Vedic Math and the Hindutva pursuit of historical falsification

Below is an example of what is supposedly Vedic Mathematics, which has the Hindu nationalists all warmed up and gushing with pride about ancient Indian heritage and her prowess in sciences:

This little Vedic math formula will show whether a number is divisible by four or not. This can be used to figure out if an year is leap year or not. 


So, this is how it works.
Let's look at 1234
Does 4 divide evenly into 1234?
For 4 to divide into any number we have to make sure that the last number is even
If it is an odd number, there is no way it will go in evenly.
So, for example, 4 will not go evenly into 1233 or 1235
Now we know that for 4 to divide evenly into any
number the number has to end with an even number.
Back to the question...
4 into 1234, the solution:
Take the last number and add it to 2 times the second last number
If 4 goes evenly into this number then you know
that 4 will go evenly into the whole number.
So
4 + (2 X 3) = 10
4 goes into 10 two times with a remainder of 2 so it does not go in evenly.
Therefore 4 into 1234 does not go in completely.
Let’s try 4 into 3436546
So, from our example, take the last number, 6 and add it to
two times the penultimate number, 4
6 + (2 X 4) = 14
4 goes into 14 three times with two remainder.
So it doesn't go in evenly.
Let's try one more.
4 into 212334436
6 + (2 X 3) = 12
4 goes into 12 three times with 0 remainder.
Therefore 4 goes into 234436 evenly.

The objection of skeptics and secularists is not so much towards ‘Vedic Math’ if it is rightly treated as an ancillary subject, as to that of other subjects which are really relics of ancient Indian heritage that are sought to be surreptitiously re-minted as topics of science and research with contemporary value and applicability

The true  ire of the opponents of Saffron ideology with ‘Vedic Math’ is the tendency of Hindu revivalists to prefix the Vedic term to a technique of math, that is better described as ‘Trick Math’ or ‘Speed Math’ used in Math Olympiad. There is nothing Vedic about this  as there is no mention of any mathematical techniques or theory in any of the 4 Vedas. The tendency of prefixing ‘Vedic’ to any subject matter of Indian origin or interest appears to be part of Hindu revivalist strategy to confound the understanding of most Hindus and Indians about the true origins of such subjects as well as unduly exaggerating the already hallowed and mesmeric significance that Hindus accord to these primary scriptures.

While there are some merits to using unconventional techniques to enhance math abilities of students (Kumon math franchises in USA use similar techniques), what begs the question is whether the so-called ‘Vedic Math’ has a formal body of knowledge and a robust theoretical foundation that represents a significant advancement over contemporary Math sciences. Indian math scientists found very little evidence of such a potential.

This link below does a much better job of unraveling the vedic voodoo around  ‘Vedic Math’ much better than I can ever do

http://twitscope.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/vedic-mathematics-or-vedic-nonsense/

 It is not the skeptics or reasoning critics that have a jaundiced world-view of Hinduism or India, but the new fangled Hindu evangelists who either don’t know or don’t want to separate the chaff of religious/metaphysical and pseudo-scientific misinterpretation of ancient Hindu relics and scriptures  from the kernel of their real cultural, historical and social heritage and legacy.

The major burden of secular and skeptical outrage at Hindutva immodesty is directed at the following two essential strategies of evangelism:

•  Re-writing and re-interpretation of ancient Indian history and significance of Indian/Hindu religious scriptures, under the pretext of correcting perceived inaccuracies of historical narration with a purported British/Islamic  ideological slant/bias, not with the purpose of seeking or portraying  truth or objectivity, but by way of appeasement to religious and cultural populism and exploiting the latent cultural nostalgia for things and events of the remote past.

• Elevating the status of ancient Indian scriptures from their primary nature as relics of religious and metaphysical opinion and speculation understandable for its age and era, into not only super-gospels of timeless and eternal wisdom, but the source of all knowledge, science, inventions and innovations in ancient India as well as having the prescience and precocity to codify all the natural laws and theories discovered and inventions and innovations accomplished by modern science and technology. To further this aim, every ideological trick in the book is used to blur the philosophical distinctions between various categories of such scriptures like Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, epics and the additions and interpolations to them like the Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavatam, misrepresent texts that originated in  multiple millennium as a monolithic and contiguous whole symbolizing a seamless and unified spiritual and cultural Hindu tradition, gloss over or explain away inconsistencies and contradictions in such scriptures and texts and not in the least venturing the absurdity of rationalizing the oxymoron of a ‘Scientific Religion’ for Hinduism