Nepalese ms destruction

[John Huntington]

The primary notification we learned of the destruction of the
Sanskrit university was on www.nepalnews.com and published in
Kathmandu Post

Rebels set ablaze Mahendra Sanskrit University

By K P Ghimire

KATHMANDU, May 12   Maoist rebels on Saturday night set ablaze
offices of the country's only Sanskrit University-Mahendra Sanskrit
University-in Beljhundi of Dang district, reducing estimated property
worth Rs. 27.5 million to a cinder.

The university is located about 15 kilometres west of Ghorahi, the
district headquarters of Dang. But nobody was hurt in the incident,
university officials said.

Around 200 rebels, most of whom were women, surrounded the
university's premises and torched most of the offices which include
Administration Office, Office of the Controller of Examinations and
offices of Vice-chancellor, Registrar and Rector.

Following the arson of the university complex, around 50,000 ancient
Sanskrit textbooks, including Kalchakra Ambika have been completely
reduced to ashes.

Talking over telephone, Chudamani Adhikari, administrative officer of
the university, told The Kathmandu Post that the rebels doused the
offices with kerosene and set them on fire.

All the furniture and records of students for the last 14 years were
destroyed, said eyewitnesses. The rebels snatched keys of the offices
from security guards and ravaged the university property, Adhikari
said, adding that the students of All Nepal Independent Students'
Union-Revolutionary (ANISU-Revolutionary) were largely responsible
for the attack.

The rebels had also blocked the road leading toward the university in
a bid to prevent the security forces from reaching there. It was just
last year that the rebels exploded a powerful crude bomb in the
office of the Vice-chancellor, Purna Chandra Dhungel, who usually
stays in Kathmandu.

Shortly after an very informed Newar  Sanskritist friend down scaled
the number but specifically mentioned manuscripts as being described
in the paper as "ancient Sankirit textbooks."

Dina and I would love to have been misinformed.

John







>J. Huntingdon wrote:
>
>>About eighteen  months months ago, in Dang ...  The "Maoists" burned  the
>>western branch of the Sanskrit University to the ground. It contained
>>an estimated 12,000 Sanskrit manuscripts, ....
>
>Are you SURE about the mss?  The newpaper at the time (see below)  spoke
>only of printed  books, and a friend whom I asked mentioned only, if I
>recall correctly,  "office materials, files" not mss.  I also  doubt that
>they would have collected 12,000 or even 50,000 mss. in just 14 years...
>
>The destruction was bad enough, but perhaps not a serious as mentioned...
>
>MW
>------------
>The news (nepalnews.com, etc.) had this: 5/13/2002:
>
>Rebels set ablaze Mahendra Sanskrit University
>
>By K P Ghimire
>
>KATHMANDU, May 12 Maoist rebels on Saturday night set
>ablaze offices of the country's only Sanskrit University - Mahendra
>Sanskrit University-in Beljhundi of Dang district, reducing estimated
>property worth Rs. 27.5 million to a cinder.
>
>The university is located about 15 kilometres west of Ghorahi, the
>district headquarters of Dang. But nobody was hurt in the incident,
>university officials said.
>
>Around 200 rebels, most of whom were women, surrounded the
>university's premises and torched most of the offices which include
>Administration
>Office, Office of the Controller of Examinations and offices of
>Vice-chancellor, Registrar and Rector.
>
>Following the arson of the university complex, around 50,000 ancient
>Sanskrit textbooks, including Kalchakra Ambika have been completely
>reduced to ashes.
>
>Talking over telephone, Chudamani Adhikari, administrative officer of
>the university, told The Kathmandu Post that the rebels doused the
>offices with kerosene and set them on fire. All the furniture and
>records of students for the last 14 years were destroyed, said
>eyewitnesses. The rebels snatched keys of the offices from security
>guards and ravaged the university property, Adhikari said, adding that
>the students of All Nepal Independent Students' Union-Revolutionary
>(ANISU-Revolutionary) were largely responsible for the attack.
>
>The rebels had also blocked the road leading toward the university in
>a bid to prevent the security forces from reaching there. It was just
>last year that the rebels exploded a powerful crude bomb in the office
>of the Vice-chancellor, Purna Chandra Dhungel, who usually stays in
>Kathmandu.
>
>NB : about half a year later, the  Govt. abolished compulsory Skt. in this
>multi-ethnic/ling. country:
>
>  KATHMANDU, DEC 7 (AP)
>
>Nepal has ordered its schools to drop compulsory Sanskrit lessons, but
>denies it's caved into demands by Maoist rebels who say the language is
>foreign to  the Himalayan kingdom....
>...  Sanskrit had not been taught at the infant school level and would now
>no longer be compulsory for primary students either.
>... arrangement will be  made to carry out primary level education in
>mother-tongue languages in areas where it is feasible and education up to
>secondary level will be free for women, Dalit and the oppressed and
>backward communities like Thami, Raute, Chepang and Hayu.
>
>For the general sentioment cf also teh newsmagazine NEPALI TIMES:
>http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ntimes/issue153/stateofthestate.ht
>============================================================
>Michael Witzel
>Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University
>1 Bow Street, Cambridge MA 02138, USA
>
>ph. 1- 617-496 2990 (also messages)
>home page:  http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm