On Kamal Haasan’s View of the Chola Empire and Hinduism

Chola Temple in 

Thanjavur

When Kamal Haasan said that the Chola Emperors (who were South India's most avid temple builders during the Middle Ages) were not Hindus, and that Hinduism did not exist in the Middle Ages, he was probably regurgitating the false propaganda of Catholic ideologues like Robert de Nobili, M. Deivanayagam, and Kamil Zvelebil. 

In his book, India in Third Millennium, Deivanayagam has attempted to prove that Hinduism is an offshoot of Christianity. He credits the British colonialists for the development of the modern form of Hinduism. In his book, he wrote: “Aryan Brahmins and Britishers, both of whom are foreigners, joined together and conspired against the Indian people. They jointly created and started spreading a concept that the English word ‘Hinduism’ (which originally meant Hindu law) also can mean ‘Hindu religion’…” Similar anti-Hinduism views can be found in the writings of Kamil Zvelebil.

Deivanayagam and Zvelebil hold that the Vedas were written after Jesus, and that Shaivism and Vaishnavism were inspired by Thomistic Christianity. They assert that Brahmanism, Sanskrit, and Vedanta were corrupting influences and must be eradicated. 

Robert de Nobili was the infamous Jesuit missionary who came to India in 1605. He gained knowledge of Sanskrit and pretended to be a Brahmin, picking up the nickname “White Brahmin.” Eventually he became obsessed with finding evidence to establish that the Vedas were inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ. He collaborated with some French Jesuits in forging a document called the Fifth Veda (Ezourvedam). The Jesuits claimed that the Ezourvedam was an ancient document, which contained proof of Vedic Hinduism being a corrupted form of Christianity.

Voltaire was enthusiastic about the Ezourvedam. He had the text copied and promoted it among the European intellectuals of his time. In the 19th century, it was proved that the Ezourvedam was an elaborate hoax created by French and Italian Jesuits. However, this text continues to be popular among the Catholic ideologues and political activists in India. They use this text to indoctrinate their flock with the notion that the Vedas were a corrupted form of Christ’s teachings.