Written by Ibn Muhammad
Islam is being severely attacked, bashed, mocked by a certain dedicated team in cyberspace. A large number of these ‘Islam Haters’ happen to be Hindu fanatics. Obviously, their sole agenda is to create aversion in the minds of common people against Islam. Their full time job is to prove that the Islam promotes violence and terrorism. Some of these people are zealous evangelists of Vedas and claim that Vedas are the only books promoting peace. They claim that once everyone accepts the Vedas, peace and prosperity would been seen everywhere. How true is this claim? For those of you who have been conditioned to believe that Vedas promote peace, this article might change your perception of the Vedic Dharma.
According to Hindus, in Satyug, people were pious and upright, who did not know fighting. The use of lethal weapons was unknown. It was like Heaven on Earth. Hindus also tell us that Vedas are from the beginning of the world. Combining these two beliefs, it follows that Vedas must have nothing corcerning warfare, killing, plunder, etc. However, if Vedas do speak about warfare and killing, there are two only two choices for Hindus; accept that Vedas are not from the beginning of the world, but were written much later or accept that Vedas introduced killing and warfare in the world.
The Warrior Gods of Vedas
The Vedic gods are always depicted as being busy in war and destroying the enemies. Let us see god Indra
“These, breathing loud in fury, two and two, who caused Indra to bring his bolt of thunder to the fray, The challengers, I struck with deadly weapon down: firm stand what words the God speaks to his worshippers. This One by stronger might I conquered singly; yea, also two: shall three prevail against me? Like many sheaves upon the floor I thrash them. How can my foes, the Indraless, revile me?” [Rigveda 10:48:6-7]
Indra Ji cannot tolerate anyone opposing him and whoever is guilty of opposing him will be crushed like sawdust.
Indra Ji was invoked by the Aryans to loot the cows of non Aryan tribes and Indra Ji did not disappoint the Aryans. In Vedic times, there lived an untouchable people in a village named Kikat, in todays Bihar. The used to rear cattle. Obviously to the Aryans this was a crime. So they invoked their god Indra to wage war against them and loot their cows.
“O Indra, what do the cows make for you among the Kikatas. They neither yield milk for your offerings, nor do they warm the vessel of libation. Bring to us these cows, bring to us also the wealth of Pramagand (their King). O Brave one, grant us the possessions of the people of low status.” [Rigveda 3:53:14]
On the basis of this clear pronouncement, non-Aryans and untouchables have no right to keep cows. Aryans and Brahmins whenever they wish can kill them and appropriate their possessions. Hindu culture thus becomes the culture of the progress, civilization and welfare of the Aryan people alone.
Indra Ji is very ruthless against his opponents. He can go to any extent to ruin them, even kidnapping women. Rigveda 5:30:7-9 mentions the following
7 Thou, Maghavan, from the first didst scatter foemen, speeding, while joying in the milk, the Giver. There, seeking man’s prosperity, thou torest away the head of Namuci the Dasa.
8 Pounding the head of Namuci the Dasa, me, too thou madest thine associate, Indra! Yea, and the rolling stone that is in heaven both worlds, as on a car, brought to the Maruts.
9 Women for weapons hath the Dasa taken, What injury can his feeble armies To me? Well he distinguished his two different voices, and Indra then advanced to fight the Dasyu.
Indra Ji is given many epithets like Vajradhaari, vṛtrahan, Dasyuhan, etc. How can peace prevail in the world when these kinds of prejudiced teachings are there in the Vedas?
Vedic wars were mainly fought to gain cattle and other booty, as is clearly mentioned in Rigveda 6:26:1-2
1. O INDRA, hear us. Raining down the Soma, we call on thee to win us mighty valour. Give us strong succour on the day of trial, when the tribes gather on the field of battle.
2 The warrior, son of warrior sire, invokes thee, to gain great strength that may be won as booty: To thee, the brave man’s Lord, the fiends’ subduer, he looks when fighting hand to hand for cattle.
Like Indra, other deities are also of a warrior mentality. Again and again prayers are made to them to obtain the wealth of the enemies and conquer their territories.
Inhumane Principles of Vedic Warfare with special reference to Arya Samaj
Now see the extreme sadist mentality of Vedic followers, who fought wars to gain cows and wealth. Their are specific prayers in the Vedas about conquering the foes and gaining their wealth. The conquered people were later humiliated in the most abusive ways. For example, Rigveda 10:166 says,
“1. MAKE me a bull among my peers, make me my rivals, conqueror: Make me the slayer of my foes, a sovran ruler, lord of kine
2 I am my rivals’ slayer, like Indra unwounded and unhurt, And all these enemies of mine are vanquished and beneath my feet.
3 Here, verily, I bind you fast, as the two bow-ends with the string. Press down these men, O Lord of Speech, that they may humbly speak to me.
4 Hither I came as conqueror with mighty all-effecting power, And I have mastered all your thought, your synod, and your holy work.
5 May I be highest, having gained your strength in war, your skill in peace my feet have trodden on your heads. Speak to me from beneath my feet, as frogs from out the water croak, as frogs from out the water croak.”
BURN THE ENEMIES ALIVE
Yajurveda Chapter 13; Mantra 12 says
“O King, make progress in thy duty of administration, extend happiness to the religious. O terrible chastiser, burn down the irreligious foes. O splendid person, humiliate and consume utterly like dried up stubble, him, who encourages our foe.”
BURN THE KITCHENS/KITCHEN GARDENS OF THE ENEMIES
Yajurveda Chapter 13; Mantra 13 says
“O King, rise high, punish the wicked foes righteously, manifest the objects prepared by our steady scholars, enhance pleasures. Destroy the kitchens and other places of plundering of the vigorous enemies. Kill the foes. I settle you with fire’s ardour.”
PUT YOUR ENEMIES IN THE JAWS OF FEROCIOUS ANIMALS
Yajurveda Chapter 15; Mantra 15 says
“…Let injurious animals like Lions and others that eat fresh and grass be destroyed. Let murderous crowds of men that destroy others like a powerful weapon, be killed. Let virtuous rulers protect us from those animals, and make us comfortable. In the jaws of these animals we place the ferocious man whom we hate and who hates us.“
I am sure that our society will not allow Vedic followers to kill the Lions. A person who has common sense, will never accept this unscientific teaching. Lions by nature, eat flesh. This verse wants to make them herbivorous. If this teaching is implemented, Lions will become extinct.
WHO ARE THE ENEMIES?
But there is still one thing unclear. Who are the enemies whose inhumane killing is being encouraged in the above mantras? Well, let the Vedas answer for themselves.
Atharvaved 12:5:62 says,
“Rend, rend to bits, rend through and through, scorch and consume and burn to dust, the one who rejects the Vedas.”
I do not think the above verse leaves any ambiguity as to who the enemies mentioned in the Vedas are. The mantra speaks for itself. It also prescribes the most gruesome forms of slaughter of those who disbelieve in the Vedas.
The same Sookt (hymn) also commands the following in mantras 65-71,
65) So, O Goddess, do thou from him, the Brāhmans’ tyrant, criminal, niggard, blasphemer of the Gods, 66) With hundred-knotted thunderbolt, sharpened and edged with razor-blades, 67)Strike off the shoulders and the head. 68) Snatch thou the hair from off his head, and from his body strip the skin: 69) Tear out his sinews, cause his flesh to fall in pieces from his frame. 70) Crush thou his bones together, strike and beat the marrow out of him. 71) Dislocate all his limbs and joints.
I wonder what type of mindset would have written this horrendous stuff? This extreme sadist mentality which relishes in instructing such horrible torture deserves to be banned forever before it is put to practice. One can imagine what would have happened at the time when such teachings would have been enforced thousands of years back. These teachings were recently put into effect when innocent Muslims were burnt alive and tortured in the Indian State of Gujrat, Christians were burnt alive in many places of India especially in Orrisa. Jains and Buddhists in ancient times and Muslims, Christians and Sikhs in recent times have been made the experimental mice of these teachings.
Also supportig the idea that the enemies mentioned in the Vedas in fact refer to people of other religions, we have the following prayer made in Atharvaved 20:93:1.
May our hymns give you great delight. Display your bounty, Thunderer. Drive off the enemies of the Vedas.”
The next mantra mentions
“Crush with your foot the niggard churls who bring no gifts. Mighty are you: There is not one to equal you.”
The above mantras also make the identity of the enemy clear. The enemies are those who do not pray to the Vedic gods and bring them no gifts. The same is mentioned in Rigveda 8:53:1-2.
PLUNDER THE ENEMIES WEALTH
As has been said before that Vedic wars were motivated to a great extent by capturing more wealth, I will now provide even more evidence for this.
“Handless be these our enemies! We enervate their languid limbs. So let us part among ourselves, in hundreds, Indra! all their wealth.” [Atharvaved 6:66:3]
Rigveda 1:7:4 mentions,
“Help us, O Indra, in the frays, yea, frays, where thousand spoils are gained, With awful aids, O awful One.”
In Rigveda 10:84:2 it is said,
Flashing like fire, be thou, O conquering Manyu, invoked, O Victor, as our army’s leader. Slay thou our foes, distribute their possessions: show forth thy vigour, scatter those who hate us.
At many places such prayers are made to destroy the enemies and gain their wealth.
BOOTY OF WAR
What constitutes the booty of war in the Vedic religion? Maharishi Manu describes the war booty on the basis of the Vedas.
“Chariots and horses, elephants, parasols, money, grain, cattle, women, all sorts of (marketable) goods and valueless metals belong to him who takes them (singly) conquering (the possessor).”
“A text of the Veda (declares) that (the soldiers) shall present a choice portion (of this booty) to the king; what has not been taken singly, must be distributed by the king among all the soldiers.”
[Manu Smriti 7:96-97]
Women also are considered part of the war booty in the above passages and are to be divided like other objects.
No Universal Brotherhood in the Vedas
The texts of the Vedas and other Hindu scriptures clearly show that they do not regard non-Aryans races as brothers, nor did they wish any good to the non-worshippers of the Aryan gods. They only wished their extirpation and their annihilation. Out of a large number of passages bearing on this subject, I quote the following:
“He who dwells fixed in the atmosphere, smiting the blasphemers of the god that do not sacrifice, to him be reverence with ten sakvarî-stanzas!” [Atharvaved 11:2:23]
The texts of the Vedas seem to leave no doubt that they recognize a distinction between the tribe to which the authors of the hymns belonged and a hostile people who observed different rites, and were regarded with contempt and hatred by the superior race. Their is no doubt that in many passages of the Rigveda the words Dasa and Dasyu are applied to the aboriginal tribes of India. Let us see what Maharishi Manu says,
“All those tribes in this world, which are excluded from (the community of) those born from the mouth, the arms, the thighs, and the feet (of Brahman), are called Dasyus, whether they speak the language of the Mlecchas or that of the Aryans. [Manu 10:45]
The distinction between Aryas and Dasyus is not on the basis of character but on the basis nationality as is clearly demarcated by Manu Smriti 2:21-23.
“21. That (country) which (lies) between the Himavat and the Vindhya (mountains) to the east of Prayaga and to the west of Vinasana (the place where the river Sarasvati disappears) is called Madhyadesa (the central region).
22. But (the tract) between those two mountains (just mentioned), which (extends) as far as the eastern and the western oceans, the wise call Aryavarta (the country of the Aryans).
23. That land where the black antelope naturally roams, one must know to be fit for the performance of sacrifices; (the tract) different from that (is) the country of the Mlecchas (barbarians).”
Only Aryavarta aka India is the place where noble people are found and the rest of the world is filled with evil people. Thus as per the Vedic worldview, Aryas as called Aryas (Noble) because they belong to the Aryavarta and Mlecchas and Dasyus are called so not because they are evil but because they are foreigners.
So, Vedas give the following solution to deal with the Dasyus who do not share the faith of the Aryas.
“Slay everyone who pours no gift, who, hard to reach, delights thee not. Bestow on us what wealth he hath: this even the worshipper awaits.” [Rigveda 1:176:4]
What language could be stronger against one’s enemies than this? This is sheer bigotry. The quotations already made sufficiently illustrate the hatred of the Aryans for the other religions. For more of this bigotry you can see Rigveda 8:2:18, 8:45:23, 8:51:12, 8:53:1,2.
As far as we have seen, there is no trace to be found in the hymns of the Vedas about the brotherhood of man. On the other hand, there is abundant evidence of an intense hostility cherished towards the non Aryan tribes.
There was also not the very best of feelings even among the Rishis towards one another. There are unmistakable references in the hymns to a deadly feud between Rishi Vashishtha and Rishi Vishvamitra and of a curse laid on the former by the latter. The details of these feuds will be dealt with in another article.
This article is an attempt to refute the Vedic propagandists who are so eager to malign Islam and yet choose to turn a blind eye to their own scriptures. I can only remind them of this wise saying of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him),
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ” [Mark 7:1]
