Romila Thapar Appointment Protest Petition

[Allen W Thrasher]

I have been authorized to forward this official statement from the
Director of Scholarly Programs at the Library of Congress about
Professor Thapar's appointment.

Allen Thrasher
Senior Reference Librarian
Asian Division
Library of Congress

Statement:

        We acknowledge the emails, faxes, and telephone calls from many
people who have been in touch with us either to question or to support
the appointment of Professor Romila Thapar to a Kluge Chair at the
Library of Congress. We are aware that there is an email petition
circulating on the internet alleging that her scholarship is political
propaganda. We also have been in receipt of a large number of
testimonials from noted scholars of Indian history in the United States
and abroad supporting the appointment of Professor Thapar. The volume of
email is such that we are not able to acknowledge each message
individually. In brief, our response is that we are most pleased to have
an Indian historian of Professor Thapar's distinction with us at the
Library of Congress. Her many books already in the collections of the
Library of Congress testify that her work is sympathetic to the ancient
Indian and Hindu historical and cultural traditions in highlighting
their variegated and undogmatic quality, and in making clear the
complexity of Indian civilization.

                                                        Prosser Gifford
                                                        Director of
Scholarly Programs
                                                        Library of
Congress