Rajaram's PILTDOWN horse

[Michael Witzel]

Thanks to Jogesh Panda (and others) for the acknowledgment of the unmasking
of a fraud.
But you are of course invited to check out the many idiosyncracies of the
Jha/Rajaram book yourself. And find the same results...

>But.. but, why are you so bitter and angry ?

If there is any 'bitterness' or 'anger' on Steve Farmer's (or my) part, it
is that we have spent many hours and days in tracing the trail of the
fraud. It was difficult for us, with our excellent university (& private)
libraries at hand (my Indus one, importantly with A. Parpola's books, just
one foot away from this computer).

But how difficult would it be for many members of this list, not to speak
of those in India buying his book, to check out what S. Farmer has checked
out?  Rajaram actually speaks of *millions* that read his books! Many
readers (including one former member of this list who elected never to be
mentioned again), would not even suspect that something was wrong, given
Rajaram's strong (and fashionable) statement,  p. 162, n. 5:

""  The 'horse seal' goes to show that the oft repeated
 claim of "No horse at Harappa" is entirely baseless.
 Horse bones have been found at all levels at Harappan
 sites. Also, as we have already seen, the word 'asva'
 is a commonly occuring word on the seals. The
 supposed 'horselessness' of the Harappans is a dogma
 that has been exploded by evidence. But like its cousin
 the Aryan invasion, it persists for reasons having
 little to do with evidence or scholarship."

Rajaram, however, has fabricated  the

                PILTDOWN MAN  (or HORSE)  of the INDUS.

With G.Possehl, I do not *believe* that ANY decipherment,
Dravidian/Sanskrit or other, proposed so far is proven. Back to square one.
A proper sign list.

More on left over Indus questions later on.

Best, MW>





========================================================
Michael Witzel
Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University
2 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138, USA

ph. 1- 617-496 2990 (also messages)
home page:  http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm

Elect. Journ. of Vedic Studies:  http://www1.shore.net/~india/ejvs