SV: attack on Professor S. Bahulkar

[Lars Martin Fosse]

Harry Falk wrote:
>
> This incredible fashist incident would be easier to digest if
> some scholar from CASS or BORI would tell us that their
> alleged inactivity is a misunderstanding. Harry Falk
>

That might take more than usual courage. People who stand up to Hindutva
activists risk being beaten up severly and have their property smashed.
There is a limit to how courageous we should ask people to be when we're
sitting safe in Europe.

But the incident could perhaps relieve Western scholars of any bad
conscience they might harbour for Western acquisition of manuscripts.
When a country is in turmoil, the cultural heritage is always in grave
danger, as we have seen both in Afghanistan and in the former
Yugoslavia. Sometimes things are safer here than in their country of
origin.

Furthermore, the episode proves how important it is to photograph or
copy and distribute manuscript material as soon as possible. The
catastrophe at the Bhandarkar Research Institute could easily repeat
itself in several places. Manuscripts are threatened by a number of
hazards, not only vandalism. Let us hope that this episode teaches
greater caution and concern.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse


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