India's move for the development for blind under odds
by Dr. Udai Narain Sinha

Ramesh Sarin holds, “Working on specially challenged in general and visually challenged in particular had been one of my cherished desires if I got a chance. (Sarin Ramesh, “Changing Policy Perspectives for the Visually Impaired: A Comparative Study of Post-Apartheid South Africa and India” awarded Ph-d Degree on August 2007 from Jawaharlal Nehru University Delhi 2007)

The recent estimates indicate that there are 12 million people in India who suffer from blindness in one form or another. More number of people suffers from blindness in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharastra than in the other parts of India. of the total population of India. The central government as well as the state governments has taken steps to reduce, and if possible, eradicate blindness from the country. Schools for the blind are run in most Indian states, but some states, unfortunately, do not have such schools. People above the age of 65 constitute more than half of the blind population in the developed nations, but in India childhood and congenital blindness is unfortunately very high. A little over 25 percent of the total population of the blind people in the whole world seems to be found in India. This happens in a nation where Darshan is a highly valued theological and social concept.
According to Dr. M. S. Thirumalai, “Blind Men in a Rally in New Delhi Protesting for Their Rights. by citing this narrative that apart from the growing population of the blindness in India the negative attitude is still like the ancient past in the Country, he actually knocks the doors of Governments in particular and Indian society in general to change their attitude for the blind persons. ” Courtesy: Deccan Herald. December 8, 2001

The role of eye in religion in India has been excellently presented by Gonda (1969). It appears from the study of the Vedas that in ancient India, the language of the eyes must have more advanced. The expression of emotion via eye attracts special notice in dramatic works also. Eye-glance, gaze, and any meaningful contact of the eye-plays some significant role in Vedic religion. The eye, in Vedic religion, plays or serves a variety of purposes and significance. We may cite an example in this regard “Chakshusha Indro Bridhrashravah Chakshusha Poosha Vishvavedah”. (Here generally “Svasti” is considered as Chakshu, because “Svasti” is possible only when there are Chakshus.)

In fact The act of seeing was regarded as a sign of life. Eye power represented the power of the whole person. Vedic texts reveal that ancient Indians assumed the existence of a relation between the form of the eye and a man\'s character. A blood-red eye signified evil and was characteristic of angry and wicked people,
Barbarians, demons, and awesome gods. A wide eye may point to a concentration of vitality and wakefulness. Fixation of eyes was often feared. Also the glances of people who were recognized to have some spiritual power, or mighty men who had the power to affect others injuriously were also feared.

The certain Indian proverbs signify the importance of eyes.
1. Need for cultivating caution through a diligent use of eye for prediction of the future.
2. Just as one cannot see what is in one\'s own eyes, people do not find any fault in their own actions.
3. Eye is to be used as a diligent guide and instrument for one\'s proper mobility in the physical world as well as for proper social conduct.
4. Eye is used to hide information as well as to reveal the hidden feelings and information.
5. Eye may be compared with objects and beings to highlight the importance, the essential nature, and the leadership and guardian qualities of these objects and beings.
6. Eyes reveal anxiety, disappointment, affection, intelligence, valor, and cunning.
7. Pretension may be practiced with or without success through a manipulation of eye.
8. The ever-shifting eye symbolizes the unsteady nature of human nature.
9. Eye may function as a measure of beauty. \"Beauty that cannot be contained in eyes\" is one way of describing the exquisiteness of objects, events, and individuals.
10. The size and shape of an eye is compared favorably with delicate flowers, stars, fish, etc.
11. Eye reveals jealousy, greed, anxiety and anger. Eyes indeed reveal everything one has in his or her mind. It is on the importance of the eyes that in ancient India there developed an Upanishad, “Chakshushopanishad”.

The reason is simple. A beautiful flower blooms, a beautiful lady or girl moves but the word beauty is indescribable and is a in fact a Psychological feeling, which is developed and perceived through physical eyes only and where it is not considered the destruction of Mahabharata come into being. The central idea of submission is that Gandhari was the most beautiful person of North Western Provincial State i.e. Gandhar. However, out of the terror of Bhishma the king of Gandhar married his daughter to the blind Dhritrashtra. Our view is not fabricated through the imagination but through the practical thinking and a scientific analysis of Psychology.

Our aim is not to disturb the good faith of people but to present a truthful picture. Here in this connection we would like to cite some passages of (\"A Wonder of Ancient India: The Mahabharata\" by Nhilde Davidson,

“The known history of India does not include verifiable records of a war where millions of soldiers fought and died or the destruction of Dvaraka (the region Governed by Krishna) by tidal waves and cataclysms of the proportions described in the Mahabharata. The crux of the matter is that the entire Mahabharata has one obvious aim -- to awaken a love of truth and right action. The core story is the thread that ties together a profound philosophical content. Embellished by sub stories to clarify various ethical premises, the central theme always leads in one direction the ascendancy of right over wrong, justice over injustice, truth over untruth. In the war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas it is made clear that the side of Truth (represented by the Pandavas) will ultimately win. The reasons for this war and the human aspects of the story are what make the Epic ever fascinating its slokas are the mirror whereby we see into our own souls, and the consequences of actions, both gross and subtle, are laid bare for scrutiny.

“The central story concerns the rivalry for the throne of Hastinapura, where the ancient dynasty of India has its domain. Dynasty is finally destroyed. Pandu, the second son of Santanu, becomes king because his elder brother, Dhritarashtra, was born blind and thus considered unfit to rule. However, when Pandu dies Dhritarashtra, already an able administrator of the country during Pandu\'s many absences, proceeds to reign. It is the Vision. Like a diamond sparkling in the sun, each time a passage or an episode is reread new illuminations and nuances come into focus.” (Sunrise magazine, February/March 1997.)

Another ancient tale in respect of blind is Syama or Samaka Jataka: Amongst the older Jatakas at Ajanta which has parallels outsides is the Syama or Samaka Jataka in the cave No. 10, a caitya hall narrating the story of Bodhisattva as Shyama who tirelessly served his blind hermit parents. The Jataka highlighted the role of an ideal son dedicated to the service of his aged father and mother setting an inspiring example for the common people.(Ajanta cave No. 17) This story is seen in Gandhara Buddhist Stoop, Sanchi and The depiction of Syama Jataka has appeared in the Dunhuang caves and the Xinjiang grottoes. In Cave No.299 of Mogao there in a long horizontal panel decorating on the gorgeous ceiling: (1) the palace of the king, (2) the king’s hunt, (3) the king chasing a deer along a stream, (4) the king killing Syama by mistake, (5) Syama being buried, (6) Syama’s blind parents being informed about the tragedy, and (7) the resurrection of Syama. In comparison. The Xinjiang cave This and other portrayals of Syama Jataka at Mogao caves, Dunhuang are elaborate and vivid. The final scene which shows the blind parents embracing their son’s body and wailing in anguish represents poignantly the grief of parting. The tragic tale ends on a happy note with the solution of Buddha’s magical
power resurrecting Samaka. The painting composition is tightly structured with a clear focus on the theme. People’s activities are interwoven with the Landscape hills, trees and the streams making it a realistic representation. It has been inferred by scholars in China that the story was intended to convey the idea of loyalty and piety to the authority. At Ajanta (Cave No.17) there is a painting of another story of an elephant devoted to his blind Parents, almost on the same theme, narrated through Matriposaka Jataka. There is another episode to be counted in this regard which is mentioned in the Adiparvan Sambhava Parvan of the Mahabharata where there is a story of Rishi Ucchattha or Utathya. His wife’s name was mamata.
Their son’s name was Dirghatama, who was equal unto Vrihaspati in energy, was born blind. He possessed the knowledge of the Vedas, its subparts and the other scriptures. He wooed Pradveshi as his wife. They possessed several children but the eldest amongst them was Gautama. The learned men dissatisfied with him like his own wife for his zest, curiosity, desire and knowledge. He inquired his wife to this end. She replied ‘The husband is called the Bhartri because he supporteth the wife. O thou of great ascetic merit, on the other hand, thou hast been blind from birth; it is I who have supported thee and thy children. I desire not wealth that may be procured by thee, for that can never bring me happiness.” Then he cursed, “likest every woman shall have to adhere to one husband for her life. Be the husband dead or alive, it shall not be lawful for a woman to have connection with another. And she who may have such connection shall certainly be regarded as fallen. A woman without husband shall always be liable to be sinful. Calumny and evil report shall ever dog her.” ‘Some scholars have claimed that the Babylonians invented the zodiac of 360 degrees around 700 BCE, perhaps even earlier. Many claim that India received this knowledge from foreign. Factually it is wrong. The reference to a chakra or wheel of 360 spokes placed in the sky. in Vedic symbolism. It is in the hymns of the great Rishi Dirghatamas. (RV I.140 - 164)

Dirghatamas is one of the most famous Rig Vedic Rishis. He was the reputed Purohit or chief priest of King Bharat. earliest kings of the land, from which India as Bharat (the traditional name of the country) was named. He belonged to old Angirasa Rishi family. about the hymns of Dirghatamas is that he shows the mathematical basis of such harmonic divisions of a zodiac of 360 degrees. Dirghatamas states, (Rig-Veda I.164.36), \"Seven half embryos form the seed of the world. Dharma by the direction of Vishnu.\"( Vedic Origins of the Zodiac: The Hymns of Dirghatamas in the Rig Veda Contributed by Dr. David Frawley

American Institute of Vedic Studies

PO Box 8357, Santa Fe NM 87504-8357) This is also suggestive to the importance of the eyes to the common masses even though the person used to be a scholar. With such widespread insistence on values that depend and revolve around eye and sight, it is not surprising that people without sight are traditionally looked down upon, ill treated, and assumed to be somehow inferior in status to the sighted people.

There may be qualitative difference between the mental imageries of the blind people and the sighted people. the mental imageries of the sighted people should be necessarily taught or incorporated in the mental imageries of the blind people. mental imageries carried by the words used in language may reveal the mental imageries of the sighted people. In the process of teaching the words, we will be able to arrive at a variety of elements in the mental imageries of the blind people that are quite different from those of the sighted people.

This gap can be bridged through scientific thinking, adopting scientific tools, considering the work which has already been done through UNESCO jargon of \"Salamanca\" [6] (represented in the book by N.K. Jangira, 67-76) and Anupam Ahuja, 77-96), rather than getting on with practical work and experiment in Indian schools, rural uplift programmes and government offices without any proper result but the wastage of public money.

The scientific development in this regard may be seen through Medieval Sanskrit literature such as Vaghbata\'s specification for design of playgrounds and toys that should be safe
and stimulating, reflecting Caraka\'s earlier list for the blind in particular and disabled in general. K.R. Srikantha Murthy (ed. & trans.) (1995-1997) Ashtanga Samgraha of Vaghbata, Varanasi, Vol. III, chapter 1, Balopacaraniya, verses 75-76.)

This is though an approach towards scientific thinking in India but is not corresponding to the modern inclusive policy of the Government of India. It is for this reason that we did not developed even education technical skill for the blind which we see in Egypt’s earliest modern blind school was begun in the 1870s by the Egyptian physician Onsy Bey, after he studied medicine in Paris. Dr Onsy devised The modern Braille method is the result of hard work of French scholar Louise Braille. The Western concept is that if we cannot give someone’s lost vision back then we should develop some Scientific tools that may incorporate the disability into ability. The present Gazette of India Extra Ordinary Part III Section I, “The Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights & Full Participation) Act 1995 implemented in Feb. 1996 to whole of India excluding Jammu and Kashmir is one such effort to give legal protection to the Disabled in general and Blind in particular. However it is only a paper work. Hence, It was highlighted in Lucknow Times December 3, 2007 by the author in his article, “Is our Political System Disabled Friendly”. There is a need of positive development in cases of common unsighted persons in India. (PWD Act Sec. 42) is an important provision which should be acceptable.

This provision is seldom accepted in cases of blind persons. There are number of equipments like colour recognizers, KNFB Reader, Mobile Speak, Jaws for Windows, the screen reader, Talking Microwave Oven, Special Kitchen accessories, Talking Body Thermometer, Kurzweil Reader and Electronic Brailler and printers are devices that may enable a blind person to come forward with the sighted counterparts. There is a strong need for Indians to go beyond money mindedness and have to inculcate modest and positive feelings for establishing the technological transfer skills and Government should come forward in this regard because this is the real religion. Serve the Human being and serve the humanity and thereby thou serveth the Country. Let us join our hands and create many more barriers free environment for those to whom Dame Nature has pulled into darkness. Tamso ma Jyotirgamay.