category Regional, chandigarh, , tags Regional, chandigarh, , DW BUREAU Chandigarh Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Thursday launched former DGP P. Lal s latest book Hindu, Hinduism and Hindutva-Bharat and Sanatana Rashtra , in the Raj Bhavan. Earlier, on 30 October 2021, he had launched the author s book Gift of Life . This is the author s sixth book to-date. In the book launched on Thursday, Lal has emphasized upon the importance of religion in one s life which anchors a person to the moral and ethical values in the march towards material progress. He has, however, covered Hinduism only in great detail, a religion followed by a vast majority of people in India, and by some in other parts of the world, too . While discussing Hindutva, Lal has dwelt upon the concept as defined in Vinayak Damodar Savarkar s 1922-pamphlet Essentials of Hindutva and compared it with the term used by Chandranath Basu in Hindutva- The Authentic History of the Hindus ( 1892). The former s enunciation was nationalistic emphasizing upon unification through common land, race and culture ; the latter s was religious, though Basu was the first to use the term Hindutva. Lal has clarified, quoting excerpts from Savarkar s pamphlet, that he never said , contrary to what is believed by many, that all residents in India from the Sindhu to the Indian Ocean were Hindus; he rather clearly excluded Indian Muslims and Christians from the fold of Hinduism on the ground that their holy-land was not in India. Lal has, however, not agreed with Savarkar s view that followers of all other Indic religions- Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism- were Hindus. Lal has concurred with Savarkar s impassioned plea to make India a strong country- militarily- to avoid being overrun by foreigners again. Dealing with the different names for the country- Bharat, Hindustan and India- he has quoted ancient Hindu texts to argue that Bharat is the most ancient having Vedic origin, whereas India has Greek origin. He has also brought out the relationship between the Sanatana Dharma and Hinduism, and has enumerated the eternal principles of the former such as truthfulness, austerity, mercy and sacrifice etc. Mathematics and astronomy were quite advanced in ancient India but not as much as in the modern day, nor according to him, there were Vimanas( flying machines ) in India of yore. Lal has recommended for a peaceful proselytization campaign for the Hindus all over the world. Further, that India ought to be declared a Sanatana Rashtra which would be legally sustainable, as against the Hindu Rashtra which would be against the Basic Structure doctrine enunciated by the Supreme Court. Lal says that the present book completes the trilogy with his two earlier ones River Saraswati and the Aryans and Gift of Life in as much as a fusion and synthesis have been attempted in all the three, between ideas contained in ancient Hindu texts and those of modern science on similar subjects. In the case of conflict, reason and rationality have been given precedence. Lal has three other books also to his credit, and more than 118 articles in various newspapers. (editor dailyworld.in)