Sanjeev Sabhlok's Blog, page 91

My next TOI blog post: Democracy has been mangled in Bhadohi

I wrote this on 28 April 2019, for those of you who missed it. The electoral system of India is a mess.

India’s Long March to Capitalism by Joydeep Mukherji (2002)

This article published in India Review many years ago is still relevant === Will India become a prosperous country? The answer depends to a large extent on whether it becomes more of a market-oriented economy. Since 1991, when the government nearly defaulted on its external debt, India has moved cautiously to remove the most detailed […]

Reports of total integrity and honesty of the people in ancient India #7: The supreme honesty of its bankers

India was one of the innovators of banking, with the hundi system. Here’s an extract from The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750-1947 by Claude Markovits == The record of the Shikarpuris remains nevertheless impressive: in spite of the losses suffered in the Russian debacle, they were able to reinvent themselves as the foremost community […]

Reports of total integrity and honesty of the people in ancient India #6: The integrity of government Ministers

Extracts from Pramathanath Banerjea’s Public administration in ancient India === This great influence possessed by Ministers of old was doubtless, in a large measure, due to the selfless spirit in which many of them served  the  State. Though such Ministers controlled  the  destinies  of large kingdoms and sometimes extensive empires, they, as a rule, led […]

Reports of total integrity and honesty of the people in ancient India #5: Report on the morality of the pahalwans

This video from 7:40 to 10:20 demonstrates the culture of high integrity and morality in Panjab among the pahalwans. The tradition of integrity was acute in Panjab. My entire family (both sides from West Panjab) were extreme sticklers for honesty. Even today those old timers remain rigidly honest. I suspect this had much to do […]

Reports of total integrity and honesty of the people in ancient India #4: Portuguese traveller Fernao Nunes (Fernao Nuniz)

Here is an account by Portuguese traveller Fernao Nunes of Vijayanagara empire’s Brahmins [Source] “And in this kingdom of Bisanga there is a class of, men natives of the country, namely Brahmans, who the most part of them never kill or eat any live things, and these are the best that there are amongst them. […]

Reports of total integrity and honesty of the people in ancient India #4: Portuguese traveller Fernao Nunes

Here is an account by Portuguese traveller Fernao Nunes of Vijayanagara empire’s Brahmins [Source] “And in this kingdom of Bisanga there is a class of, men natives of the country, namely Brahmans, who the most part of them never kill or eat any live things, and these are the best that there are amongst them. […]

Reports of total integrity and honesty of the people in ancient India #3: Hueng Tsang (Hiuen Tsang/ Hsuan-tsang/ Xuan Tsang or Xuanzang)

Once again, there is independent evidence to confirm that the people of ancient India were very honest. By 630 AD, however, things in India were not as good as they had earlier been, as we’ll see from this short snippet: Hiuen Tsang praised emperor Harsha and his administration very much. He described that the kingdom […]

Reports of total integrity and honesty of the people in ancient India #3:ueng Tsang (Hiuen Tsang/ Hsuan-tsang/ Xuan Tsang or Xuanzang)

Once again, there is independent evidence to confirm that the people of ancient India were very honest. By 630 AD, however, things in India were not as good as they had earlier been, as we’ll see from this short snippet: Hiuen Tsang praised emperor Harsha and his administration very much. He described that the kingdom […]

Reports of total integrity and honesty of the people in ancient India #2: Fa Hien (Fa Hian/ Faxian)

This needs more exploration but the following (source) seems to be a good summary: == Fa-hien started his voyage to India in 399 A.D. … He reached India about 400 A.D. and remained here up to 411 A.D. There were a few quarrels or disputes and the people rarely felt the necessity to approach the […]