Monday, February 25, 2008

இந்தியா 1835 - Is this True ?

இப்பொழுதெல்லாம் ஏதாவது ஒன்றை கேள்விப்பட்டாலோ, வாசித்தாலோ இதில் எவ்வளவு தூரம் உண்மை இருக்கும் என்று தோன்றுகிறது.

அப்படி இன்று வந்த ஒரு மிகப் பழைய செய்தி. எனது சகோதரர் மென்மடலில் அனுப்பியிருந்தார். வாசித்து, இதுபற்றி அறிந்தவர்கள் மேலும் விளக்கம் தெரிவியுங்கள். நாம் எப்படி இருந்திருக்கிறோம் என்று நினைத்தாவது மகிழ்ச்சி கொள்வோம்.

செய்தி:

6 மறுமொழி(கள்):

Anonymoussaid...

This is completely false in so many aspects. With so many languages and cultures, to say India had one education system throughout the country is at best laughable.
Also, the literacy rate was in single digit percentage and confined to High class of the society.
Also there are no parliamentary records of Macaulay's speech. and worst of all, In 1835 Macaulay was in India and not in Britain.
Do not believe everything you read in news papers/forwards. Particularly the right-leaning paper.

சின்னப் பையன்said...

தெரியவில்லை...:-(

சதங்கா (Sathanga)said...

கூகிளாரிடம் முறையிட்டதில், இது ஒரு தவறான செய்தி என்று தான் வருகிறது. இதுவும் ஒரு வகையில் ஒரு பாடமே. இது போன்ற செய்திகள் இனி தவிர்க்கப்படும்.

அருண்மொழிsaid...

இந்தியா முழுவதும் forward செய்யப்படும் இது ஒரு தமிழ் வெளியீடு

இது குறித்து மேலும் அறிய

http://gauravsabnis.blogspot.com/2008/01/propaganda-about-macaulays-speech.html

Why would Macaulay be stupid enough to go on the record saying that Indians are the salt of the earth, and hence need to be broken? The whole thing stunk so I emailed a few people even as I was googling the test. Salil Tripathi replied back pointing out something I had missed - the fact that "calibre" is spelt as "caliber", the way an American would spell it. He also sent the link to the full text of "Macaulay's Minute" dated 2nd February 1835, which is reproduced on a Columbia University page.

Here is the full text.
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_minute_education_1835.html

If you go through the page, you will notice that the supposed paragraph does not appear anywhere. Additionally, Macaulay's tone is extremely condescending and disrespectful towards Indian people, Indian culture, traditions and literature. He is making a case for imposing an English-based education system. But his whole argument is that the existing system, and existing literature in Arabic, Sanskrit and other regional languages is inferior and even false.

So the aforementioned paragraph is obviously a fabrication. A piece of propaganda to be used while decrying Macaulayism. Who concocted this paragraph? Rudimentary googling does not tell me that. But it would be safe to assume it would be someone with an RSS-ist ideological bent.

அருண்மொழிsaid...

It would also be safe to conclude that whoever felt the need to concoct this must have been stupid beyond belief. The actual text itself is damning and offensive enough to be used in arguments against Macaulayism. It shows that the education system which we have in place today is the remnant of a system put in place at the behest of a man who, by his own admission, was at the very least ignorant about the existing Indian body of knowledge, and at the most was hostile towards it. Our education system is a remnant of a system designed only to produce "intermediaries" who could act as agents of the British government while ruling the country. A system built to create an army of brown sahibs.

Yet our friend the concocter felt the need to fabricate a para which praises Indian people and Indian culture, and paint Macaulay as a scheming colonialist who was hell-bent upon causing the downfall of this great culture. If this piece of propaganda weren't so willy-nilly swallowed by everyone with an email address, it would be extremely hilarious.

சதங்கா (Sathanga)said...

அருண்மொழி,

வருகைக்கும், மிக விரிவான செய்திகளுக்கும் மிக்க நன்றி. Lessons learnt !!!

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