A series of eleven volumes named “The History and Culture of the Indian People” was published by Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan in 1951. See a few examples of these writings:

“The Vedic Age”

“But people in this age were by no means vegetarians. They ate flesh freely, not excluding even beef which was prohibited later owing to the growing reverence for the cow. Flesh-food must be served to the Brahmanas invited to a Sraddha dinner, vegetable food being allowed only in its absence. Similarly in the ceremony of the first feeding of the child with solid food, among the various foods enumerated in order of merit, the flesh of a goat, partridge, or another (specified) bird, and fish come first, boiled rice mixed with ghi coming last. Similarly food offered to a guest of consequence must not be without flesh.” (p. 526)

“Thus the Mahabharata, as we have it today, was never the work of any one author nor was it written down at one time.” (p. 246)

“It is therefore permissible to conclude that the original Ramayana, in which Rama was a human being, was composed by Valmiki in the third or more probably in the fourth century BC.” (p. 254)

Another series of six volumes (revised edition) was published by The Ramakrishna Mission, Calcutta, between 1953 to 1978; out of which the first edition of the first three volumes was published as early as 1937. It’s called “The Cultural Heritage of India”.

The first volume says, “We have bid good-bye to the theories of hoary antiquity for Indian Aryan culture, which we in India generally look upon as axiomatic. As it has been discussed in some of the papers in this volume, we might look upon the tenth century B.C., the last phase of the Vedic age, as the time when the Indian Man came into being.” (p. xl) Further it says, “The Upanishads emphasize the direct awareness of the world of Spirit, they also adduce reasons in support of the reality of Spirit.” (p. xxiv) “...The Rg-Veda, its language can by no means be dated much earlier than 1000 BC.” (p. 137)

The second volume says, “The pastoral aspect of the Krsna-religion was celebrated in the charming tales of Krsna’s boyhood spent in the company of the gopalas (cowherds), while the erotic-devotional aspect was represented through the fascinating legends of his association with gopis (milkmaids).” (p. 234)

The third volume (p. 285) tells, “Historically, the avatara is a man of realization engaged in the service of the world;” and the fourth volume (p. 46) tells that the age of the Puranas is 300 to 1200 AD.

The fifth volume on page 13 says that the composition of the Vedas was ascribed to many generations of poets, priests and philosophers. On page 14 it says, “The ancient ancestors of the Indo-European speaking people… migrated towards the southeast and eventually settled down in the Balkh region. There they developed a form of their original Indo-European language, which may be characterized as proto-Aryan, the direct ancestor of the Vedic language. They also developed a form of religion which may be characterized as proto-Aryan.” On page 40 it says that the final shape of the Puranas was accomplished in the Gupt period, and in the course of the growth of the Puranas many more subjects came to be incorporated into them. On page 41 it says that the Bhagwatam appears to have been produced in the Tamil country around 10th and 11th century; the Narad Bhakti Sutra around 10th century; and Yagyavalkya Smriti around 5th century.

One more series of six volumes, called “The Cambridge History of India,” was edited by E.J. Rapson and published in New Delhi in 1968. It extensively quotes Megasthenes in volume I, and praisingly tells in its preface that it was Sir William Jones who gave the anchor-sheet of history by identifying Sandracottus with Chandragupt (Maurya).

A fifteen volume series, called “Bhisma’s Study of Indian History and Culture,” was published in Bombay in 1988. It says:

“Indian history starts right from the post glacial epoch i.e. from about 8000 BC.” (Vol. I, p. 13). “The Rigved is considered to be the first recorded utterance of mankind.” (Vol. I, p. 107).

(Rigved) “The seers of the Mantra had developed the art of reducing verbal sounds into the graphic signs. In earlier days, the sound was a symbol and later on it was associated with objective realities or concepts. The script obviously came into existence at a later stage.” (Vol. I, pp. 489, 490).

“…10,800 years before kali: This would be the date of Manu of the current Chaturyuga period. This Manu was the first king of mankind.” (Vol. II, p. 63). “King Ram was such a phenomenon! He was all too human…” (Vol. III, p. 73).

There are many more such series that relate similar thoughts which are contrary to the theme of Hinduism. In the last couple of years two encyclopedias on Hinduism have been published in New Delhi.

One, “Encyclopedia Indica,” praises Max Müller and says in its preface that it has heavily taken the assistance from the western sources. In volume 10 (Vedic rituals) it says, “It was, however, in the asvamedha… the horse is sacrificed along with hundreds of victims, wild and tame, from the elephant to the bee.” In volume 11, chapter 5 it says, “To some extent the cow is the animal sacrificed and proffered to the gods;” and in volume 23 (the Avatar Syneretism) it says, “Buddha is definitely a historical personage while the others seem more and more legendary.”

Another, “Encyclopedia of Hinduism,” says in its preface, “It can hardly be said a religion in a popular understood sense of the term. Unlike other religions, Hinduism does not regard the concept of God as being central to it. It is neither a system of theology nor make any dogmatic affirmation regarding the nature of God.” In volume 17 (Divinity of Rama…) it says, “Rama in Valmiki’s Ramayan is simply a human being;” and in volume 21 (Scientific information…) it says that Ramayan was composed between 200 BC and 200 AD. In volume 30 (Vallabhacharya) it says, “Vallabhacharya does not devise a different theory, for devotion is, but the expression of the heart--heart talking to heart--saint John may be quoted here to see the parallel between the eastern and the western streams of thought.”

We have thus seen how the Divine themes of Hindu religion are being mutilated and corrupted by the modern literati through such publications and how the Divine greatness of the Sages, Saints and the acharyas is being totally ignored. This is just the effect of kali and the impiousness of people’s minds which produces such literatures.

These effects are clearly seen in the preachings and the writings of the majority of the spiritual leaders of today. The prime drawbacks in their writings are that they defy the true theme of the Upnishads. They represent new ideologies that despise the prime truth of Sanatan Dharm, and misrepresent the integral teachings of the acharyas whose sole aim was to introduce unprejudiced, pure and selfless bhakti to the personal form of God, which is done with a humble heart and a dedicated mind.

Even after 52 years of independence, still similar books are being written, and the ignorant writers are still following the same atheistic dogmas of the western writers.

The time has come that we must wake up from the 142 year (1857 to 1999) long dream of ignorance and recognize the value of our true Divine wealth which is still the solace of a true aspirant’s heart in the world and which has been endowed to us (the residents of Bharatvarsh) by the descensions of the supreme God, Bhagwan Ram and Krishn. The glory of Their name, fame and virtues has already been sung in the Puranas, Upnishads and the Bhagwatam which are the Divine revelations by the eternal Divine personalities, and which have been rejuvenated and elevated by the Jagadgurus and the acharyas (of Vrindaban) who simplified the path of devotion (bhakti) to the loving God in their writings and introduced the true Divine love theory (of raganuga bhakti) for the souls of the entire world.

The government authorities of free India should take the initiative to produce the history of India with the correct chronology and produce the correct view of Hindu religion as explained in "The True History and the Religion of India" which should be prescribed in the schools and colleges for study, and thus, it may disperse the cloud of ignorance that was created by the English people and which is still clouding a great number of intellectual brains of India. We are not realizing the harm which we are doing to ourselves and to our nation. Such books that degrade the Divinity of our Divine religion and the Divine descensions of supreme God, Ram and Krishn, Whose Divine glory is the soul of Hindu religion, should be discarded, and our hearts should be illuminated with the consciousness of Divine love for our most beloved God Who glorifies the tenets of all of our scriptures.