Dravidian origins

[Robert Zydenbos]

Vanbakkam Vijayaraghavan schrieb am Wed, 27 Dec 2000:

> The point to note is that it was
> a healthy reaction on the part of ordinary Indians to object to those who
> came to rule the country with the aim of plundering it (and within whose
> ruling classes Rev.Caldwell firmly belonged) and  who thought that
> racially, religiously and politically Indians were inferior , and as an
> ultimate insult start to define, who the Indians are and what their
> identitiies should be.

Interesting remarks. If what Caldwell (whose importance for Indian
linguistics is beyond debate) wrote really was so offensive, why did it
take _twenty years_ after its publication for an 'agitation' to be
started against it? Is this an early example of a non-issue that was
picked up by certain political forces and turned into an issue, like
the Babri Masjid, or the sudden increase in militant interest in recent
years in Christians? Ganesan's remark about joining "the Aryan country
club" looks like a good starting point for explaining the time gap and
the social dynamics (but this topic may be of little interest to the
majority of list members).

The British evilly destroy identities? When I met Dr. H.C. Bhayani (one
of India's most important linguists of the past century, whose sad
demise was mentioned on this list recently) over tea in Bangalore in
1990, he told me that he was happy that the British had ruled. "Before
they established their rule, there was a different order, and in that
order I never would have become a scholar, because I was just a rotten
Baniya and it was said that it was my holy duty to sit in a shop and
sell things. Thanks to the British, I could study." We know that the
British did some nasty things in South Asia. But let us realise that
they also did some beneficial things - including, in some cases,
bringing out into the open some data or introducing ideas that helped
undo 'identities' that had been constructed for certain Indian people
by certain other Indian people, of whom the latter also thought (and
still think) that their fellow countrymen are "racially and religiously
inferior"...

I fear that chauvinistic recriminations against 'padris', the
British, etc. contribute little to the advancement of knowledge.

RZ, München
(who is neither British, nor Christian, nor a relative of Caldwell,
nor involved in neo-colonialist conspiracies, and who wishes all the
list members a happy 2001)