"Science" in India

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

>It is surprising that in all the discussions about Harappa no mention is
>made of the work of the archaeologist Shereen Ratnagar, and the target is
>invariably Prof. Thapar, who does not even specialise in the period.

Because Thapar is such an icon that she is called the doyenne
of Indian historians, in the latest colorful book on Indian
history by John Keay (Atlantic Monthly Press, NY, 2000). She
is such a big icon that Frontline asked her for an opinion,
and not Shereen Ratnagar, whom the editor, N. Ram, clearly
knows to be a leading authority on the subject.

>Professor Ratnagar's work is possibly too scientific for those who only
>want
>to find leftist sounding rhetoric. See her Social Organisation of

Ms. Sheikh, if you check
http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind9606&L=indology&P=R477,
you will notice that on 3 June 1996, it was I who first brought
the attention of this list to Shereen Ratnagar's Frontline
article (Feb. 96), containing basically a review of some other
books by Rajaram, and a detailed disussion of the so-called
"Vasishtha's Head." I liked the fact that she presented her
scientific arguments in a very straightforward manner. I
subsequently sent a copy of the article to Prof. Madhav
Deshpande in Michigan, at his request. In October 1996, he
invited Ratnagar to present a talk at the Michigan-Lausanne
seminar. If you search the archives of this list, you will
get more information. Some amateur scientist-Indologists care
for the science behind these things. We do not care too much
for empty political rhetoric, whether rightist or leftist, or
anti-rightist or anti-leftist, or whether indigenously grown
in India or imported from foreign shores.

Kind regards,
Vidyasankar
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