P. N. Oak

Purushottam Nagesh Oak (March 2nd 1917 - December 4th 2007), commonly referred to as P. N. Oak, was an Indian notable for his Hindu nationalist pseudohistorical revisionism.

Biography

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, 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.

Revisionist theories

Intent on rectifying what he believes to be "biased and distorted versions of India's history produced by the invaders and colonizers", Oak has written several books and articles on Indian history and founded an "Institute for Rewriting Indian History" in 1964. According to Oak, modern secular and Marxist historians have fabricated "idealized versions" of India's past and drained it of its "Vedic context and content". Oak's work typically resorts to "deep punning" (Aravamudan 2005) associating Sanskrit sound-alikes with non-Sanskrit religious terms (such as Vatican=vatika "hermitage", Islam=ishalayam"temple of God" and similar). Based on this, Oak claims that both Islam and Christianity originated as distortions of "Vedic" beliefs. He thus alleges that the Kaaba in Mecca was originally a shrine to Shiva and that the Papacy was "a Vedic priesthood" until Constantine the Great killed the "Vedic Pope" and replaced him with the head of the hitherto unimportant Christian sect.

Oak finds some mention in passing as an eccentric in academic literature on Hindu fundamentalism. Aravamudan (2005) calls him a "mythistorian" whose life's work may be summarized by the title of his work World Vedic Heritage: A History of Histories, Presenting a Unique Unified Field Theory of History that from the Beginning of Time the World Practised Vedic and Spoke Sanskrit. Edwin Bryant writes that most academics would consider him a 'crackpot'. Art historian Rebecca Brown describes Oak's books as "revisionist history as subtle as Captain Russell's smirk" (referring to a character in the Hindi movie Lagaan).

Oak's theories continue to be publicized by some contemporary Hindutva adherents. Faisal Kutty (2003) noted a revival of interest in Oak's revisionism with the Hindutva campaign of pseudohistorical literature targeting Non Resident Indians, particularly in North America (Voice of India), finding support among some Western anti-Islamic writers such as Koenraad Elst or Francois Gautier, and the NCERT controversy in the context of Saffronization under the BJP government (1999-2004).

The Taj Mahal

In his book Taj Mahal: The True Story, Oak claims that the Taj Mahal was originally a Shiva temple or a Rajput palace seized by Shah Jahan and adopted as a tomb.

The Taj, Oak says, is 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". He goes on to propose Hindu origins for the tombs of Humayun, Akbar and Itmiad-u-Dallah and "all historic buildings" in India as well as the Vatican, the Kaaba and Stonehenge.

Oak's denial of Islamic architecture in India has been described as one of the "more extreme manifestations of anti-Muslim sentiment" in Maharashtrian popular culture. K. N. Panikkar locates Oak's work in the Hindu nationalist attempt to foster a communal understanding of Indian history. Tapan Raychaudhuri has referred to him as "a 'historian' much respected by the Sangh Parivar."

Oak claims that Hindu ornaments and symbols were effaced from the Taj, whose sealed chambers hold the remnants, including a Shiva Lingam, of the original temple and that Mumtaz Mahal was not buried at her cenotaph.

In support of these claims, Oak presents carbon dating results of the wood from the riverside doorway of the Taj, quotes from European travellers' accounts and the Taj's Hindu architectural features. Oak further alleges that eyewitness accounts of the Taj Mahal's construction as well as Shah Jahan's construction orders and voluminous financial records are elaborate frauds meant to hide its Hindu origin.

Oak petitioned demanding that the Taj be declared a Hindu monument and that cenotaphs and sealed apartments be opened to determine whether Shivalingam or other temple remains were hidden in them. 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 had 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.

The Kaaba

In a 13 page pamphlet headed 'WAS KAABA A HINDU TEMPLE? IS ALLAH A HINDU GOD?', Oak derives a claim of a "Vedic past of Arabia" based on an alleged inscription mentioning king Vikramāditya found at the Kaaba. The text of the inscription Oak quotes from takes from a manuscript he identifies as Sayar-ul-Okul,, allegedly a manuscript anthology of Arabic poetry kept in the Makhtab-e-Sultania Library in Istanbul, Turkey. Oak claims the anthology was compiled in 1742 on the orders of a "Sultan Salim" (the actual Sultan at the time being Mahmud I), and alleges it was first edited in 1864 in Berlin. The Sayar ul-Okul has since appeared in various other Hindutva publications, always crediting Oak, but is unknown to the pertinent Arabist reference works.

Institute for Rewriting Indian History

Oak's "Institute for Rewriting Indian History" issued a quarterly periodical called Itihas Patrika in the 1980s.

Bibliography

• 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 (online version: hindusarise.com)
• 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)

References

• Srinivas Aravamudan, Guru English: South Asian Religion in a Cosmopolitan Language Princeton University Press (2005), ISBN 0691118280, p. 36.
• Edwin Bryant "Aryan Origins and Modern Nationalist Discourse", chapter 13 in The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate, Oxford University Press (2001).
• Carl W. Ernst, Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center (1992), ISBN 0791408833, p. 36.
• Suvir Kaul, The Partitions of Memory: The Afterlife of the Division of India (2002), ISBN 0253215668, p. 205.
• Michael Witzel, "Indocentrism: autochthonous visions of ancient India", in: Patton and Bryant (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, Routledge (2004), ISBN 0700714634.

See also

• Hindu nationalism
• Communalism (South Asia)
• Historical revisionism
• Historiography and nationalism
• François Gautier
• N. S. Rajaram
• David Frawley

External links

• Taj: A Vedic temple (stephen-knapp.com)
• "Taj Mahal - A Hindu Temple Vandalised - As uncovered by Prof. P. N. Oak" (home.freeuk.net/tajmahal/)
• Mujlisul Ulema (Port Elizabeth), "P.N. Oak's blasphemy against the Ka`bah", Young Men's Muslim Association, South Africa (archive link)
• Safronisation of Indian History Elicits Deafening Silence by Faisal Kutty (2003, iviews.com)