[On fertility, old Kurds, and sheep]

[S.Kalyanaraman]

Artur Karp wrote: [snip]> I believe what connects them is the conviction that
if the use of those> <<more powerful tools>>, for the application of which you
appeal, wouldn't> go together with the transparency of basic rules/procedures
(and among them> the rigid procedure for data evaluation), we all may become
witness to a> lot of wasted effort.[snip]> P.S. It's cold outside (0.C) and
raining. I would certainly wish to get out> of this miserable weather and be
for a while in a warmer clima of India. If> only via this list.

I will also not comment on Chuvash and Etrurian. Nor can I 
evaluate the contributions by Indo-European studies, say,
in the last 5 decades, to enhancing methodological rigour.

While seconding Karp's above-cited observations, one might add that
these observations are equally applicable to the nearly 150 years of wasted
effort in pursing the Proto-Aryan (demography-language equation) problem. May
be 'wasted effort' is too strong a phrase; but we seem to be 
back to ground zero; it will be worth the while to look back on these years of
philological studies to list the major landmark 
accomplishments: 

In linguists, the setum = kentum divide is a major discovery; a
nother accomplishment which is noteworthy is the 
substantial decipherment of the Rigveda, excepting for the 
failure to identify Soma, which is a_tma_ yajn~asya; 
this in effect, means that the decipherment of the 
Rigveda is itself a doubtful accomplishment; 
we may ahve to hark back to Sa_yan.a of the 13th century AD for
some help to recover the lost ground.

Certainly, Karp will find a lot of warmth in South India now; 
and also a high price for onions, about Rs. 40 (about a dolar) 
a kilo.

Best regards,
Kalyanaraman

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