When great historians write about the past,
They know they must rise above the facts;
Facts are often petty impediments
To the grand vision they wish to enact.
Thus years ago it was boldly writ
In a journal called the Hindu Vishwa,
That Jerusalem was actually Yedushalyam,
Abode of the mighty Yadava
That the Kaaba was a Grand Vishnu temple,
St. Paul’s Cathedral a Gopal Mandiram,
Notre Dame a temple to goddess Durga,
And Paris in fact Parmeshwariam.
This was because “in Pre-Christian times,
All people, everywhere, in the entire world,
Were Hindus.” Thus was the global
Dimension of Sanaatan Dharm duly unfurled.
What chance then does a Taj Mahal have
Against such sweep of Hindutva empire,
Which takes in the earthly universe,
And defends it with fierce spiritual fire.
Badri Raina is a well-known commentator on politics, culture and society. His columns on the Znet have a global following. Raina taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is the author of the much acclaimed Dickens and the Dialectic of Growth. He has several collections of poems and translations. His writings have appeared in nearly all major English dailies and journals in India.
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