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[pclaus at s1.csuhayward.edu]

New Message
Date: April 24, 1996 
 
Indology List
indology at Liverpool.ac.uk
 
Dear Members
 
In a recent communication on the List we were provided with an
abstract of Cythia Talbot's paper, "History, Ethnicity and
Identity: Who is Indian?" in which the statement is made, "The
Hindutva rewriting of history is driven by the desire to recast
the question 'who is Indian?' in such a manner that the answer
will inevitably be 'Hindu.'
 
I have often heard replies by educated Hindus to the question
"who is Hindu?" an answer that could be summarized "Indians". 
 
The answer might be given with regard to doubt about such
categories as Westerners who claim to be Hindu ("such people are
not REALLY Hindu").  It is also often given with regard to
"tribals" and folk religous practices which are so ambiguous (and
so wide-spread in the world) as to raise the question ("that
stone, that diety, etc. is an incarnation of Siva.")  But there
is another situation where Indian Muslims are regarded as REALLY
Hindus, BECAUSE they're Indian and their Islamic faith and
practice is just an overlay, deep down inside, there is no
difference between Indian Muslims and Hindus....
 
Now it seems to me that this is an equally meaningful co-option
of a person, a community, an expression of belief,  etc. and
worthy of the kind of urgent investigation that Ms. Talbot calls
for.  
 
"... scholars ... must rise to this challenge by re-examining the
basic assumptions in the field and offering more sophisticated
interpretations of the Indian past."
 
Peter J. Claus                        
fax: (510) 885-3353
pclaus at csuhayward.edu