Viveka & Rta/Satya

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

In a message dated 7/13/2000 9:37:05 AM Central Daylight Time, 
witzel at FAS.HARVARD.EDU writes:

> I would not even have bothered about all of this, following the old
>  proverbial advice "what does the moon care if a dog barks at it?" if the
>  above was not part of a concerted campaign against "western colonialist,
>  missionary, "eurocentric" Indologists", see for  example the web sites of
>  Rajaram or of Hindu Vivek Kendra, which has the MISSION to propagate such
>  views.  *That* is serious. Especially when combined with official policies.
>  But that's a topic for scholars of political science...

In this connection, please also go to the following URL.  

http://www.chennaionline.com/newsview/newsitem.asp?NEWSID={E700A0F0-403F-11D4-
80A6-009027DEA219}&CATEGORYNAME=Chennai

Please note the following statements.

"Brahmins undertook to teach their values to society and to preserve Dharma, 
which is the basis of existence, he said adding that Brahmins had been doing 
this for well over 70 centuries.

Brahmin bashing is nothing new, he said pointing out that Islam and 
Christianity both found the intellectual and traditional concepts of the 
Brahmins a hurdle to prosetylising. The Brahmins’ “sense of superiority in 
knowledge made them unwilling to bow down to powers” like the British, who 
were at best White Mlecchas, he said."

While such a speech in that forum would not normally belong in Indology, the 
"70 centuries" of brahminic contribution proudly mentioned by one of the 
leading neurosurgeons of India should be of some concern to Indologists.   

Regards
S. Palaniappan