenges in the initial stage might not be able to handle the new challenge. The loss of such creativity could also lead to breakdown.

During such disintegration, people look for a Savior, who could be a creative genius or a strong man with the sword, or a philosopher-king as recommended by Plato in his philosophy. It could also be a God incarnate in a Man, who died and rose for the people, as Jesus Christ did, who seem to be the only God or God-Man who did that for the world. Those who believe in him, he said he will lead to an everlasting Kingdom.

A very interesting study for anyone interested in history, civilizations of the world and a comparative study of these civilizations, for Toynbee writes exhaustively covering many civilizations. A great feat to perform and Somervell who abridged these writings of six volumes in one single volume, which I happened to read, has also performed an admirable job.

Finally, we the believers, look forward to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth by Jesus Christ who had promised to return to the world very soon and establish his eternal rule, which shall never be destroyed by any of the above mentioned causes or events, but will stand forever. Fortunate are those who will inherit such a blessing by believing in Jesus Christ. Amen. 

 

The French Revolution

French Revolution is the most memorable event that happened in the Western world, which changed the world once and for all. It is worth knowing about it. The story starts with the young king Louis XVI coming to throne in France when he was just 19 years old, on the death of his grandfather King Louis XV in 1774. His father had died when he was just 11 years old, and his mother followed him soon to the grave. He was married when he was just 15 years old, to Marie Antoinette, who was 13 years old,[1] the daughter of the formidable Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria. Royal headquarters was at the beautiful Versailles. Four children were born to them; King and the queen were loved by the people but they lived an extravagant life as would fit the monarchs of that age.

Population of France in the late 18^th century was 26,000,000 (26 million or 2.6 crores). 90% of them were formers. They were poor but paid all the taxes to the State, supporting the royalty, nobility and the clergy; these estates paid no tax. So the whole burden was on the poor farmers. It was a feudal system with noble land owners extracting taxes from the tillers. Clergy numbered 100,000, but monasteries were governed by bishops from rich aristocratic families, who did not pay tax but owned on tenth of the land in France. Many lower level priests were poor, but the church as an institution was very strong and powerful. During Enlightenment philosophers and thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau wrote against the privileges of the church and the aristocracy. Since 1781, one could not even get a commission in the army unless four generations of aristocratic birth could be proved. Nobility numbered 400,000 and owned one fifth of the land in the country. A small group of professionals and business people was just getting established.

France was deep in debt as the Royal Treasury was near empty. France participated in American Independence war of 1774, spending about 2000 million livres, which added to the woes. To fill in the treasury new taxes were imposed on everyone, including the aristocracy. It was opposed and vetoed by the privileged classes. To approve new taxation and to reform the society, Estates General (General Estate) was convened, which consisted of the Clergy, Nobles and the Third Estate (the Commons), which had not met since 1614. King Louis XI used force to quell any dissidence, but violence erupted all over France. Nobles and magistrates tried to block the equality of taxes imposed by the King and riots broke out between the Third Estate and the other two orders-clergy and nobility. New elections were held in early 1789 and 1201 representatives were elected, 291 nobles, 300 clergy and 610 from the Third Estate. Though many reforms were proposed, Clergy opposed it all to retain its independence and Nobility to retain their social rank and feudal dues. Commons voted themselves as the National Assembly.

King received the elected members at Versailles on 2 May 1789. After two days there was the procession of all the three Estates with King and the queen following them. As each Estate started their deliberations separately, the National Assembly was refused a hall to hold their meetings. They occupied the indoor tennis court within king’s palace and took an oath on 20^th June 1789 to stay together till an acceptable constitution was established. By the end of the month most of the clergy and 47 of the nobility had joined the National Assembly. Thus the first stage of the Revolution was achieved without bloodshed. Now things started to move fast.

Based on rumors that thousands of troops have been sent to protect aristocracy, common people took precautions to distribute whatever guns they had with them and on 14^th July 1789, 60,000 strong mob armed and unarmed stormed the Bastille in Paris, a huge fortress build in fourteenth century, used as a state prison. It was seen as the symbol of the intolerable regime. After a brief struggle Bastille capitulated. All over the country and villages castles, manor houses, abbeys and tax offices were invaded, and set fire, the event being known as the Great Fear. King agreed to withdraw the troops. This is the second victory for the Common man in the French Revolution.  

Though King yielded to the demands of the Third Estate, situation was so bad in Paris. Though people now accepted the king as belonging to the Third Estate and cheerfully welcomed him, unemployment was high, bread was expensive and in short supply. Harvest was bad in 1788, and food riots erupted. More killing and more destruction happened. Angry crowds marched to town halls demanding bread. Officials were chased and killed and some were hanged on lampposts. Some decided that king’s residence should be in the capital and not in Versailles. On 1^st October 1789 some 6000 women with knives and clubs assembled and some of them marched to Versailles in the rain angrily, shouting that they will wring the neck of the queen and seek her blood. In Versailles the mob broke down the inner doors of the palace and rushed forward. Queen had to be taken to safety hurriedly. They severed the heads of many guards, demanding King and the Queen appear before them. Once that happened they started to shout “The King to Paris!” The royal family was escorted to Paris in the royal carriage, surrounded by shouting women. National Guard led the way with wagon-loads of wheat and flour taken from hoarders and big farmers. National Assembly followed them. Now on royalty’s home will be in Tuileries, Paris. This women’s march was the third phase of the Revolution, with common man and woman tasting blood!

From then on it was a steep slide down along the slippery path of Revolution. On 2^nd November church properties were nationalized. In June 1790 titles of hereditary nobility were abolished. Church was reorganized as constitutional church with bishops elected by the people. New Constitution was written, passed by the National Assembly and approved by the king in September 1790. Many nobles and aristocracy fled the country. Their properties were forfeited to the nation. Neighboring kingdoms of Austria, Prussia, Spain and England declared war against France. In June 1791 King with his family tried to escape to Varnnes, a border town, but were caught and brought back to Paris, as prisoners.

In September 1792 horrible prison massacre takes place. 500 Swiss guards of the palace were slaughtered, in addition to some 1200 prisoners. Men and women wallowed in blood and played with baskets full of human heads. These gangs of citizens were served with food and drank wine now and then to replenish their strength to behead more people. Some even tore of the hearts, squeezed these to drink the ‘aristocrats’ blood.’ Convention abolished monarchy. Now the question was what to do with the king? If he escapes to a neighboring country, from there with the help of the other monarchs he can fight and reclaim his throne. If he stays in the country, he becomes the rallying point for the royalists. After much debate King was executed on 21 January, 1793, by Guillotine, invented by Dr. Joseph Guillotin in October, 1789.    

Girondins, the moderates and educated were ruling the country with lot of restrains. They were overthrown in June 1793 and Jacobins, the real revolutionary ones took up the reigns. Marat, their leader was murdered by a young girl. Feudal rights were abolished without compensation. Revolutionary calendar was adopted in October 1793. Marie Antoinette, the queen was executed on 16^th October, 1793. Many Girondin leaders were guillotined. Many were simply executed by the Committee of Public Safety, in the Reign of Terror, when 17,000 people were beheaded. Until one day, in July 1794, Jacobins feared there won’t be any one left and they executed Robespierre on the most important leader of the Committee, and the one engineering the Revolution, and called for purging of the government and leaders. Revolution, like Saturn, devoured its own children. With his death the fervor of bloodshed subsided. One of the victims famously said, “Oh Liberty, what crimes are committed in your name.”

Peace was signed with countries of Prussia, Holland, Spain and some peace returned to the country. From the ashes of Revolution arose Napoleon Bonaparte, who won miraculous victories in Italy and over Austria and was elevated as the General of the Army. With that a new chapter in French Revolution started! Napoleon consolidated the Revolution ideas into Napoleon Code and wanted to instil that in all Europe. There followed series of wars and amazing victories and finally defeat and exile. But that is another story for another day!   

What a price to pay for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, the motto of French revolution! Aristocratic England quickly passed reform acts to get rid of many of the social evils of Industrial Revolution so that their people will not copy the French and launch a bloody Revolution in England. Some credit John Wesley to have kept the working class in England in moderation by preaching Methodism, brining in Revival and not Revolution. Europe had always been a hotbed of wars, bloodshed and tyrannies. It was America that first sounded the beagle of revolution and fought the War of independence in 1774. French followed it. But world changed irrevocably after French Revolution. European countries became republics and democracies; feudalism was completely abolished. Western civilization entered into modernity. The sad part is they are still fighting for freedom and democracy as in Ukraine against Russia.

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[1] That is child-marriage! An arranged marriage that too! But in 18^th century that is how almost all marriages took place, even in Europe. 

Taliban: Its Story

 

In my previous blog on Afghanistan being a pawn in the power game of superpowers, I had promised to write about the Taliban, its origin and nature in my next blog. So here is the story. Though things are politically quiet as of now in Kabul, no nation so far has recognized the Taliban as the legitimate regime in Afghanistan. The UN is worried about the humanitarian plight of the ordinary Afghan people, who have not received their salaries, and are selling their goods at home to buy provisions for their families. Some of the Western countries like Germany are contemplating distributing aid to Afghan people, not through Taliban, but directly, may be through some NGOs. We are yet to see that drama unfolding.

Taliban mainly consist of Pashtun tribe, who live on both the sides of the un-demarcated border with Pakistan. The Taliban governor of Kandahar, the one-legged Mullah Mohammed Hassan Rehmani, (Hassan for short) was the founder member of Taliban. He had taken part in the war to oust Russians in 1989. He is number two to Mullah Omar, who rules from Kandahar, and refuses to shift to Kabul even after they had won it, and refuses to visit any other place or let foreign delegates visit him. Mullah Omar is one-eyed leader. Many of Taliban leaders are disabled in similar way, a reminder of 20 years of constant warfare. To fight Soviet forces USA, Saudi Arabia and some Western and Islamic countries spent around $10 billion to arm and equip the Mujahidin. CIA of USA and ISI of Pakistan kept pumping funds to Mujahidin, but without reckoning that another force was rising up in Afghanistan.

Durrani Pashtuns started to resist in Kandahar and won it after a bloody fight in 1980s. Kandahar is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul. Ahmad Shaw Durrani from Kandahar had established Durrani dynasty in 1761 and his descendants had ruled Afghanistan for 300 years. He was the one who united the Afghan territory to form the Afghanistan nation. Kandahar was famous for fruit orchards, growing grapes, melons, mulberries, figs, peaches and pomegranates, as it is an oasis town set in the desert. These fruits were exported to India and Iran.

Taliban emerged as a force to reckon with by the end of 1994. Durranis had lost Kabul, the capital and the country was divided into warlord fiefdoms, all fighting one another and switching sides, in an array of alliances, betrayals and bloodshed. Non-Pashtun leaders in Kandahar sold off everything to Pakistani traders to make money and to buy weapons. The warlords seized homes and farms, threw out the occupants and handed them over to their supporters. The Commanders abused the population of Kandahar by kidnapping young girls and boys for their sexual pleasures. The local population fled as refugees from Kandahar to Quetta in Pakistan. Mujahidin leaders from Kandahar like Mullah Omar, Hassan, etc., who had gone to Kandahar and Quetta to study in the madrassas there often discussed such misuse of their population by the bandits, the so-called leaders. Many were searching for a solution.

After much discussion these divergent groups who were deeply concerned about the country, gathered around Mullah Omar in Kandahar and formed an agenda which will become the declared aims of Taliban: to restore peace, disarm the population, enforce Sharia law, and defend the integrity and Islamic character of Afghanistan. Most of them were full or part-time students of madrassas. They chose the name Taliban for themselves. A talib is an Islamic student, one who seeks knowledge, a student. Taliban is the plural of Talib. They distanced themselves from the party politics of Mujahidin and proclaimed themselves a movement for cleansing the society rather than to grab power and rule. Many of them were born in Pakistan refugee camps, educated by the half-educated mullahs in Pakistani madrassas and learnt their fighting skills from the Mujahedin parties based in Pakistan. These young Taliban hardly knew their own history, but learnt from the madrassas the ideal Islamic society established by Prophet Mohammed in 7^th century and wanted to establish such a society in Afghanistan as an answer to its problems.

Mulla Muhammed Omar, born near Kandahar, a Pashtun, was selected as their leader. Their main aim was to save the Afghan people from the hands of Mujahidin. He functions from Kandahar which they capture in 1980 and rarely goes outside. Several secretaries take notes of his discussions and decisions and Omar dishes out Afghani notes from a tin trunk to his commanders and people in need; in another trunk he keeps US dollars. These tin trunks are the treasury of Taliban movement! This small group of Omar started to help people by releasing captured teenage girls and boys by the warlords and the public started to come to them to settle their local disputes as well. Omar said they were fighting Muslims who had gone wrong, almost like a Robin Hood, helping the poor against the rapacious commanders. He asked for no rewards or money but asked people to follow the Islamic system that he will set up.  

October 1994, some 200 Taliban from Kandahar and Pakistani madrassas attacked the garrison in Spin Baldak in the border of Pakistan and with the help of Pakistan captured a large dump of arms. They captured Kandahar by November 1994. By December 1994, their strength went up to 12,000 with Afghani and Pakistani madrassa students joining them. Some of them were as young as 14 years and 24 years old. Taliban started to implement their agenda – they closed down girl’s schools, banned women from working outside the home, smashed TV sets, forbade sports and recreational activities, and ordered all males to grow long beards. Within the next three months Mullah Omar and his army of students had taken control of 12 of Afghanistan’s 31 provinces.

 Taliban had spent most of their young lives in refugee camps in Baluchistan and NWFP of Pakistan, imbibing Koranic education given in dozens of madrassas in the borders, run by Afghan mullas or Pakistan’s Islamic fundamentalist parties. They had no formal education in mathes or science or history or geography. These boys were from a generation that had seen no peace in their country. They were what the war had thrown up in the shores of Pakistan and Afghanistan borders. They were literally orphans of the war, rootless, jobless and economically deprived. The only thing they knew was Koran and to fight. They were under an all-male brotherhood, for they knew nothing else. They had grown up without women – mothers or sisters or aunts or cousins. The boys lived rough and tough lives, and never knew the company of women. They felt threatened by women whom they have never interacted with in their conservative madrassas and subjugated them, a fundamental marker of difference between Taliban and the former Mujahidin. They fought well and were invincible; even when they lost they kept coming back till they won. Recruitment was no problem, as willing students from Pakistani madrassas kept joining them in hoards.

Haret, a major city, with non-Pashtun population, fell to the Taliban in 1995. In April 1996, Mullah Omar was nominated as the ‘Commander of the Faithful’, and the country was renamed as the Emirate of Afghanistan. Kabul fell to the Taliban in September 1996. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia switched from Mujahidin and started to fund and support Taliban. By then they controlled 22 provinces of the 31 in Afghanistan. Omar continued to rule from Kandahar and never even visited Kabul, which was the capital and had non-Pashtun population. I suppose the rest is history.

Welfare of the population was hardly a concern for Taliban. They believed that Allah will take care of them one way or the other. Either they die or live! It is all Allah’s mercy. By 2000, as Taliban was sheltering Osama Bin Laden, Saudi Arabia stopped funding them. Pakistan became its sole supporter; the only country in the whole world to help and bolster Taliban, for it was their own creation. The Taliban were born in Pakistani refugee camps, educated in Pakistani madrassas, and learnt their fighting skills from Mujahidin based in Pakistan. How could they disown them! But what is the price that Pakistan will pay for this foolhardy support of a terrorist group close to its border! Talibanization of Pakistan is the result of such a policy. Pakistan might soon face a Taliban-style Islamic revolution in their country. Afghanistan itself has become a haven for Islamic internationalism and terrorism.  Taliban has remained today internationally isolated and a pariah in the world of politics.[1]

 

 

   

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[1] Ahmed Rashid, Taliban: The Story of the Afghan Warlords, Pan Books, 2000

Afghanistan: A Pawn in the Power Struggle

Who is not troubled about the recent happenings in Afghanistan? America and its NATO allies have packed their bags and left by 30^th September 2021, after 20 years of warfare, first to defeat and drive away the terrorist organization Taliban in 2001 and then in the end to hand over the country and its administration to the very Taliban that they had thrown out. Trying to understand these macabre happenings in Afghanistan, I read some books on Afghanistan history[1] to know what made them makes them an enigma, evasive to every empire and government that tried to subdue and rule them.

Geographically Afghanistan is a land-locked country in central Asia, but being in the center of the land route connecting Central Asia, the Middle East with China and Indian subcontinent in South Asia to the countries in the West Asia and the Western Europe, it played an important role as an ancient trade route. It was also the invasion route due to its high Khybar and Bolan passes in the Himalayan mountain range, through which invaders poured into the rich alluvial plains of India. The conquering armies of Persians, Greeks, Mauryans, Huns, Mongols, Moghuls, British, Soviets and lastly Americans have all dealt with these passes. The country was at the cross roads of empires.

Persian Emperor Cyrus conquered northern Afghanistan, but he met his death fighting near Jaxartes River (in northern Afghanistan) in 530 BC. Darius I inscribed in 520 BC the territories he had inherited from Cyrus on a rock face in Behistun (in today’s Western Iran), which include Bactria (Balk), Areia (Herat), Arachosia (Kandhahar), and Gandhara, all in today’s Afghanistan. He came up to Karachi through Indus River and created a new province of Hindush, modern Sindh in modern Pakistan. Indians had fought in the war of Xerxes I against Greece in 480 BC! Here in Bactria, Alexander the Great who after conquering Persian Empire of Darius III in 331 BC, wanted to go to the ends of the worlds, got married, wishing for a progeny. He married Roxana, the beautiful daughter of Oxyartes, Bactrian king in 327 BC. Thereafter he turned to conquer India, crossing Hindu Kush passes. After a few wins, as his troops refused to move another inch, he returned to Babylon and died in 323 BC when he was just 33 years old!

Seleucus, Alexander’s general won the eastern part of the empire, Bactria, Afghanistan and Indian territories. Parthians, Scythians, Kushans, by turn over ran Afghanistan, followed by the barbaric White Hans in the 4^th century AD from central Asian steppes.  Pushtans, population presently found in between Pakistan and Afghanistan are said to be descendants of Greek and Scythian war tribes, living in remote mountains in Hindu Kush. By 7^th century AD Arabs pushed into Afghanistan and the population became Muslims gradually. Afghanistan also had given birth to empires of its own, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Durranis, Khiljivad who had sent their tentacles to India and established their rule and power over there. Even the Mughals had come from Afghanistan; Baber the founder of Mughal Empire fled from Afghanistan, having been driven out of Kabul which he was ruling from 1504 to 1526 came to India, and established his kingdom in 1526. His remains were buried in Kabul. It is also the birthplace of Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrian religion of Persia.

In 1221 AD Mongols descended into Afghanistan like a fury and laid waste the country. Tamerlane crossed into Afghanistan and then devastated Delhi of Mughal Empire in 1398 AD. The Silk Road was predominant during these times. Central Asia or India is yet to regain the wealth they had during this time. But Afghan tribes were never fully subdued, but retained their warrior culture high up in the rugged mountains. It has been said that entering Afghanistan was a simple task, but holding it is not.

A unique phenomenon of an Empire of indigenous Afghanistan rose up in 1722, with Mahmud at the helms. Next came Nadir Shah, who in 1739 swept through Afghanistan and along with the tribe of Abdalis from Afghanistan entered India though Khyber Pass and dealt a death knell to Mughal Empire. He massacred the people of Delhi and walked away with the prestigious Peacock Throne of Jahangir with its Koh-i-Noor diamond among other precious jewels. After Nadir Shah’s death, Ahmad Khan, an Abdali general built up an empire of his own in 1747 in Afghanistan and for the first time the conquered Afghanistan turned to be a conqueror. He also inherited the Koh-i-Noor diamond, a gift from Nadir Shah. This was called Durrani Empire, whose descendant Shuja Shah lost his kingdom and was installed in the throne by the British India Company in the First Afghanistan war of 1835.

As the centuries passed by and sea routes were discovered by the 15^th and 16^th century AD to India and China, the Western countries started to use the sea power to conquer nations, colonize them and be the masters of trade in the spices, silk, linen, tea, opium and other goods available especially in India and China. The land trade route lost its importance, and with it Afghanistan. In the 19^th century with the Great Russian Empire of Tsar on its north pressing down and the British Indian rulers, the East India Company in the south pushing up, Afghanistan became a buffer zone between the two great powers in their “Great Game” to world power in central Asia. British Empire collapsed in the 20^th century with most of its colonies gaining independence, especially its ‘Jewel in the Crown,’ India in 1947. The Russian Empire was dismantled after the October Revolution of the Lenin in 1917, which brought Bolsheviks to power and the institution of the Communist regime as USSR, Soviet Russia in 1922. With these, the partners of the Great Game changed; the world’s super powers Russia and the United States of America came onto the game. Soviet Russia invaded Afghanistan in December 1979 and tried to establish its communist ideology there. Fear of spread of Communism triggered USA to enter the game. In this power struggle of outside forces from 19^th century, Afghanistan became an unwilling pawn.

Afghanistan has the Hindu Kush Mountain passing in its center and has many narrow mountain passes and river valleys, but the land itself being very harsh and forbidding. It is a land that can be easily invaded but difficult to hold on. Afghanistan’s population consists mainly of tribes, living in the remote mountain regions, who are governed on a feudal basis with no respect for a central government in Kabul or elsewhere, with no sanctity for laws, excepting tribal laws. These high mountain tribes have never been conquered by any one throughout history and they had maintained their independence for thousands of years. Though there are internecine wars between the various tribes, whereby they hone their fighting skills, when their country is threatened by any foreign invaders, they unite together, descending from their mountain tops on their horses devastating the enemies.

On the flip side, a major characteristic of Afghans is that they are not reliable. One cannot depend on their word or promise or treatises neither can one depend on the continued support of their tribal fighters. Their leaders will swiftly change sides in a war, if they see the other party is winning, leaving the King or Ruler to flee, as it happened recently when President Ghani fleeing the country as the Afghans soldiers surrendered Kabul without fighting, switching over to the side of the winning Taliban. During the first Afghan-British India war of 1839-1842, the same fate happened to the then ruler, Amir Dost Mohammad. He had to flee when he saw his tribal chiefs switching sides accepting bribe money paid by the English. They will sell the country and honor to the highest bidder without scruple. The inconsistency and inconstancy of the Afghan chiefs are proverbial. An Afghan is said to have no conscience at all. It is impossible to rely on their promise, their friendship or their fidelity.

Afghan warriors could be ruthless, whether they invoke their religion Islam’s name or their own tribal loyalties. They are brutal, barbarous and merciless when they deal with their enemies. They can swear an oath on the Koran, but in absolute disregard of the oath they can do exactly the opposite of what was sworn. Their way of striking terror in the hearts of the enemy fighters was to massacre them and devastate their villages and houses. Such a massacre of Persian troops who had surrendered in Ispahan (in today’s Iran) to Afghan ruler Mir Mahmood in 1722 was ordered by him. Murder and pillage were their pastime. On his conquest Mir invited all the Persian nobles of the area to a great festival. Eager to please the new sovereign, they all came suspecting nothing. All of them were butchered by Mir’s soldiers in a treacherous act and their soldiers and relatives of several thousands were put to death. The terrible carnage lasted for a month reducing the population of Ispahan to half.

To Afghan courage is the greatest of virtues; to kill and massacre numerous human beings is courageous for them. It is bloodletting of the enemy that is appreciated by the Afghan tribes and their leaders. Not that they cared for their own women-folks. They would sell their daughters and wives to the enemy for money and if necessary sacrifice them for money or for their own pleasure of power. They could kill them if it was required. When an Afghan chief is killed the new leader and his tribal leaders share his women. Afghans fight with courage and savagery which are natural to them. As Afghans are nearly all soldiers by birth, there is no dearth in recruitment. Their state is in a permanent state of disquietude and trouble. They are the most turbulent nation in Asia and most difficult to govern.  

Well, my friends, more of this in the next blog, especially about the origin and growth of Taliban. Right now I have exceeded my self-imposed rule of not to write more than four pages in a blog!

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[1] J.P. Ferrier, “History of the Afghans,” 1858, 2^nd Impression, Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi: India, 2020

W. Dalrymple, “Return of a King: An Indian army in Afghanistan,” Bloomsbury Publishing , London,2013, New Delhi, 2014

S. Tanner, Afghanistan: A military history from Alexander the Great to the war against the Taliban, Rev. ed., Da Capo Press, 2002