Monday, May 10, 2010

Re: [Delvoice] Tamil Nadu: inscriptions on how democracy was practised 1,000 years ago

Sir,
Where is democracy in India?

Nomination

That Democracy is for namesake in India. There is complete autocracy of Antonia Maino alias Sonia Gandhi in India. This is government by Sonia, of Sonia and for Sonia. President Pratibha was nominated by Sonia. Every Chief Minister of State ruled by Congress party is nominated by Sonia. Governors are being nominated today by Antonia Maino alias Sonia Gandhi. They (Governors) cannot speak a single word of their own. They can manipulate and terminate any Government elected by the people. In State of UP, Mayavati is butchering and plundering public servants under protection of Governor BL Joshi under section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code. BL Joshi is nominee of Sonia. He is sharing booty with Mayavati and passing to Sonia.

Even election is not for the rescue of citizens, because no voter can change either Article 29(1) or 39(c) or claim restoration of Article 31 of the Indian Constitution. Thus, one votes to decide as to who would plunder the subjects, whether Atal or Mulayam or Rahul or Antonia Maino alias Sonia Gandhi or Mayavati? Citizens vote to agree as to under whose regimen one's properties would be usurped, one's women would be raped and one would be slain! 

Governors have been nominated to ensure that citizens get warm feeling and smile on their face, when they are told that Allah and Jesus plot against them and hate them? Every mention about the kafir is negative. "Kafir" is usually translated as unbeliever, but this is wrong. The word "unbeliever" is neutral. The Koran defines the kafir by its usage and says that the kafir can be killed, (Koran 2:191) roasted, (Koran 4:56) hated, (Koran, 9:28) punished, (Koran 33:61) raped, (Koran 23:6) mocked, (Koran, 4:76) enslaved, (Koran 9:29) plotted against, (Koran, 9:5) beheaded, (Koran, 9:111) tortured, (Koran 8:12) insulted, (Azaan and Koran 21:98) condemned, (Koran, 17:18) stolen from, (Koran, 8:1, 69 and 41) deceived, (Koran, 4:142) captured, (Koran 4:24) humiliated (Koran, 9:29) and on and on. The Hadith and Sira follow in the same vein. There is no word in the English language that has the negativity of the word kafir.


-- 
Yours faithfully,
Ayodhya Prasad Tripathi, (Press Secretary)
Aryavrt Government
77 Khera Khurd, Delhi - 110 082
Phone: (+91) 9868324025/9838577815
Email: aryavrt39@gmail.com
Blog: http://aaryavrt.blogspot.com
Web-site: http://www.aryavrt.com
Read my eBook 'Wary of Sonia on Web-site: http://www.aryavrt.com
If you feel that this message be telecasted, donate us. Rush your contribution in the account of Manav Raksha Sangh Account No. 016001020168 ICICI Bank Ltd. Else keep ready for your doom. Remember! Whoever you are, you won't be able to save your properties, women, motherland, Vedic culture & even your infants. Choice is yours, whether you stick to dreaded usurper Democracy & get eradicated or survive with your rights upon your property, freedom of faith & life with dignity?
===
On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 9:46 AM, sri venkat <ahvenkitesh@gmail.com> wrote:
 *Democracy of a high standard — ancient example *
Friday, Oct 10, 2003
http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/fr/2003/10/10/stories/2003101001421200.htm


 The inscriptions on the walls of the Sundaravarada temple in Uttiramerur,
near Kanchipuram, show how democracy was practised 1,000 years ago. DR. R.
NAGASWAMY elaborates.



*The towering gopuram of the Sri Sundaravaradaraja Perumal temple at
Uthiramerur. — Pic. by A. Muralitharan. *

THE KUMBABHISHEKAM on June 8 last of the Sundaravarada temple of
Uttiramerur, Kanchipuram district, was the culmination of a great renovation
work.



This temple was built around 750 A.D. during the Pallava rule, but underwent
a second great renovation in the hands of Rajendra Chola in 1013 A.D., and
again in the reign of the great Vijayanagar Emperor, Krishnadevaraya in 1520
A.D.



The village is known for its historic inscription of a written constitution
that deals with elections to the village assembly, qualifications required
of candidates contesting in elections, circumstances under which a candidate
may be disqualified, mode of election, tenure of the elected candidates and
the right of the public to recall the elected members when they failed to
discharge their duties properly and so on.

It is interesting how in every aspect of life the highest standard of
democracy was enforced in Uttiramerur.



Fines for wrongdoers

A 10th Century record deals with how to administer fines imposed on wrong
doers in the village. Those who were fined for misdeeds are classified into
criminals ("dushtargal"), fined by the great village assembly and the
serving elected members of the village assembly who were fined.



*Inscriptions on a wall of the temple. - Pic.. by D. Gopalakrishnan. *

The great assembly met and decided that the fines imposed should be settled
by the administrators of the village, through the Village Assembly, within
the same financial year, failing which the Village Assembly itself would get
the matter settled. This suggests that as the Village Assembly also had a
judicial function, it could impose further fines and get the same realised.
Regarding the second category it was decided that the elected members of the
subcommittees, their servants, the village scribes and the village guards,
who were punished for default, the cases should be settled by the village
administrators (under the supervision of the Village Assembly), failing
which the Village Assembly itself should collect the fine, within the same
year.



The village administrators would be individually fined one "kaanam" (money)
for their failure to discharge their duty. The record makes it clear that
the elected members of the Village Assembly could not escape punishment by
virtue of their elected memberships. The defaulting administrators were also
dealt with severely.



Testing gold quality

Another record dated 921 A.D. was a regulation passed by the Village
Assembly. As gold was in circulation for commercial transactions it was
found necessary that the gold offered should be tested for its fineness to
the satisfaction of the community.



A committee was elected by the villagers to test the gold by rubbing it
against a touchstone. Four members were elected by the pot ticket method by
the merchant community of the village, two members by the military garrison
and two by the oil mongers.



Those who stood for this election had to be skilled in testing gold and for
their upright conduct. They had to be neither too old nor too young. They
should be taxpayers. Non-tax paying men were considered unsuitable for the
work. All together 10 members were elected for a stipulated period.



The Gold Testing Committee, called "Pon Vaariyam", was strictly prohibited
from using rough stones, which would lead to greater loss of gold while
rubbing. They were also expected to recover the gold dust from the
touchstone, at the end of each day and deposit it with the village assembly.
Once in three months, they were obliged to go before the village assembly
and swear that they had not committed any fraud in the testing. Also people
were so proud of their oaths and sworn statements that they would sacrifice
their life rather than break their own sworn statements.



Appointment of Professors

Another interesting record deals with an establishment of a higher
institution of learning and the qualifications prescribed for the professor,
the method of appointment and the duration of his service. As this was
related to a Vedic college, the qualifications required mastery of the
Vedas. For instance, the incumbent could not be a native of that village but
one who came from other regions. It was believed that the teacher from the
same village might take things easy and not do full justice to his
profession.



The second clause states that the teacher should have mastered one Veda
completely in addition to mastery of grammar, "Mimamsa", and the two
religious systems, "darsanas". Alternately he should have mastered one of
the Vedas, in addition to grammar with commentary ("Vyakarana" with
"bhashya") and Logic with commentary and classical notes ("nyaaya" with
"bashya" and "tika") and etymological science ("nirukta") with commentary.



Those who are conversant with ancient Indian learning know that these are
very high standards compared to this age, where a professor of Ancient
History, for example, need not have even basic understanding of Sanskrit or
epigraphy to interpret the original sources of ancient Indian culture.



The Ancient Educationists on the other hand insisted on multi-dimensional
understanding of the relevant subjects as the best system of education. The
record states that the teacher is appointed for a period of only three years
at the end of which one has to take an examination for another term of
appointment. The endowment with all the stipulations was created by a
gentleman of the village in association with the Members of the Village
Assembly, which would monitor the functioning. Here one finds that local
democracy played a vibrant role in keeping the standard of education high.



Protection of village tanks

The maintenance of the village tank received top priority. The work was
looked after by the Tank Supervising Committee whose members were elected
from among the non-serving members of the Village Assembly. Their tenure was
also limited to three years. In this way a great number of people were
involved in managing the affairs of the village. The duty of the Tank
Supervisory Committee was maintenance of tanks, irrigation, levying of tank
taxes and utilising the funds so collected for the same purpose. The work of
this committee was so inspiring that many people, including women, came
forward and endowed money for tank maintenance.



The committee also had to de-silt the village tanks once in three months and
strengthen the tank bunds by widening and raising its height. The sluices
and overflow channels were to be maintained properly. Uttiramerur shows the
best example by providing a large number of records dealing with this type
of secular transactions of the village Assemblies of Ancient India.



There is an example of road maintenance. A road, continuously used by the
villagers and cattle, became unfit for use. The village assembly acquired
lands from owners who had cultivable lands adjacent to the road. The long
road was about 48 feet wide. The assembly purchased land 14 feet wide from
all the owners, who were willing to part with the land for a common cause
and the road was re-laid.



Efficient election system

It would be appropriate to close this account by referring to the election
system that was in vogue. The record is a clause-by-clause document of high
efficiency and those who drafted it could be considered constitutional
experts.



The salient features were that a person should have a minimum educational
qualification, should be above 35 years of age and below 70, should own a
minimum of landed property, should have a residence built in his own land
and finally, should be a tax payer. Only such men, who felt it was their
responsibility to contribute to the governance, were allowed to contest. It
was obligatory that a legislator should understand at least what he is
legislating, as these acts affect the life of the people. In disqualifying a
candidate, primary importance was given to elimination of corruption. Not
only corrupt persons but those who abetted corruption and the near
relatives, were debarred from contesting an election for seven generations.



Those elected could be recalled any time if they were found not discharging
their duty properly. With all these rigid rules if one got elected he could
not contest the next three consecutive elections. And one could contest only
for three terms throughout his lifetime and should make way for other
members and families to get elected. Uttiramerur definitely shows the way in
democratic participation extended to a larger section of society, exerting
at the same time constant vigil and scrupulous enforcement of the Law,
without favours or prejudices.



In place were several committees such as the Annual Administrative
Committee, Tank Committee, Gold Committee, Field Committee, Garden
Committee, etc. which were all democratically elected under the overall
supervision of the Annual Committee.



Each serving member is debarred from standing for any other committee within
three terms. Many of the evils prevalent today were anticipated 1,000 years
ago and this made the Constitution framers, men of great vision, who deserve
to be at least remembered. Uttiramerur, in this context, has a message to be
acknowledged.

*(The author was Director of Archaeology, Tamil Nadu). *

                  **
28.states, 1618 languages, 6400 castes, 6 ethinc group, 29 festivals,
1 country, proud to be an indian.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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