historian irfan habib
– Photo: Amar Ujala
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Even at the age of 92, renowned historian Irfan Habib has an amazing memory. His study is extensive. Important events of history and their dates are on their tongue. The most important thing is that he expresses his views boldly and with full confidence. No clinging. Irfan Habib, former professor of Aligarh Muslim University, takes on those who advocate the study of Manusmriti and Kautilya’s Arthashastra in the new education system.
While talking to Amar Ujala, Irfan Habib expressed his opinion that in a country where there are fundamental texts of best knowledge like Upanishads, it is surprising to talk about teaching Manusmriti and Arthashastra. Upanishads are a very big thing. There is no question related to life in these which has not been answered. He termed Manusmriti and Arthashastra as texts promoting casteism. He said, caste based penal system has been mentioned in both the scriptures. In these, it has been advocated to give least punishment to Brahmins and maximum punishment to Shudras and untouchables. Not only this, the story of the emergence of castes is also discriminatory.
Rigveda was written in Punjab, Yajurveda, Atharva Veda in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar.
Irfan Habib told that Rigveda was written in Punjab and Yajurveda and Atharvaveda in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. There are prayers and praises in the Vedas. Since these are the oldest texts of human civilization, they have special importance. There is mention of Gods and Goddesses in this. But Irfan also says that the Vedas do not contain as deep a philosophy as the Upanishads. The language of the Rigveda is very similar to the language of the Sanskrit Iranian scripture Avesta. If you read Sanskrit then you can read Avesta easily. The same is true for Avesta, one who knows its language will understand Rigveda. The importance of the Puranas is that they contain detailed descriptions of the genealogies of ancient royal families. Get help from them.
Archeology proved that Aryans came from Kazakhstan
Irfan also says that UGC says that Aryans left India, teach this. Whereas archaeological research has proved that the Aryans came from Kazakhstan. It should be believed that Dravidian people were the original inhabitants here. Even the language used in the Harappan civilization has not yet been studied but it is estimated that they have similarities with Tamil. Fish has been used extensively in Harappan hieroglyphs. Fish has many meanings in Tamil also.