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Valmik the Unbowed

Saturday, 06 December 2008 20:44
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 Valmik- Bandit or Divine Poet?

According to later (but not earlier) Hindu texts Valmik was a reformed bandit.

Valmiki community, however, reveres him as the divinised poet-saint who composed two of the most important sacred texts of India: Valmiki Ramayana and the Yogavisistha Ramayana. The above controversy has been detailed in a very scholarly manner by the late Professor Juila Leslie of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Professor Leslie's findings are contained in her book (See Source below). To date no one has refuted this work which establishes Shri Guru Bhagwan Valmik Ji's credentials as the adi-kavi, fighter for justice and possibly the first anti-caste eco-warrior who opposed Aryan expansion into the indigenous Indian adivasi territory. In one of our future articles we will be looking at true story of Ramayana.


Source: Authority and Meaning in Indian Religions - Hinduism and the Case of  Valmiki by Julia Leslie, published by Ashgate Publishing Limited, UK 2003. 

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Last Updated on Monday, 31 May 2010 10:38  

Rquotes

Caste system, a division of labourers:
 

Caste system is not merely a division of labour. It is a division of labourers. It is hierarchy in which the division of labourers is graded one above the other.

Dr B R Ambedkar

Newsflash

The Times of India

8 Indian states have more poor than 26 poorest African nations
PTI, Jul 12, 2010, 04.18pm IST

LONDON: Acute poverty prevails in eight Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, together accounting for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African nations combined, a new 'multidimensional' measure of global poverty has said.

The new measure, called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), was developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative with UNDP support.

It will be featured in the forthcoming 20 th anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report.

An analysis by MPI creators reveals that there are more 'MPI poor' people in eight Indian states (421 million in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) than in the 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million).

The new poverty measure that gives a multidimensional picture of people living in poverty, and is expected to help target development resources more effectively, its creators said.

The MPI supplants the Human Poverty Index, which had been included in the annual Human Development Reports since 1997.

The 2010 UNDP Human Development Report will be published in late October, but research findings from the Multidimensional Poverty Index were made available today at a policy forum in London and on line on the websites of OPHI and the UNDP Human Development Report.

The MPI assesses a range of critical factors or 'deprivations' at the household level: from education to
health outcomes to assets and services.

Taken together, these factors provide a fuller portrait of acute poverty than simple income measures, according to OPHI and UNDP.

The measure reveals the nature and extent of poverty at different levels: from household up to regional, national and international level.

This new multidimensional approach to assessing poverty has been adapted for national use in Mexico, and is now being considered by Chile and Colombia.

"The MPI is like a high resolution lens which reveals a vivid spectrum of challenges facing the poorest households," said OPHI Director Dr Sabina Alkire, who created the MPI with Professor James Foster of George Washington University and Maria Emma Santos of OPHI.

The UNDP Human Development Report Office is also joining forces with OPHI to promote international discussions on the practical applicability of this multidimensional approach to measuring poverty.