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in
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Unscrupulous, Incorrect historical narrative and

manipulative argument on Pashupati Seal
narrative made by Prof Jaya Menon in Theme One,
Class 12th Textbook of History, NCERT
Criticism seeking clarification from addressees
Date, 27th October 2016.

Addressed To
1) Prof Jaya Menon, Author Theme One
2) Prof Neeladri Bhattacharya, Chief Advisor and reviewer of final draft, as per
NCERT
3) Prof Hari Vasudevan, Chair of the committee and reviewer of final draft, as
per NCERT
4) Prof Neeraja Rashmi, Head of Department & PIO, DESC, NCERT
5) Asstt Seema Ojha, Coordinator for textbook on ancient history for class 12th
6) Hrushikesh Senapaty, Director NCERT
Reported to
1) Chairman, UGC member of executive committee, NCERT
2) Secretary, Department of school education and literacy, NCERT
3) Prof Dr Dhanush Dhari Misra, Member of Programme Advisory Committee
(PAC)
Subject : unscrupulous, un-researched, incorrect narrative on scattered content related
to Vedic Era history for instance the Pashupati or proto-Shiva seal in Theme One of
class 12th history textbook

Dear All Concerned,

As you know it well that through two RTIs filed by me, its revealed by DESS, NCERT that
Vedic Era history is structurally erased from curriculum, which has no theme (chapter)
on Vedic Era history in NCERTs ancient history textbook prepared for class 12th.
Issue is not limited to erasure or exclusion alone but issue encompasses quality of
information scattered in the textbook related to Vedic era across other themes where
even references to Vedic era mentioned. I take up one case in below passages assuming
NCERT will take up immediate corrective action.
Req to pls pay attention to theme One, Indian history, NCERT textbook authored by Prof
Jaya Menoon and note what kind of unscrupulous, un-researched, incorrect narrative has
gone into textbook which has unfortunately caught nobodys attention in NCERT in last
10 years.

Emailed To: director.ncert@nic.in, cm.ugc@nic.in secy.sel@nic.in

ddmcmri@hotmail.com catch neeraja@yahoo.com dessh@indiatimes.com
seema.ojha@gmail.com anjumsibia@yahoo.com jd.ncert@nic.in

Probably in entire world such incorrect information get's place only in NCERT's history
textbooks for reasons like a) Review of content authored by authors writing on vedic era of history is not done
by competent vedic scholars at NCERT.
b) Competence and capacity is not developed by academic historians writing on
vedic era history.
c) Evidences to such assertions and narrations is not taken into record at NCERT nor
provided in books for further reference and validation.
d) NCERT doesnt maintain minutes of meetings and details of discussions or
consultations if occurs while getting authored textbooks by historians who are
hired or assigned.
e) NCERT doesnt have a process for taking action legal or departmental or
disciplinary if an author provides incorrect information as part of content going
into textbooks.
f) NCERT doesnt have systematic process to verify and ensure if its guidelines for
authoring textbooks are complied or not, as evident with below case of Jaya
Menon on her narrative on Pashupati Seal

Jaya Menon writes on an Indus Valley seal which is termed proto-Shiva,

page #23
Let us look, for instance, at the proto-Shiva seals. The earliest religious text, the
Rigveda (compiled c.1500-1000 BCE) mentions a god named Rudra, which is a name
used for Shiva in later Puranic traditions (in the first millennium CE; see also Chapter 4).
However, unlike Shiva, Rudra in the Rigveda is neither depicted as Pashupati (lord of
animals in general and cattle in particular), nor as a yogi. In other words, this depiction
does not match the description of Rudra in the Rigveda. Is this, then, possibly a shaman
as some scholars have suggested?

Fig. 1.27, a proto-Shiva seal in NCERT's textbook)

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Author, Jaya Menon although agrees that the god depicted in Indus valley seal is proto
Shiva form of Shiva and traces its connection to Shiva of later Puranic traditions in
the
first
millennium
CE.
That shows proto Shiva on Indus valley is a depiction of puranic Shiva whose another
name is Pashupati and therefore Indus Valley and Purans are reflections of same culture,
with this conclusion or finding narrative reaches its obvious conclusion as identity of
proto Shiva with puranic Shiva has been done, however, she immediately gives a
twist bothering no compulsion to put corroborating historical evidence and makes
completely out of context in other words such that - In other words, this depiction
does not match the description of Rudra in the Rigveda. Is this, then, possibly a shaman
as some scholars have suggested?
Now, point #1 that might arise in students mind might be on identity of the shaman in
context such that what is this shaman referred to by Jaya Menon, in what part of world
this shaman historically lived, how is this shaman related to Puranic tradition and
further how is this shaman have travelled to Indus valley having unbroken continuity to
twenty first century, she provides no explanation to these queries and therefore it is
pertinent to ask if she was trying to confuse students by inserting confusing piece and if
such confusing narratives comply to NCERT guidelines, What is intent of putting such a
confusing rather misleading content ?
I am sure NCERT experts can observe that Prof Jaya menons delivery is incoherent,
extraneous, and a misleading extrapolation to students. NCERT director Hrushikesh
Senapaty is requested to get style this narrative is delivered and its impact on students
mind examined by experts of Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations of
Education (DEPFE), Division of Educational Research (DER) at NCERT, UNESCOs
guidebook on textbook research and development ( attached with this word document
for benefit of NCERT) and other premier national/international institutions.
The coordinator (Seema Ojha) from NCERT who participated in development of ancient
history textbook should be asked how such unscrupulous, incorrect content has gone
into textbook and why no minutes of meetings and details of other proceedings was
maintained as informed in response to my RTI query by Prof Neeraja Rashmi, PIO,
NCERT.
The point #2 is, why Jaya menon doesnt give a testimony if she has scanned entire
Rigveda before making an assertion like this Rudra in the Rigveda is neither depicted
as Pashupati (lord of animals in general and cattle in particular which stands incorrect
upon closer scrutiny.
Java Menoon doesnt know that in a hymn of very first mandala of Rigveda ( 1.114.1),
quoted mantra has got two part, in the first part Rudra is depicted as kapardin or having
knotted hairs which attests Rudra is identical to Shiva as consistently found form
Rigveda to Rudra Hridayaopanishad, Mahabharata, Lingapuran, Shiva Purana etc.

|| ( , ..)
im rudraya tavase kapardine kayadvrya pra bharmahe mat |

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yath am asad dvipade catupade vivam pua grme asminn anturam ||
(Rigveda, 1.114.1)
In view of above mantra, Jaya Menons statement as cited earlier, proves incorrect and
stands rejected. Jaya Menon obviously remained unscrupulous, might have been
suffering due to inadequate study and scanty knowledge of Vedic corpus.
In the second part of mantra, Rudra is depicted as nourishing protector of both biped
( ) and quadruped ( ) animal stock. In shukla yajurvedas sixteenth book Rudra
and Shivas shared identity is well established, Jaya menon seems to not to have learnt
yajus (16.2, 16.3, 16.4, 16.51). For a ready reference, I quote relevant portion of shukla
yajurveda (16.28) which goes like this

Rudras Pashupati status is underlined at another yajus (16.40) in same book, therefore
no scope left for making speculations or hinting students to speculate.
Why Academic Historians Turn bad Author On Vedic Era History.
Two main reasons have been observed as to why academic historians turn bad authors
such
that
1) Most academic historians dont have first hand studies of original Vedic corpus,
Historians of previous generations like RS Sharma, Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib too
suffered due to first hand study.
2) Most academic historians lack fundamental exposure to Vedic Sanskrit which differs
from classical sanskrit in several aspects and therefore they lack ability to verify second
hand source of information they refer to. A blazing example is Harvards professor,
Michael Witzels argument that Samudra mentioned in Rigveda, could be a terminus
lake not the ocean which is blatantly wrong upon scrutiny of the references to Samudra
in Rigveda.

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seema.ojha@gmail.com anjumsibia@yahoo.com jd.ncert@nic.in
Embedded Documents

Best Wishes,
Sincerely,
Lalit Mishra,

Head of Vedic Studies,

Org Secretary, World Brahmin Federation, India
www.wbfindia.com
+91-9650100768