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Contradiction within contradiction

I read Deepak Tondon’s letter (Feb 13) contradicting some facts given by Rajbir Deswal under the heading “The legend of Panipat” (Spectrum, Feb 6) in which the writer had given a correct and detailed background of Panipat except one, as has been pointed out that the famous couplet Khudi ko kar buland itna ki har taqdir se pehley khuda bande se khud pooche bata teri raza kya hai was written by Iqbal instead of a famous poet of Panipat ‘Hali’.

However, Deepak has wrongly assigned the history of Panipat as being 5000 years old, dating back to the Mahabharata period. Most people are ignorant about the correct period of the Mahabharata and Ramayana.

World renowned archaeologist B.B. Lal had excavated the famous Mahabharata site, Hastinapur, and undertaken an excavation at Tilpat, which is 11 miles south of Delhi. He even planned a systematic exploration of over 30 sites mentioned either in the Mahabharata itself or alleged to have been associated with the story.

The scientific investigations more than fulfilled his expectations, since almost all sites yielded the ‘painted grey ware’ and at some places ‘northern black polished ware’. These potteries belong to a period from 320 BC to 1200 BC.

Consequently, the earliest history of Panipat is not more than 3200 years old.

BHAG CHAND LATHER,Chandigarh

II

The writer misquoted Iqbal’s famous couplet as being of Hali’s. Secondly, the word taqdeer in the couplet should be tahreer (writing), meaning that an individual should make his self so sublime that before writing the destiny of the individual, the Almighty seeks the individual’s assent or approval.

PARAMJEET SINGH,Ropar

In the issue of March 5, a photograph of Mr P. Chidambaram on Page 2 was wrongly captioned as Pranab Mukherjee. The error is regretted.

Of cartoons and crime The article “Switch off those violent scenes” (Feb 19, Saturday Extra), written by Nutan Sehgal, was timely. The writer remarks that this “Mean World Syndrome” is gaining ground rapidly amongst our children. They are becoming homebirds, as they do not observe anything that is happening outside. In every home nowadays, the offspring are seen glued to their television sets, watching cartoon shows such as Swat Cats, Dragon Ballz, MIB, Johney Quest and crime serials like VIP and CID. In such shows, plenty of violence and dangerous acts with camera tricks are exhibited, which have a damaging effect on tender minds. There have been reports in the past that innocent children have lost their precious lives by imitating such dangerous scenes. There is no official authority or any rule to check these. “Even bad laws are worst sort of tyranny”, remarks Barker. The government has failed to make a code to curb this. Even parents do not discharge their duty. They feel that their children are at least busy and having fun. They forget that by constantly glaring at the television sets, their offspring attract so many problems. J.B.S. NANDA,Ludhiana