Answer to Mr. Ararwal

[Bharat Gupt]

Yaroslav V. Vassilkov wrote:
>
> >From yavass Wed Sep  1 14:33:40 MSD 1999
> Dear Mr Agarwal,
>         sorry, but I can not answer both your brief posting on the list and
> the large private one: this is the single answer......
> This is not to say that there are not in Russia some people who
> really believe such things (among their inventions there is, by the way,
> the most ancient esoterical "Russian Veda") - but, thank God, such people
> are not welcomed at scholarly forums or at the Universities here.....
> And it is a great pity, if the situation in India is different.
>      A RESONSE:

I HOLD NO BRIEF FOR MR AGARWAL OR HIS ASSICIATES, BUT FEEL COMPELLED TO REACT ON THE
INDIAN SITUATION WHICH OUR RUSSIAN FREIND HAS BEEN SO KIND TO  PITY.

INDIA IS A PLACE WHERE THE VEDAS AND THE SHRUTI-SMRITI TRADITION HAS BEEN LIVED (NOT
STUDIED OR MUSEUMISED OR INDOLOGISED) AND STILL IS THE MAJORTY FAITH. EVEN IF IS
"DISCOVERED" THAT VEDIC TEXTS, AND, OR , THEIR LANGUAGE ARE AN IMPORT INTO THE
SUBCONTINENT, THE "FACT" IS UNSETTLING NOT JUST FOR "MODERN HINDOO NATIONALISTS" BUT FOR
ALL ITS INHABITANTS.

WHEN AMERICANS, RUSSIANS OR FOR THAT MATTER ALL EUROPEANS, FLAUNT THE ACCEPTANCE OF
THEIR RECENTLY CONSTRUCTED CULTURAL IDENTITIES, THEY ARE BEING UNFAIR IN ASKING THE
INDIANS, AMERICAN INDIANS, CHINESE AND (PARTIALLY THE GREEKS),  TO DO THE SAME. ANCIENT
PAST IS NOT SO OBVIOUSLY CLEAR.

THE CONCEPT OF ORIGIN IS NOT SO SIMPLE AS POST RENAISSANCE MOBILE EUROPEANS AND TODAY'S
GLOBALISTS WOULD LIKE TO US BELIEVE  AS "FACTS OF HISTORY" . HISTRIOGRAPHY ITSELF TENDS
TO SHOW THAT HISTORY IS A LOWER FORM OF LITERATURE AND HAS LESSER TRUTH
AS ARISTOTLE IN HIS POETICS ADMITTED LONG AGO.

'ARYAN' OR "INDO-EUROPEANS" AS "PEOPLE", "TRIBES" , "RACES" OR "LINGUISTIC GROUPS" MAY
VERY WELL BE A CONSTRUCTION BY THE EUROPEANS TO RECLAIM THEIR ORIGINAL SELF AS THE
DYNAMISM BEHIND THE FLOWERING OF "CLASSICAL" GREECE, PERSIA AND INDIA. IF IT IS BEING
PUT TO QUESTION IN INDIA TODAY, SHOULD IT SUPPRESED AS 'ETHNOCENTRC RANT' OBSTRUCTIVE OF
GOOD WORK. ARYAN CONSTRUCT SERVED NOT ONLY THE COLONIAL REGIME, IT STILL SERVES THE
CURRENT NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE.

BHARAT GUPT
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DELHI UNIV.