Film on Holi

[n.rao at rz.uni-sb.de]

Dear Rajgopal, 
you wrote

>Dear Rao,
>.. If you do not feel insu
>insulted when someone calls you chaotic you have a problem . To describe a 
society as
>chaotic in its festivals is uncalled for.
>
Dear Rajagopalan., 

About a particular theoretical use of the term 'chaotic' others have 
elaborated. So I don't think insult is involved. 
On the other hand, calling someone ‘racist’ in an academic forum, unless 
there are very strong reasons for doing it, is an insult. This, even in such 
cases where you may be justified in conjecturing that a partiular 
theoretical use of a term is traceable to historically inherited prejudices. 

Having said that, I share some of the sentiments you express in the following.

>Dear F.R.5.1. Philosophie,
>. Many non-complimentary terms
>terms have beenforced on Hindus and their culture in the past fifty years .
>( one such word is Idols , when refering to hindu gods in temples ).
>many indian scholars on indology have used such terms about hindu culture.

I believe indeed that use of such terms as ‘idols’, ‘Hindu’, ‘worship’ etc. 
to refer to the practices in India are not theoretically neutral. However,  
I don't think it is right to trace them back to 'racism' or simple 
individual prejudices. Indology like any other discipline has a history. It 
came into being in the European intellectual tradition, and the controversy 
regarding pagan ‘idolatry’ versus Christian ‘religion’ are formative 
influences of this intellectual tradition. Indeed an examination of the 
various concepts used in Indology and their historical lineage is a 
worthwhile undertaking. Since Indology is a vast field, such an undertaking 
is not possible for an individual scholar to accomplish. I also believe that 
in such an undertaking an important role has to be assigned to counterposing 
theoretical assumptions and  to the intuitions as well as hunches of persons 
from Indian background. 

But my hunches or intuitions are one thing, developing them into theoretical 
arguments is another. I believe sincerely that the reactions like that of 
yours do not aid the process of developing the Indian common sense 
intuitions into theoretical tools for studying Indian traditions.  
Dr. B. Narahari Rao
F.R. 5.1. Philosophie
Unversitaet des Saarlandes,
Postfach 15 11 50,
D-66041 Saarbrücken