SV: SV: Sanskrit translations in Nazi hands

SNS sns at IX.NETCOM.COM
Fri Jan 8 16:23:59 UTC 1999


Lars Martin Fosse wrote:
>
> Scholarly arguments have to be treated on their own
>merit as long as they are made competently by knowledgable people.
>
I agree with you. Also in a previous message you mentioned
that all German scholars should not be painted with a Nazi brush.
I completely agree to that as well.

At the same time, is it too much to ask that the same consideration
be extended to Indian scholars who do not agree to the AI/M theory ?

As has been apparent till now - labelling is the easiest thing to do,
and attributing motives can go in all directions.
But it is the person who gets labelled who has a price to pay,
especially when responsible people go around hurling accusations.
I am sure many in the US still remember Senator McCarthy.

While the easy thing to do is to label someone - it is much more
scholarly to question the concepts underlying totalitarian
ideologies.
The concepts of some militarily superior indo-europeans
strutting around on horses chanting some retroflexion free Rgveda
in their pristine homeland or an equally imaginary dravidian utopia
have to be questioned. Obviously this is an exaggeration, but 19th
century ideas of pure languages, races or cultures have to be given up.

The SIVC extended from Gujarat to Afghanistan and Jammu to Baluchistan
is it not possible that for such a large area there were many kinds
of people and languages ?

Anyway, enough bytes have been thrown around...
I have heard that archeologists have found new evidence of some kind
of writing in the SIVC -
Is it true? and are there any references available ?
Thanks in advance.

Subrahmanya.





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