ashvamedha--to eat or not to eat?

[Himanshu Dave]

Dominik Wujastyk wrote:

> Dear Prof. Dave,
>
> I do not wish to be too rough, but I cannot help noticing that you fall
> into a category precisely defined in the "Scope" document that governs the
> running of this list.  You announce yourself as a person with a
> professional background in computer science,

I am B. E. (Electronics), M.Tech (Electronics) with teaching  and research
experience at IIT/Kharagpur (19 years), L.D.College of Eng (9 years) and DDIT
(15 years). I also teach Meditation and Spiritual Studies for several years
now. I spent one year in Japan doing research in Computer Organization.

> but you give no evidence of a
> university-level engagement with classical Indian studies,

To study Vedas do you require a modern University degree or study? Classical
Sanskrit literature has little in common with the contents of RigVeda.

> or a
> familiarity with the professional journals and publications of the field..

For last 30 years or so, I had been studying Upanishads, RigVeda, Nirukta,
BrahmasUtra, and other scriptural texts like ShrimadBhagavad. I do not
understand what is meant by "professional " journal in this field (i.e. of
Vedic studies).  My experience is that one can go quite a bit astray by
following what others have done.

> May I suggest that this is an uncertain platform from which to launch a
> major project of re-interpreting the meaning of the Veda?

I very very respectfully beg to differ from you. RigVeda is a book of
Knowlegde about Knowledge. It is possibly the first anthology of technical
papers (Suktas) in the world about Information  and Cognitive Science, and
how human brain deals with information and knowledge; how are abstract
concepts developed upto and including the concepts like God, religion, sin,
Bhakti,  Creation, the way brain works at several levels of abstraction, what
happens under Superconscious state,  etc. I think I am very well suited for
the job, better than several we had in past.

I have already interpreted according to my scheme (sorry, not really mine but
our ancient Rishis, as they should have been understood) about 3000 Richas
out of some 10,000 in RigVeda. I have presented a major paper at 39th All
India Oriental Conference (Vedic Studies Section) October 1998 at Baroda,
which was discussed very well and well received. Interpreting Vedas is not
monopoly of either our Dharmacharyas or Western Vedic Scholars. (Again sorry
to be a bit blunt here.)
There is one more qualification I can claim, but it is a bit difficult to
explain in a scholarly list. I can quote several Richas in support of the
above, but it will cross 2K limit. My interpretation is totally internally
consistent, and unifies (Samanvaya) differing interpretations.

> (I would also ask you (and all members) to keep your postings to the
> recommended length of approximately 2k.)

By mistake I sent out HTML mode document which may have increased the length,
in future (if you people allow me to be on this list !) the length will be
taken care of.

> I note that you work in Nadiad.  There is a fine collection of Sanskrit
> manuscripts in your town, in the Dahilaxmi Library.  Have you found
> interesting texts there?

 From Dahilaxmi Library, I used Nirukta with Durga's commentary and
AtharvaVeda Samhita. There are a number of menuscripts, but they are in a
sorry state. I, as a recently added member of managing committee, am
persuading the management to seek external help for preservation. I have also
computerized the library. I have my own library, of course.

> --
> Dominik Wujastyk
> Founder, INDOLOGY list.

I became member of this list because I sincerely think that I have something
to contribute. I have no axe to grind. It seems I have ruffled a few
feathers, is it so?
-- Himanshu