Sanal Edamaruku
Sanal Edamaruku is the founder-president of Rationalist International.[1] He is also the president of the Indian Rationalist Association. He is the editor of the internet publication Rationalist International, author of 25 books and numerous articles.
He was born in 1955 in Thodupuzha, in Kerala, India to Joseph Edamaruku and Soley Edamaruku. In 1977, he obtained a Master's Degree in Political Science from the University of Kerala. Afterwards, he received an M.Phil Degree from the Department of South Asian Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in International Studies. While writing his thesis towards his doctorate, he began working for the Afro-Asian Rural Reconstruction Organization. He gave up his job in 1982 to focus more on the Indian Rationalist Association and publishing his own works. He also has a diploma in Journalism.
Edamaruku has been active in the Rationalist Association from the age of 15. He has been the General Secretary of the IRA since 1983, and has been the editor of its mouthpiece Modern Freethinker. He has authored many books and articles which deal mainly with rationalistic thoughts and anti-superstition prevalent in India. He has carried out investigations which have helped expose many frauds, mystics and 'godmen' as well as campaigns against superstition in Indian villages. His activities have attracted the attention of print and television media. The documentary film "Guru Busters"[2] features Edamaruku and a team of rationalist campaigners on the road in Kerala giving public demonstraions of how to perform supposedly supernatural stunts. He is a regular TV commentator on various Indian TV channels on superstitions and blind belief and is a major voice in defense of reason and scientific temper in India. He has also delivered lectures in various countries including the US and many European countries. He has helped build the Indian Atheist Publishers, which is now Asia's largest freethought publishing house.
He convened three International Rationalist Conferences in 1995, in 2000 and in 2002.
In February 2011 Edamaruku was elected as a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.[3] He is an Honorary Associate of Rationalist Association of UK (formerly Rationalist Press Association.)[4] Great names from the past Honorary Associates of Rationalist Association include Bertrand Russell, HG Wells, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud and Francis Crick. Sanal Edamaruku is also an Honorary Associate of New Zealand Association of Rationalists & Humanists.
[edit] Great Tantra Challenge
On 3 March 2008, while appearing on a panel TV show, Sanal Edamaruku, challenged a tantrik to demonstrate his powers on him by killing him using only magic. The tantrik chanted mantras and performed a ceremony to kill Sanal Edamaruku on live TV. India TV received a large boost in ratings while this was occurring. After his attempts failed the tantrik reported that Edamaruku must be under the protection of a powerful god, to which Edamaruku responded that he is an atheist.[5][6]
The Australian writer Greg Egan has used the story of Sanal Edamaruku, Indian Rationalist Association and the Tantra Challenge in his novel Teranesia. Sanal Edamaruku also appears as a character in Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen's novel French Lover. Angela Saini's book Geek Nation has a chapter namely Chariot of Gods that describes the work of Sanal Edamaruku elaborately.
[edit] References
- ^ "Rationalist International". http://www.rationalistinternational.net.
- ^ "Eagle & Eagle". Eagletv.co.uk. http://www.eagletv.co.uk/home/guru.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
- ^ "CSI announces new Fellows". http://www.csicop.org/news/press_releases/show/csi_announces_new_fellows. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
- ^ "Rationalist Association (UK) Board of Directors and Supporters". http://newhumanist.org.uk/2043/board-of-trustees-and-supporters.
- ^ "The Great Tantra Challenge". http://www.rationalistinternational.net/article/2008/20080310/en_1.html. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
- ^ "India TV's Great Tantra Challenge". National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/blogs/bryantpark/2008/04/india_tvs_great_tantra_challen.html. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
[edit] External links
- യുക്തി ജയിച്ച രാത്രി
- Sanal Edamaruku at the Rationalist International
- Indian Rationalist Association
- Sanal Edamaruku on the Rationalist Agenda for the 21st Century
- Sanal Edamaruku on Why Rationalism
- New Humanist article on the work of Sanal Edamaruku and the Indian Rationalists
- TIME article about the monkey-man mania in Delhi, mystery explained by Sanal Edamaruku
- How Sanal Edamaruku closed down a Mantra Healing Centre at Delhi Medical College? Article in International Humanist News
- How Sanal Edamaruku exposed Saibaba in the TV during his 70th birthday at Delhi
