Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 10:41:43 -0700 (PDT) From: "Bruce R. Montague" <brucem@cruzio.com> To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Tridents (was Re: FreeBSD Version Release numbers) Message-ID: <200306131741.h5DHfhb00654@cruzio.com>
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Hi, I'm no expert, but my impression is that the current problem in India with Hindu "tridents" isn't so much their historical baggage, but that they are, in fact, being using as weapons _today_: -- http://www.onlinevolunteers.org/gujarat/reports/children/chapter1.htm "The Hindus were crying that we Muslims were responsible for the Godhra incident; so they would wipe out the entire race. They started burning all our houses. They killed as many they could get hold of, with sword and trishul (trident); after that they poured petrol or kerosene and burnt all the bodies." -- http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/02/20/stories/2003022006231100.htm "The Chief Minister... had no doubt about the seriousness of the issue... asking them to restrain the VHP from distributing "trishuls." Rajasthan is yet to include "trishuls" under the purview of the Arms Act, which proscribes a weapon with a sharp blade measuring 10.5 cm long. According to a study by the Rajasthan PUCL, the VHP trident has a sharpened portion of 8 cm, though its overall length is 13.5 cm. ``This is an eyewash as the rest of it can be sharpened anytime...'' says Kavita Srivastava, general secretary. The act of arming people through "trishuls'' has increased in..." -- http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2009/stories/20030509004103000.htm "Gehlot made it clear that the trishul was not a religious symbol. While the trident of Siva was an object of respect, the three-pronged knife distributed by the VHP was a deadly weapon... ...a matter of concern for the government." Relatively speaking, there seems to be a lot of "mob" violence in India with the most primitive of weapons. FWIW, on the real nits-that-dont-matter-front, all the Indian pages that I've seen (and any Indian newstory that spells it out), attribute the trident to Shiva. Vishnu's weapon is the discus... I dunno... (hum, I need an attributed weapon... guess coffee will do!)
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