Indo-Aryan migration vs Indigenous origin - scholarly debate

[Paliath Narendran]

Vidya wrote:

> ... In any case, V is hardly a person with purely local
> relevance

V is widely admired in Kerala, and, from what I have read, this
admiration cuts across religious and political boundaries, from
conservative Hindus to Marxists to Christians and Muslims.  There
is some irony here, since V once referred to Kerala as "a vast
lunatic asylum". This was mainly because of the practice of
"tiinTal" or unapproachability, an elaborate system of distances
that a member of one caste should keep from that of another.

Many social reformers --- Agamananda, Dr. Palpu, the great poet
KumAran ASAn --- drew inspiration from him.

It is true (AFAIK) that mainstream Hinduism in Kerala is the
temple-based Bhakti religion. But I don't think the Ramakrishna
Mission is any more marginal than other sannyasi organizations.
Also, Mrdananda and Siddhinathananda, to name two, are highly
regarded for their scholarship.

-Narendran

P.S. Perhaps I am more sympathetic to V because of my name. :-) :-)

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Paliath Narendran
Associate Professor                    URL: http://www.cs.albany.edu/~dran/
Department of Computer Science         phone: (518)442-3387
University at Albany --- SUNY          fax:   (518)442-5638
Albany, NY 12222
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