Religious weaponry (updated)

Saffronists are distributing trishuls (tridents), a Shiva symbol, in Rajasthan:

The government in the western Indian state of Rajasthan says it will closely monitor the distribution of a traditional religious symbol by Hindu hardliners… According to the VHP, over 75,000 tridents have been distributed by the Hindu hardliners in the last year causing concern to the state government. [Link]

The purpose seems both electoral and nefarious:

In neighbouring Gujarat, more than 1,000 people died last year in violence between Hindus and Muslims… Hindu activists say they have distributed more than 70,000 tridents (trishuls) in Rajasthan in recent months. One Hindu activist, Mahavir Prasad, said all able-bodied Hindus would be given self-defence training as the state government could not guarantee their safety. [Link]

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p>Right, Hindus, who outnumber Muslims twelve-to-one in Rajasthan, need to stock mêlée weaponry at home. Purely for self-defense, you see.

But if we’re getting into avatar weaponry, give me a first-person shooter with a full armory. I want Parashurama‘s wikkid axe, Hanuman‘s berserker mace and Vishnu‘s self-levitating chakra. Give me multiple arms, a snake capable of churning the oceans and Garuda as a mount, and I’ll be pretty much invincible. As long as you don’t catch me in the twilight hour

Updated: I wonder whether the trishuls being handed out are purely symbolic, like most Sikh kirpans, or actually functional weapons. And if functional, can you imagine if churches handed out free handguns to, say, Episcopalians? Arms race! Normally the only religion I wouldn’t worry about is Buddhism, but then some crazy mofos uncorked a hand grenade at a Sri Lankan concert last year.

Oy vey. If having batleths is Klingon, only Klingons will have batleths.

27 thoughts on “Religious weaponry (updated)

  1. Doesn’t look like they have any religious motive. I think they are just looking for votes.

  2. Are there any video games like that? a first person shooter of the Ramayana or something? I’d buy that shit fo sheez.

    HAHA razib you crack me up…. did you forget about Dalip Singh!!! he’s a beast

    forget muslims vs. hindus

    which state would win??? i put all my money on Uttar pradesh….they rob people for fun

  3. Dalip Singh can’t protect us all! I find screaming, “Kali Ma, Shakti De” wards off Muslims. And curiously enough, Eskimos too. Go figure.

  4. I find screaming, “Kali Ma, Shakti De” wards off Muslims. And curiously enough, Eskimos too. Go figure.

    It does not work. Sangh Privaris have gone hoarse shouting this and muslims keep multipying. 🙂

  5. As a symbolic weapon picture of Kuldeep and Budh Prakash would be better Put it in a locket or tabiz or carry it in your pockets like tibetans.

  6. Ummm – this is not funny stuff. During previous riots in neighboring Gujarat, lest we forget, Muslim women were raped and killed. There were incidents of pregnant women having their fetuses ripped out and “Aum” engraved on their foreheads and breasts (see Arundhati Roy’s book “War Talk” for more). And, lest we forget, before all that happened there was an arming of the militant Hindu population in Gujarat. To me, this scenario sounds familiar and I am scared for what may happen in the future.

  7. I want ParashuramaÂ’s wikkid axe, HanumanÂ’s berserker mace and VishnuÂ’s self-levitating chakra. Give me multiple arms, a snake capable of churning the oceans and Garuda as a mount, and IÂ’ll be pretty much invincible.

    … I’ll take all those and add the infamous BFG9000 to the arsenal as a backup weapon.

  8. Ek Aurat, … you should be more scared about the misinformation spread around by hardcore communists (Harsh Mander and A. Roy) who have politicised Gujarat violence. I dont want to change your mind but do look through the lies (later admitted by A. Roy) FYI.

    That said, a more interesting politcal vote gathering stunt than the one posted here is having Bin Laden look alike as a campaigner to sweep muslim votes. Oops.. it actully happens in Bihar.

  9. actually i think it evens out razib, cause that one muslim will probably kill himself and some of his friends in the process of trying to kill one hindu woman or child

  10. Ek Aurat, you need to stop believing this propoganda. Yes I admit.. ruthless killings did happen and it’s a total shame !! But, you don’t have to exaggerate. Don’t forget millions of Hindus and Sikhs were slaughtered by the Invading Muslims for centuries.

  11. Ummm – this is not funny stuff. During previous riots in neighboring Gujarat, lest we forget, Muslim women were raped and killed….To me, this scenario sounds familiar and I am scared for what may happen in the future

    . Well what about the hindus that were killed in gujrat that started the mess? or the ones who died in delhi. If keeping a trident makes some one feel secure all the power to them.

  12. I want ParashuramaÂ’s wikkid axe, HanumanÂ’s berserker mace and VishnuÂ’s self-levitating chakra. Give me multiple arms, a snake capable of churning the oceans and Garuda as a mount, and IÂ’ll be pretty much invincible.

    I am interested in applying my knowledge of steath technology to tridents.

    If keeping a trident makes some one feel secure all the power to them.

    lol.

  13. “Well what about the hindus that were killed in gujrat that started the mess? or the ones who died in delhi. If keeping a trident makes some one feel secure all the power to them.”

  14. “Well what about the hindus that were killed in gujrat that started the mess? or the ones who died in delhi. If keeping a trident makes some one feel secure all the power to them.”

    It’s not like one individual is buying a weapon to protect himself. We are talking about an organized movement (the Sangh Parivar) whose aim is to decimate the Muslim population in India. The distribution of tridents is symptomatic of the Sangh’s attempt to permeate the social fabric of Rajasthan (after what it did in Gujarat) and mobilize people for its own warped cause when needed.

  15. It’s not like one individual is buying a weapon to protect himself.

    He is buying weapon to show that he is part of a larger organization and wants to flash the trident to feel secure. The issue simply is that as long as these folks want to keep a trident they can. If its used for a nefarious activity then its a different matter, but wont be that different from exploding an IED or setting a train on fire with passengers in it.

  16. Report after report has claimed there is no evidence to support the claim that muslims set fire to the compartment carrying karsevas on the Sabarmati express. Besides, the compartment could only be locked from the inside…go figure..make whatever you want of that. But the fact that people all across Gujarat decided to wake up one morning and start massacring every Muslim in sight at the same time (between 9-10 am) as a “natural reaction” to the fire is extremely shady. I’m convinced the entire thing was organized by the Sangh including the fire itself so it had an “event” within which to mobilize people (after years of work in Gujarat -the spread of RSS shakhas, the Bajrang Dal crying for blood after every intermarriage between a Hindu and Muslim et.c….i could go on)to carry out the aims of their organization. The tridents are being “Distributed” en masse and not being sold to an individual consumer.

  17. “I wonder whether the trishuls being handed out are purely symbolic, like most Sikh kirpans, or actually functional weapons.”

    Manish, Have you read anything about the Hindu right or its activities particulary in the last 2 decades?

  18. I’m convinced the entire thing was organized by the Sangh including the fire itself

    Some one ranted bout arungundphutty before and this reads like some thing out of her oraface…If your that convinced be on the look out.

  19. I’m convinced the entire thing was organized by the Sangh including the fire itself

    bb, you’r thinking is so much in line with Laloo The Great. Keep it up!

  20. Besides, the compartment could only be locked from the inside…go figure..

    Have you heard of a rope? or a metal bar? that could be used to lock in from outside.

    One can make innumerable interpretations for their own agenda’s and politics. I am not claiming I am right and you are wrong but informing you that truth is certainly being misinformed by covert interests.

  21. hammer and sickel: Incase, you didn’t know, the McCarthy Era is over. and from the sound of your previous posts on SM, you have the educational background of a Laloo

  22. These fundies have infested the earth right from the start of time distributing weapons of mass distrution. This is miniscule for them.

  23. I’m convinced the entire thing was organized by the Sangh including the fire itself

    Good for you. Cause it makes perfect sense that Sanghis would set their own wives and children on fire (Sanghi wives and children on the train, not just any old Hindus).

  24. And what of the Kashmiri Hindus sweltering in concentration camps outside Delhi? The terror emanating from Pakistan? The recent, Diwali-eve bomb blasts? The genociding of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh? The truculent Babtist-Christian ultras warring for a separate state in the Northeast? Lets condemn them too, or are they “freedom fighters”? lol

    As bad as it may be, Hindu millitancy resonates so forcefully because of Islamism, which aims at the destruction of the Indian state.

    South Asianists will of course condemn Hindu Nationalism while giving the pass to Islamism-pretending that its all hunkydoryloveydovey.

    Minorities be the lil piggies and Hindoos the Big Bad Wooolfies!