The "Limits of Language"

[jdwhite at unccvm.uncc.edu]

I continue to be amazed at the diatribes that are thrown at colleagues who
are indologists by academicians outside the field who somehow have grossly
misinterpreted a simple request for a film on Holi so a serious student use
it to better understand and appreciate a major religious festival in India.
It reminds me of my undergraduates who are deeply offended by the use of the
word "myth" to refer to religious stories (particularly students from the
Christian tradition) until they understand the origins of the word and
unpack its meaning for the academic study of religion and culture.  Then,
even undergraduates appreciate its importance for academic discourse:
non-threatening, non-perjorative, non-prejudicial, etc.  In the case of
"chaos" from the Greek meaning a great chasm or abyss, the suggestion is
that there is a gulf or a place of disorder between point x and point y.
Certainly, as the Holi story is told and the praxis develops, one is not
just shooting colored water at friends, or throwing powders on friends.
That is one element and a joyous one for sure.  But, based on my own
observations of and discussions in India with participants in towns and
villages, another is to allow--briefly--those of lower varna status to
respond to those of a higher varna, not necessarily vindictively, but with a
certain reminder that society is not always orderly but desperately needs
that order that life may proceed.  To dissolve that order briefly is only to
suggest that chaos preceeds order, but that order will return.  For
indologists who are historians of religions this is a common pattern in all
religious traditions.  And, in many ways, like Holi, a comforting one--that
chaos does not endure--order does, and does so because of the intervention
of the gods and/or goddesses.

In this light, I hope that my esteemed colleague across the mountains from
me in Tennessee will refrain from the necesity of referring to me as a
racist.  I already have too many scars from earlier years as a civil rights
activist to let such bigotry bother me any more.  An introspective look may
suggest this is not only not profitable, inflammatory, legally slanderous
but has no place in serious academic discourse among scholars!  And, to the
professor of math--V.K. Rao--who responded today, he needs to understand
that an element of the academic study of India is to engage students in a
serious understanding of and appreciation for much in India that has been
too much maligned by several hundred years of Western biases.

Finally, this discussion in response to my simple query has provided me with
delightful mail from colleagues who I respect greatly and has again affirmed
my perpetual reminder to students that one must be careful with language:
it has its limits and the limits of some are shorter than the limits of
others in understanding that language.

Dan White