A plea to Cambridge univ. press

[Ashish Chandra]

Indologists connected with Cambridge university:

Please make the book, A. Parpola, Deciphering the Indus Script, 1994
available in an inexpensive, paperback edition.

Right now, it is more than $100 and is beyond the reach of
most Indians. If widely available at an affordable cost,
this book will be a good reality check for many
politically motivated, home-grown theories of
Indigenous Aryans spreading out far into the West.

With kind regards,
N. Ganesan

_________

Actually, on the contrary, Indians have grown up with the concept of Aryans
coming in to India as invaders. I passed out from high school in 1991 and
at least when I left India i.e. 1992, children were still being taught
about the AIT as being the basis for the Aryan settlements of north India.
I still clearly remember our 4th standard Geography books showing a "fair
Aryan" and Dravidians. Maybe the trend is changing now, and rightly so,
based on the new archaeological evidence that has been uncovered in the
past 15 years. Probably someone on this list will come up with some of the
books now prescribed in UP and Rajasthan and other BJP ruled states. So I
guess the trend is changing. But the surprising thing is that everyone
wants to assess the damage being done by these books and no one wants to
talk about numerous generations of Indians brought up on the unproven idea
of Aryan invasion and how it has affected us. Political motivation really
??!! WOW !

Here is an article I read in India Today relating to the SIVC.

http://www.itihaas.com/ancient/indus1.html

It does not attach a lot of importance to the work conducted by A.Parpola.
Not that India Today is a right wing magazine or anything like that.

I don't think Indians require another "expert" work on AIT. Our own
homegrown people have thrust the theory far down our throats already.
Interestingly, the government of the United States overruled a decision of
the Immigration and Naturalization Service which had allowed an upper caste
Indian to immigrate into the US (which only allowed Europeans) in the
1920's or 1930's on the ground that AIT was a theory and nothing about it
(AIT) was ever proven. Interestingly, this man had been allowed to
immigrate because he had claimed European lineage on the basis of AIT ! So
I think we have had enough exposure. Another book, however subsidized,
would not make any difference.

Sincerely,
Ashish