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Eid has arrived. Threats and warnings to Muslims by the police of Uttar Pradesh precede it

2026-02-27T13:02:00.000+05:30

Eid has arrived. Threats and warnings to Muslims by the police of Uttar Pradesh precede it. The police chief of Meerut has said that no one will be allowed to offer namaz on the road. Cases will be filed and action will be initiated to cancel the passport of those defying the order. People are wondering about … Continue reading Eid has arrived. Threats and warnings to Muslims by the police of Uttar Pradesh precede it →

why vande mataram should not be sung

2026-02-27T13:01:00.000+05:30

Shashi Tharoor writes: Don’t force us to sing Vande Mataram. Our nationalism must encompass the believer, the dissenter and the quiet observer

Those who feel comfortable singing the latter verses should be encouraged to do so. Simultaneously, the state must explicitly assure those with conscientious or religious objections, whether they are Muslims, Christians, or atheists, that they are excused from singing the verses that trouble them

In a free society, the strength of a national symbol lies in the voluntary reverence it inspires, not the compliance it coerces. Patriotism is a sentiment of the heart; it cannot be legislated on to the tongue. (Illustration: C R Sasikumar)

Written by: Shashi Tharoor

6 min readFeb 19, 2026 07:44 AM IST

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The historical journey of ‘Vande Mataram’, from a stirring cry for freedom to a point of modern contention, reflects the broader complexities of our Indian identity. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s famous hymn to the motherland served as the primary emotional fuel for the early nationalist movement. It was the song that emboldened Satyagrahis to face lathis and the chant that echoed in the hearts of revolutionaries approaching the gallows. Yet, as we navigate the mandates of a contemporary secular republic, the resurgence of controversy requires us to examine anew the delicate balance between state symbols and individual conscience.

To understand the current friction, one must recall its origins. During the struggle for Independence, the Indian National Congress sang ‘Vande Mataram’ as a quintessential expression of patriotism. However, as Independence approached, the leadership was acutely aware of the need for a national anthem that could unite a religiously diverse population. While ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was ultimately chosen for its inclusive and rhythmic appeal, the Constituent Assembly accorded ‘Vande Mataram’ an “equal status” as the national song, recognising its indispensable role in the freedom struggle.

This was a deliberate compromise intended to honour nationalist history, without alienating those for whom the song’s later imagery posed a theological dilemma. The genius behind it was Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Despite being the first to set the poem to music and perform it at the 1896 Congress session, in 1937, Tagore recommended that only the first two verses be sung in public settings. His reasoning was both aesthetic and empathetic. The first two stanzas are a lyrical salutation to a personified, bounteous motherland: The “Mother” the song hails is the soil, the water, and the fruit-bearing trees of India, beautiful and eternal — imagery both universal and metaphorical. However, the subsequent verses explicitly identify the motherland with Hindu iconography, specifically invoking the goddesses Durga and Lakshmi. Tagore, a man of profound spiritual and pluralistic vision, understood that while these verses were beautiful as literature, they could not be expected to be recited by those whose faiths forbade the deification of anything other than the Creator.

This remains the crux of the objection voiced by many Indian Muslims. The core tenet of Islamic faith is Tawhid, the absolute oneness of God, which precludes bowing before or worshipping any entity, even one’s own nation, in a manner that mimics religious devotion. For many, the first two verses are acceptable as a secular tribute to the land. But the later verses, which have now been officially mandated by government order, shift the tone from a patriotic greeting to a religious invocation. To force some citizens to recite verses that conflict with their fundamental religious tenets creates a choice between faith and state — a dilemma that a secular democracy, by definition, should seek to avoid, rather than impose.

The argument used by proponents of mandating the full song is that it is a symbol of national unity and that refusal to sing it is a sign of diminished patriotism. However, this perspective overlooks the fact that in a free society, the strength of a national symbol lies in the voluntary reverence it inspires, not the compliance it coerces. Patriotism is a sentiment of the heart; it cannot be legislated onto the tongue. When the state uses its power to demand a specific verbal performance of loyalty, it risks hollowing out the very sentiment it seeks to promote.

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At the root of the problem lies the hoary question of what Tagore called “the idea of India”. Is India an ancient palimpsest on which people of varying faiths and ethnicities have inscribed their contributions, or a glorious Hindu civilisation into which people of other faiths have interposed themselves? Our nationalist leaders chose the former idea, enshrining a civic nationalism in our Constitution that considers all citizens equal. Our present rulers implicitly hew to the latter idea, insisting that minorities have to adjust themselves to the dominant Hindu ethos.

The most elegant and constitutionally sound solution to this impasse lies in our own judicial history, specifically the landmark “Jehovah’s Witness case”. In 1986, three students were expelled from school for refusing to sing the national anthem on the grounds that it conflicted with their religious beliefs. They did not disrupt the proceedings; they stood respectfully while the anthem was played, but remained silent. The Supreme Court reinstated the students, delivering a judgment that remains a beacon of Indian pluralism. Justice Chinnappa Reddy, famously observing that our tradition, philosophy, and Constitution all preach and practice tolerance, ruled that as long as a person stands respectfully while the anthem is played, refusal to sing it does not constitute a violation of the law or a lack of patriotism.

Beef in the Vedas.

2026-02-27T12:52:19.729+05:30

Written by Ibn Muhammad

Special thanks to Brother Neer Muhammad, who has been really helpful throughout the writing of this article and also gave valuable points.

Present day Hindu culture is pivoted solely on the cow. Its material and spiritual concepts are both engulfed in cow worship. Such an animal worship is known as zoolatry. The Hindutva brigade propaganda machinery uses the politics of cow to mobilize the blind Hindu masses and works them into a frenzy. The taboo on cow slaughter is one of the pillars of the Hindutva ideology. According to M.S.Golwalkar, a Hindutva ideologue, cow slaughter in India began with foreign domination. “The Muslims started it and the Britishers continued it” (M.S.Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Pg 496). In the past, several futile attempts have been made by proponents of Hindutva to pass a law to ban the slaughter of cows at the national level. In the NCERT school textbook for Class VI (2002) we read:

“Among the animals the cow was given the most important and sacred place. Injuring or killing of cow was prohibited in the Vedic period. The cow was called Aghnya (is not to be killed or injured). Vedas prescribe punishment for injuring or killing cow by expulsion from the kingdom or by death penalty, as the case may be”

(Social Sciences Textbook for Class VI, Pg 89.).

But the theory that the in Vedic times there was no cow slaughter is historically inaccurate. Although cow was revered and treated as sacred, it was also offered as food to guests and persons of high status. The fact remains that ancient Hindu scriptures clearly permit the consumption of meat, even of cows. True scholars, and not modern frauds, know this. For example, Swami Vivekananda who is considered as a major force in the revival of Hinduism in modern India, admitted that ancient Hindus used to eat meat. He says,

“You will be astonished if I tell you that, according to the old ceremonials, he is not a good Hindu who does not eat beef. On certain occasions he must sacrifice a bull and eat it.”

[The complete works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 3, Pg 536]

In the same volume on page 174 he says,

“There was a time in this very India when, without eating beef, no Brahmin could remain a Brahmin;”

Let us now look at the evidence from Hindu texts, which proves that Hinduism not only permits beef eating but also requires its folowers to institute certain cow sacrifices. I will simultaneously refute the common arguments of Hindus.

Contents hide

1 Yajna and animal sacrifices

2 Refuting the modern Hindu polemic of ‘No violence in Yajna’

3 Animal sacrifices in Vedas, including cow sacrifice

4 The Ashwamedha Yajna

5 Refuting Hindu polemics concerning Ashwamedha

6 Meat Eating in Vedas including Cow meat

7 Goghna- the guest for whom a cow is killed

8 Refuting the Hindu polemic of cow being called ‘Aghnya’

9 Other evidences of beef eating

10 Animal Sacrifices in Mahabharata

11 The testimony of ancient Indian medical texts

12 The testimony of classical scholars

Yajna and animal sacrifices

In Hinduism, Yajna is a ritual of sacrifice derived from the practice of Vedic times. It is performed to please the gods or to attain certain wishes. A Vedic yajna is typically performed by an adhvaryu priest, with a number of additional priests such as the hotar, udgatar playing a major role, next to their dozen helpers, by reciting or singing Vedic verses. How to deal with the animal, that is to be sacrificed in the Yajna, be it a goat, a horse or a cow, is mentioned in the Aitareya Brahman of the Rigveda as follows:

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“6. …Turn the animal’s feet northwards. Make its eyes go to the Sun, dismiss its breath to the wond, its life to the space, its hearing to the directions, its body to the earth. In this way the Hotar (priest) connets it with these world. Take of the entire skin without cutting it. Before opening the navel tear out the omentum. Stop its breathing within (by stopping its mouth). Thus the Hotar puts breath in the animals. Make of its breast a piece like an eagle, of its arms (two pieces like) two hatchets, of its forearms (two pieces like) two spikes, of its shoulders (two pieces like) two kashyapas (tortoises), its loins should be unbroken (entire); make of its thigs (two pieces like) two shields, of the two kneepans (two pieces like) two oleander leaves; take out its twenty-six ribs according to their order; preserve every limb of its in its integrity. Thus he benefits all its limbs. Dig a ditch in the earth to hide its excrements.

7. Present the evil spirits with the blood.”

[Aitareya Brahman, Book 2, para 6 and 7]

Subsequently, the same Aitareya Brahman instructing on how to distribute different parts of the sacrificial animal says,

“Now follows the division of the different parts of the sacrificial animal (among the priests). We shall describe it. The two jawbones with the tongue are to be given to the Prastotar; the breast in the form of an eagle to the Udgatar; the throat with the palate to the Pratihartar; the lower part of the right loins to the Hotar; the left to the Brahma; the right thigh to the Maitravaruna; the left to the Brahmanuchhamsi; the right side with the shoulder to the Adhvaryu; the left side to those who accompany the chants; the left shoulder to the Pratipasthatar; the lower part of the right arm to the Neshtar; the lower part of the left arm to the Potar; the upper part of the right thigh to the Achhavaka; the left to the Agnidhra; the upper part of the right arm to the Aitreya; the left to the Sadasya; the back bone and the urinal bladder to the Grihapati (sacrificer); the right feet to the Grihapati who gives a feasting; the left feet to the wife of that Grihapati who gives a feasting; the upper lip is common to both, which is to be divided by the Grihapati. They offer the tail of the animal to wives, but they should give it to a Brahmana; the fleshy processes (maanihah) on the neck and three gristles (kikasaah) to the Grahvastut; three other gristles and one half of the fleshy part on the back (vaikartta) to the Unnetar; the other half of the fleshy part on the neck and the left lobe (Kloma) to the Slaughterer (Shamita), who should present it to a Brahmana, if he himself would not happen to be a Brahmana. The head is to be given to the Subrahmanya, the skin belongs to him (the Subrahmanya), who spoke, Svaah Sutyam (to morrow at the Soma Sacriice); that part of the sacrificial animal at a Soma sacrifice which beloings to Ilaa (sacrificial food) is common to all the priests; only for the Hotar it is optional.

All these portions of the sacrificial animal amount to thirty-six single pieces, each of which represents the paada (foot) of a verse by which the sacrifice is carried up…”

“To those who divide the sacrificial animal in the way mentioned, it becomes the guide to heaven (Swarga). But those who make the division otherwise are like scoundrels and miscreants who kill an animal merely.”

“This division of the sacrificial animal was invented by Rishi Devabhaaga, a son of Srauta. When he was departing from this life, he did not entrust (the secret to anyone). But a supernatural being communicated it to Girija,the son of Babhru. Since his time men study it.”

[Aitareya Brahman, Book 7, Para 1, Translated by Martin Haug]

I have come across certain bigots among Hindus, who make the excuse that these are the translations of a non-Hindu European scholar with ‘ulterior motives’. This is a common response of half-baked Hindus, who have negligible knowledge of Hindu scriptures. To establish the authenticity of the above translations, I will produce before you passages from the ‘Purva Mimamsa Sutras’ of Jaimini, its commentary called ‘Shabarbhasya‘ and the views of renowned Arya Samaj scholar, Pandit Yudhishthira Mimamsak on them.

It must be noted that the Purva Mimamsa Sutras (compiled between 300-200 BCE), written by Rishi Jaimini is one of the most important ancient Hindu philosophical texts. It forms the basis of Mimamsa, the earliest of the six orthodox schools (darshanas) of Indian philosophy.

Commenting on Purv Mimansa Sutra Adhyaya 3, Pada 6, Sutra 18, the Shabarbhasya says,

संति च पशुधर्माः- उपाकरणं, उपानयं, अक्ष्णया बंधः, यूपे नियोजनम्, संज्ञपनं, विशसनमित्येवमादयः

There are also certain details to be performed in connection with the animals, such as (a) Upaakaranam [Touching the animal with the two mantras], (b) Upaanayanam [Bringing forward], (c) Akshanyaa-bandhah [Tying with a rope], (d) Yoope niyojanam [Fettering to the Sacrificial Post], (e) Sanjnapanam [Suffocating to death], (f) Vishasanam [Dissecting], and so forth.

[Shabhar bhashya on Mimamsa Sutra 3/6/18; translated by Ganganath Jha]

Expounding on this, Arya Samaj scholar, Pandit Yudhisthira Mimamsak writes in is ‘Mimamsa Shabar Bhashyam’

“In this case and otherwise it appears from the Jaimini Sutras that the offering of sacrificed animals is to be made in the Yajnas. It is clearly mentioned in the Mimamsa Sutrs.”

[Mimamsa Shabharbhasyam, adhyaya 3, Page 1014]

Moving on let us see Mimamsadarshan Sutra 3/7/28 which says,

शमिता च शब्दभेदात्

The ‘Shamita’ (slaughterer of the animal) is not distinct from the major priests.

Commenting on it the Shabarbhashya says,

क्लोमा चार्द्धवं वैकर्तनं च शमितुः तद् ब्राह्मणाय दद्यात् यद्य ब्राह्मणः स्यात्

“The liver and the upper quarter belongs to the Shamita Priest ; one should give it to a Brahmana if he be a non-Brahmana.”

[Shabhar bhasya on Mimamsa Sutra 3/7/28; translated by Ganganath Jha]

Notice that this is exactly the same things that we saw was said in Aitareya Brahman Book 7; Para 1 above (the highlighted part). This proves that Shabarbhashya is confirming the Aitareya Brahman and the translation is also accurate.

Pandit Yudhisthira Mimamsak also confirms this when he says,

“The division of the meat of the sacrificed animal as instructed in the Aitareya Brahman clearly proves that during the time of the writing of Aitareya Brahman and the time when it was edited by Saunaka, animals were sacrificed in the Yajnas and their meat was consumed by the Brahmins“

Some half-baked Hindus who like to play games might try to call all these references as later interpolations. However, the scholar Yudhisthir Mimamsak outrightly rejects such a bogus conclusion when he says,

“There is no strong evidence to consider these passages as later interpolations.”

[Mimamsa Shabarbhashyam by Yudhishthir Mimamsak Adhyaya 3, Page 1075]

Further in Mimamsa Sutra 3/8/43 it is mentioned,

मांसं तु सवनियानां चोदनाविशेषात

“Only the ‘Savaniya’ cakes should consist of flesh”

All these passages prove that the flesh of the sacrificed animal was consumed as per the instructions of the Hindu texts.

Refuting the modern Hindu polemic of ‘No violence in Yajna’

Hindu Argument (quoted from a Hindu apologetics website)

Yajna never meant animal sacrifice in the sense popularly understood. Yajna in the Vedas meant a noble deed or the highest purifying action.

—————————————–

Adhvara iti Yajnanaama – Dhvaratihimsaakarmaa tatpratishedhah

Nirukta 2.7

According to Yaaska Acharya, one of the synonyms of Yajna in Nirukta or the Vedic philology is Adhvara.

Dhvara means an act with himsa or violence. And therefore a-dhvara means an act involving no himsa or no violence. There are a large number of such usage of Adhvara in the Vedas.

Response

This argument is incorrect because the word ‘Adhvar’ has been misplaced and interpreted incompletely. Yaska is merely giving the etymology of the word ‘Adhvar’ and not where it is to be applied and what constitutes violence. To know the true application of the word ‘Adhvar’ we will have to turn to Shatapath Brahman, which gives the complete understanding of why ‘Yajna’ is called ‘Adhvar’. Shatapath Brahman 1/4/1/40 says,

devānha vai yajñena yajamānāṃtsapatnā

asurā dudhūrṣāṃ cakruste dudhūrṣanta eva na śekurdhūrvituṃ te

parābabhūvustasmādyajño adhvaro nāma

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“For once when the gods were engaged in sacrificing, their rivals, the Asuras, wished to injure (dhvar) them; but, though desirous of injuring them, they were unable to injure them and were foiled: for this reason the sacrifice is called adhvara (‘not damaged, uninterrupted’).”

Thus the argument of the polemicist turns out to be a deception aimed at fooling those who have no access to the original texts. The passage of Shatapath Brahman makes it clear that ‘Adhvar’ is called so because the priests performing the Yajna did not become victims of violence. It has no connection to the violence of the animals done in the Yajna.

Renowned classical commentator of the four Vedas, Sayana Acharya, also gives the same reason for calling Yajna as ‘Adhvar’. He says in his comments on Rigveda 1/1/4,

अध्वरं हिंसारहितम् ह्वग्निना सर्वतः पालितं यज्ञं राक्षसादयो हिंसितुं प्रभवंति

“Adhvar is called ‘without violence’ because being protected by Agni on all sides it is uninterrupted by Rakshashas or violent enemies, who are unable to mar it.”

Again we see that Acharya Sayan expresses the same view as that of the Shatapath Brahman i.e the violence referred in the ‘adhvar’ is not for the sacrificial animal in the Yajna.

Renowned Hindu scholar, Swami Prabhupada explains the so-called violence in the Yajna in the following words,

“Although animal killing in a sacrifice is recommended in the Vedic literature, the animal is not considered to be killed. The sacrifice is to give a new life to the animal. Sometimes the animal is given a new animal life after being killed in the sacrifice, and sometimes the animal is promoted immediately to the human form of life.”

[Bhagavad Gita As It Is 8/13]

Even Manu Smriti echoes the same opinion in a more clear way in Chapter 5, verse 39 when it says,

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“Svayambhu (the Self-existent) himself created animals for the sake of sacrifices; sacrifices (have been instituted) for the good of this whole (world); hence the slaughtering (of beasts) for sacrifices is not slaughtering (in the ordinary sense of the word).”

Again Manu Smriti Chapter 5, verse 44 says

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“Know that the injury to moving creatures and to those destitute of motion, which the Veda has prescribed for certain occasions, is no injury at all; for the sacred law shone forth from the Veda.”

Thus, this argument stands nullified. For more scholarly explanation that the violence of animals in the Yajna is actually no violence please see the last section of this article namely ‘The testimony of classical scholars’.

Animal sacrifices in Vedas, including cow sacrifice

Chapter 24 of the Shukla Yajurveda is a unique chapter that will help us throw light on the animal sacrifices in the Vedas. This chapter contains an exact enumeration of animals that are to be tied to the sacrificial stakes, with the names of the deities to which they are dedicated. Several of the animals cannot be identified. This entire chapter is a weird puzzle, which is difficult to solve for the modern vegetarian Hindus. They are simply unable to explain the coherent meaning of this chapter. You will be amazed to know that even a Vedic scholar like Swami Dayanand is unable to throw any light on it. He merely says that we should know the qualities of each animal by relating to the qualities of the deity to whom they are dedicated. This statement of the Swami is itself a puzzle, as it gives no clear beneficial knowledge to us. Even Pandit Devi Chand, an Arya Samaj scholar, who based his English translation of the Yajurveda on Swami Dayanand’s work is clueless about the exact meaning of this chapter. He says in the footnote to verse #1,

“The exact significance of these animals being attached to the forces of nature (or Deities) is not clear to me.” (words in brackets mine)

Does this mean that no Hindu scholar for thousands of years has been able to understand the meaning of this chapter? I would say that is not the case. If we go to the Brahmanas and the classical commentators of the Vedas, the puzzle is solved. According to them each animal dedicated to a particular diety in this chapter has to be sacrificed to that deity. See Shatapath Brahmana 13/2/2/1-10

If this view is not accepted as the correct one, then every verse of this chapter would be a question mark with no answer. For example, verse 1 dedicates ‘a cow that slips her calf’ to Indra. But the question is, what will Indra do with such a cow? Is Indra going to give a sermon to her? or is Indra going to punish her? Such questions require satisfactory answers which modern vegetarian Hindus are unable to provide.

In the Yajnas meant for obtaining Rice, meat of bulls was cooked and offered to the diety.

Rigveda 10/28/3 mentions this as

अद्रिणा ते मन्दिन इन्द्र तूयान सुन्वन्ति सोमान पिबसि तवमेशाम |

पचन्ति ते वर्षभानत्सि तेषां पर्क्षेण यन्मघवन हूयमानः ||

“Your worshippers express with the stone fast flowing exhilarating Soma-juices for you. You drink them. They roast bulls for you, you eat them when you are invoked, Maghavan, to the sacrificial food.”

This is interpreted by Sayana Acharya as follows:

“You (O Indra), eat the cattle offered as oblations belonging to the worshippers who cook them for you.”

Acharya Sayana explicitly mentions about sacrificing a bull in the introduction to Atharvaveda 9/4/1 as follows

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“The Brahman after killing the bull, offers its meat to the different deities. In this hymn, the bull is praised, detailing which parts of the bull are attached to which deity as well as the importance of sacrificing the bull and the rewards of doing the same.”

The Ashwamedha Yajna

The ‘Practical Sanskrit English Dictionary’ by V. S. Apte (1890) gives the following meaning of ‘Ashwa-medha’

अश्वः प्रधानतया मेध्यते हिंस्यते अत्र

“A Yajna in which a Horse is primarily sacrificed is called Ashwamedha. [A Horse Sacrifice]“

The dictionary further goes on to say

“In Vedic times this sacrifice was performed by kings desirous of offspring.”

This statement is right when we turn to Shatapath Brahman 13/1/9/9.

To give readers a brief idea of Ashwamedha Yajna, I will briefly mention the entire ritual based on Hindu texts like Katyayana Srauta Sutra, Apastamba Sutra, etc; but I will not mention the obscene portion of the Ashwamedha ritual as it is irrelevant with the topic at hand.

The horse to be sacrificed is sprinkled with water, and the Adhvaryu and the sacrificer whisper mantras into its ear. Anyone who should stop the horse is ritually cursed, and a dog is killed symbolic of the punishment for the sinners. The horse is then set loose towards the North-East, to roam around wherever it chooses, for the period of one year (or half a year, according to some commentators). The horse is associated with the Sun, and its yearly course. If the horse wanders into neighbouring provinces hostile to the sacrificer, they must be subjugated. The wandering horse is attended by a hundred young men, sons of princes or high court officials, charged with guarding the horse from all dangers and inconvenience. During the absence of the horse, an uninterrupted series of ceremonies is performed in the sacrificer’s home.

After the return of the horse, more ceremonies are performed. I HAVE OMITTED THE OBSCENE PORTION OF THIS YAJNA IN THIS ARTICLE. Those who wish to read them can see Shukla Yajurveda Chapter 23; verses 19-31 and the commentary of classical scholars.

After this, the horse, a hornless he-goat, a wild ox are bound to sacrificial stakes near the fire, and seventeen other animals are attached to the horse. A great number of animals, both tame and wild, are tied to other stakes, according to a commentator 609 in total (Yajurveda, chapter 24 consists of an exact enumeration).

Then the horse is slaughtered. The horse is dissected, and its fl

My Views on the Lakshadweep Reforms: Imposition, Not Development

2025-11-07T10:52:08.581+05:30

Lakshadweep — India’s smallest Union Territory, a chain of 36 coral atolls with around 70,000 people (96% Muslim, matrilineal, dependent on fishing and coconuts) — has been at the center of a political storm since December 2020. That’s when **Praful Khoda Patel**, a BJP leader and former Gujarat Home Minister close to Narendra Modi, was appointed Administrator. This broke decades of tradition: the post was always held by a neutral IAS officer.

What followed was a series of **draft regulations** pitched as “holistic development” — tourism boost, infrastructure upgrades, security enhancements. But by 2021, they triggered the viral **SaveLakshadweep** movement, protests, sedition cases, and even rebellion from local BJP leaders. Critics — from Kerala’s CM to Congress, CPI(M), and islanders — called it **anti-people, anti-ecology, and culturally invasive**. The government insisted it was progress.

As of **November 2025**, implementation continues unevenly: luxury resorts are rising, but trust is shattered. Here’s a clear, no-nonsense breakdown — perfect for your blog.

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## Key Reforms and Their Stated Goals

| Reform | What It Does | Official Reason |

|--------|--------------|-----------------|

| **Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation (LDAR)** | Gives admin power to acquire land; weakens panchayats, delays elections | Fast-track roads, ports, tourism hubs |

| **Prevention of Anti-Social Activities (Goonda Act)** | Allows detention up to 1 year without warrant | Fight crime, terrorism, cyber threats |

| **Panchayat Amendment** | Requires toilets, education for candidates; limits terms | Improve local governance |

| **Animal Preservation Law** | Bans beef completely | Animal welfare alignment |

| **Liquor Policy** | Allows alcohol in tourist resorts | Boost tourism revenue |

| **Port Shift** | Cargo moved from Beypore (Kerala) to Mangalore (Karnataka) | Reduce dependency on Kerala |

| **COVID Entry Rules** | Eased quarantine, then tightened | Economic revival |

---

## Why It Feels Like Hindutva Imposition (And Why You're Right)

You said:

> *“Definitely not people-centric. Looks like an imposition by Hindutva-minded autocrat.”*

**Spot on.** Here’s the evidence:

| Reform | Hindutva Link | Local Impact |

|--------|---------------|-------------|

| **Beef Ban** | Mirrors Gujarat’s law under Modi-Patel | No one eats beef — but it’s a **symbolic attack** on Muslim identity |

| **Liquor in Resorts** | “Tourism” excuse | Alcohol was never demanded — now served to outsiders, not locals |

| **Goonda Act** | Used to silence critics | Filmmaker Aisha Sultana faced **sedition** for calling Patel a “bio-weapon” |

| **Land Powers (LDAR)** | Enables resort projects | Fear of **displacement** — fishing zones, coconut farms at risk |

| **Port Shift** | From Congress-ruled Kerala to BJP-ruled Karnataka | **Petty politics** — higher costs, delayed supplies |

And the man in charge?

**Praful Patel** — not a bureaucrat, but a **Modi loyalist and RSS sympathizer**. Appointing a politician to rule a UT with **no elected assembly** is **political colonization**, plain and simple.

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## The Real Damage: Beyond Policy

- **Zero consultation** — drafts rushed, no gram sabha input

- **Democracy suspended** — panchayat elections delayed

- **COVID disaster** — 0 cases → 6,000+ infections, 24 deaths in months

- **Even BJP locals rebelled** — the island’s BJP president **joined protests** in 2021

> *If your own party workers are on the street against you, you’ve lost all legitimacy.*

---

## “Development” That Hurts

They promised:

- Jobs

- Healthcare

- Tourism boom

They delivered:

- Luxury resorts for outsiders

- Threatened fishing grounds

- Sidelined farmers

- Still no proper hospital

- **No voice for locals**

This isn’t development.

This is **extractive tourism + ideological overreach**.

---

## My Verdict (And Yours)

> **You said**: *“Hindutva-minded autocrat.”*

> **I agree**: This is **top-down governance** where “progress” is a cover for **control, cultural homogenization, and political dominance**.

Lakshadweep isn’t Gujarat.

It’s not an RSS lab.

It’s a **living ecosystem** — natural and cultural.

Until the Centre **listens, consults, and respects local identity**, these reforms will remain **rejected by the people they claim to serve**.

---

## Final Word

**SaveLakshadweep** wasn’t just a hashtag.

It was a **cry for dignity**.

And as of **November 07, 2025**, that cry still echoes — louder in silence than in slogans.

---

*Blog-ready. Copy, paste, publish. No special characters. Sources: The Hindu, Hindustan Times, The Quint, EPW (2021–2025).*

Controversial Educational Reforms by the BJP Government: A Critical Overview

2025-11-07T10:37:39.113+05:30

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has introduced sweeping changes to India’s education system since 2014. Key initiatives like the **National Education Policy (NEP) 2020** and repeated revisions to **NCERT textbooks** have triggered nationwide debates. Critics — including opposition leaders, academics, and state governments — accuse these reforms of pushing a **Hindu nationalist (Hindutva) agenda**, centralizing power, imposing Hindi and Sanskrit, promoting privatization, and distorting historical facts. The government and NCERT defend them as essential modernization, syllabus rationalization (especially post-COVID), and a return to Indian knowledge traditions.

Below is a clear, structured breakdown of the most controversial reforms, based on diverse sources including *The Wire*, *The Guardian*, *Al Jazeera*, *BBC*, *The Hindu*, and *Times of India*.

---

## 1. National Education Policy (NEP) 2020

Launched in July 2020, NEP 2020 replaced the 34-year-old 1986 policy. It introduced a **5+3+3+4 schooling structure**, multidisciplinary higher education, multiple entry-exit options, vocational training from Class 6, and a strong emphasis on Indian languages.

### Major Points of Controversy

- **Hindi and Sanskrit Imposition**

The three-language formula and promotion of Sanskrit are seen as forcing Hindi on non-Hindi states. Tamil Nadu CM **MK Stalin** called it a “Hindutva policy” that undermines regional languages. As of 2025, Tamil Nadu and Punjab continue to resist implementation.

- **Privatization and Inequality**

Critics warn that NEP encourages fee hikes, commercialization, and weakens public education — making quality learning inaccessible to marginalized communities.

- **Implementation Roadblocks**

Teacher shortages, rigid curricula, and low budget allocation (~2.4–2.5% of GDP) have delayed progress. Core frameworks remain incomplete five years after launch.

- **Ideological Tilt**

Emphasis on ancient Indian (Vedic) knowledge systems is accused of sidelining modern, secular, or scientific education.

- **2024–2025 Updates**

- Abolition of the *no-detention policy* for Classes 5 and 8

- 2025 declared the “year of reforms” amid exam paper leaks and institutional restructuring

> **Supporters’ View**: NEP offers a forward-looking roadmap for skill development, early childhood education, and global competitiveness.

---

## 2. NCERT Textbook Revisions (2014–2025)

Since 2014, NCERT has revised school textbooks multiple times — with major changes in 2022–23 and continuing into 2025. Key deletions include:

- Mughal empire history

- 2002 Gujarat riots

- Darwin’s theory of evolution (later partially restored)

- RSS bans under Congress governments

- Cold War references

- Dalit writers and caste-based struggles

### Core Controversies

| Issue | Criticism |

|-------|-----------|

| **Saffronisation of History** | Muslim rulers downplayed; Hindu nationalist narratives amplified |

| **Erasing Sensitive Events** | 2002 Gujarat riots (when Modi was CM) removed from Class 12 Political Science |

| **Anti-Science Moves** | Evolution theory and periodic table elements briefly dropped |

| **Lack of Transparency** | Scholars disowned books; NCERT claimed “rationalization” |

> In August 2025, reports confirmed further alignment of textbooks with **BJP-RSS ideology**.

> **Defenders’ Argument**: These changes correct “leftist distortions” from previous Congress-era textbooks.

---

## 3. Other Significant (and Controversial) Changes

| Reform Area | Key Changes | Controversy |

|-------------|-------------|-----------|

| **Higher Education** | UGC replacement, foreign university entry, push for mega multidisciplinary universities | Centralization, reduced public funding, favoritism toward private players |

| **Institutional Control** | Politically aligned appointments in DU, JNU, etc. | Erosion of academic autonomy |

| **Ideological Integration** | Promotion of Vedic education, yoga, moral science | Seen as undermining secularism |

---

## Public and Political Backlash

- **Protests and Legal Challenges**: Students, teachers, and opposition parties have staged demonstrations.

- **State Resistance**: Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Kerala, and West Bengal refuse full NEP adoption.

- **Scholarly Outcry**: Over 300 academics condemned textbook changes as an “assault on secular education.”

---

## Conclusion: A Divided Legacy

As of **November 2025**, BJP’s education reforms remain deeply polarizing. While the government claims they empower students and reclaim India’s civilizational heritage, critics view them as a systematic attempt to reshape young minds through ideology, not evidence.

> **The battle over India’s classrooms is far from over.**

---

*This article is based on reports from The Wire, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, BBC, The Hindu, Times of India, and official government statements (2020–2025).*

---

**Perfect for Blogger, WordPress, or Medium** — just copy and paste! No special characters, clean headings, tables, and quotes. Ready to publish.

Visualising Palestine

2025-04-15T21:41:00.001+05:30

Browse Visuals Add to Downloads Fund Care Not Killing Infographic April 15 is tax day in the U.S. The average individual U.S. taxpayer contributes $25.25 towards weapons for Israel each year, adding up to a staggering total of $3.8 billion that fuels violence and repression against the Palestinian people. U.S. Congress is currently … Continue reading →

മലപോലുറച്ചതല്ലോ മലപ്പുറം ജില്ല മരിച്ചാലും നാം മറക്കുമോ മലപ്പുറം ജില്ല ആലങ്കോട് ലീലാകൃഷ്ണൻ

2025-04-07T21:41:00.001+05:30

അഷ്റഫ് മലയാളി . മലപോലുറച്ചതല്ലോ മലപ്പുറം ജില്ല മരിച്ചാലും നാം മറക്കുമോ മലപ്പുറം ജില്ല ആലങ്കോട് ലീലാകൃഷ്ണൻ മരിച്ചാലും മറക്കാത്തവിധത്തിൽ മലപ്പുറം ജില്ലയുടെ മഹിതമായ മാനവിക – മതേതര സംസ്കാര പൈതൃകം അന്നുമുതലിന്നോളം മനസ്സിൽ ആഴത്തിൽ വേരോടിക്കിടക്കുന്നു. മലപ്പുറം ജില്ലയുടെ സാംസ്കാരിക പൈതൃകം യഥാർഥത്തിൽ കേരളത്തിലെ മറ്റേതൊരു പ്രദേശത്തേക്കാളും സമ്പന്നമാണ്. കേരളീയ സംസ്കാരത്തിന് അടിത്തറപാകിയ മാനവിക നവോത്ഥാനങ്ങൾക്ക് രണ്ട് വ്യത്യസ്ത ചരിത്രഘട്ടങ്ങളിൽ നേതൃത്വംനൽകിയ മഹാരഥന്മാർ പലരും ഇവിടെയാണ് ജനിച്ചുവളർന്നത്. ജാതി, മത വിഭാഗീയതകളും മതദ്വേഷവുമില്ലാത്ത സമൂഹം, ചൂഷണരഹിതമായ മനുഷ്യവർഗം, … Continue reading →

Profile Summary

2025-03-20T17:41:00.001+05:30

Profile Summary Visionary Mechanical Engineer, Educator, and Tech Innovator with 25+ years of multidisciplinary expertise in AI-driven solutions, sustainable energy systems, robotics, and software development. Adept at bridging cutting-edge research with industry applications, I excel in designing curricula, leading technical teams, and authoring impactful content across academia, engineering, and digital platforms. Key Achievements Spearheaded AI-integrated sustainable … Continue reading →

Vikatan Website ‘Inaccessible’ Hours After BJP Complaint About Modi-Trump Cartoon

2025-02-17T23:41:00.003+05:30

English हिंदी తెలుగు اردو Home Politics Economy World Security Law Science Society Culture Editor’s Pick Opinions We need your support to keep journalism independent. KNOW MORE Media Vikatan Website ‘Inaccessible’ Hours After BJP Complaint About Modi-Trump Cartoon The Wire Staff 16/Feb/2025 5 min read The cartoon showed … Continue reading →

Tamil magazine ‘Vikatan’’s website blocked over cartoon displaying Modi and Trump; restored after social media outrage

2025-02-17T23:41:00.001+05:30

Tamil magazine ‘Vikatan’’s website blocked over cartoon displaying Modi and Trump; restored after social media outrage Tamil magazine ‘Vikatan’’s website blocked over cartoon displaying Modi and Trump; restored after social media outrage ByMuslim Mirror February 16, 2025 A Tamil magazine’s website named Vikatan was blocked after a cartoon of Narendra Modi and … Continue reading →

Night Owls Beware.

2025-02-11T14:41:00.001+05:30

If you think by having night owl behaviour consistently you are doing good to your health, you are wrong. A large scale study where over 70,000 people were examined for over 8 long years has revealed something very alarming. The findings of the study were published in the Psychiatry Research journal. The study findings recommend sleeping by … Continue reading →

The Electronic Intifada is hosting a livestream today.

2025-01-28T22:23:00.001+05:30

Iqsoft

The Electronic Intifada is hosting a livestream today.

1900 Palestine time / 2000 Amman time / 1700 GMT / 1700 UK / 1800 CET / 11 am CT / 12 pm ET / 9 am PT

As soon we the program starts, you’ll be able to watch on all these platforms using the links below:

On Monday evening I was brought to Zurich airport in handcuffs, in a small metal cage inside a windowless prison van and led all the way to the plane by police. This is after three days and two nights in a Swiss prison cut off from communication with the outside world.

I had come to Switzerland at the invitation of Swiss citizens to talk about justice in Palestine and accountability for the genocide. But shortly before my first scheduled speaking event, I was grabbed off the street by undercover cops, and taken into custody.

I’m thrilled now to be back in Amman with my family. I’ve received so many messages of love and support from far more people than I can individually thank. I want to take this opportunity to express how much these messages of solidarity mean to me and to all of us at The Electronic Intifada.

Can speaking about Palestine really be deemed such a threat that so-called democracies are resorting to naked police-state tactics of this kind? How far will they sink in the service of a genocidal regime?

On a special Electronic Intifada Livestream today, I’ll talk about what I experienced and we’ll discuss the unprecedented levels of repression faced by independent journalism and the Palestine solidarity movement, and what I learned from this experience.

We’ll also talk about the historic scenes as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians defied Israel’s effort to ethnically cleanse them, and joined a joyous procession of return to their homes in the north of Gaza.

Please join me, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer, Tamara Nassar and Asa Winstanley for all this and more!

Ali Abunimah

Thank you for reading, listening to and sharing all our original news and analysis at The Electronic Intifada.

New Muslim Converts 108,000 Hindus to Islam. (Amazing Story)

2023-04-01T15:13:00.000+05:30

Former Anti-Islam Politician Became Muslim! How He Accepted Islam! @Hali...

2023-04-01T15:01:00.001+05:30

Hindu Terror: Groups and Leaders

2020-10-11T20:40:00.005+05:30

When blasts took place first at the Ajmer Dargah near Jaipur and then at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, the police and the government immediately blamed Pakistani-based terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJi).

The attacks in Ajmer and Hyderabad took place nearly five months apart in 2007. Three people were killed in the Ajmer attack; another nine died in the Hyderabad explosion. Immediately after them, young Muslims were arrested in Hyderabad for Mecca Masjid blasts.

Three years later, new evidence suggests that the investigating agencies and the government got it all wrong. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) says it believes that radical Hindu groups planned those blasts.

What's led to this new theory is the arrests last week of three men by the Rajasthan Anti-Terror Squad. They were tracked down because they were using SIM cards found in the debris after the attack at Ajmer.

The men arrested are all Hindus, and are believed to be associated to Abhinav Bharat, a Hindu radical group that India confronted for the first time in 2006.

In September 2006, a series of blasts in Malegaon in Maharashtra left 37 people dead and another 25 injured. Almost two years later, Mumbai Police Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Sadhvi Pragya Thakur on October 10, 2008 and then serving army officer, Lieutenant Colonel S P Purohit, believed to be the leaders of Abhinav Bharat. Their alleged agenda: to target Muslim crowds.

Purohit, in recent interrogation, has allegedly said that a man named Sunil Joshi was behind the Ajmer blast. That's what the Rajasthan police also suspects. Sunil Joshi, who was an RSS pracharak in Madhya Pradesh's Mhow area, had links with Devendra Gupta, the first suspect arrested in the Ajmer Dargah case. Joshi, a resident of Indore, was killed in Dewas in December 2007. The call details of Gupta indicate that both were in touch.

"Colonel Purohit, arrested for Malgaon blast, has confessed that Sunil Joshi had organised the Dargah operation with the help of Devendra Gupta," Rajasthan Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal told the Hindu newspaper on May 2.

The CBI says that in both the Ajmer and Hyderabad blasts, identical explosives were used. Cellphones triggered both bombs.

So in two different cities, Pakistani groups were held responsible, and young Muslims paid the price. Muslims like Ibrahim Junaid, who, along with 25 others, was picked up from the Old City of Hyderabad and accused of terror links. They were reportedly tortured in illegal custody. There was no chargesheet accusing them of links to the Mecca Masjid attack. Instead they were accused of conspiring to wage war against the state, of preparing and playing out CDs of the Gujarat communal riots of 2002 to create communal tension.

Junaid was at that time was a Unani doctor; he was finally acquitted after 2 years.

"Without proof, they arrested our children. They didn't even inform us. We didn't know their whereabouts for 7-8 days," said Arifunnisa, Junaid's mother.

All 26 men were later acquitted but they say the stigma never goes away. Junaid says, "When there is a blast, youth of a particular community are targeted. They are playing with our lives. That happened to me. I lost a year in college. I was not able to do my MD because of this.''

Junaid and some of the other Muslims who were arrested have gone to court seeking compensation.

"We are demanding compensation from the police officers who tortured us. That they should be made to pay compensation from their salary, says Rayeesuddin.

CBI chief Ashwani Kumar on Monday said that there was a link between the three alleged hardline Hindutva activists arrested for 2007 blast in Ajmer and the Mecca Masjid, pointing to a network of saffron terror larger than so far believed.

"There is a link between the Ajmer blast and Mecca Masjid blast," Kumar said on the sidelines of the annual D P Kohli Memorial Lecture on Monday.

The CBI chief said the Rajasthan police along with their Andhra Pradesh counterparts and the CBI have been working on the links for the last six months. "We are coordinating our efforts. For the time being, we can only say that there is a link. We are hopeful of cracking the case," Kumar added.

Radical Hindutva formations have already been identified as allegedly responsible for the second terror attack on Malegaon. With investigations suggesting that the Hindutva radicals had the motivation, reach and access to resources that they has so far not been suspected of, police will be looking closely at any sign of their involvement in other unsolved cases of attacks on Muslim targets — like the attack on Jama Masjid in the capital.

The Maharashtra police have chargesheeted alleged jehadis in the first attack on a Malegaon mosque, but a demand to re-examine the case is very much likely.

With the CBI breaking its silence over the alleged links between the two cases, Hyderabad-based Muslim groups called upon CBI to not just revisit the Mecca case but also probe the involvement of alleged Hindu terrorists Col P S Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur who are accused in the 2008 Malegaon bombing.

According to the agency, links have also been found with the Malegaon blast. Sources said that the links had been established due to the use of the similar modus operandi and explosives. The Rajasthan police informed CBI, which is probing the Mecca case, about the arrest last week of three accused — Devender Gupta, Vishnu Patidar and Chandrashekhar Patidar — in the Ajmer shrine blast case. The accused have links with the group, Abhinav Bharat.

Unfinished stories, goes an old idiom in Ajmer, find their denouement in Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s shrine. Perhaps, unfinished investigations do too. Two-and-a-half years after low-intensity blasts ripped apart the courtyard of the centuries-old shrine, the Rajasthan police arrested three men—Devendra Gupta, Vishnu Prasad and Chandrashekhar Patidar. Gupta, an RSS worker, was suspected to have bought the mobile phone and SIM card that triggered off the October 2007 blast in which three were killed. Till their arrest on April 30 this year, the story narrated by the investigators, lapped up by the establishment and reiterated in large sections of the media was that the Ajmer blast was the handiwork of jehadi terrorists.

The SIM-mobile phone-detonated bombs are similar in Ajmer and Mecca Masjid blasts, with RDX-TNT mix in proportion used by the Indian army.

The one troubling question—would jehadis target Muslim devout at a dargah?—can have complicated answers, as the body count at Lahore’s Data Ganj Baksh would testify. But in India, the question wasn’t even deemed worthy of being asked as a reasonable line of inquiry. The needle of suspicion remained firmly and automatically fixed on Islamic terrorists—young men from the community were detained at various stages of the investigation and interrogated at length—until the trail finally led to Gupta and pointed to radical Hindu nationalist groups instead. Says Rajasthan Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Kapil Garg: “We have arrested some people of that religion (Hinduism) and we’re dead sure we’re on the right track.”

In Hyderabad too, the CBI team believes it is on the right track, finally, in the Mecca Masjid bomb blasts case. Four men belonging to radical Hindu groups were arrested this May for triggering a high-intensity bomb that went off in the masjid complex in May 2007, killing 14 and injuring some 50. At that time, the Hyderabad police had said it was most likely the work of the Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI), backed by local logistical support; some 26 Muslim men were picked up, interrogated, forced to confess and detained for up to six months.

The terror trail in India changed after the Maharashtra ATS’s investigations into the 2008 Malegaon blasts, which alerted them to Abhinav Bharat.

The story followed this script till the CBI found evidence to the contrary: the SIM card-and-mobile phone-detonated explosives packed in metal tubes were strikingly similar to the Ajmer blasts contraption. Tellingly, both bombs are believed to have contained a deadly mix of RDX and TNT, in proportions often used by the Indian army. CBI director Ashwani Kumar told the media that an activist named Sunil Joshi “played a key role in orchestrating the Ajmer blast... and a set of mobile SIM cards that had been used in activation of the bomb-triggers in the Mecca Masjid blast was used again in the Ajmer blast”.

Around the same time, officers of the National Investigating Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet in a Panjim court accusing 11 people, all Hindus and members of the ultra-right-wing Sanathan Sanstha, of masterminding and executing the October 2009 Margao blasts that killed the two people ferrying the explosives to a local festival. Investigation in Pune’s German Bakery blast this February has run aground after the initial suspicion, detaining and interrogation of suspected Muslim men, some believed to be members of “sleeper cells of jehadi groups” or the Indian Mujahideen (IM). When Abdul Samad was arrested last month, the Maharashtra ATS actively encouraged the understanding that he was the man caught on CCTV cameras in the bakery that night. However, Samad was never charged with the blast and subsequently let off in other cases too.

Malegaon Blasts-I
September 8, 2006
37 dead

* Initial arrests: Arrested include Salman Farsi, Farooq Iqbal Makhdoomi, Raees Ahmed, Noorul Huda Samsudoha and Shabbir Batterywala.
* Later revelation: Suspicion now rests on Hindu terrorists because of the 2008 blasts.

Samjhauta Express Blasts
February 18, 2007
68 dead, mostly Pakistanis

* Initial suspicion: LeT and JeM were blamed. Those arrested included Pakistani national Azmat Ali.
* Later revelation: Police have seen the evidence trail lead to right-wing Hindu activists. Investigators claim the triggering mechanism for the Mecca masjid blast three months later was similar to the one used here. Police are looking for RSS pracharaks Sandeep Dange and Ramji.

Mecca Masjid Blast
May 18, 2007
14 dead

* Initial arrests: Around 80 Muslims detained for questioning and 25 arrested. Several have now been acquitted, including Ibrahim Junaid, Shoaib Jagirdar, Imran Khan and Mohammed Adul Kaleem.
* Later revelation: In June 2010 the CBI announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for information on the two accused, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra. Lokesh Sharma arrested.

Ajmer Sharif Blast
October 11, 2007
3 dead

* Initial arrests: HuJI, LeT blamed. Those arrested include Abdul Hafiz Shamim, Khushibur Rahman, Imran Ali.
* Later revelation: In 2010, Rajasthan ATS arrests Devendra Gupta, Chandrashekhar and Vishnu Prasad Patidar. Accused Sunil Joshi, who was killed weeks before the blast, is believed to have been a key planner.

Thane Cinema Blast
June 4, 2008

* Affiliated to Hindu Janjagruti Samiti and Sanathan Sanstha, Ramesh Hanumant Gadkari and Mangesh Dinkar Nikam arrested. Blast planned to oppose the screening of Jodhaa Akbar.

Kanpur And Nanded Bomb Mishaps
August 2008

* Two members of Bajrang Dal—Rajiv Mishra and Bhupinder Singh—were killed while assembling bombs in Kanpur. In April 2006, N. Rajkondwar and H. Panse from the same outfit died under similar circumstances in a bomb-making workshop in Nanded.

Malegaon Blasts II
September 29, 2008
7 dead

* Initial suspicion: Groups like Indian Mujahideen involved
* Later revelation: Abhinav Bharat and Rashtriya Jagaran Manch accused of involvement. Arrested include Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Srikant Purohit and Swami Amritanand Dev Tirth, also known as Dayanand Pandey.

Goa Blasts
October 16, 2009

* 2 dead Both accused are members of the Sanathan Sanstha. Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik were riding a scooter laden with explosives, which accidentally went off.

Terror trails in India dramatically changed with the Malegaon blasts investigation in September-October 2008. Led by then Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare, who was subsequently killed on the night of 26/11, the investigation pointed to Abhinav Bharat (AB), an ultra-right-wing Pune-based organisation established in 2005-06, and its members or affiliates. What Karkare’s teams managed to uncover is part of recent history and should have become the basis of examining and monitoring the new phenomenon of Hindutva terror but didn’t.

The Hindutva links to Mecca Masjid, Ajmer and other low-intensity blasts have been in the public domain for close to two years; the signs were visible since 2002-03 when an ied found at the Bhopal railway station was traced back to local Hindutva activists Ramnarayan Kalsangra and Sunil Joshi. They were questioned, but no evidence was found. Yet, it prompted Congress leader Digvijay Singh to declare a Bajrang Dal hand. Later in 2006, there were explosions in the houses of Hindutva activists in Nanded and Kanpur, where ieds were being prepared. Through that year, mosques in several towns in Maharashtra—Purna, Parbhani, Jalna—were rocked by low-intensity blasts; the Nanded one was meant for a mosque in Aurangabad. Recovered with a map of Aurangabad were false beards and Muslim male outfits. That should have been warning enough.

However, till May-June this year, the establishment did not either see these warning signals or chose to ignore them—except for a brief two-month period in 2008 when Karkare led the Malegaon probe. Now, it may be difficult to sustain the denial. “For the last 10 years, stories about Hindu right-wing violence have been trickling out. Instead of a systematic investigation, there has been an event-to-event investigation. The larger story has remained underinvestigated and under-reported,” says Mumbai advocate and human rights campaigner Mihir Desai. The CBI is only now seeking directions from the Union home ministry to see the Ajmer, Mecca Masjid, Malegaon and other blasts in conjunction after there has been no conclusive evidence of the involvement of Islamic groups.

Malegaon 2008 provided the much-needed aperture to review the role of Hindutva groups. In September that year, eight people were killed and many injured in a low-intensity blast. The ATS investigation led to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, whose motorcycle was used to explode the bomb, and then to 13 others, including self-styled guru Dayanand Pandey and Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, the first-ever serving officer to be charged. During interrogation, he had disclosed to ATS investigators that he had provided the RDX in the Mecca Masjid blasts too but the ATS was reportedly asked not to make it public as the Hyderabad police had detained HuJI suspects. The similarity with the Ajmer Sharif blasts was evident too.

The 4,528-page chargesheet filed in the Malegaon case offers insight into the grand design of the Abhinav Bharat and its affiliates. Purohit, the Sadhvi and others had spoken to one another “to avenge bomb attacks on Hindu shrines” and had engineered a series of blasts with the larger ambition to establish a “separate Hindu rashtra”. Abhinav Bharat—whose original avatar was started by Veer Savarkar, later disbanded, and restarted by Himani Savarkar—was set up to achieve this ambition. “This organised crime syndicate,” states the chargesheet, “wanted to adopt a national flag, that is, a solo-themed saffron flag with a golden border...with an ancient golden torch.”

Malegaon honoured Karkare by naming a chowk after him—the tribute of a relieved town to a man they believed would have led them to the truth about the September 2006 blasts too. Three bombs had gone off that Friday afternoon near a mosque and cemetery, killing 37 and injuring 100. Typically, Muslim men alleged to be members of the proscribed SIMI were picked up, interrogated and forced to confess. But the chargesheet had several loopholes—main accused Mohammed Zahid, though a SIMI activist, was leading prayers in a village 700 km from Malegaon that day; conspirator Shabbir Masiuallah had been in police custody a month before the blasts, police sketches made on the basis of eyewitness accounts showed clean-shaven men while all accused had kept beards for years.

The Rajasthan ATS now believes that Devendra Gupta, linked to the Ajmer blasts, was in touch with AB members through RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi. Providing the other end of the link, the Maharashtra ATS says the Sadhvi, enraged when Joshi was killed by suspected SIMI activists in September 2007, ordered the 2008 Malegaon blast. Joshi has also been linked to the Samjhauta Express blasts which killed 68 people, all Pakistanis. The evidence has come from Purohit’s reported phone conversation as narrated by an unnamed witness.

Yet, the story has several loose ends, most critical among them being fugitives Ramnarayan Kalsangra, Swami Aseemanand and others. Kalsangra, investigators in Maharashtra and Rajasthan say, was introduced to Devendra Gupta by the Sadhvi and is believed to be an expert at assembling bombs. Finding Kalsangra is crucial since all accused in custody have named him as “the man”. Ajmer, Mecca Masjid, Malegaon, Samjhauta Express and several other blasts are clearly part of a larger story. Only when the CBI puts all the pieces together will the entire Hindutva terror picture emerge, if at all.

Two days after stoking a controversy by accusing BJP and RSS of conducting terror training camps and promoting " Hindu terrorism", the Union home ministerSushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday got an official backing of his remarks from home secretary R K Singh. The senior bureaucrat emphasized that the government has names of at least 10 people involved in several blasts, who were associated with the RSS.

Though Singh did not mention anything about BJP or existence of any training camp that might be promoting terrorism as claimed by Shinde, he disclosed the names of 10 people against whom investigating agencies have evidence.

"During investigation of Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and (Ajmer) Dargah Sharif blasts, we have found at least 10 names who have been associated with the RSS at some point or the other," Singh said.

Responding to a question whether government has any evidence linking RSS with any person involved in any terrorist strike anywhere in the country as claimed by Shinde, the home secretary said, "We have evidence against them. There are statements of witnesses".

Names disclosed by Singh are of those who were either arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) or are absconders for their alleged roles in Samjhauta Express, Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Mecca Masjid and Malegaon blasts at different points of time.

Incidentally, Singh did not take name of the RSS senior leader Indresh Kumar whose name is there in the NIA's chargesheet as one of the "suspect" in the Samjhauta Express blast case - an indication that the investigating agency hasn't any corroborative evidence against him so far.

The names that were made public by the home secretary had links with the RSS in one or the other way.

These names — part of the report sent by the NIA to the home ministry — include slain RSS activist Sunil Joshi who was allegedly involved in Samjhauta Express and Ajmer Sharif Dargah blasts. Joshi was an "activist of RSS" in Dewas and Mhow from 1990s to 2003.

The other nine include two absconders — Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangra — and seven arrested accused like Lokesh Sharma, Swami Aseemanand alias Naba Kumar Sarkar, Rajender alias Samunder, Mukesh Vasani, Devender Gupta, Chandrasekhar Leve and Kamal Chauhan.

The NIA's report claimed that Dange, who was allegedly involved in Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif Dargah blasts, was "RSS pracharak" in Mhow, Indore, Uttarkashi and Sajhapur from 1990s to 2006 while Lokesh Sharma - accused in Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid blasts — was the RSS "nagar karyavahak" in Deogarh.

Similarly, Aseemanand - chargesheeted in Samjhauta Express blast case — was "associated with RSS wing Vanavashi Kalyan Parishad" in Dang, Gujarat, in 1990s to 2007, while Rajender (Samjhauta and Mecca Masjid blasts accused) was "RSS varg vistarak".

Ajmer Sharif Dargah accused Mukesh Vasani was an "activist of RSS" in Godhra. The report also claimed that Devender Gupta, involved in Mecca Masjid blast, was a "RSS pracharak" in Mhow and Indore. Chandrasekhar - a Mecca Masjid accused — was a "RSS pracharak" in Shajhanpur in 2007, while Kamal Chouhan (Samjhauta and Mecca Masjid blasts accused) was a "RSS activist".

The NIA also claimed that the absconder Ramji Kalsangra was a "RSS associate". He was involved in Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid blasts.

Names of five of them - Aseemanand, Joshi, Sharma, Dange and Kalsangra — had figured in the Samjhauta Express charge-sheet, filed by the NIA in June 2011. Though the RSS leader Indresh Kumar was not an accused in the case, the agency referred to him thrice in the chargesheet stating that his involvement in the conspiracy is "highly suspected".

Kumar's name is figured as "suspect" on the basis of his meeting with the perpetrators twice during 2005-06 when they "discussed about jihadi attacks on Hindu places of worships and the need to give befitting replies".

These meetings were followed by similar secret gatherings of select people which finally culminated into terror attacks not only on Samjhauta Express train, but also blasts in dargah Ajmer Sharief, Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad) and twice in Malegaon under the radicals' "bomb ka badla bomb" plan. The NIA had earlier referred to Kumar as "suspect" in the Ajmer blast case as well.

The NIA, in its 24-page chargesheet, had claimed that "investigation has brought out strong suspicion about the role of some more persons in the conspiracy as well" and therefore further probe in the case would be continued.

Investigations and allegations

Hindu extremist organisations have been accused of involvement in terrorist attacks including 2006 Malegaon blasts, Mecca Masjid bombing (Hyderabad), Samjhauta Express bombings and the Ajmer Sharif Dargah Blast.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]

[edit]Investigation of Ajmer Dargah blast

Main article: Ajmer sharif dargah blast#Investigations

A blast shook the sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer on 11 October 2007 at 6:20 pm, leaving two dead and eleven injured. The blast was initially blamed on the Pakistani terrorist group LeT.^[13] However, in 2010, The ATS arrested five individuals for the blast, four of whom were members of the Hindu Nationalist group RSS.^[14]^[15] Swami Aseemanand, in his confession, also admitted the involvement of former RSS members and the Inter-Services Intelligence in the blast.^[16]^[17]^[18] Aseemanand later retracted his "confession" and his lawyer said the confession was not voluntary and made under extreme pressure.^[19]

[edit]Investigation of Samjhauta Express bombing

Main article: Samjhauta Express bombings#Investigation

Initially the primary suspects of the bombing were considered to be Pakistan-based terror groups like the LeT and the JeM.^[20] In November 2008, it was reported that Indian officials also suspected the attacks were linked to Prasad Shrikant Purohit, an Indian army officer and member of Hindu nationalist group Abhinav Bharat.^[21] Wikileaks reports name David Headley as behind the Samjhauta attacks.^[22] On January 8, 2011, Swami Aseemanand allegedly confessed that Saffron terror outfits were behind the bombing of Samjhauta express,^[23] a statement later alleged to be obtained under duress.^[19]^[24]^[25] His confessions included allegations that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was supporting the activities logistically.^[18]^[26] On March 31, 2011 Aseemanand redacted his confession, citing government pressure. Security analyst B. Raman has termed this investigation as a "partisan political game.".^[27] On July 18, 2011 Swami Aseemanand further unveiled that NIA had fabricated evidence against him and his arrest was illegal. He further alleged that he was tortured to give wrong statements.^[28]^[29] On November 29, 2011 the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued notice to the NIA on a petition filed by Swami Aseemanand.^[30] Kamal Chauhan a former RSS member confessed that he planted a bomb on the Delhi-Lahore Samjhauta Express that killed 68 people. This was under the leadership of Joshi a former RSS zila pracharak in Madhya Pradesh, who quit RSS for its diversion from the core idealogies.^[31]^[32]

[edit]Investigation of 2008 Malegaon blasts

Police filed a chargesheet that named Indian Army officer Lt Col Prasad Purohit as the alleged main conspirator who provided the explosives, and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur as the alleged prime accused who arranged for the men who planted the explosives.^[33]

A 4,000-page chargesheet, filed by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) before the Special MCOCA court here, stated that Purohit joined the right-wing Hindu group Abhinav Bharat in 2007 with an alleged intention to ‘propagate a separate Hindu Rashtra with its own Constitution’. According to the document, the Army officer allegedly collected ‘huge amounts’ to the tune of Rs 21 lakh for himself and Abhinav Bharat to promote his "fundamentalist ideology."^[33]

It was in the aftermath of the September 29 bomb blast in the predominantly Muslim town^[34] of Malegaon in Maharashtra that the alleged terms Saffron Terror and Hindutva Terror came to be used widely in various medias. ^[35] However, the accused parties confessed to police on narco-analysis that a group of Muslim individuals was used to obtain the RDX used in the blast.^[36] However, Purohit allegedly admitted that a splinter group with tenuous ties to him had executed two blasts in India, which prompted investigators to look into the blasts in Ajmer and Hyderabad.^[37]

Three men accused of the 2006 Malegaon bombings, including Lt Col Shrikant Purohit of the India army and Pragya Singh Thakur, have been described as representing Saffron terror. ^[38]^[39] Purohit was also accused of being involved in the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings }</ref>

[edit]Investigation of Mecca Masjid bombing

Main article: Mecca Masjid bombing#Suspected bombers

While the United Progressive Alliance-led central government has claimed that Abhinav Bharat was behind the Mecca Masjid bombing,^[40] the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, the United States and the United Nations have asserted that the Islamicoutfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami was behind the attacks.^[41]^[42]^[43]^[44] Noting this, security analyst B. Raman has questioned "the two different versions that have emerged from Indian and American investigators."^[45] On September 22, 2010 a report submitted by the United States National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to the United States Department of Homeland Security, named HuJi responsible for the blasts. The CBI claimed in their response that the NCTC "do not seem to be updated with developments in the case"^[46]

Swami Aseemanand allegedly confessed in January 2011^[47] that he and other Hindu activists were involved in bombings at Muslim religious places(including the mecca masjid). Hyderabad was chosen because the Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to opt for Pakistan at the time of partition.^[47]However his lawyer claimed that confession was obtained under pressure.^[19]^[24]

[edit]Other allegations

Members of Abhinav Bharat have recently been alleged to have been involved in a plot to kill Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh President Mohan Bhagwat.^[48] allegedly with the help of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.^[49] Headlines Today released a recorded video tested by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory which indicated the uncovering of an alleged plot to assassinate the Vice President of India Hamid Ansari.^[50] Tehelka also released alleged audio tapes transcripts of main conspirators of Abhinav Bharat which indicated involvement of Military intelligence officers with the Abhinav Bharat group in their January 2011 edition.^[51]

In January 2013, Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde accused Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party for setting up camps to train Hindu Terrorism including planting bombs in 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings, Mecca Masjid bombing and 2006 Malegaon blasts.Shinde said "Reports have come during investigation that BJP and RSS conduct terror training camps to spread terrorism ... Bombs were planted in Samjhauta express, Mecca Masjid and also a blast was carried out in Malegaon," .He also added, "This is saffron terrorism that I have talked about. It is the same thing and nothing new."^[52]. A few days later, Indian Home Secretary Raj Kumar Singh released the names of 10 people, who were involved in the blasts, also alleged to have been involved with the RSS at some point or the other.^[53]

According to some released documents by WikiLeaks, Congress(I) party's general secretary Rahul Gandhi remarked to US Ambassador Timothy Roemer, at a luncheon hosted by Prime Minister of India at his residence in July 2009, that R.S.S. was a "bigger threat" to India than theLashkar-e-Tayiba. RSS spokesman Panchjanya responded that the statement showed that Gandhi "is totally unaware of the history of Hindutva as well as the concept of nationalism."^[54]

At The Annual Conference of Director General of Police held in New Delhi on 16 September 2011, a special director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) reportedly informed the state police chiefs that the Hindutva activists have either been suspected or are under investigation in 16 incidents of bomb blasts in the country.^[55]^[56]

[edit]Organizations and alleged people

The following organizations are alleged to be involved in acts of terrorism attributable to Hindu nationalism:

Abhinav Bharat - Notable members: Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt. Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, Swami Aseemanand

Two persons with alleged links to the Hindutva organization Sanatan Sanstha were sentenced to 10 years in jail for planting explosives and causing an explosion in various theatres in Thane and Vasai.^[57]

[edit]Usage

The first known use of the term "Saffron Terror" is from an 2002 article in Frontline in reference to 2002 Gujarat Riots.^[58] However it was in the aftermath of the September 29, 2008 bomb blast in the predominantly Muslim town of Malegaon in Maharashtra that these terms came to be used widely.^[59] In late 2008, Indian police arrested members of a Hindu radical cell allegedly involved in an attack Malegaon which killed 7 Muslims.^[60] For incidents like these, Saffron terror has been used synonymously with "Anti-Muslim terrorism" or "Anti-Muslim reprisals"^[61] and also as Hindu terrorism.^[62]

The current Home Minister of India, P. Chidambaram urged Indians to beware of "Saffron terror" on August 25, 2010 at a meeting of state police chiefs in New Delhi.^[5] This was the first time the word was "officially" used by the Government of India.^[1] Since making the remark, a Hindu Swamiin the Patan district has filed a defamation lawsuit against Chidambaram, on the grounds that the saffron color is a conventional Hindu symbol and worn regularly by Hindu religious clergy, and that Chidambaram has hurt the sentiments of Hindus by linking the symbol to terrorism.^[63]Chidambaram responded by stating "I cannot claim patent on the phrase."^[64] On September 6, 2010 a Gujarat court ordered a probe into the use of the term by Chidambaram.^[65] Chidambaram was also criticized by members of his own party (the Indian National Congress) for the use of the term, with Congress spokesman Janardhan Dwivedi claiming "terrorism does not have any colour other than black".^[66]

India is in something of a state of shock after learning from official sources that its first Hindu terror cell may have carried out a series of deadly bombings that were initially blamed on militant Muslims. The revelation is forcing the country to consider some difficult questions.

At least 10 people have been arrested in connection with several bomb blasts in the Muslim-dominated town of Malegaon in the western state of Maharashtra in September, which left six people dead. But reports suggest that police believe the cell may also have carried out a number of previous attacks, including last year's notorious bombing of a cross-border train en route to Pakistan, which killed 68 people. Among the alleged members of the cell are a serving army officer and a Hindu monk.

Bomb attacks are not uncommon in India – there has been a flurry in recent months – but police usually blame them on Muslim extremists, often said to have links to militant groups based in either Pakistan or Bangladesh. As a result, the recent cracking of the alleged Hindu cell has forced India to face some difficult issues. A country that prides itself on purported religious and cultural toleration – an ambition that in reality often falls short – has been made to ask itself how this cell could operate for so long. India's military, which prides itself on i
ts professionalism, has been forced to order an embarrassing inquiry.

The near-daily drip of revelations from police has also caused red faces for India's main political opposition, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ahead of state polls and a general election scheduled for early next year. The BJP and its prime ministerial candidate, Lal Krishna Advani, have long accused the Congress Party-led government of being soft on terrorism that involved Muslims. However, the BJP has refused to call for a clampdown on Hindu groups, and last week Mr Advani even criticised the police over the way they questioned one of the alleged cell members, a woman called Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.

The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, phoned his rival to ask him not to politicise the issue or the investigation. "There is a strong case so let the police do their job," he told Mr Advani. While some commentators have expressed surprise about the discovery of the alleged cell, others have pointed out that there has been growing concern about the possible threat from Hindu extremists. In the summer, two members of a right-wing Hindu group were killed while putting together a bomb, and two other suspected members of the same group died in similar circumstances in 2006.

Meanwhile, senior right-wing leaders have made no secret of their wish that Hindus should form suicide squads to protect themselves against Muslim extremists. Bal Thackeray, leader of a group called the Shiv Sena, which has been responsible for communal and regional violence in Mumbai, wrote recently in the party's magazine: "The threat of Islamic terror in India is rising. It is time to counter the same with Hindu terror. Hindu suicide squads should be readied to ensure the existence of Hindu society and to protect the nation."

Observers say the fact that the police have arrested the alleged cell members amid considerable political pressure suggests the growing professionalism of its security forces. "It's the first Hindu cell and it's the first time Hindus have been shackled and taken to jail," said Professor Dipankar Gupta, a sociologist at Delhi's Jawarlahal Nehru University. "I'm quite pleased with the way the police have done their jobs."

Is it ironical when United States terms India's indigenous terror as Hindu terrorism as its President Barack Obama preaches a noble concept of 'Terrorism has no religion'. Amidst heated arguments on the controversial topic of 'saffron terrorism' in the country, the latest U.S. Congressional report on India says militant Hindu nationalist groups are planning on launching domestic terrorist attacks. The report, however, acknowledge that 'Hindu Terrorism' has became a new and highly controversial phrase in India's national language.

The independent and bipartisan wing of the U.S. Congress, CRS prepares periodic reports on various issues of interest to the lawmakers and the India report was made public by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). "Even more recent are overt signs that India is home to militant Hindu nationalist groups intent on launching domestic terrorist attacks. In September 2008, seven people were killed by two bomb blasts in Maharashtra's Malegaon, a hotbed of Hindu-Muslim communal strife," the report said. "Many Indian observers warned of the danger of a 'militant majoritarianism' among Hindu nationalists that threatens to rend the secular fabric of the nation," reports PTI quoting the CSR study.

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Malayalam names of Herbal plants

2017-03-03T00:58:00.001+05:30

Malayalam names of Herbal plants

List of Herbal Plants in Malayalam, Names of Medicinal Plants in Malayalam Alphabetic order

Click on the names to find the details

അകത്തി	Hummingbird tree, Sesban	Sesbania Grandiflora (Linn.) Pior. Papilionaceae
അക്രോട്ട്	Indian Walnut, Candle-Nut	Aleurites Moluccana Willd.
അകിൽ	Aloe Wood, Eagle Wood	Aquilaria Agallocha Roxb. Thymelacaceae
അക്കക്കാരം	Pellitory, Mount Atlas daisy	Anacylus Pyrethrum Dc. Compositae Asteraceae
അഗ്നിശിഖ	Fire Flame Bush, Downy Grislea	Woodfordia Fruticosa, Floribunda Lythraceae
അഘോരി	Governor’s Plum	Flacourtia Ramoutchi Fam., Indica Merr.
അങ്കോലം	Sage Leaves	Alangium Salviifolium Wang.
അടതാപ്പ്	Yam, Air potato	Dioscorea Bulbifera Linn. Dioscoriaceae
അടപതിയൻ	Ada-koden-Adapathiyan, Jeevanti, Ksheerini	Holostemma Annularis, Asclepias Asclepiadaceae
അടമ്പ്	Goat’s Food Creeper	Ipomoea Perscaprae (Linn.)/ Biloba Forssk.
അടയ്ക്കമണിയൻ	East Indian Globe Thistle	Sphaeranthus Indicus Linn., Hirtus Willd.
അടയ്ക്കാ	Betel Nut- Seed	Aracanut
അണ്ണാൻപച്ച	Basket ferns, Oak leaf Fern	Dryhnaria Quercifolia, Polypodium Quercifolium
അണലിവേഗം	Poison Devil tree	Alstonia Venenata R. Br. Apocynaceae
അത്തി	Cluster Fig, Country Fig	Ficus Racemosa Linn. , Glomerata
അതിവിടയം	Indian Aconite	Aconitum Ferox Wall., Nepillus Linn. Ranunculaceae
അപ്പ	Angular Curved Physic Nut	Jatropha Curcas Linn. Euphorbiaceae
അപ്പ, നായ തുളസി	Appa Grass	Ageratum Conyzoides Linn. Asteraceae
അമ്പഴം	Indian Hog Plum, Wild Mango	Spondias Pinnata, Mangifera Willd. Anacardiaceae
അമ്മകറുമ്പി	Wild mussaenda	Mussaendra Frondosa Linn. , Flavescens Rubiaceae
അമര	Flat Bean, Goa Bean, Indian Bean	Dolichos Lablab Linn.
അമൃത്	Heartleaf Moonseed, Giloy	Tinospora Cordifolia Miers Menispermaceae
അയമോദകം	Kings’ Cumin, Bishop’s Weed	Trachispermum Amami Linn. Sprague. Umbelliferae
അയ്യപ്പന	Ayapana Tea	Eupatorium Triplinerve Vahl., Ayapan Compositae
അരംപാലി	Mountain Ebony	Bauhinia Racemosa Roxb. Leguminosae
അരണമരം	Mast Tree, Cemetery Tree	Polyalthia Longifolia (Sonn.) Thwaites
അരത്ത	Cardamom ginger, Greater galangal	Alpinia Calcarata
അരത്ത-ചിറ്റരത്ത	Zadoary (Root), Spiked Ginger Lily	Hedychium Spicatum
അരയാൽ	Sacred Fig, Peepal Tree	Ficus Religiosa Linn. Urticaceae
അരളി	Indian Oleander, Rose Berry	Nerium Indicum Mill. , Odorum Soland.
അരിപ്പൂ	Wild Sage, Lantana Weed	Lantana Camara Linn. , Aculeata Verbenaceae
അരൂത	Garden Rue	Ruta Graveolens Linn, Chalepensis Rutaceae
അരേണുകം	Wild jute-Mallow leaves	Corchorus Acutangulus, Aestuans Tiliaceae
അലക്കുചേര്	Marking Nut Fruit	Semecarpus Anacardium
അഴുകണ്ണി	Alkaliweeds	Cressa Cretica Linn. Convolvulaceae
അശ്വഗന്ധ	Winter Cherry, Indian Ginseng	Withania Somnifera (L.) Dunal.
അശോകം	Ashoka Tree	Saraca Indica Linn, Asoka Wilde Caesalpiniaceae
ആടലോടകം	Malabar Nut	Adhatoda Vasaka Nees, Justica Adhatoda Linn.
ആനക്കൂവ	Crepe Ginger Rhizome	Costos Speciosus
ആനച്ചുവടി	Elephant’s Foot, Prickly Leaves	Elephantopus Scaber Linn. Compositae
ആനതിപ്പലി	Elephant pepper, Galapippaly	Scindapsus Officinalis Schott. Araceae
ആനപ്പരുവ	Climbing Arroid	Pothos Scandens
ആമ്പൽ	Water-Lilly	Nymphaea Stellata, Euryale Ferox
ആമ്പൽ-വെള്ള	White Water Lily	Nymphaea Alba Linn.Castalia Alba
ആറ്റുപേഴ്	Hijjal, Freshwater Mangrove	Barringtonia Acutangula Gaertn. Myrtaceae
ആറ്റുവഞ്ചി	Attuvanchi	Homonoia Riparia Lour. Euphorbiaceae
ആഴാന്തൽ	Indian trumpet, Broken born	Oroxylum Indicum
ആവണക്ക്	Castor, Eranda	Ricinus Communis
ആവര	Mature Tea Tree, Tanner’s Cassia	Cassia Auriculata Linn. Caesalpiniaceae
ആവല്	Indian Elm	Holopteila Integrifolia
ആശാളി	Garden Cress, Water Cress	Lepidium Sativum
ഇഞ്ച	Soap bark	Acacia Caesia Willd., Intsia Mimosaceae
ഇഞ്ചി	Ginger	Zinziber Officinalis Rosc. , Linn.
ഇഞ്ചിമാങ്ങ	Round Zedoary, white turmeric	Curcuma Zedoria Rosc. Scitaminaceae
ഇടംപിരി വലംപിരി	East Indian Screw Tree	Helicteres isora
ഇടന	Malabar leaf, Indian bark.	Cinnamomum Tamala Nees & Eberm. Lauraceae
ഇത്തിൾ	Loranthus	Dendrophthoe Falcata, Loranthus Coriaceus
ഇന്ദ്രവാരുണി	Bitter Apple	Citrullus Colocynthis Schrad. Cucurbitaceae
ഇരട്ടിമധുരം	Licorice	Glycyrrhiza Glabra Linn. Papilionaceae
ഇരവി	Indian Gamboge	Garcinia Morella Desr. Guttiferae
ഇരുമ്പുരുക്കി	Bollywood, bollygum	Litsea Glutinosa C. B. Robins Lauraceae
ഇരുവേലി	Iruvale	Coleus Vettiveroides, Plectranthus Vettiveroides
ഇലകള്ളി	Milk Hedge	Euphorbia Neriifolia
ഇലഞ്ഞി	Bullet-Wood Tree	Mimusops Elengi Linn. Sapotaceae
ഇലന്ത	Jujube, Chinese Date	Zizyphus Jujuba Lam. Non Mill. , Vulgaris Lam.
ഇല്ലി	Bamboo	Bambusa Bambos
ഇലവ്	Silk Cotton Tree	Bombax Malabaricum Schott & Endl.
ഇലുപ്പ	Indian Butter Tree, South Indian Mahua	Madhuca Longifolia Linn. , Bassia Longifulia
ഇലുമ്പി പുളി	Country Goose Berry, Bilimbi, Tree sorrel	Averrhoa Acida Oxalidaceae
ഈട്ടി	Black Wood, Rose Wood	Dalbergia Sissoo Roxb. Papilionaceae
ഈന്ത്	Sago palm, Queen sago	Cycas Circinalis Linn. Cycadaceae
ഈന്തപ്പന	Wild Date, Date Sugar Palm	Phoenix Sylvestris Roxb. Palmae
ഈശ്വരമൂലി	Indian Birthwort	Aristolochia Indica Linn. Aristolochiaceae
ഉണക്കമുന്തിരി	Raisin, Dry Grapes	Vitis Vinifera
ഉന്നം	Jew Mallow	Grewia Populifolia Tiliaceae
ഉപ്പട്ടി	White Mangrove	Avicennia Officinalis
ഉപ്പുചീര	Sand Herbage	Gisekia Pharnaceoides Linn. Ficoidaceae
ഉലുവ	Fenugreek	Trigonella Foenum-Graecum Linn. Papilionaceae
ഉഴുന്ന്	Green Gram, Black Gram	Phaseolus Mungo Linn. , Vigna Mungo Hepper
ഉഷാമലരി	Madagascar Periwinkle	Catharanthus Roseus G.Don. , Vinca Rosea Linn.
എരുമക്കള്ളി	Yellow Thistle, Mexican Poppy	Argemone Mexicana Linn. Papaveraceae
എരുമനാക്ക്	Roughleaved fig, creeping fig	Ficus Hispida Linn. Urticaceae
എലിപ്പയർ	Indian caper	Capparis Zeylanica
ഏകനായകം	Salaretin	Salacia Reticulata Wight
ഏലം	Green Cardamom (Small)	Elettaria Cardamomum Maton Scitaminaceae
ഏഴിലംപാല	Devil Tree, Shaitan Wood	Alstonia Scholaris Linn. Apocynaceae
ഐറിസ്‌	Oris Root	Iris Vesicolor Thunb. , Germanica Linn. Iridaceae
ഒട്ടകമുള്ള്	Camel thorn, Persian Manna Plant	Alhagi Pseudalhagi Desv. , Maurorum Desv.
ഒടിയന്മരം	Woodier, Indian Ash Tree	Lannea Grandis Engl., Odina Woodier Roxb.
ഒതളം	Dog-Bane, Odallum Tree	Cerbera Odollam Gaertn. Apocynaceae
ഒരുകാൽഞൊണ്ടി	Panicled Foldwing	Peristrophe Paniculata
ഒരുവേരൻ, ചെറുതേക്ക്	Bharang	Clerodendron Serratum
ഒരുവേരൻ	Hill glory bower	Clerodendrum Infortunatum Linn., Viscosum Vent.
ഓടൽ	Monkey’s bridge	Sarcostigma Kleinii W&A. Icacinaceae
ഓമയ്ക്ക, കപ്പളം	Papaya	Carica Papaya Linn. Caricaceae
ഓരില	Desmodium	Desmodium Gangeticum
ഓറഞ്ച്	Loose-Skinned Orange, mandarin orange	Citrus Reticulata Rutaceae
കംബിളിനാരങ്ങ	Pomelo, Shaddock	Citrus Decumana Linn. Rutaceae
കച്ചപ്പട്ട	Kachapatta	Pittosporum Tetraspermum
കച്ചോലം	Aromatic ginger, Kencur, Sand ginger	Kaempferia Galanga Linn., Curcuma Zedoria
കഞ്ചാവ്	Indian Hemp, Ganja, greengrass	Cannabis Indica Linn. , Sativa Urticaceae
കടപ്ലാവ്‌	Breadfruit tree	Artocarpus Communis Forst. , Incisus Linn. F.
കടമ്പ്‌	Wild Cinchona, Kadam tree	Anthocephalus Cadamba
കടൽത്തെങ്ങ്	Sea Coconut Palm, Double Coconut Palm	Lodoicea Sechellarum, Maldivica Pers. Arecaceae
കടല	Chicken Pea, Bengal Gram	Cicer Arietinum Linn. Papilionaceae
കടലാവണക്ക്	Purgative Croton	Croton Tiglium Linn. Euphorbiaceae
കടുക്	Brown Mustard, Indian Mustard	Brassica Juncea Linn. Cruciferae
കടുക്ക	Chebulic Myrobalan	Chebulic Myrobalan, Terminalia Chebula
കണ്ടകാരിച്ചുണ്ട	Indian Solanum, Yellow-Berried Nightshade	Solanum Xanthocarpum Schrad, Surattense Burm.
കണ്ടത്തിൽ കാന്താരി	Primrose Willow	ludwigia hyssopifolia
കണിക്കൊന്ന	India Laburnum, Purging Cassia	Cassia Fistula Linn. Caesalpiniaceae,
കദളിപ്പഴം	Banana	Musa Paradisiaca
കനകാംബരം	Porcupine flower	Barleria Prionitis Linn. Acanthaceae
കപ്പ	Tapioca	Manihot Esculenta Crantz, Utilissima Pohl
കപ്പളം	Papaya	Carica Papaya Linn. Caricaceae
കയ്യൂന്നി	False Daisy	Eclipta Alba Hassk. , Prostrata Linn. Compositae
ക്യാരറ്റ്	Carrot	Daucas Carota Linn. Umbelliferae
കരടിപ്പുല്ല്	Water Chestnut	Scirpus Kysoor, Grossus Linn. Cyperaceae
കരിംകുരിഞ്ഞി	Sahachara, kurinji, Blue fox tail	Nilgirianthus Ciliatus / Strobilanthes Ciliatus
കരിംകൂവളം	Bael	Aegle Marmelos Corr. Ex. Roxb. Rutaceae
കരിംജീരകം	Black cumin seed	Carom Bulbocastanum, Nigella Sativa
കരിങ്ങാലി	Black Catechu, Cutch Tree	Acacia Catechu
കരിങ്ങോട്ട	Niepa Bark Tree	Samadera Iindica Gaertn / Quassia Indica Gaertn.
കരിഞ്ചീരകം	Caraway Seeds	Carum carvi
കരിനോച്ചി	Five-Leaved Chaste Tree	Vitex Negundo Linn. Verbenaceae
കരിമ്പ്‌	Sugar Cane, Sucanat, Turbinado	Saccharum Officinarum Linn. Gramineae
കരിമ്പന	Palmyra Palm, toddy palm, sugar palm	Borassus Flabellifera Linn., Blabelliformis Palmae
കരിമ്പോളം	Indian Water Chestnut, Caltrop	Trapa Natans Linn., Bispinosa Roxb. Trapaceae
കരിമരുത്	Black Murdah	Terminalia Crenulata Roth Combretaceae
കരിമുതുക്കു	Giant potato	Ipomea Mauritiana
കരിവള്ളി	Black Creeper	Ichnocarpus Frutescens (Linn.)
കരിവേങ്ങ, രക്തചന്ദനം	Red sandal	Pterocarpus Santalinus
കരുനൊച്ചി	Vitex Agnus, Chastetree	Vitex Agnus Castus – Verbenaceae
കർക്കടക ശ്രുംഘി	Crab’s Claw, Gall’s	Rhus Succedanea Linn. Anacardiaceae
കർകടകശ്രിംഘി	Zebra wood	Pistacia Integerrima
കർപ്പൂരം	Camphor	Cinnamomum Camphora Nees & Eberm.
കർപ്പൂരവള്ളി	Thick-Leaved Lavender	Anisochilus Carnosus Wall. Labiatae
കറപ്പ്	Saffron-Poppy	Crocus Sativus
കറപ്പ്	Opium, White Poppy	Papaver Somniferum Linn. Papaveraceae
കറിവേപ്പ്	Curry Leaves	Bergera KoenigiiLinn. , Murraya Koenigii
കറുക	Bermuda Grass	Cynodon Dactylon Pers. Gramineae
കറുവ	Cinnamon	Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Breyn., Verum Presl.
കറുവപ്പട്ട	Camphor bark	Cinnamomum Tamala
കൽചെട	Clubmoss Spores	Lycopodium Clavatum Linn. Lycopodiaceae
കല്പ്പയാൽ	Rock fungie	Parmelia Perlata
കല്ലുവേങ്ങ	Sandan	Ougeinia Dalbergioides Benth., Oojeinensis
കല്ലൂർവഞ്ചി	Blistering Ammania, Aquatic Rotula	Ammania Baccifera Linn. Ssp. / Rotula aquatica
കള്ളിമുള്ള്	Prickly Pear, Indian fig opuntia, barbary fig	Opuntia Dillenii Haw. , Cactus Indicus Cactaceae
കഴഞ്ചി	Bonducella Nut, Fever Nut, Grey Nicker	Caesalpinia Crista Linn. , Bonduc
കശുവണ്ടി	Cashew Nut	Anacardium Occidentale Linn. Anacardiaceae
കണ്ണാന്തളി	Bicolor Persian Violet	Exacum bicolor
കസ്തൂരിമഞ്ഞൾ	Wild Turmeric, Yellow Zedoary	Curcuma Aromatica Salisb. Scitaminaceae
കസ്തൂരിവെണ്ട	Musk Mallow	Hibiscus Abelmoschus Linn., Abelmoschus Moschatus
കാക്കത്തുടലി	Forest Pepper, Wild Orange Tree, Orange climber	Toddalia Asiatica (Linn.) Lam. , Aculeata Pers.
കാകോളി	Kakoli	Fritillaria Roylei
കാഞ്ഞിരം	Nux vomica, Poison Nut tree	Strychnos Nuxvomica Linn. Loganiaceae
കാട്ടത്തി	Hairy Fig, devil fig	Ficus Hispida
കാട്ടുകടുക്	Dog Mustard, African spider-flower	Cleome Gynandra, Viscosa Linn.
കാട്ടുകരിമ്പ്	Thatch Grass, Wild Sugarcane	Saccharum Spontaneum Linn. Gramineae
കാട്ടുകറിവേപ്പ്	Orange Jasmine	Murraya paniculata
കാട്ടുകൊടി	Wild Pepper	Piper Chaba Hunter, Brachystachyum Wall.
കാട്ടുകൊവൽ	Pointed Gourd	Coccinia Indica Wight & Arun, Cordifolia
കാട്ടുഗോതമ്പ്	Job’s Tear	Coix Lacryma-Jobi Linn., L. Lacryma Linn.
കാട്ടുജാതി	Bombay Mace, False Nutmeg	Myristica Malabarica Lam. Myristicaceae
കാട്ടുജീരകം	Wild cumin	Centratherum, Vernonia Anthelminticum Kuntze
കാട്ടുതുളസി	Shrubby Basil	Ocimum Gratissimum Linn., Frutescens Labiatae
കാട്ടുദർതാവ്	Sage weed	Salvia Plebeia R. Br. Labiatae
കാട്ടുപടവലം	Wild Snake Gourd	Trichosanthes Dioica, Lobata Roxb.
കാട്ടുപയർ	Wild Bean	Phaseolus Trilobus / Vigna Vexillatta
കാട്ടുപുതിന	Corn Mint, wild mint	Mentha Arvensis Linn. Labiatae
കാട്ടുമുല്ല	Wild Jasmine	Jasminum Angustifolium (Linn.) Willd. Oleaceae
കാട്ടുള്ളി	Indian Squill	Urginea Indica Kunth Liliaceae
കാട്ടുഴുന്നു	Wild blackgram	Teramnus Labialis Spreng. Papilionaceae
കാന്താരി	Cayenne, Birdeye chilly	Capsicum Annum Linn. Solanaceae
കാബേജ്‌	Cabbage	Brassica Oleracea Linn. Cruciferae
കായം	Asa foetida	Ferula Asa Foetida
കാരന്നാവ്-പൂപാതിരി	Trumpet Flower Tree, Yellow Snake Tree	Stereospermum Suaveolens, Colais Ham.
കാരീരം	Caper Plant, Karir	Capparis Decidua (Forsk.) Edgew., Aphylla Roth
കാർകോകിൽ	Purple Fleabane, Babchi Seeds, Psoralea	Psoralea Corylifolia Linn. Papilionaceae
കിരിയാത്ത്‌	Chireta, The creat	Swertia Chirata Buch-Ham Gentianaceae
കിരിയാത്ത	Indian Gentian	Gentiana Kurroo Royle. Gentianaceae
കിലുകിലുപ്പ	Brown Hemp, Flax Hemp, Blue Rattleweed	Crotalaria Verrucosa Papilionaceae
കിളിതീനിപ്പഞ്ഞി	Black Oil plant, Intellect tree	Celastrus Paniculata Willd. , Cardiospermum
കീരിപച്ച	Mongoose Plant	Ophiorrhiza Mungos Linn. Rubiaceae
കീഴാർനെല്ലി	Stonebreaker, seed-under-leaf, Gulf Leaf	Phyllanthus Niruri
കുങ്കുമം	Saffron	Crocus Sativus Linn. Irideae
കുങ്കുമം	Saffron	Crocus Sativus Linn. Irideae
കുടംപുളി	Pot tamerind, Indian garcinia	Garcinia Gummi-Gutta (Linn.) Robs. Guttiferae
കുടകപ്പാല	Easter tree, Kurchi, Snow flake tree	Holarrhena Antidysenterica (White) Wall.
കുട്കി	Hellbore	Picrorrhiza Kurroa Royle Ex Benth.
കുട്കി	Kutki	Andrographis Paniculata
കുടങ്ങൽ	Mouse Ear Wort, Indian Pennywort	Merremia Emarginata (Burm.F.) Hall.F.
കുടമുല്ല	Arabian Jasmine, Tuscan Jasmine	Jasminum Sambac Ait. Oleaceae
കുന്തിരിക്കം	Indian Olibaum, Indian Frankincense	Boswellia Serrata Roxb. Burseraceae
കുന്നി	Indian Licorice, Crab’s eye plant	Abrus Precatorius Linn. Tiliaceae
കുപ്പമേനി	India Acalypha	Acalypha Indica Linn. Euphorbiaceae
കുമ്പളം	Ash gourd	Benincasa Hispida Cogn., Cerifera
കുമ്പിൾ	Wite teak, Beechwood	Gmelina Arborea
കുരങ്ങുമഞ്ഞൾ	Arnotta Plant, Aploppas, Lipstic tree	Bixa Orellana Linn. Bixaceae
കുരുമുളക്	Black Pepper	Piper Nigrum Linn. Piperaceae
കുറശ്ശാണി	Henbane, Black Henbane	Hyocyamus Reticulatus Linn. , Niger Solanaceae
കുറുംതോട്ടി	Country Mallow, Arrow leaf sida	Sida Rhombifolia Linn. Malvaceae
കൂണ്‍	Mushroom, Touchwood	Psolliota Campestris (Linn.) Fr. Agaricaceae
കൂരിൽ	South Indian Uvaria	Uvaria Narum Wall.Ex. Wight, Unona Narum Dun.
കൂവ	Arrow Root	Maranta Arundinacea Linn./ Curcuma Angustifolia
കൂവളം	Stone apple, Bael	Aegle Marmelos
കൂവളത്തില	Leaves of Bael	Aegle Marmelos
കൃഷ്ണജീരകം	Small Fennel, Nigella Seed, Black Cumin	Nigella Sativa Linn. Ranunculaceae
കൃഷ്ണബീജം	Blue Morning Glory, Krishnabeeja	Ipomoea Hederacea Auct. Non Jacq.
കെടങ്ങ്‌	Prickly Sesban	Sesbania Bispinosa
കൈത	Screw Pine	Pandanus Tectorius Auct.Non Soland.
കൈതച്ചക്ക	Pineapple	Ananas Cosmus Merr., Sativus Linn.
കൈപ്പൻ	Wild Sunflower	Helianthus quinquelobus
കൈപ്പൻപടവലം	Bitter snake-gourd	Trichosanthus Palmata
കൈമരുത്	Sal, Sala tree	Shorea Robusta
കൊങ്ങിണി	Wild Sage, Lantana Weed	Lantana Camara Linn. , Aculeata Verbenaceae
കൊടകൻ	Indian Pennywort, Gotu Kola	Centella, Hydrocotyle Asiatica Linn. Umbelliferae
കൊട്ടം	Kuth Root, Costus	Saussurea Lappa, Costus Speciosus Sm. Scitaminaceae
കൊടിത്തൂവ	Climbing Nettle	Tragia involucrata
കൊത്തമര	Cluster Bean, Field Vetch	Cyamopsis Tetragonoloba Taub., Psoralioides Dc.
കൊഴിഞ്ഞിൽ	Wild Indigo, Fish Poison	Tephrosia Purpurea
കൊഴുപ്പ	Indian Parselane, pigweed, little hogweed	Portulaca Oleraceae Linn. Portulacaceae
കോട്ടില	Ceylon Oak, Lac tree, Kusum tree	Schleichera Oleosa Oken, Trijuga Willd.
കോലരക്ക്	Shell lac	Laccifer Lacca
കോവിദാരം	Kachnar, Orchid Tree, Mountain Ebony	Bauhinia Variegata
ഗണപതിനാരകം	Citron Tree	Citrus Medica Linn. Rutaceae
ഗന്ദരാജൻ	Dikamali-Gum Gardenia, Nanjundam	Gardenia Gummifera Linn. F. Rubiaceae
ഗ്രാമ്പു	Clove	Syzygium Aromaticum Merr
ഗ്രീൻപീസ്	Pea, Garden Pea	Pisum Sativum Linn. Fabaceae
ഗരുഡക്കൊടി	Indian Birthwort	Aristolochia Indica Linn. Aristolochiaceae
ഗരുഡപച്ച	Resurrection plant	Selaginella rupestris
ഗിടോരൻ	Indian caper	Capparis Zeylanica
ഗുൽഗുലു	Indian Bedellum, Gum Gugal	Commiphora Mukul Engl.
ഗോതമ്പ്	Wheat, Beardless Wheat	Triticum Aestivum Linn. Gramineae
ചക്കരക്കൊല്ലി	Periploca of The Woods	Gymnema Sylvestre Br.
ചങ്ങലംപരണ്ട	Devil’s Backbone	Cissus Quadrangularis
ചണം	Jute	Corchorus Capsularis Linn. Tiliaceae-
ചതകുപ്പ	Indian Dill (Kind of Fenugreek)	Anethum Sowa Kurz. , Peucedanum Graveolens
ചതുരകള്ളി	Square milk hedge, Antique Spurge	Euphorbia Antiquorum Linn. Euphorbiaceae
ചതുരപ്പുളി	Coromandel Gooseberry, Carambola Apple, Starfruit	Averrhoa Carambola Linn. Oxalidaceae
ചതുരമുല്ല	Chionanthus, Chaturamulla	Myxopyrum Serratulum A.W.Hill Oleaceae
ചന്ദനം	Chandana-White-Sandal-	Santalum Album Sandalwood
ചന്ദനവേമ്പ്	Red Cedar, Indian Mahogany Tree	Toona Ciliate Roem. , Cedrela Toona Roxb.
ചമ്പകം	Golden or Yellow Champa	Michelia Champaca Linn. Magnoliaceae
ചരളം	Chir pine, Longleaved pine	Pinus Roxburghi / Longifolia
ചാമ	Little Millet	Panicum Sumatrense Roth Ex. Roem. Et Schult.,
ചാമ്പ	Water cherry, Bell cherry	Zizigium Camini
ചിത്തിരപ്പാല	Asthma Weed, Snake Weed	Euphorbia Hirta Linn. , Pilulifera Euphorbiaceae
ചിർപൈൻ	Lng Leaved Pine	Pinus Longifolia
ചിറ്റരത്ത	Java Glangal	Alpinia Calcarata
ചിറ്റാടലോടകം	Small Malabar nut	Justicia Beddomei (Clarke) Bennet Acanthaceae
ചിറ്റെരിക്ക്	Madder Plant	Calotropis Procera Ait. Asclepiadaceae
ചീനപ്പാവ്, പാവ്	China root, Smilax China	Smilax China Linn., Glabra Liliaceae
ചീനികിഴങ്ങ്	Sweet Potato	Ipomoea Batatas (Linn.) Lam.
ചീരളം	Nyalei, Punniyava	Aglaia Roxburghiana
ചീവക്ക	Shikakkai	Acacia Concinna Dc. Mimosaceae
ചുണ്ട	Egg plant	Solanum Melongena Linn. / Solanum Xanthocarpum
ചുരയ്ക്ക	White Pumpkin, Bottle gourd	Cucurbita Lagrenaria Linn. Cucurbitaceae
ചുവന്നകയൂന്നി	Ayapana Tea	Eupatorium Triplinerve Vahl., Ayapan Compositae
ചുവന്നകൊടുവേലി	Red leadwort	Plumbago Rossea
ചുവന്നമന്ദാരം	Tree orchid, Mountain Ebony	Bauhinia Variegata
ചൂരൽ	Common Rattan palms, Chooral	Calamus Rotang Linn. Palmae
ചെങ്ങഴിനീർക്കൂവ	Indian Crocus, Blackthorn	Kaempferia Rotunda Linn.& K.Longa. Scitaminaceae
ചെഞ്ചല്യം	Sal, Sala tree	Shorea Robusta
ചെണ്ടുമല്ലി, ബന്തി	French Marigold	Tagetus Erecta Linn. Compositae
ചെണ്ടൂരകം	Safflower, Parrot Seed, Wild Saffron	Carthamus Tinctorius Linn. Compositae
ചെത്തി	Jungle Geranium, Sacred Ixora	Ixora Coccinea Linn. Rubiaceae
ചെത്തികൊടുവേലി	Rosy-Flowered Leadwort, Fire Plant	Plumbago Indica Linn., Rosea Linn. Plumbaginaceae
ചെന്നാമുക്കി	India Senna, Tinnevelly Senna	Cassia Angustifolia Wahl., Senna Linn.
ചെമ്പരത്തി	Hibiscus	Rosa Sinensis
ചെമ്പ്ലാവ്	Cork-leaved bayur, Chemplavu	Pterospermum Suberifolium Lam
ചെറിയഞെരിഞ്ഞിൽ	Small Caltrops	Tribulus Terrestris Linn.
ചെറിയമലതാങ്ങി	Velvet Leaf	Cissampelos Pareira Linn. Menispermaceae
ചെറുകടലാടി	Small Prickly Chaff-Flower Plant	Cyathula Prostrata ln, Desmochaeta Prostrata
ചെറുചണ	Flax Plant, Linseed	Linum Usitatissimum Linn. Linaceae
ചെറുനാരകം	Lemon tree, Sour Orange, Seville Orange	Citrus Aurantifolia (Christm.) Swingle Rutaceae
ചെറുനാരങ്ങനീര്	Lemon Juice	Citric acid
ചെറുപ്പുള്ളടി	Tick Clover	Desmodium Triflorum (Linn.) Dc. Fabaceae
ചെറുപീര	Goose Foot, Wild Spinach	Chenopodium Album Linn. Chenopodiaceae
ചെറുമരുന്ന്	Indian Berberry, Tree Turmeric	Berberis Aristata
ചെറൂള	Mountain Knotgrasss	Aerva Lanata-Cheroola
ചേന	Elephant foot yam	Amorphophallus Campanulatus Blume
കാച്ചിൽ	Greater Yam, Asiatic Yam	Dioscorea Alata Linn. Dioscoriaceae
ചേനചെടി	Caravalla Seeds, Shona cabbage	Gynandropsis Gynandra Capparidaceae
ചേമ്പ്	Great-Leaved Caladium, Giant Taro	Alocasia Macrorrhiza, Colocasia Esculenta (Linn.) Aroidaceae
ചേല, കല്ലിത്തി	Indian Laurel, Curtain fig	Ficus Microcarpa Linn.F. Moraceae
ജടാമഞ്ചി	Indian Valerian	Valerian Wallichi Dc. Valerianaceae
ജാതി	Nutmeg	Myristica Fragrans Houtt. Myristicaceae
ജീരകം	Cumin	Cuminum Cyminum Linn. Umbelliferae
ജീവകം	Dubard	Microstylis Wallichii- Root
ഞറ	Garden angelica, Wild celery, Njara, Selinum	Angelica Archengelica Linn., Selinum Tenuifolium
ഞള്ള്, ഞഴുക്	Leea Indica	Sambucina Linn. Leeaceae
ഞാഴൽ	Beauty berry	Callicarpa Macrophylla Vahl. Verbenaceae
ഞാവൽ	Black Plum	Eugenia Jambolana Lam., Syzgium Cumini Linn.
ഞെട്ടാഞൊടി	Country Gooseberry	Physalis Minima Linn. Solanaceae
ഞെരിഞ്ഞിൽ	Puncture Vine, Small Caltrops	Tribulus Terrestris Linn. Zygophyllaceae
ഞൊങ്ങണംപുല്ല്	Slender Carpetweed	Mollugo Cerviana Ser. Ficoidaceae
തക്കാളി	Tomato	Lycopersicum Esculentum Mill.
തക്കോലം	Star Anise Of China	Illicium Verum Hook.F. Magnoliaceae
തകര	Fetid Cassia, Ringworm Plant	Cassia Tora Linn. , Toroides , Fetida, Obtusifol
തണ്ണിമത്തൻ	Watermelon	Citrullus Vulgaris Var. , Cucurbitaceae
തയ്ക്കുമ്പളം	Sweet Melon, Musk Melon	Cucumis Melo Var. Memordica
ത്രികോൽപ്പക്കൊന്ന	Indian Jalap, Turpeth	Ipomoea Turpethum Linn. , Operculina Ipomoea
തവിഴാമ	Heliotrope, Indian Turnsole	Heliotropium Indicum Linn. Boraginaceae
തഴുതാമ	Hogg Weed	Boerhaavia Diffusa Linn. Nyctaginaceae
താന്നി	Beach Almond, Beleric	Belliric Myrobalan Fruit Rind Terminalia Bellirica
താമര	Sacred Lotus	Nelumbium Speciosum Willd. , Nucifera
താമരതണ്ട്	Pollen Of Lotus	Nelumbo Nucifera
താർതാവൽ	Shaggy Button-weed	Spermacoce Hispida Linn. , Borreria Hispida K.Schum.
താലനീലി	Arrow-leaf Morning Glory	Paederia Foetida Linn. Rubiaceae
താലീസപത്രം	Himalayan Silver Fir	Abies Webbiana Lindl. , Spectabilis G. Don.
തിണ്ടികവൃക്ഷം	Small Flowered Poison Sumac	Rhus Parviflora Roxb. Anacardiaceae
തിന	Foxtail Millet, Italian Millet	Setaria Italica Beauv. Gramineae
തിപ്പലി	Pippali Long Pepper Fruit	Piper Longum
തിരുതാളി	Heart leaf glory	Ipomoea Sepiaria Roxb. , Acut.Non (Linn.F.)
തുമ്പ	Thumbe	Leucas Cephalotus Spreng. Aspera Link Labiatae
തുളസി	Holy Basil, Tulsi	Ocimum Sanctum Linn. Labiatae
തുവര	Pigeon Pea	Cajanus Cajan Mills, Papilionaceae
തൃകൊൽപ്പകൊന്ന	St. Thomas lid pod, turpeth	Operculina Turpethum
തൃവിത്	Indian trueperth	Ipomoea Turpethum
തെങ്ങ്	Coconut palm, Asphalt	Nelumbo Nucifera /Asphaltum
തെരുവ	Palmarosa -Gingergrass	Cymbopogan Martini
തെരുവപ്പുല്ല്	Rosha Grass, Rusa Grass	Cymbopogon Martinii Wats
തേക്ക്	Teak	Tectona Grandis Linn. F. Verbenaceae
തേങ്ങ	Mineral Pitch, Asphalt	Asphaltum
തേയില	Tea Plant	Camellia Sinensis O. Kuntze,
തേറ്റാമ്പരൽ	Clearing Nut	Strychnos Potatorum Loganiaceae
തൈലപ്പുല്ല്	Lemon Grass	Andropogon Citratus Dc. , Cymbopogon Citratus Stapf
തൊട്ടാവാടി	Sensitive Plant	Mimosa Pudica Linn. Leguminosae
തൊണ്ടി	Hairy Fig, devil fig	Ficus Hispida
ദന്തപ്പാല	Pale Indigo Plant, Sweet Indrajao	Wrightia Tinctoria (Roxb.)R.Br. Apocynaceae
ദർഭ	Sacrificial Grass	Desmostachya Bipinnata Staff
ദേവദാരം	Himalayan Cedar	Cedrus Deodara
ധന്വയാസം	Khorasan Thorn	Fagonia Cretica, Arabica Linn. Zygophyllaceae
നനകിഴങ്ങ്	Yam, Lesser Yam	Dioscorea Esculenta Dioscoriaceae
നന്ദ്യാർവട്ടം	Indian Rosebay, Pinwheel flower	Tabernaemontana Divaricata R.Br.Ex Roem. & S
നർദിൻ	Indian Spikenard, Musk Root	Nardostachys Jatamamsi Dc
നറുനീണ്ടി	Indian Sarsaparila	Hemidesmus Indicus
നറുവരി	Indian cherry, Clammy cherry	Cordia Dichotoma
നാഗകേസരം	Cylon ironwood	Mesua Ferrea Stamen
നാഗദന്തി	Wild Castor, Red Physic Nut-	Baliospermum Montanum Muell. Arg. , Axillare
നാഗപുഷ്പം	Iron Wood Tree, Cobra’s Saffron	Mesua Ferrea Linn., Nagassarium-Guttiferae
നാഗപൂ	Alexandrian Laurel	Ochrocarpus Longifolius Benth. & Hook. F. Guttiferae
നാഗബല	Gulsakri, Nagabala	Grewia Hirsuta Vahl Tiliaceae
നാഗമുല്ല	Snake Jasmine, Dainty Spurs	Rhinacanthus Communis
നായ്ക്കുരണ	CowPlant, Cowhage	Mucuna Pruriens Dc., Dolicos Pruriens
നാരങ്ങ	Indian Lemon	Citrus Limonum Burm. Or Sp. Risso. Rutaceae
നാലിലകീര	Four-leaf clover, Pepperwort	Marselia Minuta Marsiliaceae
നാലുമണിചെടി	Four O’clock Flower	Mirabilis Jalapa Linn. Nyctaginaceae
നിർവാസി	Nirbishi	Delphinium Denudatum Wall. Ex Hook
നിലംതെങ്ങ്	Little tree plant, Biophytum	Biophytum Candolleanum
നിലക്കടല	Peanut, Ground Nut, Monkey Nut	Arachis Hypogaea Linn. Fabaceae
നിലനാരകം	Goanese Ipecacuanha	Naregamla Alata W&A. Meliaceae
നിലപ്പന	Black Musale, Golden eye-grass	Curculigo Orchioides Gaertn. Amaryllidaceae
നിലമ്പരണ്ട	Tick Clover	Desmodium Triflorum (Linn.) Dc. Fabaceae
നിലവാക	India Senna, Tinnevelly Senna	Cassia Angustifolia Wahl., Senna Linn.
നീരാരൽ	Uttanjan	Blepharis Edulis Pers. Acanthaceae
നീർതൊട്ടാവാടി	Sensitive Water Plant	Neptunia Oleracea Lour. Mimosaceae
നീർമരുത്‌	Arjuna Myrobalan	Terminalia Arjuna Wight. & Am. Combretaceae
നീർമാതളം	Three-Leaved Caper	Crataeva Nurvala , Religiosa
നീലഅമരി	Indigo plant	Indigofera Aspalathoides Vahl. Papilionaceae
നീലക്കീര	Pigweed, little hogweed	Portulaca Quadrifida Linn.
നീലക്കൊടുവേലി	Blue leadwort, Cape leadwort	Plumbago auriculata
നീലകൂവ	Curcuma Starch, Indian Arrowroot	Curcuma Angustifolia Roxb. Scitaminaceae
നീലയമരി	True Indigo, Indian Indigo	Indigofera Tinctoria Linn. Papilionaceae
നെന്മേനിവാക	Sirissa Tree, woman’s tongues tree	Acacia Speciosa Linn./ Albizia lebbeck
നെയ്യുണ്ണി	Creeping Cucumber, Diversely-leaved melothria	Solena Amplexicaulis
നെല്ല്	Paddy	Oryza Sativa Linn. , Plena Chowdhury Poaceae
നെല്ലി	Indian Goose Berry	Emblica Officinalis
നെല്ലിക്ക	Amla Indian Goose Berry	Emblica Officinalis
പച്ചമഞ്ഞൾ	Wet Turmeric	Turmeric-Curcuma Longa
പച്ചോറ്റി	Lodh tree, Parala, Kamblivetti	Symplocos Cochinchinensis
പതിമുകം	Brazil Wood	Caesalpinia Sappan Linn. Caesalpiniaceae
പഞ്ഞപ്പുല്ല്	Finger Millet, Indian Millet	Eleusine Coracana (Linn.) Gaertn.
പടവലം	Snake Cucumber	Utilissimus (Roxb.) Cucurbitaceae
പതിമുകം	Sappan Wood	Caesalpina Sappan
പനച്ചി	Gaub Tree, Ebony	Diospyros Tomentosa Roxb. Ebenaceae
പന്നൽചെടി	Black maiden hair, fern	Adiantum Lunulatum
പന്നികിഴങ്ങു	Vrddhi	Habenaria Intermedia D.Don Orchidaceae
പനിക്കൂർക്ക	Country Borage, Indian Borage	Coleus Amboinicus Benth., Plectranthus
പനികൂർക്ക	Thick-Leaved Lavender	Anisochilus Carnosus Wall. Labiatae
പയസ്വിനി	Dandelion, Blow Ball	Taraxacum Officinalis Weber Euphorbiaceae
പര്‍പ്പടകം	Two-Flowered Indian Madder	Oldenlandia Corymbosa Linn. , Biflora, Herbacea
പരുത്തി	Indian Tree Cotton	Gossypium Arboreum Linn. Malvaceae
പരുവമരം	Siamese Rough-Bush	Streblus Asper Linn. Urticaceae, Moraceae
പർപടകം	Common Fumitory	Fumaria Indica Pungsley, Parviflora, Vaillantii
പറങ്കിമാവ്	Chashew Nut tree	Anacardium Occidententale
പലകപ്പയ്യാനി	Bone Setter	Vitis Quandrangularis Linn. , Wall. Vitaceae
പ്ലാശ്	Bastard Teak, Flame of the forest	Butea Monosperma Kuntze Frondosa
പഴുതാരക്കാലി	Tapeworm Plant, Ribbon bush	Muehlenbeckia Platy Clados
പസളി	Indian Spinach, Malabar Nightshade	Basella Alba Linn. Chenopodiaceae
പാടത്താളി	Buckler-leaved moon	Cyclea Peltata (Lam) Hook.F.& Thomas.
പാണൽ	Ash Sheora, Orange berry or Gin berry	Glycosmis Arborea (Roxb.) Dc. Rutaceae
പായൽ	Duckweed, Vallisnaria, Soft hornwort	Serratophyllum Submersom Lemanaceae
പാരിജാതം	Night Jasmine, Coral Jasmine	Nyctanthes Arbor-Tristis Linn. Oleaceae
പാൽമുതക്ക്	Giant Potato, Wild Yam	Ipomoea Mauritiana Jacq., Paniculata R. Br.
പാവ്	China Root	Smilax China Linn., Glabra Liliaceae
പാവൽ	Bitter Gourd, Carilla Fruit	Momordica Charantia Linn. Cucurbitaceae
പാഷൻ ഫ്രൂട്ട്	Passion Flower	Passiflora Incarnata Passifloraceae
പിച്ചി	Royal jasmine, Spanish Jasmine	Jasminum Grandiflorum Linn. Oleaceae
പിനാർ	Sap trees	Garcinia Xanthochymus Hook. Guttiferae
പിയർ	Pear	Pyrus Communis Linn. Rosaceae
പിലു	Tooth brush tree, Vaan, Peelu	Salvadora Oleoides Dene. Salvadoraceae
പീച്ച്	Peach	Prunus Persica Stokes Rosaceae
പീച്ചിൽ	Ridged gourd, Sponge gourd	Luffa Amara Roxb. , Plucketiana, Foetida
പീചിലിങ്ങ	Wash Sponge, Sponge Gourd, Vegetable Sponge	Luffa Cylindrica Linn. Cucurbitaceae
പീരപെട്ടിക്ക	Bitter cucumber, Desert gourd	Citrullus Colocynthis
പുകയില	Tobacco	Nicotiana Tabacum Linn. Solanaceae
പുട്ടിൽപീര	Bristly Luffa	Luffa Echinata Roxb. Cucurbitaceae
പുണ്യാവ	Wild Himalayan Cherry	Prunus Cerasoides- Prunus Mahalab
പുതിന	Spearmint	Mentha Spicia (Spicate), Viridis, Sylvestris Linn.
പുതിന	Peppermint	Mentha Piperita Linn. Labiatae
പുന്നാകം	Alexandrian Laurel	Ochrocarpus Longifolius Benth. & Hook. F. Guttiferae
പുലതാലി	Poison Bulb, Giant Crinum Lily	Crinum Asiaticum Linn. Amaryllidaceae
പുല്ലാഞ്ഞി	Paper flower climber, Ukshi	Calycopteris Floribunda Lamk. Combretaceae
പുളിഇല	Veins Of Tamarind Leaves	Tamarindus Indicus
പുളിഞ്ചിക്കായ്	Gamboge	Garcinia Morella
പുളിയാറില	Indian Sorrel	Oxalis Corniculata Linn. Geraniaceae
പുളിവാക	Black Siris	Albizzia Odoratissima (Linn. F.) Benth. Mimosaceae
പുഷ്കരമൂലാ	Pushkar	Inula Racemosa Hook.F. Asteraceae
പൂച്ചക്കുരു	Job’s Tear	Coix Lacryma-Jobi Linn. , L. Lacryma Linn.
പൂവരശ്ശ്	Portia Tree, Indian tulip tree	Thespesia Populnea
പൂവാംകുറുന്തൽ	Iron weed, Ash-Colored Fleabane	Vernonia Cineria Less. Compositae
പെരികിലം	Hill glory bower	Clerodendrum Infortunatum Linn., Viscosum Vent.
പെരുംകുരുമ്പ	Rajmahal hemb	Marsdenia Tenacissima Wight. & Am.
പെരുംജീരകം	Fennel	Foeniculum Vulgare Mill., Anethum Foeniculum Linn.
പെരുംതുമ്പ, കരിന്തുമ്പ	Malabar Catmint	Anisomeles Malabarica
പെരുമരം-ലക്ഷ്മിതരു	Tree of heaven, Lakshmi tharu	Ailantus Excelsa Roxb. Simaroubaceae
പേക്കുമ്മട്ടി	Colocynth (Root)	Citrullus Colocynthis
പേരാൽ	Indian banyan	Ficus Bengalensis
പേരേലം	Greater Cardamom	Amomum Subulatum Roxb. Scitaminaceae
പേഴ്	Wild Guava, Slow match tree	Careya Arborea Roxb. Myrtaceae,
പൈൻ	Chir pine, Longleaved pine	Pinus Roxburghi / Longifolia
പൊങ്ങലം	Lucky Bean Tree	Putranjiva Roxburghii
പൊങ്ങില്യം-ലക്ഷ്മിതരു	Tree of heaven	Ailantus Excelsa Roxb. Simaroubaceae
പൊട്ടക്കാവളം	Peon, Poon Tree, Wild Indian Almond	Sterculia Foetida Linn. Sterculiaceae
പൊൻ‌കൊരണ്ടി	Salaretin	Salacia Reticulata Wight
പൊന്നങ്ങാണി	Sessile joyweed	Alternanthera Sessilis R. Br. Ex Dc.
പൊള്ള	Levant Berries, Fish Berries	Anamirta Cocculus W & A. Menispermaceae
പോന്നാരവീരം	Negro Coffee	Cassia Occidentalis Linn. Caesalpiniaceae
പോപ്പി	Opium, White Poppy	Papaver Somniferum Linn. Papaveraceae
ബദാം	Almond	Amygdalus Commonis Linn
ബ്രഹ്മി	Thyme-Leaved Gratiola	Bacopa, Herpestis Monnieri Pennell Scrophulariaceae
ബ്ലീഡിംഗ് ഹാർട്ട്	Bleeding-heart	Clerondendrum Serratum- Spreng. Verbenaceae
ബാർലി	Kshara of Barley	Hordeum Vulgare
ബീട്രൂട്ട്	Beetroot	Beta Vulgaris Linn. Chenopodiaceae
ബെന്നിചെടി	Blood-Veined Sage	Salvia Haematodes W. Labiatae
ബെല്ലഡോണ	Deadly Nightshade	Atropa Belladonna Linn. Solanaceae
മക്കി, ഇരവി	Gamboge	Garcinia Morella
മക്കിപൂവ്	Indian Wormwood, Fleabane, Mugwort	Artemisia Vulgaris Linn., Nilagirica Pamp.
മങ്ങോസ്ടിൻ	Indian Rhubarb	Garcinia Pedunculata Roxb.
മങ്ങോസ്ടിൻ	Purple Mongosteen	Garcinia Pedunculata
മഞ്ചട്ടി	Indian Madder	Rubia Cordifoia Linn
മഞ്ഞക്കടമ്പ്	Adina	Haldina Cordifolia Roxb. Rubiaceae
മഞ്ഞകരിംകണ്ണി	Chinese Wedelia	Wedelia Chinensis Merrill, Calendulacea Less.
മഞ്ഞട്ടി	Indian Madder	Rubia Cordifolia Linn. Rubiaceae
മഞ്ഞപ്പരുതി	Yellow-Flowered Cotton Tree	Gossypium Dc. Cochlospermaceae
മഞ്ഞമന്ദാരം	Phalg, Yellow orchid tree	Bauhinia Tomentosa Linn.
മഞ്ഞമുല്ല	Yellow jasmine	Jasminum Humile Linn., Chrysanthemum Roxb.
മഞ്ഞൾ	Turmeric	Curcuma Longa
മണൽകീര	Sand Herbage	Gisekia Pharnaceoides Linn. Ficoidaceae
മണല്കീര	Indian Parselane, pigweed, little hogweed	Portulaca Oleraceae Linn. Portulacaceae
മണിപ്ലാന്റ്റ്	Devil’s ivy, golden pothos	Rhaphidophora Laciniata (Burm.F.) Merr.
മത്തൻ	Red Gourd	Cucurbita Maxima Duchesne. Cucurbitaceae
മത്തിപുളി	Brown Indian Hemp	Hibiscus Cannabinus Linn. Malvaceae
മധുര കിഴങ്ങ്	Sweet Potato	Ipomoea Batatas (Linn.) Lam.
മധുരനാരങ്ങ	True Sweet Lime	Citrus Limetta W&A.
മയിൽപീലി	Peacock’s Tail	Actinopteris Dichotoma Bedd. Polypodiaceae
മരപ്പയാൽ	Stone Flower	Parmelia Perlata (Huds.) Ach. Lichenes
മരപ്പായൽ	Rock fungie	Parmelia Perlata
മരമഞ്ഞൾ	Black Sandalwood, Tree Turmeric	Coscinium Fenestratum Gaertn. & Colebr.
മരമഞ്ഞൾ	Indian Barberry	Berberis Aristata
മരമുല്ല	Orange Jasmine	Murraya paniculata
മരോട്ടി	Jangli Almond, Marothi Tree	Hydnocarpus Laurifolia Sleumer, Wightiana Blume.
മലഇഞ്ചി	Java Glangal	Alpinia Galanga Willd. , Calcarata Scitaminaceae
മലതാങ്ങി	Velvet Leaf, Parrot Root, Moonseed	Cocculus Hirsutus (Linn.) Diels
മലതാങ്ങി	Cyclea Peltata, velvet leaf	Cissampelos Pariera , Cissampelos Pariera
മലമന്ദാരം	Mountain Ebony	Bauhinia Racemosa oxb. Leguminosae
മലമ്പാവട്ട	Wild Cowry Fruit	Casearia Esculanta Roxb. Samydaceae
മലമ്പുന്ന	Chalta	Dillenia Indica Linn. Dillenisceae
മല്ലി	Cilantro Leaf	Coriandrum Sativum Linn. Umbelliferae
മല്ലിഇല	Celery leaf-Cilantro leaf	Apium Graveolens,
മൾബറി	White Mulberry	Morus Alba Linn. Urticaceae
മഴുക്കാഞ്ഞിരം	Axlewood	Anogeissus Latifolia Wall.
മാങ്ങ	Mango, Spring Tree, Cupid’s Favorite	Mangifera Indica Linn. Anacardiaceae
മാതളനാരകം	Pomegranate	Punica Granatam Linn. Punicaceae
മുക്കാപീരം	Rough Bryony	Mukia Maderaspatana (Linn.) Roem.
മുക്കുറ്റി	Ground palm	Biophytum Sensitivum Dc. Geraniaceae
മുഞ്ഞ	Arani	Premna Integrifolia Linn. , Obtusifolia Verbenaceae
മുത്തങ്ങ	Chufa, Tiger Nut, Rush Nut, Musta Nut Grass	Cyperus Esculentus Linn. Cyperaceae
മുത്തങ്ങ	white water sedge, Bulrush, deergrass	Kyllinga Nemoralis Dandy. Ex Hutch , Monocephala
മുതിര	Horse Gram	Dolichos Biflorus Linn. , Vigna Unquiculata
മുതുക്ക്	Indian Kudzu	Pueraria Tuberosa Leguminosae
മുന്തിരി	Grapes	Vitis Vinifera Linn. Vitaceae
മുയൽ ചെവിയൻ	lilac tasselflower	Emilia Sonchifolia (Linn.) Dc. Asteraceae
മുരിക്ക്‌	Indian Coral Tree, Moochy Wood Tree	Erythrina Indica Lam. Papilionaceae
മുരിങ്ങ	Horse Radish, Drumstick Plant	Moringa Oleifera Lam., Pterygosperma Gaertn.
മുരുത്തോൻ	Peon, Poon Tree, Wild Indian Almond	Sterculia Foetida Linn. Sterculiaceae
മുല്ല	Tree Jasmine	Jasminum Arborescens Roxb. Oleaceae
മുള, ഇല്ലി	Reed	Arundo Donax Linn. Gramineae
മുള്ള്ഇലവ്	Red Silk-Cotton(Elavu)	Salmalia Malabarica, Bombax Malabaricum
മുള്ളൻ കുറുംതോട്ടി	Prickly Sida	Sida Spinosa Linn., Alba, Alinifolia Malvaceae
മുള്ളൻപാവൽ	Gac	Momordica Cochinchinensis Spreng. Cucurbitaceae
മുള്ളന്ചീര	Prickly Amaranth, Joseph’s-coat	Amarantus Spinosus Amarantaceae
മൂങ്ങാപേഴ്	Cuddapa Almond, Charoli	Buchanania Lanzan Spreng. , Latifolia
മൂടില്ലതാളി	Dodder	Cuscuta Reflexa Roxb. Convolvulaceae
മെയ്സ്	Corn, Indian Corn, Maize	Zea Mays Linn. Poaceae
മേച്ചിൽപുല്ലു	Roofing grass	Saccharum Munja Roxb. Gramineae
മേചിൽപ്പുല്ല്	Breadgrass	Andropogon Iwarancusa
മേന്തോന്നി	Wolf’s Bane, Glory Lily, Flame lilly	Gloriosa Superba Linn. Liliaceae
മൈലാഞ്ചി	Henna, Persian Red, Egyptian Priven	Lawsonia Alba Lam., Inermis Linn. Lythraceae
മോതിരക്കണ്ണി	Climbing Flax	Hugonia Mystax Linn. Linaceae
യൂക്കാലി	Blue Gum Eucalyptus, Australian Fever Tree	Eucalyptus Globulus Labill. Myrtaceae
രക്തചന്ദനം	Red sandal	Pterocarpus Santalinus
രാമച്ചം	Beard grass, Bluestem grass	Andropogon Muricatus
രാമച്ചം	Khaskhas Grass, Vetiveria	Vetiveria Zizanioides Nash Gramineae
രുദ്രാക്ഷം	Utrasum-Bead Tree	Elaeocarpus Sphaericus (Gaertn.) K. Schum.
റാഗി	Finger Millet, Indian Millet	Eleusine Coracana (Linn.) Gaertn.
റാഡിഷ്	Radish	Raphanus Sativus Linn. Cruciferae
റോസ	Rose, Cabbage Rose, Pale Rose	Rosa Centifolia Linn. Rosaceae
ലിച്ചി	Lychee	Litchi Chinensis
ളൂയിക്ക	Governor’s Plum	Flacourtia Ramoutchi Fam., Indica Merr.
വഞ്ചിമരം	Indian Willow	Salix Tetrasperma Roxb. Salicaceae
വട്ടവള്ളി	Velvet Leaf	Cissampelos Pareira Linn. Menispermaceae
വൻകടലാടി	Apamarga	Achyarnthes Aspera
വൻപയർ	Cowpea	Vigna Unguiculata / Cylindrica Papilionaceae,
വന്കടലാടി	Pasture weed	Cyathula Prostrata
വന്നിമരം	Sponge Tree	Prosopis Specigera Linn. Mimosaceae
വയമ്പ്	Sweet Flag, Calamus	Acorus Calamus
വയൽച്ചുള്ളി	Hygrophila (Root)	Asteracantha Longifolia
വയൽമുത്തങ്ങ	Bush onion	Cyperus Bulbosus, Nyctanthes Arbor-Tristis
വയല്ച്ചുള്ളി	Hygrophila	Hygrophila (Root)- Asteracantha Longifolia
വലിയകച്ചോലം	Spiked Ginger Lily	Hedychium Spicatum Ham. Scitaminaceae
വലിയകടലാടി	Prickly Chaff Flower	Achyranthes Aspera Linn. Amaranthaceae
വലിയകുറുംതോട്ടി	Indian Country mallow	Pavonia Indica
വലിയഞെരിഞ്ഞിൽ	Large caltrops	Pedalium Murex Linn. Pedaliaceae
വലിയനറുവരി	Sebesten Plum	Cordia Wallichii ., Latifolia Roxb. Boraginaceae
വള്ളിചീര	Indian Spinach Malabar Nightshade	Basella Alba Linn. Chenopodiaceae
വളളിചൊറിയണം	Indian Stinging Nettle	Tragia Involucrata, Cannabina Linn.
വള്ളിപ്പാല	Vomiting Swallow Wort, Indian Ipecac	Asclepias Asthmatica , Tylophora Asthmatica
വഴന	Malabar leaf, Indian bark.	Cinnamomum Tamala Nees & Eberm. Lauraceae
വഴുതന	Brinjal	Solanum melangona
വഷളചീര	Indian Spinach	Basella Rubra Linn. Chenopodiaceae
വാതംകൊല്ലി	willow-leaved justicia	Justicia Gendarussa Burm.F.
വാതക്കൊടി	Naravelia	Naravelia Zeylanica (Linn.) Dc.
വാതകൊടി	Fox-Grape	Cayratia Carnosa Gagnep., Vitis Carnosa Linn.
വാൽമുളക്	Java Pepper	Piper Cubeba
വാൽമുളക്	Pepper, Indian Long pepper	Piper Longum Linn. Piperaceae
വാല്മുളക്	Tailed pepper	Cubeba Officinalis
വാളൻപുളി	Tamarind	Tamarindus Indica Linn. Leguminosae
വാളരിപ്പയർ	Sword Bean, Broad Bean	Canavalia Gladiata Dc., Censiformis Sensu Baker
വാഴ	Banana Tree	Musa Paradisiaca
വാഴചെടി	Brown Peacock	Roscoea Purpurea Royle. , Prucera Wall.
വാഴപഴം	Plantain, Banana	Musa Paradisiaca Linn. , Sapientum
വാസ്തുചീര	Goose Foot, Wild Spinach	Chenopodium Album Linn. Chenopodiaceae
വിളാങ്കായ്	Elephant Apple	Feronia Limonia, Limonia Acidissima Linn.
വിളാവ്	Wood Apple	Feronia Limonia, Limonia Acidissima Linn.
വിഴാൽ	Embilia, False Black Pepper	Embelia Ribes Burm. Myrsinaceae
വിഷ്ണുക്രാന്തി	Dankuni Plant, Slender Dwarf Morning Glory	Evolvulus Alsinoides Linn. Convolvulaceae
വെട്ടുപാല	Pale Indigo Plant, Sweet Indrajao	Wrightia Tinctoria (Roxb.)R.Br. Apocynaceae
വെടതല	Sicklebush, Bell mimosa, Chinese lantern tree	Dichrostachys Cinerea (Linn), Mimosa Cinerea
വെണ്ട	Okra, ladies fingure	Hibiscus Esculentus Linn.
വെരുകുംപുഴു	Civet	Fragrant Animal Excretion
വെറ്റില	Beetal leaf	Piper Betle Linn
വെറ്റിലകൊടി	Betel, Betel Leaf, Betel Pepper	Piper Betel Linn. Piperaceae
വെള്ളഎരുക്ക്	Mudar Bowstring Hemp	Gigantic Swallow Wort-Calotropis
വെള്ളക്കടുക്	White Mustard	Brassica Alba Rabehn. Cruciferae
വെള്ളക്കരിങ്ങാലി	White Cutch Tree, White Catech	Acacia Polyantha Will. Mimosaceae
വെള്ളകുറുംതോട്ടി	Hribera	Pavonia Odorata
വെള്ളകൊടുവേലി	White Lead Wort , Doctorbush	Plumbago Zeylanica
വെള്ളനൊച്ചി	Chaste Tree, Chaste berry	Vitex Agnus-Castus Verbenaceae
വെള്ളപ്പാതിരി	Indian trumpet, Broken born	Oroxylum Indicum
വെള്ളപ്പൈൻ	Indian Koppel tree, White dammar	Vateria Indica
വെള്ളമഞ്ഞൾ	Mango-Ginger, White Turmeric	Curcuma Amada Roxb./ Curcuma Zedoaria
വെള്ളമരുത്	Flowering Murdah	Terminalia Paniculata Roth Combretaceae
വെള്ളമുസലി	White Musli	Chlorophytum Tuberosum Baker Liliaceae
വെള്ളരി	Cucumber	Cucumis Sativus Linn. Cucurbitaceae
വെള്ളവേലം	Cassia Flower, Sponge Tree	Acacia Leucophloea, Farnesiana Willd. Fabaceae,
വെള്ളിലം	Wild mussaenda, Dhobe tree	Mussaendra Frondosa Linn. , Flavescens Rubiaceae
വെള്ളൂരം	Flannel weed	Sida Cordata Borssum, Veronicaefolia Lam.
വെളുത്തുള്ളി	Garlic	Allum Sativum Linn. Liliaceae
വേങ്ങ	Indian Kino Malabar Kino	Pterocarpus Marsupium
വേനൽപച്ച	White weed, Appa Grass	Ageratum Conyzoides Linn. Asteraceae
വേപ്പ്	Indian Lilac, Margosa Tree	Azidiracta Indica A Juss. Meliaceae
വേലിപ്പരത്തി	Pergularia	Pergularia Daemia Chiov.
ശങ്കുപുശ്പം	Clitoris flower	Clitoria Ternatea
ശങ്ങപുഷ്പി	Canscora, Winged-Stem Canscora	Canscora Decussata Roem. Et. Sch. Gentianaceae
ശങുപുഷ്പം	Butterfly Pea, Clitoria	Clitoria Ternatea Linn. Papilionaceae , Fabaceae
ശതാവരി	Asparagus Root	Asparagus Racemosus Willd. Liliaceae
ശവക്കോട്ടപച്ച	Madagascar Periwinkle	Catharanthus Roseus G.Don. , Vinca Rosea Linn.
ശിംശപ	Indian Rosewood, Eetty	Dalbergia Sissoo
ശിവമുല്ല	Snake Jasmine, Dainty Spurs	Rhinacanthus Communis
ശീമനെല്ലി	Indian plum, coffee plum	Flacourtia Jangomas Flacourtiaceae
സബോള	Bulb onion, Common onion	Allium Cepa
സർപ്പഗന്ധി	Sarpagandha	Rauvolfia Serpentina.
സർപ്പപോള	Devil’s tongue, Bowstring hemp	Sansevieria Zeylanica, Roxburghiana Schult.
സവാള	Onion	Allum cepa
സാമുദ്രപ്പച്ച	Elephant Creeper, Woolly Morning Glory	Argyreia Speciosa Sweet, Nervosa Boj. ,
സിങ്കോണ	Quinine Bark, Peruvian Bark	Cinchona Officinalis Linn. Rubiaceae
സീതപ്പഴം	Custard Apple, Sugar Apple	Annona Squamosa Linn. Annonaceae
സൂചിമുല്ല	Needle Flower Jasmine	Jasmin Auriculata Vahl. Oleaceae
സൂര്യകാന്തി	Sunflower	Helianthus Annuus Linn. Asteraceae
സോപ്പുകുരുമരം	Indian Filbert, Soapnut Tree	Sapindus Trifoliatus Linn., Laurifolia Vahl
സോമലത	Ephedra, Joint-pine, Mormon-tea	Ephedra Vulgaris Rich. , Gerardiana Ephedraceae
സോമവല്ലി	Mood Plant, Moon Creeper	Sarcostemma Acidum Voigt, Brevistigma W&A.
ഹരന്ദി	Chamror	Ehretia Laevis Roxb. Boraginaceae

Why Darwinism Is False

2017-02-28T17:46:00.001+05:30

B Vitamins Reduce Schizophrenia Symptoms: Study

2017-02-27T20:26:00.001+05:30

B Vitamins Reduce Schizophrenia Symptoms: Study

(Copyright Dreamstime)

By Sylvia Booth Hubbard | Thursday, 16 Feb 2017 11:40 AM

High doses of B vitamins reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia, says a study published in the journal Psychological Medicine. Researchers found that adding B vitamins, including B6, inositol, and B12 significantly improved symptoms of the debilitating condition.

Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic mental disorder that makes people feel they have lost touch with reality, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Symptoms can include hearing voices or seeing things that aren’t there, and thinking others are reading their minds or planning to harm them. Up to 3.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with the disorder.

Currently, patients are treated with antipsychotic drugs. Although patients typically experience remission of symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions within the first few months of treatment, 80 percent of patients relapse within five years.

For the new study, researchers identified 18 clinical trials with a combined total of 832 patients receiving antipsychotic treatment for schizophrenia. They found that B-vitamin interventions which used higher dosages or combined several vitamins were consistently effective for reducing psychiatric symptoms, whereas those which used lower doses were ineffective.

The evidence also suggested that B-vitamin supplements were most beneficial when they were added to medicine regimens early after diagnosis.

“Looking at all of the data from clinical trials of vitamin and mineral supplements for schizophrenia to date, we can see that B vitamins effectively improve outcomes for some patients,” said lead author Joseph Firth of the University of Manchester.

“This could be an important advance, given that new treatments for this condition are so desperately needed.”

“This builds on existing evidence of other food-derived supplements, such as certain amino-acids, which have been beneficial for people with schizophrenia,” said co-author Jerome Sarris of Western Sydney University.

“These new findings also fit with our latest research examining how multi-nutrient treatments can reduce depression and other disorders.” Recent research, also conducted at the University of Manchester, found that aerobic exercise can ease the symptoms of schizophrenia. Researchers analyzed data from 10 clinical trials and found that 12 weeks of aerobic exercise, including treadmills and exercise bikes, significantly improved memory and concentration.

“We are searching for new ways to treat these aspects of the illness, and now research is increasingly suggesting that physical exercise can provide a solution,” said Firth.

Godhra train burning was BJP’s pre-planned conspiracy

2017-02-20T21:13:00.001+05:30

“Godhra train burning was BJP’s pre-planned conspiracy to create communal divide for winning Gujarat election”

“The burning of Sabarmati Express at Godhra was a pre-planned conspiracy”, claim leaders of Patel agitation.

They have alleged that it was planned to create communal divide and set off riots so that the BJP could win the Gujarat election in 2002.

The stunning statement of the Patel leaders has once again brought to fore the mystery of the fire in the Sabarmati Express, which led to riots across Gujarat.

Rahul Desai and Lal Bhai Patel, who are leaders of the Patidar Samiti, who have now openly said that Godhra train fire was pre-planned. The BJP is a communal party and had there been no communal carnage, Narendra Modi won’t have been re-elected as chief minister in 2002, said Desai.

Earlier too there have been questions raised over the circumstances surrounding the mysterious train blaze at Godhra. But Patel agitation leaders’ charge has come as a surprise. Patels are angry at the crackdown on them, especially, the leader of agitation Hardik Patel, who is in jail on sedition charges.

The bodies of the dead were taken around along with processions, rousing tempers and the result was riots all over the State. It is alleged that ‘go ahead’ was given from the top and there were verbal orders to police and administration to let rioters attack Muslims, their houses and establishments.

The result was a pogrom which led to over 1,000 killings and mass rapes. This became a blot on the secular fabric of India. Separate commissions looked into the train fire and the riots that followed but the mystery had remained.

10 Terms Not to Use with Muslim

2017-02-08T17:17:00.002+05:30

March 30, 2009

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Hadith: Kindness and Simplicity
10 Terms Not to Use with Muslims (CS Monitor)
CAIR: Obama Speech in Turkey a Potential Bridge (USA Today)
- CAIR: Muslims Seeking Greater Influence (Chicago Trib)
CAIR-TX: Gender Equity Rooted in Teachings of Islam
CAIR-CA: Hundreds March to Honor Cesar Chavez (Sac Bee)
- CAIR-San Antonio Helps Honor Cesar Chavez
McCarthyist Tactics Alive and Well, Thanks to the FBI
WA: Multifaith Passover Event Increases Understanding

NY: Muslims Reaching Out to Christians

MI: Trading Firm COO Challenges Popular Image of Muslims

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HADITH OF THE DAY: KINDNESS AND SIMPLICITY - TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Be kind, for whenever kindness becomes part of something, it beautifies it. Whenever it is taken from something, it leaves it tarnished.”
He also said: “Make things simple and do not complicate them. Calm people and do not drive them away.”
Imam Bukhari’s Book of Muslim Manners
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10 TERMS NOT TO USE WITH MUSLIMS - TOP
There's a big difference between what we say and what they hear.
Chris Seiple, Christian Science Monitor, 3/28/09
Arlington, Va. - In the course of my travels from the Middle East to Central Asia to Southeast Asia it has been my great privilege to meet and become friends with many devout Muslims. These friendships are defined by frank respect as we listen to each other; understand and agree on the what, why, and how of our disagreements, political and theological; and, most of all, deepen our points of commonality as a result.
I have learned much from my Muslim friends, foremost this: Political disagreements come and go, but genuine respect for each other, rooted in our respective faith traditions, does not. If there is no respect, there is no relationship, merely a transactional encounter that serves no one in the long term.
As President Obama considers his first speech in a Muslim majority country (he visits Turkey April 6-7), and as the US national security establishment reviews its foreign policy and public diplomacy, I want to share the advice given to me from dear Muslim friends worldwide regarding words and concepts that are not useful in building relationships with them. Obviously, we are not going to throw out all of these terms, nor should we. But we do need to be very careful about how we use them, and in what context.
1. "The Clash of Civilizations." Invariably, this kind of discussion ends up with us as the good guy and them as the bad guy. There is no clash of civilizations, only a clash between those who are for civilization, and those who are against it. Civilization has many characteristics but two are foundational: 1) It has no place for those who encourage, invite, and/or commit the murder of innocent civilians; and 2) It is defined by institutions that protect and promote both the minority and the transparent rule of law.
2. "Secular." The Muslim ear tends to hear "godless" with the pronunciation of this word. And a godless society is simply inconceivable to the vast majority of Muslims worldwide. Pluralism which encourages those with (and those without) a God-based worldview to have a welcomed and equal place in the public square is a much better word.
3. "Assimilation." This word suggests that the minority Muslim groups in North America and Europe need to look like the majority, Christian culture. Integration, on the other hand, suggests that all views, majority and minority, deserve equal respect as long as each is willing to be civil with one another amid the public square of a shared society.
4. "Reformation." Muslims know quite well, and have an opinion about, the battle taking place within Islam and what it means to be an orthodox and devout Muslim. They don't need to be insulted by suggesting they follow the Christian example of Martin Luther. Instead, ask how Muslims understand ijtihad, or reinterpretation, within their faith traditions and cultural communities.
5. "Jihadi." The jihad is an internal struggle first, a process of improving one's spiritual self-discipline and getting closer to God. The lesser jihad is external, validating "just war" when necessary. By calling the groups we are fighting "jihadis," we confirm their own and the worldwide Muslim public's perception that they are religious. They are not. They are terrorists, hirabists, who consistently violate the most fundamental teachings of the Holy Koran and mainstream Islamic scholars and imams. (More)
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CAIR: OBAMA HEADS OVERSEAS TO TACKLE WORLD ECONOMY - TOP
Richard Wolf, USA Today, 3/30/09
After 10 weeks in office trying to save the U.S. economy, President Obama is ready to take on the world economy. Whether the world is ready for his remedy remains in doubt.
Obama flies to London on Tuesday, then on to four other nations, for his first overseas trip since assuming office and with the global economy in shambles. It's one of the most anticipated presidential trips since John Kennedy went to Berlin in 1963…
The trip is set to end in Turkey, a nation that is 99% Muslim but has direct ties to the West. "Turkey has always been viewed as a bridge between East and West, a kind of stabilizing influence in the region," says Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
In his inaugural address, Obama pledged to seek a new relationship with the Muslim world "based on mutual interest and mutual respect." As a result, his every move and phrase in Ankara and Istanbul will be closely followed. (More)
SEE ALSO:

CAIR: MUSLIMS SEEKING GREATER INFLUENCE - TOP
Effort puts resumes of top candidates in White House hands
Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Chicago Tribune, 3/29/09

In a bid to get more Muslim Americans working in the Obama administration, a book with resumes of 45 of the nation's most qualified—Ivy League grads, Fortune 500 executives and public servants, all carefully vetted—has been submitted to the White House.
The effort, driven by community leaders and others, including Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), was bumped up two weeks ahead of schedule because White House officials heard about the venture, said J. Saleh Williams, program coordinator for the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association who sifted through more than 300 names.
"It was mostly under the radar," Williams said. "We thought it would put [the president] in a precarious position. We didn't know how closely he wanted to appear to be working with the Muslim American community."
The effort aims to get the administration focused on Muslim Americans, a group that has at times felt like a pariah. During the campaign, Obama's staff prevented Muslim women wearing head scarves from being photographed behind him, in one of many incidents that left Muslim Americans feeling slighted by the candidate.
Now, Muslim Americans—who according to a recent study overwhelmingly backed Obama in the November election—have been carefully watching the administration's every step.
Most expressed disappointment with Obama's initial silence during Israel's offensive in Gaza. They've been encouraged by the video message the president issued recently to the Iranian people on the eve of the Persian holiday of Nowruz, and they want more diplomacy with Syria and Iran. They've been troubled by FBI admissions of sending what activists call "agents provocateurs" into mosques, and the bureau's break in ties with Muslim American organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Community leaders hope the White House will consider Muslim Americans for posts in the administration. They say this is not just a chance for Muslim Americans to show their patriotism but also a chance for the country to engage the community and recognize its importance. There are an estimated 7 million to 8 million Muslims in America, but there have not been any Muslims appointed to key positions, as yet.
A White House aide confirmed the Obama administration had received the resumes, noting that it is "not unusual" for the administration to consider lists of job candidates suggested by constituent groups.
"We're still very much in the middle of the [hiring] process, even when it comes to very senior government employees. These things take time, and they're all based on finding the right fit," said the aide, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak publicly for the administration.
"Muslims are not looking for handouts," said Abdul Malik Mujahid, the Downers Grove founder of the Muslim Democrats, who points to Zalmay Khalilzad, tapped by former President George W. Bush for many key roles. "We're just looking for equal opportunity and inclusiveness. That will give a far better message to the Muslim world than speeches." . . .
Some hope Atty. Gen. Eric Holder will reverse Bush administration actions such as the FBI's decision to break formal ties with CAIR because it was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case involving the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation.
"We're hoping that once Eric Holder puts the department in order and places people in different positions, we can re-establish what were very positive relations [with the FBI] in our 15-year history," said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper. (More)
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CAIR-TX: GENDER EQUITY ROOTED IN TEACHINGS OF ISLAM - TOP
Sarwat Husain, San Antonio Express News, 3/28/09
Throughout history, women all over the world had to struggle for equality in a male-dominated world. During International Women's Month, it's worth considering how Islam's teachings were an early harbinger of gender equity - contrary to a common misperception.
Prior to Islam, a female child was often regarded as a threat to the economic welfare of the family and some were even buried alive as soon as they were born. As an adult, she was a sex object that could be bought and sold. From this inferior position, Islam raised women to a position of influence and prestige in the family and in society.
Many of the rights conferred on women by the Prophet Muhammad more than 1,400 years ago have only partially and grudgingly been given to women in other cultures in recent centuries.
With respect to gender equity, the essential human dignity and fundamental equality of women in Islam is at one with the feminist movement of the West, despite images of Muslim women in the media and some agenda-driven circles as ignorant, oppressed and submissive. The perception that Islam subjugates women is far from the facts. (More)
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CAIR-CA: HUNDREDS MARCH TO HONOR CESAR CHAVEZ - TOP
Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee, 3/28/09
More than 700 people took to the streets of downtown Sacramento today for a march honoring the late farm labor leader Cesar Chavez and to support issues ranging from workers' rights to an end to the war in Iraq. . .
The event was the ninth annual march sponsored by the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and included groups ranging from the Sacramento City Teachers Association to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. (More)
SEE ALSO:

CAIR-SAN ANTONIO HELPS HONOR CESAR CHAVEZ - TOP

(SAN ANTONIO, TX, 3/30/09) The San Antonio, Texas, chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SA) recently participated in a Cesar Chavez Ecumenical Service attended by representatives of many different faiths.

Speaking at the services as a representative of Islamic faith, Sarwat Husain, president of CAIR-SA said “We call on all people of good conscience to once again bring back the legacy of the union Leader Cesar Chavez by standing hand in hand in the long fight for peace and justice because we understand that service in the way of God is perfect freedom. It is neither restrictive nor limiting. Restrictions diminish a man's capacities and happiness. Oh God! Once again we are standing at the cross roads of oppression and injustice. You taught us that true excellence lies, not in the intellectual or manual attainments of people of differing gifts; but in the moral attainments of a pure heart.”

The services that were held at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church were focused on issues of peace and justice, and in particular, how those issues relate to immigration.

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 35 offices and chapters nationwide. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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MCCARTHYIST TACTICS ALIVE AND WELL, THANKS TO THE FBI - TOP
Yusuf Khan, Examiner.com, 3/28/09
Say, did you hear the big news about the FBI last week?
No? Come on!
Alright, because didn't read it in the Christian Science Monitor or the OC Register I'll fill you in. Here's the scoop.
In their noble effort to rid our country from the plague of terrorism, the Federal Bureau of Investigation hired an informant whose job it was to infiltrate California mosques with the hope of identifying suspicious individuals.
To quote, the exact assignment according to the informant was, "We want to perfect and train you to infiltrate the Islamic community."
Nice. Makes me feel great about popping into a local mosque for prayer.
Now you'd think that they would hire the ideal man for this noble, patriotic endeavor, right? Wrong.
In a profound display of extraordinary judgment. the man picked as the ideal candidate for the job was ex-con artist Craig Monteilh, convicted in 2008 for grand-theft.
Whoops. But wait, the fun doesn't end here. Read on!
Monteilh's assignment was to pose as a new Muslim convert named Farouk al-Aziz and spout fiery rhetoric to basically anyone who would listen. Whoever lended a sympathetic ear would be promptly reported to the FBI as a suspect terrorist.
As the "agent provocateur" visited mosque after mosque in SoCal, things weren't going so well for the Feds or Monteilh. They weren't finding any militants! In fact, the opposite happened. (More)
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PASSOVER: A DAY FOR FAITH AND UNDERSTANDING - TOP
Janet Jensen, News Tribune, 3/30/09
Muslims, Christians and Jews shared unleavened bread at a Passover Seder Sunday night in a Tacoma synagogue as a step toward building interfaith bonds and eventually a house.
Volunteers from the three faiths will join together to build a house on Tacoma’s East Side, from April 24 to mid-July, for Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity.
Habiba Karim, a Muslim from University Place, said the interfaith Seder at Temple Beth El was important because “it gives us a chance to understand each other.”
Her mother-in-law, Zarina Karim, agreed. “There’s so much to learn,” she said.
Led by Rabbi Bruce Kadden, the group of 50 recounted the Passover story of the ancient Hebrews’ deliverance from slavery.
They sat at tables with plates containing traditional Passover elements including matzo, or unleavened bread.
The word Passover comes from the book of Exodus, which tells how God killed the firstborn of Egyptian households but passed over the homes of the Israelites. The Israelites had to leave in such haste they had no time to let their bread rise, thus the tradition of unleavened bread.
Allison Wisco, a Christian who lives in Tacoma, said she found it “interesting to be involved with the ritual of the Seder.”. . .
American Indians also attended the Seder and are taking part in the building project. A salmon bake and an interfaith comedy show are planned before the house in Tacoma is completed, said Cassandra Jarles, with Habitat in Pierce County. (More)
SEE ALSO:

NY: REACHING OUT TO CHRISTIANS: MUSLIMS MARCH FOR RECONCILIATION - TOP
Hundreds rally in Binghamton
George Basler, Gannett News Service, 3/30/09
Muslims from the Southern Tier and other communities as far away as Michigan and South Carolina gathered in Binghamton on Sunday to celebrate the Prophet Muhammad's birthday and publicly urge reconciliation between Christianity and Islam.
"In many places Muslims and Christians are in conflict. This is senseless because it leads to a tremendous loss of life and suffering," said M. Hasib Haqq, public relations spokesman for the new United Muslim-Christian Forum, which organized Sunday's program.
The best way to overcome the conflict is to emphasize the commonalities between the two religions - namely belief in God, practice of The Ten Commandments and emphasis on "the golden rule" of "doing unto others as they would do unto you," he said.
More than 500 people, including a small number of non-Muslims, filled West Presbyterian Church on Main Street for a series of speeches, followed by a march on Main and Court streets to the Broome County Courthouse lawn.
West Presbyterian's board approved use of the church to "foster inter- religious dialogue, understanding and tolerance," said the Rev. Andrew Stehlik, pastor, who spoke during the program. Other speakers included Binghamton Mayor Matthew T. Ryan; the Rev. Tim Taugher of St. Catherine's Church in Hillcrest; and Khalifah Muhammad Hussein Adams, chairman of the Muslims of the Americas. (More)
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MI: EAST GRAND RAPIDS MAN CHALLENGES POPULAR IMAGE OF MUSLIMS - TOP
Charles Honey, Grand Rapids Press, 3/28/09
Muhammad Rasoul, chief operating officer of Global Forex Trading, has been in back-to-back meetings since 5:30 a.m., starting with a conference call to Japan and London. He hopes to be home in time to put his two younger kids to bed.
But in this typical wire-to-wire day, Rasoul also will make time for something sacred: the five prayers Muslims are expected to make each day.
"Anytime, I can close that door and do whatever I have to do," Rasoul says of his airy office at 4760 E. Fulton St. in Ada Township. "I really benefit from having that five minutes of peace and quiet to myself. It's almost like a meditation."
Prayer is an obligation Rasoul takes seriously, as he does all other aspects of his adopted Islamic faith. Whether it's flying to Singapore on business or teaching his children about God, Islam is his guidebook for doing the right thing.
If you think you know who Muslims are, meet Rasoul and think again. (More)

The Muslim guardian of Israel's daily bread

2017-02-08T17:16:00.002+05:30

The Muslim guardian of Israel's daily bread

For more than a decade, an Arab hotel manager has helped Orthodox Jews to observe the Passover – by buying up forbidden foods. Ben Lynfield reports

Monday, 6 April 2009

QUIQUE KIERSZENBAUM

Jaaber Hussein, a hotel manager, prepares to take control of much of Israel's bread, beer and pasta

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When Jaaber Hussein signs an agreement with Israel's Chief Rabbis tomorrow, he will be inking the only Arab-Jewish accord sure to be meticulously observed by both sides. The deal will make him the owner for one week of all bread, pasta and beer in Israel – well a huge amount of it anyway. The contract, signed for the past 12 years by the Muslim hotel food manager, is part of the traditional celebrations ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Jews are forbidden by biblical injunction to possess leavened bread, or chametz, during Passover and ironically an Arab is needed to properly observe the holiday. The agreement with Mr Hussein offers a way of complying with religious edicts without having to wastefully destroy massive quantities of food.
Through legal acrobatics, the forbidden goods belonging to the Israeli state are simply sold to Mr Hussein for the duration of Passover and then revert back to the state once the holiday is over. Like the government's adherence to the Sabbath and to dietary laws, the ceremony sets Israel apart as a Jewish state that upholds religious traditions.
Mr Hussein, a resident of the Israeli Arab town of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem, sees nothing odd in the arrangement, believing there are affinities between his Islamic faith and Judaism. He relishes the role the Jewish state has assigned him, one that puts his picture on the front pages of Israeli newspapers year after year.
"I see this as a way to help people with whom I work and live," he said.
Mr Hussein was a natural choice for the ritual because he works in a hotel that stringently observes Jewish dietary laws. He even keeps some of the strictures at home.
"There are many things that are close in the two religions. If not for politics, the religions would get along very well," he explains. One example he cites is the halal slaughtering of meat, which he likens to kosher slaughtering.
Passover, which celebrates the biblical exodus from slavery in Egypt, starts on Wednesday night and lasts for seven days, eight outside Israel.
The reason for the prohibition of leavened bread is, according to the Bible, that the Israelites departed Egypt in such haste that their bread did not have a chance to rise and so they ate the cracker-like unleavened bread known as matza.
Many of their descendants in modern Israel defer to this dictum every spring to the extent that a kind of fermented dough fixation suffuses the country. Housewives become the new slaves, scrubbing and vacuum cleaning to remove every trace of chametz. Religious men scald pots in the streets, making them kosher for the holiday.
For the Orthodox, there can be no half-measures. A single crumb that evades detection could spoil everything for Passover.
Those families who do not want the extra workload simply check in to kosher hotels and escape the ardour. Even secular Israelis stock up on pita bread and put it in their freezers so that they too have enough supplies to survive the week.
Tomorrow, Mr Hussein will put down a cash deposit of $4,800 (some 20,000 shekels or £3,245) for the $150m worth of leavened products he acquires from state companies, the prison service and the national stock of emergency supplies. The deposit will be returned at the end of the holiday, unless he decides to come up with the full value of the products. In that case he could, in theory, keep them all.
At the close of the holiday, the foodstuffs purchased by Mr Hussein revert back to their original owners, who have given the Chief Rabbis the power of attorney over their leavened products. "It's a firm, strong agreement done in the best way," Mr Hussein said.
But Israelis are divided on whether the state should be enforcing Passover. A law introduced by religious parties in 1986 bans the display of bread in public areas, except in those where there is a non-Jewish majority. But a court decision last year said it was legal for restaurants to sell leavened products during Passover on the grounds that they are not public spaces. The move sparked anger among the ultra-Orthodox Jews.
This year, ultra-Orthodox activists in Jerusalem sent warning letters to stores, telling them not to sell bread or pizza because this could bring divine punishment on the city. And the chief rabbinate called for supermarkets to install a computer program that would enable cash registers to detect unleavened products by their bar codes so sales could be stopped. Supermarkets cover over their chametz with papers, but the rabbis are concerned that some customers lift the covers and buy proscribed foods.
Variations of the contract between the Israeli state and Mr Hussein are being signed all over the world between selected non-Jews and rabbis, including those in the UK. The ceremony, like the absence of civil marriages in the country, reflects "some elements of theocracy" in the Israeli state, says Menachem Friedman, a sociologist at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv. "Israel is a unique state – very modern on the one hand but with very strong religious traditional elements on the other. Every government keeps this ritual."
In one final Passover twist, the restaurants of Mr Hussein's town, Abu Ghosh, are gearing up for what is always their busiest week of the year, catering to secular Jews who want to get away from the holiday's dietary strictures.
"It is also nice that you have people who don't keep Passover, who eat leavened bread," Mr Hussein said. "It is good that we are also able to help the people who are not religious."
Despite his goodwill, the chief rabbinate staffers do not seem overly attached to Israel's Arab of Passover. "It is true he is enabling people to celebrate the holiday, but if he didn't do it, there are plenty of other people who would," said Avi Blumenthal, an aide to Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger.

Vatican offers Islamic finance system to Western Banks

2017-02-08T17:15:00.002+05:30

Vatican offers Islamic finance system to Western Banks
The Vatican says Islamic finance system may help Western banks in crisis as alternative to capitalistm.
Friday, 06 March 2009 15:10
World Bulletin / News Desk
The Vatican offered Islamic finance principles to Western banks as a solution for worldwide economic crisis.
Daily Vatican newspaper, 'L'Osservatore Romano, reported that Islamic banking system may help to overcome global crisis, Turkish media reported.
The Vatican said banks should look at the ethical rules of Islamic finance to restore confidence amongst their clients at a time of global economic crisis.
"The ethical principles on which Islamic finance is based may bring banks closer to their clients and to the true spirit which should mark every financial service," the Vatican's official newspaper Osservatore Romano said in an article in its latest issue late yesterday.
Author Loretta Napoleoni and Abaxbank Spa fixed income strategist, Claudia Segre, say in the article that "Western banks could use tools such as the Islamic bonds, known as sukuk, as collateral". Sukuk may be used to fund the "'car industry or the next Olympic Games in London," they said.
They also said that profit share, gained from sukuk, may be an alternative to the interest. They underlined that sukuk system could help automotive sector and support investments in infrastructure area.
Islamic sukuk system is similar to bonos of capitalist system. But in sukuk, money is invested concrete projects and profit share is distributed to clients instead of interest earned.
Pope Benedict XVI in an Oct. 7 speech reflected on crashing financial markets saying that "money vanishes, it is nothing" and concluded that "the only solid reality is the word of God." The Vatican has been paying attention to the global financial meltdown and ran articles in its official newspaper that criticize the free-market model for having "grown too much and badly in the past two decades."
The Osservatore's editor, Giovanni Maria Vian, said that "the great religions have always had a common attention to the human dimension of the economy," Corriere della Sera reported today