Closing remarks to Dr. Vassilkov (& Mr. Agarwal)

[Koenraad Elst]

Dr. Zydenbos,

You did make the statement cited (not quoted literally) by Rajaram (in the
new issue of the Journal of the Mythic Society, Bangalore) and then by
Vishal Agarwal.  It is in the very article you refer to: "An obscurantist
argument", Indian Express, 12-12-1993, of which I have a copy.  You include
Rajaram in "an Indian tendency to create something parallel", viz. parallel
to "the fantasy of an 'Aryan nation'", referred to by Romila Thapar (whom
you defend against Rajaram's criticism) who correctly attributes such a
fantasy to Nazi Germany.   I have
discussed the debate between you and Rajaram in a chapter of my book Update
on the Aryan Invasion Debate (Aditya Prakashan 1999), also available as a
separate article on my
website.

What is not discussed there is why Rajaram mentions "Zydenbos (or his
ghostwriter)".  Since you see ghostwriters even on this weblist, this point
deserves explanation.  Someone at the IE office told Rajaram that the
article was in fact written by Rajesh Kochar (who thinks that Mohenjo Daro
was the Ramayana's Lanka and that Ayodhya was in Afghanistan, with Rama
being a leader of the Aryan invasion), who had been defeated by Rajaram in a
public debate on the AIT some time before and was smarting for revenge.  You
refer in your article to a lecture in Mysore by Prof. SR Rao, one of the
numerous Indian archaeologists who have rejected the AIT, and a friend of
Rajaram's.  People present at the lecture told Rajaram that Kochar was
present while you were not (since you lived in Mysore at the time, I guess
they may well be mistaken about that).  Moreover, the use of Indian English
and the reference to the non-historian J. Nehru as an argument of authority
also indicate that the author was Indian (though, speaking from experience,
I am aware that foreign residents easily adopt the Indian style).  However,
you yourself told me in Madison 1996 that the article was indeed authored by
you, and you seemed an honest man to me.  So, that's one point where I'm in
your camp rather than Rajaram's.

I also appreciate that you disown a statement in which you compare an AIT
skeptic to Hitler.  That is indeed a trite comparison, grossly unjust in
most cases.  For an AIT defender, it would be
a particularly inept comparison to make, given the centrality of the AIT in
the worldview of, yes, Hitler.  In Nazi schoolbooks, the
AIT figured as the perfect illustration of the racist worldview,-- for
details, see the article on my website.

Yours sincerely,
Koenraad Elst
http://members.xoom.com/KoenraadElst/