Kancha Ilaiah is a joker – he appears to be a hate-monger in the garbs of an intellectual. Just reading the titles of his two books is evidence enough against his intellectual prowess.
One of his books’ title: Why I am not a Hindu.
Another of his books’ title: Post-Hindu India: A Discourse In Dalit-Bahujan, Socio-Spiritual And Scientific Revolution.
Kancha Ilaiah is born into the so-called Dalit caste which are dubbed infamously, the untouchables. He has borne the brunt and ugliness of casteism. He therefore converted to Buddhism. But it’s an irony that he is so vehemently anti-Hindu more akin to the Abrahamic religions. Buddhism is but an offshoot of Hinduism with a twist in its philosophy.
He has openly professed his hatred of Hinduism, but what is remarkable is his utter failure to articulate his opinions. For example, he says to why he hates Hinduism:
Yes, I hate Hinduism. Hinduism is not ours, it is against us. If we have to become Hindus, the Brahmins will have to change the entire religious texts, our food habits, our gods and goddesses and images. I am angry at the Hindu gods. Source: Rediff
He also claims that the all-respectful Namaste is about caste inequities:
Take a very simple thing—the Hindu namaste, folding your hands to greet someone—is a very powerful symbolic statement. It suggests that I recognise you but you should not touch me. In contrast, the custom that the Christians introduced of shaking of hands is a touching relationship, while the Muslims go even further and physically embrace you. Even today in the villages the Muslims are the only people who actually physically embrace the Dalit-Bahujans. Source: Wikipedia
Wikipedia, however, notes that Buddhism which he follows also greets with Namaste.
It is very disturbing to know that Kancha Ilaiah is now the Chairman of the department of Political Science at Osmania University. That such a man devoid of articulation or logical thought should be even allowed to teach is simply frightening.
Casteism is evil and unacceptable. Discrimination stemming from any prejudice is unacceptable. Education will go a long way in removing prejudices be they caste-based or even irrational hate as is the case with Kancha Ilaiah.
The least that is required is rational thought which this man seems to be utterly incapable of. Hence, I just strike him off as have most sensible people in India including his own Dalit elk.
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well sooraj.Apart from striking off the dalits. is there any real solution that u have in mind to clear this menace of casteism created by your people to serve their own selfish needs?. I pause for an answer.
Striking off Dalits? I respect every individual, caste or casteless. As for a solution, I’m a strong believer in the power of the individual. But that’s not a solution for this decade.
“Why I am not a Hindu” is an excellent research work which is based only on the practical life of people and experience which all the Bahujans experience…….. Listen to the simple answer
—–Kancha Ilaiah is a joker – he appears to be a hate-monger in the garbs of an intellectual—–
If we accept all the discrimination, atrocity and the inhumane injustice done by the caste hindus then its fine, the moment its shown wrong, Kanch Iliah becomes hate-monger /joker…..Its an old brahminical technique to……Neglect, ridicule, argue and when shown truth malign……
——- Kancha Ilaiah is born into the so-called Dalit caste——-
Again,,,,he was not born in a Dalit caste…..check you facts ..
—– Buddhism is but an offshoot of Hinduism with a twist in its philosophy.—
Another foolish statement,,,,,,Buddhism is exactly opposite to Hinduism…….Buddhism is based on Pragya, Karuna and Samatha which has no place in so called Hinduism….The Heaven, Hell in Buddhism is psychological condition of a person’s life based on his deeds and Rebirth in Buddhism is psychological rebirth….In Hinduism heaven hell is after death guarded by Yama,,,,,Rebirth in hinduism is biological death and new biological life…….based on soul which never dies…..Buddhism believes in Annata, mean no soul
You might want to check out on some of the interseting articls in this website:
http://dalitnation.wordpress.com/
Kancha Ilaiah may have faced the problem of caste.He says that in India every thing is wrong and he seems to be a great admirer of Islam. But what is the condition of Dalits in Pakistan and Bangladesh and that of the black Arabs.
Pitiable.
“Buddhism is but an offshoot of Hinduism with a twist in its philosophy.”
Stop kidding yourself.
Go and read about Buddhism first before making such comments. Buddhism rose in India as an answer to the caste hierarchy and inequality of Varnashram Dharma(The name Hinduism is recent).
Buddhism was the major religion in India for more than 1000 years.
At least get your facts right!
Buddhism is very much an off-shoot of Hinduism. Yes, it rose as a response to oppressive caste system and sacrifices that had come to prevail in Indian society then, as do almost all reforms in every religion arise as a response to some stagnating and decaying features in it.
But while Buddhism challenged caste, it also used other Hindu symbols and concepts very liberally, like karma (central to Buddhism more than karuna), nirvana (the Hindu moksha) and rebirth.
Sorry, but the Buddha did not invent the concept of Karma, it had been articulated at least 400 years earlier in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which precedes the birth of the Buddha. The concept of reincarnation is first found in the Rg Veda, which again precedes the Buddha and the Buddhist scriptures by many centuries.
This is also the reason why other traditions, like Jainism, whose founder Mahavira was not acquainted with the BUddha, also uses concepts of Karma, moksha, and rebirth, because these concepts had already been in circulation by the people whose belief system later on came to be called Hinduism.
In fact many of the sayings attributed to the Buddha are originally to be found in many of the Upanishads, which is not surprising, as Buddhas was brought up in the Brahmanical ethos. And Brahman is also the name Hindus use for the one immutable transcendental force that pervades the universe.
The greatest difference between Buddhism and Hinduism is that the former does not believe in a soul, which Hindus do.
So do get your facts right!
lady u go n brush up ur knowledge about indus valley civilisation n harrapa civilisation..shiva like idol found was actually a buddha.. there were 27 buddhas before gaumtam buddha..even before aryans (brahmins) there was our indigenous culture… try to search answer to this question.who is the founder of hinduism?u wnt find any answer to this question…. the destroyers of harrapa civilisations were named as indra god and the list goes on… like this all the upnishadas and whatever the text there r are created..recently michael bamshad of US found out on genetic basis that the present brahmins r aryans and the rest r indiginous people…ADITI neend se jaag jao.. hawa me teer mat chalao…. GO N READ HISTORY PROPERLY..I SALUTE KANCHA ILAIAH SIR..
——Buddhism is very much an off-shoot of Hinduism.——-
Completely wrong, Buddhism concepts are different from the so called Hinduism.
—– like karma (central to Buddhism more than karuna), nirvana (the Hindu moksha) and rebirth.—–
The concept of Karma in Hinduism is based on the delusion of previous birth which cannot be changed in the present birth which gets passed through the Soul and continues to make the people suffer…whereas the concept of Karma in Buddhism is as simple as you sow do you reap, the cause and effect relation which is changeable based on the deeds….
The Concept of Moksha in Hinduism is achievable after death by giving huge money, land, property to the cunning brahmin who would loot all the resources from the poor people to give moksha to the soul by his so called prayers whereas the concept of Nirvana/Nibbana is a not achievable by prayers, bribe but by self efforts of gaining the knowledge and reaching the epitome of knowledge by using the path of Panchasila, 8 noble paths, samatha etc….though achievable by everyone but only the efforts reap the results….
Rebirth in Hinduism is a person dies but his soul remains and takes a new body, its only the body which dies and the soul remains and the biological rebirth continues and the people suffer from their previous birth karma…whereas Buddhism rebirth is not Biological but psychological, here a person does not take a biological rebirth but psychological with every knowledge gained he/she takes a rebirth into new life within the same biological life and this process continues untill the person reaches the epitome of knowledge called Nirvana where the rebirth ceases and the person becomes Buddha.
Dr.Kancha Ilaiah was on a TV panel discussion on 16-8-11 about Anna Hazare’s arrest etc …he went on & on & on about the irrelevance of corruption (!!!), ‘ideologies’ (theoretical bullshit), Dalits/OBC’s etc – no connection whatsoever with the issue rocking the nation. Never seen a person more clueless .. and he’s an author and a professor! My sincere condolences to the students at Osmania University!
Mr Sooraj,
Your article manifests the character of Mr. Kancha Ilaiah as of a person whose thinking & writing isn’t worth any thought, plus an element of latent contempt towards Mr. Kanch Ilaiah is also there. Kindly familiarise yourself with the circumstances that bring out such writings.
Of course Buddhism is an offshoot of Hindu Vedanta philosophy, the only difference between two is the Metaphysical question of what happens to the soul when it attains nirvana.. And in any democracy there should be equal fundamental political and civil right for every citizen, without any special right for any groups, so all the social reservations should be scraped and dumped forever…
Mr. Illaiah is a bane to the lower casts. Time and again his intention seems to make them realise they are either SCs or STs or OBCs and instill a feeling of inferiority perpetually in them. I hope people are smart enough and dont fall prey to him.
I AM A CHRISTIAN AND I HATE CHRISTIANITY.THE FACT IS IT IS A PURE COPY OF SANATANA DHARMA AKA HINDUISM.I READ MANY ARTICLES AND BOOKS THAT JESUS INVADED INDIA AND HE WAS AN ADMIRER OF LORD SHRI KRISHNA. AND HE HIMSELF DERIVED HIS NAME FROM “KRISHNA”—C(k)RISHT, KRISHT(CHRIST). AND OUR BIBLE SAYS HE WAS BORN TO VIRGIN MARY AND I FIND LINKS WITH MAHABHARAT WHERE I FIND LINKS TO THAT OF KUNTI DEVI WHERE KARNA WAS BORN TO HER WITH THE BLESSINGS OF SUN GOD…
AND HERE IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE WHERE JESUS TOLD IN EXODUS 21 TOOTH FOR TOOTH, EYE FOR EYE..IS PURELY A COPY FROM SHRI MAD BHAGAWADGITA.I KNOW VERY WELL OF MR.ILIAIH, HE IS AN AGENT OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES.HE CONVERTED MANY OF HINDUS TO CHRISTIANITY.HE IS AN INSANE…..
Dear Mr. Joseph:
You may hate christianity, that’s your chice but please do not make illogical and reckless statements on the bases of books published for making money or to become pupular overnight. Now a days, it has become a fashion. Read carefully texts which are written unbiased or for intrinsic value of it. You do not have any right to criticise people reading secondary or tertiary sources. My suggestions is read the Bible once again and your Upanishads. Dont get carried away by cheap books available on the market.
For your kind information, the Hindu Upanishads also talk about Jesus.
I too sympathies with kanche ilaiah and his halfknowledge or pessimismistic
thoughts.Perhaps he might not be awre that there are more divisions in Christians and also muslims and that oo they are also killing each other in the
name of religion only.Thank god that is not there in Hinduism in spite of the
existence of such people in our society.
Ilaiah reepresents an extereme view based on half baked knowledge. Hinduism is not a dogma based on a single book or prophet. Comparison with Abrahamic religions is meaningless. Buddhism is a reform movement in Hinduism when the society had acquired superstitions and rituals which lost their spirit. But is not very different from Upanishads.Buddhist rationality has roots in Hindu rationality. If Ilaiah writes on Islam he would have been controlled by a fatwa. If he wrote on Christianity he would not have been cared at all by West. Obviously his efforts have church backing. He is not contributing to peaceful coexistence of the diverse elements of Indian society. His scholarship can be used by practising LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR including his Hindu neiighbour. He is no different from a Naxalite militant steeped in ignorance and wanting a revolution
niku burra ledhu subject assalu ledhu. rajyangam prakaramu any mathamu accept chaochu but ay mathamunu nasanam chayyakudahu. dalithulu devvulu kadhu. varioni anni cast lo unnatlu manchi varu unnaru dongalu unnaru.
mundhu vallani madikalaku reservatoin immanu.
kanchi illaya garu miku vasthavalu yemi thaliyavu anni thappulu rastaru
miru critaino bhudisto me panulu miru chusukondi ithara devvulu alla vundalo
ela undakudadho miku anavasaram.
cristains(u.s.a)varu nicha maina banisatvani konni vandhala years patincharu. islamic peple banisatvani patincharu miku christanity lo chedu kanabadaledhu endhukantay miru me reletives cristans kabatti.
me ambedekar martan ludher king antha goppa nayakudu kadhu.
no1 gandhi 2ambedkar. me ambedkar nay hindhusam gurinchi ramudu gurinchi krishunudu gurinchi mataladutanu antay government purmition ivva ledhu
me gurinchi okka matalochppalantay miru pakka vast candidate
You Indian Hindu Bastards never change, the mindset is same in past, present and will be the same in future all bastards
All those bastard who are backing Hinduism should first focus on below points
You want Dalit’s to be as Hindus, but will not allow them into temples
And your so called gods treat Dalit’s looking at them as obscene act
Hindu dictators Brahmins feel, eating non veg is a big crime, but I still do not understand the same people give 24X7 lectures about rama and krishna, who are Kshatriyas always had tummy full of deer, donkey and cows
You bastards wanted Dalit’s under your feet and now when you see one among them has risen and raised the voice , now all donkeys coming around and wagging their tails
I see one of the bastards telling USA Christians, if you are so worried about this then why these BASTARD HINDUS come to us and lick our asses for money
So finally conclusion is YOU HINDU BASTARDS mind your language before commenting on Dalit
mmm.. one of the comments tried to indicate at why Kancha wrote with such vehemence.. i think it is a factor which we must consider before judging him a “joker”. In the end he has been instrumental in letting dalits respect themselves and not to be considered lesser than anyone. It is ingrained in them to think less of themselves in comparison to other people outside their community or caste. It has also shown the malpractices and hypocrisy of the brahmin’s in our history which has been reduced due to such writers.
All i know is that Kancha Ilaiah continues to humor us when he comes on TV channels and press. I do NOT belong to an upper caste and it seems that caste issues are an impediment to India’s economic progress. But, Kancha bhai’s outbursts on television is worth every penny that i pay for satellite television.
It saddens me to see the way people bicker over issues that should no longer matter in modern times. Human values are paramount and come before lineage and other petty things.