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P. N. Oak

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Purushottam Nagesh Oak (born 2 March and died on December 4th 2008), commonly referred to as P. N. Oak, is an Indian writer on history.

According to the introduction of one of P. N. Oak's books, he was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. During World War II he joined the Indian National Army[citation needed], which fought with the Japanese against the British. He obtained M.A and L.L.B degrees from Mumbai University. From 1947 to 1953 he was a reporter for the The Hindustan Times and The Statesman newspapers. From 1953 to 1957, he worked in India's Central Radio and Public Ministry. From 1959 to 1974, he worked at the American Embassy in New Delhi.[1]

Theories

He has written several books and articles about the history of India. His interest in rectifying what he believes to be "the biased and distorted versions of India's history produced by the invaders and colonizers" encouraged him to start the Institute for Rewriting Indian History on June 141964. He says that in modern India secular and Marxist historians fabricated "idealized versions" of India's past and drained it of its Vedic context and content. Oak's work typically seeks to proclaim the virtues and achievements of Hindu culture and religion over other traditions.

He says that both Islam and Christianity originated as distortions of Vedic beliefs.

  • He insists that the word Islam itself derives from the Sanskrit term "Ishalayam" meaning the Temple of God. He alleges that Kaaba in Mecca was originally a shrine to Shiva.[2]
  • He says that Christianity began as a form of devotion to Krishna. According to Oak, "Christianity is a mal-pronunciation of the Sanskrit term Chrisn-nity also spelled as Krishna-neeti. Since Bhagavad Geeta is the book of Krishna-neeti, what we know as Christianity is a fossiled, broken branch of the Vedic tree, and in fact the ancient Bhagavad Geeta cult." Oak argues that the Papacy was "a Vedic priesthood" until Constantine the Great killed the Vedic pope to replace him with the head of the hitherto unimportant Christian sect. This instantly ensured the Europe-wide triumph of Christianity because of the "sacred sway of the holy hoary Vedic priest known as the Shankaracharya".[3]

He also says that the Taj Mahal and other buildings were actually converted shrines to Hindu deities. Oak also says that the tombs of Humayun, Akbar and Itmiad-u-Dallah — as well as "all historic buildings" in India — and also the Vatican in Rome,[4] the Kaaba in Mecca, and Stonehenge — were also Hindu temples or palaces.

The Taj is only a typical illustration of how all historic buildings and townships from Kashmir to Cape Comorin though of Hindu origin have been ascribed to this or that Muslim ruler or courtier.[5]

Considering the possibility that the Taj Mahal was not a Shiva temple, Oak says that it might then have been the palace of a Rajput king. In any case (he says), the Taj Mahal was Hindu in origin, stolen by Shah Jahan and adapted as a tomb — although Oak also says that Mumtaz is not buried there. Oak further states that the numerous eyewitness accounts of Taj Mahal construction, and Shah Jahan's construction orders and voluminous financial records, are elaborate frauds meant to hide its Hindu origin. Such assertions have gained a lot of popular interest in India and made Oak a well-known media figure. None of Oak's assertions have been accepted by any mainstream scholars of religion or of architectural history, but his theories are have been publicized by some contemporary Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) activists; The Hindu, edited by Narasimhan Ram a well known communist sympathiser calls him a "Sangh historian"[6].

Oak's supporters

P. S. Bhat and A. L. Athawale in wrote "The question of The Taj" in "Itihas Patrika, Vol. 5 1985", a publication of the "Institute for Rewriting Indian History" in support of Oak, saying his writings "place in perspective some of the pertinent questions that arise on the subject."

Oak's critics

Oak's theories, viewed as 'eccentric' fringe scholarship, have rarely been directly discussed by mainstream scholars. Carl Ernst and Annmarie Schimmel write:

"The more extreme manifestations of anti-Muslim sentiment are visible .... ; examples that come to mind include .... the eccentric P. N. Oak, whose "Committee to Rewrite Indian History" maintains that there is no Islamic architecture in India, only defaced Hindu buildings." (p. 36) [7]

Rebecca Brown of the University of Redlands cites his work as an "example of ... revisionist history as subtle as Captain Russell's smirk[8].

K. N. Panikkar, a well known marxist historian said in an address at Stanford on rewriting history that Oak's "main contribution is the identification of every medieval monument as a Hindu structure"[9].

Edwin Bryant has indicated that 'most academics' would consider him a 'crackpot'[10].

According to Akbar S. Ahmed:

The Taj has recently entered a controversy which reflects the politics of modern India. Hindu fundamentalists, wishing to deny any positive role of Muslims in India, argue that it was not built by Shah Jahan. They claim Hindu rulers in the fourth century built it. Books with titles such as Taj Mahal Was a Rajput Palace (P.N. Oak, 1965) further argue this position. There is no merit in the argument, but it has acquired something of a popular following in India." [11]

Muslim critics have criticized Oak's "creative" etymology of Islamic terminology. According to Mujlisul-Ulema:

Oak betrays his ignorance of Islam in similar fashion by tendering the following point in substantiation of the "dish" theory:

Also, the word Namaaz derives from two Sanskrit roots, Nama and yajna meaning bowing and worshipping.

The word "Namaaz" is not an Arabic term. It was never used by the prophet of Islam nor by the Arab Muslims. Even to this day the Islamic practice of prayers is described as Salaah, not Namaaz. Namaaz is of Persian origin. While Salaah (Islamic prayers) is known as Narnaaz in Persian and Urdu, it has never been the case in Arabic. How ridiculous then, is it not, for Oak to cite an Urdu term coined ages after the Prophet of Islam (on whom be peace), to bolster his theory arising out of a dish supposedly found in the ka'bah? The Urdu language consists of words from many languages, including Sanskrit. But, the Urdu language was not the language of the Prophet or of the Arabs.[12]

Oak has sued to break open the cenotaphs, and to tear down brick walls in the lower plinth: In these "fake tombs" and "sealed apartments", Oak says Shivalingams or other temple items were hidden by Shah Jahan.[5] According to Oak, the Indian government's refusal to allow him unfettered access amounts to a conspiracy against Hinduism.

In 2000 India's Supreme Court dismissed Oak's petition to declare that a Hindu king built the Taj Mahal and reprimanded him for bringing the action, saying he had a "bee in his bonnet" about the Taj.

In 2005 a similar petition was dismissed by the Allahabad High Court. This case was brought by Amar Nath Mishra, a social worker and preacher who says that the Taj Mahal was built by the Hindu King Parmar Dev in 1196.

Notes

  1. ^ Oak's account of his own life
  2. ^ Was the Kaaba Originally a Hindu Temple? by P.N. Oak
  3. ^ Oak, P.N. (1999-06-04). "Cities And Regions Since". Vaishnava News Network. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Cities And Regions Since
  5. ^ a b The Tajmahal is Tejomahalay—A Hindu Temple
  6. ^ HRD Ministry - its master's voice, The Hindu, April 29, 2001.
  7. ^ Carl W. Ernst, Annemarie Schimmel (1992). Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center. State University of New York Press.
  8. ^ Rebecca Brown, Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 34.1 (2004) 78-80
  9. ^ Stanford India Association
  10. ^ The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate, Edwin Bryant, 2003
  11. ^ Akbar S. Ahmed (May 1993). "The Taj Mahal". History Today, vol. 43.
  12. ^ P.N. Oak's Blasphemy Against the Ka'bah, by Mujlisul-Ulema

List of books by P.N. Oak

  • Christianity is Chrisn-nity,
  • Islamic Havoc in India (A. Ghosh Publisher, 5740 W. Little York, Houston, Texas, 77091)
  • The Taj Mahal Is a Temple Place (Alternate title, The Taj Mahal is a Hindu Palace, Hindi Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi)
  • Who Says Akbar Was Great? (Hindi Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi)
  • Agra Red Fort is a Hindu Building (Hindi Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi)
  • Some Blunders of Indian Historical Research (Hindi Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi)
  • Some Missing Chapters of World History (Hindi Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi)
  • World Vedic Heritage -- A History of Histories (Hindi Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi)
  • Taj Mahal — The True Story (ISBN 0-9611614-4-2)

See also

Taj Mahal: The True Story

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