Black as Evil

[Vanbakkam Vijayaraghavan]

I wholy concur with Vidyasanskar's perception of 'hidden agenda' and
the 'sub-plot' to this thread.

On Sun, 10 Dec 2000 21:32:11 -0000, Vidyasankar Sundaresan
<vsundaresan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>>I take exception to any suggestion that ideas such be banned because they
>>are "dangerous."  We are free men and women and may speak as we
>Ideas need not be banned, but the manner of discussion and the
>selective and repetitive assertion of certain ideas makes one
>wonder where the discussion is headed. And also to question how
>the said ideas are formed in the first place.
>
>>one.  The discussion has been carried on in fairly good humor, and none of
>>us, I trust, are racists.
>
>Debatable. I join you in expressing the hope that none of us
>is racist. However, it seems to me that those who have shown
>the most enthusiasm on this thread are not so sure. They seem
>to believe that many list-members are indeed racist.
>
>If I may summarize the predetermined conclusions sought to
>be established by a few (?) list notables, supported by some
>ottu-UtukiravarkaL (check with the Tamil specialists for the
>meaning of this term) -
>
>1. The "Aryan" texts, Veda and Avesta, gave birth to the idea
>that black is evil. Ergo, these people were the original racists,
>as are their descendants today. However, they became racist only
>after they entered India. They were not racists when they lived
>in their original homeland, wherever that might have been, for
>they never encountered black skin (kRshNa-tvac) there. Judaism
>and Christianity have only borrowed the black vs. white divide
>from Persian sources, as proved by repeated assertion.
>
>2. In opposition, "Dravidian" India, from Indus valley times,
>regarded white as bad, and made widows wear white. They also
>celebrated black, and welcomed the black rain-cloud, and said
>the god mAl/nArAyaNa was black in color. Ergo, this is a 3000
>year old subaltern tradition that represents the "real" India.
>Therefore, (Western) Indologists should all shift to Dravidian
>studies if they want to study the real India and if they want
>to denounce the problematic racism in their own historical
>legacy in Europe and America.
>
>There are a few variations built into the above song, but this
>is the theme and the refrain.
>
>Best regards,
>Vidyasankar.