From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Mon Jun 1 11:21:11 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Mon, 01 Jun 92 12:21:11 +0100 Subject: past SOAS Hindu Studies Seminar speakers Message-ID: <161227015353.23782.7831059185633624018.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO I append below the timetable of the last few months of the HSS held weekly at SOAS, since it might be of general interest to INDOLOGY members to see who's currently doing what. I'll try to be a bit more timely in future, and send in the *forthcoming* list! If other INDOLOGists have active visiting speaker programs, I for one would be very interested to see lists of speakers and topics. Dominik ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ University of London School of Oriental and African Studies Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H OXG Tel. No. (071) 637 2388 CENTRE OF RELIGION & PHILOSOPHY HINDU STUDIES SEMINAR 1991-92 Convenor: Dr. I. Julia Leslie Lectures will be held on TUESDAYS in Room LG61 at 1.0 pm Term 2 Jan. 14 'Is a Theory of Caste Possible?' Dr. Declan Quigley (University of Cambridge) [Chair: Dr. Christopher Pinney] 21 'The Ramayana Reliefs of the Prambanan Temple (Central Java)' Dr. Alessandra Iyer (Loughborough College of Art and Design) [Chair: Ben Arps] 28 'Impure Women, Virtuous Men: Gender, Caste and Ideology in Tamilnadu' Dr. Karin Kapadia (LSE and SOAS) [Chair: Dr. Julia Leslie] Feb. 4 'Hindu Gods on Ancient Indian Coins' Joe Cribb (Curator, South Asian Coins, British Museum) [Chair: Prof. A.D.H. Bivar] 11 'Body and Cosmology in the Jayakhyasamhita and related systems' Dr. Gavin D. Flood (University of Wales) [Chair: Dr. Tuvia Gelblum] 18 'Gender Relations and Social Change in Eighteenth- Century Western India' Dr Rosalind O'Hanlon (Clare College, Cambridge) [Chair: Dr. Julia Leslie] 25 'The Reinterpretation and Reconstruction of Hinduism in Nineteenth-Century Bengal' Indira Chowdhury-Sengupta (SOAS) [Chair: Dr. William Radice] Mar 3 'Karma in Cosmic Syntax' Dr. Eivind Kahrs (University of Cambridge) [Chair: Dr. Tuvia Gelblum] 10 'Illness, Inauspiciousness and Modes of Healing in Rajasthan' Dr. Helen Lambert (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) [Chair: Prof. D.J. Arnold] 17 'From the One to the Many: Movement in Indian Temple Architecture' Dr. Adam Hardy (Birmingham School of Architecture) [Chair: Dr. Giles Tillotson] Term 3 Apr 28 'The Early History of Saivism' Alexis Sanderson (University of Oxford) [Chair: Robert Mayer] May 5 'Kings, Yogins and Alchemists in Medieval India' Dr David White (University of Virginia) [Chair: Dr Dominik Wujastyk] 12 'Arthur Avalon: The Creation of a Legendary Orientalist' Kathleen Taylor (SOAS) [Chair: Dr. Avril Powell] 19 'Ananda K. Coomaraswamy and the Origins of Indian Temple Architecture' Dr. James C. Harle (formerly of the Ashmolean Museum) [Chair: Dr. Giles Tillotson] ALL WELCOME Enquiries: Joan Ridgwell Centre of Religion & Philosophy SOAS. Tel. 071 323 6137 From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Mon Jun 1 20:20:48 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Mon, 01 Jun 92 21:20:48 +0100 Subject: National scandal: Ganesha being sold as a "monster"! Message-ID: <161227015359.23782.9743729987743076721.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO This is a beaut! Tomorrow's edition of the British wireless programme "You and Yours" will report on a scandal which is currently under way in Birmingham. The children's toy company, Matchbox, recently started to market a new line: a matchbox full of miniature monsters. A mother of Indian descent in Birmingham bought this toy for her child, and was horrified and deeply offended to find that amongst the monsters in the box was a clear depiction of Ganesha. When challenged, the company claimed that it had thought that the big belly and elephant's head made the figure suitable for inclusion in the toy, and had intended no religious slur; however, a future release of the same toy was planned to include a figure of Kali. The press has just got hold of this, and a furore is expected to break in the papers tomorrow. I understand that India has immediately slammed a ban on the import from Britain of any toys made by the Matchbox company. This account is by word of mouth, and may have to be corrected in details when the story is published. Dominik From teexdjl at UK.AC.IOE Mon Jun 1 20:26:17 1992 From: teexdjl at UK.AC.IOE (JULIA LESLIE) Date: Mon, 01 Jun 92 21:26:17 +0100 Subject: Help with literature on Santoshi Ma? Message-ID: <161227015361.23782.18014427369558148453.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO I would be very grateful if you would let me know of any books or articles on the goddess Santoshi Ma. Many thanks, Julia Leslie SOAS From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Tue Jun 2 16:04:40 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Tue, 02 Jun 92 17:04:40 +0100 Subject: Ashok Aklujkar joins the net Message-ID: <161227015355.23782.4231843690004238235.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO \begin{quotation} > Dear Dominik, > About a week ago, the Macintosh in my personal office was connected to > the email network. So I decided to catch up with the age and to learn to > use this wonderful facility of modern communication. There is no guarantee > that it will make me any prompter in responding but I shall at least try to > read the incoming mail regularly. [...] > I would also like to receive the email addresses of those Indologists > who would not mind my having them. Mine is yours to share with them. > My book Sanskrit: an Easy Introduction to an Enchanting Language, SEL in > abbreviation, finally reached its completion in 1991. It has now 700 pages > and five 90-minute cassettes. It comes in three volumes. I shall publish > the 1992 edition, containing minor improvements of typing and arrangement, > in about a month. The price for the whole set, which serves the student's > needs for more than one year, will be US$70.00, including surface mail > postage. The 1991 edition was sold out. > Best wishes to you and your family, Ashok Aklujkar > A.N. Aklujkar, Professor, Department of Asian Studies, University of B.C., > Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6T 1Z2, (604) 822-5185, (604) 274-5353, fax > 822-8937. aklujkar at unixg.ubc.ca \end{quotation} I have send Ashok a list of the INDOLOGY members, along with their email addresses. Dominik From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Tue Jun 2 16:21:19 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Tue, 02 Jun 92 17:21:19 +0100 Subject: John Mitchiner located Message-ID: <161227015358.23782.2204817730802870312.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO Peter Schreiner informs me that \begin{quotation} > Concerning the whereabouts of John E. Mitchiner I happen to know that > he is working at the British Embassy in Berne, Switzerland. The address > is: > c/o British Embassy > Thunstr. 50 > CH-3005 Berne > Tel. off. 445021, res. 9218656 (or 588656) > > I am going to meet Dr. Mitchiner next week and may be able to tell you > more about him thereafter. \end{quotation} Thanks, Peter, Dominik From magier at EDU.COLUMBIA.CC.CUNIXF Wed Jun 3 13:55:39 1992 From: magier at EDU.COLUMBIA.CC.CUNIXF (David Magier) Date: Wed, 03 Jun 92 09:55:39 -0400 Subject: literature on Santoshi Ma Message-ID: <161227015363.23782.6000159008518941151.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO Julia Leslie (SOAS) inquired about books or articles on Santoshi Ma. A recent book is the following: | AUTHOR: Kurtz, Stanley N. | TITLE: All the mothers are one : | Hindu India and the cultural reshaping of psychoanalysis / | PLACE: New York : |PUBLISHER: Columbia University Press, | YEAR: 1992 | PUB TYPE: Book | FORMAT: p. cm. | NOTES: Includes bibliographical references and index. | ISBN: 0231078684 (alk. paper) | 0231078692 (pbk.) | SUBJECT: Santoshi Mata (Hindu deity) | Goddesses, Hindu. | Child rearing -- Religious aspects -- Hinduism. | Mother and child -- India. | Psychoanalysis and religion -- India. | Psychoanalysis and culture -- India. | Hinduism -- Psychology. ---------------------- Another book follows: Srinivasachari, Kizhattur, 1918- Cakala caup_akkiya_nka_laiyum nalkum _Sr_i Cant_o_si M_at_a : p_ujaiyum kataiyum (p_ujai, viratam, _aratti ko_n_tatu) / e_lutiyavarka_l, p_ujai viratam K_i_l_att_ur _Sr_i_niv_ac_acc_ariy_ar, katai p_a_talka_l p_o_r_ri akaval N_akaca_nmukam. -- Ce_n_nai : Kiri _Tir_e_ti_n _Eja_nci, 1978. 56 p. ; 19 cm. Cover title: _Sr_i Cant_o_si M_at_a. In Tamil. Rs1.75 1. Santosh_i M_at_a (Hindu deity)--Cult. 2. Hindu hymns, Tamil. I. Naga Shankukam, joint author. II. Title. III. Title: _Sr_i Cant_o_si M_at_a. LCCN: 79904071/SA L.C. CALL NO: BL1225.S23.S74 -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ ____________________________ 304 International Affairs /// -- David Magier -- \\\ Columbia University ||| Head, AREA STUDIES ||| New York, N.Y. 10027 ||| S&SE Asia, Latin America, ||| (212) 854-8046 / FAX: 212 222-0331 \\\ Mid-East, Slavic, Africa /// --------------------------- magier at cunixf.cc.columbia.edu From yanom at EARN.JPNKSUVX Thu Jun 4 08:48:49 1992 From: yanom at EARN.JPNKSUVX (yanom at EARN.JPNKSUVX) Date: Thu, 04 Jun 92 08:48:49 +0000 Subject: John Mitchiner located Message-ID: <161227015365.23782.3505499383676376611.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO Thanks, Michio YANO From FO90030%BITNET.DHHUNI4 at DE.GMD.VM Thu Jun 4 14:54:30 1992 From: FO90030%BITNET.DHHUNI4 at DE.GMD.VM (FO90030) Date: Thu, 04 Jun 92 14:54:30 +0000 Subject: None Message-ID: <161227015367.23782.13681631955500520313.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Re: Diacritics with WordPerfect 5.1 DOS Status: RO WordPerfect 5.1 (DOS) supports the use of 512 screen characters with EGA/VGA- compatible adaptors, whereby 256 of those characters can be freely defined by th e user. VGA screens can display 8x16 or 8x14 sized characters but EGA screens only 8x14. The definitions of the screen characters are contained in a file called VGA512.FRS a nd their assignments in a file called VGA512.CHM (Character map). It is possible to chang e from one set of 512 characters to another by means of a macro that can be called by pressing any key one designates for the purpose. One set of 512 characters is su fficient for most purposes. It can include all the diacritics used for Indian and Iranian studies as well as Cyrillic. Screen fonts can be easily produced using WordPerfect's Screen Font Editor , which however must be purchased separately. It does however contain definitions of all the standard WordPerfect characters including Japanese, Greek etc. and these can be simply taken over into one's own set. WordPerfect does not envisage all the char acters needed by Indologists. In particular the dotted letters (retroflexes, anusvara a nd visarga etc.) are not included. They can however be incorporated into character set 12 ( the user- definable character set). WordPerfect 5.1 also supports user-defined keyboard layout files. It is po ssible to shift from one layout to another by means of a designated key. Thus I use a keyb oard layout for writing Cyrillic, but if I press ALT-L it changes to a keyboard for w riting English and Sanskrit etc. This keyboard also makes use of the number sign (ASCII 35) to invoke a macro that enables me to enter a code for characters that I do not f ind it convenient to locate under simple keys or combinations of keys with ALT and CTRL From RCJ at UK.AC.CAMBRIDGE.UNIVERSITY-LIBRARY.AUTOMATION Thu Jun 4 16:26:00 1992 From: RCJ at UK.AC.CAMBRIDGE.UNIVERSITY-LIBRARY.AUTOMATION (RCJ at UK.AC.CAMBRIDGE.UNIVERSITY-LIBRARY.AUTOMATION) Date: Thu, 04 Jun 92 16:26:00 +0000 Subject: Word Perfect / Microsoft Word Message-ID: <161227015369.23782.12194197612555500074.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO >WordPerfect 5.1 (DOS) supports the use of 512 screen characters .. And what about Microsoft Word? How are people getting enough diacritics for oriental languages in romanized form with Microsoft Word? Craig Jamieson University of Cambridge From SGAMBHIR at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS Fri Jun 5 15:51:16 1992 From: SGAMBHIR at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS (Surenda Gambhir) Date: Fri, 05 Jun 92 10:51:16 -0500 Subject: National scandal: Ganesha being sold as a "monster"! Message-ID: <161227015373.23782.17461994928229167156.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO How does Gandhi come into the picture? I do not follow that. Going back to the original issue, I think that depiction of Ganesh as a monster is a serious error on the part of matchbox industry people. It needs to be impressed upon them from hundreds of different directions that playing with the religious sentiments of people can have very serious consequences. I don't think devotees or admirers of god Ganesh will pass a death sentence on the wrong-doers but they woul d like to see them publicly apologizing for their mistake with a promise that they will be more careful in future. If possible, the matchbox industry leaders should take a couple of courses in South Asian studies to learn that whom they took lightly is a mighty god in Hinduism. It is not a surprise that Lord Ganesh, who is widely worshipped as a remover of obstacles in all human undertakings, stood in the way of Matchbox people because he was mistreated. One thing that I am not clear about is wheter the matchbox people had mentioned his name too. I would like to get some more details of the original problem. - Surendra Gambhir From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Fri Jun 5 15:02:38 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Fri, 05 Jun 92 16:02:38 +0100 Subject: National scandal: Ganesha being sold as a "monster"! Message-ID: <161227015375.23782.5670646406776623586.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO \begin{quotation} > Dominik: > How on earth could a figure with a big belly and an elephant's > head be mistaken for a depiction of Gandhi? \end{quotation} No, no, it was Ganesha! I have now heard the radio programme, and the details I originally posted are substantially correct. The toy was called "A Pocket Full of Monsters". It's a reflection of the times, I suppose, that this is what children rush out to buy. The toy has been withdrawn. A puzzled market researcher was also interviewed on the programme, and he couldn't understand how Matchbox could have made such a mistake, since all new products brought to market by such companies are regularly tested for acceptability in multicultural group tests. I imagine that's why you don't export a deodorant to Germany under the name Mist. Und so weiter. :-) Dominik From INDINST at UK.AC.OXFORD.VAX Tue Jun 9 11:37:00 1992 From: INDINST at UK.AC.OXFORD.VAX (INDINST at UK.AC.OXFORD.VAX) Date: Tue, 09 Jun 92 11:37:00 +0000 Subject: Chaulukya period inscriptions Message-ID: <161227015377.23782.7528286018784493143.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO Does anyone know of a catalogue or listing of Chaulukya period (942-1304 A.D.) inscriptions in Gujarat? A student at Oxford is keen to work on some unpublished inscriptions from this period but has so far been unable to find a catalogue or listing of unpublishehed materia Gillian Evison Indian Institute Library From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Tue Jun 9 18:51:25 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Tue, 09 Jun 92 19:51:25 +0100 Subject: Chaulukya period inscriptions Message-ID: <161227015379.23782.13672219337072842133.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO The two main books on the chronology and archaeology of Gujarat are those of Sankalia and Majumdar. I'll give details tomorrow when I'm back in the office. But I'm sure these two would be in the II library. Dominik From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Wed Jun 10 12:58:18 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Wed, 10 Jun 92 13:58:18 +0100 Subject: Chaulukya period inscriptions Message-ID: <161227015381.23782.15151649884072011276.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO \begin{quotation} > Does anyone know of a catalogue or listing of Chaulukya period (942-1304 A.D.) > inscriptions in Gujarat? A student at Oxford is keen to work on some > unpublished inscriptions from this period but has so far been unable to find a > catalogue or listing of unpublishehed materia > > Gillian Evison > Indian Institute Library \end{quotation} Gillian, the books I mentioned are Hasmukh D. Sankalia, The Archaeology of Gujarat (Bombay, 1941), and M. R. Majumdar, Chronology of Gujarat (Baroda, 1960). Both are excellent, but perhaps your student knows them already. Of course they concentrate on published, studied material, which is probably the main problem. The recently-published survey A. Ghosh, An encyclopaedia of Indian archaeology (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1989), 2 vols., is first class, and your student could systematically look up Gujarati place names in volume 1 and see if work has been done on inscriptions. Dominik From dmp9 at EDU.COLUMBIA.CC.CUNIXA Wed Jun 10 20:37:37 1992 From: dmp9 at EDU.COLUMBIA.CC.CUNIXA (Deven M Patel) Date: Wed, 10 Jun 92 16:37:37 -0400 Subject: Manitoba seeks Sanskrit-Hindi teacher Message-ID: <161227015383.23782.14321125490644023566.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO 4 From QQ43 at UK.AC.LIVERPOOL Fri Jun 12 10:30:22 1992 From: QQ43 at UK.AC.LIVERPOOL (Chris Wooff) Date: Fri, 12 Jun 92 10:30:22 +0000 Subject: Request for suggestions on teaching about Varanasi Message-ID: <161227015385.23782.4942208347716425324.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO This was sent direct to me. It was clearly intended to be sent to the list. ************************** Original message ***************************** Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1992 20:31 EST From: RAMAN at EARN.SJC Subject: Request for suggestions on teaching about Varanasi To: qq43 at UK.AC.LIVERPOOL X-Envelope-to: qq43 at liverpool.ac.uk X-VMS-To: IN%"qq43 at liverpool.ac.uk" X-VMS-Cc: RAMAN To the members of the Indology list: I am involved in a project on creating curriculum for sixth graders in the Hartford schools on "Cities: Windows on World Culture". We are conducting teacher institutes with a battery of scholar facilitators, writing consultants, geography consultants and curriculum writers. The five cities in the project are: Varanasi, Athens, Timbuktoo, San Juan/Ponce and Edo/Tokyo. I would like to have suggestions from indologists on maps and anything that you might think will be meaningful for sixth graders. The teachers are expected to read Diana Eck's book on " Banaras", Wendy Doniger' s books on "Hindu Myths", "Other People's Myths", R.K. Narayan's "Gods, Demons and Other Stories", Amar Chitra Katha comic books and a few segments of Julian Crandall Hollick's NPR program on "Passages to India". Also, there is an obsession about "primary sources/documents" among the project personnel. I wonder how far back in history we can get "primary documents" on Varanasi. I understand that this is not a topic that is generally discussed on the indology list. I am seeking your suggestions in the interest of disseminating something positive about India. At least this is not like the infamous 'matchbox' toy monster. Thank you Shyamala Raman, Saint Joseph College, West Hartford, CT 06117 e-mail: Raman at sjc From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Fri Jun 12 10:56:39 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Fri, 12 Jun 92 11:56:39 +0100 Subject: hello Message-ID: <161227015388.23782.10928125805386747464.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO \begin{quotation} > What's this all about? Any room for anthropologists? > Bo Sax Down Under \end{quotation} "Quick, quick, the anthropologists are coming" -- Gary Larson (natives in mud hut, rapidly hiding the TV and video, etc.) Delighted to have you aboard, Bo. INDOLOGY is for the discussion of all matters indological, and anyone who knows what indology is is welcome to be a member. And this sentence is a lie. Dominik From gupta at UK.CO.PHILIPS.PRL Mon Jun 15 15:37:03 1992 From: gupta at UK.CO.PHILIPS.PRL (Ashok Gupta) Date: Mon, 15 Jun 92 15:37:03 +0000 Subject: Request for suggestions on teaching about Varanasi Message-ID: <161227015390.23782.13401278250823179088.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1992 20:31 EST From: rom: RAMAN at EARN.SJC I am seeking your suggestions in the interest of disseminating something positive about India. Status: RO Then consider dropping the Amar Chitra Katha comics from the recommended reading for teachers ! If memory serves me right, they have a tendency to treat Hinduism as synonymous with India, at the expense of the other religons particularly Islam. From SGAMBHIR at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS Tue Jun 16 15:47:49 1992 From: SGAMBHIR at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS (Surenda Gambhir) Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 10:47:49 -0500 Subject: Request for suggestions on teaching about Varanasi Message-ID: <161227015391.23782.8306972621110852437.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO I am in total disagreement with Mr. Ashok Gupta's evaluation of Amar Chitra Katha books. I have not kept up with the series' books in the recent years but my guess is that they must not be different from the earlier ones. Children of Indian origin have learned a lot about Indian history, religion and mythology fromthese books. If my memory serves me right the series has books on important personalities of other religions also. Even if the majority of them are concerned with Hinduism it should be looked upon in its historical and statiscal perspective. Hinduism forms an important and a significant portion of India's historical and philosophical profile. Maybe Mr. Gupta has some specific objections about the series as an instrument of depecting India in its true sense. If he does, I will like to see his comments with more specificity. About original souces of information about Varanasi, I think Diana Eck should be contacted directly. I doubt anybody around knows on this subject more than she does. - Surendra Gambhir From klaiman at EDU.UMN.CIS.UX Tue Jun 16 16:45:12 1992 From: klaiman at EDU.UMN.CIS.UX (Mimi Klaiman) Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 11:45:12 -0500 Subject: Muslims in India Message-ID: <161227015393.23782.11503245929937756979.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO Recently a submission to INDOLOGY complained that courses in India studies don't include enough material on non-Hindus, particularly Muslims. This fall, I am teaching a course on folkore and religion in India and would love to be apprised about materials on Indian Muslims suitable for assigning to students. So far the one item that comes to mind is a documentary on Indian Muslims produced some years ago by South Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin. As yet I don't know of any reading I can assign. I don't think the problem is simply a lack of materials but goes deeper. Three years ago while teaching north of Detroit, I visited a mosque mostly serving the Indian and Pakistani Muslim community. I visited in response to an ad for a 'Meena Bazaar'; it stated that women would be required to wear head covering, which I did, figuring the chance to taste some was curry worth it. But on arrival, I discovered that I was the only lady with her head covered. This led me to suspect that the admonition about head covering was a code expression meaning 'Hindus not welcome'. Moreover, I was questioned by several mosque members as to who my friends were. When I responded with several Hindu names, I found that absolutely nobody would speak to me. The exceptions were some ladies who were displaying some imported salwaar-kamiiz for sale (oh, well--I did get to eat some tasty food and buy a nice new salwaar-kamiiz outfit). Comments? M.H. Klaiman From RAMAN at EARN.SJC Tue Jun 16 19:10:00 1992 From: RAMAN at EARN.SJC (RAMAN at EARN.SJC) Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 14:10:00 -0500 Subject: Request for suggestions on teaching about Varanasi Message-ID: <161227015395.23782.6030615123457108373.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO Thank you Mr. Gupta and Dr. Gambhir. I am making a note of your suggestions. My original intent of including the comic books was for exactly the same reasons given by Dr. Gambhir. As for contacting Dr. Eck, I have done so. As a matter of fact, this is the second year that this institute on Cities: Windows into World Culture is being given. Dr. Eck was contacted last year and she was very helpful. The matter of 'primary documents' has come up because the curriculum writing team is particular about a certain format for all the cities. My biggest concern is that the curriculum writers neither acquaint themselves with the materials that th e teachers are given nor do they attend the presentation of the scholar/facili-tat or. They come during the special curriculum writing sessions to assist the teachers. Each year, we try to work on changes as best as we can within the constraints of a "less is more, teacher-centered innovative curriculum in social studies". P.S. Please ignore the hyphen in the word 'facilitator'. Shyamala Raman From sjuphil!dcarpent at COM.PSI.UU Tue Jun 16 18:20:33 1992 From: sjuphil!dcarpent at COM.PSI.UU (D. Carpenter) Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 14:20:33 -0400 Subject: Request for suggestions on teaching about Varanasi Message-ID: <161227015396.23782.2827999320220998158.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO It's interesting that you should mention Amar Chitra Katha comics. I just bought a handful of them on the Jataka tales at the "Hindu-Jain" temple in Pittsburgh. I was surprised to find that (at least so far) there is no mention of the Buddha; the traditional ending of the tales has been omitted. David Carpenter From SASIA at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS Tue Jun 16 22:40:13 1992 From: SASIA at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS (South Asia Regional Studies) Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 17:40:13 -0500 Subject: Whereabouts of M. Christopher Byrski Message-ID: <161227015398.23782.15872996800731847341.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO I would appreciate information on the whereabouts of M(aria) Christopher Byrski, a Polish indologist. I will be visiting Poland, mostly Warsawa, this July, and am interested in consulting with any and all Polish South Asianists. Thanks for help in advance. From: Richard J. Cohen, SASIA at PENNSAS.UPENN.EDU (Internet). From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Wed Jun 17 09:01:07 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 10:01:07 +0100 Subject: Whereabouts of M. Christopher Byrski Message-ID: <161227015400.23782.7986269883149901589.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO > I would appreciate information on the whereabouts of M(aria) Christopher > Byrski, a Polish indologist. I will be visiting Poland, mostly Warsawa, this > July, and am interested in consulting with any and all Polish South Asianists. > Thanks for help in advance. From: Richard J. Cohen, SASIA at PENNSAS.UPENN.EDU > (Internet). Richard, Byrski is no longer Prof. of Sanskrit in Warsaw. He accepted a diplomatic posting as Attache for Education and Technology at the Polish embassy in Delhi. I visited him there, in Canakya Puri, in 1990, but I don't know how long his posting was for. Three years, I imagine. It may be over now, or close to finishing, and I guess Byrski will have kept a foothold of some kind in Warsaw, domestic. The other main Sanskritist in Warsaw, Marek Mejor, accepted a fellowship in Japan at about the same time as Byrski went to Delhi. Dominik From bose at EDU.COLUMBIA.CTR Wed Jun 17 14:39:36 1992 From: bose at EDU.COLUMBIA.CTR (Satyajit Bose) Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 10:39:36 -0400 Subject: Request for suggestions on teaching about Varanasi Message-ID: <161227015404.23782.6711923745719324435.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO In fact, having grown up on the Amar Chitra Katha comics as standard fare, I remember them as displaying that peculiar (and perhaps typical) mainstream Hindu tendency to subsume other religions into its own cosmological framework. The case of the Jataka tales is not unique. There is a deluxe edition of the comics entitled Dashavatar which treats the Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu. The comics dealing with the Sikh gurus are equally assimilative. The intellectual result of these comics is a Hindu child professing that all religions are true, ignoring the wishes of other religions which do not wish to be subsumed, integrated, or, to borrow Prof. Ainslie Embree's word, "encapsulated." This seemingly tolerant attitude is combined with a secret pride that Hinduism, my religion, is better than all others because it is the only one claiming that all others are true. The neglect of Indian Muslims is demonstrated in the treatment of Shivaji and Aurangezeb. The comics display Aurangezeb as a fanatic, lecherous tyrant forcibly converting Hindus and Sikhs to Islam, and Shivaji as a gallant challenger to the Mughal emperor. Indian Muslims however, have viewed Aurangezeb, with some reason, as the last able Emperor fighting a losing battle with foreigners to retain control of a once glorious empire. Satyajit Bose sgb2 at cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Internet) From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Wed Jun 17 10:03:36 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 11:03:36 +0100 Subject: consulting the Library of Congress catalogue Message-ID: <161227015401.23782.12984670775223398421.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO This is just a point of general interest, rather than anything INDOLOGICAL. But I found that some local colleagues didn't know that they could consult the LC catalogue directly from their own computer accounts. Try the following command: "telnet dra.com" On machines which support IP (internet protocol) telnet and ftp, this will connect you with the LC catalogue for author and title searching (not subject, unfortunately). Your terminal needs to be set to vt100 (or above). Also, try "telnet bbs.oit.unc.edu" and follow prompts for library catalogues. Dominik From SGAMBHIR at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS Wed Jun 17 20:51:17 1992 From: SGAMBHIR at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS (Surenda Gambhir) Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 15:51:17 -0500 Subject: Whereabouts of M. Christopher Byrski Message-ID: <161227015407.23782.14099818423944314648.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO Professor Byrski is still in Delhi. I met him recently in April in a conference in Trinidad. He was going back to Delhi from there. - Surendra Gambhir From pbilmo at AU.OZ.DEAKIN Wed Jun 17 14:05:19 1992 From: pbilmo at AU.OZ.DEAKIN (Purusottama Bilimoria) Date: Thu, 18 Jun 92 00:05:19 +1000 Subject: mailing list Message-ID: <161227015403.23782.9291174029759943905.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO Dear Dominik Wujastyk After almost a year's absence (in bits and pieces, with some six months spent at Harvard) I am back home, but with little respite. I am just about over with organising an International East-West Philosophy Conference that will be held in Australia - the first ever, and a prelude to (in terms of the experience and disappointing monets necessary for any such large ventures) the Wordl Sanskrit Congress in 1994. I wanted to take up your suggestion about placing the notice for the Sanskrit conference on the Indological network. For some reason I have had no success. I tried to send you a message about this as well but the system kept fouling up and no messages, I believe, ever left the mainframe here. A new installation seems to be working a little better but only for short and fast messages. That precludes bulky messages like annoncements for conferences and so on. I wonder if it will be too much to request you to summarise the annoucement from the brochure we have sent out and place it on any bulletin or network you think might be helpful. The submission date for titles and pre-registration has been extended to August 1992. Any news that you might like to share with us here will be welcome. (By the way, I did try to get in touch over the brief weekedn that I was in London last October but it did not work out. Next time.) Best wishes. Sincerely, Purushottama Bilimoria Date: Fri, 05 Jul 91 09:45:52 +0100 From: rom: Dominik Wujastyk Dear Purushottama (and group), Delighted to have you on board. This forum is an ideal one for early publicity about the forthcoming Australian World Sanskrit Conference. You can announce things here, and about 50 indologists will know immediately, and be able to tell others informally. You could also use this group for sounding out opinion about dates, sessions, or whatever. (If your really want to: a bit of autocracy in organizing conferences can sometimes be a good thing.) Another idea: other groups I know of distribute conference posters or leaflets via groups like Indology. The way to do it is to format your document using TeX or LaTeX, or some other generic system using only 7-bit character codes, so that we can download, format and print. PostScript would be another possibility, although it can be rather verbose. Dominik --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Dr Dominik Wujastyk, | Janet: D.Wujastyk at uk.ac .ucl Wellcome Institute for | Bitnet/Earn/Ean/Uucp/Internet: D.Wujastyk at ucl.a c.uk the History of Medicine,| or: dow at harvunxw.bitnet or: dow at wjh12.harvard .edu 183 Euston Road, | last resort: D.Wujastyk%uk.ac.ucl at nsfnet-relay.a c.uk London NW1 2BN, England. | Phone no.: +44 71 383-4252 ex t.24 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- From SGAMBHIR at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS Thu Jun 18 18:58:50 1992 From: SGAMBHIR at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS (Surenda Gambhir) Date: Thu, 18 Jun 92 13:58:50 -0500 Subject: Request for suggestions on teaching about Varanasi Message-ID: <161227015409.23782.956267053005833994.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO There are a couple of books in this series about Buddha. - Surendra Gambhir From SGAMBHIR at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS Thu Jun 18 19:23:41 1992 From: SGAMBHIR at EDU.UPENN.PENNSAS (Surenda Gambhir) Date: Thu, 18 Jun 92 14:23:41 -0500 Subject: Muslims in India Message-ID: <161227015411.23782.1131108556673871900.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO My suggestion is that do not stop going to such ethnic events. This will become your data. -skg From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Fri Jun 19 10:28:00 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Fri, 19 Jun 92 11:28:00 +0100 Subject: Brhatsamhita now available from INDOLOGY Message-ID: <161227015413.23782.16763160503105674226.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO Thanks to the generosity of Michio Yano, the electronic text of the B.rhatsa.mhitaa of Varaahamihira is now available from INDOLOGY. To get the text, send the message "get brhatsam package" to the address "listserv at liverpool.ac.uk". To get an index of what other files are available, send the message "index indology" to the listserv. To get a brief summary of how the Brhatsamhita has been packaged (it's in five pieces of uuencoded ZIP file), send the message "get brhatsam memo". In addition to the Brhatsamhita, INDOLOGY also has the texts of the A.s.taadhyaayi of Pa.nini and the Buddhacarita of A"svagho.sa. Many thanks to Yano for this text! I hope this will encourage others to consider submitting further files to the pool. Dominik From ridgeway at EDU.WASHINGTON.HACC.BLACKBOX Tue Jun 23 18:25:41 1992 From: ridgeway at EDU.WASHINGTON.HACC.BLACKBOX (Thomas B. Ridgeway) Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 11:25:41 -0700 Subject: Brhatsamhita available in CSX encoding by ftp Message-ID: <161227015415.23782.6243812095260847492.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO The recently released version of Varahamira's Brhatsamhita is now available in Classical Sanskrit (CS/CSX 8-bit) encoding. The anonymous ftp host is blackbox.hacc.washington.edu [128.95.200.1] the file to take is brhatsam.zip in directory pub/indic brhatsam.zip MUST be ftp'ed in binary mode, and must be unzipped on your end to be useful. The zipfile is about 195K. Those who have not previously visited blackbox may want to also examine README and UPDATES in the pub/indic directory. Cookbook directions for ftp novices follow my signature Here is the preface for the unzipped file: VarAhamihira's BRhatsaMhitA (Version 3, June 5, 1992) digitalized by Michio YANO proofread by Mizue Sugita based on the edition of A.V.TripAThI (SarasvatI Bhavan GranthamAlA Edition) with reference to H.Kern's text [variants marked by K.] and his translation Converted to Classical Sanskrit (Extended) encoding by Tom Ridgeway at the Humanities and Arts Computing Center of the University of Washington, June 1992. note on original transliteration follows: [ Text was input by Kyoto-Harvard System, that is, Capitals for long vowels, linguals, anusvAra, visarga, and nazals, and z for palatal sibilants. Members of sandhi are not separated. avagraha is romanized by +a, external vowel sandhi is decomposed with the mark ^.] You obviously don't see any CSX stuff in this copy of the preface as this is coming to you through a 7-bit mail channel. cheers, Tom - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thomas Ridgeway, Director, Humanities and Arts Computing Center/NorthWest Computing Support Center 35 Thomson Hall, University of Washington, DR-10 Seattle, WA 98195 phone: (206)-543-4218 * Ask me about * Internet: ridgeway at blackbox.hacc.washington.edu * Unix TeX * - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Novice ftp instructions: % represents the command line prompt on whatever your system is (if you have a Mac or other event-driven interface, it represents a motionless mouse cursor waiting for you to do something.) Stuff following % is what you tell your computer/the remote computer after you have made the connection. * marks a line of response from the remote computer to you %ftp 128.95.200.1 [or ftp blackbox.hacc.washington.edu] * blackbox FTP server (Version 5.18) (NeXT 1.0) Wed Aug 23, 1989) ready. * Name (blah blah blah): [you say 'anonymous' without the quotes] * Password: [you type in your email address e.g. username at home.computer.edu] * Guest login ok, access restrictions apply. ftp> [from here, 'ftp>' represents the prompt the remote computer sends to you; stuff after the prompt is what you type] ftp>cd pub [YES, blackbox is case sensitive PUB is not pub ] * CWD command successful. [you may or may not get these feedback messages] ftp>cd indic [I'm not showing the feedback anymore] ftp>binary ftp>get brhatsam.zip ftp>bye That's it, you are done. Some ftp programs (e.g. NCSA Telnet for Macs) do not automatically initiate the ftp login sequence. If you just get connected, but nobody asks who you are after a decent interval, you can take the initiative and say 'user anonymous' followed by carriage return 'password user at host' If you are unable to connect by following these instructions, contact a local guide at YOUR institution. I regret to say that I will absolutely not provide ftp assistance through email or telephonic communication. From ridgeway at EDU.WASHINGTON.HACC.BLACKBOX Wed Jun 24 15:40:07 1992 From: ridgeway at EDU.WASHINGTON.HACC.BLACKBOX (Thomas B. Ridgeway) Date: Wed, 24 Jun 92 08:40:07 -0700 Subject: BRHATSAMHITA Message-ID: <161227015416.23782.12186912945314269142.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO Hey there DW, You will be interested to know that (either) we have a lot more new people on Indology recently, (or) Brhatsamhita is more interesting to people than Panini and Asvaghosha (can't be!): in any event I have been getting numerous ``what is this CSX anyway'' queries, to which I have been forwarding your article by way of reply. Is the article available from Liverpool's Listserv? If so, possibly we should now (and periodically in the future) announce briefly what CSX is and how to get the article so as to answer queries in advance en masse. And also to publicize and promote CS/CSX to be sure. cheers, Tom - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thomas Ridgeway, Director, Humanities and Arts Computing Center/NorthWest Computing Support Center 35 Thomson Hall, University of Washington, DR-10 Seattle, WA 98195 phone: (206)-543-4218 * Ask me about * Internet: ridgeway at blackbox.hacc.washington.edu * Unix TeX * - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Thu Jun 25 09:00:25 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Thu, 25 Jun 92 10:00:25 +0100 Subject: BRHATSAMHITA Message-ID: <161227015418.23782.8514299988248943580.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO Interesting. I wonder why the BS has generated this interest. Anyway, yes, I will put a copy of the CSX article on the Liverpool listserv. Incidentally, the Liverpool sysop, Chris Wooff, has told me that we must relocate by next year since Liverpool is closing down its listserv. I have some other options, probably in France, so there's no immediate worry. We could probably also go over to the UK-developed Mailbase system which operates at Newcastle. It's a sort of listserv clone that uses Unix and Ingres behind the scenes. But I'd rather stay with listserv, since I think it is more widely understood. Also, I have been agitating for some time for a public ftp directory on my home system, ucl.ac.uk, and it looks as though it is about to bear fruit, so I should in future be able to maintain a more flexible and up-to-date collection of files here. Best wishes, Dominik From yanom at EARN.JPNKSUVX Sun Jun 28 10:09:58 1992 From: yanom at EARN.JPNKSUVX (yanom at EARN.JPNKSUVX) Date: Sun, 28 Jun 92 10:09:58 +0000 Subject: CORRECTION Message-ID: <161227015420.23782.8892625370614723296.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO I am glad to know that, thanks to the kind effots of Dominik Wujastyk and Thomas Ridgeway, the Brihatsamhita I and my student have prepared is now available to the INDOLOGY networkers. In my brief note to the digitalized text I made a mistake. Instead of , please read . One more thing. Please remember that we have not distinguished between nazals of guttural, palatal and dental classes. They are all . Exmaple: kRSNapancamyAM gangAyAM snAtaH. (In the standard Kyoto-Harvard method, the line is transcribed as ) Since we are continually improving the text, please send me a note if you find any mistake. We hope we can offer a fourth version soon. Michio YANO, Kyoto Sangyo University From ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL Mon Jun 29 10:19:02 1992 From: ucgadkw at UK.AC.UCL (Dominik Wujastyk) Date: Mon, 29 Jun 92 11:19:02 +0100 Subject: Newspaper report on Hindu fundamentalism Message-ID: <161227015422.23782.17719423742680683746.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Status: RO The following article appeared in the London Independent newspaper recently, and I thought it was relevant to the recent remarks here about the Hindu slant of the picture comics on Indian historical and cultural themes. I don't want to drag INDOLOGY into a slanging match about fundamentalist issues. But as we were reminded by Prof. Emmerick some time ago, in the Devanagari debate, our field does have a political dimension, however abstract our studies of vyakarana, jyotihsastra, etc. Dominik Extremist Hindus rewrite history Independent 12 June 1992 From Tim McGirk in New Delhi Schoolchildren in some states of India may soon be taught that Ram and other heroic gods from epic Hindu poems written around 1000 BC were real people. Hindu revivalists have recruited more than 100 historians, archaeologists, sociologists, and linguists to re-interpret India's ancient civilisation for school textbooks. But some critics warn that these children's books, because of their possible political bias, may be slanted against India's religious minorities and distort history so that legendary gods stride out of the realm of poetry into reality. In Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh, all states controlled by the right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), extremist Hindu groups have set up primary and high schools that veer away from the standard state curriculum to focus on Sanskrit, the lives of Hindu saints and leaders, and the scientific principles expounded in the Vedas, the ancient Hindu hymns. Often in these schools, the achievements of the Muslim Moghul emperors, whose reign lasted for three centuries, are brushed aside and the brutish sides of their conquest are accentuated instead. MJ Akbar, a Muslim politician and author, said: "It's very simple. The BJP knows there are votes to be gained in taking positions against Muslims are the country's largest minority. Professor Devandra Swarup Aggarwal, the vice-president of the Deendayal Institute and one of the project organisers, denies that this revision of Indian history has a political tinge. "We don't want this to be a government-sponsored history. It should be an intellectual quest." Although this project to rewrite school textbooks is still in the early stages, some scholars are already challenging the long-held assumption that the Aryans, nomadic warriors who swept across the grasslands of Central Asia into India, and also Europe, were responsible for the two pillars of Hinduism: its philosophy and the caste system. Professor Aggarwal said: "This Aryan race theory was a figment of the nineteenth-century European mind." He claims that it was concocted to justify British rule. "It was a way of the English saying to the Indians: 'Look, we're both descended from the same racial stock. The only difference is that your ancestors came 3,000 years ago and you've stayed static ever since'," he said. Scholars have long believed that the fair-skinned Aryan warriors brought their own gods, language and philosophy with them from Central Asia when they swarmed through the passes of the Hindu Kush into India. According to this theory, the Aryans set up the caste system with their priests, soldiers and merchants at the top and India's original natives, the dark- skinned Dravidians, at the bottom of the heap. For Professor Aggarwal, the caste system was "based on spiritual principles to explain that not all of us are born equal". He says evidence points to the existence of an earlier civilisation known as the Harappa, whose cities and towns were strung along the Indus river in 3000 BC. The Harappas left writing that has yet to be deciphered, but the professor claims the Harappas were seafarers, whose trading expeditions led them to the Middle East. It was these traders, rather than Aryan conquerors, who are perhaps responsible for the shared roots of Indo-European languages, he suggests. Ra, and Krishna, who Hindus believe were incarnations of Lord Vishnu, may have been kings of the ancient Harappa civilisation. "Everyone in India draws inspiration from Ram and Krishna but, so far, the textbooks don't accept them as historical personages," he said. In a country were past and present are as intertwined as they are in India, being a historian can be a controversial profession. The Hindu revivalists are not the only political activists accused of tampering with history. The fifty-second session of the Indian History Congress this year collapsed in discord after scholars fended off attempts by the Congress government to commission a history of post- independence India. Many historians refused to co-operate, claiming this history would be biased in favour of the Congress party's Nehru/Gandhi dynasty. From LIGI355 at EDU.UTEXAS.CC.UTXVMS Fri Jun 5 13:28:00 1992 From: LIGI355 at EDU.UTEXAS.CC.UTXVMS (Bob King - ligi355@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu) Date: Fri, 05 Jun 92 07:28:00 -0600 Subject: National scandal: Ganesha being sold as a "monster"! Message-ID: <161227015371.23782.14348336965990768892.generated@prod2.harmonylists.io> Dominik: How on earth could a figure with a big belly and an elephant's Status: RO head be mistaken for a depiction of Gandhi? Bob King