A controversial book penned by brother of Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, claiming Jesus Christ was a Tamil Hindu, was re-launched here today, 70 years after it was first published.
The book was relaunched at the Swatantryaveer Savarkar National Memorial in Dadar this evening amid threats of protests by Christian organisations, who have objected to the book.
Members of Alpha Omega Christian Mahasangh had threatened to gather outside the venue of the launch, carrying black flags to protest against the contents of the book. But no such protest took place.
The book, penned by Ganesh Savarkar, elder brother of V D Svarkar, was re-launched on the death anniversary of V D Savarkar. It was released by historian Pandurang Balkawade.
President of the Swatantryaveer Savarkar National Memorial Ranjit Savarkar, who is the grandson of Ganesh Savarkar, said Christians will feel proud after reading the book.
The book, first published in 1946, claims that Christianity was initially a Hindu cult and that Jesus died in Kashmir.
It claims that people from the Essene cult rescued the crucified Christ and revived him with medicinal plants and herbs from the Himalayas. It also says Christ attained 'Samadhi' in Kashmir.
The book- Christ Parichay - goes on to claim that Jesus was a 'Vishwakarma Brahmin' by birth and Christianity was a sect of Hinduism.
The Marathi book is being brought out by Savarkar National Memorial, a trust that preserves and propagates the Savarkar brothers' literature and ideology.
The book claims that the present day Palestinian and Arab territories were Hindu land and that Christ travelled to India, where he learnt yoga.
The book says Christ's real name was Keshao Krishna, Tamil was his mother tongue, and his complexion was dark.
Asked about the claims in the book, senior priest and director of the Bombay Archdiocesan Heritage Museum, Father Warner D'Souza, said such books will not shake the faith of Christians.
Five other books written by Ganesh Savarkar were also relaunched at the event.
The first part of Kulkarni's book is a compilation of
what eight eminent personalities from the era of the freedom struggle - Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maharshi Aurobindo, Swami Ranganathananda, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Ananda Coomaraswamy said, wrote or did on August 14-15,1947.
Hence the title of the book August Voices, Kulkarni said. "None of these great men wanted partition to be what it, catastrophically, turned out to be," he added.
The call for friendship and cooperation among India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, leading to a three-nation confederation, is embedded within the history of our freedom movement itself, he said, adding the confederation should be achieved before 2047, which marks the centenary of the end of the British rule in the subcontinent.
The book lauds efforts of former prime ministers Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, and also those of Pakistan's former president General Pervez Musharraf, to arrive at an innovative solution to the Kashmir issue.
"Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif should build on the edifice of constructive dialogue between their predecessors, and conclude an agreement acceptable to both countries and also to the people of Jammu and Kashmir," Kulkarni said.
According to him, alongside resolution of the Kashmir issue, India and Pakistan, together with Bangladesh should expand cooperation on all fronts and move, step by step, towards a three-nation confederation.
"This will not only benefit the three countries, but also revitalise the entire South Asia making it a region of peace, prosperity and shared progress for the largest section of global population with a common civilisational legacy. To achieve this goal, the ties between South Asian countries and China should be strengthened on the basis of equality and respect for the legitimate core concerns of all," he said.
Mahatma Gandhi had made an impassioned plea that India and Pakistan, like Hindus and Muslims, should co-exist as brothers belonging to a single family, Kulkarni said. In 1964, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya and Rammanohar Lohia had called for an India-Pakistan confederation, he added.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani has publicly endorsed the confederation idea on many occasions, he said.
"Therefore, I have dedicated my book to Vajpayee, Advani and Singh, guided by my conviction that India needs close Congress-BJP cooperation to tackle major national problems," Kulkarni said.
His previous book was Music of the Spinning Wheel: Mahatma Gandhi's Manifesto for the Internet Age.
Kulkarni's initiative 'Mumbai-Karachi Friendship Forum' is aimed at normalization of India-Pakistan relations and seeks to promote people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan.
