Reflections | On Mr.
Lyngdoh, IAS, former Chief Election Commissioner
& his Book on the J & K Elections 2002
Did Jesus travel to Mesopotamia, Iran, Sind, Varanasi, Puri and Nepal?
Did Jesus stay in a Buddhist Monastery for Six Years?
Are There So Many Similarities between Kashmiris and Jews?
Today we had an official delegation from Synod College, Shillong, Meghalaya, with us on a three-day visit to interact with the Officials of the College.
The delegation was headed by Dr. Gayreen Lyngdoh, Principal, along with Dr. Wancydora Kharmawphlang, IQAC Coordinator and Prof. Adrian K Langstieh, Assistant Professor of Commerce, an Alumnus of MCC [Economics, 2012-15].
The word Lyngdoh took me back by two decades, when India had Mr. J. M. Lyngdoh as the Chief Election Commissioner of the Nation.
Pardon me for deviating from the main agenda from here on! Just that my mind impulsively took be back to two decades ago -
Almost every other day, back then, Mr. Lyngdoh IAS used to come on primetime news!
Call him yet another vibrant T. N. Seshan on the ground!
So in all curiosity I asked Principal Mrs. Lyngdoh if the past CEC Mr. Lyngdoh IAS, has any connection with the college, since I’ve been all ears on him ever since he became the nation’s CEC.
Principal Dr. Lyngdoh then explained the origin of the name ‘Lyngdoh’. She clarified that -
the surname ‘Lyngdoh’ is derived from the Khasi words lyng meaning to be born and doh meaning to be a leader or to guide.
This suggests a connection to leadership or a significant social role within the community, possibly indicating that the original bearers of the surname were leaders or influential figures in their villages. Hence the word connotes to mean, they belong to the priestly class in the Khasi kingdom.
The Khasis have a rich cultural heritage, and hence their surnames usually reflect the social structure and roles within their matrilineal society, where lineage and inheritance are traced through the mother.
Well, from here on, we shall go ahead and discuss our former Chief Election Commissioner J. M. Lyngdoh –
Well, Lyngdoh became double-famous after his retirement, when he published a book with Penguin, titled, Chronicles of an Impossible Election.
The book is highly informative in its ambit, and the language is equally engaging for a light read albeit a wee bit ‘controversial’ in its scope as well! 😉
Firstly, the language that’s so lucid and so cool.
Secondly, his ‘second chapter’ titled, ‘Of History’ that gives an astounding purview of the land in all its grandeur. This historical sweep takes us down ages past - to some very surprising events as well.
It seems Jesus - between his thirteenth and twenty seventh years, had travelled from Mesopotamia to Iran, Sind, Varanasi, Orissa and Nepal. He was six years in a Buddhist monastery and imbibed so much of Buddhism as to be considered an Arhat. And he was thought to have transmitted much of Buddhism to Christianity, for example, celibate monks and nuns and the concepts of the trinity…
The story is endlessly gripping and wonder-amazing!
I personally feel that, (on an aside), the only thing that lacks in the book is a strong historical foundation to back his research credentials. Else, the book would have become a great sensational hit by now! Still, very interesting finds.
Thirdly, his take on the Role of the Election Commission and its Constitutional Status.
Finally, a gripping, first-hand account of how he had conducted the elections in a free and fair manner, that would serve as a manual for all his successors to follow!
Just giving us all excerpts –
The Kashmir problem was intrinsically one of an uncommonly cerebral people, extremely sensitive, very conscious of their identity as an ancient, distinct race inhabiting the paradisal vale of Kashmir, enduringly proud of their past but consumed with anger at what they perceived as successive subjections to a variety of contemptuous rulers (most books on Kashmir splurged colourful but coloured quotations about the Kashmiri character), as well as a persistent indignation over hundreds of years at their own defensive prevarication.
But what was the Kashmiri's historical perspective?
There is compelling evidence that Kashmiris are descended from the Kassite or Kash tribe - hence Kasheer or Kashmir - or the Biblical Kush, after Noah’s grandson, Kush. (The important tribes before them in the Valley had been the Nagas, Pishachis, Gandharas and Turganas.)
And similarities between Jews and Kashmiris have persisted. For example, graves are arranged east to west; coffins have a pointed top; the period of mourning is forty days; smoked fish is a common meal; koshered meat has always been de rigueur; birth, marriage and death rites are identical; 9 per cent of Kashmiri still consists of Hebrew words.
Apocryphal, Sanskrit, Buddhist and Islamic sources together showed that between his thirteenth and twenty-seventh years, Jesus, who was an Essene - Essenes, a sect among the Jews as distinct from the Pharisees and Sadducees, were noted for their poverty, honesty, justice and equality-travelled from Mesopotamia to Iran, Sind, Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi), Orissa (Puri) and Nepal (Kapilavastu).
He was six years in a Buddhist monastery and imbibed so much of Buddhism as to be considered an Arhat. And he was thought to have transmitted much of Buddhism to Christianity, for example, celibate monks and nuns and the concepts of the trinity and of offering the other cheek to one who had struck you on one cheek. Returned to his homeland and ever defiant of orthodoxy, he was crucified. But since he soon attained samadhi and appeared dead to the uninitiated he was allowed to be removed from the cross.
The Essenes treated his wounds with spices and salves and laid him in a grotto. It was there that he recovered. Obliged to distance himself from his enemies, he with his mother again took to the east-Iran, Central Asia, Punjab (Taxila) and Kashmir (Srinagar), where he was eventually buried.
Jesus' grave, which also had a wooden sepulchre, was known as the shrine of Yusu Asaph of Rosabal. Mary's grave was in the neighbouring Pakistani hill resort of Murree (derived from Mary).
Much older, Moses' grave on the hill of Nabu in Bethpor was known as the shrine of the 'Prophet of the Book'. And lying at the feet of the hill of Nabu, the Valley, scripturally - most of the place names in the Bible matching with those in that part of Kashmir- topographically and ecologically, out of all places on earth, best exemplified he promised land of the Bible. Evidently the Kashmiris were one of the ten lost tribes of Israel.
As part of the Jewish diaspora from Mesopotamia to Kashmir, the Kashmiris were not rigid about religion and changed with the wind. They became Hindus Emperor Ashoka, prior to his conversion, founded the city of Srinagar-and then turned to Buddhism.
The third century Buddhist Conference in Kashmir, in the reign of Kanishka, saw the birth of Mahayana Buddhism. Kashmir, the only part of the subcontinent with four distinct seasons and a natural apprehension of seasonal symbols, had always been strongly Saivite, appreciating the trinity of Shiva the destroyer, Durga the creator and Parvati the preserver.
It was Kashmiri Saivism which gave to esoteric Hinayana Buddhism—in which each individual had to work out his own deliverance from suffering - a comfortable, anthropomorphic divine order composed of Shiva the Supreme Being and of the gods and goddesses of the cult who could be manipulated for private purposes.
The orientation of Buddhism towards society promoted the Bodhisattva, the person who, instead of striving for his own salvation, stayed on in the world to show to others the way of attaining the blessings of the Dhamma.
Just provided excerpts for y’all.
You may want to buy the book online or borrow the hard copy of the book from this blogger by simply dropping me an email.
With the simple blessed assurance that you would review the book on your blog, once you are done reading it! 😊
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