When most people hear the term ‘Alternative Medicine’ they tend to think that it is used to describe something that offers a tested, tried alternative to mainstream systems of medicine. In India we have three types of systems of treatment and diagnosis- the recognized evidence based one - the scientific system, the recognized but not evidence based ones under the acronym AYUSH- Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, and the third has a list that is almost never complete but contains common ones like electrohomeopathy, reiki, pranic healing, aromatherapy, music therapy, gem therapy, etc. The term ‘alternative medicine’ perhaps describes best the last class. (Note: Technically all those systems of treatment and diagnosis that are not science-based are designated as ‘Alternative Medicine’, but in the Indian context there are three categories because of the government’s endorsement of AYUSH.) The third class labeled ‘Alternative Medicine’ in India seems to be the favourite hunting ground for quacks of all types. Read the full story

This is Part - III of Dr. Kamath’s series on Heretics, Rebels and Revolutionaries. Read Part II here. Dr. Kamath’s article on The Great Nastik Revolt is part of his previous series on The Truth About The Bhagavad Gita, and can be found here.

Brahmins Claim To Control Cosmos!

By 6^th century B. C., the Brahmanic pretentions reached such ridiculous heights that Brahmins claimed to control the entire cosmos. This was based on the following logic: Vedic Gods controlled the Universe; Yajnas compelled gods to fulfill man’s desires; Brahmins composed Mantras (magical incantations) uttered at Yajnas to delude gods; and therefore Brahmins controlled the Universe. Believing this, Kshatriyas sacrificed grain, ghee and animals to compel the gods to grant them their wishes (power, wealth and heaven, BG: 2:43). The Brahmins extracted hefty fees from kings for performing increasingly exacting and complicated Yajnas. Naturally, ostentatious desire-driven Yajnas (Kamya Karma) became the hallmark of an aristocratic Brahmanic Dharma of post-Vedic India. Read the full story

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Episode 5 of the Nirmukta Radio Podcast features two pre-recorded online conversations that I put together. The first one is between myself and a couple of activists in India- Prof. Narendra Nayak, the president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations and Rakshi Rath, a co-editor at Nirmukta. Professor Nayak talks about his tours and recent television appearances. We also discuss a couple of contentious topics that came up on the forums. The audio quality of this first conversation is pretty bad because of the technical limitations (on the India side of the conversation, me being in the US at present) that we were working with. We are terribly sorry about the quality of this first part of the podcast. The second conversation is between myself and Hemant Mehta, the author of I Sold My Soul On Ebay and creator and author of the Friendly Atheist blog. Hemant and I talk about his work with the Secular Student Alliance (he was the Chair of the Board of Directors at the time of the recording), an organization who’s mission, according to the website, is as follows :

The mission of the Secular Student Alliance is to organize, unite, educate, and serve students and student communities that promote the ideals of scientific and critical inquiry, democracy, secularism, and human-based ethics.

This episode of Nirmukta Radio will be the last of this series. I’ve had a blast recording my conversations with the leaders of the Freethought movement, putting them into the podcast format and bringing them to the Freethought community in India. But it is time for the podcast to grow and represent what Nirmukta has grown into. Starting next month, September 2010, we will be posting a new series of Nirmukta Radio Podcasts, featuring an entire team of panelists and a new and exciting podcast format. We will discuss news and opinion on the issues that relate to science, skepticism, atheism etc.

Thank you for listening to the Nirmukta Radio Podcast. Nirmukta Radio is a production of Nirmukta.com. Music is Te Laudant by Cryptocrat.

This is Part - II of Dr. Kamath’s series on Heretics, Rebels and Revolutionaries. Read Part - I here.

Around 600 B. C., when numerous heretical philosophies were budding in the turbulent post-Vedic period of India, someone by the name of Brihaspati wrote a classic atheistic philosophical treatise known as Barhaspatya Sutras. Later on his philosophy came to be labeled as Lokayata (”pertaining to the world”) or Charvaka (”Sweet-tongued”) philosophy. Westerners labeled this philosophy as “Materialism.” Because vested interests of theistic philosophies perceived this atheistic philosophy as too dangerous, they mercilessly ridiculed it, deliberately misinterpreted it, and freely caricatured it. In his classic treatise on ancient philosophies of India titled Sarva-Darshana-Samgraha, Madhavacharya (1268 -?) sarcastically referred to this philosophy as, “Crest-gem of Nastik schools.” Read the full story

Uttar Pradesh (UP) is the most populous state in India and is known to be one of the most backward too. In National politics it is always said that the party that comes to power in UP will eventually rule the center (a bellwether state, as they say in the Uniter States). It is hence necessary that a strong rationalism movement is built up in UP if a national level impact is to be effected. Read the full story

In this series of articles, we will study the stories of heretics, rebels, reformers and revolutionaries who attempted to overthrow organized priestly religions all over the world. In the first article of this series we will study how the first great revolution against ‘Brahmanic’ religion was launched in Egypt in 14^th century B. C.

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1. Preamble

As somebody said, science is what scientists do. And scientists are human too. Some of these humans have great difficulty in reconciling what science tells them with what they learnt from various sources when they were young and impressionable. So they may unconsciously look for ‘loopholes’ in the scientific premises and reasoning, particularly when it comes to fundamental questions about life, mind, and the universe.

In science there is always a cutting edge, or the frontier line where things are hazy. There is debate among experts as various alternative models are compared and contrasted. The beauty of the scientific method is that it is ruthless and without regard for authority (but see below!). Truth prevails ultimately, sometimes after a prolonged debate about what is the best way of interpreting the available data. When more data come in, science has no difficulty in dumping even its most cherished theories if necessary. Read the full story

Bihar is one of the largest and most populous states in India. It also happens to be the most backward. However, the state has had a relatively glorious past. Bihar is well known for its intellectual achievements right from the time of Buddha. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi started his freedom struggle from Motihari in this state. One of the most well known movements of the post independent India against the authoritarianism of Indira Gandhi was started by Jayaprakash Narayan who was a Bihari.

In spite of such a progressive history, Bihar has become a state riddled with superstitions and obscurantism. For the past five years we have been associated with running a campaign in Bihar to inculcate scientific temper among people. It all started when a Minister of State for Science and Technology of the Government of India and the Member of Parliament from Navada, Sanjay Paswan, honoured tantriks at a public ceremony. Read the full story

A series of high-profile incidents over the past few months have stirred up conversation among Indians online on the subject of freedom of speech. Not surprisingly, parallels between the cases have been drawn at will to make ever possible argument for and against every side of the debate. This article is an attempt to look at the subject of free speech from a democratic and humanistic point of view.

I begin by outlining the essentials of four cases from the recent past. This will be followed by a short discussion on the notion of freedom of speech. Finally the implications of this discussion will be applied to each case. Read the full story

My first contact with astrology must have been soon after my birth, because a horoscope is a must-have for every child born in my parents’ community. This horoscope must have also been drawn up by my maternal uncle, himself an astrologer of no mean repute, though in the last decades of his life he used to tell me, “it is not for unbelievers like you!”. My first conscious contact with this ’science’ occurred when I was a schoolboy. A cousin of mine, S.S. Kamath, was interested in investigating astrological claims. He told me of an incident where he had copied Jawaharlal Nehru’s (the then Prime Minister of India) horoscope from a magazine and showed it to an astrologer telling him that it was the horoscope of a salesman in a cloth shop. The astrologer made his calculations and told him that it was that of an ordinary man who would be leading a routine humdrum existence. On being told that the horoscope was actually that of the Prime minister of India, the astrologer wiggled out of the situation making up some excuse. Read the full story