Indology's Future?

[Lambodara]

> Scholarship is about knowledge, not about respect or love.
>
> A scholar who knows his material (whether it be an aspect of the
> geology of rock formations or of the traditions of Indian culture) is
> a good scholar.
>
> One who does not is not.
>
> Whether either of them have any respect or love for that material has
> no bearing upon the question.  A scholar may hate and despise his
> subject with a passion, so long as he is knowledgeable about it.  He
> may not do the converse and remain a scholar.
>
> I would have thought all this was implicitly understood.  It is
> disturbing that the discussion here has descended to the level where
> it needs to be stated.

In whose opinion does this need to be stated, yours?  In my opinion, their
are three types of scholars in this field, those who care, love, and immerse
themselves in the power of this subject matter;  those who don't, but know
their facts, and those who don't even know their facts.  In my experience,
the only scholarship worth reading devolves from the first group.  There is
a plethora of useless, tired, and boring scholarship in indology that arises
from people who know their facts but have no love for their study.  It is
the case in my opinion, that especially in the field of Indology, a certain
love and extremist dedication is required to even work with in the material.
There are/were many indologists who have not had any love of this culture,
and their translations of texts are generally so wooden, non-heartfelt, and
single layered that they are basically inaccurate.  Furthermore, their
commentary on text is almost always entirely incorrect, as it fails to make
the neccesary connection with cultural indicators and sensibilities in
Indian culture.  The study of indology for me is not something i do out of
interest in one dimensional fact, but rather based on entry into the most
well developed, interesting, intellectually interesting, and spiritually
powerful tradition in history.  You, Rohan, have no right to decide as an
individual what makes a good scholar in indology, or anything else for that
matter, and consensus would likely not support this position.

reguards;

Stephen J Brown