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Mar 169 min read

Wither Leather-Feather from Gaming and Musicking?

Posted on 16/03/2024 (GMT 13: 21 hrs)

In continuation to our sarcastic, satirical portrayal (by intentionally playing the devil’s advocate through the masking process) of the Hindutvavadin by targeting certain modules of Saffron Fascism, the following letter was sent regarding the use of leather in Sports and Music industries in India in contradistinction to the Cow Vigilantist cum Vegetarian Code agendas of the Hindutva camp.

Before going into the letter, the following story from the Aesop Fables will be of importance:


The Boys & the Frogs

Some Boys were playing one day at the edge of a pond in which lived a family of Frogs. The Boys amused themselves by throwing stones into the pond so as to make them skip on top of the water.

The stones were flying thick and fast and the Boys were enjoying themselves very much; but the poor Frogs in the pond were trembling with fear.

At last one of the Frogs, the oldest and bravest, put his head out of the water, and said, “Oh, please, dear children, stop your cruel play! Though it may be fun for you, it means death to us!”

Always stop to think whether your fun may not be the cause of another’s unhappiness.The Æsop for Children VIEW HERE ⤡

~~~

कच्चित्ते निर्जिता विघ्नाः कच्चित्ते वर्धते तपः। कच्चित्ते नियतः क्रोध आहारश्च तपोधने।।

“Have you conquered all the obstacles in the way of your practice of austerities? Has your practice of austerity and penance steadily increased? O lady who possesses asceticism for wealth [tapodhane], have you been able to control your anger and your eating?” (Lord Rama speaking to Sabari, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 74.8)

When Sītā was watering the plants, thus spake Rāma: Tapaḥ Vardhate? In other words, the ends of tapasyā or deep meditation will also be served by sprinkling water on the plants and trees. (Source: Bhāsa, Pratimānāṭakam, Canto V)

To

The Honourable President,

Republic of India

Sub: Requesting for Banning leather-dependence in Sports and Music Industries for consolidating the much-awaited Hindu Rāṣṭra

Dear Ācāryā,

We, the supporters of the homogenized, pasteurized, standardized and undivided Hindu Rāṣṭra, are sending you our heartfelt Hindutva greetings in defence of our Hindu supremacy against persecution by alien or heretical religions.

It is with great sorrow that we are composing this letter to you in continuation with our previous letter dated 06.09.2021 KING, STOP KILLING THE ENVIRONMENT OF OUR TAPOVANA (HERMITAGE), THE AKHANḌ HINDU BHĀRAT VIEW HERE ⤡. It is to inform you and seek your kind help with regard to a matter of concern that relates to two chief spheres within the entertainment industry of India that is Bhārat, viz., Sports and Music, and also forms part of the ongoing climate agenda.

Before going into our humble proposal to you, we must restate our two major goals as part of the advancement of the Hindutva agenda:

a) Cow Vigilantism: not letting any community harm our revered Gaumātā. This is central to all our activities.

b) Uniform Vegetarian Food Code for the whole of akhanḍ Bhārat.

The luminous presence of these two guiding motives enables us to present this letter to you in the first place. It is from our unfailing commitment to these two agendas that we have identified certain major drawbacks, which are to be addressed and resolved in quick succession without any further delay. What are these drawbacks that we are referring to?

i. Sports: Cricket-Badminton-Hockey

We are greatly opposed to the use of leather in manufacturing red and white Cricket ballsfrom cowhide. This is an instance of sheer cruelty on our Holy Cow the Mother for the reasons of a colonial game that was brought to India that is Bharat in the hands of the Britishers.

We were surprised to see that our Honourable PM the “vishwaguru” is wholeheartedly subscribing such a game despite this evident fact that the game involves the deliberate slaughtering of our bovine mother.

In connection to this, it is also to be noted that India produces about 3 billion square feet of leather every year⤡.

We then abruptly came in front of Al Kabeer Exports Pvt. Ltd., (later on, we came to know that this is the largest slaughter house and beef exporting company in India is spread over nearly 400 acres in Rudrak village in Telangana state). We were sure that this was owned by a Muslim.

Actually, we have been misled by the Islamic name of the company. A Hindu business tycoon Satish Saberwal is the owner of the company. Al Kabeer did business worth nearly Rs 650 crore per annum!

For detailed analysis on this uncontradictory contradiction within our Hindutva camp, view the following:

The willow trees (that are abundant in the Kashmir valley other than the Lahaul valley. Kashmir is the place of insurgents, secessionists, separatists and terrorist forces. We cannot accept trees from such regions of anti-Hindu sentimentalization!) are also cut down in order to produce the wood that is used in making cricket bats. In line with the spirit of the Chipko Movement, we are opposed to the deforestation of our sacred land for any of Westernized modernity’s aims. By taking loans from the World Bank-IMF-WTO, we cannot also afford to build anti-green bullet train systems (the dream project of our Hon’ble PM) by clearing out vast forest-lands. The mental travel (as highlighted in the Mahābhārata) is much more preferable than such harmful speed capitalist modes of transport. We must stick in toto to the ethos of our eco-sensitive seers and mystics in the ideal tapovana.

However, any human being needs a grassland for farming by destroying forests. This is the greatest aporia in the management of human agrarian economy while also trying to preserve wilderness (Note that the word ‘Kṛṣṇa’ from the √kṛṣ, which means to till or cultivate):

“In the Mahabharata, we meet Krishna next when he, accompanied by Arjuna, burns the Khandava forest, a forest near the Pandavas’ kingdom in Khandavaprastha.

When we examine the stories that are in circulation about this undertaking we can easily make out that many of them are made up. In one story, for example, King Svetaki, who was a great performer of Yajnas, put so much strain on Agni, the fire that fuelled his Yajnas, that Agni fell ill. Brahma advised Agni to devour the Khandava forest to recover from his illness. As Agni started his meal by lighting the forest up, the inhabitants in it quenched the fire. Every time Agnistarted to eat the forest, the same thing happened. Desperate, disguised as a Brahmin, he came to Krishna and Arjuna, and begged them to burn the Khandava for him. So the two friends, armed with their arsenals, started in earnest to burn the forest. Indra showered rain on the fire but Arjuna’s arrows quenched the rain. Other gods joined Indra in fighting Krishna and Arjuna but an oracle prevented the gods, for it announced that Krishna and Arjuna were ancient rishis.”(Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Krishna Charitra⤡)

Hence, the celebration of cricket should be stopped at all costs in the forthcoming Hindu Rāṣṭra in order to prevent leather-production from all fronts, unless cricket balls are manufactured with alternative, pro-Hindu materials. This means that our beloved Sports Organization, Kreeda Bharati, should stop playing these violent and anti-Hindu borrowed sports, and instead promote indigenous, cow-friendly, pro-tapovana sports. This also implies in the long run a ban on the general practice of wearing leather shoes. Instead, we should all walk on our naked feet by literally being in touch with mātā vasundharā at every step that we take on her ubiquitous bosom. We must also forfeit leather jackets in a similar vein.

Moving on to the game of Badminton, which is also more-or-less equally celebrated within the Indian sports world, and which, unfortunately, is stricken with similar drawbacks as the above.

“A shuttlecock is formed from 16 or so overlapping feathers, usually goose or duck, embedded into a rounded cork base. Feathers are plucked from the wings of a live goose or duck, a method which has been deemed cruel by animal rights activists in recent years. The cork is covered with thin leather.” (Source: Shuttlecock VIEW HERE ⤡)

In response to the above information, we have to state two things:

a) In line with our vegetarian agenda and banning of all non-vegetarian practices, modes, operations, mechanisms of eliciting animal protein, we stand opposed to the violent plucking of feathers from live geese or ducks. Being the vehicle of our Goddess Sarasvatī, ducks cannot be harmed in that manner any longer within the holy purview of the Hindu/Aryan land (Father Brahmā, at the time of the birth of Śatarūpā/Sarasvatī, chased her for physical enjoyment/sexual gratification).

b) The covering of thin leather, if present, is also against our agenda.

Thus, badminton should be discarded as an illegitimate game in the cherished Hindu Rāṣṭra, unless shuttlecocks are made without the use of leather and live bird feathers.

Our Hon’ble PM went down to visit the alleged/supposed “ruins” of the ancient city of Dwarka while carrying in his hand a bunch of Peacock feathers. Did he use real Peacock feathers? If yes, how did he manage to get it by harming our national bird? Or was it gathered from a dead peacock or are those naturally shed peacock feathers?

PM Modi offers prayers at submerged city of DwarkaVIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 25th February, 2024 ©Businessline)

In the case of our National Game, i.e., Hockey, the gloves used in the game involve the use of leather as well.

“The first cut will reveal hockey gloves are mostly made of materials such as leather, Kevlar, and carbon fiber weaves”.

“A hockey glove palm is a key element and is generally made of genuine leather and synthetic leather. Genuine leather is produced via goatskin, while synthetic leathers, which are considered by many insiders to be a more durable product, are manufactured.”

Since we cannot afford cruelty on animals, we cannot promote such leather-based products. Hockey sticks promote the chopping down of mulberry trees, which is also to be countered by the exponents of the Hindu Bhārat. Unless all such instruments/tools required in the game of Hockey are replaced with components that do not involve butchering of animals and/or deforestation, the supposed national game should no longer remain a national game.

ii. Music: Percussion Instruments

South Asian percussion instruments such as Tabla, Mridangam, Pakhawaj, Srikhol, Chenda, Thavil etc., have as their constitutive ingredients buffalo skin, goatskin, monitor lizard skin (in the case of Khanjira) and leather (for braces/straps). They also involve cutting down of a wide variety of trees such as jackfruit, teak, rosewood etc. Such instruments are to be cancelled out from our Musical Culture, only to be replaced by such, which are free from any such cruelties.

Thus, in conclusion, we would like you to take steps in both these regards to stop the leather-fetish (as well as wood-fetish) that is causing the massacre of our sacred bovine population as well as the forests, which are to be worshipped instead of being ruthlessly killed or chopped down for soothing the narrow, anthropocentric entertainment. In that way, a new cultural nationalist Bharat would have no such drawbacks and would celebrate ethnographic Hindutva.

Hope you will entertain our devout plea at the earliest.

Let us end with a pertinent declaration from the nāndimukha (prologue) of Abhijñānaśākuntalam by Mahākavi Kālidāsa:

या सृष्टि: स्रष्टुराद्या वहति विधिहुतं या हविर्या च होत्री

येद्वेकालंविधत: श्रुतिविषयगुणा: प्राणवन्त: या स्थिता व्याप्य विश्वम्।

यामाहु: सर्वबीजप्रकृतिरिति यया प्राणिन: प्राणवन्त:

प्रत्यक्षाभि: प्रपन्नस्तुनुभिरवतु वरताभिरष्टाभिरीश:।।

EIGHT forms has Shiva, lord of all and king: And these are water, first created thing; And fire, which speeds the sacrifice begun; The priest; and time’s dividers, moon and sun; The all-embracing ether, path of sound; The earth, wherein all seeds of life are found; And air, the breath of life: may he draw near, Revealed in these, and bless those gathered here. (Trans. A. W. Ryder)

Yours Most Faithfully,

Dr. Debaprasad Bandyopadhyay

Mrs. Rupa Bandyopadhyay

Mr. Akhar Bandyopadhyay

SEE ALSO:

बहुजनहिताय बहुजनसुखाय च॥

(“For the happiness of the many, for the welfare of the many”)

COPY TO:

1. The Honourable Prime Minister, Government of India

2. The Honourable Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India

3. The Honourable Minister of Culture, Government of India

4. The Honourable Secretary, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)

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