"Hindu writer who lives in New York"

[Bijoy Misra]

On Wed, 13 Jan 1999, Michael Rabe wrote:

> On 11 Jan 1999 14:01:16 -0500 Ashish Chandra wrote:
>
> >I wonder if "a Hindu writer who lives in New York" has the same ring to it
> >as Mr. So and So, professor of Theology ... Are we to
> >assume that the article is impartial just because it has been written by a
> >"Hindu writer" ...
>
> be kept separate as much as possible.  Sadly, however, and with increasing
> frequency, it seems to me, events in the real world impinge dangerously
> upon the foundations of our ivory towers.
>
> I forwarded  Tunku Varadarajan's op-ed piece [so the question of
> impartiality does not arise, and he is perfectly justified in identifying
> himself as a Hindu if he choses to imply that others in what he calls an
> emerging Hindu Taliban don't speak for him] because it is germane to the
> various threads  on Indology that I've been following for at least 4 years
> pertaining to whether there was or was not a migration of Aryan-language
> speaking peoples into India.  While some researchers may have only the
> purest of academic reasons for hypothesizing _out of India_ alternative
> explanations for commonalites of language and ritual elsewhere in ancient
> Asia and Europe,  there is a school of thought that believes attacks on
> Muslims, and now Christians, are rationalized  by their purpetrators
> [including some VHP and Bajarang Dal members photographed and interviewed
> in the current _IndiaToday International_, January 11,1999, pp. 10-13]
> rationalized as _reconversion_ counterattacks against foreign ideologies.
> This argument is harder to make if it must be conceded that the Vedic
> peoples also migrated into the subcontinent.
>

I think this is very far fetched extrapolation to AIT theory.
I would even use the word "absurd".  Religious rivalry in India
is a late phenomenon and many "hindus' who might be involved
have little to do with the vedas.

> As to why I should care about about the political ramifications of this
> academic debate, let self interest suffice--I admit to hoping that India
> shall remain a relatively safe _secular democracy_ to visit on research
> forays for many decades to come. Unlike the real Taliban's Afghanistan, or
> Prabhakaran's Eelam.
>
Indologists should have political pulls also!  Sounds odd also.
Astronomers claim - keep the nights dark, such that we can observe.
It will be really horrible if provincial researchers make
national policies!

I personally believe that india and indians must protect themselves
more regarding their individual self-interest as any nation on earth.
Please don't take me wrong on this.  We need this country and culture
to be sustained by her people..

- Bm