Viveka & Rta/Satya

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

In a message dated 7/13/2000 12:13:58 PM Central Daylight Time,
vsundaresan at HOTMAIL.COM writes:

> This is contemporary Indian politics, mixed with generic Indian
>  conceptions of long yugas. After all, 50 centuries of Kali Yuga
>  have already passed! The speech does not belong in Indology, and
>  need not concern Indologists, unless of course, one wants to
>  avoid being operated upon by a doctor who says such things. I
>  don't think anybody here needs brain surgery, so Dr. Ramamurthi's
>  comments are best left aside.

I do not think the speech is as innocuous as it might seem to Vidyasankar.
One can subject the quote from Ramamurthi's speech to the same textual
analysis processes Indologists use with other texts.

What struck me most about the speech is the quoted time of 70 centuries. How
does one go from 50 centuries of Kali yuga to 70 centuries. Is the use of 70
centuries a common hyperbole? At least, I have not heard it in traditional
usage. If others have, I would like to know.

On the other hand, in the announcement of Rajaram and Jha's book in the web
site http://www.safarmer.com/pico/crackedcode.html, we find the following:

"The implications of these findings go beyond the borders of India --
leading to a possible change in our viewpoint on the origin of civilization
itself. Since Dholavira, according to Bisht, has shown planned cities
dating to the fourth millennium, the Vedic Civilization of the Sarasvati
heartland must go back at least to the fifth."

"well over 70 centuries" in Ramamurthi's speech equates to stating that the
Vedic civilization  must go back "at least to the fifth" millennium BC.

To me what the speech reveals is the efficacy of the propagation of views of
Rajaram and others like him in reaching the Indian intelligentsia outside the
limited circle of Indologists. This directly relates to what Dr. Witzel
stated in his post.

Regards
S. Palaniappan