Book name :The Age of Truth Positioning Global Girmit in Global Historical Context
Author name : Dr. Satish Rai
Publication: Kitaabdaar. Mumbai, 2023
Price: Rs 300
Review of the book: The Age of Truth
Positioning Global Girmit in Global Historical Context
By Deepti Aggarwal
‘The Age of Truth Positioning Global Girmit in Historical Context’ by Dr Satish Rai, published from Kitaabdar, Mumbai, is a discourse on the Doctrine of Discovery It is a brilliant, research-based book on indentured labour that opens up untouched aspects of history. This book is the story of the greed of the British colony and the struggle of the Indians. Knowledge means to know the facts of any information in detail, first of all, to understand the all-round environment of that country, time and the factors of the incident. This is the reason why Dr. Satish Rai, CEO of Rai Film Division, a renowned author and historian in his new book ‘The Age of Truth’, delves deep into how the Indentured labour system that started after the end of slavery in the colonial period began and sheds light on the truth of the role of religion in this reference.
The author begins the book with the Gayatri Mantra, which is a symbol of true knowledge and supernatural light and explains the three dimensions of creation of the universe, birth, upbringing and destruction, in the light of knowledge. This proves that the principles of Hinduism are deeply rooted in the author. Before writing the book, the author did a thorough research of books related to history and religion and has tried to tell that the religion and history we are reading is not the complete truth. The author is impressed by the truth of the writings of Thomas Paine, Rajiv Malhotra, ShashiTharoor, Utsha Patnaik, J Sai Deepak, Vikram Sampath and also awake the readers about the truth.
Thomas Paine wrote in his book ‘The Age of Reason’ that monotheistic religions do not do a logical analysis of universal truth. According to him, every church justifies its establishment by saying that it has been established for a special task by the order of a special power. Like Moses is special for the Jews, Jesus for the Christians, Mohammed for the Turks. According to each religion, a special path has to be adopted to reach God, special religious texts have to be read and only those who believe in a particular religion are the best, that is, every religion considers each other to be inferior.
How colonialism killed the local people of America, Canada, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, occupied their lands, inhumane methods were used to recruit labourers for the benefit of the colony, send them to other countries, exploit them and fabricate facts to justify themselves? What role did religion play in all this? The author answers these questions with logicand authentic facts.
India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Greece, China etc. believe in polytheism whereas Islam, Christianity and Judaism believe in monotheism. The book explains in detail the mindset of colonialism, the global indenture system, the origin of indenture system in India. The author describes the modus operandi of indenture system started in Fiji which is his sore spot because his ancestors were also deceitfully taken from India to Fiji under the indenture system. The only document available to tell the truth of Fiji is Tota Ram Sanadhya’s book ‘Fiji Me Mere 21 Varsh’ and ‘Bhootlane Ki Katha’ written by Banarsi Das, which was also banned by the whites. It has been translated into English by John Dunham Kelly and UttaraKumari Singh.I completely agree with the author that the truth cannot be known by merely reading in the office or library. By meeting exploited people we come to know the actual situations. The author says that to know the truth of colonialism and neo-colonialism, read the books of ShashiTharoor, Utsa Patnaik, J Sai Deepak, Mark Charles, Rajiv Malhotra, Vikram Sampath, which expose the plundering diplomacy of the British government, which they had been hiding for centuries. With this, they are demolishing the pillars of colonialism.
This book by Satish Rai also in simple and easy language slowly opens the layers of truth like the peels of an onion, which keeps the interest intact. The author says that the purpose of writing his book is to show how the origin of Christianity 4000 years ago has been glorified. What was the mentality behind this to spread the belief of the supreme religion in the world? To make the world aware of these hidden links due to which his Indian ancestors were influenced and even today the author and his generation are influenced. The author has explained the origin of Christianity in detail.
The author writes that Pope Alexander 6 issued a Papal Bull under which the place where Christians do not live should be searched and Christianity should be propagated there. In his eyes, the local people do not fall in the category of humans. Killing them and grabbing their land is not a sin.
The mentality of dominance and feudalism runs from generation to generation. How were the Universities of Somapura, Shardapeeth University, Vikramshila, Nagarjuna, Takshila of India destroyed in the name of religion under a conspiracy? The author seeks an answer to this from the invaders who occupied India. The British government has put blood stains on the soul of humanity by imposing slavery, human trafficking, indentured labour on the world and no apology can wash those stains away.
The author says that there is a lot of difference between leaving the country on one’s own will and leaving the country by deceit or force and it is very important to understand this difference in the study of migration. The British Empire established both the Royal African Company and the East India Company. Both trafficked people and moved Africans and Indians around the world as slaves and cheap labor. There is not much difference between slavery and indenture in Africa except that it is ‘new wine in an old bottle’. The only difference was that the condition of Indians was slightly better than that of Africans. But there were many similarities in the exploitation of both.
The sixth chapter describes how the British captured Fiji, how they captured Fiji’s land in exchange for arms and alcohol, and how the local people were massacred? The author also points to the virus war, how when Fiji is captured by the British, the Governor of New South Wales calls Fiji’s Cakobau and his two sons to Australia, where they get infected with measles and on their return to Fiji, 4000 Fijians die due to the spread of measles?
The author writes about the exploitation of Indian labourers in Fiji that after the completion of their indenture from Fiji, Ahmed Ali writes that it was hell, then why could they not return from this hell? To know the answers to all these questions, read this research-based book. The aim of the book is to expose the intentions of the Europeans, why they did not allow the Indians to return and what tactics were adopted for all this. And there are answers to many unanswered questions, for finding answers to which, a serious study of this research-based, informative book is necessary. Human trafficking, land dominance, World War I, World War II, Russia-Ukraine war are the results of this for the benefit of only a few people. If researchers, teachers, policy makers want to understand the truth and history of the global indenture system, then this book can prove to be very useful.
This is a very beautiful attempt to tell the truth of the British Empire and the truth of indenture history. Many congratulations and thanks to the author Dr Satish Rai. I claim that this book is very useful for readers and researchers. My poem ‘The Truth of Indenture History’ is inspired by this book and tells the essence of this book. Here is the poem-
The Truth of Indenture History
The Whites have always attracted us
Also terrorized us
We also have been attracted
To fair skin and terrified
Despite of our rich heritage.
Reason?
Continuous foreign invasions,
lack of self-confidence,
Abundance of inferiority complex,
Mutual differences,
Innocence, simplicity
The Whites took advantage;
Called themselves
Agents of a special God,
Contractors of civilization
And became masters
And we slaves
On our own land
Became indentured labourers
On other’s land;
Endured oppression, beatings,
Humiliation on a foreign land;
Education brought
Self-confidence and money
When Sharda and Lakshmi
Became sisters,
Durga also came to support them
Now with my ink and pen,
I have to tell everyone
The proud story of India,
The ‘Sone ki Chidiya’
For which the foreigners were lured
And I have to tell everyone
What is true and
The truth is Shiva and
Shiva is beautiful.
Every human being is special,
Every human being is beautiful.