In Rajasthan texts, Mahavir is Buddha, shocker on Aulia

The controversy over textbooks continues in Rajasthan. After removing references of the country’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru as well as the popular poem Khoob Ladi Mardani Wo Toh Jhansi Wali Rani Thi by Subhdra Kumari Chouhan, the latest goof up is insertion of a picture of Gautam Buddha in a Class 3 book’s chapter on Lord Mahavir, and an insensitive reference to Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia.

The Jain community is enraged over the wrong picture in the Class III textbook Our Surroundings and Environment Study (Apna Parivesh Aur Paryavaran Adhyayan). It has asked for correcting the mistake.

“Bhagwan Mahavira or any Jain deity never sits in the position of giving blessing. He sits either in padmasan, ardhpadmasan or khadgasan. This is a picture of Gautam Buddha,” said Mahendra Patni, secretary of Shri Mahaveer Ji, one of the most prominent religious places for the Digambar Jain community in Rajasthan.

The Rajasthan Pathya Pustak Mandal, meanwhile, has already printed and delivered 20 lakh copies of the book. The content was prepared by the Rajasthan State Institute of Education Research and Training.

Meanwhile, a chapter in the Class VII Social Science textbook introduces Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia as someone “not communal” despite belonging to a particular religion. “Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia of Delhi, despite being a follower of a ‘particular’ religion, was not socially and religiously communal,” reads the statement in the chapter titled Bhakti Aur Sufi Andolan.

A team of experts pointed out after scanning the revised textbooks for Rajasthan government schools.

Headed by Delhi University professor Apoorvanand Jha, the team of experts has termed the content “insensitive” and “sub-standard”. It has pointed out that the statement indicates that Muslims are communal by nature and that the saintwas an exception.