Recommended Book Review: Hindus vs Vedics; The Untold Story of Hinduism -Sanjay Sonawani

Hindus vs Vedics
The Untold Story of Hinduism
-Sanjay Sonawani

We Christians are often criticized for our conversion to a foreign religion. The land of India and Nepal has always fought for a Hindu kingdom aka Sanatana Vedic Dharma. Missionary works, street preaching, digital evangelism, Charismatic works[1], etc. are often criticized and objected. Christians are accused of converting others by luring insane people with power of money. Christianity has been seen as a great threat to Sanatana Vedic religion[2] due to its high circulation.[3]

Hinduism is often considered to be eternal religion. Its adherents and great gurus prefer to call it Sanatana Vedic Dharma. The high respect for Vedic religion and its conservation has always been on high demand. Let us agree that Christianity has more foreign impact and is not native of our land. But, is Vedic religion our native? Is Vedic religion the supreme authority and the foundation of Hindu religion? Is Vedic religion under a great threat due to rapid flourishing of Christianity?

One of the many factors of religious conversion is Caste discrimination. Many converts were the victims of Hindu caste bigotry, discriminations and the so-called egocentric society due to which they decided conversion to Christianity.[4] Again the question is whether the caste discrimination was native of Hindu religion or not. Even today, Manusmriti text is blamed for creating a chaotic environment of caste system.

The complain that Christianity is destroying Hindu culture, tradition, practices and religion doesn’t hold water when one deeply investigates the history of the Vedic religion. Before accusing Christians for heavy pollution and damage to the Hindu environment, they must explore a true history of the Hinduism itself.

Author Sanjay Sonawani, a well renowned historian and Indologist[5], brings an excellent and compelling case that Vedic religion is not the same as Hindu religion. The book also elaborates the actual identity of ‘Shudras’ and ‘Manusmriti’. He goes on explaining how varna and jatis differ and why Hindu religion never had birth-based caste system. He has done a great contribution by exposing a true history in midst of many misleading theories and versions of histories.

Contents in his book:

Introduction
The distinct Hindu and Vedic religions
The jatis of the non-Vedic Hindus (Shudras)
Origin of the varna system
How did so many scholars get misled?
Manusmriti and the caste system
Ambedkar’s view about the Shudras is not supported by evidence
The original Shudra tribe
How did the Vedic people come across the Shudras?
So what exactly is caste?
Rise and fall of the shreni system and castes
The famines
Closing down of caste, from the Gupta period to Medieval India
Economic pressure for self-reliant villages
The control over scriptures, temples and rituals by the Brahmins
The support of caste assemblies for these changes
The failure of anti-caste and Tantric movements to stem the rot
Untouchability
Impact of British Raj on the Caste System
Social and religious order damaged by Aryan race theory
A lot of misguided social movements now arose
The economic pressure on villages intensified
Summary

The book has been based on a recent exploration over the ongoing debates about Aryan theories, origin of Hinduism and Caste system. The author has made an attempt to bring a true history out of fabricated history. Meanwhile, the subject of History is not that easy to explore and we need to wait for more updates in the future. Also we need to remember, making the case of any religion either to be true or false just on the basis of its ‘origin’ is ‘Genetic Fallacy’.

Spotlighting from the book: Here!

[1] Here, the term ‘Charismatic’ has been used to denote Supernatural activities manifested by Spirit of God. This includes divine healing, visions, God’s implanted messages, conveying future instances, deliverance from evil spirit (Exorcism in general language), utterances of unintelligible languages and interpretation and various miraculous activities beyond natural understanding and expectation. However, the word nowadays is used as ‘offensive’ or ‘mockery’ due to some hyper and heretic groups. The word I used is not as ‘offending’ term but as ‘Supernatural works of God’s spirit’. On the other hand, the term has its distinctive identity in light of theology and Church history itself.

[2] Pete Pattisson, Nepal Has One Of The Fastest Growing Christian Populations In The World, Spotlight Nepal, April 5, 2018, https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2018/04/05/nepal-has-one-fastest-growing-christian-populations-world/, accessed on 5/24/2022

[3] Jackson Elliott, Nepal: Miracles drive one of the world's fastest-growing churches, CP World, February 15, 2021, https://www.christianpost.com/news/nepal-miracles-drive-one-of-the-worlds-fastest-growing-churches.html, accessed on 5/24/2022

[4] Prakash Upadhyaya, A Research Article on Restructuring Spiritualism in New Life: Conversion to Christianity in Pokhara, Nepal, Janapriya Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 31st Dec, 2020, P. 141, https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JJIS/article/view/35283, accessed on 5/23/2022

[5] Glory Apologetics, Origins of Vedic Religion || Mr. Sanjay Sonawani || F2F Exclusive Interview, You Tube: 42:29, https://youtu.be/Z8eOcQD1LYY