HINDUISM AND JUDAISM - TWO ANCIENT RELIGIONS

Apart from each having suffered the shared history of Islamic genocide, Hinduism and Judaism are clearly the two ancient most religions surviving on earth today. Millennia before Christanity or Islam were born, Israel was the land of Judaism and India the land of Hinduism.

In contemporary times as well, the histories of both Israel and India run closely paralell. Both were the victims of Islamic occupation for centuries together.

And just as thousands of Hindu wonders such as Taj Mahal were plundered and rechristened by the Muslims in India, so too were scores of Jewish structures such as the beautiful Temple on the Mount, plundered and grabbed by the marauding hordes of Islam.

What stands out about the history of these two peoples however, is the fact that all along they have stubbornly clung to their roots and painstakingly maintained their pride in their ancient languages, customs, traditions and spiritual practices. In spite of all odds, the greatest disasters have always somehow strengthened the Jewish people's faith in themselves.

Hinduism, which has suffered the longest record of inhumane crimes and genocide against it, by the Muslim invaders, still brims over with the unalterable confidence of its believers. The unshakeable foundations of both of these massive spiritual traditions have braved many earthquakes and landslides, but never caved in. Trees which are entrenched as deeply in the soils of India as Hinduism and Judaism in Israel, simply cannot be uprooted.

Judea and Samaria are consistently referred to as "West Bank" in a deliberate attempt to distance the region from its Jewish past.

The Indian state of Kashmiri is presented as "the land of the Great Islamic Sufi Tradition". Not a mention is made of the fact that Kashmir has been home to Hindus for over 5000 years. The Hindu sect of Kashmir Shaivism was exerting its beneficial influence all over India, millennia before Islam was even born! Hinduism is constanly referred to as an alien religion, brought to India by the conquering hordes of "White Skinned Aryans" wheras the Muslim invaders are referred to as the "harbringers of culture, arts and peace".

The Mughal rule of India was the bloodiest and most wretched period of India's history. During this period thousands of temples, idols, universities, libraries, etc were razed to the ground and millions massacred.

Thousands of Hindu palaces and treasures like the Taj Mahal were captured, defaced and renamed with a Muslim name. And yet the Aryan Invasion Theory which has been thoroughly rescinded and rejected by the world, still holds hypnotic sway over the minds of India's Journalists.

However, this type of unfair portrayl has not gone unnoticed and added to both nations' experience of decades of unrest, rioting and murder by mobs . Consequently Jews and Hindus feel more and more threatened and frustrated in their own lands.

As always, this direct attack on Judaism and Hinduism has only motivated their respective followers to reassert their individual and collective confidence in their ancient spiritual traditions.

The desire to reassert what is their rightful pride in land, culture and religion has awakened in the heart of the common Israeli and Indian. The results are obvious, the unabashedly Jewish Likud Party was voted into power in Israel and the political party that represents the re-emergence of Hinduism; the BJP, has been voted into power in India.

These developments have of course caused untold heartburn and anger in Pro-Islamic circles. Therefore the media onslaught has begun in dire earnest. European, American and Islamic media have started unleashing their tide of anti-Jewish and anti-Hindu bombardments.

What has really set the alarm bells ringing internationally however, is the emerging closeness between the two nations.